thebellman - Network

I don’t generally condone theft, but it’s on the nose that major media companies are using AI to steal content left, right and centre,...

I don’t generally condone theft, but it’s on the nose that major media companies are using AI to steal content left, right and centre, but this guy goes to jail for leaking a few decidedly mediocre movies that are already showing in various free to air channels https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/03/fbi-nabs-worker-at-dvd-company-for-ripping-prerelease-marvel-blockbusters/

I regularly see folk in the UK saying something like “but I don’t know how my tax is being spent”. I’m not fond of HMRC, but they do...

I regularly see folk in the UK saying something like “but I don’t know how my tax is being spent”.

I’m not fond of HMRC, but they do provide this straight up. You log into your tax account at the site, and click the button.

why doesn’t the web page show… oh yeah. cache invalidation time.

why doesn’t the web page show…

oh yeah. cache invalidation time.

So Trump has just said it’s Ukraine’s fault for wearing a short skirt and heels, and not saying “no” loudly enough. This is not how...

So Trump has just said it’s Ukraine’s fault for wearing a short skirt and heels, and not saying “no” loudly enough. This is not how the world should be.

This is my fifth WTAF before my second coffee this morning. Sacking your staff late Friday evening is certainly a thing....

This is my fifth WTAF before my second coffee this morning. Sacking your staff late Friday evening is certainly a thing. https://solarbird.net/blog/2025/02/14/hhs-employees-do-not-open-your-email/

So! 2025 we get to answer the question “what would happen if Twitter had nuclear weapons?”

So! 2025 we get to answer the question “what would happen if Twitter had nuclear weapons?”

Isoamyl Acetate. I’d always known I was “allergic to bananas” but today found out what the chemical was called. It’s commonly used...

Isoamyl Acetate.

I’d always known I was “allergic to bananas” but today found out what the chemical was called. It’s commonly used as a solvent and scent in industrial cleaning products, nail salon and white board markers.

Gassed out of my apartment today because of the huge amount used in the carpet cleaner in the corridor.

Not fun.

I’m sure we’ve seen this movie before. https://assemblag.es/@inquiline/113971779926263034

I’m sure we’ve seen this movie before. https://assemblag.es/@inquiline/113971779926263034

What is it about tech libertarians that leads them to interpret liberty as “we get to control how everyone else lives”?

What is it about tech libertarians that leads them to interpret liberty as “we get to control how everyone else lives”?

In a way it’s good it’s been delayed for a year. The component tech has advanced and matured a lot over the past year, and the solution...

In a way it’s good it’s been delayed for a year. The component tech has advanced and matured a lot over the past year, and the solution is much neater and simpler than it would have been 12 or 18 months ago.

Feeling rather chuffed. I’ve been struggling to get time to focus on this, for various reasons, but today have succeeded in setting up a...

Feeling rather chuffed. I’ve been struggling to get time to focus on this, for various reasons, but today have succeeded in setting up a near real time pipeline of data from Fivetran to iceberg in S3 to BigQuery. This has been a work goal for over a year.

Like many others I protested outside Downing Street when Johnson proposed to break not just convention but law by proroguing parliament. He...

Like many others I protested outside Downing Street when Johnson proposed to break not just convention but law by proroguing parliament. He and his cronies just shrugged and went ahead and broke the law.

That doesn’t work. We saw in the UK with Johnson that if your system depends on Good Chaps doing the Right Thing according to established...

That doesn’t work. We saw in the UK with Johnson that if your system depends on Good Chaps doing the Right Thing according to established convention, it’s absurdly easy for someone careless or malicious with power in their hands to subvert or break the system. Business-as-usual goes out the door.

Well. This is quite something. The author expresses surprise at the end that “the political press generally fails to inform the public...

Well. This is quite something. The author expresses surprise at the end that “the political press generally fails to inform the public that Musk is taking a systematic approach”

I’m not surprised. The press, particularly in the US, are treating everything that is going on as if it’s normal, framing everything against business-as-usual involving courts, laws, committees, established convention and process.

https://www.thenerdreich.com/reboot-elon-musk-ceo-dictator-doge/

Pretty important reading here. Outrage at outrageous things can burn you out...

Pretty important reading here. Outrage at outrageous things can burn you out https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/outrage-fatigue-is-real-heres-why-we-feel-it-and-how-to-cope/

I predict that by the weekend the IDF will be bombing Gaza again using Trump’s declaration of hostilities as a pretext. Hamas and...

I predict that by the weekend the IDF will be bombing Gaza again using Trump’s declaration of hostilities as a pretext. Hamas and Hezbollah will take up arms again and the whole shitshow will continue.

Remember how back in 2016 we’d use Twitter to find out if Trump had accidentally gone to war?

Remember how back in 2016 we’d use Twitter to find out if Trump had accidentally gone to war?

Gaza. Trump. WTF.

Gaza. Trump. WTF.

Fortunately everything is terraformed so it’s easy to back out the changes.

Fortunately everything is terraformed so it’s easy to back out the changes.

Google’s documentation for GCP drives me mad. Have spent 4+ hours working along with it to setup complex infrastructure before hitting the...

Google’s documentation for GCP drives me mad. Have spent 4+ hours working along with it to setup complex infrastructure before hitting the paragraph that says “if you are doing X you need to follow this other process Y”