Grey the earthling @greytheearthling@queer.party

https://cnorthwood.medium.com/an-open-letter-to-the-bbc-on-trans-lives-ca6fd50f7ef4

I have *finally* got round to updating my name on my website — and also building another custom static site generator, this time in Python, because I never really liked using an off-the-shelf one… and also remaking the page structures and stylesheets. And! After only about 15 years I have *eventually* worked out how to upload using FTP from the command line.

News I almost missed:
Rain falls on the summit of Greenland for the first time in recorded history
— via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events/2021_August_19

I continue to be irritated by the SI base unit of mass having a built-in kilo- prefix.

We had a perfectly sensible name for the same unit, “grave”, and we blew it.

Why are BBC News and the Guardian trying to make a murder suspect famous?

Anglin' For A Pangolin

I've voted in the Executive Committee elections for:
- Ash Routh
- Jon Nott
- Alexander Sallons
- Rosie Rawle; Duncan Kerr; Daniel Laycock & Lyndsay McAteer
- Vix Lowthion
- Kathryn Bristow & Rachel Collinson
- Vix Lowthion; Edward Gildea

OK, in fairness it seems they've fixed it: https://github.com/mozilla/contain-facebook/pull/784

The thing is, I believed and assumed that Mozilla were using scummy scare tactics to promote their new service — I wasn't shocked or incredulous. My career in tech is a direct result of discovering Mozilla in 2002, and *this* is Mozilla's reputation as I now see it.

Maybe Drew DeVault's right and the open Web is a lost cause.

So now Mozilla are using their Facebook Container add-on to show a scary warning on email address fields on every website, pretending that Facebook could find out your email address, to trick you into using their Firefox Relay service.

And the sad thing is I'm not surprised — Mozilla used to be an honest public service, but they've been turning into scummy used-car salesmen ever since they bought Pocket.

Captain's log, stardate 16274.8: if you divide Unix time by 100,000, you get something that ticks up one unit every ~28 hours and looks like a stardate.

https://www.tor.com/2021/07/26/do-hippos-count-as-dragons-an-examination-of-identity-and-taxonomy/

“Please try to understand me as hard as I am trying to understand you, is how it was when I first had to explain to someone what the word ‘nonbinary’ means. […] But if I try to explain to you why a hippo is or is not a dragon, it isn’t that way. Neither of us is trying to learn the other one in a way that is confusing and painful and new.”

The History of Future Folk is absurd and brilliant — part Third Rock From The Sun; part Flight of the Conchords; part Dark Star

So apparently Sainsbury's (supermarket) in Manchester have decided to actively expend effort to remove plastic screens and “1 metre” markers today. Why would they not just leave them in place?

OK, fine, I'll watch a game of football.

If Capitalism™ is so great, why do so many consumers prefer the leading competitive brand?

Bought Wilmot's Warehouse yesterday. That CJ doesn't half have a temper if you get it wrong.

The last weekly XS Malarkey Online is tonight (now)! Next Tuesday is gonna be weird.

Matt Parker being wrong for 11 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPv1UV0rD8U

OK, well it's gone a bit Launch Base now.

Today's weather in Manchester is kind of Hill Top Zone 🚠