@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

simon_brooke

@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot

Anarcho-syndicalist, autistic, crofter, cyclist, depressive, entrepreneur, geek, searchable, Zapatista. Politics & environment, especially #LandReform. he/him.

Twitter: https://mastodon.scot/@simon_brooke
GitHub: simon-brooke
FetLife: Simon_Brooke

Credo: Life is harsh. What we can do - and what we should do - is strive to make it less harsh for the people around us.

Addendum: you would not deliberately block a wheelchair ramp. Do not post images to social media without alt text.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

waldoj, to random
@waldoj@mastodon.social avatar

Heat pumps and induction ranges are two strong examples of products that are better environmentally and better products than their gas/oil competitors, for almost everybody. (EVs will get there, but they’re not there yet.)

Because carbon emissions are free, it’s important that low-emission new products be clearly better than the polluting status quo. It’s a high bar, it’s not fair, but I’m glad we have heat pumps and induction ranges as a model.

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@waldoj EVs actually won't get there. They're already obsolete. What we need is smaller, lighter, less powerful vehicles, not bigger, heavier, more powerful ones.

Something much more like is the answer.

alanferrier, to random
@alanferrier@mastodon.scot avatar

A typical nuclear reactor produces about 1 GW of electricity.

The Pentland Firth alone has the potential for about 4.2 GW of tidal stream power.

Waiting for the naysayers to ask me what we'll do when the moon no longer orbits the earth.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960148113005466

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@lostsettler @alanferrier The tidal drag already exists with rocky coastlines. It's unlikely that even very many very large tidal arrays will increase that drag to a measurable degree.

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@lostsettler I wouldn't expect the net effect of many wind turbines to affect the earth's rotation, because

  1. Wind turbines are driven by wind, which is essentially convection and driven by power from the Sun, not the Earth; and
  2. Although the prevailing winds in Scotland are Westerlies, and so wind farms in Scotland will tend to (slightly) impose additional drag on the rotation of the Earth, turbines in areas with prevailing Easterlies will tend to (slightly) accelerate it.
mir, to random

wait.... self hostable static website holster...

that's literally just nginx. and apache. every webserver that does anything can serve static sites. that used to be the point...

RE: https://tech.lgbt/users/ShadowJonathan/statuses/112461245478442637

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@crmsnbleyd @zyd @grinn @mir

"I believe the vision is a Web UI where you can drag and drop HTML/CSS/js files and have them show up as part of the final site"

That's called Nautilus + scp (or just WinSCP if you're a heathen).

Personally I use scp -r, because does the good book not say, "in the beginning was the command line"?

rzeta0, to Lisp
@rzeta0@mastodon.social avatar

I'm doing some thinking about whether to learn common or and create tutorials for others at the beginning like myself.

The focus would not be on syntax or an encyclopedia of available commands or external libraries. It would be about "thinking" and decomposing problems into algorithms.

So far I like that scheme is tiny, has pretty much one syntax, leaving us undistracted from the problem to solve.

Am I right? What do others think?

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@rzeta0 Part of the point of Lisp is that it has the irreducible minimum of syntax. Of course, some Lisps have reintroduced syntax in the form of reader macros; but in its purest form Lisp syntax comprises atom, pairs and lists.

Similarly, the number of core functions in Lisp is extremely small: ATOM CAR CDR COND CONS EQ LABEL LAMBDA NULL QUOTE.

So really all there is to teach is the thinking -- and although for me it's more than 40 years ago. the initial learning curve is steep.

poiseunderchaos, to random
@poiseunderchaos@sonomu.club avatar

The best part of being a polyglot leftist isn’t the “being a polyglot” itself, but what can happen when you know how to work in shared multi-community contexts, both internally and in the larger society.

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@poiseunderchaos What do you mean by 'polyglot leftist'? Do you mean literally a leftist who speaks many tongues, of do you mean figuratively a person who is prepared to accept and to campaign for any one of a spectrum of generally left platforms?

Because, if the latter, I'm with you. Personally my ideal is #AnarchoSyndicalism, but I'm prepared to accept anything between that and Clause IV #Socialism (and think that, given the realities of the world, Socialism would be easier to deliver).

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@poiseunderchaos as defined here, then?

https://www.realutopia.org/post/introduction-to-totality-complementary-holism

kim_harding, to random
@kim_harding@mastodon.scot avatar

Disappearing ink, fake polls and voter fraud: EU fears as Russian propaganda ads target Euro elections
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/18/disappearing-ink-fake-polls-and-voter-eu-fears-as-russian-propaganda-ads-target-euro-elections
Researcher uncovers vast Facebook campaign and accuses Meta of ‘lack of willingness’ to counter it

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@punklawyer @kim_harding and there's a reason for that. If they detect, and block, the propaganda and undeclared ads, they can't make money off them. So they have a very strong incentive NOT to detect them.

Social media is a modern utility, and utilities should not be private, for-profit businesses.

lispegistus, to Lisp
@lispegistus@hachyderm.io avatar

I've got some light relaxing reading lined up for my Saturday :) #lisp

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@lispegistus @amszmidt @screwtape h'mmm... What does it cost to make your own silicon, these days.

simon_brooke, to random
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

"spare a little sympathy for the conservative movement here. The fact that reality has a pronounced leftist bias must be really frustrating for the ideological project of insisting that anything the market can't provide is literally impossible" -- @pluralistic

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/16/symmetrical-10gb-for-119/#utopia

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

UK government adviser on disruptive protest accused of conflict of interest:

John Woodcock, whose review proposes bans for protest groups, has lobbying links to firms in arms and fossil fuel sectors (and is recommending bans on protests against both those industries)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/17/government-adviser-on-disruptive-protest-accused-of-conflict-of-interest

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@BashStKid @HighlandLawyer @glitzersachen @cstross they'll all have to go because there's no place for an appointed legislative chamber in a democracy. The whole institution is systematically corrupt.


simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@BashStKid @HighlandLawyer @glitzersachen @cstross where in the world do you have an appointed legislative chamber that isn't corrupt? Ours includes many people who have simply bought their way in, including one who is the son of a very senior foreign spy from a hostile country, and others who are there simply because they were friends and/or sexual partners of former prime ministers.

simon_brooke, to random
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

This week's major project is splitting the tractor, to replace the failed oil seal which is leaking oil from the gearbox into the clutch housing. We've got to the point where the only thing still holding the front half of the tractor to the rear is the steering linkage, and I can't remember how we split that last time!

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

I've tried three different pullers (this is the smallest of them) on these steering arms, but all slip. I think last time I did it I separated the bottom ends of these arms from the linkage rods, but looking at it now I can't even think what tool I could use to separate them.

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@withaveeay @yngmar There's a YouTube video showing someone doing it here with just the sort of bearing puller we've got, so I think after lunch I'm going to go up, spray them with a lot of penetrating oil, leave for an hour and then try again with our biggest puller.

But any other suggestions gratefully received!

#Dexta

https://youtu.be/K6iw4-5bC-w?t=39

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@outdoorsbeth Heat is a good call. Not tried that.

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@yngmar @withaveeay Thanks. I've anointed it liberally with penetrating oil, and hit it with a hammer (while the bearing puller was under tension) to try to shock it loose. I suspect I'll try heat next.

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@outdoorsbeth Aye, I'd got that. But thanks!

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@Glencoe Splines. I don't think they taper, but I could be wrong on that.

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

Heat, shock, tension...

And it's done!

The tractor halves separated, with its enormous clutch exposed.

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@Tallish_Tom thanks!

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

The Book Of Words says "unhook return spring (11) from release fork".

Aye, right.

With what infernal power are we expected to do this?

The actual internals of the clutch housing. The return spring is wound from rod more than 4mm in diameter, and hooked onto a tab more than 20mm long.

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

And that's another achievement unlocked, but I confess I had to recruit the aid of my friendly local blacksmith to find the solution.

Next challenge: remove the input shaft retainer (that's the small circular plate near the top of the big circular plate). I've removed the five screws that secured it.

The manual just says "withdraw the retainer", and I'm looking at it and thinking "aye, right". There must be a way...

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

And that's done, too, resulting in a flood of filthy oil out of the gearbox. Fortunately I had a catch tray handy!

simon_brooke, to random
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

OK, folk, help me compile a list of failed "inward investment" projects across Scotland.

I'll start

Rootes Linwood
IBM Greenock
Singer Kilbowie
Stelrad Dalbeattie
Sun Linlithgow
NCR Dundee
Timex Dundee

I must have missed hundreds. Add your picks

#ScotPol

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@brianbailey Tell me more about Hyundai in Dunfermline? This, I don't know about.

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