@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot
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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.

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

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

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, 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

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@peterbrown @GlasWolf How many folk are Singer employing in Scotland now? How much tax do IBM employees pay in Scotland today?

They are outwardly divested, leaving rubble and waste. No one invests in a country they do not live in to put money into that country's economy; on the contrary, they seek to take money out. If they fail, and go bankrupt, we're worse off; if they succeed, and pillage us, we're worse off.

Inward investment is a lose-lose policy.

#ScotPol

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@otfrom Certainly does -- and thanks!

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

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

simon_brooke, to random
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

"After so long in office, with so very little to show for it, you need far more than to rely on the mantra of “competency.” That is the bare minimum anyone should expect from any government. It is not, by any measure, a vision or a strategy for political growth" -- Jonathon Shafi, in the @TheNational

But which government is he talking about?

(I'm encouraged to see Shafi being more of a voice in #ScotPol again; I've ae been impressed with him)

https://www.thenational.scot/politics/24317597.jonathon-shafi-shouldnt-place-blind-faith-new-snp-leadership/

operand, to random
@operand@todon.nl avatar

just found out that they just put a big ole stick inside double basses and call it a 'sound post'. another scam by Big Luthier if you ask me

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@operand Hey, some of those posts are very sound!

melanie, to random
@melanie@bv.umbrellix.org avatar

@simon_brooke hey did you know that you write good and you have done for 11 years?

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@melanie What have you been reading of mine from eleven years ago? I mean, yes, I write a lot, and I like to write...

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@melanie My most central policy interest. Shifting the balance of land ownership would radically shift the distribution of power within Scotland.

Cyclist, to gardening
@Cyclist@mastodon.scot avatar

Another plant ID question. I've asked loads of local folk what this is and no one seems to know. It's a cutting I took from an evergreen. The parent bushes are growing to around 15 foot tall. They don't have any flowers

Anyone know what it's called?

#Gardening
#PlantIdentification

Boosts appreciated

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@Cyclist context? Climate, biome, soil type?

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@Cyclist Waxy leaves suggest a fruit tree, possibly an apple; but the leaf shape says to me goat willow.

Other people may have better knowledge!

simon, to random
@simon@simonwillison.net avatar

Several of the major social media platforms - Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter - have effectively declared war on linking to things and I absolutely hate it

"Link in my bio" / "Link in thread" / "Link in first comment"... or increasingly no link at all, just an unsourced screenshot of a page

simon_brooke,
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@simon and that REALLY breaks the Web. It's really contrary to everything that we should be doing in constructing an open information infrastructure.

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