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This week's #FailureFriday is MV Explorer.

Built to explore the polar regions, it explored exciting grounding opportunities in the Antarctic in 1972 and 1979. Definitely lost in 2007 after accidentally hosting a meeting of the Titanic Reenactment Society.

The accident report later suggested that the invitation for an iceberg to join the passengers and crew for an exciting evening of events had been extended rather too hastily.

Also Antarctic ice "is harder", apparently.

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mastodon - Link to source
Dreadnought Holiday

@Peternimmo the accident report is available online, and the loss is pretty convincingly explained.

There's passenger video of the ice field, it rammed into a "wall of ice" without slowing down - maybe don't try that in future - and the speed of sinking implies the damage was far worse than the "fist-sized hole" originally reported.

The expert above was interviewed before the facts came out, I've just been unfair!


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Link Post: Just how ridiculous is politics in France right now threadreaderapp.com/thread/180…

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Watching the birds in the garden, I find myself wondering about their inner life. Why does a bird decide to do what it does? If it's sitting on the fence and nothing apparently changes, why does it decide at a particular point to fly away? They're not just instinct response machines, I think. Do birds get bored? Do they post on bird twitter about the blob sitting at the black oblong and why she suddenly gets up to do something else?
in reply to Alexandra Lanes

Obv I have no insight into a bird's inner state though I'd be unsurprised if they had at least some emotional existence. But one can posit things that incentivise it to move without needing to invoke boredom.

Like it's got hungry enough that it's gone off to feed; or some kind of patrolling setup where it wants to check each of several territories at least so often. Or it's spotted something that you or I wouldn't notice - perhaps overhearing calls of another bird?



The cleaner and gardener are both here at the same time. I feel so middle class. (Obviously not upper class, or I'd have sent the butler to the Post Office rather than going there myself.)

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

File H and rank 8 are still empty


Step one of utility today: get someone to fix the front door so I can get in and out of the house easily.


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Hornby's Zero1: The name reflected it was a Digital system. Unfortunately, financial issues resulted in little to no development continuing shortly after it came on the market. Zero1 became a market leader in command control despite this.
dcc.wiki/DK7ib
#ModelRailway #Hornby #ModelRailways #digitalcommandcontrol #modelrailroad

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I see Sunak has been winning hearts and minds in his dwindling core vote by buggering off home early from the D-Day commemoration.

Even Farage managed to stay to the end, and his side lost.

in reply to Sarah Brown

Someone had to represent the Nazis, and the German government didn't want to.



Pint or n with @Conor Mc Bride who is enjoying their pint more than the expression suggests!

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in reply to Alexandra Lanes

Also, you'd have got a much better photo if you'd just taken one and asked for permission afterwards. When I'm asked for a photo, I have an awkward tendency to pull a Lembit Öpik half-smile.


Dear brain, stop making stuff up. There’s no evidence; it’s just depression.

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Product idea: Peril sensitive hearing aids.

Automatically shuts off if right wing politicians start speaking.

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in reply to Zoë O'Connell

@Zoë O'Connell Should be entirely doable in this modern era of machine learning and pattern recognition. Only snag is coping with Farage-induced deafness.

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I'm guessing the punchline of all this Ed Davey stunt shenanigans is him whizzing down a zipline with one UK flag and one EU flag, but actually making it to the other end.

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Forget the brig, forget having a pip removed from your collar so you're the same rank as Kim... the absolute worst punishment possible on Voyager is Janeway's "disappointed" look.

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Dearest @CountBinface:

I don't know if you're registered yet as a candidate anywhere, but if you're not I would like to suggest you stand in Clacton and approach all the other parties to support you as a modern day Martin Bell

#UKpol #ge2024

This entry was edited (1 year ago)
in reply to 🦇Jennie🏳️‍🌈

I mean obviously anybody beating that walking bag of bin juice F*r*g* is both necessary and delicious, but it would be extra delicious if it were @CountBinface

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in reply to 🦇Jennie🏳️‍🌈

This is, of course, merely a suggestion for the banter timeline we currently live in and not in any way a campaign or endorsement on my part

*side-eye LDHQ *

in reply to 🦇Jennie🏳️‍🌈

Judging by their campaign so far, ‘banter’ might be the best argument to get through to them…

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

The nation is now sharing an experience with many trans people.

We're all on a waiting list for Tory Replacement Therapy.

in reply to Alexandra Lanes

and Starmer's Labour has adopted a policy of 'watchful waiting'?

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friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Me : Feel shit, must be hormones
@Zoë O'Connell : sure it's not Tories?

Fair point.

in reply to Alexandra Lanes

Do not 100% rule out pollen too. Though I'm pretty sure a lot of it is Tories. *hug*

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Get up, fed, showered, sit down at desk. Then stare out of the window. Get coffee. Attempt to remember what I was doing on Friday. Stare out of the window. Cry.

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Boosting this as it's interesting: Medicines regulation is a reserved matter under the Scotland Act 1998 (Sch. 5 (II)(J4)), so Holyrood cannot legislate in this area and Atkins is not stepping on Holyrood's legislative competence toes here.


@Lisa DiFalco @Christine Burns MBE 🏳️‍⚧️📚⧖ The subject matter of the Medicines Act 1968 (under which this Order was made) is a reserved matter under the Scotland Act 1998.


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I’ve not shared this in a long time. How to plan a grab and go bag. If you’re reaching for a bag like this then you’ve probably left things longer than you ought to have done. That said, populism can turn things sour very fast and, whereas escape plans may be for long term or permanent exit, a grab bag may save your skin when suddenly you need an exit.

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As a general rule, the state should over-supply services. There should be slack in the system almost all the time. Relaxed GPs with lots of time to talk to their patients. So many teachers that the main trouble is finding rooms for them all.

Not only does this see a better quality of service mostly, but it also cushions the system in the event of an unexpected shock.

If you have just enough professionals to deliver at 100%, you don’t have enough professionals.

in reply to Alastair McKinstry

@amckinstry One of the best books I have read in business is this one amazon.com/Slack-Getting-Burno…

Key principle: we need to allow for slack in processes so they can absorb delay, prevent burnout, but also have some reserves in the tank to deal with crises.

If @Tupp_ed wants to borrow my copy this can be arranged.

in reply to Daragh Ó Briain

@DaraghOBrien @amckinstry
Another factor infecting taxpayer-funded public services is the Toyota Production Method (called Lean in North America).

It's predicated on minimalism in everything. Flat management. Limits on staffing. "Just in Time" Processes. Employee training replaced by manuals. Making the staff do the janitorial work.

Unpaid overtime to make up for inadequate staffing during vacations season, flu or hurricane season, or other "unexpected" events like pandemics.

1/2


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the perfect wikipedia paragraph doesn't exi-

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It’s also occurred to me that screwing up the country with the worst generational equality in history then training a bunch of young people how to use the guns you just gave them is… an interesting decision.

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in reply to Zoë O'Connell

but the army needs lightly-trained poorly-motivated manpower, right?

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If the old people elect the Tories, young people will have (1) even more reason to resent them, and (2) military training.

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Unknown parent

mastodon - Link to source
Conor Mc Bride
@goatsarah I hereby declare “guilloteen” to be a word, and I promise to continue doing my bit to educate them.

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The three genders: with shoulders, with elbows, and handbag.

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So doge, very meme, I old; go bye now
This entry was edited (1 year ago)

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My enemy paid me a call
and though I'm not evil at all
I showed him the sherry
then got a bit merry
by bricking him up in the wall

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Funny how Brexit was the nation defining act we absolutely had to see through to it's bitter end (which will never be in sight) and now in General Election 2024 nobody wants to talk about it, and those whose identity is forever entwinned with the thing are shunned (like David Frost) or are fucking off out of politics (like Brexit 'Hardman' Steve Baker)

But don't anybody talk of undoing the mess, how dare you, ....unperson! unperson!

#Brexit #GE2024 #DavidFrost #SteveBaker #UKPOL

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in reply to Lazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈

See also: places where LTNs got ripped out, and the streets became more dangerous and filled with cars. "Oh no, we can't try that again for another decade at least! Shhh! Don't wake the car-mad reform-dot-uk agitprop machine!!!"


It's been too long since I did DNS stuff apparently. At least half an hour of "why isn't this doing anything" before I remembered an nsupdate message needed "send" to actually, um, send.

in reply to Count Binface

And should we win today, the 4th of July will no longer be known as an American Holiday. It will be the day when the nation of Britain declared in one voice "We WILL take out the trash!" - today, we celebrate our Bindependence Day!!" (cue swell of patriotic music)
This entry was edited (1 year ago)

in reply to Alexandra Lanes

I am entirely unsurprised by the discovery that he is repellent to water, too .

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We have bats 🦇 in the area! Was able to record their ultrasonic sound #bat
#BAT

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FROM ADMIN: Oooh 4k, Fesshole on Mastodon is quietly our favourite version coz Threads is a pain in the arse coz we're not allowed to use the API yet, BlueSky is a bit *tumbleweed* and Mastodon, although the numbers are modest, is actually rather chatty. Do tell your friends to follow @fesshole here, we mean, share this ok? Get the word out. THANKS.
in reply to Fesshole 🧻

do you cross fess? ie post confessions from one platform onto another? Be interesting to compare confession styles…

in reply to Alexandra Lanes

That’s one of those “glass half full…” questions, isn’t it?
in reply to Alexandra Lanes

Boggle. So women wearing 90s shoulder pads to the left, men with beer guts to the right? I certainly wouldn't want to turn up there for the first time with a full bladder that's for sure! I can see myself jiggling indecisively outside the doors.

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What happens after the end of the second year of hormonal transition, once all the doctors say you've seen everything you're going to see. Why is it that basically everyone sees... well, a heck of a lot more?

This week on #StainedGlassWoman, we're talking about Transition Timelines, and the science--and lack thereof--of later transition!

#Nonbinary #FtM #MtF #Trans #Transgender

stainedglasswoman.substack.com…

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mastodon - Link to source
Doc Impossible

@valdelane THAT HAPPENED TO A CIS FRIEND OF MINE TOO!!

Literally, flat as a board her whole life, and then at 30 she went from A's to DDD's in a single year. She was thrilled by it, just mystified.

in reply to Doc Impossible

My GP is skeptical about prog and doesn't recommend it. She says none of her patients that have tried it found any positive effect.
I think she would give me a script if I insisted. I'm just trying to work out at what point that would be a good idea...
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I remember talking with @Tony Finch in the pub about how awesome Ansible was. I am now using it again. I would like to apologise for my previous enthusiasm. Fortunately, I have plenty of time to.

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WPATH, the global governing body for transgender medical care, have responded to the CASS report. They are not impressed. wpath.org/media/cms/Documents/…
in reply to Sarah Brown

Boost with CW, response to medical transphobia

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