Notices by Simon Brooke (simon_brooke@mastodon.scot), page 4

@CloudyMrs it was a lovely morning for a ride, if the road conditions were in places a bit... Tenuous.

@CloudyMrs I already have my deep winter cycling kit on. Get out there and enjoy it!

Look, this is silly. Yes, we would need unfeasible amounts of new wiring to recreate a modern high energy economy powered only by (green) electricity. But we would also need completely unfeasible amounts of lots of other things – most particularly metals. We are going to have to learn to live WELL in a much lower energy world – and, actually, it isn't hard to see how we achieve this.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/25/race-to-get-uk-electricity-grid-ready-for-net-zero

In what sort of a world do I even need to say this?

#Gaza
#CeasefireNow

@Brendanjones Looks interesting. However, in alpha, so probably not one to build anything very serious on just yet!

"The Al-Ahli Hospital, where my hon. Friend the Member for Central Ayrshire (Dr Whitford) has worked, is struggling to keep going. She awaits news of whether her colleagues and the people she knows have survived and of the current circumstances." – Allison Thewlis MP, speaking in the Commons yesterday.

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2023-11-15/debates/91A91AE0-3AE5-4111-AC48-354F8AC2AFFD/ViolenceReductionPolicingAndCriminalJustice

"The number of children killed in a single month of conflict in #Gaza is more than eight times the number of children killed in #Ukraine during the entire first year of the current war with Russia" – Allison Thewlis MP, speaking in the Commons yesterday.

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2023-11-15/debates/91A91AE0-3AE5-4111-AC48-354F8AC2AFFD/ViolenceReductionPolicingAndCriminalJustice

I've not been a fan of the past two SNP leaders; I didn't pay much attention to this year's SNP conference when it happened. But listening to my friend Lesley Riddoch speak about Yousaf's speech, I thought I'd give it a watch. I'm glad I did.

There are problems; but this is a good speech.

https://www.youtube.com/live/HdzfYX1NQ2E?si=tJEgTMkuJap1YT7g&t=17655

And here's his wife, Nadia El-Nakla, speaking to the #SNP conference about the situation her family are facing in #Gaza. This will fair gar ye greet.

https://youtu.be/DE4IyBdvA8c?si=fDwqNJpgqqgYPMsR

@Meron Clickable link: https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/45466

"The world is staring into an abyss, much as it did in the 1930s. Now, as then, the global rise of right-wing authoritarians like Vladimir Putin in Russia and Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel is linked to aggressive militarism that targets civilians and risks a world war...

Yet the news rarely reflects the reality, or this risk. Why is that?" – @willbunch

h/t @GottaLaff

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/journalism-free-press-gaza-extremism-20231105.html

5.3 metres – the degree of sea level rise now unavoidable from West Antarctic Ice Sheet melting ALONE – is sufficient to entirely submerge most of urban Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai, and an enormous area of southern Iraq (Qatar gets off surprisingly lightly).

Are they sure they want to pump YET MORE oil?

#ClimateEmergency

https://coastal.climatecentral.org/map/6/50.1713/28.1743/?theme=water_level&map_type=water_level_above_mhhw&basemap=roadmap&contiguous=true&elevation_model=best_available&refresh=true&water_level=5.3&water_unit=m

In the North Sea basin, about half the land area of the Netherlands, including all major cities except Eindoven, is lost. In England, most of Leicestershire and Cambridgeshire are toast (without sausages); the Norfolk Broads are, uhhmmm, broader, and Lowestoft surprisingly survives as an island...

#ClimateEmergency

https://coastal.climatecentral.org/map/7/3.3597/52.7494/?theme=water_level&map_type=water_level_above_mhhw&basemap=roadmap&contiguous=true&elevation_model=best_available&refresh=true&water_level=5.3&water_unit=m

Meantime in the Mediteranean, much of the Veneto (including, obviously, Venice) and of the Nile delta (including Alexandria) are unsalvagable...

#ClimateEmergency

https://coastal.climatecentral.org/map/9/32.3543/31.0874/?theme=water_level&map_type=water_level_above_mhhw&basemap=roadmap&contiguous=true&elevation_model=best_available&refresh=true&water_level=5.3&water_unit=m

@goatsarah @RichardJMurphy @JohnDal @grayface_ghost

One cannot hope to bribe or twist
(Thank God!) the British journalist;
But seeing what the oaf will do
Unbribed, there's no occasion to.

(edited to add: poem by Humbert Wolfe. I remembered the poem (roughly) but not the author).
https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/british-journalist

When I was thinking about whether I should give up the car, the thing which worried me most – the single heaviest thing I regularly have to fetch – was a bottle of gas.

Of course, I shouldn't still be using gas for cooking. I should be seeking a zero carbon alternative. I'm working on it.

But I can fetch it 19km, up 516 metres of ascent, without a car.

"The electric bicycle is a game-changer, much more significant than the overhyped, expensive and insufficiently green e-car: global sales of e-bikes are projected to reach 40 million next year, compared to 9 million for electric vehicles. Globally, most trips are less than 10 kilometres, which e-bikes can cover within half an hour."

https://www.treehugger.com/stop-ignoring-ebikes-5324307

@reiver don't do that, plumb (lead) is extremely poisonous. Much better to feed her plums.

First they came for the transgender, but I said nothing, because I was a good socialist and maintained party discipline.

#TransRightsAreHumanRights

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66299705

Here's a petition I'd urge you all to sign!

Code paid by the people should be available to the people!

We want legislation requiring that publicly financed software developed for the public sector be made publicly available under a Free and Open Source Software licence. If it is public money, it should be public code as well.

https://publiccode.eu/en/