How do we know that the Arctic circle's permafrost is melting as the region warms up?

The rivers are turning orange.

The melting permafrost is setting off a chemical reaction in iron & other metals, traces of which were trapped within the organic elements of the permafrost layer. That 'rust' then enters the water flow draining into the Arctic seas.

Although on a smaller scale this is also being detected in the Alps & the Pyrenees.

#ClimateChange #environment
h/t FT

@0xabad1dea This is what happens when you skip leg day. Leg day comes to you.

@TomF I defy you to drag this dog more than a few inches

Some great music from the 80s, no.3

Spandau Ballet. True

From its first notes this Spandau Ballet ballad has become a sing-along classic. It marks the transition of the band from the early-80s Blitz-scene to the mainstream of UK pop, and its none the worse for that. True has a lovely lilting rhythm, a great jazz-inflected sax solo & of course that great chorus. Tony Hadley's slightly idiosyncratic vocal phrasing is also deployed to great advantage; it remains a classic!

#music #80sClassics

@0xabad1dea Have you ever given him a drag instead of a walk? It's just as much total exercise, but it's a bit less evenly distributed.

@lzg took years of practice. But I'm now extremely confident in my ability to judge people for more than one thing

There's a frequent complaint that pubic sector pensions are much more generous than private sector pensions & this is iniquitous for tax payers.

But much of the difference (which has declined recently) is down to the higher levels of contribution paid in by both employees & employers.

So, actually the problem of low private sector pensions is more about low pay (making higher contributions impossible) & stingy employers rather than over-generous public pensions!

#pensions #workers
h/t FT

@cheeaun not too unfair though, especially because with Sonnet 4.5/Opus 4.5 then, they said you can and should switch to Sonnet (it was improbable to use Max 20 with Opus at that point).

@javahippie Um welches Thema geht es denn?

although I punted on _handle_long_word

I really wish the AI bubble would just burst already.

@hboon I think not fair comparison? Opus feels more thorough, good for planning huge changes with many steps, and then switch to Sonnet to actually do the work, and later iterate/fix/improve the small things.

I can only compare Sonnet 4.6 to 4.5 — it's slightly more detail-oriented, able to understand the little nuances in the code.

Guten Morgen. Findet sich zufällig jemand im Rhein-Main Gebiet und drumherum, der oder die heute abend spontan für einen Talk bei der JUG Mainz einspringen könnte? Leider musste unsere Speakerin krankheitsbedingt absagen.

#mainz #wiesbaden #frankfurt #darmstadt

Why is the UK (still) dependent on a migrant workforce?

Well, a key contributing factor is employers' attachment to low pay & dismal terms & conditions of employment.

So, let's not blame migrants for seeking out jobs in their new country; lets be clear, its the UK's employers, their labour cost-focussed management mind-set & their continuing rubbish management practices that are the real problem here.

We need a sea change in employment practice(s)!

#workers #business
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/feb/18/training-more-uk-workers-may-not-cut-net-migration-report--

I’ve felt for a decade like I’m a fool for deploying on either self-managed Linux VMs or (for small projects) free tier Heroku, and now I feel like I was accidentally doing it the smart way the whole time and didn’t know it.

…or maybe I’m still in the familiarity bias phase of learning a new tool?

Prompts that indicate you are about to experience something legendary

1/2 Two new blog pieces. In which I have opinions about GenAI and open-source: https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2026/02/16/GenAI-and-OSS-opinion

#GenAI #opensource