This is the take

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:v6hkwlrkoi34v4zsanhwft2d/post/3mehv7gujak2r

Sigh had to unfollow yet another Internet-person I’ve looked up to because they got completely weird about AI and it’s suddenly the only thing they can talk about.

It’s basically a cult. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@cstross @pheedbackPhil
Buttons A and B were on the pay phones. When you places a trunk call the operator would tell you how much money to insert and then you would be told to press button B to drop the money into the box and your call would proceed.

@Richard_Littler
When I move into a new area, I'll listen to all the local radio ads and subscribe to the newspaper (or whatever qualifies for local news). Those ads are usually for local businesses and how I find pet stores, plumbers, electricians, ...

@rotnroll666 @mene Ah, ja da bin ich bei dir.

Ich bin schon auf so einem niedrigen Niveau, dass es mich fast schon erleichtert, dass der Skandal jetzt in Europa ankommt und hier dadurch wenigstens Leute zurücktreten.

Aber hier könnten auch so einige männliche Politiker in solchen Kontexten auftauchen und es politisch überleben, weit weg davon sind wir nicht

@javahippie Das ist alles richtig. Aber was für mich wahr ist, ist dass ich jede Form von Naivität ablege in den letzten Wochen. Der wahre Kern scheint zu sein, dass es Gruppen von Menschen—über jede Konfession, Partei etc—hinweg gibt, die alles machen, mit wem und gegen wen sie möchten, wie sie möchten und anscheinend damit durchkommen.

Das ist natürlich ein solides Fundament für alle möglichen Mythen.

@mene

@70hz Yeah, I wrote my first million words on one of those too.

Book Review: Ashes To Admin - Tales from the Caseload of a Council Funeral Officer by Evie King

Why am I reading so much about death lately? This is a wryly funny and cosily charming book about council funerals.

Evie King conducts Section 46 funerals under the Public Health Act. If you die and there's no one else around who is able to arrange your funeral, the local council steps in. This could be a coldly bureaucratic process with no wiggle room for anything other than perfunctory sympathy. But humans are going to human. Why wouldn't you put some effort in to making people feel cherished in death?

In many ways, this is what Cameron's "Big Society" should have been about. Giving empathetic and passionate people a chance to serve their community and enrich all our lives. And, I guess, deaths. But austerity makes it hard to stay motivated when you're doing multiple people's jobs for a fraction of the pay.

This isn't to say King is a whinger - quite the opposite - but she is clearly frustrated that she cannot do more. People who interact with the state are rarely in a good emotional or financial place. Those interacting with Section 46 deserve more support than is available to them. What King does is marvellous - but necessarily limited. In effect, it is a series of short stories each taking a look at a different death and how she tried as hard as possible to make the funeral process as painless and uplifting as it can be.

The book is, naturally, a little upsetting in places. It isn't so much that people die; it is how society reacts which causes such emotional turmoil. Why are people sometimes abandoned? Why do reconciliations never happen until it is too late? How do we deal with trauma?

It is an excellent book but it is rather annoying that the publisher, Mirror Books only makes the eBook available via Amazon. There's no other way to read it - not even via a library! I resorted to borrowing the audiobook. This was the first audiobook I've ever listened to - and it was a rather curious experience. The author's voice was slightly hesitant at first, but gradually became more passionate and evocative. It was wonderful to hear her tell her story directly.

@rbreich Bob, you've been wishing and hoping MAGAmoron has finally, positively, definitively and unequivocally gone batcrap nuts for a year now and nothing has changed. People with voices like yours have take the lead and press for action, not more scholarly thoughts.

@svavar @stux The foreign language requirements for a high school diploma vary per state if that's what you're asking.

My state just said "a foreign language", so in my county someone could take 3 years of French and still fulfill that requirement. Other counties could easily have other language classes but we just had Spanish and French

Do not travel to the USofA, part XXXIV:

- doing everything right is not enough
- white skin does not protect you
- detention may mean a cell shared with 70 people, fighting over food, without medical supplies
- your signature will get forged if you refuse
- judge orders for release on bail are ignored

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/09/irish-man-seamus-culleton-ice-detention

@rotnroll666 @mene Das ist mir zu nah an "Irgendwie hatte er ja recht" (also nicht dass ich glaube, dass du das sagen würdest). Das Zeug was er seinerzeit gefaselt hat war 17 Stufen drüber, und es hat sich halt rausgestellt, dass Donald Trump nicht der Retter der Kinder war, sondern eher das Gegenteil.

@coreysnipes that seems to be common. It's worth conjuring up.

@pheedbackPhil @Steveg58 There were no buttons on phones when I grew up. Just rotary dialers talking to Strowger electromechanical exchanges at the Post Office. (Motors and relays!)

@cstross you are but a child! My first calculator was long after high school.

@rafa_font No, but a few months ago my wife and I should have celebrated our joint 120th.

The 2nd Annual #EuropeanOpenSourceAwards have come to a close, but you can still revisit the best moments of the Awards Ceremony.

👇Watch the recording available here :
https://awards.europeanopensource.academy/awards/2026-recording-event

#BBC Why British coach is 'game-changer' for Super Bowl winners & NFL https://w.st/YBXry

#BBC The messy Quad God and kitchen blender set to be an Olympic superstar https://w.st/CvUMb