"I cannot understand how, in the face of such ordinary and joyous entanglement between humans and other people of the area, we created a monstrous society around commodification and extraction."

Starting to feel a bit less of a fraud travelling in first class now I’ve had my Interrail pass checked a few times 😁

The government has declared datacentres “nationally significant infrastructure projects” that can be forced through the planning system. This means getting preferential access to water. Yet it has no idea what they're used for. Our dwindling supplies might be prioritised for nudifying celebrities.

I like these thoughts. Nowadays I try to stick to the surface once I arrive in another continent by air, using trains and ferries. "In the age of algorithm-optimised travel planning, it’s easy to fall into the hyperefficient five-cities-in-10-days mindset. But fast travel often increases both […]

Back in the 1980s Mr. Griffiths taught Computer Science in my local school. Two maxims he repeated almost every week have stuck with me for decades. "A computer is exactly as smart as the person telling it what to do" and "A computer can and will make mistakes, and it'll do it a million times […]

Sitting in the square in Amersfoort enjoying a nice beer, with 2 clocks chiming every 1/4 hour—I can see why the hotel came with a pair of ear plugs on the towels😁

If I don't keep my car roadworthy and crash into yours, it hasn't gone "rogue", it's my negligence and I'm responsible. If my dog attacks you, I am liable. There are no rogue AIs, just negligent AI companies. Prosecute them.

This is why I bang on so much about level access. Noone should have to depend on railway staff and the correct alignment of the train to the platform to be able to use a train. This also highlights another common problem with train design. The sole single wheelchair space on the train. Cos of […]

When people ask why it matters if species go extinct, when most of us have never even heard of them and they don't seem to do anything for us, here's a way to answer. Point out that there are plenty of components in their computer, or their car, that they've never heard of and don't know what […]

Not many people on deck for departure. Although maybe not surprising considering it’s nearly midnight ships time, and the duty free has just opened