Brutkey

merely rhys
@rhys@mastodon.rhys.wtf
merely rhys
@rhys@mastodon.rhys.wtf

RIP to my cursed desk setup. Long live the new cursed desk setup!

A photo of my desk. A hydro flask and a coffee travel mug on one side. A split keyboard, a white mouse, a Stream Deck, and numerous pens and notebooks visible. An elaborate microphone is on an arm with headphones sling over them My three 4k monitors are arranged left to right with the leftmost in portrait mode, the middle one in landscape, and the rightmost in landscape but raised higher than the middle one to make space for my camera underneath. The same desk setup but the left monitor is now horizontal and positioned above the centre one. The right one is in the same position, above the bottom monitor but not centred vertically.
merely rhys
@rhys@mastodon.rhys.wtf

Gordon Brown has an interview out today, some snippets and highlights here: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/aug/07/defence-spending-gordon-brown-interest-rates-immigration-labour-uk-politics-live-news-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-68944a858f080c47306178d5#block-68944a858f080c47306178d5

Even in the Blair years, I thought of Brown as the central pillar of our party, and I still think of him that way now. Taxing gambling companies to tackle child poverty and exempting defence spending from the fiscal rules are two things I'm entirely supportive of.

Gosh, if only voters hadn't rejected him in 2010, how different things might be.

#UKPolitics #UKPol #Labour

merely rhys
@rhys@mastodon.rhys.wtf

His piece from yesterday on a gambling levy: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/06/gambling-industry-profitable-tax-fight-child-poverty

Seems like a no-brainer to me to bring our levy in line with European and even American equivalents.

merely rhys
@rhys@mastodon.rhys.wtf

Gordon Brown has an interview out today, some snippets and highlights here: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/aug/07/defence-spending-gordon-brown-interest-rates-immigration-labour-uk-politics-live-news-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-68944a858f080c47306178d5#block-68944a858f080c47306178d5

Even in the Blair years, I thought of Brown as the central pillar of our party, and I still think of him that way now. Taxing gambling companies to tackle child poverty and exempting defence spending from the fiscal rules are two things I'm entirely supportive of.

Gosh, if only voters hadn't rejected him in 2010, how different things might be.

#UKPolitics #UKPol #Labour

merely rhys
@rhys@mastodon.rhys.wtf

Actively dating in your forties is a hellscape.

A screenshot of an opening message received on a dating app reading, "Hey Rhys! Question - How can you be adverse to astrology when you have a factual mind I wonder 🧐"
merely rhys
@rhys@mastodon.rhys.wtf

Few are writing about this conflict, for lots of reasons (some very obvious), but one being that it's extraordinarily difficult to gather information safely.

Here, an atrocity committed by the RSF in April appears to have had its death count grossly underreported: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/aug/07/zamzam-massacre-rapid-support-forces-rsf-militia-civilians-slaughtered

#genocide

merely rhys
@rhys@mastodon.rhys.wtf

The Grauniad have a companion piece up complementing the above link with a detailed breakdown of the April atrocity: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/aug/07/genocide-sudan-zamzam-camp-timeline

merely rhys
@rhys@mastodon.rhys.wtf

Outstanding long-read from Anne Applebaum on the world's worst humanitarian crisis currently unfolding in Sudan, in which hundreds of thousands of people have died in less than two years of genocidal civil war, and in which at least 500,000 children are estimated to have died to famine.

Gifted link, free for fourteen days: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/09/sudan-civil-war-humanitarian-crisis/683563/?gift=y-oC1QlmgLOUZVvlEoH8407rrYfcvlpTncL2MT7iqDY&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

#genocide

merely rhys
@rhys@mastodon.rhys.wtf

Few are writing about this conflict, for lots of reasons (some very obvious), but one being that it's extraordinarily difficult to gather information safely.

Here, an atrocity committed by the RSF in April appears to have had its death count grossly underreported: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/aug/07/zamzam-massacre-rapid-support-forces-rsf-militia-civilians-slaughtered

#genocide

merely rhys
@rhys@mastodon.rhys.wtf

The DefendOurJuries website has been taken down for breaching their host's T&Cs. They're the group organising the protest in London on Saturday that's expected to yield 500+ arrests for breaching the proscription order against Palestine Action.

The thing is, I'd guess they really have breached those T&Cs by virtue of explicitly advocating for and organising mass lawbreaking.

A screenshot of the Defend Our Juries Instagram account describing how their website has been taken down by their host for breach of terms and conditions.
merely rhys
@rhys@mastodon.rhys.wtf

Outstanding long-read from Anne Applebaum on the world's worst humanitarian crisis currently unfolding in Sudan, in which hundreds of thousands of people have died in less than two years of genocidal civil war, and in which at least 500,000 children are estimated to have died to famine.

Gifted link, free for fourteen days: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/09/sudan-civil-war-humanitarian-crisis/683563/?gift=y-oC1QlmgLOUZVvlEoH8407rrYfcvlpTncL2MT7iqDY&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

#genocide

merely rhys
@rhys@mastodon.rhys.wtf

Made myself a wee little gruvbox-dark theme while I learn the query language and workflow stuff.

#SilverBullet

A screenshot of a page titled 'index' on a dark grey background. The page is segmented into three sections titled, "Ten Most Recent," "Blog Posts," and, "All Files." The titles are in a soft yellowish colour and large font sizes. The links presented underneath each are in bulletpointed lists and a dark orange colour. The explanatory text under the 'Blog Posts' heading explains that my lua query currently identifies them by querying files with a path beginning 'blog/' but that I'll likely move to having the query work via tags in the future. The 'All Files' section has text explaining that it's a temporary list of everything in my writing space that I'll likely remove once I have things linked suitably and comprehensively. All the colours are borrowed from the gruvbox-dark theme. The font is Monaspace Neon.
merely rhys
@rhys@mastodon.rhys.wtf

It is with a heavy heart I must announce that former department of government efficiency employee Mr Big Balls has been beaten up by ten (10) children while on a date.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/05/trump-administration-staffer-known-as-big-balls-assaulted-in-dc-00494990