Nick Bec
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Nick Bec
@nickbec.co.uk
31 followers 71 following 72 posts
UK based. Photography. Data. Fatherhood. Might not post so much.
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Reposted by Nick Bec
privateeyenews.bsky.social
Life imitates art: Trump's plans for Gaza.

L: From the new Private Eye (which went to press on Monday night), in shops now.
R: Yesterday's headlines.
February 6, 2025 at 9:50 AM
@scalzi.com Just finished "Starter Villain" and loved it. Really wasn't expecting the mention of "Dave Gorman" - the icing on the cake for me.
December 10, 2024 at 12:53 PM
Reposted by Nick Bec
nameshiv.bsky.social
my big picture takeaway from today is that we have never seen a coordinated display like this from dems and we have never seen a seamless transition of support from voters like this and the real political reason is that every hates that fucking guy like they've never hated any fucking guy before
July 22, 2024 at 1:57 AM
Reposted by Nick Bec
rebeccarhelm.bsky.social
People say scientists are serious but marine biologists will spend hours quietly sitting around tables drawing on styrofoam cups and then tying said cups to deep sea submarines

Because ocean pressure will squeeze the air from the cups

And we are but human & we want tiny cup
A hand holding four shrunken styrofoam cups the size of shot glasses. Two with jellyfish colored on them and two with black and white lines
July 20, 2024 at 2:49 AM
Reposted by Nick Bec
markhurst.bsky.social
I feel like today is a good day to remind everyone about my "how and why to switch to Linux" episode on techtonic.fm a few weeks back.

Here it is -

We should all switch to Linux:
www.wfmu.org/playlists/sh...

(click "Pop-up Player" to listen)
ATM screen with the text "WOULD YOU LIKE TO" followed by only one button with a visible label, which reads "NO".
July 19, 2024 at 3:16 PM
Reposted by Nick Bec
pauleggleston.bsky.social
I was telling my wife how I bought a bottle of vodka at 40% ABV, a bottle of gin at 45% and a bottle of absinthe at 80%. She remarked that the average was 55% ABV, which I thought was very mean spirited.
July 14, 2024 at 9:26 PM
Reposted by Nick Bec
rueshine.bsky.social
Apparently Microsoft have fucked up Windows so badly that my parents are planning on switching to Apple at nigh on 70 years of age.
July 14, 2024 at 12:07 PM
Feeling good to have turned down my place at the front of the Fujifilm X100IV preorder line because I’d prefer to wait for a deal on an X-T30 II.
July 12, 2024 at 6:02 PM
This is so dystopian it's scary. Also, very reminiscent of a number of games. petapixel.com/2024/07/08/a...
Ammunition Vending Machines Use AI Facial Scanning to Dispense Bullets
Add bullets to your grocery list.
petapixel.com
July 10, 2024 at 1:48 PM
Reposted by Nick Bec
hadespuppy.bsky.social
I know the latest NZ election outcome was less than good, but jesus.
Tumblr post from user sapphia USA please listen to me: the price of “teaching them a lesson” is too high. take it from New Zealand, who voted our Labour government out in the last election because they weren’t doing exactly what we wanted and got facism instead. Trans rights are being attacked, public transport has been defunded, tax cuts issued for the wealthy, they've mass-defunded public services, cut and attacked the disability funding model, cut benefits, diverted transport funding to roads, cut all recent public transport subsidies, cancelled massive important infrastructure projects like damns and ferries (we are three ISLANDS), fast tracked mining, oil, and other massive environmentally detrimental projects and gave the power the to approve these projects singularly to three ministers who have been wined and dined by lobbyists of the companies that have put the bids in to approve them while one of the main minister infers he will not prioritise the protection of endangered species like the archeys frog over mining projects that do massive environmental harm. They have attacked indigenous rights in an attempt to negate the Treaty of Waitangi by “redefining it”; as a backup, they are also trying to remove all mentions of the treaty from legislation starting with our Child Protection laws no longer requiring social workers to consider the importance of Maori children’s culture when placing those children; when the Waitangi Tribunal who oversees indigenous matters sought to enquire about this, the Minister for Children blocked their enquiry in a breach of comity that was condemned in a ruling — too late to do anything — by our Supreme Court. They have repealed labour protections around pay and 90 day trials, reversed our smoking ban, cancelled our EV subsidy, cancelled our water infrastructure scheme that would have given Maori iwi a say in water asset management, cancelled our biggest city’s fuel tax, made our treasury and inland revenue departments less accountable, dispensed of our Productivity Commission, begun work on charter schools and military boot camps in an obvious push towards privatisation, cancelled grants for first home buyers, reduced access to emergency housing, allowed no cause evictions, cancelled our Maori health system that would have given Maori control over their own public medical care and funding, cut funding of services like budgeting advice and food banks, cancelled the consumer advocacy council, cancelled our medicine regulations, repealed free prescriptions, deferred multiple hospital builds, failed to deliver on pre-election medical promises, reversed a gun ban created in response to the mosque shootings, brought back three strikes = life sentence policy, increased minimum wage by half the recommended amount, cancelled fair pay for disabled workers, reduced wheelchair services, reversed our oil and gas exploration ban, cancelled our climate emergency fund, cut science research funding including climate research, removed limits on killing sea lions, cut funding for the climate change commission, weakened our methane targets, cancelled Significant National Areas protections, have begun reversing our ban on live exports. Much of this was passed under urgency. It’s been six months.
July 7, 2024 at 3:44 AM
Reposted by Nick Bec
magslhalliday.bsky.social
Larry the cat now holds the record for Prime Ministers a single Chief Mouser to the Treasury has tolerated.

6 PMs: Larry (2011-present)

5 PMs: Peter III (1947-1964) and Peter (1929-1946)
4 PMs: Wilberforce (1973-1987)
3 PMs: Humphrey (1989-1997) and Peta (1964-1976)
July 5, 2024 at 1:48 PM
Went to see the Bromley-by-Bow Gasworks last week.

Nikon Z6ii, 24mm, 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 200
July 5, 2024 at 4:54 PM
Reposted by Nick Bec
jongraywb.bsky.social
The bartender says "sorry, we don't serve faster than light particles here."

Two tachyons walk into a bar.

The punchline comes before the joke

You know what the worst thing about time travel jokes is?
July 3, 2024 at 3:02 PM
@ass.golf Love QC and have been a regular reader for a few years. The RSS feed seems to be down, not sure if you get any other kind of notifications other than random people on minor social media platforms.
July 3, 2024 at 8:29 AM
Don’t know why I miss this, but I do.
July 2, 2024 at 4:21 PM
Reposted by Nick Bec
retrotechdreams.bsky.social
Defragmenting
July 2, 2024 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by Nick Bec
samthielman.com
Oh boy, $150,000!
Lotty Earns @lottyburns You're offered $50,000 but if you accept it, the person you hate most in the entire world gets $100,000. Are you taking it?
July 2, 2024 at 1:30 AM
Reposted by Nick Bec
nickbwalking.bsky.social
"Labour will gerrymander the system" say the party who introduced voter ID, abolished SV for mayoral and PCC elections, opposed AV for Parliament and appointed dozens of Johnson cronies to the Lords.
July 1, 2024 at 8:38 AM
Reposted by Nick Bec
kellylink.bsky.social
This is a fucking delight.
I Will Fucking Piledrive You If You Mention AI Again — Ludicity
ludic.mataroa.blog
June 29, 2024 at 6:51 PM
Reposted by Nick Bec
scalzi.com
There is no fucking way I am watching the debate tonight. I've known who I am voting for since 2020, and I'm certainly not going to subject myself to 90 minutes (or whatever) of watching a bilious orange turd fulminate incoherent fascism. If something truly memorable happens, I imagine I'll be told.
byharryconnolly.bsky.social Harry Connolly (he/him) @byharryconnolly.bsky.social · Jun 27
Part of me thinks I have a civic duty to endure the debate tonight, but the rational part of me knows better. I know where my vote is going and nothing will change that.

Do I need to be armed with personal experience of the debates to play amateur pundit on the internet afterwards? Hell no.
June 27, 2024 at 5:41 PM
New personal blog about how twenty years of experience using Linux wasn't enough to make me switch, but massive missteps from Microsoft was.

nickbec.co.uk/blog/my-year...
My Year of Linux on the Desktop — Nick Bec
nickbec.co.uk
June 24, 2024 at 9:55 AM
Reposted by Nick Bec
dmark.bsky.social
You know who doesn’t die on the Hajj? Who doesn’t have their children diddled by Priests and Youth Pastors? Who doesn’t give money to to preachers who travel in private jets? Who don’t have to wear some goofy clothing dictated by others?

Atheists, that’s who.

Also least likely to be elected
June 23, 2024 at 10:26 PM
Reposted by Nick Bec
oblivionwithbells.com
'You only have until June 26, 2024 to say no to Meta taking your personal photos and words and using them to train their generative AI. Here are step-by-step directions for opting out.'

Link: deborahcopaken.substack.com/p/11-steps-t...

#Privacy #Meta #Facebook
11 steps to keep Meta from stealing your data to train AI
You only have until June 26, 2024 to say no to Meta taking your personal photos and words and using them to train their generative AI. Here are step-by-step directions for opting out.
deborahcopaken.substack.com
June 23, 2024 at 2:04 PM
Reposted by Nick Bec
tomel.bsky.social
ChatGPT already has “Ph.D.-level intelligence,” in that once you remove it from its extremely narrow field of expertise (assembling words into credible-sounding passages) it is wildly out of its depth, but people vastly overestimate its authority because they don’t understand what “intelligence” is.
June 22, 2024 at 4:27 PM
Reposted by Nick Bec
faineg.bsky.social
I would love a car review site for people who resent having to own cars
kendrawrites.com Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis @kendrawrites.com · Jun 22
A bad thing about car reviews is they're written by people who love cars and know a lot about them.

I need car reviews by people who hate cars and know nothing about them.
June 22, 2024 at 2:14 PM