Paul Pickering
paulp73.bsky.social
Paul Pickering
@paulp73.bsky.social
Electronics Engineer
Glasgow
Lived in a tiled tenement for a year, had no idea it had a specific name!
December 28, 2025 at 12:15 PM
The online multiplayer in RF:G is by far The best thing that came out of the “put multiplayer in everything” trend. Blasting through a wall directly into another player was unmatched.
December 23, 2025 at 9:11 PM
It's so many little things. I graduated from University of York last year. Before I had started they got rid of having lectures in "your" buildings, so I'd have Engineering lectures in Biology, etc. Makes great use of space, but there was very little sense of departmental place or community...
December 17, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Because she won a few specific points that seem to just be a few procedural failings by the NHS, and they’re using that to paper over her losing all of the actual meaningful points. 🙃
December 8, 2025 at 1:45 PM
And also, that wealth taxes are ideally just the start of a range of measures. I'm sure Gary has said as much, that the wealth tax is as much as anything just a snappy starting point for a wider change in policy.
November 23, 2025 at 12:35 PM
It's a fair point worth discussing - my feeling has always been that they're already slowly boiling the frog. Better to try and get out the pan even if they try and turn up the heat. What is there to lose?

(...might be stretching this frog metaphor)
November 23, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Like, the individual with the 100m business is now being encouraged to sell assets or shares to get under that threshold. Set up a 10% employee owned share scheme, presto you now only own a 90m share of the business. Which is what we want as a society. There are plenty of options for these people.
July 22, 2025 at 10:15 AM
This is well researched and there’s sensible concerns here but this isn’t the argument that’s it’s not just about the revenues, it’s about changing the behaviour and the structure of how we do business?
July 22, 2025 at 10:15 AM
This and silicone spatulas.
June 30, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Companies so nakedly trying to turn bikes into iPhones drives me up the wall. (...pedals me up the wall?)
June 30, 2025 at 12:12 PM
English ones do not do this - it's "tickets please" and you will be fined Lots of Money for not having a ticket. It's one of so many pleasant surprises i had after moving to Glasgow.
June 28, 2025 at 5:54 PM
I'm just taking solace that the tide seems to be turning - when the tories are the ones giving councils back the power franchise/set up bus systems you know things are going in the right direction...
June 7, 2025 at 10:41 AM
I was always surprised when my parents tried to explain map-reading to me like it was difficult or a skill. It was only recently that I realised I played enough video games growing up, that featured maps you needed to use to navigate, that I'd just picked it up that way.
June 4, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Oh it's also Firefox based instead of Chromium. Chromium was my one hang-up with Arc, this is great!
May 12, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Huh I had to do a double take there, it's literally just arc.net but open-source?
Arc from The Browser Company
Experience a calmer, more personal internet in this browser designed for you. Let go of the clicks, the clutter, the distractions.
arc.net
May 12, 2025 at 7:39 AM
I say pretty straightforward, it took me a lot of hair pulling evenings but for someone who actually knew what they were doing, would have been done in a night!
April 15, 2025 at 3:58 PM
I believe you can download the data as XML zips, you can probably google around and find a utility for exploring the data more easily. Otherwise a bit of Python programming if you are/know someone proficient, I've worked with a similar API for a home bus time display, its pretty straightforward.
April 15, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Are you familar with the UK gov bus API? www.gov.uk/guidance/fin...

It's supposed to include fares data - you might be able to put together a script to scrape all the fare data. Not all operators are compliant (😩) but might be worth ago.
Find and use bus open data
Find and use timetable, location and fares data for local bus services in England.
www.gov.uk
April 15, 2025 at 10:54 AM
I've come across a few of these systems before but wasn't aware of any in the UK, seems like an pretty solid & quick to implement solution for rural areas!
April 15, 2025 at 10:48 AM
I think the death of functioning local journalism/newspapers has a part to play in this.
March 31, 2025 at 10:41 AM