Paul Oldham
LightNews LightNews
banner
tallpaul.org
Paul Oldham
@tallpaul.org
21 followers 16 following 29 posts
Semi-retired Internet geek living with my wife and dog in Nairn, Scotland.

I'm also the #SNP councillor for #Nairn & #Cawdor but I generally post about that as @paul.nairn.scot

More here https://about.me/TallPaul
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
tallpaul.org
Paul Oldham @tallpaul.org · Nov 16
I'm also on Mastodon as
mastodon.scot/@tallpaul

... and Facebook as
www.facebook.com/paulatthehug/

I also have some personal pages which we host starting at
the-hug.org/paul
Paul Oldham 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 💛 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 (@tallpaul@mastodon.scot)
1.21K Posts, 159 Following, 246 Followers · Semi-retired Internet geek living with my wife and dog in Nairn, Scotland. I'm also the #SNP councillor for #Nairn & #Cawdor but I generally toot about th...
mastodon.scot
Reposted by Paul Oldham
paul.nairn.scot
Locally I would add to this:

• Mikeysline - oursupport.mikeysline.co.uk

• James Support Group - jamessupportgroup.com

Remember: it's OK not to be OK.
Do not suffer in silence this Christmas period. Samaritans - 116 123 Age UK - 0800 678 1602 Alcoholics Anonymous - 0800 917 7650 Cruse Bereavement Care - 0808 808 1677 Men’s Adviceline - 0808 801 0327 Narcotics Anonymous - 0300 9991212 National Debt Helpline - 0808 808 4000 NHS 111 Relate Relationship Support - 0300 003 0396 Shelter - 0808 800 4444 Shout (confidential text service) 85258 Women's Adviceline - 0808 200 0247 Emergency Services / Police 999
December 23, 2025 at 10:28 AM
tallpaul.org
Dr Husam Zomlot speaks at 2025 #SNP Conference
fediverse.tv/w/hTvaNRuKHF...

#Palestine
Dr Husam Zomlot speaks at 2025 SNP Conference
Dr Husam Zomlot, Head of the Palestinian Mission to the United Kingdom, speaks at 2025 SNP Conference
fediverse.tv
October 12, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Reposted by Paul Oldham
paul.nairn.scot
In their response to the 2.75m people who have already signed the petition "Do not introduce Digital ID cards" the government has said:

'For clarity, it will not be a criminal offence to not hold a digital ID and police will not be able to demand to see a digital ID as part of a “stop and search.”'
October 3, 2025 at 7:29 AM
tallpaul.org
Petition: Do not introduce Digital ID cards. Now approaching 1,000,000 signatures. Have you signed it yet?
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...
Petition: Do not introduce Digital ID cards
We demand that the UK Government immediately commits to not introducing a digital ID cards. There are reports that this is being looked at.
petition.parliament.uk
September 26, 2025 at 1:23 PM
tallpaul.org
Blog: About a childhood of reading

I've just finished reading 'Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading' by Lucy Mangan. In it she details her life in books from the earliest days of being read to, then learning to read, and her progress through ...

aboutabook.uk/about-a-chil...

#books #blog
About a childhood of reading
I've just finished reading Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading by Lucy Mangan. In it she details her life in books from the earliest days of being read to, then learning to read, and her progress ...
aboutabook.uk
September 21, 2025 at 3:28 PM
tallpaul.org
Blog: About a bookmark

How do you keep track of where you are in a book? If your answer is that you fold down the corner of the page you are wrong and you will burn in hell. The correct answer, of course, is that you use a bookmark ...

aboutabook.uk/about-a-book...

#books #blog
About a bookmark
Let’s start with some religion: which is how do you keep track of where you are in a book? If your answer is that you fold down the corner of the page you are wrong and you will burn in hell. The corr...
aboutabook.uk
August 29, 2025 at 12:19 PM
tallpaul.org
Blog: About some deaths

In my reading recently I've come across some deaths which have affected me.

aboutabook.uk/about-some-d...

#books #blog
About some deaths
[I'll start this post with a trigger warning, both for death, and also for horse lovers, plus a spoiler alert for readers of Ann Cleeves' Shetland novels.] In my reading recently I've come across som...
aboutabook.uk
August 9, 2025 at 7:32 AM
tallpaul.org
Blog: About Persephone Books

One of the things I like about reading is the part serendipity plays and my discovery of Persephone Books came about that way ...

aboutabook.uk/about-persep...

#books #blog
About Persephone Books
One of the things I like about reading is the part serendipity plays and my discovery of Persephone Books came about that way. I was listening to a podcast completely unrelated to books and someone me...
aboutabook.uk
July 30, 2025 at 9:57 AM
tallpaul.org
Blog: About how I got here

My mother taught me to read and by the time I arrived at infant school I was already a voracious reader ...

aboutabook.uk/about-how-i-...

#books #blog
About how I got here?
My mother taught me to read and by the time I arrived at infant school I was already a voracious reader. In those days books were expensive so the library was my friend. When I first visited it in th...
aboutabook.uk
July 23, 2025 at 8:52 AM
tallpaul.org
Blog: About a book

I want to tell you a story about a book ... or three.

aboutabook.uk/about-a-book/

#books #blog
About a book
I want to tell you a story about a book ... or three. In December I bought a copy of “The Folio Book of Days” by Roger Hudson. It’s extracts from diaries, letters, and other dated sources written by ...
aboutabook.uk
July 16, 2025 at 10:41 AM
tallpaul.org
I've finally found a use for the Raspberry Pi 4 which I've had lurking on a shelf for a while.

It's now running Ghost ghost.org so I can start yet another blog and also experiment with that as an alternative to Substack.

#blogging #books #raspberrypi
Small circuit board sitting on a dark wood surface. It is almost entirely covered by a heat sink with a red LED on the front and network and USB sockets on the back. A black power cable is plugged in front right. A yellow ethernet cable is plugged in back left.
July 12, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Reposted by Paul Oldham
paul.nairn.scot
#qotd '[Farage is] just another Liz Truss but in a cravat and mustard trousers.'
June 24, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Reposted by Paul Oldham
jupitors.bsky.social
You know I said I was contacting Spoons to find out how they were going to deal with the toilet issue?

Well... Get rekt transphobes.
#TransRightsAreHumanRights
April 25, 2025 at 4:01 PM
tallpaul.org
Want an example of "brave" then here it is. Paul O'Dwyer survived the plunge over the weir and made it to safety but died after going back into the water to try to save the others. #RIP

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
"But other participants fell from their boards after plunging 1.3 metres over the weir. The court heard almost two tonnes of water was crossing a 1 metre-wide section of the weir crest every second. O’Dwyer scrambled out but died after going back into the water to try to save the others, who were all described as either beginner or intermediate paddleboarders. " accompanied by photo of the four victims: Morgan Rogers, Nicola Wheatley, Paul O'Dwyer and Andrea Powell
April 23, 2025 at 12:41 PM
tallpaul.org
New release of #WayMaps now live at waymaps.the-hug.net and www.walklakes.co.uk/maps featuring latest updates from @openstreetmap.bsky.social but with lots of work behind the scenes to simplify rendering of paths, tracks, in 'busy' areas.

Note roads in Fishertown and also the cemetery bottom right.
1km square of Nairn from old release 1km square of Nairn from new release
March 18, 2025 at 10:28 AM
tallpaul.org
Just over 17 hours before I find out about the new #Pebble watch.

I'm SO excited: I've been waiting a long time and many less good smart watches for this day.

store.repebble.com/countdown

#RePebble
It's the final countdown
It's the final countdown
store.repebble.com
March 17, 2025 at 10:55 PM
tallpaul.org
I don't normally sign 38Degrees petitions but I've made an exception for this one.

you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/no...
No second state visit for Trump
Unbelievable. Keir Starmer has handed Donald Trump a letter from King Charles, inviting him for a second state visit to the UK. It’s totally unprecedented, and should not go ahead.  This is the...
you.38degrees.org.uk
March 1, 2025 at 9:38 PM
tallpaul.org
This is our response to the #OnlineSafetyAct 2023. It is now linked to from all our forum pages.

I'm not wasting any more time on this. If #Ofcom come after us wanting more we'll just take the forum down.

www.walklakes.co.uk/osa.html

#OSA
Online Safety Act 2023
Online Safety Act 2023. Responsible Person
www.walklakes.co.uk
February 21, 2025 at 4:10 PM
tallpaul.org
Oh my goodness, someone's thinking that a mail server comes under #OSA. That hadn't even occurred to me.

We run one, for a grand total of three people, all related. Are we really going to have to do a risk assessment?!

FFS, this gets more and more ridiculous.

onlinesafetyact.co.uk/ra_my_busine...
Illegal content risk assessment for my business's email server - OnlineSafetyAct.co.uk
onlinesafetyact.co.uk
January 29, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Reposted by Paul Oldham
paul.nairn.scot
My letter is in 'The Northern Times' today responding to a Lib Dem councillor who thinks we should treat our loans to fund the Highland Investment Plan like a repayment mortgage. That isn't how local government finance works ...

#HighlandCouncil #SNP
Letter headed "Highland Council's financial plan is sound, according to Audit Scotland." Cllr Richard Gale writes about The Highland Council's financial plans (Northern Times, January 10) and his concerns that we are not paying off the loan, only the loan interest, but he fails to take into account the effect of inflation in his thinking. To illustrate this let's take an example of a primary school built in 1964. The cost of building one today might be £20,000,000 so if you look this up using the Bank of England Inflation Calculator in 1964 the council would have paid about £1,150,000 to build the school. The council would normally take out as 60 year interest only loan on this, based on the expected lifetime of the school. So come 2024, as Cllr Gale points out, the loan would come to an end and would need to be repaid or refinanced which is what's worrying him. However the amount to be paid off would still be £1,150,000 and in today's terms, where the council's revenue budget is over £700,000,000, this would only be 0.16% of its budget so we would just pay it off at that point, not renew it. The Highland Investment Plan actually calls for us to be taking out loans in the order of £60,000,000 a year but using the same figures I've used above in 60 years time we will only be having to use about 0.5% of our revenue budget to pay off those loans each year, which is very affordable. Meanwhile we will have had 60 years of new and better schools, better roads, and better infrastructure in general across The Highland Council area because of our bold Highland Investment Plan. And this is why Audit Scotland believe that The Highland Council has a sound financial plan. Cllr Paul Oldham Nairn
January 17, 2025 at 8:50 PM
tallpaul.org
I confess that when we had boiler problems the other day it never occurred to me that this might be the cause ...

#LLM #enshitification
January 8, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Reposted by Paul Oldham
brian770.bsky.social
Bad joke
January 7, 2025 at 9:40 PM
tallpaul.org
All sorts of questions here, not least why the data exists at all, but fundamentally a leak of car location data by VW is a huge data protection snafu and by a data controller in the EU too where the fines for GDPR breaches can be significant, to say the least.

infosec.exchange/@gannimo/113...
Mathias Payer (@gannimo@infosec.exchange)
Attached: 1 image As it turns out, Volkswagen has been collecting extensive geo data from all their electric cars and made them available online in an AWS bucket. Almost 10TB of geo traces from 15 Mi...
infosec.exchange
December 29, 2024 at 10:35 PM
tallpaul.org
Christmas Eve thought it would put on a bit of a sunset.
Sunset over housing estate with clouds underlight by orange glow
December 24, 2024 at 3:59 PM
tallpaul.org
#UPS parcel, due Wednesday but "held for future delivery" has been held back again today.

Called their support number.

Apparently they're experiencing a high package volume at the moment. No way they could have anticipated that huh?
Status updates, in reverse order: 19/12/2024 7:23 Hold for Collection Requested This package is being held for a future delivery date. Inverness, United Kingdom 19/12/2024 5:08 On the Way Processing at UPS Facility Inverness, United Kingdom 18/12/2024 7:02 This package is being held for a future delivery date. Inverness, United Kingdom 17/12/2024 16:00 Arrived at Facility Inverness, United Kingdom
December 19, 2024 at 1:16 PM