Normal Island News
Iran plotting unprovoked attack on country that bombed its embassy
This would be a huge act of aggression
There is outrage in the west that Iran might be planning an unprovoked attack against Israel after the IDF bombed its consulate building in Damascus on April 1, killing two generals and five soldiers. Tensions have been high since Iran refused to apologise for overreacting to Israel’s April Fools' prank.
My first question to those who cheer such stupidity:
Which rights and freedoms would you like to be unprotected?
My second question:
Are you content with the UK having the same status in respect of human rights under international law as Belarus and Russia?
My entire adult life, the messaging from most politicians, echoed by media, has been urging austerity. Even when reporting surpluses.
Meanwhile the rich get astronomically richer, aren't taxed enough (or sometimes at all), are not made to pay back what they've stolen, etc.
It's remarkable how effective the messaging is in getting us to fight over crumbs instead of taking the resources meant for everyone away from the few greedy people who are hoarding them.
Just in case you missed it, the lack of testing means there is no coherent way of deploying code you know works to the best of your knowledge. When you’re in this position you’re fucked and the repository branches are a joke because they’re not locked down.
Just before I arrived they spent one individuals time for nearly a month stabilising the previous release.
I wanted to make it work but I’ve had enough now.
Deploying by hand using Docker Swarm to 15 different machines is just not me.
Things I should know by now for perm roles:
1. If I have to provide my own laptop they can’t afford me.
2. If they dumped testing to “go faster” more than a year ago run away
3. If the original team was 5+ and now there’s 2 run away
4. If a wet behind the ears comp sci bod wrote a custom engine to manage all the domain context logic run away
5. If the app framework version is so crusty you can’t run it native and have to debug at a distance through docker run away
6. I should avoid MySql
Me: Explains cancer treatment using #science
Patient (male): <looks at me in shock> “And you know all this?”
Me: “Sir, I have to know all of this; that’s how I became a board-certified medical oncologist”
Patient: <still clearly in shock>
(I think this is a culmination of the ease of internet “research,” where many truly cannot fathom the depths of learning over decades it takes to become an expert (compared to 5 min googling); anti-science; & worsening #misogyny everywhere)
"Spotify’s CEO is now a billionaire but it takes artists 334 streams to make $1. The company just enacted a plan to completely demonetize smaller artists. Under the new policy, tracks that get under a certain threshold of annual streams will receive no money from the company. Groups like United Musicians and Allied Workers (ig: weareumaw) are fighting to save their industry."
Peter Coffin in fine form:
I Made AI Pop Punk About Ben Shapiro… It's Fire 🔥
Dear UK residents. I’m sorry to be tedious, but I’m going to do the trans Cassandra thing again.
The government is now moving towards regarding trans people as effective children until the age of 25.
This will be established as precedent and then used to screw over any and all young adults who can’t escape from abusive parents, especially young women.
If you want to do anything about this, you need to fight for trans people. Yes, you. Now.
We all know that isn’t going to happen to any significant extent though.
As you were.
Apple has disciplined and wrongfully terminated Apple Store employees who show support for Palestine by wearing bracelets or kaffiyehs because they create a “harmful environment,” says a new open letter signed by hundreds of workers.
“We humbly ask that Mr. Cook and the rest of the executive team end their silence on this crucial subject, and make it clear that Palestinian lives matter.”
Freeports are a threat to free markets and to the wellbeing of the populations of all countries in which they exist https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/05/freeports-are-a-threat-to-free-markets-and-to-the-wellbeing-of-the-populations-of-all-countries-in-which-they-exist/. Freeports only exist so that those using them might extract additional profits from the abuse of the societies that host them. Why are governments so stupid that they cannot see this?
Francis. Old guy in the corner. Socialist, maybe even a (shock) Marxist. Can't stop writing. Musician. Coder for over 30 years.