Nostr notes by Billy Smith

Just emailed my MP about Thames Water's latest attempt to ...

2026-08-05T05:23:49Z

Just emailed my MP about Thames Water's latest attempt to avoid Natiuonalisation:

https://weownit.org.uk/act-now/write-to-your-mp-reject-the-creditors-last-ditch-attempt-to-keep-thames-water-privatised

If you're in the UK, please contact your MP as well. :D

#UK #UKPol #ThamesWater #Privatisation

Have you heard the latest about Oracle? ...

2026-07-17T23:46:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…sajf
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Have you heard the latest about Oracle?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T757udwH45Q

The reason that conspiracy theories are so attractive is the ...

2026-07-15T11:30:12Z

In reply to nevent1q…03xy
_________________________

The reason that conspiracy theories are so attractive is the illusion that there is someone in charge... :D

Some of the anti-hacking insurance policies require you to use an ...

2026-06-05T18:25:50Z

In reply to nevent1q…4e8c
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Some of the anti-hacking insurance policies require you to use an ad-blocker, as ad-blockers stop drive-by malware installation.

One of the categories that advertisers use to calssify their potential victims is OS version.

Malware writers buy adverts that are only shown to un-patched machines, where the advert automatically re-directs to a malware installation site.

Every time private surgery is performed, they have an ambulance ...

2026-04-13T07:35:36Z

In reply to nevent1q…vvrj
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Every time private surgery is performed, they have an ambulance on standby to take them to an NHS hospital if things go wrong. :|

Has anyone sued any regulators in the UK successfully, for not ...

2026-04-02T05:39:13Z

In reply to nevent1q…7fxn
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Has anyone sued any regulators in the UK successfully, for not doing their job properly?

Take a look at https://wandering.shop/

2026-04-01T14:06:12Z

In reply to nevent1q…5hcg
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Take a look at https://wandering.shop/

Answer to the braoder-level question in 4: ...

2026-04-01T07:38:47Z

In reply to nevent1q…h57a
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Answer to the braoder-level question in 4:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452292924000493?via%3Dihub

I came across this and thought of you: https://zkav.club/

2026-03-22T09:03:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…5quw
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I came across this and thought of you:

https://zkav.club/

I just emailed my MP asking them to attend Monday's briefing ...

2026-03-21T09:32:19Z

I just emailed my MP asking them to attend Monday's briefing on Palantir and the NHS contracts.

If you are in the UK, please ask your MP to attend.

More details heree:

https://www.foxglove.org.uk/campaigns/ask-your-mp-to-attend-the-past-present-and-future-of-our-nhss-330m-contract-with-us-spy-tech-firm-palantir/

#Palantir #NHS #TheyWorkForUs

This was also a thing in the USA during the Great Depression. If ...

2026-03-12T16:23:13Z

In reply to nevent1q…5luf
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This was also a thing in the USA during the Great Depression.

If you look at the USA economy without the AI Bubble, they've been in a recession for the last couple of years.

Vinay Guota, who was a project manager for Ethereum was an ...

2026-01-05T20:56:47Z

In reply to nevent1q…kyau
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Vinay Guota, who was a project manager for Ethereum was an old-school cypherpunk/solarpunk, and he inspired a lot of the ethereum people to think in the same way. :D

This behaviour is nothing new. During the 1980's and early ...

2025-12-22T03:33:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…vvan
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This behaviour is nothing new.

During the 1980's and early 1990's, there were parts of Africa where the indigenous population were used for human testing of heart medications that couldn't be done in the West.

While the test results came out as being effective, they were only applicable to people with African genetic stock, so the results didn;t carry over to Western populations.

That was when Big Pharma started testing on poor people in the West. :|

Nostr event nevent1qqsgwr6tdvn45a6ppr0fzvf4eycg2nvt3jufee9nfj5ay8xwqdsvujczypqzanvkmen5t0zvnp9xscjwmyqsx9m0zzewkffezfgu4ed9r0u7u7uf4qa

2025-12-21T16:25:26Z

In reply to nevent1q…xp45
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https://wiki.london.hackspace.org.uk/view/Project:GingeryFurnace

We built this for fun, and made a Carbon-Neutral version by accident. :D

One bit of advice that still stands true:

"Only make the tools that you cannot buy, as the only non-renewable resource is time."

It gives a good measure to balance the Buy-vs-Build decisions. :D

Also, http://goodenoughcnc.eu/hybrid-cnc/ http://hexayurt.com/ ...

2025-12-21T10:26:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…sncp
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Also,

http://goodenoughcnc.eu/hybrid-cnc/

http://hexayurt.com/

https://www.open-electronics.org/laserduo-the-open-source-dual-laser-cutter/

https://web.archive.org/web/20100717014139/http://paginas.fe.up.pt/~feliz/windenergy.html

And here's the low-cost routes towards making the tools to ...

2025-12-21T02:05:38Z

In reply to nevent1q…ph3g
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And here's the low-cost routes towards making the tools to make the solutions:

https://web.archive.org/web/20121014094321/http://www.fablabamersfoort.nl/en/page/fablab-instructable-0

https://gingerybookstore.com/MetalWorkingShopFromScrapSeries.html

https://www.maslowcnc.com/

https://www.wikihouse.cc/

https://www.opensourceecology.org/gvcs/

#solarpunk #hopepunk

On the pavements outside the High Court in the City of London, ...

2025-12-16T05:50:32Z

In reply to nevent1q…6vz8
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On the pavements outside the High Court in the City of London, you can still find the brass plaques that were used to tell the maiintenance workers where the pipes were buried. :D

Just to be specific, the East Falkland Oil Fields, at that time, ...

2025-12-11T14:17:32Z

In reply to nevent1q…353c
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Just to be specific, the East Falkland Oil Fields, at that time, were rumoured to be on a similar scale to the North Sea oil fields, and the Falkland Islands were the nearest lump of land where oil terminals could be built.

Later it came out that the oil fields were nowhere near as high quality as they originally thought, but that was not yet publically known.

Whether this was known to insiders is a question that has never been answered.

The Falklands War was about oil fields as well. It is said in the ...

2025-12-11T08:37:25Z

In reply to nevent1q…qwha
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The Falklands War was about oil fields as well.

It is said in the City of London, if you followed the rise and fall of the share price of the company that owned the foreshore rights for building oil infratructure on the Falklands, you could trace the back-and-forth of the fighting.

That was supposed to be classified information.

The major shareholder of that company was Dennis Thatcher.

It didn't just get her re-elected. It made her husband a fortune at the same time.

Matt Stoller has a write-up of this: ...

2025-12-05T14:34:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…er72
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Matt Stoller has a write-up of this:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/netflix-is-trying-to-buy-warner-bros

You keep travelling through the most liminal spaces... :D

2025-11-03T05:49:50Z

In reply to nevent1q…fxhx
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You keep travelling through the most liminal spaces... :D

I don't know how accurate this is. Any thoughts? ...

2025-08-05T06:55:47Z

I don't know how accurate this is.

Any thoughts?

https://storage.googleapis.com/istories/en/stories/2025/06/10/telegram-fsb/index.html

#telegram #pol #unsurprising

So normal story-writing then. :D

2025-08-02T06:44:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…s54w
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So normal story-writing then. :D

So normal story-writing then? :D

2025-08-01T01:43:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…k8xd
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So normal story-writing then? :D

HMRC has the power to find out who the beneficial person is for ...

2025-05-19T06:17:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…mx6y
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HMRC has the power to find out who the beneficial person is for all trusts and companies.

Would an FOIA request to them work?

Have you come across this? ...

2025-05-12T13:22:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…pvwt
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Have you come across this?

https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2015/10/how-to-build-a-low-tech-internet

This also has impacts when looking at the development of ...

2025-05-07T07:58:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…n4wc
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This also has impacts when looking at the development of medicines.

There was one batch of clinical trials that were run in North Africa in the early 2000's, as it was way cheaper to do the clinical trials, and the resullts came out great, but when used on people with non-North-African genetics, the medicines didn't work as effectively.

I'll try to dig out the links to the papers later. :D

UK-based people: Our UK Government have created a Water Commision ...

2025-04-18T17:17:25Z

UK-based people:

Our UK Government have created a Water Commision to look at how to deal with the problems of privatisation, but have banned the Commmision from considering Nationalisation.

Email the Water Commision before their enquiry closes on the 23rd.

https://weownit.org.uk/act-now/water-commission

It's true. :D We have had the technological capabilities for ...

2025-04-10T12:26:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…0jlf
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It's true. :D

We have had the technological capabilities for everyone on our plaet to live a comfortable life since the 1850's.

As for washing machines:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZoKfap4g4w

His grandmother would be of the age when grid electricity was being rolled out, and cleaning clothing for 7 children would have taken 3-4 hours of her day, not including the time taken to gather the firewood for heating the water.

Another place worth asking: https://www.equalcare.coop/ They have ...

2025-03-27T19:38:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…l276
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Another place worth asking:

https://www.equalcare.coop/

They have a limited range of geographical locations that they cover, so may not be able to help you directly, but shout them anyway.

They know a lot of other agencies, so they'll be able to give you more up-to-date recommendations. :D

One place worth asking is PlusXInnovation. ...

2025-03-27T19:22:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…l276
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One place worth asking is PlusXInnovation.

https://www.plusxinnovation.com/

It's a co-working space in Brighton. They'll have members that have used agencies to provide staff, who can give you the in-person conversations about which of the agencies are good, and which to avoid. :D

I'm getting follow-requests from AI-spambots. Yes, i had to ...

2025-03-24T14:43:30Z

I'm getting follow-requests from AI-spambots.

Yes, i had to block a couple of NicoleFedichick instances, but some of them are more subtle than that.

It's now a good idea to set your Follow-requests to verify-only, so you don't end up feeding all your conversations to spammers.

#aispam #ai #spam

The people at the bus stops need bricks to hold: ...

2025-03-21T19:48:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…mhg2
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The people at the bus stops need bricks to hold:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQpaEN_TN_U

"Redistributing the means of production around the world is a ...

2025-03-03T22:29:59Z

In reply to nevent1q…2l86
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"Redistributing the means of production around the world is a necessary and urgent project, but it won't be advanced through Trump's rapid, unscheduled mid-air disassembly of the global system of trade."

🤦‍♂️

And remember that Zoom itself, in their T&C's, says that ...

2025-03-03T21:49:44Z

In reply to nevent1q…p7ws
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And remember that Zoom itself, in their T&C's, says that they will use all of the data flowing through their servers, as fodder for their AI training.

This means that Zoom are recording everything.

Give a shout to CoTech: https://www.coops.tech/ Some of their ...

2025-02-28T11:49:38Z

In reply to nevent1q…javj
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Give a shout to CoTech:

https://www.coops.tech/

Some of their member co-op's are hiring. :D

I can't help feeling that he's forgotten that justice and ...

2025-01-17T23:20:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…nuyc
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I can't help feeling that he's forgotten that justice and fairness is something that we create.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPS5Yw_YsHA

One friend who does screenprinting with minimal equipment, ...

2025-01-06T19:26:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…fqp3
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One friend who does screenprinting with minimal equipment, created a range of bootleg Pirate Bay t-shirts.

You can still find people selling them around Brick Lane market. :D

For UK-based people, please contact your MP about the latest ...

2024-12-04T06:57:26Z

For UK-based people, please contact your MP about the latest court action by Thames Water:

https://weownit.org.uk/ask-your-mp-protect-households-bailing-out-thames-water

Some excellent news for the Open--Source ecosystem. :D FreeCAD ...

2024-11-21T23:06:57Z

Some excellent news for the Open--Source ecosystem. :D

FreeCAD has hit the 1.0 release. :D

https://fosstodon.org/@FreeCAD/113510662013123465

#freecad

"The big five tech companies are still expanding their power ...

2024-11-08T07:25:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…60we
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"The big five tech companies are still expanding their power by cross-subsidising AI. But at some point, profits will have to be generated. Otherwise Dietmar Dath is right and AI was the abbreviation for “awaiting insolvency”. "

🤣

A good belly laugh before breakfast is a great way to start the day. :D

" “Bing is based on AI, so surprises and errors are ...

2024-11-08T07:12:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…0y64
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"

“Bing is based on AI, so surprises and errors are possible”
(Microsoft, from the homepage of its search engine)

"

This means that all of the financial institutions that have banned the use of AI for their employees, will no longer be able to use any Microsoft product/service...

Yes, MS will bring out an enterprise version of it's services, but with the Recall AI being bound into their OS, none of the bank's employee's will be able to use it on their own computers.

"The AI industry reacts in its paradoxical but typical way: ...

2024-11-08T07:04:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…vlgx
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"The AI industry reacts in its paradoxical but typical way: it further increases the amount of training data and parameters – despite the fact that data overload created the problem in the first place."

🤣

"Chatbots get dumber as they progress. This is partly because ...

2024-11-08T07:03:12Z

In reply to nevent1q…kfw5
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"Chatbots get dumber as they progress. This is partly because they are also fed with products from other chatbots during machine learning, and partly because poorly paid clickworkers sometimes use ChatGPT themselves for fine-tuning in order to generate supposedly handwritten texts faster. Only six months after its release, complaints began to mount that the performance of ChatGPT was becoming increasingly riddled with errors and poorer, ..."

The number of cans of worms that this implies is staggering. ...

2024-11-08T06:57:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…dvly
_________________________

The number of cans of worms that this implies is staggering.

There are an immense number of ways that this will go wrong... 🤦‍♂️ 🤣

"In early 2023, Samsung discovered that programme code from ...

2024-11-08T06:43:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…h6d9
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"In early 2023, Samsung discovered that programme code from its developers had been uploaded to ChatGTP. In the middle of the year, Samsung, Morgan Chase Bank, Verizon, Amazon, Walmart and others officially banned their employees from using chatbots on company computers. They are also not allowed to enter any company-related information or personal data into generative AI on their private computers."

If it's not good enough for the banks, then it's not good enough for general release.

"Many users do not understand that they are also feeding and ...

2024-11-08T06:41:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…rq4u
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"Many users do not understand that they are also feeding and training the AI with new data through their questions."

I missed the thread, but in a UK Co-op forum, someone posted this ...

2024-11-08T06:40:49Z

I missed the thread, but in a UK Co-op forum, someone posted this back in March 2024.

https://www.workers.coop/whats-behind-the-hype-about-ai-long-read/

Some very chewy quotes in there... :D

#ai

Me too. :D

2024-10-12T02:24:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…s0e0
_________________________

Me too. :D

It's a long-term strategy. :D Your assistants will always be ...

2024-09-27T06:58:07Z

In reply to nevent1q…34us
_________________________

It's a long-term strategy. :D

Your assistants will always be happy to work with you in future, and will prioritise you over all of the other ClientsFromHell. :D

[@clientsfh](https://m.gretaoto.ca/@clientsfh )

Play them the full live album version of "The Plague ...

2024-08-19T22:34:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…scyd
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Play them the full live album version of "The Plague Mass" :D

That was the first time i had heard someone with full operatic training, and a wide vocal range, using their voice as a percussion instrument. :D

Also, look at the live album versions of the Neubarten gigs where they were using metal storage barrels as percussion instruments, being played with hammers, while the barrels were being cut apart with angle-grinders.

The microphone work the sound-engineers did was epic. :D