Tuesday, August 18th, 2026, 5:45 pm
Castlefield, 2013:

think we’ve had a healthy amount of rain today, if not to fill the reservoirs, then at least to replenish and water some local plants, including lawns.
Today a lot was getting done and I even had a one-hour afternoon nap, which is rare.
Today we test some new software and new changes made to the sites.
Tuesday, August 18th, 2026, 5:40 pm
Crossposted from Techrights
10 hours ago:

Last week: Clownflare Sees a Lot of GNU/Linux in China, Unlike statCounter
n the US, the home of Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft (GAFAM), GNU/Linux is said to have exceeded 10% “market share” on “the desktop” (desktops/laptops). Even Clownflare (US) sees that.
What about the world’s second-largest economy (by GDP)?
China said it would reduce its reliance on GAFAM several times over the years, but now there is a timeline and perhaps also a directive/order like in France.
It is hardly surprising that Windows is shedding off userbase all around the world and Microsoft has mass layoffs even during the summer break.
They can’t catch a break, can they?
In India, whose population is estimated to be bigger than China’s (based on the official figures at least; some authorities dispute these because of undocumented residents and distant/detached settlements, nonconfomist societies that reject any census), things are even worse for Microsoft and much better for GNU/Linux.
Tuesday, August 18th, 2026, 10:11 am

T is turning out to be a hyper-productive day with lots of stuff done (offline stuff) and some good news online. Tomorrow we plan to go out, seeing that the ‘hired guns’ have not (yet) decided to bother us during this vacation.
This coming weekend I plan to mend many old shoes using superglue. It’s a long tedious task, but it does in fact repair or extend the life of shoes we’ve long had and still like.
Shoemaking is a lost art because of sweatshops and the local shoe repair shops seem to have (almost entirely) gone out of business. The equipment they have is irreplaceable and one common worry is that today’s shoes are made of shoddy material that is difficult to repair properly.
Tuesday, August 18th, 2026, 9:52 am
Stats pertaining to excess deaths spoke for themselves; wellness is harmed by economic hardships (worse diets), stress, and competition for medical attention among other factors.
think it is fair to say that after 2019 an already-embattled NHS became less available than before. To book an appointment with a GP became hard. It had already been hard for years, but not this hard.
To be clear, I don’t need a GP or specialist or anything, I merely speak for a friend here.
It increasingly seems like people need “connections” or an emergency (or faking an emergency) to secure appointments due to burden on the system and financial stress (privatisation contributes to waste of NHS budget, I covered this before).
As if stands at the moment, the best way to keep healthy is to avoid getting ill (or becoming unwell), in other words prevention, not cures.
For senior people this advice is largely meaningless, even somewhat offensive and potentially a case a of victim-blaming.
Tuesday, August 18th, 2026, 5:28 am
‘m just glad we’re having rain again.
The Cyber Show has just mentioned climate change.
Assuming we can somehow make up for those long dry spells (or droughts) – though it doesn’t work that way, you cannot “catch up” – we need to learn our lessons and reject waste of energy, pollution etc.
Tuesday, August 18th, 2026, 5:06 am
T finally rains. Quite a bit, too.
When will we have as much climate change news coverage as we used to?
Rather than the news demanding that we accept the cause of climate change, things like useless data centres (for slop), or otherwise be “cranks”?
“The News used to be Crime,” The Cyber Show writes today. “Pollution. Death. War. Disaster. Crime. Pollution. Death. War. Disaster… And now here’s Kate with the weather… and we’d all stop worrying and smile. Now it’s the other way round.”