nostr:npub1g0tuf634rz4suczwj7kgnecr6cyt0eu9xmp3sp0fku68mqehq4msp3tvm4 First computer I saw used thermionic valves. Punch card and punch tape input. On site maintenance staff all teh time. Main operation was calculating pay for London post men. 1967
nostr:npub1p85v3ng50rrfem0m4x6ddj9u626vstmtlvgqlt20lqhkvj9v8aqq7pdeg5
I was a bit later... the first I saw had a green screen & would only accept instructions in (I think) COBOL?
Q. is #water denationalisation is on the cards how might things fair for the UK Govt. if the firms start proceedings under investment treaty protections (via #ISDS)?
For a quick guide see this I wrote for nostr:npub1yepk8n2nca8e5md0zclgc8kn8egf0kg7al0w3q3ruh7rfmyplvfq3wrqsz a while ago
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And now another aspect of the #watercrisis emerges: illegal dry spilling by three southern England #water firms...
I think we can safely say that the political context for the water firms is that re-nationalisation is looking more & more like a popular policy.... the only Q. is how much further money the asset stripers can extract when the water companies are brought back into public ownership.
(we may see some interesting investment court cases see next post)
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he won't of course; she doing his bidding... but I guess she could be a public sacrifice to cover his tracks
Q. which sectors nominal #wages are rising fastest?
so in the three months to June this is what (annualised) rises looked like:
#Retail - 7.7%
#Hospitality - 6.5%
#Manufacturing - - 8.2%
#construction - 5.8%
#health sector - 6.8% and
#financialservices - 9.4%
none of these (even the financial services) are enough to make up for the fall(s) in real wages over the last decade!
#inflation is coming from somewhere else.... might it be the 'maintenance' of #profits do you think?
data/FT
#Banking deserts are expanding, with an annual total of 600 branch closures expected by the end of 2023 & around 60% of the branch network from 2015 now closed.
We are assured that banking hubs will pick up the slack & the Govt. has required (though with no clear enforcement mechanism) 95% of customers to have access to cash within three miles.
The banks are doing well out of the move to online/cashless banking; this change is not a reflection of customer behaviour, its driven by profiteering!
nostr:npub1t3raw53wsc47582dlppuf5c3vnr3jx2sha9le6pwm9356u3m5gts0z6knd
The only bit you missed was appear on Laura to smile & answer some soft ball Q.s
nostr:npub1geucmrwxym4px5cgmdatkda5njm54krqrduxqd4xmrwtw4v6w40sdy04sl reporting that, early February, two months after the risk level was raised to high, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan remarked, “We just need to keep the lid on this for two years and then it’s someone else’s problem.“
Funny, that's not what she's saying now that it's become a highly public matter...
#school #RAAC
https://eastangliabylines.co.uk/keegan-keeps-the-lid-on-raac/
When #computers were a little larger than they are today
Photographer Berenice Abbott, 'Woman wiring an early IBM computer' from the Documenting Science series (1938-58)
[reposting from #WomensArt at the other place]
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I'm sure she'll find some (temporary) economies...
At the heart of the #housingcrisis is the Q. of supply; there are a complex of issues but constraints on the supply of housing is key, whatever its causes.
So one key aspect of addressing the housing crisis is to increase supply, but this does produce some losers;
the two main groups are those who own houses (whose price might fall further) & #landlords (whose rents would fall);
as the #Tories privilege the interests of both groups, can we surprised they've done little to solve the crisis?
nostr:npub1g0tuf634rz4suczwj7kgnecr6cyt0eu9xmp3sp0fku68mqehq4msp3tvm4 Will a recession bring down the cost of energy or food?
nostr:npub1nd4dvmc8hvh9p4a3hh8hu3el47qxwkqvtfwnjuksnq7vxllrsc5s5wetak
not as a proportion of household expenditure I suspect
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Certainly, that would be part of any solution...
There are a range of suggestions for how the UK might 'solve' its #housingcrisis:
Community Housing Trusts might be part of an answer - in the last 15 years the UK has gone from having 20 CLTs to having over 350.
There may be issues to deal with of course:
are they socially exclusionary?; do they use an 'asset lock' to ensure the trust cannot be (later) privatised?;
who are their partners in development?
But overall, they look like a move in the right direction!
nostr:npub1g0tuf634rz4suczwj7kgnecr6cyt0eu9xmp3sp0fku68mqehq4msp3tvm4 arguably, a recession is the quickest short term measure to reduce carbon emissions
nostr:npub1ucd7h6n90hrc068243dhu4v4wvalkqvedsvjfje8y7ghzl42g2cqag924d
Yes, I can see that... the Q. is at what immediate social cost; its not the main agents of pollution that will be struck by the recession
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I was visiting a wealthy area in the UK recently (I live in France) and was very struck by the sight of a huge modern mansion - no doubt some millionaire's home - and immediately outside its gates a huge pot-hole in the public road. I should have taken a photo. It seemed to symbolise the huge transfer of wealth from the public to the private, that has ruined the UK over recent decades. But did the mansion's residents share this awareness, even as they risked their luxury car's suspension every time they left home? Who knows?
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Of course, when Rod Stewart was confronted by the same problem, he paid for the pothole to be filled in.... but many suspected this was so he could safely drive his low slung Ferrari out of the drive
nostr:npub1g0tuf634rz4suczwj7kgnecr6cyt0eu9xmp3sp0fku68mqehq4msp3tvm4 Hmm what happened in 2016 I wonder 🤔
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Yes, its difficult to say isn't it....
I've been thinking about #artificialintelligence, calls for its #regulation & some previous cases of #technological determinism.
As I've said here before, perhaps the best way of thinking about all this is to return to the work of #LewisMumford who makes the distinction between Authoritarian Technics & Democratic Technics... which encourages us to focus not on the characteristic(s) of #technology, but rather the #political interests of those who deploy & promote it.
https://northwestbylines.co.uk/business/technology/is-artificial-intelligence-out-of-our-control/
nostr:npub1g0tuf634rz4suczwj7kgnecr6cyt0eu9xmp3sp0fku68mqehq4msp3tvm4 That's extraordinary that potentioally our number was down to 1,300, and for such a long period. Wouldn't it be ironic were future humans limited to such a tiny number once again on some island somewhere because of a climate catastrophe we initiated
nostr:npub1640d8xmw8qgxle5a684nknj22wy7p9tmxja66gchz8rl0dz7zx2qerhvu6
extraordinary, but not entirely implausible... and I'm sure already the subject of some #clifi I've not seen.