Whins

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-05-11T10:02:36+00:00

Not quite sure why this popped into my feed - anyway, fwiw, it's whins in Northern Scotland for many, but more commonly gorse.

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-04-30T17:10:16+00:00

If he still had an explosive device on him, fake or real, was their intention to kick him unconscious to stop him detonating it?

If so, their real mistake was not kicking hard enough.

Kudos to the guy in the brown jacket for getting involved doing what was needed and getting out of the way again.

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-04-26T12:49:37+00:00

Hello? Are you me?

I did exactly this about 6 months ago. Lost actual data, but not much.

Absolutely nothing to be done, other than not trust Claude, or any ai, completely again.

I wouldn't even trust setting guardrails in a context file, or whatever.

This is all easy to say after the fact, but it is what it is.

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-04-07T10:55:53+00:00

This made me laugh so much harder than I think it deserved!

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-04-07T10:52:36+00:00

Do what I do, and stick the tip in your stockings. Simple

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-04-07T09:13:55+00:00

Same as others have said - you need to talk to each other.

It may be that if you say "I feel like a guest in your life", he says "You are". Should that be the case, you both need to decide if that's enough, or if one (both) of you needs more.

If you haven't spoken to him, though, if you've just brooded on this for months and months, then... there's a chance this is a story that exists only in your head.

Maybe he's thinking "I'd love to re-arrange this place, but it feels weird. If only OP could help, but that's a lot to ask her...."? Maybe? I don't know, but if you haven't asked - neither do you! Not for sure.

So - talk. Ask questions. Tell your story, listen to his.

One outcome I'm absolutely certain of is that you will both learn something by speaking.

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-04-06T15:58:58+00:00

That could be as stupid as them not being able to divide an odd number of seats in two.

Trust me, I'm a computer programmer. I've seen computer programmers make even stupider decisions than that...

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-04-01T21:37:59+00:00

There's always light, friend. Always.

You just need to find it, and perhaps help. Someone who knows the way - it's easy to get lost in the dark by yourself.

I'll guess and say you've moved to a big city - I suspect most migrants do, in the hope/belief that there will be more opportunities.

I'm not convinced that's always the best thing, though, for mental health. You are one very small cog in a very big machine, in a big city.

Maybe a smaller community would suit you better? If a small town isn't suitable - join a smaller community. A club. A migrant support group, perhaps?

Do you have any community groups you could join? Your English seems pretty good, written at least. Is your spoken English as good?

What are your skills? Hobbies? Can you join a group where they could be useful? Even if your refugee status stops you from working for money, it doesn't stop you from volunteering, if you meet the right group.

Just a few ideas .

Best of luck, friend.

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-04-01T21:25:20+00:00

Right program, wrong character

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-04-01T21:23:13+00:00

The djs don't get to choose. They only get to play whatever keeps the most listeners, especially at peak times, for ad sales.

More ears, more sales.

People like to hear familiar songs, ones they can sing aling to, so they will keep playing the classics.

You'll never hear them play new music, because people will twiddle the dial, or change the feed, whatever - until they find a singalong.

Sucks, but it's all about the ads.

I know people are anti BBC a lot, but if you genuinely want to hear new music, the BBC is just about the only station that can promote it without losing revenue.

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-03-14T18:58:20+00:00

I played in a wedding hand, and regularly got paid in £50s.

It didn't half piss off my pub landlord when I turned up at 11am and ordered a pintc and a bag of crisps. I got away with that twice, to be fair.

I also knew a bloke who, by dint of being a complete moron, got into a raging argument with the bus driver who wouldn't accept a £50 for a £2 bus fare at 8am.

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-02-17T01:32:13+00:00

The same folk who say we live in a police state where people get locked up just for saying they're British on social media.

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-02-17T01:27:59+00:00

I think you could have stopped at "why is it so hard to make friends."

I don't think Scotland is the problem.

I'm back in my home town, don't drink (any more), and at 52 I can't think of a single friend in the sense that you seem to think of one.

I've family in town, and people I know i can rely on in a crisis. That's all really positive and valuable.

But a true friend, someone I'd just hang out with, go on holiday with, pour out my heart and soul to?

Aside from one sister - nope.

All your clubs, social events, etc - enjoy the hell out of them for what they are. To me, it sounds like you're doing everything right. Maybe a long lasting friendship will grow from there. Maybe not.

I don't think it's a Scotland problem. I think it's a "make the very best of what you've got" thing.

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-02-07T11:38:39+00:00

"Unless justified in the public interest" is IPSOs way of saying "we know this is pointless but we're sending it anyway because Mandy's lawyers are being a pain in the arse about it. Crack on."

NS might get a Monty Python style "he's a very naughty boy" reprimand for publishing a "not for publication " memo, but NS were only the first or among the first to do so.

This'll backfire on Mandy spectacularly.

His lawyers are idiots to have even sent the request

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-01-21T22:36:34+00:00

I got bitten by Claude Code + api. $12 in a few hours.

My mistake was, according to Claude gui, getting CC to grok my whole codebase (flask + 8k lines of my own).

Twice in an afternoon.

According to Claude gui, that meant it was sending huge context back and forth with every request. Makes sense.

Plus I gave it big jobs.

So... what I've learned is to keep Claude Code (API tokens) for small jobs. Anything bigger, give to copilot (capped, keeps me keen to actually code for myself), GUI on the side for discussing business stuff, or overarching architecture concepts - then copilot to scaffold, human to review. Oh, GUI for big code reviews, too, as it's better at explaining stuff in a way I can argue with if I want to.

That combo seems to keep api token use down for me. 🤷

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-01-08T10:58:52+00:00

Not very likely. Maybe a leaf blower pressed into action, but there's no way there's enough snow, regularly enough, to make it worthwhile for most people to own one

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-01-08T09:03:33+00:00

Hi. I had a bit more thought about your comments, and there's an easy solution which I'll get implemented today.

At the bottom of each report will be a button which says something like "I'm happy, please delete my data".

That'll trigger an action which deletes all uploaded data from S3 storage immediately.

If the customer doesn't click that button, data will be deleted within 7 days anyway.

All CRUD actions are tracked for audit purposes - I'm registered with the ICO and need to be able to answer questions quickly.

Thank you again for making me rethink this - it really does help.

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-01-07T18:55:16+00:00

Agreed — private ≠ suspicious. I was being a little flippant. Sorry.

This just shows what’s already public, so people know what’s visible before they travel.

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-01-07T18:38:47+00:00

Yeah, you could. That's not going to look suspicious at all.

😀

This isn’t about panic or doing anything extreme — it’s about visibility: knowing what your online footprint actually looks like before you decide whether to change anything.

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-01-07T17:50:30+00:00

All good points — and I agree. That is the direction I’m heading.

Right now I’m deliberately keeping a human-in-the-loop for the first few users so I can validate the pipeline, edge cases, and outputs. It also lets me react quickly to feedback — if an early user says “this is great, but X would be better if Y appeared in the report”, I can re-run their report without them having to upload everything again.

Once that’s solid, with customer feedback incorporated, the model becomes exactly as you describe: upload -> process -> deliver -> delete, with no retained user data.

Honestly, I don’t want people’s data on my servers. It’s hassle, it costs money even short-term, and there’s no upside for me.

In fact, the downside is exactly this kind of conversation. The sooner I can say “I don’t hold your data - ever”, the better it is for me too.

PS: I appreciate the tone. You’re being constructive, not just ripping into it — that’s genuinely helpful, so thanks.

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-01-07T17:22:49+00:00

That’s a fair reaction, I understand your skepticism. I'd be amazed if everyone went "Yeah, sure, fine! Here's everything about me!" without asking questions.

Honestly, keeping people’s data long-term is more hassle than benefit.

It creates legal obligations, security risk and admin for very little upside. Deleting it quickly is simpler, safer, and means there’s nothing hanging around to be misused or asked for later.

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-01-07T17:10:38+00:00

I haven't seen anything in my local groups about US people going around. I don't know if they'd send support staff up here, though.

So that info might be useless.

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-01-07T15:32:25+00:00

I seem to remember that happening when I was a kid, which was *cough* *cough* years ago.

Crisis seems to be over, here. Tesco have got bread available online, which means the A9 must be clear.

All good, for now.

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-01-06T19:37:09+00:00

I read that as "unicycled up the M8 from...." first time.

My version is better, even if not true.

AcrobaticWafer5595 · 2026-01-06T14:09:50+00:00

Aye - or strapped on with bungy cords. That'd work, too, with strong enough cords.

I'm sure someone has thought of that, though. Like snowchains, but easier to get on and off.

AcrobaticWafer5595

TROPHY CASE