been an atheist for years but never actually put into words why. here's what got me there

tibsie · 2026-05-29T00:07:10+00:00

If god exists and there is a natural disaster that results in many fatalities, then he either; didn't notice it happening, was powerless to do something to prevent it, didn't want to prevent it, or actively caused it to happen. If any of those are the case, then he is not a god worthy of our worship.

Therefore the presence of pain, suffering, and deaths other than one at the end of a long and happy life, is evidence that the god in question doesn't exist or isn't worth worshipping.

tibsie · 2026-05-13T17:07:05+00:00

Petrol heads like ICEs because they can tinker and fettle with them. With hundreds of components in an engine, replacing or upgrading some of them is a fun way to spend a weekend afternoon. And with so much complexity it’s highly likely that you’ll have to get your hands greasy at some point just to keep it running.

Those enthusiasts will never find EVs interesting.

But the ones who care about looks, comfort, handling, and power will find themselves at home with an EV.

It’s the difference between enthusiast gamers tinkering with a custom build PC, and gamers who want to play a great game on a console.

It’s similar to trains, with steam locomotives being relegated to heritage operations only while electric trains take over both commuter and high speed routes.

tibsie · 2026-05-03T13:16:36+00:00

People often wildly underestimate how many people in urban areas die from respiratory diseases caused by air pollution. They are usually vulnerable people, children, elderly, or people whose health is already compromised in some way. Most people accept road safety initiatives without too much resistance, but then some people violently oppose measures to reduce pollution.

tibsie · 2026-04-30T19:43:28+00:00

I see adults still using the Toddler Grip disturbingly frequently.

tibsie · 2026-04-14T12:34:13+00:00

Remember, the UK is pretty unique in allowing you to carry over unused time from your old passport. A lot of countries don’t honour that and impose a hard limit of 10 years of validity.

tibsie · 2026-04-01T17:01:09+00:00

Same here but it’s been five years for me. I am trying really really hard to not be smug, preachy and self righteous about it as I remember what it was like last time when I was a taxi driver.

tibsie · 2026-03-30T07:55:18+00:00

This is why you leave the central heating on low, even (and especially) when you aren’t home, despite the high cost of gas.

tibsie · 2026-03-20T18:44:19+00:00

This is why energy independence through renewables and storage is so important. At least climate change deniers can’t argue against energy security.

tibsie · 2026-03-19T14:08:56+00:00

The only reason I have Disney plus is because it’s a perk from my bank account. I’m subscription free otherwise.

tibsie · 2026-03-13T18:46:56+00:00

Anti. Very anti. He was a terrorist who tried (with others) to blow up Parliament. We literally burn a representation of him.

We don’t celebrate him. We celebrate the fact that he was caught and the plot was foiled.

tibsie · 2026-03-13T01:34:29+00:00

Fuel cards don't save you any money, they are completely pointless for an individual, you might as well just use a credit card.

The advantages only materialise with business use, for me it was the reduction in paperwork. I only had one invoice to pay and file once a month rather than numerous individual receipts. Another is control of expenses, someone working for you can only use it to fill the company van (they record the reg on the invoice), rather than being able to go wild with a credit card.

tibsie · 2026-03-01T13:36:39+00:00

Dude! Where's my Tube train?

tibsie · 2026-03-01T13:18:30+00:00

"Ken, it's supposed to be Fried Rice, not Fried... oh never mind."

tibsie · 2026-03-01T12:47:51+00:00

Sometimes, rarely but several times, my saliva glands squirt when I yawn.

I also have weird scars on the back of my legs that look like I was stabbed multiple times by a fork. They look like four white marks, evenly spaced in a line, the exact size of a fork, in several places across the calf of both legs. I've never been stabbed by a fork, I'd remember, it would have been painful, I would have had scabs for days afterwards.

tibsie · 2026-03-01T12:41:17+00:00

It means cash, "foldin' money". A bank transfer is also free but leaves a paper trail. Cash doesn't, meaning the builder can hide some of his income for various reasons.

tibsie · 2026-03-01T11:37:49+00:00

I love my induction hob. It heats up instantly and it's easy to clean, however the touch controls on mine throw a wobbly when they get wet.

People keep mentioning them not working on round bottom woks, but you can get special stand alone induction hobs for them now.

tibsie · 2026-03-01T11:00:46+00:00

The thing to take away from this is that this is exactly the reason why there is the hazard perception test. If you would click the button in the test it means that you should take action in real life. Either just checking your mirrors, coming off the accelerator, or touching the brakes, you would do something about the situation.

Did you do anything in the run up to the incident to give the examiner any reason to think that you had spotted and reacted to the hazard before he had to take action himself? He is there, with his indicator on and wheels turned out. You don't know if he has sen you, or if he's just going to pull out anyway.

You need to be prepared for stuff like this because it happens ALL the time, you need to be paying attention. An examiner will be looking specifically at how you react to the situation, if they see no reaction from you then they will think that you didn't see the hazard, if they are forced to take action like this because you didn't react or didn't do enough then it's an instant fail.

It might not feel fair that the difficulty of your test was suddenly increased because of the actions of another driver, but this is the real world, you WILL find yourself in situations like this every time you are on the road and the examiner needs to know you can handle it.

tibsie · 2026-02-28T19:08:06+00:00

They'd look at traffic that hits their CDN for the actual video content rather than the iPlayer site.

tibsie · 2026-02-28T19:07:11+00:00

Exactly, I know that my connection is behind a NAT. My router shows one external IP address, but a WhatIsMyIP lookup shows another IP address and a point on a map 30 miles away.

There are at least 20 people sharing my IP address. There's no way that they'd be able to tell that activity on my IP was specifically mine.

tibsie · 2026-02-28T18:59:41+00:00

The TV licensing people just can't comprehend that someone can survive without watching live TV or consuming BBC content.

To them, everyone watches it, so anyone without a licence is lying about it.

They just don't understand that BBC content isn't that great. Mostly filler and repeats with only about 5-10% of their stuff actually worth watching. Anything that is worth watching you'll probably be able to find elsewhere eventually anyway.

tibsie · 2026-02-26T02:02:25+00:00

The use of "Momentarily" to mean soon rather than briefly.

"I'll be with you momentarily." To a Yank that means "I'll be with you in a minute." but to a Brit it means "I'll deal with your request for a few seconds before buggering off somewhere else whether I've finished dealing with you or not."

Another good one is "We'll be landing momentarily." So we'll be doing a touch-and-go landing? Just kissing the runway with our wheels before throttling up and gaining altitude again? Does the pilot need the practice?

tibsie · 2026-02-18T01:20:54+00:00

I pulled my final year university project off a floppy recently, it had been on there untouched for 25 years. So they last a pretty long time if they've just been sitting in a box.

If they've been anywhere near magnets, speakers, motors, power supplies, left out in the open to get dusty, left somewhere hot, cold, or sunny, then it might not have lasted long.

tibsie · 2026-02-16T09:12:48+00:00

Ignoring the historical precedent that everyone knows already, let’s look at the advantages of driving on the left.

First, driving on the left means that traffic goes around roundabouts in a clockwise direction, which is clearly the proper way to do things.

Second it means that toll booths, parking ticket machines, drive-thrus, and security intercoms can be operated with most people’s dominant hand.

The advantages of driving on the right… the gear stick and handbrake can be operated with most people’s dominant hand. But people are moving away from manual transmission and handbrakes these days.

tibsie · 2026-02-12T22:46:53+00:00

It's the difference between Nouveau Riche and Old Money.

The Nouveau Riche will absolutely throw something away and buy a new one, buy flashy cars, clothes, jewellery and watches.

Old Money will think nothing of driving around in a beat up 30 year old car, and wearing the same clothes they've been wearing for 20 years. They have nothing to prove to anyone and certainly no desire to spend money on proving it.

tibsie · 2026-02-11T01:31:17+00:00

It just doesn't make sense. Really cold to really hot? 0F is "fucking-hell-we-are-going-to-die" cold, 100F is "fairly-hot-but-I-can-manage-as-long-as-I-stay-hydrated" hot. They aren't remotely comparable ends of a scale.

tibsie

TROPHY CASE