The City of London adds its 114th Livery Company — and it’s for HR

The City of London’s list of ancient and modern Livery companies has got a bit longer, as the Court of Aldermen has approved a new applicant.

https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/the-city-of-london-adds-its-114th-livery-company-and-its-for-hr-87359/

I suppose I should be thankful that none of my open source projects is high profile enough to attract AI generated PRs.
#OpenSource #SmallIsBeautiful

It's a nasty stereotype that us Germans don't really get jokes.

All the way back in the early 1960s they were added to the public school curriculum so the average German, as part of their normal education, has been instructed in the inner workings of at least 10 jokes.

Had a fun afternoon at https://www.novelty-automation.com/ today with a couple of chaps I was at university with. Tim Hunkin (who I hugely admire) was there fixing one of the machines but I felt unable to talk to him.
#NoveltyAutomation #TimHunkin

Wow… Google fined a whopping $68 MILLION DOLLARS for eavesdropping on people’s spoken conversations. That’ll teach them! It’s going to take Google a whole hour and a half to make that money back. I guess they won’t be pulling shit like this anymore after feeling that sort of pain. We really showed ‘em this time, eh?

Correction: it’s not even a fine; it’s a settlement with no admission of wrongdoing. So even worse.

https://mastodon.social/@JulianOliver/115998148761323898

If #Shrinkflation continues we can look forward to seeing "this pack contains 0.5 servings" eventually.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@heidilifeldman/115973893411006260

Employee of the year.

One of the joys of going through some of my old VHS recordings recently has been seeing TV idents from the time when they were good.

This is so very tempting.
https://hiddenbritain.bigcartel.com/product/2-ident-clock-pre-order

Still one of the best illusions.. (put your finger over the gap)

This listing only has 8 photos but still manages to show a set of death stairs and an indication that the house is about to fall off a hill.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/163234205#/?channel=RES_NEW

If "AI" worked they'd be using it, not selling it.

I.E. if it did what they claimed it would be proprietary secret sauce, not "come use this for free so we can figure out what it might be good for". Still, in 2026.

Remember when blockchain was going to have a zillion world-changing uses, real soon now? Same guys, they pivoted.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-12/crypto-miner-hive-drops-blockchain-from-name-pivoting-to-ai

@MikeFromLFE When I was looking for low alcohol beers Adnams Ghost Ship 0.5% was the least worst I found. It's not 0% though.

100% tariff on the MM/DD/YY date format.

All done, except for labelling the jars. I think I first made #marmalade in 1992, so I've sort of got the hang of it now. Stirring a seething pan of boiling marmalade is as close as I'll ever get to being an alchemist.

Today is #Marmalade making day for me. One batch will provide all the nutrients this bear needs for the next year.

I have decided that I *must* own the United States of America, and that they should just hand it over to me. It is in their best interest to do so.

@robpumphrey I think it's more likely he'll clumsily duck the question every time it's posed.

Question for geopolitical nerds and tech nerds.

If you have a stock android phone, it's almost impossible to use it without a Google account. If your nation becomes what is essentially at war with the US, or is under sanction. Does the whole country get their Google accounts blocked, thus rendering their phone almost unusable (without rooting it or reflashing the os etc?).

I do, of course, delight in all the lovely aurora pictures I'm seeing on my timeline today, but why oh why oh why is it always cloudy where I am when auroras are forecast to be visible in southern England.