Oh no!

mastodon.org.uk is down.

I've been reading a book!

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽
Processes how the brain distinguishes between "us" and "them" in social contexts. A key brain region involved in this is the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), which plays a role in social cognition, including distinguishing between in-groups and out-groups.

𝗔𝗺𝘆𝗴𝗱𝗮𝗹𝗮: Involved in emotional reactions and threat detection, often more active when perceiving out-group members.

𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲𝘅 (𝗔𝗖𝗖): Helps regulate conflict and bias between in-groups and out-groups.

𝗧𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗷𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗧𝗣𝗝): Important for perspective-taking and understanding social differences.

Are we really going to send British troops to shoot Russians? I mean, it's a nice sabre-rattling gesture, but do we really want to risk starting a full-blown war? I wonder what Russian mothers or the Russian people will think when their sons are shot by 3 Para or whichever regiments we send?

theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/f…

Starmer ready to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine if peace deal reached

It is understood to be the first time the PM has been explicit about sending British peacekeepers to Ukraine

^{Nadeem Badshah (The Guardian)}

Amazing! Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, three years on, and suddenly, Europe can get off its arse and look like they're doing something. This has nothing to do with peace, defeating the Russians or potentially brokering a deal and everything to do with "Whose in charge!"

Europe, including the UK, is an utter joke! They all want American money, troops and support, yet when America decides it's time to stop the squabbling, everyone starts throwing a tantrum.
#ukraine #PresidentTrump

itv.com/news/2025-02-17/starme…

It's nice to see #Labour getting their spuds kicked for a change.
#politics

theguardian.com/politics/2025/…

Rachel Reeves accused of ‘cavalier attitude’ to expenses during banking career

Chancellor and PM insist there was no wrongdoing after claims she was investigated for alleged misuse of expenses

^{Aletha Adu (The Guardian)}

Guilty by association or just as bad?
Sadly, at the moment, the Guardian doesn't say what he's supposed to have said.

Quote: "A government source told PA News: “Oliver Ryan’s remarks were unacceptable and deeply disappointing.""

So much for #Labour cleaning up the sleaze in politics.

theguardian.com/politics/2025/…

Second Labour MP faces sanctions over offensive WhatsApp group messages

Burnley MP Oliver Ryan has already apologised for his own comments in wake of Andrew Gwynne’s suspension

^{Peter Walker (The Guardian)}

@realDonaldTrump needs to threaten to pull US troops out of Europe. That'll shit'em up. 🤣

politico.eu/article/eu-slams-d…

EU chiefs chastise Trump for sanctioning the ICC 

In a first jab at the White House, Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa said the U.S. president’s move to target the International Criminal Court undermines global justice.

^{Aitor Hernández-Morales (POLITICO)}

Before I say anything, let me make one thing clear: 𝗜 ❤️ 𝟬.𝗔.𝗗.

This is yet another reason why Opensource and Linux are not more mainstream. I've been playing ALPHA 27 for a few days now. The only thing is, I'm playing on a Windows machine! According to the attached post, if you want it (On Linux), compile it yourself. 🤦‍♂️

One thing that annoys me about the Internet is the volume of keyboard warriors who proclaim themselves to be the champions of morals and "Doing the right thing" Yet when Labour announces a third runway, a deafening silence descends regarding Climate Change.

𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗯𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝘂𝗻𝘄𝗮𝘆:
🛫 If Heathrow's total airport emissions (Scope 3 included) are around 20 million tonnes CO₂e per year, and the two runways handle all flight activity, A single runway could account for roughly 10 million tonnes CO₂e per year (very rough estimate). Thus increasing the total to 30 Million tonnes.🛬

If the Conservatives had announced this, the web would have gone into meltdown!

bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpql1w…

Newspaper headlines: Heathrow's third runway and London 'gold shortage'

Heathrow airport's expansion and a Bank of England bullion shortage feature in Thursday's papers.

^{BBC News}

And I have discovered a new level of stupidity for IT Support.

A guy calls saying he cannot receive emails from a contact in India, and the emails are going to spam.

𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿: "It's not in spam; it's the other one."

𝗠𝗲: "Junk folder?"

𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿: "That's the one, but it's not in there."

𝗠𝗲: "Wait, do you mean our quarantine?"

𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿: "Yes."

𝗠𝗲: "OK, send us the email address, and we will have a look."

He promptly sends a phone screenshot of the IM conversation with the guy in India who has attached a photo of his desktop with his rejection message (and his email address). The phone screenshot is too small to read, let alone the picture from the IM conversation.

JUST GIVE US THE BLOODY EMAIL ADDRESS!

Hold on a minute, @HastingsDirect, how do I know I'm not entitled? I mean, you sent me an email saying that if, as I do, pay by instalments, you'll pay not only the higher rate difference but interest, too. I mean, you even list the date I renewed!

So are you saying not only did you 'mistakenly' overcharge, but you've now mistakenly offered a refund? Are you sure you haven't made another mistake, and I should be refunded?

Forty minutes of light, sugar-coating snow this morning. The roads are just wet now.
People are driving like there are ten-foot drifts, and the road surface is like Streatham ice rink. 🤦‍♂️

We will never win another war; we're weak and feckless.
#UKSnow

𝐖𝐢𝐟𝐞: "I'm so glad you're back at work today!"
𝐌𝐞: "I'm so glad I'm back at work today!"

𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿

Now that the dust has settled, #CastleCannon was incredibly underwhelmed with the final Gavin & Stacey. The cast seemed to be working extra hard to create comedy; it didn't come across naturally. The 'party' that led to Smithy oversleeping was a prime example, with the cast acting like they were having a good time rather than looking like they were having a good time. Pam (Alison Steadman) seemed wooden in her (stressed) performances, plus it didn't help that many loved characters were missing. Yeah, yeah. I know Doris is dead in real life.

Favourite bits:
Nessa - Mouth organ
Pete & Dawn
Gwen - Who's coming down the stairs?

Other than that, for me, meh.
#Shrug

Just stop for a second, put down that nice coffee you're drinking in your secure Western country and think for a minute. Russia believes Ukraine is full of terrorists; Ukraine kills one of Russia's Generals on Russian soil in a bomb attack. Doesn't that sound like a terrorist attack to you? It's undoubtedly an assassination of foreign soil. Imagine if the roles were reversed and it was a Ukrainian General blown up; I bet you'd be ranting and raving then.

telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…

Ukraine-Russia war live: Moscow suspect ‘offered $100k for general Igor Kirillov assassination’

A man arrested over the killing of a senior Russian general in Moscow was offered $100,000 by Ukraine, authorities have claimed.

^{The Telegraph}

This is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm convinced Israel is simply taking advantage of events. I find it hard to believe that with the leading intelligence service in the world, they were unaware of the terrorist attack about to happen on their soil. It gave them, in their view, the mandate to invade and eradicate Palestine "𝘚𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯!" the opportunity to provide Lebanon with a bloody nose and with the current invasion of Syria and access to Eygipt Israel has managed to almost double its landmass without the West batting an eyelid.

Far be it from me to suggest that the UK, America, France, and a few others are lining up to restock Israel's dwindling arms
#Gaza #Lebanon #Syria #israel

amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15…

Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territory: ‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza: Executive Summary - Amnesty International

This is the executive summary of the report ‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza (Index: MDE 15/8668/2024).

^{Amnesty International}

So Labour's 'quick fix' of halving prisoners' sentences hasn't worked then; it just bought a bit of time. Of course, far be it from me to point out that any political party could have done that!
#politics

independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli…

UK prisons set to run out of space within seven years, says justice minister

The Ministry of Justice has announced plans for four new prisons, but Shabana Mahmood said it is ‘still not enough’

^{Millie Cooke (The Independent)}

I'm starting to change my mind about #GreggWallce. I'm now thinking this is political correctness going too far yet again, and the so-called "distress" is exaggerated for media consumption.

Jim Davidson hit the nail on the head.

𝗕𝗕𝗖: "Did he touch your bum?"
𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻: "No."
𝗕𝗕𝗖: "Did he touch your breast?"
𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻: "No."
𝗕𝗕𝗖: "What did he do?"
𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻: "Well, I'm still too traumatised to tell you; I haven't slept since he told me the joke.
Old mother Hubbard went to the cupboard to get poor Rover a bone, and when she bent over, up jumped Rover and gave her a bone of his own."
youtu.be/2HuvoIb1rsw?t=404

Jim Davidson - Gregg Wallace Is Toast!

SIGN UP TO https://ustreme.comThe Ustreme Charity Fund - https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ustreme-charityfundText 'DONATE' to 66777THE SHOP - https:/...

^YouTube

𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗿: 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰me 𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘵 '𝘐𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦 𝘖𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵' 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘣𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧𝘧.

We have a local cafe and sandwich shop that was very successful, although owned by a woman who was so large she could barely walk and her husband, who wore one of those medical boots you see a lot these days. I wanted a poached egg sandwich, but every time I phoned the cafe both on a mobile and landline, it immediately cut off, so I walked down the road to the cafe, where I was presented with a guy who had one arm and a stressed-looking young girl. "𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳" I said. The guy told me they had purchased the cafe, but the original owners didn't know the passwords to the Google account, and BT are being arseholes about giving him the original number. So, no telephone orders, then?

While my poached egg was cooked, it was probably the worst, pointless sandwich I've ever had. The yoke was everywhere inside the kitchen foil. It was slightly upsetting to watch him chase the fast-moving egg around the plate with his drainer spoon in an attempt to scoop it up onto the toast.

I await the business to go up for sale or to go under. 🤷‍♂️