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xanthein.net
Jon
@xanthein.net
120 followers 150 following 34 posts
Nerd • Techie • Music Lover • RPG/Board Gamer • Husband • Dad • IP Network Guy• Ham Radio Guy (M6XBG) • Retro Computer Guy • Cat Person • He/Him
All views expressed are my own.
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Reposted by Jon
sagan.bsky.social
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
May 22, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Reposted by Jon
jayforeman.bsky.social
May 22, 2025 at 3:02 PM
xanthein.net
How is The Thick Of It 20 years old?
May 18, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Reposted by Jon
carolinejmolloy.bsky.social
Why has Wes Streeting surrounded himself with champions of the NHS privatisation experiment that resulted in the worst-rated, least caring hospital ever?

And why do you maybe not know that an NHS privatisation experiment resulted in the worst-rated, least caring hospital ever?

A thread 🧵
carolinejmolloy.bsky.social CarolineJMolloy @carolinejmolloy.bsky.social · Feb 16
As Wes Streeting trumpets the role of the private sector in “saving the NHS”, it’s worth remembering what happened the only time a whole NHS hospital was handed to the private sector to run.

The care failings - gaining the worst CQC rating ever - were *chilling* (& barely reported at the time):
Circle's medical services were found to be delivering "poor emotional and physical care which was not safe or caring... people were not treated with dignity and respect... some patients were afraid of certain nursing staff'". Some of the examples witnessed by the CQC in their two-day inspection were chilling "We heard the staff member say to the patient 'don't misbehave, you know what happens when you misbehave'. We later asked the patient what they thought the staff member meant by this; the patient became withdrawn and was unable to provide us with an answer." "A patient on Apple Tree Ward, who required support during the night to go to the toilet told us that staff were 'often too busy'. They said 'they tell me to go in my bed and they will change me when they have time'." after they were seen in A&E, they then waited far too long - up to 12 hours - to be admitted to hospital. On this measure (so-called 'trolley waits') Hinchingbrooke had one in 5 patients waiting between 4 and 12 hours, compared to a national average of only one in 20 patients. So much for key targets. And whilst waiting in A&E, an unusually high number of patients (double the national average) left before being seen, fed up of waiting - and presumably unimpressed by the waiting-management computer system Circle had boasted was modelled on the Argos tills. (Circle's senior management team had been hired from Argos, Avon, Faberge, Tesco and fashion-website Asos, bragged Ali Parsa in an article entitled "Government should not be running hospitals"). Dangerously sloppy procedures were everywhere at privately-run Hinchingbrooke, the inspectors found. Incomplete patient notes, missing care plans, infected catheters, unwashed hands, broken clinical guidelines. Fluids were repeatedly out of reach of patients despite the inspectors' intervention. On other wards, call bells were placed out of reach. Diabetic patients were left without food. Patients missed vital medication rounds. Lifesaving resuscitation equipment was not checked regularly. Many post-surgical patients were waiting over 30 minutes for a response to a call bell (Circle's own figures claimed the maximum wait was 8 minutes). Many patients were being moved between wards in the middle of the night. "One patient on the acute surgical and trauma ward said that they had been on seven wards in the first three days of admission, and had been moved at 12.45am, 3am and 5am on different days." The CQC was keen not to blame the permanent staff themselves - though it did note an over-reliance on bank and agency staff (a problem Circle repeatedly promised to fix) who were involved in many of the most worrying failings. "All nursing staff told us the trust had difficulty recruiting and retaining staff... one nurse told inspectors "we can't keep staff". The report reflects the recent staff survey which found morale amongst the lowest in the country. Staff told the CQC that shortages also meant little time for training. For example, "Staff at ward level were not competent in caring for people at the end of their life, because they had not received the training required to enable them to undertake this role."
February 16, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Reposted by Jon
ladyjenpool.bsky.social
"If you're a reader for life, then you're a learner for life. And if you're a learner for life, you are the definition of what I consider to be a dangerous individual, which is somebody who doesn't have to take anybody else's word for it."--Levar Burton.
February 3, 2025 at 3:38 PM
xanthein.net
The most pointless use of technology? Maybe… www.reddit.com/r/badUIbattl...
From the badUIbattles community on Reddit: Resolving DNS records over the phone
Explore this post and more from the badUIbattles community
www.reddit.com
January 28, 2025 at 9:02 PM
xanthein.net
Agnes Pruneterry knows what’s up.
January 22, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Reposted by Jon
mrlovenstein.bsky.social
just posting this every day going forward
January 21, 2025 at 2:46 PM
xanthein.net
Spent this afternoon seeing Steve Coogan in @aiannucci.bsky.social’s production of Dr. Strangelove - a birthday present for last year from @irlsunbug.bsky.social. Absolutely fantastic - a lot of laughs were had!
Photo of the stage at the Noel Coward theatre London. A corrugated grey panelled curtain fills the space under the proscenium arch with the words “Dr. Strangelove” projected on the upper part. Another photo of the stage at the theatre. The curtains are now open revealing a tiled floor, on which upstage is a large oval table covered in a green beize. A large circular light hangs overhead, while the “big board” makes up the backdrop - three projection screens showing cracks as if they were broken. The cast of the show are standing either side of the table, with Generals Ripper and Turgidson standing centre in front of the table. Standing downstage centre in front of them, taking a bow is Steve Coogan as Dr. Strangelove.
January 11, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Reposted by Jon
iandunt.bsky.social
It's been a terrible week. A terrible, terrible week. The worst people on earth are full of energy and vigour, the best are defined by anxiety and self-doubt. Here are three simple rules to surviving the next four years, because by God we'll need them iandunt.substack.com/p/a-little-b...
A little bit of hope after a terrible week
A survival guide to the next four years.
iandunt.substack.com
January 10, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Reposted by Jon
carl-greywolf.bsky.social
Oh, this did resonate with me
November 30, 2024 at 9:13 AM
Reposted by Jon
thelongestjohns.bsky.social
Sometimes you're 30 minutes from a deadline with a sudden shortage of plans for what to post.
Come see us live!
www.thelongestjohns.com/live

#TheLongestJohns #LiveMusic #FolkMusic #Cats #Photoshop
A picture of Andy on stage at a festival, his right hand is holding a mic up to his mouth in song as he stands in profile, facing out towards the audience who are to the middle and left of the frame. He wears a bold red shirt, and the lighting is a hazy orange-brown. His left hand is outstretched and, oh what's this, all of a sudden it appears he is holding it out for a ginger cat to rest its sleepy little face on! How adorable, and utterly out of context for a live music performance! A photograph from the rear of the stage of JD, wearing a blue denim shirt, singing out towards the audience who are facing up at him at the front of the stage. It is fairly bright daytime lighting. His right hand is obscured but can be seen holding the mic up to his mouth as he sings, and his left hand is... oh well this is unexpected again. His left hand appears to be giving a fairly exasperated-looking white and ginger cat a big ol' belly scritch. That's dangerous behaviour if ever I've seen it, you're going to get mauled, son. Okay here's a picture of Robbie, again on stage at a festival, the same hazy orange/brown lighting as the first picture of Andy. He's wearing his hard-working mustard-yellow boiler suit, left hand with the mic up to his mouth as he faces away and to the right of the shot singing to the audience and, well wouldn't you know it there's another cat. His right hand is being grappled by a playful tabby cat that appears to be delicately biting his fingies. How cute. Right, last one and the full band can be seen on stage, the angle of the photograph taken from high up and out in the crowd so it faces down on them as they sing out to the audience. Their arms are extended in triumphant exultation as Andy, JD, and Robbie all sing and also stroke cats. Andy's hand is giving a fluffy little kitten a good back rub, JD's left hand is sent skyward to receive a high-five from a brown cat, and Robbie's hand is in a similar angle, up and away, to receive another high-five from a Bengal cat. Heck yeah.
December 13, 2024 at 5:17 PM
xanthein.net
Oops. Looks like the company that made my replacement heart valve got ransomwared…
December 10, 2024 at 8:06 PM
Reposted by Jon
bylinesnetwork.co.uk
With Nigel Farage back on Question Time and with around 300,000 reads in over 144 countries but still with no response from Question Time

Here's @docrussjackson.bsky.social's open letter to the BBC about widely held concerns about why bias on #bbcqt is not going away
@yorksbylines.bsky.social
An open letter to the BBC
Dr Russell Jackson, senior lecturer in communication and public relations at Sheffield Hallam University, writes to the BBC about Question Time
yorkshirebylines.co.uk
December 6, 2024 at 1:32 AM
Reposted by Jon
psbhq.bsky.social
It's Bandcamp Friday today, as every single band, label, manager, anyone remotely connected to the music industry etc etc will no doubt be reminding you. All of our stuff is here - fill your virtual boots, why not: publicservicebroadcasting.bandcamp.com/album/the-la...
December 6, 2024 at 10:43 AM
Reposted by Jon
charliehall.bsky.social
The men and women who make the paint your hobby runs on need your help.
A year after being bought by a private equity firm, Acrylicos Vallejo’s employees are on strike
98% of workers at the Spanish paint manufacturer are holding a work stoppage
www.polygon.com
December 3, 2024 at 10:38 PM
xanthein.net
That feeling when you want tea, go to the kitchen, and find you already made one at least an hour ago.
November 30, 2024 at 10:54 PM
xanthein.net
I have very vivid memories of this system from when I visited Epcot back the late 80s/early 90s. youtu.be/vm71LBGSUu0?.... Crazy to think how much of this we take for granted nowadays.
Worldkey: Disney's Fake Internet (1982)
YouTube video by Theme Parks Shouldn't Exist
youtu.be
November 30, 2024 at 12:07 PM
Reposted by Jon
maryrobinettekowal.com
Hey there... are you having a hard time writing right now? There's a lot of that right now. Weird, right?

So I'd like to offer you my Barriers to Writing class for free. This is about all the non-writing things that get between you and writing.

www.patreon.com/posts/free-c...
Free Class: Barriers to Writing | Mary Robinette Kowal
Get more from Mary Robinette Kowal on Patreon
www.patreon.com
November 27, 2024 at 7:36 PM
xanthein.net
She’s an old girl but still likes a snuggle (terms subject to change with no notice required).
November 22, 2024 at 10:19 PM