If who enjoy learning about renewable energy tech, I highly recommend this 9 minute PBS video. Introducing the concept of 'flow batteries', and exploring their potential use in large-scale energy storage. It explains why using Vanadium could make safer, easily recyclable, and much cheaper grid-scale batteries;

https://youtu.be/fPtaDqLsbnM

#HatTip to @deutrino for introducing me to this tech and supplying the link.

@deutrino
Another potential use for sodium ion battery tech is in grid-scale storage systems, like those mentioned here;

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/556884/construction-capacity-can-t-keep-up-with-phenomenal-demand-for-solar-power

(#HatTip to @norightturnnz for the link)

I have no idea what chemicals are currently used when building such systems. But if they're lithium ion they'll be stupidly expensive to build, and if they're lead acid - which seems more likely - they'll need replacing much sooner.

(1/2)

#AarbergBisZweisimmen 

schon wieder ein fehler im katalog das heute morgen war nicht #Schwarzenburg, sondern #Oberdiessbach (#hattip Thomas Scheidegger).
neuer versuch: https://ark.burgerbib.ch/ark:36599/hhd8nkjd8mb
#Burgerbibliothek #Bern

"What political scientists describe as affective/negative polarization describes how political disagreements are increasingly existential value judgments where 'the other side' is not just wrong but evil. In such an environment, changing one’s mind, by, for example, deciding to no longer support Trump’s policies, becomes less likely."

#ChaunceyDeVega, 2025

https://www.salon.com/2025/03/27/sadopolitics-why-maga-clings-more-to-the-more-his-policies-hurt-them/

#HatTip to @Some_Emo_Chick for the link.

Right to Repair bills become law in Canada. This one particularly intriguing;

"Bill C-244 creates a new exception allowing for circumvention of TPMs for the purposes of “repair, maintenance and diagnosis.” And Bill C-294 creates a new exception allowing circumvention to make any computerized device interoperable with any other computerized device or system."

#AnthonyDRosborough, 2024

https://theconversation.com/updates-to-canadas-copyright-act-bring-consumers-closer-to-the-right-to-repair-your-devices-241535

#HatTip to @norightturnnz for the link.

#HatTip to @norightturnnz for the link to this story;

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/544486/school-lunch-failures-original-contractors-ready-to-offer-alternatives

Like the Irex ferry cancellation, this is further proof that whenever the NatACTs try to fix what they claim is "wasteful spending", they end up spending more public money for inferior results.

Unlike Irex, which is difficult to unf%& k, school lunches can be fixed by canning Rimmer's penny-pinching failure, and going back to the local providers it displaced. Fingers crossed.

@afreytes Thanks. I was thinking out loud as it were. The error was not from the last name column, only triggered when I pulled in records with blanks in date fields. Weak view definition.

Fixed with:
CAST(case when f__N not like '%/%' then null else f__N end AS date)
in the view create statement.

#PostgreSQL

#HatTip to this post from 8 years back:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/42392052/pginvaliddatetimeformat-error-invalid-input-syntax-for-type-date

#HatTip to @glynmoody for writing that TechDirt article about the proto-fascist planning a virtual pogrom of their ideological enemies on Wikipedia. Also @jbz for sharing the quote and link.

Oh christ-on-a-stick here's another one!

https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/make-a-submission/document/54SCJUST_SCF_5C7F002D-E4B4-4573-5563-08DD042D0CD2/crimes-countering-foreign-interference-amendment-bill

The formal submissions closed on 16 Jan but you can still write to your MP, government ministers etc about why bringing back Cold War style treason laws is a gobsmackingly bad idea.

#HatTip to @norightturnnz for bringing my attention to this in a recent blog post.

#HatTip to @soapdog for sharing this news about the PebbleOS code release on the Secure Scuttlebutt network where I learned about it.

"Saying he was just more deadweight hampering the executive branch’s ability to function efficiently, Elon Musk confirmed Monday that he had offered himself $10 billion to resign from his position as head of President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency."

#TheOnion, 2025

https://theonion.com/elon-musk-offers-self-10-billion-federal-buyout/

#HatTip to Elizabeth Lopatto the Verge for the link, and @GossiTheDog for posting about Elizabeth's article.

"Hype allows AI proponents to claim that they have built something a) of great power, b) over which they have no responsibility or control."

#DamienPatrickWilliam

#HatTip to @FractalEcho who quoted this here;

https://www.goethe.de/prj/geg/en/thm/tru/25453339.html