I just looked up the Tewksbury #parkrun. The course looks a little damp!

Parkrun 6. I’ve been to the farm shop before, so I just expected laps of a car park and maybe a small field. But the reviews said otherwise, and indeed it was very extensive and pretty, with about half of it in shady woodland. It has one long […] [Original post on mastodon.richardloxley.com]

This is sad. Anyone know which is the second best VPN company for when my renewal comes up? https://chaosfem.tw/@jasmine/116815539740524405

important thread!

This is an interesting read if you're into the history of cryptology, Turing, or similar: https://spectrum.ieee.org/alan-turings-delilah #history #cryptology #cryptography #turing #ww2

5th parkrun. It seems I snoozed my alarm multiple times without noticing, so it was a bit of a rush and I only had time to drink half my coffee. I’m still improving my pace every time. This isn’t sustainable! First five 5Ks: 49:04 46:35 46:20 […] [Original post on mastodon.richardloxley.com]

My 4th #parkrun, and my first at my local: Pomphrey Hill. The eponymous hill that’s climbed 3 times is why I was advised to start with flatter courses. But my new training scheme of having periods of walking to recover, allowing faster running […] [Original post on mastodon.richardloxley.com]

Jess seems to be winning this game of #cat chess (see #terrypratchett’s “The Unadulterated Cat”)

Hmm. An experiment: my running pace is very slow, with walkers that are quicker. So today I did a 2km brisk walk, to calibrate my running vs walking speed: 2km walking: 8:59 min/km. 5km running: 9:08. 1km running: 7:59. I wonder if I should do […] [Original post on mastodon.richardloxley.com]

And then he'll post about it on a website rigged to help Nazis and post non-consensual pornography.

Burger and chips, and #eurovision on iPlayer. Do Saturday nights ever get better than this? 😀 A thread with my comments on the entries this year…

3rd parkrun. Very slightly faster than last week, and my fastest 5km so far. Fewer people because of the rain. I kept my pace pretty consistent this time which helped, although I was pretty wiped out by the end. For the first time I was not the […] [Original post on mastodon.richardloxley.com]

The best measure available of the prevalence of Covid in the community is wastewater measurement. It doesn't depend on people getting tested, or even feeling sick. Scotland has been measuring it since June 2020. Only one big wave since end 2024, and now recording lowest levels since 2020 2/7

Post 5K: I’m experimenting with continuing 3 runs a week. A 5km parkrun on Saturdays, an open-ended there-and-back (3-3.5km) on the pretty riverside path near my mum’s, and an intensive 2 x 1km to try to increase my speed when I’m stuck with doing […] [Original post on mastodon.richardloxley.com]

My elderly mum is finding it hard to read books now. I suggested audio books. But she can’t learn new things any longer. One of my friends found this dementia player in a charity shop. It just has a flap to lift to start/stop playing, and a big […] [Original post on mastodon.richardloxley.com]

Do you miss The Boring Conference, where passionate people wittered on in minute detail about things you couldn’t possibly imagine would be interesting? Well here’s a video about bins: https://youtu.be/Nbt_jhIYQVo

I don’t think I posted last week about my first #parkrun which was my first ever 5km run. (I didn’t manage 5K at the end of my #CouchTo5k journey two days earlier). Insanely hot, but lovely surroundings at Sizewell Beach, and I was accompanied by […] [Original post on mastodon.richardloxley.com]

Against my better judgement, I got up early again for my second #parkrun. Much cooler, and some shade. Busier, with 378 runners (I finished 355). Official time was 47:14, but my actual 5km time was 46:03. I shaved 2.5 minutes off last week’s […] [Original post on mastodon.richardloxley.com]

And #CouchTo5k is done 🙂 I’ve only managed just under 3.4km so far, but I can now run for 30 minutes consistently. And the last two runs I completely enjoyed (I dropped my pace a little to make it more sustainable). Now to actually do my first […] [Original post on mastodon.richardloxley.com]

It seems the Bungay Balls Up live webcam is still live after many years! https://tlmb.net/BBU/webcam.html #bbu #bbu2026 #bbufedi

Set-up crew invite you to #bungayballsup from 6pm tomorrow. #bbu https://bungayballsup.com

Yesterday’s #CouchTo5k run was brought to you via Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Cold weather, and no pretty view, so I knew I just needed to retreat inside my head and get it done. So for the first time I listened to music. I figured Frankie might […] [Original post on mastodon.richardloxley.com]

Very interesting

Week 8 of #CouchTo5k and my longest run yet: 28 min and 3.18km. Remarkably I mostly enjoyed it, unlike the last 4 which were a horrible slog. Maybe it was the beautiful surroundings rather than laps of my local park? Or maybe it was a little […] [Original post on mastodon.richardloxley.com]

Just watched S1E1 of #onlyconnect only 18 years late (I discovered the show at about series 4). It was much less rough around the edges than I’d expected. Pretty much fully formed. The questions have got a lot harder since then though, and the teams stronger. In this episode I got many […]

Met Gala VIP toilet, installed outside the Met Museum in New York. A $100,000 ticket gets you fashion, glamour, and apparently the full Amazon worker experience. 💋

TIL that iOS’s auto capitalisation doesn’t regard an interrobang as the end of a sentence‽ madness.

End of week 6 of #CouchTo5k My first 25 min run. By 8 minutes in I started to enjoy it a bit. Then waves of struggling, and it being ok, presumably as endorphins neutralised the pain in my leg muscles. If I can do 25 minutes now I’ll be able to […] [Original post on mastodon.richardloxley.com]

The last of the “easy” runs for #CouchTo5k. From the next run onwards, there are no breaks during each session, just runs of length 25, 28, or 30 minutes. I actually rather enjoyed this one. The second 10 min run was surprisingly easier than the […] [Original post on mastodon.richardloxley.com]

“When developers are allowed to use AI tools, they take 19% longer to complete issues—a significant slowdown that goes against developer beliefs and expert forecasts. This gap between perception and reality is striking: developers expected AI to speed them up by 24%, and even after experiencing […]

5 weeks of #couchto5k completed. The biggest increment so far. Going from 2 x 8 min, with a break, on the previous run, to a single 20 min run today. The last 4 minutes was the killer and I slowed right down. But I got it done.

Talking to my 8-year-old about my upcoming Way Too Big Blog Post About genAI. I explain that my goal is to describe why I think it's bad, because it's really complicated and hard to understand, and so I don't blame people who disagree. They ask, matter-of-factly, "Oh, are you trying to get […]

Start of week 5 of #couchto5k Now all running segments are 5 minutes long. The first one was tough. I’m trying to train myself to stop clock watching and just get into a sort of meditation to plough through it.

Hannah Fry interviewed in New Scientist.

#CouchTo5k week 4 run 2 The second brutal run, a little easier this time, and a bit further so I got to the pretty spot. Dodging showers today rather than lawn mowers. But I have my new waterproof hat. Annoyingly my #WatchTo5k coach has been […] [Original post on mastodon.richardloxley.com]

British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. I only noticed because of the purple light shining upwards" Everyone: ??? "We have track measurement trains. They run around, checking the tracks for faults, the power cables, etc They're bright yellow. So […] [Original post on ohai.social]

"On the acceptance of GenAI" https://smallsheds.garden/blog/2026/on-the-acceptance-of-genai/

I've just stumbled across the "unofficial retrofest ad" and I'm still chuckling at it now... Hoping to be visiting again on the Sunday this year fingers crossed! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DScdsdFIP_A #retrofest #retrofest2026

NYT reporting that under this ceasefire each ship will pay $2M to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. It was $0 before Trump launched this illegal war. 100-130 ships pass the Strait daily. Trump just gave Iran an extra $100M-$130M per day. Masterful gambit, sir. Impeach and remove this […]

Come and join us at #bungayballsup in a beautiful buttercup field. You can #juggle if you want to, but it's not compulsory (or even expected). https://www.bungayballsup.com/ #bbu #bbu2026 Boosts welcome.

The ever-excellent Scott Manley simulates the Artemis II mission in Kerbal Space Program and explains the principles in suitably nerdy detail. https://youtu.be/UHLqZ-L4zoY

@info EMF Camp newbie here - I just discovered this account as someone I follow boosted it (I’m now following). Are there any other EMF fediverse accounts I should be following? And any other places to chat to find out what to expect? (I was hoping to come with a friend who was going to show me […]

We are starkly underestimating the impact of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. This is a much graver situation than people realise iandunt.substack.com/p/the-mad-em...

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EnKITTification Artist: bruised_blood b3ta.com/board/11426454 From the '80s Tech Today' challenge https://b3ta.com/challenge/80stechtoday/popular/ #80stechtoday

When Joseph Stalin took the stage, applause wasn’t just standard. It meant your freedom. As the crowd thundered with cheers, no one dared to break first. Not after two minutes. Not after four. Not after six. As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote in “The Gulag Archipelago,” “It was becoming […]

Another late #hackster round-up today, and I'm still waiting for two pieces to go live - but let's see what's already up for now. First, it's a very special day today: the Sinclair #zx81's 45th birthday. I've written a little potted history here, digging into the reference books in the office […]

The laid-back juggling convention, Bungay Balls Up, returns from Fri 16 May (6pm) - Mon 26 May 2025. Details at https://www.bungayballsup.com/ Juggling Edge event: https://www.jugglingedge.com/event.php?EventID=6253 Facebook event: https://fb.me/e/4wIYBLv99