Cathy Young
@bentbacktulips.co.uk
UK-based software engineer (DevSecOps) she/her | Interested in tech, politics, programming, infosec, photography, #metafilter | Hobbyist photographer, gamer, occasional singer in a band | Beholden to two furry monsters of the feline persuasion
Reposted by Cathy Young
Every now and then someone says something to the effect of 'We have this new modern CSS thing. We don't need to set the z-index to 99999 anymore!'.
I wish to make myself clear. I set my z-indexes to 99999 as a matter of principle, not necessity. You can pry z-index: 99999 from my corpse.
I wish to make myself clear. I set my z-indexes to 99999 as a matter of principle, not necessity. You can pry z-index: 99999 from my corpse.
November 26, 2025 at 5:28 AM
Every now and then someone says something to the effect of 'We have this new modern CSS thing. We don't need to set the z-index to 99999 anymore!'.
I wish to make myself clear. I set my z-indexes to 99999 as a matter of principle, not necessity. You can pry z-index: 99999 from my corpse.
I wish to make myself clear. I set my z-indexes to 99999 as a matter of principle, not necessity. You can pry z-index: 99999 from my corpse.
Reposted by Cathy Young
Sometimes I think it’s going to be the librarians who will save us all.
November 25, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Sometimes I think it’s going to be the librarians who will save us all.
Reposted by Cathy Young
My taxes bring all the boys to the yard.
And they're like "this is bad approach to fiscal policy".
And they're like "this is bad approach to fiscal policy".
November 25, 2025 at 11:55 AM
My taxes bring all the boys to the yard.
And they're like "this is bad approach to fiscal policy".
And they're like "this is bad approach to fiscal policy".
Reposted by Cathy Young
Learning so many fantastic expressions from Cory Doctorow in this excellent episode such as "The pile-of-shit-this-big-must-have-a-pony-underneath-it school of investing". The rest is really the outrageous failure of competition regulation which has allowed monsters to go rogue and screw us all.
“Enshittification” is the word of the moment. It’s the reason Google is all ads and Amazon serves you crappy overpriced products. Cory Doctorow, who coined the term, joins @nndroid.bsky.social and @rafaelbehr.bsky.social to discuss how we can combat it ➡️ linktr.ee/ohgodwhatnowpod
November 25, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Learning so many fantastic expressions from Cory Doctorow in this excellent episode such as "The pile-of-shit-this-big-must-have-a-pony-underneath-it school of investing". The rest is really the outrageous failure of competition regulation which has allowed monsters to go rogue and screw us all.
Reposted by Cathy Young
I keep a fake half finished script on my laptop that’s very critical of humanity so if the robots win I can claim any anti-robot decisions I made were just research for satirical purposes
November 25, 2025 at 1:02 AM
I keep a fake half finished script on my laptop that’s very critical of humanity so if the robots win I can claim any anti-robot decisions I made were just research for satirical purposes
Reposted by Cathy Young
whoever said the ai business plan is to “create god and ask him for money” you are 100% right, I can’t get it out of my head, and it’s the only quick way to explain this infrastructure mania to people
November 22, 2025 at 8:45 PM
whoever said the ai business plan is to “create god and ask him for money” you are 100% right, I can’t get it out of my head, and it’s the only quick way to explain this infrastructure mania to people
Reposted by Cathy Young
Extraordinary reporting
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
A year-long investigation reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors
As Esau Lopez was asphyxiated for the first 17 minutes of his life on Earth, the atmosphere in the room remained serene, even ecstatic. Acoustic music crooned from a speaker in a modest two-bedroom apartment in a suburb of Pennsylvania. “You are a queen,” murmured one of three friends in the room.
Only Esau’s mother, Gabrielle Lopez, felt something was wrong. She was pushing hard, but her son would not be born. “Can you help [him] out?” she asked, as Esau crowned. “Baby is coming,” the friend replied. Four minutes later, Lopez asked again, “Can you grab [him]?” Another friend murmured, “Baby is safe.” Six minutes passed. Again, Lopez asked, “Can you grab [him]?” Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Extraordinary reporting
Reposted by Cathy Young
Going to end on one of the most beautiful commercials ever made with the reminder and a call to remember the small things. They make a big difference to others.
Love all, help all.
Go Jackets.
Love all, help all.
Go Jackets.
November 21, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Going to end on one of the most beautiful commercials ever made with the reminder and a call to remember the small things. They make a big difference to others.
Love all, help all.
Go Jackets.
Love all, help all.
Go Jackets.
Reposted by Cathy Young
We were subjected to SO much gaslighting nonsense about how various measures weren’t worth bothering with, how it made sense to not suppress it too much, how everyone would need to get it, etc etc
I remember the early days of the pandemic so, so well. I remember everyone urging the government to do something sooner, it seemed madness not to, but they just wouldn’t. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cm...
November 20, 2025 at 7:20 PM
We were subjected to SO much gaslighting nonsense about how various measures weren’t worth bothering with, how it made sense to not suppress it too much, how everyone would need to get it, etc etc
Reposted by Cathy Young
[dying] Bruce you’re gonna be okay
I’ll avenge you dad
Don’t worry son be good for Alfred
I’m gonna dress up like a Bat, father
I … what
I’ll fight clowns for you
A lot of blood … Am I hallucinating
Instead of getting married I will practice defusing exploding mechanical penguins I love you
I’ll avenge you dad
Don’t worry son be good for Alfred
I’m gonna dress up like a Bat, father
I … what
I’ll fight clowns for you
A lot of blood … Am I hallucinating
Instead of getting married I will practice defusing exploding mechanical penguins I love you
November 19, 2025 at 7:23 AM
[dying] Bruce you’re gonna be okay
I’ll avenge you dad
Don’t worry son be good for Alfred
I’m gonna dress up like a Bat, father
I … what
I’ll fight clowns for you
A lot of blood … Am I hallucinating
Instead of getting married I will practice defusing exploding mechanical penguins I love you
I’ll avenge you dad
Don’t worry son be good for Alfred
I’m gonna dress up like a Bat, father
I … what
I’ll fight clowns for you
A lot of blood … Am I hallucinating
Instead of getting married I will practice defusing exploding mechanical penguins I love you
Reposted by Cathy Young
John Major, "Our links to Europe and America may be loser now than once they were and that is a loss"
"The loss of trade with Europe alone costs us £100 billion of lost trade every year"
"That's a tax yield of £40 billion"
"How useful would that have been in recent months to the Chancellor?"
"The loss of trade with Europe alone costs us £100 billion of lost trade every year"
"That's a tax yield of £40 billion"
"How useful would that have been in recent months to the Chancellor?"
November 19, 2025 at 6:39 PM
John Major, "Our links to Europe and America may be loser now than once they were and that is a loss"
"The loss of trade with Europe alone costs us £100 billion of lost trade every year"
"That's a tax yield of £40 billion"
"How useful would that have been in recent months to the Chancellor?"
"The loss of trade with Europe alone costs us £100 billion of lost trade every year"
"That's a tax yield of £40 billion"
"How useful would that have been in recent months to the Chancellor?"
Reposted by Cathy Young
#3157 A helpful tutorial
November 17, 2025 at 11:40 PM
#3157 A helpful tutorial
Reposted by Cathy Young
A simple scene from a remote black sand beach in Iceland.
November 15, 2025 at 8:13 AM
A simple scene from a remote black sand beach in Iceland.
Reposted by Cathy Young
your dead AI mother loves you so much ❤️
November 15, 2025 at 12:50 AM
your dead AI mother loves you so much ❤️
Reposted by Cathy Young
I think it's cute when you charge up an old camera/phone and it's first question is "what year is this?"
November 13, 2025 at 10:36 AM
I think it's cute when you charge up an old camera/phone and it's first question is "what year is this?"
Reposted by Cathy Young
toy company CEOs: "at long last, we have created the Sinister Talking Doll Factory from the acclaimed movie 'Don't Create the Sinister Talking Doll Factory'"
futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com/artificial-i...
AI-Powered Toys Caught Telling 5-Year-Olds How to Find Knives and Start Fires With Matches
AI-powered toys are flying off the shelves -- but they're engaging in horrifically inappropriate conversations with children.
futurism.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:42 PM
toy company CEOs: "at long last, we have created the Sinister Talking Doll Factory from the acclaimed movie 'Don't Create the Sinister Talking Doll Factory'"
futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com/artificial-i...
Reposted by Cathy Young
Winter evenings at Brighton Pier bring one of nature's greatest spectacles - thousands of starlings dancing across the golden sky in mesmerising murmurations.
This is February's entry in the Sussex Calendar 2026:
www.lloydlane.uk/calendars/su...
This is February's entry in the Sussex Calendar 2026:
www.lloydlane.uk/calendars/su...
November 12, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Winter evenings at Brighton Pier bring one of nature's greatest spectacles - thousands of starlings dancing across the golden sky in mesmerising murmurations.
This is February's entry in the Sussex Calendar 2026:
www.lloydlane.uk/calendars/su...
This is February's entry in the Sussex Calendar 2026:
www.lloydlane.uk/calendars/su...
Reposted by Cathy Young
OH: We gaze into the abyss. The abyss gazes back. It refuses to compile
November 11, 2025 at 7:24 PM
OH: We gaze into the abyss. The abyss gazes back. It refuses to compile
Reposted by Cathy Young
Nothing illustrates the arseholery of the IOC and the British Press more than the use of the image of a not-Trans woman to illustrate a story about trans women being banned (because there are no current trans women competing at this level)
November 10, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Nothing illustrates the arseholery of the IOC and the British Press more than the use of the image of a not-Trans woman to illustrate a story about trans women being banned (because there are no current trans women competing at this level)
Reposted by Cathy Young
IT HAPPENED TO ME: I stopped faffing about and Did The Thing and it turns out that this is What Gets Things Done.
November 10, 2025 at 8:11 PM
IT HAPPENED TO ME: I stopped faffing about and Did The Thing and it turns out that this is What Gets Things Done.
Reposted by Cathy Young
The distance in time between now and when Microsoft Office replaced drop down menus with the ribbon bar at the top is the same as the distance between then and the fall of the Berlin Wall
November 11, 2025 at 7:23 AM
The distance in time between now and when Microsoft Office replaced drop down menus with the ribbon bar at the top is the same as the distance between then and the fall of the Berlin Wall
Reposted by Cathy Young
This is honestly one of the cleverest lines I’ve ever written and I remain ungodly proud of it.
Because @tkingfisher.com has a new book out, I finally got around to reading "Swordheart ", which led me to "Clockwork Boys", and this ✨absolutely delightful✨ line:
"Hours passed, like a kidney stone."
10/10, no notes.
"Hours passed, like a kidney stone."
10/10, no notes.
November 9, 2025 at 8:10 PM
This is honestly one of the cleverest lines I’ve ever written and I remain ungodly proud of it.
Reposted by Cathy Young
BREAKING: Mark Wolf, appointed to the federal bench by Ronald Reagan, writes that he is resigning as a judge to have the freedom to speak out against the president's assault on the rule of law.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
November 9, 2025 at 2:27 PM
BREAKING: Mark Wolf, appointed to the federal bench by Ronald Reagan, writes that he is resigning as a judge to have the freedom to speak out against the president's assault on the rule of law.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Reposted by Cathy Young
Mamdani is going to implement SSHaria law. Communications will be end to end encrypted.
Mamdani is going to implement Shakira law. Hips will no longer be able to lie.
Mamdani is going to implement Shania law. That don't impress me much.
November 9, 2025 at 1:37 AM
Mamdani is going to implement SSHaria law. Communications will be end to end encrypted.
Reposted by Cathy Young
The 30 Rock episode with “how do you do, fellow kids?” is closer to the release of Windows 98 than it is to today.
I made a “how do you do, fellow kids?” joke to someone in their mid 20s who, it turns out, was too young to have heard of that meme.
So “how do you do, fellow kids?” is now an example of “how do you do, fellow kids?”
So “how do you do, fellow kids?” is now an example of “how do you do, fellow kids?”
November 8, 2025 at 2:39 PM
The 30 Rock episode with “how do you do, fellow kids?” is closer to the release of Windows 98 than it is to today.