Mike Dimmick
@mikedimmick.bsky.social
Lead software developer, mobile app for retailers. Dad. He/him.
The current mess is because advertisers pay much more to target ads to specific user groups than to users of the site in general, so it's always in the ad broker's interest to use tracking cookies, and the site's interest to force them on you. But GDPR says you must consent.
November 8, 2025 at 1:23 PM
The current mess is because advertisers pay much more to target ads to specific user groups than to users of the site in general, so it's always in the ad broker's interest to use tracking cookies, and the site's interest to force them on you. But GDPR says you must consent.
Then perhaps there can be an exemption for truly necessary cookies - the type that ties you to a login session or a shopping bag/basket. Cookies can be marked as "just this session" - if you wanted to stay logged in you'd have to accept a longer-term cookie.
November 8, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Then perhaps there can be an exemption for truly necessary cookies - the type that ties you to a login session or a shopping bag/basket. Cookies can be marked as "just this session" - if you wanted to stay logged in you'd have to accept a longer-term cookie.
The way to get rid of the complex cookie warnings is to legislate that advertisers are not allowed to track people across different websites, rather than making it a user choice.
November 8, 2025 at 1:23 PM
The way to get rid of the complex cookie warnings is to legislate that advertisers are not allowed to track people across different websites, rather than making it a user choice.
The EU Directive was passed in 2019 (Directive 2019/904) and therefore is part of UK law until such time as Parliament legislates otherwise. The cut-off was 31 December 2020.
www.legislation.gov.uk/eudr/2019/904
www.legislation.gov.uk/eudr/2019/904
Directive (EU) 2019/904 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment (Text with EEA relevance)
Directive (EU) 2019/904 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment (Text with EEA relevance)
www.legislation.gov.uk
November 8, 2025 at 11:40 AM
The EU Directive was passed in 2019 (Directive 2019/904) and therefore is part of UK law until such time as Parliament legislates otherwise. The cut-off was 31 December 2020.
www.legislation.gov.uk/eudr/2019/904
www.legislation.gov.uk/eudr/2019/904
As with Trump, the state "working" is not a desired outcome.
November 8, 2025 at 11:32 AM
As with Trump, the state "working" is not a desired outcome.
I put on my robe and wizard hat...
November 4, 2025 at 8:51 PM
I put on my robe and wizard hat...
My proposed way of doing this is to abolish National Insurance Contributions - which people of pension age do not pay, employed or not - and increasing income tax rates for all (which they do pay).
October 30, 2025 at 8:36 PM
My proposed way of doing this is to abolish National Insurance Contributions - which people of pension age do not pay, employed or not - and increasing income tax rates for all (which they do pay).
The ZX Interface 1 tended to overheat. The overheating was so bad that one of ours actually deformed both the top case of the Interface, and the bottom case of the Spectrum it was screwed to. We repeatedly couldn't use the Microdrive as the Interface had had to go for repair.
October 29, 2025 at 8:40 PM
The ZX Interface 1 tended to overheat. The overheating was so bad that one of ours actually deformed both the top case of the Interface, and the bottom case of the Spectrum it was screwed to. We repeatedly couldn't use the Microdrive as the Interface had had to go for repair.
Although you could chain up to 8 Microdrives, we only ever had one plugged in at a time. I think we had two, one acquired originally and another from someone who sold us all their Spectrum kit, so we had spares. I don't think we actually had the kit to plug two together. Which leads me on to:
October 29, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Although you could chain up to 8 Microdrives, we only ever had one plugged in at a time. I think we had two, one acquired originally and another from someone who sold us all their Spectrum kit, so we had spares. I don't think we actually had the kit to plug two together. Which leads me on to:
The only way you could back up software that came on tape was with a snapshot device e.g. Multiface II, but some software could detect such copiers, and it didn't help with multi-loaders (more game than would fit in RAM on a 48K machine, so you had to load the next section).
October 29, 2025 at 8:40 PM
The only way you could back up software that came on tape was with a snapshot device e.g. Multiface II, but some software could detect such copiers, and it didn't help with multi-loaders (more game than would fit in RAM on a 48K machine, so you had to load the next section).
The cartridges are an endless loop of tape, no rewinding possible, so worst case you'd have to wait for the tape to go all the way around to reload something. Didn't take too long as they only hold 85-100K but still annoying. No fast forward either.
October 29, 2025 at 8:40 PM
The cartridges are an endless loop of tape, no rewinding possible, so worst case you'd have to wait for the tape to go all the way around to reload something. Didn't take too long as they only hold 85-100K but still annoying. No fast forward either.
When working properly, they were quite a bit faster and more reliable than audio cassettes. But the cartridges were relatively expensive and hard to get hold of. The tape would stretch over time, developing errors. No software came on the format and very little supported loading or saving to it.
October 29, 2025 at 8:40 PM
When working properly, they were quite a bit faster and more reliable than audio cassettes. But the cartridges were relatively expensive and hard to get hold of. The tape would stretch over time, developing errors. No software came on the format and very little supported loading or saving to it.
That's partly because the Treasury is trying to offload all the risk onto the contractors - so the contractors are gold-plating their bids.
October 27, 2025 at 8:05 PM
That's partly because the Treasury is trying to offload all the risk onto the contractors - so the contractors are gold-plating their bids.
Russia is indeed 7, inherited from the Soviet Union, but the international dialling prefix from the UK was 010 until April 1995. This change was concurrent with inserting a 1 in most area codes (for example Reading going from 0734 to 01734 - a year later it would go to the current 0118).
October 22, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Russia is indeed 7, inherited from the Soviet Union, but the international dialling prefix from the UK was 010 until April 1995. This change was concurrent with inserting a 1 in most area codes (for example Reading going from 0734 to 01734 - a year later it would go to the current 0118).
There's a plot in Reading between the mainline railway and the Thames that is on about its 8th different incarnation in the last dozen years. Here's a review of a short-lived tenant: ediblereading.com/2023/03/03/r...
Restaurant review: San Sicario
San Sicario closed in August 2023. i’ve left the review up for posterity. “What was this place before it was Cozze?” said Zoe as we flipped through the menus at San Sicario, the newish Italia…
ediblereading.com
October 20, 2025 at 1:33 PM
There's a plot in Reading between the mainline railway and the Thames that is on about its 8th different incarnation in the last dozen years. Here's a review of a short-lived tenant: ediblereading.com/2023/03/03/r...
Blame planning permission, I think. Once a site has planning permission to be a restaurant, it is cursed to remain one, even if it doesn't really work.
October 20, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Blame planning permission, I think. Once a site has planning permission to be a restaurant, it is cursed to remain one, even if it doesn't really work.
It was about 40.4% as of 2004/5. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_..., quoting ifs.org.uk/publications...
Racing away? Income inequality and the evolution of high incomes | Institute for Fiscal Studies
This Briefing Note provides an analysis of the characteristics of high-income individuals and how their incomes have evolved over time.
ifs.org.uk
October 17, 2025 at 8:37 PM
It was about 40.4% as of 2004/5. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_..., quoting ifs.org.uk/publications...
30 years ago, I opted against going to any London university after I came back from an Imperial College open day with the black snot.
Weirdly it wasn't a problem at Aston University where I ended up. Centre of Birmingham isn't far away but it wasn't as bad.
Weirdly it wasn't a problem at Aston University where I ended up. Centre of Birmingham isn't far away but it wasn't as bad.
October 17, 2025 at 9:02 AM
30 years ago, I opted against going to any London university after I came back from an Imperial College open day with the black snot.
Weirdly it wasn't a problem at Aston University where I ended up. Centre of Birmingham isn't far away but it wasn't as bad.
Weirdly it wasn't a problem at Aston University where I ended up. Centre of Birmingham isn't far away but it wasn't as bad.
You're assuming that the Tories manage to be the second largest party. Not looking that likely at the moment!
October 9, 2025 at 12:33 PM
You're assuming that the Tories manage to be the second largest party. Not looking that likely at the moment!
Whoops, I thought you were talking about the month being 0-11, not the naming of the methods. Point kinda still stands though!
October 8, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Whoops, I thought you were talking about the month being 0-11, not the naming of the methods. Point kinda still stands though!
That's what trying to write a programming language in a week gets you. A case of leaky abstractions here, I think: JavaScript copied java.util.Date, which ultimately copied the Posix "struct tm".
Hopefully Temporal will land soon and we can get away from this archaic nonsense.
Hopefully Temporal will land soon and we can get away from this archaic nonsense.
October 8, 2025 at 8:47 PM
That's what trying to write a programming language in a week gets you. A case of leaky abstractions here, I think: JavaScript copied java.util.Date, which ultimately copied the Posix "struct tm".
Hopefully Temporal will land soon and we can get away from this archaic nonsense.
Hopefully Temporal will land soon and we can get away from this archaic nonsense.
This has to be some sort of measurement error. Has one of the browsers implemented a User-Agent string anonymisation solution that claims to be Windows 7? Increased use of something like Privacy Badger? Or a VPN changing the User-Agent in some way?
October 2, 2025 at 6:23 PM
This has to be some sort of measurement error. Has one of the browsers implemented a User-Agent string anonymisation solution that claims to be Windows 7? Increased use of something like Privacy Badger? Or a VPN changing the User-Agent in some way?
The already loose interpretation of horizontal video sync timing goes a little wonky while waiting for data, but completely out of whack when actually reading. I'm not sure if the supposed vertical bars in the first phase are deliberate or just a side-effect.
September 30, 2025 at 7:41 PM
The already loose interpretation of horizontal video sync timing goes a little wonky while waiting for data, but completely out of whack when actually reading. I'm not sure if the supposed vertical bars in the first phase are deliberate or just a side-effect.