Chris Ellis @intrbiz@bergamot.social
Admin
PostgreSQL, Linux, Java, and more. Lover of computers, electronics and Open Source. European. Lib Dem. Lead Technical Strategist nexteam.co.uk
Joined Nov 2022
Chris Ellis
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As expected, MPs have this evening voted to proscribe Palestine Action, with only 26 MPs voting against this attack on the democratic right to protest.
The state has reserved to itself the power to decide what is 'legitimate' protest & render other (non-violent) protests as 'terrorism'.
This is a grave day from democracy & the right to protest;
normally I don't like talk of a 'slippery slope' or 'a thin end of a wedge' but this feels like a step change in the attack on protest!
@grifferz hehe, swap info for chris
@grifferz I have a spare original screen for the Framework 13 if you want it?
Chris Ellis
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Don't forget to submit your abstract to PGGConf.EU 2025 by 24:00CEST today!
https://2025.pgconf.eu/call-for-papers/
@neil I will also say, that as a Software Engineer, I'm feeling increasingly disenfranchised by the IT industry. The whole cloud sycophants, AI cultists, obsession with more and more abstraction. Just makes me think we've further and further lost our way as an industry. With any engineering principles being sacrificed at the alter of shareholder value.
@neil I think you might like this article: https://infrequently.org/2025/06/conferences-clarity-and-smokescreens/
Chris Ellis
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Sometimes, I receive questions which leave both me, and the person asking, bamboozled.
> Your website loads so quickly! What CDN do you use?
There is no CDN. It is just really small and simple, mostly text.
> Sure, but is that Cloudflare, or...?
None. It is a tiny website, just a few kilobytes per page, on a tiny server, at my home, connected to the Internet via my ISP, Andrews & Arnold.
> But are you / they in the cloud?
No. The webserver is in Newbury, in my garage.
> Neil, please can you pass my questions to your technical person? I don't think you understand, your website cannot be in your home. It must be in the cloud or have a CDN.
*Neil puts on glasses and false nose and moustache*
Chris Ellis
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It is as if the "old magic" has got lost in a sea of "cloud" and "node" and "react" and the like.
Putting files of text on a webserver, and hosting it, is so old fashioned, so ancient, that it is almost inconceivable.
Chris Ellis
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The most generous elevator pitch for “AI” is “you can speed up the creation of extremely mediocre work that’s possibly wrong”. The fact that that’s exciting to people is depressing.
Chris Ellis
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The state of programming in 2025 that makes vibe coding so attractive is IMO the result of terrible decisions in tech over the last couple of decades. Non-existent stdlibs that normalise the use of a thousand micro dependencies, blindly pulled. Constantly mutating frameworks as performance art. Untyped languages that need huge test suites to prevent basic errors. It all generates mountains of boilerplate that *of course* people want to offload any way they can, even if it’s wrong half the time
Chris Ellis
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OggCamp, the unconference for open source and free culture enthusiasts returns in 2026.
🗓️ Save the date and join us, once again, at The Manchester Conference Centre on April 25th and 26th.
👀 Keep an eye out for the Call for Papers and ticket announcements soon! 🎟️
#Oggcamp #OggCamp2026 #OpenSource #TechConference #Manchester
Chris Ellis
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👋 Meet Karen, Solutions Architect at Snowflake and non-voting Chair of the PGConf.EU 2025 Selection Committee!
This is the first post in our “Selection Committee Spotlight” series - stay tuned to meet the team behind the program!
#PGConfEU #PostgreSQL
Chris Ellis
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Bcachefs may be headed out of the kernel
A quiet Friday afternoon with the weekend coming up is a perfect time to submit some talks for PGConf.EU 2025 in Riga:
https://2025.pgconf.eu/call-for-papers/
If your a new speaker, all that is needed is a title and a short abstract, you don't need to have written the talk yet.
Chris Ellis
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#PostgreSQL Event Calendar, Reminder:
⌛️ CfP PGConf EU (Latvia)
Date: 2025-06-30
ICS file: https://ics.postgresql.life/5jro5726dq11dru3s38c919tfi.ics
Chris Ellis
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Chris Ellis
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/22/labour-disability-benefit-cuts-keir-starmer. The idea that Keir Starmer believes in "human dignity" is a monstrous & vile absurdity, totally disproved by his evil Government's commitment to its #disability #benefit & SEND #education cuts, @ChrisMayLA6, @HarriettMB, @junesim63, @NorthantsGreens. He wouldn't even know what human dignity WAS, let alone believe in it!
@grifferz wow, sigh, that article has to have been written by AI.
I do despair at the state our industry is getting into.
Chris Ellis
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@Floppy if you ever need any help with PostgreSQL, let me know, happy to help you out.
Admin
PostgreSQL, Linux, Java, and more. Lover of computers, electronics and Open Source. European. Lib Dem. Lead Technical Strategist nexteam.co.uk
Joined Nov 2022
