iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben Curthoys @bencurthoys.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 07/10/2026

Wild stab in the dark - is it because they die before they have time to develop Parkinsons?

Screenshot of webpage preview with caption

"Smokers have a lower risk of Parkinson’s – we may have found out why"

Ben Curthoys @bencurthoys.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 23/09/2026

I know it's only small given the state of the world, but the fact that I can't find a way to turn off these "Tips" in Zoom really boils my piss, given that I pay them for a proper licence.

A screenshot of Zoom, with a "pro-tip" for a feature I do not want to try. Get back in your fucking lane, Zoom. You're not my office suite, you're a videoconferencing tool.

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Ben Curthoys @bencurthoys.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 17/09/2026

@zachweinersmith.bsky.social I take that back. Egg on beans on cheese on toast is the best.

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Ben Curthoys @bencurthoys.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 16/09/2026

@jonpsp I have read this and it's great but I can't find your quote in it

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Ben Curthoys @bencurthoys.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/09/2026

I didn't have being DOS's by Facebook's fucking crawlers hammering a login page 20 times at second every second for weeks for on my bingo card, but here were are. Web Server Log files are up to 500mb, per day, per site. My previous "30 day log retention" strategy has been rendered... non-viable.

Screenshot of some IIS log files. Yesterday's was 526.356KB.

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Ben Curthoys @bencurthoys.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 04/09/2026

I don't think that having constant vulnerability monitoring set up has made me much more secure but it has made me a lot more irritated.

Screenshot showing vulnerable app and no updates available.

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Ben Curthoys @bencurthoys.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 04/09/2026

Just had to fill out annoying form for child at new school. One of the questions was on mode of transport. Bicycle not even on the fucking list.

Please choose your child's mode of travel to the academy
Walk
Taxi
Public bus service
Private car/van
Dedicated school bus
Car share (with another child/family)
Other

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Ben Curthoys @bencurthoys.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/09/2026

Turns out 2026 is the year of Linux on the desktop

Photo of my very old laptop running Mint

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Ben Curthoys @bencurthoys.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/08/2026

What kind of spider is this? Cheswick Sands, Northumberland. #spiderdon

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Ben Curthoys @bencurthoys.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/08/2026

Sorry ordnance survey, but you know the rules. Upsell in the notifications and you get the mute.

Android notification from Ordnance Survey implying that buying their maps one at a time is somehow not good enough for them.

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Ben Curthoys @bencurthoys.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 21/08/2026

I keep returning to this over the decades. Trying to make people work with the accuracy of machines, trying to design systems so that people slot in a interchangeably as machine parts, is the source of most of what is wrong with our society.

And observe, you are put to stern choice in this matter. You must either make a tool of the creature, or a man of him. You cannot make both. Men were not intended to work with the accuracy of tools, to be precise and perfect in all their actions. If you will have that precision out of them, and make their fingers measure degrees like cogwheels, and their arms strike curves like compasses, you must unhumanize them. All the energy of their spirits must be given to make cogs and compasses of themselves....On the other hand, if you will make a man of the working creature, you cannot make a tool. Let him but begin to imagine, to think, to try to do anything worth doing; and the engine-turned precision is lost at once. Out come all his roughness; all his dullness, all his incapability; shame upon shame, failure upon failure, pause after pause: but out comes the whole majesty of him also, and we know the height of it only, when we see the clouds settling upon him.

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Ben Curthoys @bencurthoys.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 10/08/2026

I've just reread The Road for my book club and this time this line particularly jumped out at me.

We're the good guys - and we always will be

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Ben Curthoys @bencurthoys.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/08/2026

[Connections Spoiler] Fucks sake Google.

Screenshot of me trying to Google a specific question and getting spoilers instead.

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Ben Curthoys @bencurthoys.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/07/2026

Is anyone else having trouble sending email to Hotmail addresses from Amazon SES, or is it just me?

${ "Type" : "Notification", "MessageId" : "REDACTED", "TopicArn" : "arn:aws:sns:eu-west-1:REDACTED:SES_Failures", "Subject" : "Amazon SES Email Event Notification", "Message" : "{\"eventType\":\"Bounce\",\"bounce\":{\"feedbackId\":\"REDACTED-000000\",\"bounceType\":\"Transient\",\"bounceSubType\":\"General\",\"bouncedRecipients\":[{\"emailAddress\":\"\\\"REDACTED@hotmail.com\\\" <REDACTED@hotmail.com>\",\"action\":\"failed\",\"status\":\"4.4.7\",\"diagnosticCode\":\"smtp; 550 4.4.7 Message expired: unable to deliver in 840 minutes.<421 4.4.1 Unable to connect to remote host>\"}],\"timestamp\":\"2026-07-31T15:31:12.294Z\",\"remoteMtaIp\":\"52.101.11.8\",\"reportingMTA\":\"dns; a54-125.smtp-out.eu-west-1.amazonses.com\"},\"mail\":{\"timestamp\":\"2026-07-31T01:31:11.720Z\",\"source\":\"Rye Arts Festival Box Office <box-office@ryeartsfestival.org.uk>\",\"sourceArn\":\"arn:aws:ses:eu-west-1:REDACTED:identity/ryeartsfestival.org.uk\",\"sendingAccountId\":\"REDACTED\",\"messageId\":\"REDACTED\",\"destination\":[\"\\\"REDACTED@hotmail.com\\\ " <REDACTED@hotmail.com>\"],\"headersTruncated\":false,\"headers\":[{\"name\":\"X-Sender\",\"value\":\"\\\"Rye Arts Festival Box Office\\\" <box-office@ryeartsfestival.org.uk>\"},{\"name\":\"X-Receiver\",\"value\":\"\\\"REDACTED@hotmail.com\\\" <REDACTED@hotmail.com>\"},{\"name\":\"MIME-Version\",\"value\":\"1.0\"},{\"name\":\"From\",\"value\":\"Rye Arts Festival Box Office <box-office@ryeartsfestival.org.uk>\"},{\"name\":\"To\",\"value\":\"\\\"REDACTED@hotmail.com\\\" <REDACTED@hotmail.com>\"},{\"name\":\"Date\",\"value\":\"31 Jul 2026 02:31:11 +0100\"},{\"name\":\"Subject\",\"value\":\"Welcome To Rye Arts Festival\"},{\"name\":\"Content-Type\",\"value\":\"multipart/related; type=\\\"text/html\\\"; boundary=--boundary_3_a46cc433-0ba9-4982-86ad-18e64678ebb6\"}],\"commonHeaders\":{\"from\":[\"Rye Arts Festival Box Office <box-office@ryeartsfestival.org.uk>\"],\"date\":\"31 Jul 2026 02:31:11 +0100\",\"to\":[\"\\\"REDACTED@hotmail.com\\\" <REDACTED@hotmail.com>\"],\"messa geId\":\"0102019fb5cbf9e8-657df708-e3d7-46c7-81e8-45e210e5be64-000000\",\"subject\":\"Welcome To Rye Arts Festival\"},\"tags\":{\"ses:source-tls-version\":[\"TLSv1.2\"],\"ses:operation\":[\"SendRawEmail\"],\"ses:configuration-set\":[\"monad\"],\"ses:source-ip\":[\"52.17.171.107\"],\"ses:from-domain\":[\"ryeartsfestival.org.uk\"],\"ses:caller-identity\":[\"ses-api\"]}}}\n", "Timestamp" : "2026-07-31T15:31:12.508Z", "SignatureVersion" : "1", "Signature" : "REDACTED", "SigningCertURL" : "https://sns.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/REDACTED.pem", "UnsubscribeURL" : "REDACTED" }$

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Ben Curthoys @bencurthoys.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 28/07/2026

@Edent can confirm my ICAL generator has always had DSTAMP on it

<%@ Page Language="C#" EnableTheming="false" Theme="" StylesheetTheme="" ContentType="text/xml" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="iCal.aspx.cs" Inherits="Monad.UI.Sales.iCal" EnableSessionState="False"%><head runat="server" visible="false"></head><asp:repeater id="rptiCal" runat="server" onitemdatabound="rptiCal_OnItemDataBound"><HeaderTemplate>BEGIN:VCALENDAR
PRODID:-//monadticketing//EN
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
METHOD:PUBLISH</HeaderTemplate>
<ItemTemplate>
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:<asp:Literal ID="litDtStamp" runat="server"></asp:Literal>
UID:<asp:Literal ID="litPerformanceFolderId" runat="server"></asp:Literal>
DTSTART:<asp:Literal ID="litPerformanceStart" runat="server"></asp:Literal>
DTEND:<asp:Literal ID="litPerformanceEnd" runat="server"></asp:Literal>
<asp:Literal ID="litShowFolderName" runat="server"></asp:Literal>
<asp:Literal ID="litShowFolderDescription" runat="server"></asp:Literal>
<asp:Literal ID="litItemUrl" runat="server"></asp:Literal>
SEQUENCE:0
STATUS:CONFIRMED
TRANSP:OPAQUE
END:VEVENT</ItemTemplate>
<FooterTemplate>
END:VCALENDAR</FooterTemplate></asp:repeater>

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Ben Curthoys @bencurthoys.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 23/07/2026

At 13:12 today, I emailed a www.cornishware.co.uk about replacing the lid of a butter dish that had been broken by accident. A named human being replied to me 5 minutes later, and the whole transaction was complete by 14:56. I didn't have to wade […] [Original post on mastodon.social]