A lego version of the Enterprise D from the show Star Trek: The Next Generation. To the right of the ship is a line up of character minifigs

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If you're reading this, then I have been kidnapped and the kidnappers are demanding the release of ALL of the Star Trek Ships as Lego kits. Not saying I agree with them, but yeah?Well actually no, I'm just testing the cms for the Angrybeanie site now that it's all be brought across from Linode.com to Binarylane.com.au

Okay well here goes nothing

A field covered in deep green grass. In the foreground, slightly out of focus on the left is a tree, in the middle ground we see two cows, one is looking at the viewer. In the background there is a small forest of trees

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I was going through my library of photos and I came across these from 2022.I have thousands of photos that I need to go through and get the best out of (not counting my daughters Netball game photos of which I also have many)<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://angrybeanie.com/gallery/my-first-gallery/two-cows-outstanding-in-their-field"><img class="image_resized" style="width:39.87%;" src="/uploads/IMG_6116_cd9db5d9b5.jpg" alt="A field covered in deep green grass. In the foreground, slightly out of focus on the left is a tree, in the middle ground we see two cows, one is looking at the viewer. In the background there is a small forest of trees" srcset="/uploads/thumbnail_IMG_6116_cd9db5d9b5.jpg 234w,/uploads/small_IMG_6116_cd9db5d9b5.jpg 500w,/uploads/medium_IMG_6116_cd9db5d9b5.jpg 750w,/uploads/large_IMG_6116_cd9db5d9b5.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"></a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://angrybeanie.com/gallery/my-first-gallery/old-farm-on-the-hill"><img class="image_resized" style="width:39.65%;" src="/uploads/IMG_6101_7a7e311ec8.jpg" alt="The image presents a tranquil view of a mountainous landscape, with lush greenery covering the slopes and a small community nestled at its base." srcset="/uploads/thumbnail_IMG_6101_7a7e311ec8.jpg 234w,/uploads/small_IMG_6101_7a7e311ec8.jpg 500w,/uploads/medium_IMG_6101_7a7e311ec8.jpg 750w,/uploads/large_IMG_6101_7a7e311ec8.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"></a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://angrybeanie.com/gallery/my-first-gallery/butterfly-on-a-flower"><img class="image_resized" style="width:39.51%;" src="/uploads/IMG_6106_db342529d7.jpg" alt="A brown butterfly or moth sits on a small white flower amongst the grass" srcset="/uploads/thumbnail_IMG_6106_db342529d7.jpg 245w,/uploads/small_IMG_6106_db342529d7.jpg 500w,/uploads/medium_IMG_6106_db342529d7.jpg 750w,/uploads/large_IMG_6106_db342529d7.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"></a> &nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://angrybeanie.com/gallery/my-first-gallery/grasshopper-models-for-me"><img class="image_resized" style="width:24.51%;" src="/uploads/IMG_6106_ad475cca79.jpg" alt="The photo shows a single green grasshopper perched on the ground. The background is a plain grey concrete surface, indicating an urban or suburban setting." srcset="/uploads/thumbnail_IMG_6106_ad475cca79.jpg 157w,/uploads/small_IMG_6106_ad475cca79.jpg 500w,/uploads/medium_IMG_6106_ad475cca79.jpg 750w,/uploads/large_IMG_6106_ad475cca79.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"></a>

Some photos from 2022

Technology will never remove bias, you need humans to do that.

A wasp nest hangs from a metal rail. It is covered with wasps

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<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://themarkup.org/on-borrowed-time/2025/10/14/is-the-patient-black-check-this-box-for-yes">https://themarkup.org/on-borrowed-time/2025/10/14/is-the-patient-black-check-this-box-for-yes</a><blockquote>“That always raised a flag for me,” he says. “So, we’re different from the rest of the world? I got Black kidneys, and everybody else got white kidneys. It never set well with me.”Craig Merrit</blockquote>The story I linked above is a prime example of why every time I hear an AI Booster talk about the power for AI to reduce or eliminate bias in what ever field they’re talking about, I have a little chuckle.Before we get into AI, lets have a look at the story.One of the ways that a doctor measures your kidney health is something called the eGFR. It stands for “estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate”, and it measures the levels of creatinine (a waste product) in your blood and combined with information about the your age, sex, it gives a good picture of how well your kidney is functioning. The higher the score, the better your kidney is functioning.So far so good.Except back in the late 90’s someone decided that because African Americans tend to have higher levels of creatinine in their blood on average, they needed to account for that in the score. So they added a second score specifically for African Americans that had a buffer in it, boosting it higher.Who can see the problem here?Yup that’s right, it meant that African Americans that were maybe borderline (and thus definitely needing intervention) under the normal test, were being shunted down the priority list because their adjusted score said they were fine.<img src="/uploads/image_9ad2d493ed.png" alt="image.png" srcset="/uploads/thumbnail_image_9ad2d493ed.png 245w, http://172.104.113.59:1337/uploads/small_image_9ad2d493ed.png 500w, /uploads/medium_image_9ad2d493ed.png 750w, /uploads/large_image_9ad2d493ed.png 1000w" sizes="100vw" width="1000">It wasn’t until 2020/21 that the US medical establishment started to deal with the problem, in the mean time, many thousands of African Americans had suffered because the algorithm had prioritised others BY DESIGN.AI of course would have done nothing to stop any of the above from happening, the bias was baked into the algorithm well before it got anywhere near any sort of automation.This is the main issue, and it’s an issue that AI’s just CANNOT fix. We’ve seen <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/may/14/people-interviewed-by-ai-for-jobs-face-discrimination-risks-australian-study-warns">time</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.hrgrapevine.com/us/content/article/2025-07-01-disabled-amazon-employees-say-automated-systems-deny-their-rights">time</a> again that AI systems are prone to the biases inherent in their training data. If the training data contains a bias against African Americans, then decisions made by that AI system have the potential to show the same bias.Remember when Grok went <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.npr.org/2025/07/09/nx-s1-5462609/grok-elon-musk-antisemitic-racist-content">full white supremacist</a> ?Bias is a human problem and needs human solutions. This means we need to know what is going into the systems that are making decisions about us. It means that we need to be aware that because “The purpose of a system is what it does” we need to make sure our systems do the right thing.

Algorithms can't prevent bias

Where I examine the intersection between technology and disability. The good, the bad and some of the very bad.

Tech and Disability

A thread about some of the challenges faced when people need access to accessible vehicles

A black van sits in a grey industrial compound. Its side door is open and a beige chair has swivelled out

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The below is a thread I posted to Bluesky and Mastodon off the back of a discussion I had with a mother at my local doctors surgery. I want to expand on some of this in future posts, but I'm just sticking this here for the moment.<blockquote>Just had an interesting discussion with a woman who's son has Muscular Distrophy.He's using a power assist chair at the moment but is going to be needing a full power chair sooner rather than later.This means they're going to need a vehicle that can converted.Now the NDIS will only pay for a conversion if the vehicle is three years old or younger, which means that if you're not in the position to buy a new or near new car then you're having to shop around the second hand market. Hoping something comes up."That's alright there are wheelchair taxis aren't there?"Well no. Wheelchair taxis are an increasingly rare breed, which means that what you have is an increasingly isolated group of people who cannot function as part of society.So what if the NDIS didn't just cover the conversion but offered a path to vehicle ownership?This is just spitballing but you increase the pool of vehicles that can be onsold into the second hand market.I have no details worked out but it's worth a thoughtSo what if the NDIS didn't just cover the conversion but offered a path to vehicle ownership?This is just spitballing but you increase the pool of vehicles that can be onsold into the second hand market.I have no details worked out but it's worth a thought .</blockquote>

Wheelchairs, vans and things - a thread

Long time no blog. Here's what I've been up to since August.

A rusted steel stylised bird with its wings swept back as if coming into land. It is done in an origami style

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Okay so it's been almost two months since my last post, I figured I should post SOMETHING at least.So here's a brief update.<h2>ProminART</h2>Went down to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://shellharbourmarina.com.au/">Shellharbour Marina</a> and took some photos of the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.visitshellharbour.com.au/whats-on/promenart-sculpture-walk/">ProminART</a> display that is running until the 31st October.I've created a gallery of some of the photos I took, which you can find here:<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://angrybeanie.com/gallery/shellharbour-promin-art"><img class="image_resized" style="width:52.24%;" src="/uploads/IMG_9677_dd638ee846.jpg" alt="Two rust red kangaroo sculptures stand on grass. The one closest to the viewer is standing facing right but looking over its shoulder to the left. In the backgroun we can see the other sculpture laying on the ground, as if at rest" srcset="/uploads/thumbnail_IMG_9677_dd638ee846.jpg 234w,/uploads/small_IMG_9677_dd638ee846.jpg 500w,/uploads/medium_IMG_9677_dd638ee846.jpg 750w,/uploads/large_IMG_9677_dd638ee846.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"></a><h2>&nbsp;Selfhosting</h2>Finally got Nextcloud and forgejo working behind an nginx proxy.&nbsp;I've got Jellyfin setup to replace Plex, and my next step is replace Google Photos with Immich.Oh and I'm looking for a decent Self Hosted Accounting system. I'm looking to better organise my personal finances as well as move my NDIS foo away from "Put all invoices and receipts into a folder in your email" and to something a bit more not dodgy.<h2>Photogrammetry</h2>I've been playing around with my drone and building a 3d model of my house. It's still very much a work in progress, it's not as accurate as LIDAR, and shadows can cause problems, but the fact that I can get a workable model from my mini 4 pro is pretty damn cool.&nbsp;Speaking of drone things, I'm actively pondering going for the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.casa.gov.au/drones/remote-pilot-licence/get-your-remote-pilot-licence">REmote Pilots License</a>. That's the license that lets you do much cooler things with your drone. I might need to get a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.casa.gov.au/drones/operator-accreditation-certificate/get-your-operator-accreditation">ReOC</a> as well but I'm not sure.<h2>Creative</h2>So here I'm blocked.I've got plans, I've been using Nextclouds Decks facility to break down complex looking tasks and try to work though them but the good old mental block is still there, preventing me from moving on to do what I want to.Here's a sample of some of what I want to do:<ul><li>Complete Women In STEMM: When I started the Women In STEMM podcast I didn't have an end goal but by about episode four I'd decided that the series would have 20 episodes. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://angrybeanie.com/podcasts/shows/wistemm/episodes/dr-alice-gorman">Dr Alice Gorman</a> was number 11, and I've started to build a list of potential interviewees. I've got the whole setup ready to go, so much better than the $50 USB microphone and Skype that I used for the earlier episodes.</li><li>Dapto Solar Observatory Doco: I've been talking about this for literal years. I've gathered most of the materials I need to make the thing, I just need to get my act into gear. I mean all I need to do is write a script, get permission for shooting, record all the things and then put it together and throw it into the void (youtube)</li><li>Tech and Disability: Ye gods this one hurts. Let's see, what could I be doing about this area?<ul><li>AI And Disability, where does it help, where does it hurt</li><li>Who's making the decisions about the tech available to people with disabilities</li><li>The rise of 3d printing in the accessible tech space</li><li>When we automate all the things, how does that affect people with disabilities</li><li>How can tech in general be used to hurt or help people with disabilities</li><li>Explainer videos about things like "Why my shoulders are cactus because of footpaths"</li></ul></li></ul>And more and more and more.So this has been a bit of a brain dump, if nothing else so that I can say that I ACTUALLY POSTED SOMETHING and scratch that itch in my brain. I'll try and do more but there's not guarantee.

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