@sxh
Retired developer, pursuing excellence and failing to a better future, day by day. Board games, TTRPG, scale aircraft, programming, science, economics, politics, sci fi, other stuff. Australian in UK http://scaleaircraftstuff.com
An analysis of over 14 million social media posts from accounts in Canada found that 87% of conspiratorial claims come from just 100 influencers.
This minority of users impacts politics, influencing what people view as normal and leads to self-censoring to avoid attacks from conspiracy theorists.
The Home Office is hiring staff from McDonalds and supermarkets to decide on refugee deportation cases. Staff know so little that some consult Lonely Planet guides to decide if a country is safe. Some can’t even find countries they’re returning people to on the map
Inside the UK’s asylum system
À fascinating stat about Brexit polling in this piece. You'll know it when you read it
www.theguardian.com/inequality/2...
I’m sorry, what? How can Chelsea & Westminster Hospital’s official charity *possibly* accept a £1 million ‘donation’ - meaning, in reality, an attempt to buy public credibility - from the Sacklers? Yes, those Sacklers, whose company, Purdue Pharma, caused >800k deaths from pumping out opioids. 1/3
Just fascinating to see Blair, a man whose reputation was ruined by the Iraq war, advocate joining a war that is exponentially stupider and more chaotic. How is it possible to learn nothing from the worst mistake of your life?
I'm a vicar in a small rural village. I could never say this to my flock because of the outcry, but Reform are blatantly opposed to genuine Christian values and it's clear that anyone considering voting for them has not been listening to a single word I say each week
Because better the therapy be borne by the queer kids, as it always has been, for living lives where they never see anyone like themselves, believing they’re completely alone and unloved, something too shameful to be seen.
I know some of you might read this and say "these people can't be stupid! These people run companies! They make huge deals! They read all these books!" and my answer is that some of the stupidest people I've ever met have read more books than you or I will read in a lifetime. While they might be smart when it comes to corporate chess moves or saying "this product category should do this," none of these men - not Altman, Pichai or Nadella - actually has a hand in the design or creation of any of the things their companies make, and they never, ever have. Regardless, I have a larger point: it's time to start mocking these people and tearing down their legends as geniuses of industry. They are not better than us, nor are they responsible for anything that their companies build other than the share price (which is a meaningless figure) and the accumulation of power and resources. These men are neither smart nor intellectually superior, and it's time to start treating them as such.
I also recommend if possible to find whatever humor you can. Make fun of these people. Lampooning them doesn’t discount the seriousness of their actions or the destruction of their works - it undermines their power and status and names, and lightens the soul
www.wheresyoured.at/make-fun-of-...
EFF is appalled by how quickly and uncritically internet restrictions are being adopted around the world, David Greene told CNET. "Even if they are under 18, or under 16, children have the right to access information, to speak and to associate.” www.cnet.com/tech/servic...
So according to the WSJ a US Senator conspired with another country to manipulate the US into starting a war, am I getting this right
Caitlin KALINOWSKI over X I resigned from OpenAl. I care deeply about the Robotics team and the work we built together. This wasn't an easy call. Al has an important role in national security. But surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they got. This was about principle, not people. I have deep respect for Sam and the team, and I'm proud of what we built together.
OpenAI head of robotics just resigned over company deal with the Pentagon saying…
“Surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they got”
Before and after in #Paris, surface gas station in front of a residential building, converted into green space.
Imagine if your city did urban transformations like this. The 18th arrondissement of Paris, before and after, 2020 to 2024. Think about how that neighbourhood would feel after this change. How YOUR neighbourhood would feel.
It can happen. Just takes vision & leadership.
HT @emmanuelspv.bsky.social
Why was this story on the front page of the UK’s Daily Telegraph — but NOT America’s leading newspapers?
there's so much bad in the world but there's also people who lift up and carry an elderly bat around every day so he can pretend he's flying again, and that's the part of the world I think is worth fighting for
Picard management tip: Tell your employees when they do well, even if you believe they are empathic and can read your mind.
I find it hard to imagine much worse for English cricket than KP coaching. What an arrogant, divisive, self-centred a*****e. Talented with a bat for sure, but not good for a team.
Whenever I encountered him as a commentator I turned off.
A detailed map of the Mediterranean basin rotated 90 degrees clockwise immediately disrupts the sense of a familiar landscape and makes the sea and surrounding coatslines of Greece, Italy and North Africa seems like maps from a fantasy novel or mysterious fictional realm.
It’s all a matter of perspective…
Price of Crude Oil WTI (USD/Bbl) over a five-year period, spanning from 2021 to early 2026. The chart shows a significant price peak in 2022 reaching over $120, followed by a general downward trend with various fluctuations, eventually hitting a low near $55 in late 2025 before a sharp vertical spike to the current price of 90.900. This recent surge represents an increase of +23.880 (+35.63%), highlighted in green text above the blue line graph.
The real insanity isn’t how much oil prices have spiked, it’s that we’re still burning oil for energy.
@doctorow.pluralistic.net
This is incredible.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4Up...
John Hopkins University Library - view of long open hall with balconied floors of books rising to either side, large window in ceiling
Another in my series of libraries
John Hopkins University Library
#SomethingBeautiful #LoveLibraries #EveryLibraryMatters #Libraries #Library #LibrarySky #libsky
Today's frog is the Tasmanian tree frog.
Javier Blas @JavierBlas · 34m CHART OF THE DAY: We have forgotten how bad the European energy crisis of 2022 really was. So let me refresh memories: German electricity prices. It may still get uggly. Worst-case scenarios are horrible. But we aren't there yet. Link to my @Opinion colum in reply. Javier Blas @JavierBlas · 34m
lessons from the first blackout of the green era
You can really learn a lot by observing the language of ppl like this
Notice how fossil fuels causing a price spike = "energy" crisis, where renewables merely existing on the same grid as a major blackout = "the first blackout of the green era"
I think we would encourage a less polarised politics if, over this next generation, it got harder rather than easier to guess somebody’s party preferences from their ethnicity and faith alone. My “one nation test” for any party that aspires to govern is that no citizen should feel any tension between supporting that party and their colour or creed. For all of their diversity at the top table, the post-Cameron Conservatives risk going backwards again with black British and British Muslim citizens, in particular. Starmer’s challenge may be both to reconnect with British Muslims, beyond this conflict, and to rebuild trust with Britain’s Jews after Labour’s failures on anti-Semitism – seeing no contradiction between the two.
Is it getting harder or easier to guess somebody’s party preferences from their ethnicity + faith alone?
It might surprise most media commentators that it is in fact now harder to guess party vote from just having ethnicity/faith to go on in 2024-26 in Britain that at any point in last 50 years?
Here are the Top 5 Dogs of the week!
YouGov poll showing how Britons view other countries as allies or threats. Rankings from most friendly to least: Australia/New Zealand/Canada (70%+ as allies) at top, through European nations in middle, down to China and Russia at bottom (seen as threats). Shows percentages for 'friend/ally', 'friendly rival', 'don't know', and 'unfriendly/hostile threat' categories
Ally, rival or enemy? How Britons view other countries...
yougov.co.uk/internationa...
How awesome is this!
For more reminders that this planet is a pretty nifty place, despite [waves hand] everything, keep an eye on @adapalmer.bsky.social’s #ShareGoodNewsToo hashtag.
Former Chief Medical Officer calls out Streeting’s highly politicised ‘trial’ of puberty blockers. Meanwhile @goodlawproject.org have uncovered a spike in trans youth ending their own lives because they can’t access appropriate care. This is a national scandal.
The final KS update for TERMINUS!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/pat...
Contents: the project is finished, thanks for the support, what's I'm doing next, and... TERMINUS has an ambient soundtrack!
