US abandons Syria's Kurds, risking regional turmoil and IS resurgence theconversation.com/us-abandons-...

Really enjoyed the @ghostdoc2026.bsky.social premiere today! A must-watch, as soon as you get the chance. www.thewrap.com/creative-con...

A social media ban for under-16s would be popular. But would it actually help? Our Big Tech editor James Clayton shares his thoughts 👇

more countries should do this, tbh.

The Board of Peace - Dallas mashup has apparently been taken down here and there. This video works for the time being at least:

A great way to realise sovereign renewable energy infrastructure and alleviate dependence on despots, East or West, is to not invest billions in new #LNG infrastructure for fracked US fossil gas imports, Ireland. www.thejournal.ie/ireland-nort...

I am just gonna say it, these guys are completely emasculated by the knowledge that they have been out-organized by a group that is significantly made up of women, and all the bullshit call of duty nonsense is cope for their wounded egos bsky.app/profile/jeet...

If I was to write this article again, I would focus on how regions as distant and connected as the West of Ireland/Scotland, Newfoundland and Greenland have sisterly geomorphologies with research actively funded to observe this relation. fojournal.org/policy/when-...

Compare & contrast. This is Trump’s demand for Greenland. And this is Hitler’s for the Sudetenland. There is no difference. The language. The unstoppable need to dominate. The megalomania. It’s the same. And Keir Starmer’s response is appeasement. We are in that moment. 1/

Remember that the UK has far, far weaker protections against state power than did the US. And the latter folded up like a pack of cards. The US is a warning from the British future.

'If the bubble bursts we will be fine'—'we' doing a lot of work there.

""It’s hard to script a clearer emblem of what I’ve called education’s auto-cannibalism: universities consuming their own purpose while cheerfully marketing the tools of their undoing."

Just discussing at what age kittens stop being kittens. Did a google search to find out and what on earth is going on here? I don't want to know the length "without tail" of an imaginary cat

"But there’s a difference between tools and technologies. Tools help us accomplish tasks; technologies reshape the very environments in which we think, work, and relate. " #AI #Education www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...

"If complexity (in a broad sense) is not a new phenomenon, and complexity (in a narrow sense) is practically useless to us, why is it so present in conversations and articles?" silviolorusso.com/publication/... #Complexity #SystemicDesign

Design in the Age of Uncertainty—submission deadline 1st Feb. www.designhistorysociety.org/news/view/de...

The published security assessment of heating's impacts on nature was abridged: “This government is hiding the true danger of climate change from the people. We need to have an honest conversation about the risks we face to our prosperity and how to mitigate them" www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

NeurIPS reviewers typically review 6+ papers, each with 100 or so citations. The reviewers can't possibly check that every citation is real. But why don't we have an automated way to do this checking (and desk-rejecting if fake citations found) *before* the papers are sent to reviewers?

And just like that, the US has left the World Health Organization. Link goes to the official announcement—lies pretending to justify a decision that will kill countless numbers—from people too stupid to even include a proper twittercard. www.hhs.gov/press-room/u...

how many nights would you guess it typically takes to turn a boat?

I'm not alone in wondering where it takes us "...When confronted with one of the "wickedproblems" of the 21st Century, the average policymaker likely knows enough systems theory to be fearful of unintended consequences. Complexity thus induces paralysis.' www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/602...

"History will one day have its say; it will not be the history taught in the United Nations, Washington, Paris, or Brussels, however, but the history taught in the countries that have rid themselves of colonialism and its puppets."

Art imitating my life this past week.

Is systems thinking a new form of structuralism? Does this even make sense? A bit withered by it anyway.

A welcome reckoning for AI-slop aesthetics: Comic-Con Bans AI Art After Artist Pushback www.404media.co/comic-con-ba...

Regular reminder that the FT finds itself often to the left of Keir Starmer, just by simply asking the obvious questions.

How AI conquered the US Economy www.derekthompson.org/p/how-ai-con...

No, environmental quality has not improved with growth. "...models also indicate no limits to growth and show how environmental quality can improve with growth... (John and Pecchenino, 1994; Stokey, 1998)." www.economicsobservatory.com/degrowth-is-...

Be like Water: Becoming Nature Again with the River Dôn Project and Jonny Douglas podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b...

The Reform conference is *very literally* being sponsored by a fossil fuel lobby group, the Heartland Institute.

Histories of #EcologicalDesign #LydiaKallipoliti landezine.com/lydia-kallip...

“Safety and space at risk as SUVs reach 30% of car market in English cities, researchers warn. Campaigners call for Paris-style parking charges amid fears big vehicles are taking up excessive public space.” Cities need smart, specific strategies to manage vehicle size. It’s about space & safety.

Incredible listening to #MikeCooley speaking about the market for #HeatPumps in 1978 (14 minutes) as part of the Lucas Plan. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pgQ...

Legal conceptions for the #NewCommons www.ncl.ac.uk/mediav8/law/...

Important to note that the UK government's £22bn carbon capture scheme was the outcome of intense lobbying by the fossil fuel industry.

Open Letter to Docville against the screening of Not in My Country notinmycountry.eu

It's great how we can't organize a substantive answer to this, and no one talks about it -- a lesson from Covid, I guess. Here's what's coming east, 48 hours out. Also a heat wave.

About time.

The UK's plan to flip 32 million car users to electric would require 10% of global copper production. www.mining.com/web/copper-t...

City of Graphite www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/bus...

It Narratives. www.combinedacademic.co.uk/978168448470...

Development in Beyond GDP #Postgrowth #DeGrowth docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Remember me telling you the university redundancy situation was far worse than it looked? Well, here's the evidence - not renewing contracts, forcing people to 'retire' and the like may not show up in the stats, but it cd double the losses number. (1/2) www.timeshighereducation.com/news/uk-univ...

Today's newsletter: The Wall Street Journal says ChatGPT had a "stunning moment of self reflection." NBC says Grok "issued an apology." This lazy language isn't just bad writing — it's helping tech companies dodge responsibility for real harm. www.readtpa.com/p/stop-prete...

On the syncretism of Eternal Fascism. Pay heed #DesignStudies dabbling in resurgent Celtic mysticism. "Add a cult of Celtic mythology and the Grail mysticism (completely alien to official fascism) and you have one of the most respected fascist gurus, Julius Evola." www.nybooks.com/articles/199...

The Legacy of Mike Cooley: The Future of Work and the Just Transition www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxtG...

Super insufficient to come across a feminist design history book claiming *Eileen* Gray is English. #EnemyFeminisms

Our partners at @thegeckoproject.org released a YouTube video on our investigation into a major supplier to the electric vehicle battery industry: youtu.be/QGOPi2AmYBc?... The company knew for over a decade that its nickel operations in Indonesia were polluting water with a carcinogenic chemical

When the most Jewish city in the country, second largest Jewish city in the world, votes overwhelmingly for a guy the right doesn't like:

Also my most randomly controversial opinion is that "Digital and Technologies" should stop being viewed as a sector but as an infrastructural component of all the other sectors. Pureplay "tech" as a sector is, to slightly misquote Margaret Mitchell in the FT, mostly "snake oil and vibes" anyway