going on twitter now is like the dark world part of link to the past, where the shape of things is roughly the same only now instead of the friendly villagers there's some demihuman freak snarling at you going "welcome to the village of assholes!! we hate you!!" also the trees shoot bombs now

While agreeing in the round, I've found this (below) both reassuring and highlighting of the need for constant vigilance. There is no perfect end state. See if you can see where the 'thousand year reich' occurs (also, that Roman Empire lasted quite a while). m.youtube.com/watch?v=UY9P...

9. An autocratic ruler can quickly assert control, shutting down democratic institutions and competing poles of power, building an apparatus of state terror to crush dissent, controlling beliefs through the media, social media and other propaganda outlets. Every step makes the next one easier.

1. This is a thread on freedom, and how easy it is to lose. Over the past 2,000 years in Europe, there have been few periods and places of freedom. For much of the time we lived under highly oppressive tyrannies of various kinds, whether small or grand, local or imperial, secular or religious.🧵

Got an email from @frontierhelpline.bsky.social apologising sincerely for the stress and trouble caused, with a free travel voucher! For exclusive use on Frontier Airlines, in the next 90 days! To the tune of, get this... $25!!! Lmaooooo

It was Rain Man!

Well, currently sitting in the airport waiting another 5 hours for my now 10-hour-delayed flight. @frontierhelpline.bsky.social have given me a pitiful $10 food voucher. Let's continue the account of wrong estimations we were given... 6 so far and I've gotten as far as the deboarding. 🧵

So flying domestically in the US this afternoon, and delayed due to ice in the engine. Fine, it happens. But I'm blown away by the sheer number of completely wrong estimates we've been given as the situation has evolved...

Will reveal later today...

lol

That is, we can never perfectly predict any individual's behavior. This probably isn't surprising and this variation often gets swept into the black box of "residual variation." But what if there's more to it than that? What if the variation *is* the point? (3/7)

Don't trust those 'helpful' little AI suggested questions

That's a lot of quote posts

"Obviously, no one should deploy superintelligence without being able to align and control them" Great for OpenAI to say this! And it is obvious. But forgive me for being concerned about OpenAI's track record of doing things they say is "obvious". Accountability will be key.

The fact that the BBC has made serious culpable errors does not negate the point that there is a real and concerted right-wing media campaign to destroy it. Both points can be true at the same time and the campaign would not end even if the errors did.

Maybe Keir should demand the heads of major US news networks any time they imply Britain is on the brink of civil war or that we live under sharia law. Or does it not work both ways?

Have you ever wondered about the different roles on a research boat? We’d like to give you a behind-the-scenes look at what each of the six people on board from OBI & @whaleresearch.bsky.social are responsible for! Is this what you imagined? Which role would you most want to do? #whalesky #orca

Once every 20 years or so, the director-general of the BBC is forced to resign for being insufficiently rightwing. Alastair Milne in 1987. Greg Dyke in 2004. Tim Davie in 2025. The great irony is that the BBC was in all cases profoundly biased towards established power. But just not biased enough …

Solar’s price drop is astonishing: panels are now 98% cheaper than when I first analyzed them in 2004. Today, building a fence with solar can be cheaper than using wood.

What movie am I recreating, at the location it was filmed in Cincinnati?

lol she got his ass and he knows it

“The Media Is Complicit in the Climate Confusion: The vast majority of people want their governments to take climate action—but most wrongly think they’re in the minority. The media is partly to blame.” Via @amywestervelt.bsky.social in @thenation.com

incredible new trump photo

Elon has never experienced this and neither have his biggest fans but now they can create these visuals with the help of a computermachine

Exactly this. The right wing is a haven for anyone looking for a loophole in the social contract. I also suspect that this is what really drives the horseshoe theory phenomenon. It's not ideological. Glem became besties with Tucker because nobody else let him be an asshole without consequences.

Beautiful autumn walk through the Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky 🍂🍁

It absolutely would save Star Wars. This film would do numbers they cannot imagine. #TheHuntforBenSolo

I can’t over emphasize how Ross Douthat’s piece makes all women less safe. It incites more harassment and abuse of women in the workplace and beyond. It’s incredibly irresponsible and frankly dangerous. And it was run by one of the most influential publications in the country.

The world’s first trillionaire initiated a move that has left more than half a million people dead, most of whom are children.

Landmark news: it's been recommended that reformed, inclusive Religious Education be added to the National Curriculum in England – with a full expert review of its content to follow. humanists.uk/2025/11/05/s...

Vital piece of investigative reporting from Sky. They've uncovered the X algorithm which feeds users extremist right wing material from the moment they join the site. It is a far-right radicalisation engine, by design. news.sky.com/story/the-x-...

Ethan Hawke is 55. Here’s his 9min Ted Talk on creativity. I’ve shown this to my students to inspire them to be true to themselves as artists now & in the future. Refreshingly sincere & just great advice. youtu.be/WRS9Gek4V5Q

From the Guardian. Cartoonist Ella Baron.

THEY ALSO DROWN FEMALES AND USE THEIR CARCASSES FOR SEX UNTIL THE FALL APART.

Merrick was shot & killed as she slept, over two years ago. NatureScot has had all the evidence on its desk for over 18 months. Now we're being asked to wait "a few weeks" more. It's pathetic. #RaptorResearch #WildlifeCrime raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/11/05/n...

This needs more attention: Zohran SPLIT the straights with Cuomo. ALL of his margin was from LGBTQ+ voters. Every Dem who ever said “we should abandon the transes” needs this shoved down their fucking throat with a ramrod.

as a longtime cuomo hater, i would've been happy if he just lost. but him going full mask-off racist, begging the republicans to help, getting endorsed by trump and the elon musk, spending millions on millions of dollars, and getting drubbed anyway feels like a real Vampire Staking

Went to Kennedy Space Center and saw lots of cool rockets and things! It was all very cheesy though. Would appeal to anyone who wants to hear about how great the US is.

It’s fascinating comparing the front page coverage of the Huntingdon train attack (below) with how the British press treated another case 30 years ago. I’m referring to the 1995 Netto supermarket attack in Birmingham in which a man stabbed 10 people, killing one of them.

elon musk: people in the uk live like hobbits. um let’s look at you for a second bro

Empire Cooked!! "Reylos want Ben Solo to return; sequel haters want Ben Solo to return; casual Star Wars fans want Ben Solo to return.Hell, / want Ben Solo to return. Maybe Disney will see there's something in it. Say it all together: "No-one's ever really gone." #TheHuntForBenSolo

Deinonychus at Dusk. #SciArt

"If Grokipedia is getting things about me wrong, what else is it getting wrong in other articles, where I do not have the same level of domain knowledge?" - @scalzi.com

‘Study after study shows that students want to develop these critical thinking skills, are not lazy, and large numbers of them would be in favor of banning ChatGPT and similar tools in universities’, says @olivia.science www.ru.nl/en/research/...

Because it’s cis kids. The NHS will quite casually give cis kids whatever treatment they need, even PBs👇 No trials. No concerns about side effects. No moral panic.

The "mystery box" approach to story found lying in a ditch