Finding reviewers in July

Great (continued) public service from @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org, especially in the light of this research from @janrosenow.bsky.social that shows how concerted attacks from some parts of media can lead to policy changes that are harmful to the public. janrosenow.substack.com/p/the-tabloi...

When even scientists are shocked by extreme weather, the only conclusion to draw: we're in trouble. Must-read story by @eroston.bsky.social 🎁🔗 www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

Humankind is going to cook the planet so that it can have more detailed Google search results.

"We piloted this initiative. It's amazing and *everyone* should be doing it! You see, it wasn't that difficult!" "Cool. So, is it scalable? How much does it cost?" "..."

Today's activities

THE VATICAN IS CALLING IT A SCHISM I REPEAT HOUSTON, WE HAVE A SCHISM

Not Claude advertising their new model to me using a left-handed helix

Another totally normal day at the Telegraph.

This is vital information- don’t think takeover of key institutions couldn’t happen here 😟

Not a great economy alert! Wall Street Bets users think Palantir spiked today because The Onion story titled “Palantir Acquires Pentagon for $800 Billion” hit their front page. They’re guessing trading bots indexed the top post on the subreddit reddit not understanding source.

If you're dying with anxiety because the status of your paper has not changed from "under review" for weeks, you may want to read the Future of Peer Review report from Silverchair that came out recently and replaced the outdated Publons report from 2018... #ScientificPublishing #PeerReview /

So what is the crime? Is the output of Claude copyrighted? Is Alibaba using Anthropic's product too much? If Alibaba's excessive use of Anthropic is damaging Anthropic's ability to offer their service, then how is that different from AI bots and scrapers effectively DDoSing open repositories?

More than a decade ago, a group of young, internet-connected Belarusian dissidents launched a series of increasingly high-stakes, increasingly surreal confrontations with the corrupt, authoritarian government of Alexander Lukashenka, a man who is often called "the last Soviet dictator." 1/

Why on earth would I want to save myself hours of stressful coding by spending 15 minutes looking at a readme?

After years of activists and organisations advocating for a ban for conversion therapy, the UK government has finally published a draft bill. I have learnt that asexual people will be included, which I personally was worried we wouldn't be. However there are big concerns about the bill, see below ⬇️

me listening to the last track of the WOW signal

No - issuing health warnings as temperatures soar way above anything seen in 1976 is not "heatwave hysterics" And yes - warnings were also issued in 1976, workplaces made changes, government imposed restrictions, and it wasn't all fun and games and ice lollies.🙄

It was inevitable, wasn't it🙄 Of course the Telegraph would run with something like this👇 So let's remove some of the rose-tinted spectacles and also look at some of that data comparing 1976 with modern heat waves Because the 1976 nostalgia porn is wearing a bit thin at this stage 🧵1/23

We all know the weakness of "slippery slope" arguments. The "but" here is not the logic, but the history. Fascists and bigots are incapable of being satisfied. It isn't part of the psychology underpinning their politics. They're externalising their suffering, which can never be sated externally.

I swear microsoft has decided copilot should do all searching and loading in teams now, given how much it's slowed down in the past couple of weeks. Just loading the chat or Q&A pages in a meeting takes minutes.

Those tech industry insiders are fully aware that an "age verification" mandate is really a way for the government to teach every child how to use a VPN. They're also fully aware that the next move is to *ban VPNs*: www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2217... 9/

if anyone wants to send me a neat paper about spontaneous symmetry breaking so we have an excuse to put "origin of symmetry" on the journal cover DM me

Happy "please remember to unscrew your ether bottles by a quarter-turn" day to all who celebrate.

"This is going to be a solar world. It's just a question of when." Preview of this week's Zero, which drops tomorrow. I interviewed Kevin Smith, CEO of Cypress Creek Energy. Subscribe here: omny.fm/shows/zero

Got a new Dell Laptop at work & it comes with a COPILOT KEY next to the right Alt button. I thought OK, I can surely disable this key or remap it to Ctrl. Oh my friends, no. I was foolish. Searching for help came across this, Dell agents aren't even allowed to discuss remapping the copilot key.

Letter in today's Times by climate scientist Sir Brian Hoskins: "The discourse around net-zero is increasingly decoupled from…science and our changing weather. "Net-zero is not an arbitrary slogan, rather it is dictated by the laws of physics."

It was the same tone on 5 Live this morning. Talking about how the Met Office was predicting 45c heatwaves by 2036 with a chuckle and “well I guess we’d all better get used to it then.” 🤷‍♂️

me rn

"never again, unless it owns the libs or hurts people I've been told are bad" www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Concurrently, I suspect some folks are delighted that a social media ban will cut off access to LGBTQ+ resources - many parents were raised in an era of Section 28, together with the current narrative of Othering trans people

They love cancel culture - so long as it's progressives getting cancelled.

Just wow. I Googled to see if 18th century artist Henry Fuseli had ever painted Orpheus and Eurydice, and AI overview said: "It appears you may be blending the tragic Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice with the distinct, spiraling noodle known as fusilli"

“The whole point of AI tools is that I no longer need to retain information in my biological memory. My biological memory is for other things now. Important things. Like my Netflix password” 😂 inpreparation.substack.com/p/opinion-i-...

Grim timing yesterday as news of the Met Office Red alert flashed up on phones right in the middle of a big event about new Met Office forecasts for June 2056, showing potential peak temperatures of 45C in England. Stopping the CO2 emissions driving this is essential, but we also need to prepare.

Multiple people died because of the heatwave in France, including two children, but good news according to the Times you can wear whatever, not eat and neglect your dogs guilt-free!

The rise of larger vehicles like SUVs and pickup trucks, with their taller hoods and larger blind zones, has contributed to a 75% increase in pedestrian and cyclist deaths since 2009. Until we design better streets and ban these vehicles, people outside these vehicles will keep dying.

Adam Rutherford says that maybe every vapid brainfart that these boykings utter in an attempt to either boost their egos or share price is not actually news worth reporting.

Come on let's have your best Andy Burnham headlines. Burnham down the house? Something something Macbeth being usurped by a rival, who would do that? ANDY BURHAM WOOD.

🚨The registration deadline for the ECR MASC Meeting 2026 has been extended to 5th of July 2026! Don’t miss your chance to register and submit your abstract! For any questions, please email [email protected], including your full name and affiliation. #RSC_MASC #ECR_MASC_2026

Find somebody who loves you as passionately as OneDrive loves to remove files from your computer you own, and have them only in the cloud, while introducing version errors, and you will never be lonely.

Keir Starmer should do a speech obviously written by ChatGPT 5 minutes beforehand. 'Good catch. I didn't do what I said in my manifesto. And your pushback exposes something quietly powerful about what the people of Britain want. Not racism. Not knee-jerk internet censorship. A future.'

UK: we can't do anything to regulate genAI because of The Economy; Norway: hold my beer

"Making expert work cheaper does not simply replace experts. It creates more situations where expert judgment is needed." every.to/p/after-auto...

This is why it's so important to me not to blame people who got something out of these books! It's odious to use your professional credentials to spread misinformation. It's not odious to believe what a trusted expert tells you about their field.

It's that time of year when the JIFs are out. Over-reliance on it fuels integrity risks like papermills & fraud. Everything is connected! Join us in shifting the focus from venue prestige to merit. Explore RRA resources & course: sfdora.org/reports/ & bit.ly/DORA-Intro-Course

Anyone else hate the way Copilot and Gemini treat you like a fucking infant? Every time I open an email draft it's there. "Hey, are you a total cretin? Do you need coaching on how to write emails?"

Thanks to everyone who participated in our recent LinkedIn poll asking how many hours per week you work. While it’s worrying to see 42% work more than the average 50 hours per week quoted by the DfE, it’s heartening that 58% work fewer.