I've never read Sally Rooney, but this one seems to be at least partly about chess, so I simply have to give it a whirl. Thoughts?

"The happiest people I know have figured out something that seems obvious but is actually radical in practice: you don't owe society conformity." I do all these things and I can confirm I'm happy - even though, to many people, I'm 'lacking' things I'm supposed to want. vegoutmag.com/lifestyle/k-...

These articles are too good *not* to share. Loving the backlash - long may it continue. Fun fact: Luddites were not against technology - just technology that devalued our skills and denigrated our work. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"For me, that gap between what’s expected of us and what we’re actually given to do the job is a clear sign that companies are prioritizing speed and profit over responsibility and quality.” www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Reading this beautiful little book.

We poets are anarchists at heart. I think I'm going to call myself an 'adversarial poet' from now on. 😆 www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/...

This is excellent! "To my students and to anyone who might listen, I say: Don’t surrender to AI your ability to read, write and think when others once risked their lives and died for the freedom to do so."

I have found *the* most delightful retired French teacher in Plumstead, who charges only R200 a class. Well worth it for an hour and a half! 🇫🇷

Can’t believe the whole country has to suffer through the return of Dickensian childhood diseases because the worst, most ignorant attention-demanders decided other people’s expertise makes them feel bad

The United States may be on track to lose its measles elimination status for the first time in 25 years as health officials confirm that two major U.S. outbreaks are linked to the same measles strain. www.healthday.com/health-news/...

Polar bears took shelter inside an abandoned research station on Russia’s remote Kolyuchin Island. See photos by the photographer Vadim Makhorov, who found them while recently cruising on the Chukchi Sea. Via The Atlantic Photo:

The US is a rogue state. Prove me wrong. www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025...

Excited to share that uHlanga Press will be publishing my new volume of poems, Understorey, in 2026!

My poor girl hates the cone of shame so much! She's having her abscess op tomorrow. Here's hoping it will go smoothly.

Reading it at the moment and so glad I left Facebook. The people in senior positions have so much to answer for. 😡

THE RISE OF END TIMES FASCISM My first major piece of the new Trump era, co-written with @astra.bsky.social. The governing ideology of the far right has become a monstrous, supremacist survivalism. Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

Data Centers, Crypto Mining To Push Electricity Costs Higher In 2026

Publishers, please do not do this to your authors! "Instead of talking about my book … and what the inspiration was, we are talking about bloody AI, which I hate.” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

Best article I've read on the topic: www.truthdig.com/articles/the...

The AI bubble may be about to bust. Peter Thiel has sold all of his Nvidia stock. We all need to say this very clearly: NO BAILOUTS FOR THEFT-TECH! Expropriate their asses instead. They stole from all of us and fully plan to burn the planet. They owe us - not the other way around. 1/3

As dozens of frog species have declined across Central America, scientists have witnessed a remarkable chain of events: With fewer tadpoles to eat mosquito larvae, rates of mosquito-borne malaria in the region have climbed, resulting in a fivefold increase in cases. https://wapo.st/4paBuuT

Kast wants to ban abortion under any circumstances, including rape. I wonder when women are going to start seeking asylum in countries that don't endanger their health and future? www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

Whoa, that was my best game yet! I still lost, however. 🙁

Poetry as an anchor for the poet. To places. To moments. To people. Poetry that then implicitly reveals readers' anchors. That casts those anchors in a different imaginative light. That layers them with fresh nuances. That renews them in the reader's heart and mind.

Poor Genie has to have stitches on Wednesday - and in the meantime, she has to wear the cone of shame. 😿

Made some new friends from Brazil and China today. Kirstenbosch was lovely as always.

Not too tricky today! Connections Puzzle #887 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟪🟪🟪🟪

"The Stiglitz panel warns that rising inequality has become as destabilising to the global order as inflation or debt contagion. Left unchecked, it amplifies every other crisis, from pandemics to migration and political extremism." mg.co.za/politics/202...

Of course they did. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

"The court rejected OpenAI’s position that it qualifies as a privileged research organization and ruled that legal authorization for text and data mining does not justify the storage and output of copyright-protected song lyrics." www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/gema-wins-la...

Forbes estimates OpenAI is blowing $15m a day on Sora. Sure, why not? I bet OpenAI’s inference costs are absolutely horrifying www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

Joke’s on everyone who said liberal arts degrees don’t prepare you for the real world - my studies in rise of the Third Reich now doubles as a survival guide.

Yes, yes, we are. "Gerlich recently conducted a study...and found that those who used AI more frequently scored lower on critical thinking." And then there's this: "A global OECD study found...that the more students use tech in schools, the worse their results."

It's our 20th wedding anniversary today! Wild.

'As pressure mounts globally on the humanities, Africa’s leading writers and scholars used this week’s Nobel Symposium in Literature, held in South Africa, to argue that the arts are still vital to the world’s intellectual and moral life.'

The greatest innovation billionaires have come up with is they found a way to have billions of dollars and still be miserable and angry all the time

Jeremy W. Peters identifies the tell-tale sign of “leftist dogma” in @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social: pronouncing Haiti’s name correctly

University as credentialism for jobs we used to get trained for through apprenticeships/time on the job is destroying higher education via ⬆️ fees and ⬇️ study. A uni without arts, language, music, writing, history, philosophy is really just certificate school… or fake training course.

Really terrible news from the University of Nottingham. The idea you can have a comprehensive university without language and music is absurd. Higher education serves society and you can't have a society with imagination and purpose if the people in charge decide creativity is worth nothing.

My former employer, the University of Nottingham, has axed its undergrad music and languages programs—but don't worry, there are still five separate degrees you can get in AI. This is what happens when you corporatize education. What a joke.

Breakfast and a ride on the Cape Wheel with a friend.

The Waterfront looked festive today.

It's a Grieg kind of November! I love the passion and tenderness in this. youtu.be/PbYsytZ92eY?...

Let this sink in. The President of the United States is now appealing a court order forcing him to feed starving children.

Hundreds of thousands of people, dead because of a decision made by the world's richest man

Pregnancy became far more dangerous in Texas after the state banned abortion, according to our analysis, which found the sepsis rate for women hospitalized as they miscarried in the 2nd trimester shot up by more than 50%. (Published February)

They can't even turn a profit stealing every thought on Earth? They need corporate welfare, too?

After THREE WEEKS my Covid symptoms are resolving. Up until yesterday, I still had a slightly sore throat and earache. Today I actually feel almost 'normal'. 😅

Elon Musk and Zohran Mamdani were both shaped by South African influences. But Mamdani is more Nelson Mandela while Musk is more Groot Krokodil.