This is approximately as deliberately stupid as people arguing against CO2 sensors to assess poor ventilation / risk from COVID because "CO2 isn't harmful".

Good thread - on "net-zeroist" being used as an insult by idiots (who are also big McSweeney fans) (not saying they're related but it's in part a subtweet / quote tweet of that specific quote)

To my Muslim friends and neighbours who will be observing Ramadan, and also drink a lot of coffee: reminder to start ramping down your caffeine intake now.

Excellent.

Interesting thread on a cool research paper.

Re: Goodwin's claims that Reform have "very strong support" among young men.

Outrageous statement from United Synagogue. (Joke. Specifically a pun on "Reform")

Young men are the second most liberal group in the country after young women.

Agree - @kityates.bsky.social substack on entropy, chaos, Newtonian physics, and the Stoppard play Arcadia is worth a read. (The play - on at the Old Vic in London - is worth seeing)

I like that it's called "the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine" (rather than "Physiology AND Medicine) so it sounds like whoever's reporting on someone in particular winning it isn't sure which it is and can't be bothered to check.

Good bit of incentives / international trade / game theory analysis. How Trump / America may respond to France's actions vs X, and how effective that is likely to be.

For people who weren't following - @prosperuk.bsky.social is a group of Conservative politicians filling a space for non-populist centre right. Quite a few of the big names who were (imo) too decent / pro-Remain / sane for Johnson / Truss governments (Davidson, Gauke, Rudd, Street...)

Delighted that @prosperuk.bsky.social is now here. Well worth a follow.

Going into a Pret: "you know what would improve this for everyone? Have us all crowd in front of the counter and hope that the barristas remember the order we turned up roughly in front of them, so we can then get stressed and annoyed if they don't."

"Oh, you’re going to zap me with penicillin and pesticides. Spare me that and I’ll spare you the bomb and aerosols" - [aerosol scientist pricks up ears, gets defensive]

Thoroughly enjoyed Arcadia at the @oldvictheatre.bsky.social www.oldvictheatre.com/stage/arcadia/ - great Stoppard play about arts, sciences and history. (Science/maths adviser @kityates.bsky.social)

On the issue of why anyone would use an LLM if they can't trust its output. ("If you're asking it for help, you won't have the expertise to tell if it gets it wrong")

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

Really interesting result. Why has there been no discussion of Trump hemorrhaging support among the white working class over the last decade? (Vs all the discussion about gaining with Black and Hispanic men)? Also seems to go against the "Harris' wokeness lost the white working class" narrative.

The "Dem vs Republican by education" chart is at a state level, so a bit misleading. Looking at voters is more informative and gives a less simplistic picture. Yes, education has an influence. No, it is not "the new fault line" 1/ www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

🗞️ Some news! The Trump Action Tracker now has a bot that automatically posts new actions to Bluesky, along with link to news story & authoritarian categories. Follow to stay up to date! We are adding about 10 actions a day at the moment 😢 bsky.app/profile/trum...

The shooting of Alex Pretti was (US) state sanctioned murder and has been followed up by attempts to destroy evidence and stop local police (and even the FBI) from investigating. Minnesota police are trying to counter the lies and illegality. Terrifying open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

Horrifying. I don't have the words. I'm not sure any more are needed.

Whatever one may think of Farage's politics, can we at least agree that he's a spineless quisling?

Whatever you think of Trump as a person, you must admit that there's an element of dishonest racist nonsense in much of what he says.

Likewise

Counterpoint: Jenrick's move is not, in fact, massive, and we'll have forgotten about it in a few weeks if not earlier. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

My prediction: Jenrick's expulsion and joining Reform will be mostly forgotten / minor fun fact trivia by the end of the year. (Possible alternative: if it is widely but wrongly considered the starting point in Badenoch's reversal of fortune ultimately leading to her election victory)

Stating the obvious but if a nobel prize winner decides to give their nobel prize to someone else that second person does not in any sense become a nobel prize winner.

incredibly important work by Beliingcat

This is a rational response to the fact that Trump's future behaviour can't be relied on. It also shows why being unpredictable is a shit strategy. (A more reliable leader would not be facing this problem)

Happy new year, folks! My take on Greenland for the FT: a slippery showman, the Napoleonic wars and why, contrary to belief, the island is no minerals Nirvana. www.ft.com/content/355e...

The publicly declared response of some on the right to someone including their pronouns in their bio seems at odds with the narrative that it's the left who are particularly intolerant to other political views

Worrying. Also baffling. It doesn't seem worth the USA exerting significant resources to occupy a country that doesn't want to be occupied (even if other European countries let them). Then again, Trump + Co aren't rational. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I read "Stig of the Dump" where a character tests the sharpness of a blade against his thumb, and I tried doing that with a Stanley knife and cut my thumb open.

Good data-driven thread

Very interesting use of data. worth your time!

Just circulating the n'th post backing me up here. ofc we have to weigh that Trump's team might not actually understand this, or have thought it through yet. The performance of oil theft might be part of the plan even if it impoverishes the US.

I've been reading some posts about how the poster can tell when reading AI from human writing. I'm curious: how would that person know whether their perception was correct each time? And - has there been proper randomized research to check this?

Useful thread

As a waiter, I offered a bowl of fruit to Geoffrey Howe.

@seismatters.bsky.social...?

Yep. 11%. Jews less than half as likely to vote Reform vs country as a whole (much more likely to vote Green). So, Goodwin's Jews (if they exist) as unrepresentative as Neturei Karta / JVL / anti Zionist Jewish groups. I suspect # Jews leaving UK if Reform don't win << # Jews leaving if they do.

This seems implausible. Just about possible if it was a self selecting group at a "Jews for Reform" meeting, but alternatively and more plausibly, he's making it up. Would love to see polling, but cannot see Reform getting much support among UK Jews.

Have the JC and BoD demanded an explanation from Reform? This would be the lowest of low-hanging fruit to do, if they want any of their (often justified) condemnation of AS from the left to be taken seriously by the left.

Reform candidate Chris Parry can kiss my sweet Jewish tuches for a month. (That was the re-written less obscene version. The original included the word "circumcised")

This is literally what the Telegraph campaigned for.

I like to imagine that there is a rivalry between two top ham-sniffers: one, a meticulous keeper of precise traditions, the other a brash bad-boy with a colossal nose.

Showing my ass here but I feel there's a big difference between "in the sink" and "on the dish drying rack".