A few days out this week with a cold, although I did focus on consuming some content.... #weeknotes cawston.ghost.io/weeknotes-6-...

A belated weeknote - featuring cyber security testing, a celebration of maps and a Friday evening emergency cawston.ghost.io/weeknote-5-t... #weeknotes

This looks like a super strong advisory group for the National Data Library. Ideally, it would include a library sector representative to advocate for the strengths, principles and standards behind the "Library" designation.

A slightly belated week note, including a brief summary of the Remix Summit cawston.ghost.io/weeknotes-4-... #weeknotes

I can see sunshine outside my office window.

Over the past few years, the RLUK community has had many discussions on the opportunities and challenges of AI for the Research Library. As an open resource we have curated almost 20 presentations from recent events covering four main areas of interest. www.rluk.ac.uk/ai/

Heating broken. Managed to hardwire a temprary fix. Feel like a real person.

This week's weeknotes, featuring Her Majesty, general business and AI gubbins cawston.ghost.io/weeknotes-3-... #weeknotes

Good to see major charities begining to disengage from a harmful platfrom. The case was strong back in 2024 but it takes time for organisations to assess the impact of stopping an engagemetn practice that has developed over a decade.

A second weeknote of 2026 for week #2. Featuring a mix of pragmatism and optimisim for the year ahead. cawston.ghost.io/weeknote-2-p...

Interesting to see cultural orgs starting to bring in AI Product Manager roles - this from the National Gallery of Art in the US (with the usual very high salary in comparison to UK roles) www.usajobs.gov/job/854326500

At least they included a "Close" option.

A strong piece from @hetanshah.bsky.social waving a flag for investemnt in National Libraries as research infrastructures: "The government should treat the UK’s major manuscript collections as an important national and international resource..."

This was peak internet.

a friend of mine in antifa told me that antifa's headquarters is SHEIN and if the company fell the whole network would fall

Simon Jordan on TalkSport, unchallenged yet again. As a Talksport employee, I am embarrassed by this rebuttal of what Neville said. This moron pontificates without question. It is bonkers. And yeah, i'll probably be sacked. Fuck it. youtube.com/watch?v=FrXr...

Recommended viewing: Storyville: The Librarians, BBC4, Tuesday, 7 October. Explores how librarians across the US are risking their safety to defend free speech as book bans and censorship threaten democracy from within. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Whether it's Republicans flagrantly abusing Articles One and Two of the Constitution or Democrats being bad at messaging, both parties are pushing America to the brink.

The median voter is by definition just one voter. Happy to take the hit if it means we can call out racism.

A very good thread making key points the Royal Society has missed.

Stretching the definition of “social” to breaking point…

I’m still 100% convinced that a manual switch is the best way to control devices in the home.

Lessons from a (much more) privacy conscious country To get this narrow approval the Swiss system was made free, optional and entirely publicly run

Got my performance review.

the post office is a public service. it doesn’t need to make money. public transit doesn’t need to make money. the library doesn’t need to make money. some things exist for the public good and we desperately need lawmakers to stop thinking about them in terms of capitalism. these are not businesses.

Contentment is 90% who you chose to stand next to.

The smart play is to have an iPhone is too old to support iOS 26.

this exists it is called thinking

I refused to placate the bully. Then I refused to placate the institutions who placated the bully. Then I refused to placate the shills who placate the institutions who placate the bully. I'm still standing; the rest are down. Never placate the bully.

😬

Mini-scoop: After resisting pressure to strip Elon Musk of his fellowship for months, the Royal Society is meeting on 1 October to discuss his removal – following his decision to address Tommy Robinson's far-right rally on Saturday. www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-r...

“Hey, man. Stop being weird.” - the key line to deploy against men’s high-performance influencers

Historical tech tree www.historicaltechtree.com

Cloudgazing cloudgazing.online

Deleted Twitter. Amongst many reasons, the man who owns it is a fascist.

This must be a watershed moment. The government's continued use of X is no longer simply negligent. It is an act of conscious assistance to violent extremism.

Elon, speaking at the Tommy Robinson march today: “This is a government against the people and not for the people, this is why everyone is gathered here today…we don’t have another four years…there’s got to be a dissolution of parliament” And the government just…continues to use X.

Expect more silence from the Royal Society in the face of their most notorious fellow advocating for the overthrow of the democratically elected government of a country he is neither a citizen nor a resident of (yet he is a fellow of their most prestigious learned society).

Elon Musk has *personally*posted in favour of the racist remigration agenda of the maximalist racist abusing the Home Secretary with this on X & endlessly posting racist harassment on X This should be a story. It should be a scandal. Musk should have to account for this, in person, in parliament

Sunday album: Who is the Sky? David Byrne 🎶 youtu.be/c1zuWaau9EM?...

We’re delighted that Cricket Scotland has chosen the National Library to be the new home of their archive 🏏 The records cover the history of the Scottish Cricket Union and Cricket Scotland, from 1908 to the present day.

It is bizarre to have "zero tolerance" for racial abuse in football and cricket from government, media & governing bodies, yet infinite tolerance - simply silence in media, politics & inaction - for unlawful racial hatred online against elected representatives of every party & other civilians.

Sunday morning album: Tapestry, Carol King 🎵 en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapestr...

These people have no idea what goes in to collecting, cleaning and processing data into a usable state. Every data scientist/AI hypeman should have to come into the field and experience where their data comes from.

Sublime 🐦 🏠

There are more parkrun *volunteers* than anti-asylum protestors (and counterprotestors). Let's hear their voices & stories! What are they hoping for this bank holiday?

A lovely little map legend this morning from the National Library of Scotland maps portal (a great combo with your morning coffee). This is for the 1inch map of Great Britain which you can find in full online here maps.nls.uk/view/239260573

Time-travel to @orkneylibrary.bsky.social in 1957 ✨📖 This clip from ‘Life in the Orkneys’ shows a box of books being packed up in Kirkwall Library to go to families on more rural islands. The box contains books for everyone in the family.