Sometimes a post just stops you in your tracks. I have nothing other than looking at resources for explaining to small children, which several people in the replies suggest. Reposting in the hope that someone who follows me has good ideas.

There's something special about the day before a University open day Is it the sense of anticipation as everyone gets ready to share their love of their subject with new learners? Is it the buzz of activity as they put the finishing touches to their presentations? (1/2)

"[F]rom the 1940s to the 1970s, a Bell Labs job was said to be just like working at a research university, except the pay was better, the equipment was more up-to-date, the machine shop was available for all your needs and you didn’t have to spend time teaching or applying for research grants."

🚨 Exclusive: New leaked document proves @NHSEngland was warned a decade ago about failures in child hearing test centres across England. Hundreds of children have been harmed, some left with lifelong problems: ▶️ www.thetimes.com/article/294c...

Decibel addition made easy #Acoustics

Perhaps the fact corrupt and incompetent Vice Chancellors (UUK) spent a decade loudly boasting that UK unis were now successful 'businesses' (to justify their pay rises) has something to do with this impression?

There were two of them on Play School, one was big and one was little. Thanks for coming to my TED talk

This foreword to "Restoring Control Over the Immigration System" contains some outrageous statements. The migration increase was driven by student visas. Have these tuition paying students truly done "incalculable damage" to the country? assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6821ae...

Lancet: Offline: Those one should not forgive (Makary and Bhattacharya) by Richard Horton bit.ly/3IPC0PD

Surely no British Monarch would accept a gift that had been taken unfairly from, no, sorry, couldn't keep a straight face for that one

It's hardly news that Starmer's public statements are wildly inconsistent, veering between A) stirring condemnations of far-right anti-immigrant racism and B) sickening attempts to pander to those same anti-immigrant views (1/3)

Jools Holland unveils blue plaque honouring pianist Winifred Atwell at her former home, 18 Bourdon Street, Mayfair, London. Atwell was the first black artist to have a UK number one hit song & the only female instrumentalist to date to have a top selling single.👇 www.bbc.com/news/article...

🚨 Our new investigation out today reveals how thousands of people who've taken their bosses to employment tribunals & won, never got paid, even after they approached the government for help. This has serious implications for the Employment rights bill. www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2025...

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

n the wildest oversharing yet, Jo, our amazing PR, arranged for me to do an interview with the Crosseyed Pianist's Meet the Artist series. Lots of love for all my frolleagues here, but otherwise it's hilarious. meettheartist.online/2025/09/30/l...

New! Cassetteboy vs Keir Starmer. This took absolutely ages, so if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi.com/cassetteboy we'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

A meme for the modern university...

End of History II: The Concludening Continulates!

Being wary of change

"The TV was dismal. Really pathetic. Ronnie Barker is embarked on a disastrous course — comedy set in a *prison*! It is drab and anachronistic and utterly foolish in conception." Kenneth Williams' diary entry, 4th September 1974

I note here that the police raided Nicola Sturgeon’s house live on national television because they thought her husband had spent party donations on a camper van

from the latest print edition of ‘The Onion’

The former leader of Reform in Wales, Nathan Gill, has been convicted of taking bribes from Oleg Voloshyn to promote the interests of Putin - the leader Farage said he most admires. Here’s Farage with Voloshyn’s wife. If Gill had been a close associate of Jeremy Corbyn this might be bigger news.

Using a thermocouple to check the temperature profile of my coffee brewer has improved the taste, but only because trying to fit it in revealed previously hidden parts caked with manky old coffee residue

I know people who are pretty enthusiastic about Particle-Image Velocimetry, but even so

I got myself flattered into a contributing to a special issue of a third-rate el$evier journal because it's in honour of someone I owe a lot to, and the mindless nitpickery of the editorial process is going to drive me out of my mind.

Ok. They’ve pissed me off. I’m back to tell you 3 things about ID cards: 1. Migrants ALREADY HAVE biometric ID cards & govts have been trying to digitise them for years w repeated fuckups & failures causing complete chaos - they don’t work, you do not want that system for you.

This is a problem.

Hi @givenergy.bsky.social how do I turn off the ghastly dark mode on the updated app? Your useless chatbot's unable to tell me

Who did he think he was - The Deep Sea Jivers?

Once again #Acoustics research answers your questions before you'd asked them

RIP Danny Thompson, so many happy memories of watching him, with Whenever, with Richard Thompson, with John Martyn, not to mention the whole crowd at Cropredy singing Danny Boy to him over Danny Jr's phone when he was incapacitated

BREAKING NEWS: TYLENOL RESEARCHERS FIND DISTURBING LINK BETWEEN DONALD TRUMP AND JEFFREY EPSTEIN

"cheap foreign labour" is just the ugliest, nastiest phrase.

All my life I've defended the licence fee, but now that it's a de facto donation to the Reform Party election campaign that might have to change

Hey, @theguardian.com, why are you presenting a far-right rally which left 26 police officers injured as something Guardian readers can disagree about in good faith? I’m so angry with you right now. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

When I participated in the Royal Society's MP-Scientist pairing scheme in 2008 we scientists awarded ourselves points for each famous MPs we encountered as we moved around parliament. I was doing until I passed Lembit Opik in a corridor and thereby lost all my points

I asked the librarian for that new kids book where Pavlov's dog goes on adventures with Shroedinger's cat. She said it rings a bell but she can't be sure if she has it or not until she has a look

Setting an Enigmatist at this point in the academic year seems like more evidence of the Guardian's hostility to universities

I expect toute ciel-bleu is agog to know why I, a known concertina nerd, hadn't been following the concertina forums for titbits like this.

Just been informed by Mrs W that one of the chaps who are fitting our new bathroom has gone out "in search of a bit of trim", so...good luck, I guess?

No OMITB spoilers please, we've just cancelled Disney+ but who knows, it might get syndicated to another channel one day

Thank God we don’t have the cancellation of satirical comedy in this country. I can’t wait to see how they deal with the Trump visit on The Mash Report, Mock The Week and Frankie Boyle’s New World Order!

Apropos of nothing in particular

Jim Christopulos' film documenting the VdGG show at the Beacon, NYC, '76 goes online tonight. This marries newly found footage with audio and together with stills, eyewitness testimony and reminiscence it paints a graphic picture of the event. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gPT... from 18.00 UK time.

It's odd to me that no UK university seems to have recognised the potential recruitment advantage of promising prospective students "Your work will never be marked using AI, unlike at [growing list of institutions]".

"That thing on your head looks ridiculous." "I thought Palace Guards weren't supposed to talk."

Smart move

whoever wrote this is so proud of themself.