A master of double negatives: The president is trying to make the shutdown "as un-painless as possible".

This isn't just about race or patriotism, it's about some of the worst people in our communities being given an excuse to act out their violent fantasies to give themselves some sense of meaning and purpose in their shitty, empty little lives.

After the dreichness of yesterday, today’s drive was in pretty much perfect conditions. Slightly longer route from Wanaka to Timaru as several of the higher more direct routes were still blocked by snow. Arrived in time to meet up with @aweatherall.bsky.social for dinner.

This is a talk from ResearchEd National in 2023 - an intro to the world of home education, what we do know, and what - in my view - would be interesting to find out. If you are like me and prefer to read (and skim if need be!), here you go: learnwhatyoulive.substack.com/p/home-educa...

I wonder what is the primary cause of Lord Dampnut's military operations off the shores of Venezuela. Perhaps he's worried about the authoritarian rule... poor freedom of the press... civil liberties... corruption... Or is it that it has the world's largest oil reserves?

NEW: Has gender balance in A-Level physics improved? This summer, 24% of those entering A-Level physics exams were female. Physics still has the second lowest percentage of female entrants of all A-Levels. - but that's the highest percentage for at least the last twenty years. vist.ly/4bft7

Yes the CO2 rise 2023-2024 was faster than we predicted at Mauna Loa and was a record rise there - now the WMO confirm the global mean rise was also a record Also the rate of CO2 rise is now above the IPCC scenarios that limit global warming to 1.5C www.carbonbrief.org/met-office-a...

This graph says it all: instead of starting to go down, the *annual increase* of atmospheric CO2 is setting new records. We're making climate change worse at a record rate. Turning this around should be our top priority, and it's not. From: www.carbonbrief.org/met-office-a...

A multinational edu-publisher I worked for contacted me to say that, moving forward, they’ll be using AI to make new books etc. They offered me work checking the output but we parted ways because of our different views on AI, shall we say.

Had interesting conversation with a very bright, able trainee teacher who has quickly identified that the overwhelming majority of teaching “resources” out there are shit. Which bodes really well for the future when new resources will be made by AI stealing from them.

British.

This might be an interesting toy for resonance 🎢 youtu.be/h89LnWlDwcQ?...

Physics Paths xkcd.com/3155/

wikipedia's data shows that AI is siphoning traffic away from the site, which is a danger to its sustainability. ironically Wikipedia is more important than ever to users who want reliable information instead of slop, and to AI companies that need it for training data www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...

It just hit me how much time has passed, and how much has happened, there may be younger generations that don't know about him. I don't want him to be forgotten. Share his story and keep fighting for a fair Internet ❤️

Breaking News! Code Yikes! September averaged 1.47°C above the 1850-1900 IPCC pre-industrial baseline, snapping a three-month "cool" streak. Will this heat continue? The Climate 8-ball is consulting the I Ching.

From her lifetime of pioneering work with chimpanzees to her tireless advocacy for the environment... Jane Goodall was a one-of-a-kind treasure to the world! I was lucky enough to be able to thank her personally when our paths crossed not long ago. Thanks again, Ms. Goodall. You will be missed. ♥️

My favourite Jane Goodall quotes....so many, so to the point, so wise. How different the world would be if enough people listened to her.

Sad news - a truly pioneering life. RIP Jane Goodall #WomeninScience #WomensHistory www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...

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

My statement on Ai from the mini-comic as syllabus i made for new class I'm teaching that starts tomorrow! It robs you of your decisions & struggles - and the joy of being surprised. We won’t to be robbed of our learning - this is essential. This & the full mini at post: bsky.app/profile/nsou...

Very good to hear him say this. I cannot understand why these comments always seem to come two weeks after the fact, but it's much better than nothing.

Use "immoral" when you mean without morals. "Amoral" means neither moral nor immoral - it's a state of ambivalence or fence sitting. It's a good trap to set and politicians should listen out for it and come down on the side they believe.

Can recommend the audiobook Douglas Adams: The Ends Of The Earth by Arvind Ethan David. A wondrous and prescient view of the state of the world as seen by the author of the wholly remarkable HHGTTG. It is an amalgamation of interviews, recordings and redramatisations of key scenes from his books.

Around $30m was the total Douglas Adams tried to raise back in the last century to help resolve the situation for these animals. Bill Gates eventually gave a mediocre 10k. The money involved providing humans with resources so they wouldn't destroy gorilla habitats.

Can recommend the audiobook Douglas Adams: The Ends Of The Earth by Arvind Ethan David. A wondrous and prescient view of the state of the world as seen by the author of the wholly remarkable HHGTTG. It is an amalgamation of interviews, recordings and redramatisations of key scenes from his books.

Two draft English curricula dated March 2024 exist. One, approved by the Curriculum Coherence Group, contained no Shakespeare and stipulated the inclusion of Māori and Pacifica authors. The other, the version out for consultation, included Shakespeare and Māori and Pacifica authors had been removed.

Science Teachers & Communicators! “Why Don’t Things Fall Up?“ has been noted by many as being *exemplary* in its explanations of science, and is being recommended by teacher trainers around the country to new teachers. Don’t take my word for it, read the reviews! Only 99p on Kindle til Wednesday

Reminder: There’s no rule that policies must be in manifestos. If it is, the Lords shouldn’t block it. If it’s not, it gets more scrutiny and pushback. That’s the only real manifesto rule. (And note: it’s shouldn’t, not won’t).

Happy 120th birthday, special relativity! Albert Einstein introduced special relativity in the paper "On The Electrodynamics Of Moving Bodies," published in Annalen der Physik #OTD in 1905. 🧪 ⚛️ 🔭 Manuscript: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1... English: www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einst...

Ming Campbell was a dedicated public servant and a true Liberal giant. His principled leadership opposing the Iraq War was a mark of his morality, courage and wisdom. But more than that, he was an incredibly warm and caring friend and colleague. We will miss him terribly.

Is the UK right wing aware that they're not legally obliged to do pathetic twee versions of every American scandal? This is literally just "they're eating the cats/dogs" in a monocle. It's not even subtle.

Righteous take-downs from @profbeckyallen.bsky.social. I winced at the words "a beacon for the Trad movement".

NEW EPISODE We asked @profbeckyallen.bsky.social what are the three most important things for teachers and leaders to know about assessment. Number 1? That it's all about learning. Tune in and share! open.spotify.com/episode/3Nzb...

Gotta love a name check on a podcast you're listening to.

Keir Starmer's aides are reportedly telling him not to go to the COP30 climate conference, because Reform would attack him for it. Yes, they might. And he should wear it as a badge of honour. Standing up for humanity, for science and a habitable planet. Where's the hazard in that?

‘Nickname’ is not ‘nick’ + ‘name.’ It was originally ‘ekename.’ ‘Eke’ was the Middle English word for “also” or “in addition.” Since ‘ekename’ began with a vowel, people used ‘an’ before it. Over time, 'an ekename' became 'a nickname.'

WHO statement on autism-related issues The World Health Organization (WHO) emphasizes that there is currently no conclusive scientific evidence confirming a possible link between #autism and use of acetaminophen (also known as paracetamol) during pregnancy Full statement bit.ly/47YsgwI

There are political journeys, and then there’s whatever Lembit Opik has been up to since 2010

“Our ability to act was rooted in insider knowledge, access to professional networks, and financial security.” ‘How the GCSE disadvantage gap can widen after results day’ researchschool.org.uk/huntington/n...

Just got an email from a university based teacher trainer about “Why Don’t Things Fall Up? saying he has used it for “examples of good clear science communication, pitched to the right level for the right audience”. The audience is *you* and it is just 99p on Kindle for few more days (til end Sept)

It’s time to wake up — if you aren’t using ChatGPT to optimize your work (and your life!) you’re getting left behind. Watch this for 5 simple, lesser-known ChatGPT prompts that geniuses use! youtu.be/IS65dBNlng8

People get in a tizzy about whether to use legal or practical or moral arguments, to deploy reason or emotion, data or storytelling. The answer is: everything. Let him have it.

The true question right now is whether you believe in the moral character of the British public. If you do, you'll want to have the fight with Reform. You'll believe that the public will hate the idea of breaking up families, spying on & deporting people who've worked here for years.

A celebration of journalists' outsourcing critical thinking to whatever presentation politicians serve up. It's NOT inevitable, Sam. You COULD apply some judgment, instead of pretending you are an infant looking at different things dangling from a mobile above your crib. Or is that too much work?

Thousands of Londoners have indefinite leave to remain. They have legal rights and are our friends, neighbours and colleagues, contributing hugely to our city. Threatening to deport people living and working here legally is unacceptable.

Todays partial solar eclipse. Luckily the clouds stayed away until after maximum eclipse. From South Canterbury, New Zealand Lunt LS80tha and Grasshopper 3 camera #eclipse

we have gone from a world in which we were told not to cite wikipedia because it was unreliable to a world where wikipedia might be the only reliable source left on the internet and we all owe a lot to the pedantic nerds who got us there

No particular reason