Project Support at Queen's University Belfast https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nick-Johnston-5?ev=hdr_xprf & Ed Admin for @jrlepp.bsky.social Views are personal and not those of my employers or funders
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Anyone in Hastings UK area this weekend? I'm running an open studio event for south coast creative/arts bonanza #coastalcurrents. Naturally #accessible, I'll be doing talks, readings, mini mentoring, inside Crafting Connections 2025 share.google/kAOeBJKWW0Gh... More tomorrow. #Poems compulsory 🙂
Rwanda agreed to take 200 people. Not 200 a week, 200 a month or 200 a year. Just 200. At a cost of £750m.
Maybe he watched the Disney version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame before filming started and it touched his heart...
CBS responded defensively. Perhaps it’s time for news orgs to state unabashedly that they're not in the business of amplifying Trump officials’ lies, and any official who feels entitled to that can stuff it. No need to get pushed around by this sleazy scam anymore. newrepublic.com/article/1998...
What's funny (debatable) is that on Zwift they use the Ulster Banner as the flag for Northern Ireland. I picked it in all innocence because who wouldn't want to be an individual while you're cycling around a virtual world
Dave Gibbons is an artist I remember from my youth and the comic 2000AD - he has an amazing portfolio/resume! (Can't blame him for the writing, even if it was prescient...)
My dear, departed mother-in-law always used to add the ominous "all being well" to any farewell (eg "we'll see you next week at the fabulously opulent party that will be the highlight of the decade - all being well...") but I think you have matched that with “If we still have a planet, obvs.”
Do it today people!
Any science feature writers? We pay £350-450, send your pitches today or tomorrow!
I had only just started cleaning it up after the last time!!
Sorry - look after yourself
Ah no - I went and googled "AryanAlpha1488" and now I hate humanity even more
It's the scale of these things that makes them unmanageable, but I don't see an easy solution to that. (That isn't going to make the free speech squawking rise to a deafening level)
Sadly I think the answer to that has been already given by most platforms "No, we couldn't, but thanks for asking. I'm just off to keep making money from stirring an enormous slurry tank - bye now!"
Another day, yet ANOTHER stupid, pointless announcement on immigration from this stupid pointless government. Today: you are a student - we're going to write you a stern letter about how you better not be thinking of staying! Insanity. Racist, cowardly, insanity. #r4today
I liked your post, but only because there isn't an option to express myself properly about this latest twist 🤬😡🤬
And now for some good new
I just posted a longer version of this, but I think this is the relevant bit for your topic. I think 'the splurge' extends to greyish area jobs - private sector pretending to help the public sector (and spending public sector money to back up that feigning)? youtube.com/shorts/JyDnh...
A thought provoking clip. "Busy doing nothing" comes to mind, which is a little sad when you consider how many challenges there are in the real world!
+1 I feel like tying it to him as a 'personality' 🙄 ties the outrage to him too (as if it was only his fault) when there's more than enough blame and bonkers quotes to go round. It's like (not really, but) blaming the guy who just quit for there being no more chocolate biscuits in the office tin.
He probably decided that if he couldn't have big fingers, he'd just get lots more to make up for it
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Or talking to a relative who can't remember names "You know who I mean, he was married to that girl who was so and so's daughter. Terrible what happened to all of them..."
That we can agree on 🍻
Hope you're feeling better too - AMU ward is no joke!
Okey dokey - "what's happening" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, but it's your life - rather you than me!
A quote from your own post: "Asylum seekers offer no benefit economically and councils are pitted against the government for accommodation." The way you have worded it makes it seem like you're punching down. It's not their fault they're caught up in some neoliberal wet dream with no options.
Serco - the British multinational company that makes money from all of that from the government? I don't see how you're making responsibility for this come back to refugees and homeless people. There is money in this, but not for the people being punched down on.
All the more reason to be nowhere near it, in my opinion. It's nuclear grade/high octane (both equally undesirable) "never wrestle with a pig" territory, with little to no hope or potential to make a positive contribution.
The asylum seekers who aren't allowed to work and are granted a pittance to live on - those ones? How are they supposed to benefit areas economically? Are they crowding out those wealthy homeless people who are just waiting to trickle all their money down to everyone?
I was excited to find your book "Ten Things About Writing" (read by you) on my library app. I'm really looking forward to listening to it
Wikipedia editors trying to fend off the onslaught of AI crap have crowdsourced some telltale signs of LLM-generated writing; it might be handy for editors and proofreaders generally. Thanks to @ellenrykers.com for pointing me to it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiped...
Less "hearsay" than the actual scholarship offer, at any rate...
Incredible bit of shoehorning there! (Not to mention the juxtapositioning of "biological age testing", "scientific rigour", and 'bunions stopped me dancing'!!!)
To a notional audience of 15.4 million. You can see why they're loathe to let that go, but surely it's the only decision?
Just so that you don't have to besmirch Frazer's legacy with the thought that he might have been a Labour loyalist, I present a more suitably dogmatic and inflexible alternative
Kind of begs the question why the galaxy brains currently in control of the narrative have come to such p!ss poor conclusions. If they'd paid you for six months, I bet you'd have handed in better homework...
Don't get me wrong, it looks like an absolute blast, but I am incredibly risk averse. (Let's just say my only bike is set up on a Zwift trainer with the back wheel off and it will probably never see the outside world again...)
Ha! I was about nail my creds to the floor when I confessed to having wiped out on a green route (underneath the chair lift, so I had an audience), so all respect to you!
+1 What will kill it is removing engagement oxygen: advertisers and organisations (inc governments - hint, hint, UK) will eventually catch on that it's no better than a school toilet door for information and it can enter a death spiral (Elon knows what they look like based on his SpaceX follies)
It is beautiful from start to finish nonetheless!
Pardon my language but holy cr@p - I lasted about 2 minutes until he was switching stances at speed and the cold sweats started. How did it change your life?
I think bans are a reasonable short-term response to corrosive technology products but ultimately the long-term response should be rewiring education to train students to treat technology with hostility, criticism and skepticism, and going back to values like critical thinking and research skills
"The performative cruelty will intensify until Britain becomes less racist"
That's no worse than me; my father's father was from there but I never knew him, and the closest I got to living in Aberdeen was Edinburgh for undergrad and most of my PhD. I haven't visited Aberdeen in decades now. It's still a small world though - take care!
Sorry, wasn't clear - the udm14. So nice to see results without an AI summary of unknown accuracy and all the weird links to it. Yuck I just realised we share the same last name but I assume we're not related unless your ancestors came from Aberdeen, Scotland?
Completely naive question here: if I use it on Google, does that have any bad consequences? (I don't know what they might be, mind you.) The search results are beautifully AI clear - even a safe for work option!! Thanks
It's almost in the animal kingdom, and just as frightening, so why wouldn't he go for "(Case of) Chlamydia Clacton"? That way he could have a photo op every time he was in his constituency. Oh
@ketanjoshi.co @climatenews.bsky.social A feel better (if not good) story for you. Beau Miles is something of a hero of mine, if only for the concept of one mile an hours marathons, and planting a tree a minute for 24 hours is up there too! www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Waiting for an autism spectrum disorder expert to weigh in, but in the meantime this review says (among others things) "The heightened awareness of ASD is mainly a feature of high-income countries, where epidemiological data are widely available." pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Public Service Announcement: If you would like even a 5 minute break from the world, pop on to YouTube and add "ISIHAC" to the search box. "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue" is pure joy, and has been running on the BBC for more than 50 years. An example (watch to the end): www.youtube.com/shorts/Ity43...
@katharinehayhoe.com I feel like a lot of your great work is 'prebunking'! I wonder if it's a viable approach to increase trust in areas other than elections?
That's in my top 2 of most hated phrases (so far): - Just asking questions - Legitimate concerns 🤬
clip.cafe/four-wedding...
Alternative ALT text: A hot chocolate paradise with an endless supply of capybara marshmallows floating around and slowly dissolving. (Much better than the Wonka chocolate factory AND without the unfortunate associations)
Has anyone checked the roof?
Is he going to try that new extra-long copper pitching wedge Melania gave him and there's a chance of a storm? 🤞🌩️
Ah, you've fallen into the old trap, what a shame. "Competent" and "strategy"?!?
Slippery slope - once you get your first taste of it, who knows where it will end?! Hopefully not like my Dad, who has a scale model steam engine track running round the edge of the garden in the family house! And 4-6 engines casually laying around actually in the house itself...
The bit I heard on 5 Live said that the ref called it a careless tackle, despite there being no where else he could naturally put his foot after he had already fairly won the ball! (Prb wrong but it makes me think of when bullies grab a wrist and say "stop hitting yourself in the face")
I wonder if they've tried turning it off and just leaving it at that?
I'd prefer a random collection of letters signifying his forehead hitting the keyboard
His Wiki profile says it all - rhymes with "Occupation- Politician - banker"
That's the worst of both worlds! (It's like submitting a grant proposal for a really competitive funding call and thinking you aced it but for non-nerds and with more global benefits)
I'm not savvy about these things in any way, but just looked at OpenSUSE on Wikipedia and I estimate I understood 5% of it at the most - respect to you!
Please don't ask why I have the time/inclination on a Saturday morning to look for these things (procrastination plays a ridiculously large role), but I'm disappointed that you don't get a sight of her in the one in this video! www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE2D...
That whole thread though; who commissioned it, and with what aim?? Dr Who, Star Wars, LOTR, then Old Uncle Tom Cobley and All to finish. Bizarro!
Due to an unexpected council tax bill I am opening up ten slots for Silly Little Guys. DM me to secure a slot! Usual rules apply: ⭐️ £25 each ⭐️ No portraits ⭐️ Just simple, silly stuff.
Ironic when old Don is a member of the 0.1% bending the other 99.9% to his every whim
I assumed he'd tripped over them when he was lurching around in the long stuff looking for his ball, but then I remembered his shots always 'land' in the middle of the fairway, so he must look for his cabinet members where the caddies hang out
Few technologies have been met with such a barrage of misinformation as heat pumps have. @carbonbrief.org just dropped a brand-new version of my heat pump myths factcheck. Have a look here 👇 interactive.carbonbrief.org/factcheck/he...
Shot (below); chaser:
Add the automatic administration of a renewably generated electric shock to anyone who doesn't play in the right spirit (ie it's fun, don't take life so seriously) and I'll send my money first thing tomorrow!
oops - here's the LinkedIn post www.linkedin.com/posts/abi-pe...
This (and more!) on a LinkedIn post (b/c more characters) and a recent Open Access paper on advocacy/activism by scientists. doi.org/10.1038/s441...
Projects in the Managing Climate Solutions (MaCS-HSG) Master Certificate at University of St.Gallen contributed to a climate art exhibition in HSG’s House Washington as a way encourage reflection when climate change remains strangely abstract. www.unisg.ch/en/newsroom/...
I don't understand what the galaxy brains around him can possibly be telling him that passes any kind of sniff test, but you're definitely right on all counts. It's not as if that narrative is so elusive - there are so many examples of better things to say (and ways to say them) than this!
If you want more greenways built in Ireland, please please respond favourably to this public consultation on the Cork-Kinsale greenway, and share widely. It’s being threatened by scaremongers. Deadline is today. corkkinsalegreenway.ie/feedback-for...
Seems the BBC significantly exaggerated the Home Office case here, both in their wording on Twitter and on the broadcast itself. Home Office lawyers did *not* say this, which would be politically toxic, and play right into the hands of you know who. >
📢 Places still available on our online Applied Research Skills CPD module! Starting 6th October 2025, the course will introduce participants to knowledge & skills required to design, carry out & critically analyse research in #scicomm ⤵️ More Info & apply: courses.uwe.ac.uk/USSKNQ30M/ap...
Places still available, but going fast!
That's a public service you have performed right there. Thank you 🖖
In the same way that @atrupar.com watches the stuff we don't want to so that we don't have to, here's a nifty list of Starmer tweets that, when you take them out of context, could have been lifted from a long list of Tory/Reform/proto fascist accounts. Mind boggling, if it wasn't so sad.
From this little gem of a website - my highlight - it's not in the past tense... world-nuclear.org/information-...
This might help them to fit in when they move on to tidy up other crime ravaged cities youtube.com/clip/Ugkxe22...
Calling all Hastings friends! Come and join me.. I am part of the Coastal Currents Arts Festival and on 6th and 7th September will be at Crafting Connections, 59 Kings Road, St Leonards on Sea. I will be launching my Living Archive! Hope to see you. #coastalcurrents2025 #disabilityactivist
The last time Greenland was green was 400,000 years ago, when sea level was between 6 and 12 meters higher than now. Today, atmospheric CO2 is 1.5 times greater than it was back then. Goodbye to most of the world's coastal cities, I guess.
Should have been a red flag for Reform and their internal compliance framework!
Coming back to this - it struck me that you could have a great conversation with @philfeldman.com about your article and tie it up with his work on Stampede Behavior (apologies if you're already aware of it) eg iq360inc.com/blog/strateg...
Although I really dislike clicking a heart on posts like this - I wish Bluesky could pick a different symbol to indicate appreciation rather than whatever a heart connotes
sorry we have to bomb your city that would be immoral my city is not a combat zone I have literally just bombed it so out of the fucking way the tanks are going in
Translated: "We've just had our first major AI scandal, but it's embarrassingly under-covered. I'm writing about how stupid artificial "intelligence" really is, and how stupid it is to both use and praise it uncritically. Plus a little about which figure from Greek mythology I feel like, of course."
Reposted from @sanakism.bsky.social's timeline without comment bsky.app/profile/expl...
Another epic thread! Having grown up in England I was only dimly aware of the 'aura' surrounding the DUP; that was erased from my mind when I realised I belonged to the same health club/gym as Paisley Snr - I found him in the altogether in the changing rooms a few years before his death
Douglas Adams predicted all of this: "So long as you can keep disagreeing with each other violently enough and maligning each other in the popular press, and so long as you have clever agents,you can keep yourselves on the gravy train for life"... From www.litcharts.com/lit/the-hitc...
It's way above my pay grade to say this, but this article is quite brilliant in the way that it seems like the start to a Grand Unifying Theory of how we got here (sadly involving bad ppl understanding bits of that quicker than us). Which is a start to working out how to get out of here...
