Dr Andrew Salerno-Garthwaite FRGS

@asgtypes.bsky.social

Digital Editor, RUSI. Journalist. Photographer. Documentarian. Writer. Designer. Statistician. Past: FT, Condè Nast, GlobalData. Views are my own.

When I was a teacher in South Korea I taught English to students that were looking to go into university for a range of subjects. It seemed odd that maths students would be graded on their English ability, but the educational system was highly competitive, and English had a lot of weight to it.

There has always been resistance to automated technologies that try to undermine the power of labour. That’s why my PhD is looking at how journalists resist AI technologies in the newsroom.

In 1768, after James Hargreaves unveiled his spinning jenny, a band of cotton spinners broke into his shop and destroyed it. He'd developed the device in secret, fearing precisely this outcome, and was forced to leave town before he tried to commercialize it.
Brian Merchant
Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against
Big Tech

I'm consistently impressed that Wired and Ars Technica continue to do great tech reporting despite being owned by Conde Naste. The duo's reporting basically killed the tech industry's covert effort to neuter a popular Colorado law making it easier and cheaper to repair your own tech:

Colorado's Anti-Repair Bill Is Dead

Colorado has led the US on legislation that ensures people can fix their stuff. Manufacturers tried to claw back that control but ultimately failed—for now.

wired.com

Fantastic bit from the BBC obit of London Zoo’s Desmond Morris, who encouraged primates in art, and gave a paintbrushes to chimpanzee. Morris: ‘Picasso had one of these paintings, and was very excited about it, and when a journalist asked him what did he think about apes painting, Picasso bit him.’

I've worn really distinctive clothing for years but in my 60s I just felt I wanted to look normal. I gave a dozen boxes of clothes to the local charity shop and now I keep seeing people in my old clothes; I realised I have looked like a twat for years.