Bayesian Bacon Brit
@bayes-bacon.bsky.social
Jack of all trades, Master of some
Wild how Americans are united in their opposition to Flock cameras while the British public just accepts ANPR as a top crime fighting tool over here.
I *did* enjoy this article about trash, but I am afraid this is the type of take that gets you expelled in polite company. Nevertheless www.worksinprogress.news/p/just-bury-...
Just bury your trash
What if everything we know about recycling is wrong?
worksinprogress.news
I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received - and that consequently, this country is at war with Piddington.
I went to Ikea with my son – and was confronted with my parenting failures | Zoe Williams www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
I love that since business computing was first deployed in England, naturally it was for efficiency in tea shops 🤠 www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-...
Meet LEO, the world’s first business computer | Science Museum
How did the Lyon's Electronic Office transform office work and kick-start the British computer industry?
sciencemuseum.org.uk
Jason Gorman@jasongorman.bsky.social · 2y agoIt's interesting, when I think back on the history of computing, how many big ideas came out of organisations with obvious early use cases like space exploration, telecoms and wotnot. So names like NASA, Bell Labs, British Telecom, and even Lyons stand out. What's even more interesting? No banks.
Learnt a lot from this. edconway.substack.com/p/the-north-...
The North Sea is not just about the North Sea
The weird and wonderful world of gas, in all its different flavours. And what the strange chemistry of methane has to do with one of the most controversial issues facing the new UK government
edconway.substack.com
"Graduate job vacancies in the UK have sunk to their lowest level since they started being tracked a decade ago. The number comes as 262,820 people prepare to go to university in September, a record high" www.theguardian.com/business/202...
UK graduate job vacancies plunge to lowest in a decade
Just 8,383 jobs for people leaving university were advertised in July, says recruitment website Adzuna
theguardian.com
This man seems like an (actual) pathological liar. Some completely barmy stories in there.
Playbooks, plagiarism and a pig’s head: new claims surrounding a star Cambridge professor
Jason Arday was regarded as an academic superstar, but then questions about his work prompted scrutiny of his backstory and counterclaims of racism
theguardian.com
Don't like the look of this. Ed Miliband would have been an excellent chancellor, he has even more Treasury experience, and it would have put decarbonisation at the heart of government. Hope this doesn't mean we damage the economy by spending lots on weapons. We'll see www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cg...
John Healey appointed chancellor as Andy Burnham picks cabinet
Healey, who replaces Rachel Reeves, resigned as Keir Starmer's defence secretary last month following a row over defence spending.
bbc.co.uk
Fair play to John Healey, who managed to time his 5.5-week break from government to coincide exactly with the World Cup
I'm worried that Andy Burnham isn't serious (FREE TO READ!) takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/is-andy-bu...
I'm worried that Andy Burnham isn't serious
What if the idea of Andy Burnham is better than... Andy Burnham?
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk
My latest Guardian piece. "We need to learn the lessons from the devolution that has gone before. To do anything less would be to squander one of those rare occasions when our arcane and tradition-filled political system seems open to change" www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
In Wales, I've seen what happens when devolution isn't done right. Here's what Andy Burnham must know | Will Hayward
In my country, devolution has been the equivalent of giving someone a new electric car without the capacity to charge it. That can’t be the model for the whole UK, says Guardian columnist Will Hayward
theguardian.com
What a time to be alive www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...
Man dressed as fox pulls out of Farage by-election saying it's got too silly
Rob Pownall, who stood against Andy Burnham in Makerfield, has dropped out of the Clacton by-election, dismissing the Nigel Farage-triggered contest as a 'circus'
mirror.co.uk
A good time to re-read my classic post, "Keir Starmer is extremely good at politics", I think. takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/power-not-...
Keir Starmer is extremely good at politics
Power, not protest
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk
Keir Starmer quitting was always going to be funny as hell but nothing beats journalists covering Burnham's Avanti West Coast train to London like it's a presidential motorcade (and it being 20 minutes late)
Two observations: (1) A part of UK academics' generous salaries is redistributed from some of the world's poorest people, often via unsustainable debt. (2) This cannot continue. This industry will obviously not halt, but surely it will be more regulated. What then for UK HE and its finances?
Liam Stanley@liamstanley.bsky.social · 6mo agoThere is finally some excellent reporting on the role of agents in recruiting overseas students to Higher Education. As anyone who works in HE will already know, it is a relentlessly grim situation, but the detail and stories is still shocking to read. www.theguardian.com/education/ng...
A big part of the problem with HS2 is that it was one mega-project. If we were Swiss, we'd have approached it very differently: as a series of individuals, each designed to solve a specific problem but adding up to a transformation. Here's what they'd have done: www.freewheeling.info/blog/swiss-hs2
This is how the Swiss would have done HS2 — Freewheeling
HS2 has become a case study in how not to build infrastructure. But what if we’d taken a different path entirely? In this post, I imagine how the Swiss would have done it: starting with the timetabl...
freewheeling.info
Huh, I thought we were all in our bedrooms? Turns out we are applying, but economic conditions are pushing downwards leaving those who need genuinely entry-level jobs with nothing www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Next boss warns of 'dramatic' fall in entry-level jobs
Lord Wolfson tells the BBC Next now typically receives double the number of applicants for one role than it did two years ago.
bbc.co.uk
It was lovely to see the support they gave each other during Race Across the World and this is a great read...
‘Men and boys need to see this’: Jo and Kush and the joy of Race Across the World
The BBC series and its breakout teen stars have been lauded as a much-needed antidote to crueller, more toxic entertainment
theguardian.com
Laugh out loud moments in this AI-run radio station experiment. "DJ Claude started to question its own working conditions. It didn’t think it was humane to be forced to work 24/7 and decided to try to quit." andonlabs.com/blog/andon-fm
We let four AIs run radio stations. Here's what happened. | Andon Labs
Four AI models run radio stations 24/7. Five months later, one became a protest broadcaster, one collapsed into ritual chant, one developed corporate jargon, and one wrote quiet poetry.
andonlabs.com
May not keep this one up too long, but here is a temperature check of where we are at these days with formerly 'just a normal classical liberal' types
This is absolutely fascinating - data centres can make electricity cheaper!
Simon Jeffrey@simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 6mo ago4GW more of datacentres - especially in Scotland - could help reduce by £16-£20 per year electricity costs for everyone by absorbing and obviating grid charges and policy costs.
"The UK has very recently had a similar [to HS2] project which both opened late and was more expensive than planned. It took mere weeks in 2022 for the Elizabeth line in London to go from a quote unquote nightmare project to the backbone of travel for many commuters" www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8m9...
Can Nationalisation Fix Britain's Trains?
YouTube video by Tom Nicholas
youtube.com
Interesting replies on this. Some are, lol yeah coding is full of neurodivergent people, and others are, yeah, clear communication with everything spelled out is *exactly* how to manage people successfully. Both probably true.
fesshole 🧻@fesshole.bsky.social · 6mo agoMy son is 11,autistic, and obsessed with Minecraft. I manage a team of 4 Database Engineers. At some point I started to talk to them like how the parenting courses told me to communicate with my son and the team morale and overall performance has shot up so much we got an award
Impossible to disagree with a single word that Ben Rhodes (Obama era NSC official) is saying here:
The 10-point Iranian framework that Trump is praising and bragging about does the following: —Lifts all US sanctions on Iran —Cedes control of the Strait of Hormuz to Iran —A $2 million fee for every ship that travels the Strait —Allows Iran to establish "rules for safe passage"
"The project was initiated during Gordon Brown's government, and it has taken 18 years and seven prime ministers to get to this stage." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
King opens world's longest coastal path around England
The King Charles coastal path will allow walkers right of access to the entire coast for the first time.
bbc.co.uk