I didn't know about these amazing images - but more evidence of How The Victorians Took Us To The Moon! www.iconbooks.com/ib-title/how...

The Public Domain Review@publicdomainrev.bsky.social · 2d ago

This is a photograph taken in 1873. Did its creator James Nasmyth somehow, and very secretly, beat the Apollo space program by almost 100 years? You may be surprised to hear he did not. It's a photograph of one of his many intricate models. More here: publicdomainreview.org/collection/p...

I’m sitting on top of Glastonbury Tor. And it’s raining.

Holiday shakshuka.

Not what we usually see roaming the lane outside Chateau Morus

The descriptions of windmills on every roof generating power, and producing electricity from the waves, are very seductive, but it's important to remember that what turned on Astor and his ilk was the prospect of limitless energy, not renewable energy.

The Public Domain Review@publicdomainrev.bsky.social · 2w ago

Iwan Rhys Morus follows the interplanetary safari that is John Jacob Astor’s A Journey in Other Worlds (1894), a high-voltage scientific romance in which visions of imperialism haunt a supposedly “perfect” future: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/colonizing-the-cosmos

The descriptions of windmills on every roof generating power, and producing electricity from the waves, are very seductive, but it's important to remember that what turned on Astor and his ilk was the prospect of limitless energy, not renewable energy.

The Public Domain Review@publicdomainrev.bsky.social · 2w ago

Iwan Rhys Morus follows the interplanetary safari that is John Jacob Astor’s A Journey in Other Worlds (1894), a high-voltage scientific romance in which visions of imperialism haunt a supposedly “perfect” future: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/colonizing-the-cosmos

No. And no actual experts believe so. There are many ethical concerns around AI, but this really isn’t one of them. I do have ethical concerns about the hucksters trying to sell us on AI consciousness, though.

The Guardian@theguardian.com · 3w ago

Could AI be conscious?

Decided to try growing fennel this year. I think it worked!

What a clown.

George Lucas likens AI sceptics to luddites clinging to horses and carts

The Star Wars director has called AI technology ‘the future’ of film-making and advised ‘there’s nothing you can do about it’

theguardian.com

This is a must read: aeon.co/essays/silic...

Looking forward to presenting on ‘Scriptotherapy and Spiritualism’ from my forthcoming CUP monograph at the ESHS/HSS History of Science conference in Edinburgh. We’re on at 9.15am tomorrow on a #ESHS spiritualism panel with @dreframss.bsky.social @emmamerkling.bsky.social @irmorus.bsky.social 👻 ✍️ 📚

On my way for a brief visit to #eshs-hss. I hope to see some of you at my paper tomorrow morning! convention2.allacademic.com/one/hss/hss2...

Spotted in the wild @chanda.blacksky.app ! York Waterstones.

I am currently reading this by @carrievaughnco.bsky.social. As a historian of Victorian science I fully endorse this book!

@stephensackur.bsky.social's Hard Talk was easily one of the best things on BBC News. It asked questions that mattered rather than the usual 'it's all a game really' nonsense.

Stephen Sackur@stephensackur.bsky.social · 4w ago

One of the best things about writing a book is discussing it with readers. My book ‘Hard Truth’ is coming soon. Join me at the brilliant bookshop Topping & Co in Bath on 10th November. If you care about the state of journalism and democracy book now! www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/bath/...

Personally, I think Thony deserves a PhD for his blog alone!

Thony Christie @rmathematicus.bsky.social · last mo.

A short autobiographical sketch to explain why I as 'Just some guy with a blog' think I'm qualified to comment on the histories of science and mathematics thonyc.wordpress.com/2026/07/02/j...

I’ve spent more than a year reporting on how the fossil fuel industry has infiltrated academia over the last 30 years, shaping fundamental paradigms on how to address climate change. My first story in the new @propublica.org and @drilledmedia.bsky.social series, “Carbon Captured”, is out today.

ProPublica@propublica.org · last mo.

NEW: This is the story of how one of the most influential climate papers in history came to exist thanks to one of the companies most responsible for causing the climate crisis — and one with a financial stake in the technologies described in the paper. w/ @drilledmedia.bsky.social

PERSONAL NEWS! 🗞️ I’m thrilled to be able to share the cover of my soon-to-be-published book… #HARDtruth Thanks to @HeadlinePress1 for supporting a project that seems more important now than ever. Courageous journalism keeps democracy alive

Another draft chapter for Empire of the Eye finished @reaktionbooks.bsky.social! Two more chapters to go. It might actually happen.

😂

Cethan Leahy@cethanleahy.com · 2mo ago

Bluesky overrun by British teenagers at night because it's the one place the Labour government will never check.

Lucky shot. Clicked the button just as he was taking off.

Falch iawn i weld pob un o Aelodau Seneddol Plaid yn ymuno - cadwch ati Great to see all four Plaid MPs join the motion to disapprove the EHRC Code of Practice

Rhys Kaminski-Jones@rhyskamjones.bsky.social · 2mo ago

There are SNP, Greens, Lib Dems and Labour on this, where are your four MPs @plaidcymru.bsky.social? @lsrplaid.bsky.social @benlake.bsky.social @anndaviesplaid.bsky.social @llinosmedi.bsky.social

Very strange. They must have confused @doctorow.pluralistic.net with someone else, since they don't usually interview sane, well-informed people on the Today programme.

Pete Miles@petermiles.eurosky.social · 2mo ago

Cory Doctorow was interviewed by Anna Foster on BBC Radio 4 Today on the topic of AI. I've captured a transcript of the questions here in a short thread (with the help of Google AI voice-to-text. Good AI, thank-you.) 1/5

There are SNP, Greens, Lib Dems and Labour on this, where are your four MPs @plaidcymru.bsky.social? @lsrplaid.bsky.social @benlake.bsky.social @anndaviesplaid.bsky.social @llinosmedi.bsky.social

Trans+ Solidarity Alliance@transsolidarity.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🚨 NEW: 27 Members of Parliament have signed a motion to reject the EHRC Code of Practice edm.parliament.uk/early-day-mo... Ask yours to join them: equalrecognition.eaction.org.uk/rejectthecode

I avoid AI tools because thinking is supposed to be hard. It’s what makes us human | Wendy Liu

I avoid AI tools because thinking is supposed to be hard. It’s what makes us human | Wendy Liu

As intelligence itself becomes privatised by big tech, allowing your intellectual faculties to wither in service of inane bots seems a dangerous move, says author Wendy Liu

theguardian.com

I must be super evolved then because I understand very well that Google is trying to build an agentic wall around the entire internet with the ultimate goal of users paying to access it and data owners paying to contribute to it.

Ketan Joshi@ketanjoshi.co · 2mo ago

Google's CEO saying that the reason there's intense backlash to AI is because humans aren't "evolved" enough to understand it youtu.be/RgV57kDzcng?...

I’m evolved enough to understand it’s shit and we don’t want it because it’s shit

Ketan Joshi@ketanjoshi.co · 2mo ago

Google's CEO saying that the reason there's intense backlash to AI is because humans aren't "evolved" enough to understand it youtu.be/RgV57kDzcng?...

Excellent thread. Makes really clear that the focus on the notion of trans people as a *threat* is the real social contagion.

Darach Ó Séaghdha@darach.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Sixty (!) years ago, BBC2 presented a documentary on sex changes (as they were called at the time) and how the psychological aspect of gender were more significant than the glandular ones. From the Sunday Mirror, 20/11/66.

It’s impossible to take this stuff seriously. And increasingly difficult to take the institutions that give it a platform (Oxford) and the media that uncritically report it seriously either

AI will help make a Nobel prize-winning discovery within a year, says Anthropic co-founder

Jack Clark describes ‘vertiginous sense of progress’ and ‘profound changes’ to society alongside risks of technology

theguardian.com

Neges Heddwch Ieuenctid Cymru #Heddwch2026

Neges Heddwch ac Ewyllys Da yr Urdd 2026 | #Heddwch2026 | The Urdd's 2026 Peace and Goodwill Message

YouTube video by Urdd Gobaith Cymru

youtube.com