AndreasThinks
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andreasthinks.me
AndreasThinks
@andreasthinks.me
Data science, crime and AI in government person | he/him

https://andreasthinks.me/
Reposted by AndreasThinks
this is my 9/11
Apparently the zombocom domain expired yesterday and was presumably bought out by some other jackass who launched this vibe-coded IMPOSTOR
February 9, 2026 at 9:12 PM
Reposted by AndreasThinks
In a competitive field, “hiring Chris Wormald and then being surprised that he is a civil service mandarin of the old school” is the most embarrassing thing Keir Starmer has done.
If everyone apart from the person who appointed them all leaves then that will sort it.
EXCL: Chris Wormald, the most senior civil servant in Downing Street, is negotiating his exit as part of a wider shakeup of Keir Starmer’s operation after dramatic day - @kiranstacey.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
February 9, 2026 at 7:51 PM
Reposted by AndreasThinks
Over the past year, @vegh.ca and I have been working on something very exciting!

We thought we'd give you a little teaser now and you can sign up to hear more very soon.
Indigo
A new social app for the Fediverse, by Aaron Vegh and Ben McCarthy.
indigosocial.app
February 9, 2026 at 3:00 PM
Nobody understands vetting, but its broken. We can do better.

Enough opaque with dark arts: set up transparent explainable system. Offer X many vetting slots per month, and let departments AND companies bid for them with discounts for delays. Surplus goes to more capacity and bonuses for the staff.
February 9, 2026 at 11:22 AM
Reposted by AndreasThinks
ugh why does it keep crying
October 22, 2023 at 2:28 AM
Reposted by AndreasThinks
🚨📰New WP 🚨📰
How does social housing design affect neighborhoods decades later? We study London gangs to show that postwar urban planning—specifically high-rise public housing construction—had lasting effects on gang formation
@cep-lse.bsky.social
February 5, 2026 at 11:50 AM
Reposted by AndreasThinks
"One of CIA’s oldest and most recognizable intelligence publications, The World Factbook, has sunset" www.cia.gov/stories/stor...
Spotlighting The World Factbook as We Bid a Fond Farewell - CIA
www.cia.gov
February 4, 2026 at 9:36 PM
So, not to toot my own trumpet, but I made the front page of Hacker News so I'm officially kind of a big deal now

news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4687...
February 3, 2026 at 8:13 PM
I mainly built this to experiment with ATProto, but I do really think it's a nifty idea - distributed science is cool, and ATProto makes it really easy to just build on the shoulders of giants. More info here!

andreasthinks.me/posts/octosp...
Octosphere, an experiment in decentralised science with ATProto – Andreas Varotsis
Bridging Octopus and the Atmosphere with lots of vibes
andreasthinks.me
February 3, 2026 at 4:31 PM
🧵 Went to an ATProto meetup, got inspired, built a thing! octosphere.social is an experimental bridge between www.octopus.ac and that ATProto network, turning your Octopus research into distributed records that others can react to, respond to and build on.
February 3, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Reposted by AndreasThinks
This is a great *paid* opportunity for larp designers from @makeascenemn.bsky.social!

Submit a short pitch and if selected get $300 to write the scenario. First-time designers and BIPOC are especially encouraged to pitch – and you can be from anywhere!
Submit a Scenario | MAKE A SCENE!
Calling all scenario authors, past, present, and future! We are seeking brand new live-action roleplaying scenarios exploring the festival theme of Tempo to premiere at Make a Scene in August 2026! We...
makeascenemn.org
February 2, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by AndreasThinks
Bloody hell, I've only gone and written an actual effing book.

Uncorrected proofs go out tomorrow for the purposes of securing swanky endorsements.

If you'd like to get your copy when it launches later this year, you can buy Power Play here: linktr.ee/Power_play_b...
February 2, 2026 at 5:16 PM
Reposted by AndreasThinks
Despite being banned, Chinese users (likely via VPNs) are HuggingFace's top user group. They definitely have the most people *building* open models.
February 1, 2026 at 5:07 PM
This is why I'm so sad our social media ecosystems have become so fractured. Mystified the EU doesn't see that forcing X to have a half decent API so people could build combined clients would be a huge win for a real digital public square.
February 1, 2026 at 12:14 PM
Reposted by AndreasThinks
Today I'm excited to announce @sequoia.pub: a CLI for self-hosted blogs to publish @standard.site lexicons to the ATmosphere

sequoia.pub/blog/introdu...
Introducing Sequoia: Publishing for the Open Web
sequoia.pub
January 30, 2026 at 7:50 PM
Reposted by AndreasThinks
Wamellow now let's you like posts within #discord by reacting with a light blue heart 🩵-emoji to any message containing a #bluesky link!!

Doing that for the first time will send you an authorization link via DMs.

📖 Bluesky -> Discord: wamellow.com/docs/notifications
👉 Invite: wamellow.com/invite
March 15, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Reposted by AndreasThinks
me, emotionally writing an essay on the use of force by federal agents: ok but what if i packaged this in the most insane way possible www.theverge.com/policy/86857...
Best gas masks
“How did these people go out and get gas masks?” AG Bondi asked.
www.theverge.com
January 29, 2026 at 2:25 PM
Reposted by AndreasThinks
recorded a Windows 95 full disk defrag to soothe your timeline.
January 29, 2026 at 9:48 AM
I'm at @aendra.com's atproto meetup tomorrow at Newspeak House, hopefully showing off bibliome.club... anybody else around?

#atproto #london
January 27, 2026 at 11:20 PM
Reposted by AndreasThinks
The fact that Harold Shipman has his own category is so wild
Homicide in England and Wales is rare, and getting rarer. The homicide rate increased continuously from 1960 until 2000, then dropped substantially until 2016. After a brief increase, homicide has now dropped to the lowest level since the 1970s.
January 27, 2026 at 12:22 PM
Reposted by AndreasThinks
Hell is watching Tucker Carlson, Piers Morgan and Richard Branson doing keynotes at a Saudi real estate conference.
Something jarring about seeing Hillary Clinton and Tucker Carlson on the same speech program.

This is for a Saudi Real Estate conference starting tomorrow.
January 26, 2026 at 8:17 PM
Reposted by AndreasThinks
This is an amazing fact. Also, the bear from Annihilation is so effed up that Google is reluctant to show it to you
January 26, 2026 at 8:13 PM
Gemini in Gmail is going really well🤦‍♂️
January 25, 2026 at 4:36 PM
So it looks like the government is announcing a National Police Service. Again.

It's one of those ideas that seems perfect from the outside, but yet we never seem to be able to get right.

It got my brain whirring, so I wrote up some reflections.

andreasthinks.me/posts/reflec...

#Policing #uk
Reflecting on the National Police Service – Andreas Varotsis
So we’re doing this again…
andreasthinks.me
January 25, 2026 at 4:20 PM
Reposted by AndreasThinks
To all Python people who feel bored with the content online, and are craving deeper dives, we're here to help.

Starting today I'm going to help moderate a little part of the internet where you are free, nay encouraged!, to share interesting notebooks.

Please join and share!
January 23, 2026 at 11:57 AM