Josh Cowls
@joshcowls.bsky.social
Tech policy person (Google), PhD in app store governance (Oxford). Views own. Repost signals interest. Expect miscellany.
Reposted by Josh Cowls
🚨 SHOCKING 🚨
A HUGE illegal waste dump has appeared between the A34 and River Cherwell, linked to organised crime.
Every rainfall risks toxins washing into the river.
We’re calling on the Environment Agency & Cherwell Council to act NOW.
Our rivers cannot wait. 👇👇
A HUGE illegal waste dump has appeared between the A34 and River Cherwell, linked to organised crime.
Every rainfall risks toxins washing into the river.
We’re calling on the Environment Agency & Cherwell Council to act NOW.
Our rivers cannot wait. 👇👇
November 15, 2025 at 12:47 PM
🚨 SHOCKING 🚨
A HUGE illegal waste dump has appeared between the A34 and River Cherwell, linked to organised crime.
Every rainfall risks toxins washing into the river.
We’re calling on the Environment Agency & Cherwell Council to act NOW.
Our rivers cannot wait. 👇👇
A HUGE illegal waste dump has appeared between the A34 and River Cherwell, linked to organised crime.
Every rainfall risks toxins washing into the river.
We’re calling on the Environment Agency & Cherwell Council to act NOW.
Our rivers cannot wait. 👇👇
open.substack.com/pub/londonce... eye-opening weekend read about a (very large and concrete) path not taken
Would your home have been under a motorway?
"The most astonishing and destructive thing never to happen to London," says the man who has spent twenty years researching the first true map of the unbuilt Ringways.
open.substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:31 AM
open.substack.com/pub/londonce... eye-opening weekend read about a (very large and concrete) path not taken
Reposted by Josh Cowls
do you think the nyt puzzles people saw the only connect wall about them
October 26, 2025 at 8:19 PM
do you think the nyt puzzles people saw the only connect wall about them
Interesting how colloquial use of non-standard number words tends to alter their perceived size over time.
“Myriad” formally means 10,000 but can now mean anything from “quite a few” to “innumerable”
“Orders of magnitude more” often refers to quite a bit less than 100x or 1,000x
“Myriad” formally means 10,000 but can now mean anything from “quite a few” to “innumerable”
“Orders of magnitude more” often refers to quite a bit less than 100x or 1,000x
October 7, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Interesting how colloquial use of non-standard number words tends to alter their perceived size over time.
“Myriad” formally means 10,000 but can now mean anything from “quite a few” to “innumerable”
“Orders of magnitude more” often refers to quite a bit less than 100x or 1,000x
“Myriad” formally means 10,000 but can now mean anything from “quite a few” to “innumerable”
“Orders of magnitude more” often refers to quite a bit less than 100x or 1,000x
Out of morbid curiosity I watched the very 1st episode of the Wallace/Torode era of Masterchef in 2005. Besides dodgy music, the nastiness of that era of TV is striking, judges acting like wannabe Simon Cowell/Anne Robinson. Ironic how the show was reinvented as cuddly comfort TV (at least onscreen)
September 23, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Out of morbid curiosity I watched the very 1st episode of the Wallace/Torode era of Masterchef in 2005. Besides dodgy music, the nastiness of that era of TV is striking, judges acting like wannabe Simon Cowell/Anne Robinson. Ironic how the show was reinvented as cuddly comfort TV (at least onscreen)
D > G > F (with Peru) > E > A > B/C/H
For the rest of your life, you can only eat food from one of these regions. Which do you choose?
For more maps: brilliantmaps.beehiiv.com/s...
For more maps: brilliantmaps.beehiiv.com/s...
September 17, 2025 at 9:56 AM
D > G > F (with Peru) > E > A > B/C/H
Reposted by Josh Cowls
This has been a rough decade to be a supporter of parliamentary democracy, liberalism, membership of the EU and Manchester United.
August 27, 2025 at 9:20 PM
This has been a rough decade to be a supporter of parliamentary democracy, liberalism, membership of the EU and Manchester United.
Was not expecting Love Is Blind UK to provide such an effective antidote to creeping Island-of-Strangerism, but here we are??
August 17, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Was not expecting Love Is Blind UK to provide such an effective antidote to creeping Island-of-Strangerism, but here we are??
Test cricket is without equal.
August 4, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Test cricket is without equal.
Reposted by Josh Cowls
“Island of strangers” seems destined—if not outright designed—to live in the history books alongside a similar rhetorical construction by a rather different politician in a different era. I can’t think of another PM in my lifetime who would have uttered it; May perhaps got closest.
May 12, 2025 at 11:07 AM
“Island of strangers” seems destined—if not outright designed—to live in the history books alongside a similar rhetorical construction by a rather different politician in a different era. I can’t think of another PM in my lifetime who would have uttered it; May perhaps got closest.
“Island of strangers” seems destined—if not outright designed—to live in the history books alongside a similar rhetorical construction by a rather different politician in a different era. I can’t think of another PM in my lifetime who would have uttered it; May perhaps got closest.
May 12, 2025 at 11:07 AM
“Island of strangers” seems destined—if not outright designed—to live in the history books alongside a similar rhetorical construction by a rather different politician in a different era. I can’t think of another PM in my lifetime who would have uttered it; May perhaps got closest.
Etymological root I realised today: “preposterous” literally means “before/after” as in topsy-turvy, inherently contradictory. Confirmed via the excellent etymonline.com www.etymonline.com/word/prepost...
Online Etymology Dictionary
The online etymology dictionary (etymonline) is the internet's go-to source for quick and reliable accounts of the origin and history of English words, phrases, and idioms.
etymonline.com
May 8, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Etymological root I realised today: “preposterous” literally means “before/after” as in topsy-turvy, inherently contradictory. Confirmed via the excellent etymonline.com www.etymonline.com/word/prepost...
If I was designing a majoritarian electoral system from the ground up it would look a lot like Australia’s
May 3, 2025 at 8:02 AM
If I was designing a majoritarian electoral system from the ground up it would look a lot like Australia’s
Aide memoire for a busy election week
May 1, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Aide memoire for a busy election week
Reposted by Josh Cowls
Sad news about the Happy Heat Pump Podcast.
Sorry to say, that after about 20 episodes, we’re drawing it to a close at the request of the BBC which worries it may be seen as steering into areas of public controversy.
1/2
youtu.be/RJPKgngqoX0?...
Sorry to say, that after about 20 episodes, we’re drawing it to a close at the request of the BBC which worries it may be seen as steering into areas of public controversy.
1/2
youtu.be/RJPKgngqoX0?...
https://youtu.be/RJPKgngqoX0?si=92B9xN4zy6BiWXqK
t.co
April 22, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Sad news about the Happy Heat Pump Podcast.
Sorry to say, that after about 20 episodes, we’re drawing it to a close at the request of the BBC which worries it may be seen as steering into areas of public controversy.
1/2
youtu.be/RJPKgngqoX0?...
Sorry to say, that after about 20 episodes, we’re drawing it to a close at the request of the BBC which worries it may be seen as steering into areas of public controversy.
1/2
youtu.be/RJPKgngqoX0?...
Reposted by Josh Cowls
“Britain is shackled to a corpse.”
Gosh this is good
Gosh this is good
April 10, 2025 at 9:50 AM
“Britain is shackled to a corpse.”
Gosh this is good
Gosh this is good
Don’t know about yours, but my Following feed has reached a happy equilibrium: enough posts per minute for a good skim of what’s important (with outlinks!) as well as decent amounts of marginalia without being overwhelming. (Of course it’s a purposive not representative sample, but that’s the idea.)
April 4, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Don’t know about yours, but my Following feed has reached a happy equilibrium: enough posts per minute for a good skim of what’s important (with outlinks!) as well as decent amounts of marginalia without being overwhelming. (Of course it’s a purposive not representative sample, but that’s the idea.)
In the hallowed pantheon of season 2 finales, Severance’s eclipses Breaking Bad’s and is up there with those of the The West Wing, The Office and Dark
March 22, 2025 at 5:15 PM
In the hallowed pantheon of season 2 finales, Severance’s eclipses Breaking Bad’s and is up there with those of the The West Wing, The Office and Dark
Reposted by Josh Cowls
Should AGI-preppers embrace DOGE? There's magical thinking about the magical thinking. www.programmablemutter.com/p/should-agi...
Should AGI-preppers embrace DOGE?
There's magical thinking about the magical thinking
www.programmablemutter.com
March 18, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Should AGI-preppers embrace DOGE? There's magical thinking about the magical thinking. www.programmablemutter.com/p/should-agi...
Breaking news indeed
BREAKING | The universe could undergo a 'catastrophic change' that could alter absolutely everything, quantum machine shows
Universe could undergo a 'catastrophic change' that could alter absolutely everything
The universe could undergo a catastrophe that would change absolutely everything, scientists have shown using a quantum machine.
www.independent.co.uk
February 4, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Breaking news indeed
Apropos of nothing, here are some apps I use regularly that should be more mainstream than they are
January 29, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Apropos of nothing, here are some apps I use regularly that should be more mainstream than they are
Starting 2025 in the spirit of togetherness and faith in humanity (watching Squid Game and The Traitors)
January 1, 2025 at 10:58 AM
Starting 2025 in the spirit of togetherness and faith in humanity (watching Squid Game and The Traitors)
December 12, 2024 at 8:11 AM
BBC News is clearly suffering from the shuttering of BBC World this morning. Sky News has had more or less wall-to-wall Syria coverage with extended interviews with experts; Beeb’s Breakfast show has had to combine short updates with domestic weather updates and pre-rolls
December 8, 2024 at 7:43 AM
BBC News is clearly suffering from the shuttering of BBC World this morning. Sky News has had more or less wall-to-wall Syria coverage with extended interviews with experts; Beeb’s Breakfast show has had to combine short updates with domestic weather updates and pre-rolls