Marc Hudson
@marchudson.bsky.social
Academic (socio-technical transitions), climate historian, writer, video maker. Most days I think we're toast. #envhist See also allouryesterdays.info
@allouryesterdays.bsky.social
@allouryesterdays.bsky.social
Pinned
Marc Hudson
@marchudson.bsky.social
· Aug 5
The politics of Tom Lehrer: Noam Chomsky with a Piano?
Tom Lehrer died, aged 97, in late July. Lehrer had written 37 (well, a few more) songs in the 1950s and 1960s, and on the basis of this is still (rightly in my opinion) regarded as one of the…
marchudson.net
Tom Lehrer was a gateway drug for me, I now realise, for Noam Chomsky. Anyone else have the same experience?
marchudson.net/2025/08/04/t...
marchudson.net/2025/08/04/t...
Reposted by Marc Hudson
The blazing cowardice of the centre-right:
“Men go through life telling themselves a moment must come when they will show what they're made of. And the moment comes, and they do show. And they spend the rest of their days explaining that was neither the moment nor the true self.”
Shirley Hazzard
“Men go through life telling themselves a moment must come when they will show what they're made of. And the moment comes, and they do show. And they spend the rest of their days explaining that was neither the moment nor the true self.”
Shirley Hazzard
no matter what the circumstances, democrats are always saving their energy for a mythical future situation where they will do something good
November 10, 2025 at 9:17 AM
The blazing cowardice of the centre-right:
“Men go through life telling themselves a moment must come when they will show what they're made of. And the moment comes, and they do show. And they spend the rest of their days explaining that was neither the moment nor the true self.”
Shirley Hazzard
“Men go through life telling themselves a moment must come when they will show what they're made of. And the moment comes, and they do show. And they spend the rest of their days explaining that was neither the moment nor the true self.”
Shirley Hazzard
Reposted by Marc Hudson
A every chance I’ll repost this brief statement on the recruitment of sadists to enforce violence upon your citizens and per ieved enemies [literally from the first head of the Gestapo]
November 10, 2025 at 1:47 PM
A every chance I’ll repost this brief statement on the recruitment of sadists to enforce violence upon your citizens and per ieved enemies [literally from the first head of the Gestapo]
Reposted by Marc Hudson
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
November 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
Reposted by Marc Hudson
Unfortunately still true bsky.app/profile/adam...
American politics makes a lot more sense when you realize that the GOP is afraid of pissing off the GOP base, and the Dems are afraid of pissing off the GOP base, but neither party is afraid of pissing off the Dem base.
November 10, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Unfortunately still true bsky.app/profile/adam...
Reposted by Marc Hudson
November 10, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Possibly kite flying from reeves, to get kudos when she DOESN’T cut it. If so, cynical and clumsy.
OR she is srsly considering cutting. In which case, WTAF
OR she is srsly considering cutting. In which case, WTAF
Cutting net zero home insulation funding will imperil UK’s climate goals, Reeves told
Energy firms and charities urge chancellor to avoid short-term fix that could also harm low-income households.
www.theguardian.com/environment...
Energy firms and charities urge chancellor to avoid short-term fix that could also harm low-income households.
www.theguardian.com/environment...
Cutting home insulation funding will imperil UK’s climate goals, Reeves told
Energy firms and charities urge chancellor to avoid short-term fix that could also harm low-income households
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Possibly kite flying from reeves, to get kudos when she DOESN’T cut it. If so, cynical and clumsy.
OR she is srsly considering cutting. In which case, WTAF
OR she is srsly considering cutting. In which case, WTAF
'Reflection on Ingenuity'
Here's a good rule of thumb:
Too clever is dumb.
Ogden Nash
(A poem to memorise!)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogden_N...
Here's a good rule of thumb:
Too clever is dumb.
Ogden Nash
(A poem to memorise!)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogden_N...
Ogden Nash - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 9, 2025 at 7:58 PM
'Reflection on Ingenuity'
Here's a good rule of thumb:
Too clever is dumb.
Ogden Nash
(A poem to memorise!)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogden_N...
Here's a good rule of thumb:
Too clever is dumb.
Ogden Nash
(A poem to memorise!)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogden_N...
The link below is Seamus Heaney, writing in 2003 about the (bloody brilliant) collection of poems he and Ted Hughes edited "The Rattle Bag"- I've been reading 10 poems a day, am almost done.
The photo is the preface.
www.theguardian.com/books/2003/o...
The photo is the preface.
www.theguardian.com/books/2003/o...
November 9, 2025 at 7:47 PM
The link below is Seamus Heaney, writing in 2003 about the (bloody brilliant) collection of poems he and Ted Hughes edited "The Rattle Bag"- I've been reading 10 poems a day, am almost done.
The photo is the preface.
www.theguardian.com/books/2003/o...
The photo is the preface.
www.theguardian.com/books/2003/o...
Since 4th October I've been reading 10 poems a day, from the collection "The Rattle Bag" (eds Heaney and Hughes).
On a zoom call today, had reason to refer to this one (trigger warning - death of animal)
writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3F...
On a zoom call today, had reason to refer to this one (trigger warning - death of animal)
writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3F...
Praise of a Collie
by Norman MacCaig
| The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor
'Praise of a Collie' by Norman MacCaig, and the literary and historical notes for Thursday, January 17, 2013.
writersalmanac.publicradio.org
November 9, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Since 4th October I've been reading 10 poems a day, from the collection "The Rattle Bag" (eds Heaney and Hughes).
On a zoom call today, had reason to refer to this one (trigger warning - death of animal)
writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3F...
On a zoom call today, had reason to refer to this one (trigger warning - death of animal)
writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3F...
@tezzerrk.bsky.social - you may like @allouryesterdays.bsky.social
November 9, 2025 at 6:25 PM
@tezzerrk.bsky.social - you may like @allouryesterdays.bsky.social
Reposted by Marc Hudson
BREAKING: Mark Wolf, appointed to the federal bench by Ronald Reagan, writes that he is resigning as a judge to have the freedom to speak out against the president's assault on the rule of law.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
November 9, 2025 at 2:27 PM
BREAKING: Mark Wolf, appointed to the federal bench by Ronald Reagan, writes that he is resigning as a judge to have the freedom to speak out against the president's assault on the rule of law.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Reposted by Marc Hudson
Record high ocean temperatures continued across the North Pacific in October 2025, with recent warming really amplifying since the early 2000s.
This graph shows the average for a band across the midlatitudes for every October from 1854-2025 using
NOAA ERSSTv5 data (psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded...).
This graph shows the average for a band across the midlatitudes for every October from 1854-2025 using
NOAA ERSSTv5 data (psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded...).
November 9, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Record high ocean temperatures continued across the North Pacific in October 2025, with recent warming really amplifying since the early 2000s.
This graph shows the average for a band across the midlatitudes for every October from 1854-2025 using
NOAA ERSSTv5 data (psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded...).
This graph shows the average for a band across the midlatitudes for every October from 1854-2025 using
NOAA ERSSTv5 data (psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded...).
Oh, this is good.
From the preface to Eric Zencey's Virgin Forest...
From the preface to Eric Zencey's Virgin Forest...
November 9, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Oh, this is good.
From the preface to Eric Zencey's Virgin Forest...
From the preface to Eric Zencey's Virgin Forest...
The Panama Canal scandal of the early 1890s. Shades of The Torygraph drip-feeding out details of the MPs expenses scandal back in 2010...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_...
![However, before his death Reinach gave a list of the suborned members of Parliament to the Libre Parole, Edouard Drumont's antisemitic daily, in exchange for the paper covering up Reinach's own role. Overnight, the story transformed La Libre Parole from an obscure sheet into one of the most influential papers in the country. The list of culprits was published morning by morning in small installments, so that hundreds of politicians had to live on tenterhooks for months. The scandal showed, in Arendt's view, that the middlemen between the business sector and the state were almost exclusively Jews, thus helping to pave the road for the Dreyfus Affair.[2]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6ffmydg2uch4buzckgetfl5i/bafkreic3dinjmegnhqo66oiemzdu5odtrbyykpauvn3bdjm5vdqpklojuy@jpeg)
November 9, 2025 at 1:10 PM
The Panama Canal scandal of the early 1890s. Shades of The Torygraph drip-feeding out details of the MPs expenses scandal back in 2010...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_...
@evansmithhist.bsky.social thnx for following back. You might be interested in @allouryesterdays.bsky.social
November 9, 2025 at 9:44 AM
@evansmithhist.bsky.social thnx for following back. You might be interested in @allouryesterdays.bsky.social
We must imagine Simon happy…
It always takes me ages to get my head around metaphors and fables, so when someone tried to explain to me the myth of Sisyphus it was a bit of an uphill struggle.
November 9, 2025 at 9:41 AM
We must imagine Simon happy…
In reality, all we’ve created is a bot which is almost perfect at mimicking human-like natural language use, and the rest is people just projecting other human qualities on to it. Quite simply, “LLMs are doing reasoning” is the “look, my dog is smiling” of technology
malwaretech.com/2025/08/ever...
malwaretech.com/2025/08/ever...
Every Reason Why I Hate AI and You Should Too
maybe it's anti-innovation, maybe it's just avoiding hype. But one thing is clear, I'm completely done with hearing about AI.
malwaretech.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:23 AM
In reality, all we’ve created is a bot which is almost perfect at mimicking human-like natural language use, and the rest is people just projecting other human qualities on to it. Quite simply, “LLMs are doing reasoning” is the “look, my dog is smiling” of technology
malwaretech.com/2025/08/ever...
malwaretech.com/2025/08/ever...
Wait, women get written out of the official histories? There should be a word for this, and a movement against it...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_G...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_G...
Alice Guy-Blaché - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 8, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Wait, women get written out of the official histories? There should be a word for this, and a movement against it...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_G...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_G...
Reposted by Marc Hudson
40 years ago we’d have congressional hearings falsely accusing metal bands of putting backwards messages in their songs that told kids to kill themselves & now we have a planet-killing chatbot that’s all like “bet you won’t commit suicide chickenshit bitch” & the government is like here’s $5 billion
November 8, 2025 at 4:23 AM
40 years ago we’d have congressional hearings falsely accusing metal bands of putting backwards messages in their songs that told kids to kill themselves & now we have a planet-killing chatbot that’s all like “bet you won’t commit suicide chickenshit bitch” & the government is like here’s $5 billion
November 8, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Reposted by Marc Hudson
How ever since Labour came to power, the British media has started to notice a whole series of problems they spent the previous 14 years completely ignoring
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-great-...
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-great-...
The 'Great Noticing' Era
Ever since Labour came to power, the British media has started to notice a whole series of problems they spent the previous 14 years completely ignoring
www.adambienkov.co.uk
November 8, 2025 at 12:23 PM
How ever since Labour came to power, the British media has started to notice a whole series of problems they spent the previous 14 years completely ignoring
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-great-...
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-great-...