Roy Williams
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roydavidwilliams.bsky.social
Roy Williams
@roydavidwilliams.bsky.social
Edinburgh resident and identifies Scottish but also American. Data mining in astronomy. History, photography, cooking, bad jokes.
400 years ago, people were quite sure that witches caused evil, so burning them was justified. Same now with #MAGA in US and #Reform in UK: people think immigrants cause evil and so cruelty is justified. And you can't understand them and can't change their minds.
February 2, 2026 at 3:01 AM
Reposted by Roy Williams
January 29, 2026 at 9:16 AM
In the movie Contact, Jodie Foster has a question for an advanced alien civilization: "How did you survive your technological adolescence without destroying yourself?"
January 30, 2026 at 3:28 AM
Reposted by Roy Williams
The night sky looks steady. It's not. 💥

In the night sky, asteroids drift. Stars pulse and flicker. Distant galaxies flare when something dramatic like a supernova is happening inside them.

The Universe is constantly changing, even when our eyes can’t see it. 🔭🧪☄️
January 26, 2026 at 6:50 PM
There are two wonderful billionaires.
❤️Mackenzie Scott, ex-wife of Bezos, giving it away to good causes.
❤️Taylor Swift, supporting her employees and the cities she performs
** Any other wonderful billionaires out there?
December 15, 2025 at 2:53 AM
A year ago it was impossible that the USA would be in bed with Russia and making an enemy of Europe.
December 9, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Russia attacks Ukraine to steal their wheat. The USA attacks Venezuala to steal their oil. I'm glad my country (Scotland) is not one of the revolting bullys.
November 25, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Stop buying stuff! What your family member really wants is you saying you love them.
November 25, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Reposted by Roy Williams
Something’s a little sus… 👀

Flares, flashes, and fakes — not every change in the night sky is what it seems 💥✨

Test your skills with Rubin Difference Detectives on Zooniverse! Help Rubin scientists spot cosmic events (and catch the imposters). 🌌🔍

👉 zooniverse.org/rubin
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 PM
The Rubin Observatory needs help from citizen scientists, please think of contributing, or suggesting this project to family members. We need to train the algorithm for real vs bogus images, and YOUR EYE is really good at this!
www.zooniverse.org/projects/ebe...
November 13, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Nobody likes prejudice. A woman in the workplace doesnt like men to assume she is a sex object or incompetent or maker of tea for men. And a man doesnt like a woman to automatically assume he is an overbearing mansplainer or groper.
November 9, 2025 at 6:09 AM
See what happens with racist populists like Wilders and Farage? Elected on a wave of manufactured anger, then kicked out because of incompetence.
October 30, 2025 at 8:42 AM
The four killers of the USA: Congress, Oligarchy, Propaganda, and the Cult. They conspire to enable Darth Vader.
newrepublic.com/post/202227/...
Trump Wrecks America. His “Patriotic” Fans Cheer. Is There Any Bottom?
Here are the four categories of people who enable the president’s fascism.
newrepublic.com
October 26, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Its like our civilisation has the resilience of a house of cards. One little push and we are scrambling for cash. Two little pushes and the water and power are gone.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
‘I’m having a great day’: AWS outage offers some a brief glimpse of a tech-free existence
There was a different side to the chaos of the Amazon outage that affected crucial services around the world, such as no exams, light switches not working, and less work to do
www.theguardian.com
October 21, 2025 at 4:08 AM
ANTIFA: anti fascist
ANTINA: anti nazi
ANTIGA: anti gestapo
ANTIMA: anti maga
October 16, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Reposted by Roy Williams
As a fan of Norman Rockwell and a believer in the goodness of my country, this one hits hard.
October 15, 2025 at 5:36 PM
My heart goes out to the brilliant US scientists being fired. But if your field is AI, think of Edinburgh.
www.ed.ac.uk/news/eu10m-p...
€10m project to accelerate AI use in UK | News | The University of Edinburgh
A new multi-million-pound European project is set to boost adoption of AI among businesses and researchers across the UK to help unlock untapped economic and scientific potential.
www.ed.ac.uk
October 15, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Reposted by Roy Williams
just watched a dozen people ask microsoft copilot experts their most pressing questions and those questions were 90% “how do i turn it off?” and “when i turn it off, is it really off or is it spying on me?”
October 9, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Reposted by Roy Williams
"Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared."

Diary of Anne Frank
January 13, 1943
October 5, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Reposted by Roy Williams
I thought I'd put the administration's proposed "compact" with universities in context, so I wrote the blog post below.

It's especially for journalists covering this story!

Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.
Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal
A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics
balkin.blogspot.com
October 4, 2025 at 10:34 PM
And this is why we must fight like hell to stop Farage doing to UK what Milei has done to Argentina.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Farage, Trump, Musk: your boy Javier Milei just took one hell of a beating. Why so quiet? | Aditya Chakrabortty
The wild politics and chainsaw made Argentina’s president an economic hero for the right. And now, with his nation’s finances in chaos: silence, writes Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty
www.theguardian.com
October 2, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Reposted by Roy Williams
Yes 📣 @katewomersley.com 📣

"This political theatre highlights a longstanding and harmful problem: pregnant women, and their babies, are routinely let down by partial, poor-quality and missing medical evidence."

👇👇👇
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Pregnant women deserve so much better than Trump’s theatre of scaremongering and shame | Kate Womersley
There is no credible evidence linking autism with maternal paracetamol use. But the US president’s ‘tough it out’ message could harm mothers and babies, says doctor Kate Womersley
www.theguardian.com
September 24, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Just paid the BBC licence. I hate the pro-Farage corruption of the news side, but surely worth it for @lucyworsley.bsky.social and for @profaliceroberts.bsky.social
September 23, 2025 at 5:02 PM
A luxury that cannot be resisted!
September 19, 2025 at 11:19 AM
When Trump visits England, will there be a photo-op with Prince Andrew, joking about the old days?
September 15, 2025 at 11:54 AM