Tom Coates
@tomcoates.bsky.social
English technologist, founder and product designer living in San Francisco. Prev: BBC, Yahoo, Time Out, Nokia, Jawbone, Wired & Eero. Founded things too. Currently trying to find something to get excited rather than angry about. http://www.plasticbag.org
Reposted by Tom Coates
Reposted by Tom Coates
You can’t even lure children into your gingerbread house to eat them any more without being cooked in your own oven. I blame Hansel culture
December 27, 2025 at 5:01 PM
You can’t even lure children into your gingerbread house to eat them any more without being cooked in your own oven. I blame Hansel culture
Reposted by Tom Coates
The BBC is really showing its arse with its editorial guidelines recommending the use of a pseudoscientific dogwhistle in reporting that mentions trans people.
It's important that they're not allowed to continue using fake-scientific insults in peace.
New piece:
oolong.medium.com/biological-m...
It's important that they're not allowed to continue using fake-scientific insults in peace.
New piece:
oolong.medium.com/biological-m...
‘Biological male’ is a pseudoscientific dogwhistle
The BBC should be better than this.
oolong.medium.com
December 26, 2025 at 7:55 PM
The BBC is really showing its arse with its editorial guidelines recommending the use of a pseudoscientific dogwhistle in reporting that mentions trans people.
It's important that they're not allowed to continue using fake-scientific insults in peace.
New piece:
oolong.medium.com/biological-m...
It's important that they're not allowed to continue using fake-scientific insults in peace.
New piece:
oolong.medium.com/biological-m...
Reposted by Tom Coates
They say imitation crab is the sincerest form of crab
December 27, 2025 at 1:56 PM
They say imitation crab is the sincerest form of crab
Reposted by Tom Coates
Not now, super-massive runaway black hole!
Astronomers made a truly mind-boggling discovery using the JWST:
A runaway super-massive black hole, rocketing through space at a staggering 1,000 km/s, leaving a 200,000 light-year-long tail in its wake in which gas is accumulating and triggering star formation.
🧪
www.space.com/astronomy/bl...
A runaway super-massive black hole, rocketing through space at a staggering 1,000 km/s, leaving a 200,000 light-year-long tail in its wake in which gas is accumulating and triggering star formation.
🧪
www.space.com/astronomy/bl...
James Webb Space Telescope confirms 1st 'runaway' supermassive black hole rocketing through home galaxy at 2.2 million mph: 'It boggles the mind!'
"The forces that are needed to dislodge such a massive black hole from its home are enormous."
www.space.com
December 27, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Not now, super-massive runaway black hole!
Reposted by Tom Coates
War is peace. Russia is fully committed to peace in Ukraine.
December 22, 2025 at 6:38 PM
War is peace. Russia is fully committed to peace in Ukraine.
Starting to think my refusal to wear my glasses may be contributing to the sheer number of typos in my posts.
December 26, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Starting to think my refusal to wear my glasses may be contributing to the sheer number of typos in my posts.
Reposted by Tom Coates
Reposted by Tom Coates
I hear rumors of a lot of new folks joining Bluesky recently. If you’re a new Bluesky user and want to follow STAR TREK professionals of all kinds — actors, writers, producers, artists, artisans, execs, podcasters, and more — this is the Starter Pack for you! #LLAP
go.bsky.app/Gt9LRwa
go.bsky.app/Gt9LRwa
December 26, 2025 at 5:18 PM
I hear rumors of a lot of new folks joining Bluesky recently. If you’re a new Bluesky user and want to follow STAR TREK professionals of all kinds — actors, writers, producers, artists, artisans, execs, podcasters, and more — this is the Starter Pack for you! #LLAP
go.bsky.app/Gt9LRwa
go.bsky.app/Gt9LRwa
Pretty sure I like Doctor Who in almost exactly the same way my brother likes Norwich City.
December 26, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Pretty sure I like Doctor Who in almost exactly the same way my brother likes Norwich City.
An actual “gender ideology” is that which says the western conception of there being two clearly defined sexes and genders with different societal roles and behaviors is the only way to conceive of such things. It is self-evidently not. Evidence says it isn’t.
December 26, 2025 at 3:39 PM
An actual “gender ideology” is that which says the western conception of there being two clearly defined sexes and genders with different societal roles and behaviors is the only way to conceive of such things. It is self-evidently not. Evidence says it isn’t.
Reposted by Tom Coates
Texas A&M University will not reinstate a lecturer who was fired after a video of her teaching about gender identity in a children’s literature class went viral, despite a faculty appeals panel unanimously concluding that her dismissal was not justified.
Texas A&M won’t reinstate fired lecturer despite findings
A vice chancellor upheld the firing of Melissa McCoul, seen in a viral video being confronted by a student on her gender identity teachings, saying the termination was done with “good cause.”
www.texastribune.org
December 24, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Texas A&M University will not reinstate a lecturer who was fired after a video of her teaching about gender identity in a children’s literature class went viral, despite a faculty appeals panel unanimously concluding that her dismissal was not justified.
Reposted by Tom Coates
More Americans think Donald Trump was involved in Jeffrey Epstein's crimes than think he wasn't.
(@dhmontgomery.com @today.yougov.com)
More, via Opinion Today:
opiniontoday.substack.com/p/251224-free
(@dhmontgomery.com @today.yougov.com)
More, via Opinion Today:
opiniontoday.substack.com/p/251224-free
December 24, 2025 at 11:05 PM
More Americans think Donald Trump was involved in Jeffrey Epstein's crimes than think he wasn't.
(@dhmontgomery.com @today.yougov.com)
More, via Opinion Today:
opiniontoday.substack.com/p/251224-free
(@dhmontgomery.com @today.yougov.com)
More, via Opinion Today:
opiniontoday.substack.com/p/251224-free
Reposted by Tom Coates
Just wow. @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy came out swinging in this article. He's right though and that's the coolest part.
December 26, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Just wow. @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy came out swinging in this article. He's right though and that's the coolest part.
Reposted by Tom Coates
The real danger of giving Trump access to your social media posts: www.ft.com/content/b8a6...
December 26, 2025 at 12:21 PM
The real danger of giving Trump access to your social media posts: www.ft.com/content/b8a6...
Reposted by Tom Coates
The comments on this are all about how sweet it is and I feel insane. Using AI to make fake memories of your grandma with dementia and telling her they happened and then filming her reaction
December 26, 2025 at 3:23 AM
The comments on this are all about how sweet it is and I feel insane. Using AI to make fake memories of your grandma with dementia and telling her they happened and then filming her reaction
I’m a technologist and someone with significant opinions about media and politics. But I’m also a nerd, and as a nerd I have an investment in a few fandoms, in particular #doctorwho. My pledge to myself is that I’m done with fan culture that hates their own franchise.
December 25, 2025 at 8:43 PM
I’m a technologist and someone with significant opinions about media and politics. But I’m also a nerd, and as a nerd I have an investment in a few fandoms, in particular #doctorwho. My pledge to myself is that I’m done with fan culture that hates their own franchise.
Reposted by Tom Coates
Jimmy Kimmel appeared on British television screens on Christmas Day to deliver a so-called “alternative Christmas message,” in which he said tyranny was “booming” in the U.S.
Kimmel Tells U.K. Viewers ‘Tyranny Is Booming’ in America
Chosen by a British TV station to give an “alternative” to the king’s speech, Jimmy Kimmel said it had been a great year for the U.S. “from a fascism perspective.”
nyti.ms
December 25, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Jimmy Kimmel appeared on British television screens on Christmas Day to deliver a so-called “alternative Christmas message,” in which he said tyranny was “booming” in the U.S.
Reposted by Tom Coates
This is the *charitable* read
J. D. Vance has "clearly made the calculation that anti-Semites are part of the Republican Party’s base, and he can’t afford to shunt them to the side as he plots his own presidential bid," Franklin Foer argues. theatln.tc/aaUENxUw
December 25, 2025 at 4:28 PM
This is the *charitable* read
A Very Merry Christmas to those that celebrate and Strength and Fortitude to those that can’t stand it xx
December 25, 2025 at 6:35 PM
A Very Merry Christmas to those that celebrate and Strength and Fortitude to those that can’t stand it xx
My dad is snoring so loudly in the corner of the room after a large Christmas lunch that nearby elephants at London zoo are experiencing it as a call to action.
December 25, 2025 at 4:16 PM
My dad is snoring so loudly in the corner of the room after a large Christmas lunch that nearby elephants at London zoo are experiencing it as a call to action.
Reposted by Tom Coates
To me, my X-Mas!
December 25, 2025 at 12:48 PM
To me, my X-Mas!
Reposted by Tom Coates
What do people like Scott Bessent, Peter Thiel and Bari Weiss think would happen if the day ever came that the bigots got everybody who isn’t white and right-leaning out of the country (which won’t happen)?
They think it would then be a harmonious union of non-woke white folks, gay and straight?
They think it would then be a harmonious union of non-woke white folks, gay and straight?
And there are quite a few LGBT high-profile allies of the current regime. They’re fine with the idea of going on a rampage against diversity. The racism isn’t a dealbreaker. But they haven’t figured out yet that the people who hate all these other people almost always hate them too.
December 25, 2025 at 4:24 AM
What do people like Scott Bessent, Peter Thiel and Bari Weiss think would happen if the day ever came that the bigots got everybody who isn’t white and right-leaning out of the country (which won’t happen)?
They think it would then be a harmonious union of non-woke white folks, gay and straight?
They think it would then be a harmonious union of non-woke white folks, gay and straight?
Reposted by Tom Coates
Extremely funny to call the pope “holier-than-thou”
December 25, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Extremely funny to call the pope “holier-than-thou”
Here is CBS reaping the benefits of all its new associations with Trump. Long may they continue.
JUST IN: CBS’s Kennedy Center Honors just hit an all-time ratings low. Preliminary Nielsen data shows only ~2.65M viewers tuned in to the Trump-hosted show, down from 4.1M in 2024. A stunning 35% year-over-year collapse.
December 25, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Here is CBS reaping the benefits of all its new associations with Trump. Long may they continue.