Nick Cotter
@ecstaticdisregard.bsky.social
I integrate the things with the other things, architect the software and engineer the data.
nickcotter.com
nickcotter.com
“Should we demand a forest for our children? “
Yes.
Yes.
Where Do the Children Play?
On the need for a world without us
open.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:37 PM
“Should we demand a forest for our children? “
Yes.
Yes.
What US Tech Did to Ireland — The Dial
What US Tech Did to Ireland — The Dial
The country is alarmingly reliant on Meta, Google and Apple.
www.thedial.world
November 21, 2025 at 9:00 AM
What US Tech Did to Ireland — The Dial
“And why does it decide to lie to cover up violating its privacy policies?”
I caught Google Gemini using my data—and then covering it up
I asked Google Gemini a pretty basic developer question. The answer was unremarkable, apart from it mentioning in conclusion that it knows I previously used ...
unbuffered.stream
November 20, 2025 at 5:06 PM
“And why does it decide to lie to cover up violating its privacy policies?”
“A game review website devoted to helping you find games that don't use psychological tricks to manipulate you into becoming an addicted gamer.”
DarkPattern.games » Healthy Gaming « Avoid Addictive Dark Patterns
Game reviews to help you find good games that don't trick you into addictive gaming patterns.
www.darkpattern.games
November 20, 2025 at 1:46 PM
“A game review website devoted to helping you find games that don't use psychological tricks to manipulate you into becoming an addicted gamer.”
What happens if AI labs train for pelicans riding bicycles?
What happens if AI labs train for pelicans riding bicycles?
Almost every time I share a new example of an SVG of a pelican riding a bicycle a variant of this question pops up: how do you know the labs …
simonwillison.net
November 20, 2025 at 9:01 AM
What happens if AI labs train for pelicans riding bicycles?
How we Uncovered a Race Condition in Aurora RDS | Hightouch
How we Uncovered a Race Condition in Aurora RDS
See how we diagnosed and confirmed an AWS Aurora RDS race condition impacting failovers.
hightouch.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:06 PM
How we Uncovered a Race Condition in Aurora RDS | Hightouch
“A lack of effective communication between the fragmented elements of the railway was the root cause of the horrific crash, the first of a series of serious fatal derailments that were attributable to the new structure of the railways.”
Britain’s Railway Privatization Was an Abject Failure - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
Sold off in the 1990s, the UK’s railways are returning to public hands — but at what cost?
www.rosalux.de
November 19, 2025 at 1:36 PM
“A lack of effective communication between the fragmented elements of the railway was the root cause of the horrific crash, the first of a series of serious fatal derailments that were attributable to the new structure of the railways.”
“The Fall Of Icarus”: Astrophotographer Snaps Skydiver Falling In Front Of The Sun In Spectacular Photo | IFLScience
“The Fall Of Icarus”: You Have Never Seen An Astrophotography Picture Like This!
This is not photoshopped. That’s really a person falling in front of the Sun.
www.iflscience.com
November 19, 2025 at 9:00 AM
“The Fall Of Icarus”: Astrophotographer Snaps Skydiver Falling In Front Of The Sun In Spectacular Photo | IFLScience
Still waiting for Monty Python And The Ring Of Power
November 19, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Still waiting for Monty Python And The Ring Of Power
CHAT CONTROL 2.0 THROUGH THE BACK DOOR – Breyer warns: “The EU is playing us for fools – now they’re scanning our texts and banning teens!” [updated] – Patrick Breyer
CHAT CONTROL 2.0 THROUGH THE BACK DOOR – Breyer warns: "The EU is playing us for fools – now they’re scanning our texts and banning teens!" [updated]
Just before a decisive meeting in Brussels, digital rights expert and former Member of the European Parliament Dr. Patrick Breyer is sounding the alarm. Using a "deceptive sleight of hand," a…
www.patrick-breyer.de
November 18, 2025 at 5:06 PM
CHAT CONTROL 2.0 THROUGH THE BACK DOOR – Breyer warns: “The EU is playing us for fools – now they’re scanning our texts and banning teens!” [updated] – Patrick Breyer
The Grafana trust problem
We moved away from Grafana a while back, partly because we could serve users with Cloudwatch, partly due to infra requirements, but the ever changing config requirements was a factor!
We moved away from Grafana a while back, partly because we could serve users with Cloudwatch, partly due to infra requirements, but the ever changing config requirements was a factor!
The Grafana trust problem
The Grafana Stack can be an incredible powerful monitoring solution, but through my experience I found out how maintenance intensive it is and how uncertain the…
henrikgerdes.me
November 18, 2025 at 1:46 PM
The Grafana trust problem
We moved away from Grafana a while back, partly because we could serve users with Cloudwatch, partly due to infra requirements, but the ever changing config requirements was a factor!
We moved away from Grafana a while back, partly because we could serve users with Cloudwatch, partly due to infra requirements, but the ever changing config requirements was a factor!
Spec-Driven Development: The Waterfall Strikes Back
It can certainly go this way and I expect it does if you let it. Personally, so far I’ve found it easier (less error prone) to iterate with these tools.
It can certainly go this way and I expect it does if you let it. Personally, so far I’ve found it easier (less error prone) to iterate with these tools.
Spec-Driven Development: The Waterfall Strikes Back
Kiro, Spec-kit, Bmad, Tessl, and other SDD frameworks turn business analysts into Markdown reviewers. Isn't there a more agile way to use Coding Agents?
marmelab.com
November 18, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Spec-Driven Development: The Waterfall Strikes Back
It can certainly go this way and I expect it does if you let it. Personally, so far I’ve found it easier (less error prone) to iterate with these tools.
It can certainly go this way and I expect it does if you let it. Personally, so far I’ve found it easier (less error prone) to iterate with these tools.
TBM 389: Overthinker!
TBM 389: Overthinker!
From a young age, being accused of “overcomplicating” or “overthinking” things felt like a dismissal of who I was.
cutlefish.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:06 PM
TBM 389: Overthinker!
The Internet Is No Longer A Safe Haven | Brain Baking
The Internet Is No Longer A Safe Haven
A couple of days ago, the small server hosting this website was temporarily knocked out by scraping …
brainbaking.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:10 PM
The Internet Is No Longer A Safe Haven | Brain Baking
From net zero to NDCs: your comprehensive Cop30 jargon buster | Cop30 | The Guardian
From net zero to NDCs: your comprehensive Cop30 jargon buster
Brief explanations of 19 key terms likely to be heard at the Cop30 summit in Brazil
www.theguardian.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:00 AM
From net zero to NDCs: your comprehensive Cop30 jargon buster | Cop30 | The Guardian
Reposted by Nick Cotter
Rest in power.
Hard to overlook that the groups being killed off under the Trump administration are the ones that fight large-scale oil infrastructure.
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Hard to overlook that the groups being killed off under the Trump administration are the ones that fight large-scale oil infrastructure.
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Enviro group that helped lead Keystone Pipeline opposition suspends US operations
The group will keep three U.S. positions open in hopes of reviving operations in the future.
www.politico.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Rest in power.
Hard to overlook that the groups being killed off under the Trump administration are the ones that fight large-scale oil infrastructure.
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Hard to overlook that the groups being killed off under the Trump administration are the ones that fight large-scale oil infrastructure.
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Reposted by Nick Cotter
Before smartphones, many Londoners would have an A-Z handy to navigate London, first published in 1936. It's good to see Central London, A to Z style, on the panniers of a London Ambulance E-Bike. The bicycle is still the quickest way to get to someone in Central London after all these years
November 14, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Before smartphones, many Londoners would have an A-Z handy to navigate London, first published in 1936. It's good to see Central London, A to Z style, on the panniers of a London Ambulance E-Bike. The bicycle is still the quickest way to get to someone in Central London after all these years
Reposted by Nick Cotter
“The prohibited activities would include joint research, co-authorship on papers, and advising a foreign graduate student or postdoctoral fellow. The language is retroactive, meaning any interactions during the previous 5 years could make a scientist ineligible for future federal funding.”
U.S. Congress considers sweeping ban on Chinese collaborations
Researchers speak out against proposal that would bar funding for U.S. scientists working with Chinese partners or training Chinese students
www.science.org
November 14, 2025 at 1:03 AM
“The prohibited activities would include joint research, co-authorship on papers, and advising a foreign graduate student or postdoctoral fellow. The language is retroactive, meaning any interactions during the previous 5 years could make a scientist ineligible for future federal funding.”
"Let's build robots with Genuine People Personalities," they said. So they tried it out with me. I'm a personality prototype. You can tell, can't you?"
GPT-5.1: A smarter, more conversational ChatGPT
We’re upgrading GPT-5 while making it easier to customize ChatGPT. Starting to roll out today to everyone, beginning with paid users.
openai.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:14 PM
"Let's build robots with Genuine People Personalities," they said. So they tried it out with me. I'm a personality prototype. You can tell, can't you?"
Exclusive: Ofcom is monitoring VPNs following Online Safety Act. Here's how | TechRadar
Exclusive: Ofcom is monitoring VPNs following Online Safety Act. Here's how
Ignoring VPNs risks creating ineffective laws, but tracking them threatens people's privacy
www.techradar.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Exclusive: Ofcom is monitoring VPNs following Online Safety Act. Here's how | TechRadar
As U.S. and E.U. Retreat on Climate, China Takes the Leadership Role - Yale E360
As U.S. and E.U. Retreat on Climate, China Takes the Leadership Role
As U.N. talks get underway, China is emerging as a key leader in international climate efforts. It is empowering the global energy transition, and along with India and Brazil, is becoming the driving…
e360.yale.edu
November 11, 2025 at 5:06 PM
As U.S. and E.U. Retreat on Climate, China Takes the Leadership Role - Yale E360
Using the expand and contract pattern | Prisma's Data Guide
Using the expand and contract pattern | Prisma's Data Guide
In this article, we introduce the expand and contract pattern to help migrate data and clients to a new schema.
www.prisma.io
November 11, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Using the expand and contract pattern | Prisma's Data Guide
Gemini Deep Research Is Broken
I don’t mean “fundamentally flawed” but it’s stopped working completely for me.
I start with a query - here’s a simple example:
It produces a reasonable plan:
But when I execute it, I get this:
I don’t mean “fundamentally flawed” but it’s stopped working completely for me.
I start with a query - here’s a simple example:
It produces a reasonable plan:
But when I execute it, I get this:
November 11, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Gemini Deep Research Is Broken
I don’t mean “fundamentally flawed” but it’s stopped working completely for me.
I start with a query - here’s a simple example:
It produces a reasonable plan:
But when I execute it, I get this:
I don’t mean “fundamentally flawed” but it’s stopped working completely for me.
I start with a query - here’s a simple example:
It produces a reasonable plan:
But when I execute it, I get this:
Gemini Deep Research has stopped working for me, no matter what the query.
November 11, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Gemini Deep Research has stopped working for me, no matter what the query.
“British citizens’ data, as opposed to British users’ data? The dividing line here is not e.g. being located in the UK or having registered an account here, but what it says on your passport? How is Apple going to know that, much less roll it out?”
Time to start de-Appling – Hi, I'm Heather Burns
I‘ve done such a thorough job of de-Googling that I forgot to show up for a meeting with someone, because I hadn’t checked my Google calendar in ages. (No, they were not amused.) In my defense, I…
heatherburns.tech
November 11, 2025 at 9:00 AM
“British citizens’ data, as opposed to British users’ data? The dividing line here is not e.g. being located in the UK or having registered an account here, but what it says on your passport? How is Apple going to know that, much less roll it out?”