Jem
jempirical.bsky.social
Jem
@jempirical.bsky.social
Down with this sort of thing
Reposted by Jem
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.

They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
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wikipedia's data shows that AI is siphoning traffic away from the site, which is a danger to its sustainability. ironically Wikipedia is more important than ever to users who want reliable information instead of slop, and to AI companies that need it for training data www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors
“With fewer visits to Wikipedia, fewer volunteers may grow and enrich the content, and fewer individual donors may support this work.”
www.404media.co
October 17, 2025 at 1:15 AM
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Palestine is the moral compass of our planet.

If you aren't choosing to stand with Palestine, you're failing humanity.
July 22, 2025 at 8:52 PM
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On social media I publish bite-sized versions of science stories that made me go "wow!", in the hope I can get other folk equally excited about them.

Here's a recent example: bsky.app/profile/mike...

2/
OK, this is wild.

In September 2023, geophysicists across the world started monitoring a very odd signal coming from the ground under them.

It was picked up in the Arctic. And Antarctica. It was detected everywhere, every 90 seconds, as regular as a metronome, for *nine days*.

What the HELL?

1/
July 5, 2025 at 10:57 PM
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Hi folks. I'm not from the US, but I find what's happening to science over there right now absolutely *appalling*.

If you're working in the sciences, I can't imagine the dread you're probably feeling.

I can't do much. But I write a science newsletter, so I can, maybe, do *something*...

1/
July 5, 2025 at 10:57 PM
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New blog up now in which we highlight some incredible football fanzines and their achievements, discuss some stats (They ARE interesting stats) and produce some league tables. footballfanzineculture.blog/2025/06/19/t...
The List; Statto Edition
We’ve discussed how we created “The List”, what is we think the first and most comprehensive catalogue of all the football fanzines that have existed for sale on the British Isles. The List was cre…
footballfanzineculture.blog
June 19, 2025 at 10:18 AM
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May 6, 2025 at 9:22 PM
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Short thread on the recent ruling from the Supreme Court.

Reading the text of the ruling itself, it’s clear that the intention is that this judgement should be taken to be very narrowly scoped to just the definition of “woman” for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010. It is not intended…
April 18, 2025 at 8:56 AM
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I grew up with the idea that there are developed countries and developing countries, the “rich” world and the “poor” world. I didn’t actively consider this teaching. It’s just always been there. And it’s wrong.
March 5, 2025 at 11:55 AM
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I’m furious about the overreach from the government using the Snooper’s Charter to demand blanket access to people’s data.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Apple pulls data protection tool after UK government security row
Customers' photos and documents stored online will no longer be protected by end to end encryption.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 21, 2025 at 5:24 PM
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Possibly the most significant video that you will watch in your lifetime. Seriously.

youtu.be/d-4OPJaqkP4?...
Oligarchs Are Our Modern Day Kings
YouTube video by Bernie Sanders
youtu.be
February 12, 2025 at 12:45 AM
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How do we order our adjectives when speaking English?
January 8, 2025 at 11:55 AM
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jimmy carter’s message that was included on the voyager spacecraft.

rest in peace, jimmy carter 🌌
December 29, 2024 at 9:44 PM
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Accurate
December 5, 2024 at 3:32 PM
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Ignoring a sampling bias is just one way people lie with statistics (sometimes even to themselves). This is from the sensational @sketchplanations.bsky.social btw.

(and for more on Lying with Statistics, you could try https://castbox.fm/vi/266354293 )
December 3, 2024 at 2:47 PM
Reposted by Jem
Survivorship Bias, elegantly illustrated by the glorious @xkcd.com

(and for a deeper dive into the world of Survivorship Bias, it's worth listening to https://castbox.fm/vi/451469425)
December 2, 2024 at 2:26 AM
Reposted by Jem
Did you know some people don't even listen to podcasts? I know, weird, right? If you want to help a non-listener understand logical fallacies using Trump examples, why not try giving them the Kindle or paperback version of Fallacious Trump:
https://mybook.to/ftrump
December 1, 2024 at 9:37 PM