Luke Alexander
@lukealexander.co.uk
Reposted by Luke Alexander
The end of A Christmas Carol is clear that Scrooge became famous for his generosity and love of Christmas. And yet his name is still shorthand for miserliness. So really that whole story is proof that you can change all you want but people will still remember you at your worst
December 21, 2025 at 6:07 PM
The end of A Christmas Carol is clear that Scrooge became famous for his generosity and love of Christmas. And yet his name is still shorthand for miserliness. So really that whole story is proof that you can change all you want but people will still remember you at your worst
Reposted by Luke Alexander
I see a lot of complaints about untested AI slop in pull requests. Submitting those is a dereliction of duty as a software engineer: Your job is to deliver code you have proven to work simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/18/...
Your job is to deliver code you have proven to work
In all of the debates about the value of AI-assistance in software development there’s one depressing anecdote that I keep on seeing: the junior engineer, empowered by some class of …
simonwillison.net
December 18, 2025 at 2:57 PM
I see a lot of complaints about untested AI slop in pull requests. Submitting those is a dereliction of duty as a software engineer: Your job is to deliver code you have proven to work simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/18/...
Reposted by Luke Alexander
When you're reading stuff about banning social media for teens today, remember that if research has only looked at the harms and not the benefits, it's bad research
December 14, 2025 at 9:15 AM
When you're reading stuff about banning social media for teens today, remember that if research has only looked at the harms and not the benefits, it's bad research
Reposted by Luke Alexander
Seeing the papers write about social media is like Rennaisance-era pictures of an elephant drawn only from description.
December 5, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Seeing the papers write about social media is like Rennaisance-era pictures of an elephant drawn only from description.
Reposted by Luke Alexander
Reposted by Luke Alexander
It shouldn’t be forgotten that a big piece of Mamdani’s campaign was simply “cities are cool and lots of people enjoy living in them” which in and of itself dismantles alot of rightwing talking points
November 7, 2025 at 12:02 PM
It shouldn’t be forgotten that a big piece of Mamdani’s campaign was simply “cities are cool and lots of people enjoy living in them” which in and of itself dismantles alot of rightwing talking points
Reposted by Luke Alexander
In my opinion it’s time to retire the Nobel prizes for fields where most of the important discoveries have already been made, like physics, and add prizes for newer fields where substantial innovations occur every year, like speedrunning
October 11, 2025 at 1:21 PM
In my opinion it’s time to retire the Nobel prizes for fields where most of the important discoveries have already been made, like physics, and add prizes for newer fields where substantial innovations occur every year, like speedrunning
Reposted by Luke Alexander
Reposted by Luke Alexander
idle thought: i wonder if the rush of ads for AI that promises to write student essays (euch) is at least partly the result of exam culture? if you make the target "get an A" instead of "discover interesting ideas" then you can't entirely blame people for wanting to take the easy route
September 27, 2025 at 11:05 AM
idle thought: i wonder if the rush of ads for AI that promises to write student essays (euch) is at least partly the result of exam culture? if you make the target "get an A" instead of "discover interesting ideas" then you can't entirely blame people for wanting to take the easy route
Reposted by Luke Alexander
obviously the internet has become awful etc etc but I've just really enjoyed this gaming streamer I watch excusing himself briefly so he could stretch and walk for a bit, explaining that he needed to "unshrimp", something I'd never heard before but got immediately, isn't language great
September 19, 2025 at 10:17 PM
obviously the internet has become awful etc etc but I've just really enjoyed this gaming streamer I watch excusing himself briefly so he could stretch and walk for a bit, explaining that he needed to "unshrimp", something I'd never heard before but got immediately, isn't language great
Reposted by Luke Alexander
Reposted by Luke Alexander
And subscribe to the physical paper copy of @theonion.com
Fascism demands to be taken seriously. Don’t. 24/24
Fascism demands to be taken seriously. Don’t. 24/24
September 2, 2025 at 9:18 PM
And subscribe to the physical paper copy of @theonion.com
Fascism demands to be taken seriously. Don’t. 24/24
Fascism demands to be taken seriously. Don’t. 24/24
Reposted by Luke Alexander
As someone who has lived my whole adult life in cities deemed “dangerous”—NYC, NOLA, and SF—I think a lot about how dense cities require patience, calm, and tolerance in the midst of social difference, which are of course exactly the civic virtues that the right resents being told to cultivate.
August 12, 2025 at 7:06 PM
As someone who has lived my whole adult life in cities deemed “dangerous”—NYC, NOLA, and SF—I think a lot about how dense cities require patience, calm, and tolerance in the midst of social difference, which are of course exactly the civic virtues that the right resents being told to cultivate.
Reposted by Luke Alexander
Taylor Swift Eras Tour venues had historically unprecedented crowds gathering outside them for people even without tickets, so in-demand that even multi-day full-stadium tours to the limit of Taylor's physical capacity could not salve them. People simply gathered for community and singing along.
August 10, 2025 at 6:04 AM
Taylor Swift Eras Tour venues had historically unprecedented crowds gathering outside them for people even without tickets, so in-demand that even multi-day full-stadium tours to the limit of Taylor's physical capacity could not salve them. People simply gathered for community and singing along.
I don't think anything appearing through my letterbox has ever made me happier than my first print subscription edition of @theonion.com
July 31, 2025 at 10:59 PM
I don't think anything appearing through my letterbox has ever made me happier than my first print subscription edition of @theonion.com
Reposted by Luke Alexander
The UK: we must reinvigorate our uncompetitive and slow growth economy!
Also the UK: time to censor the easiest general reference of archive of human knowledge, which is also free.
Also the UK: time to censor the easiest general reference of archive of human knowledge, which is also free.
OSA is gonna make us lose access to fucking wikipedia
write to your MPs.
write to your MPs.
July 27, 2025 at 11:26 AM
The UK: we must reinvigorate our uncompetitive and slow growth economy!
Also the UK: time to censor the easiest general reference of archive of human knowledge, which is also free.
Also the UK: time to censor the easiest general reference of archive of human knowledge, which is also free.
Reposted by Luke Alexander
Two things are true: a specific kind of power user *hates* Google AI integration and search, and most people absolutely do not feel the same.
*ALPHABET: AI OVERVIEWS DRIVING 10% MORE QUERIES IN SEARCHES
*ALPHABET: AI OVERVIEWS DRIVING 10% MORE QUERIES IN SEARCHES
July 23, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Two things are true: a specific kind of power user *hates* Google AI integration and search, and most people absolutely do not feel the same.
*ALPHABET: AI OVERVIEWS DRIVING 10% MORE QUERIES IN SEARCHES
*ALPHABET: AI OVERVIEWS DRIVING 10% MORE QUERIES IN SEARCHES
Reposted by Luke Alexander
American money advice: invest in cheap trackers monthly. Don’t try and time the market.
British money advice: switch energy provider every quarter, run your washing machine at odd hours to get free electricity and here’s a great trick to get more nectar points.
British money advice: switch energy provider every quarter, run your washing machine at odd hours to get free electricity and here’s a great trick to get more nectar points.
July 17, 2025 at 12:22 PM
American money advice: invest in cheap trackers monthly. Don’t try and time the market.
British money advice: switch energy provider every quarter, run your washing machine at odd hours to get free electricity and here’s a great trick to get more nectar points.
British money advice: switch energy provider every quarter, run your washing machine at odd hours to get free electricity and here’s a great trick to get more nectar points.
Reposted by Luke Alexander
On this July 4th it's important to remember that countries are arbitrary lines on a map and being proud of being born on one side or the other of an imaginary line is silly.
July 4, 2025 at 7:19 PM
On this July 4th it's important to remember that countries are arbitrary lines on a map and being proud of being born on one side or the other of an imaginary line is silly.
Reposted by Luke Alexander
Do you ever think about how many more hours experience you have on land than an Olympic gold medalist swimmer
June 27, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Do you ever think about how many more hours experience you have on land than an Olympic gold medalist swimmer
Reposted by Luke Alexander
A sad thing about social media is just how much it is full of people who just need to go outside and enjoy live but are instead radicalising themselves and others into fearing what is objectively one of the best and safest cities not just now but in all of human history.
Meanwhile... over on X ... Darren Grimes, the Tiny Tears of British politics, is upset because it's not the fifties any more.
Modern day Soho Square on the right and you can see how much it's changed.
Modern day Soho Square on the right and you can see how much it's changed.
June 27, 2025 at 12:28 PM
A sad thing about social media is just how much it is full of people who just need to go outside and enjoy live but are instead radicalising themselves and others into fearing what is objectively one of the best and safest cities not just now but in all of human history.
Reposted by Luke Alexander
it’s important to find time in your day to just switch your mind off and do nothing. it might be first thing in the morning, it might be last thing at night, or - and this is surprisingly popular - it might be when you get to the ticket barriers at waterloo. just take care of yourself, guys.
June 16, 2025 at 3:21 PM
it’s important to find time in your day to just switch your mind off and do nothing. it might be first thing in the morning, it might be last thing at night, or - and this is surprisingly popular - it might be when you get to the ticket barriers at waterloo. just take care of yourself, guys.
Reposted by Luke Alexander
Nobody has ever read sci fi more badly than the current tech billionaire sci fi nerd kings of the world.
They should have done Media Studies or English.
They should have done Media Studies or English.
June 13, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Nobody has ever read sci fi more badly than the current tech billionaire sci fi nerd kings of the world.
They should have done Media Studies or English.
They should have done Media Studies or English.