Steve Walker
@steve-walker.bsky.social
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities".
Voltaire, 1765, Questions sur les miracles
Voltaire, 1765, Questions sur les miracles
Reposted by Steve Walker
Call for papers #CFP
Blood is the Price of Coal: Coal Communities, Health and Welfare in Britain and Beyond from the 19th Century to the Present
18 June 2026: 1 day conference + NUM archive exhibition
Submit abstracts / express interest at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...
Deadline: 25 Jan 2026
Blood is the Price of Coal: Coal Communities, Health and Welfare in Britain and Beyond from the 19th Century to the Present
18 June 2026: 1 day conference + NUM archive exhibition
Submit abstracts / express interest at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...
Deadline: 25 Jan 2026
November 20, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Call for papers #CFP
Blood is the Price of Coal: Coal Communities, Health and Welfare in Britain and Beyond from the 19th Century to the Present
18 June 2026: 1 day conference + NUM archive exhibition
Submit abstracts / express interest at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...
Deadline: 25 Jan 2026
Blood is the Price of Coal: Coal Communities, Health and Welfare in Britain and Beyond from the 19th Century to the Present
18 June 2026: 1 day conference + NUM archive exhibition
Submit abstracts / express interest at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...
Deadline: 25 Jan 2026
AI.
If brands needed any more reasons to stop advertising on X, this is what you'd be supporting as an X advertiser: Holocaust denial (Grok's response to an antisemitic user with a H!tler profile picture).
Holocaust denial is a crime in France, so why can we see this there?
Holocaust denial is a crime in France, so why can we see this there?
November 19, 2025 at 4:08 PM
AI.
Reposted by Steve Walker
Antibiotics don’t treat colds or flu.
These illnesses are usually caused by viruses and are mostly self-limiting, whereas antibiotics only work on bacteria.
✅ Let’s handle antibiotics with care and keep these life-saving medicines effective.
Learn more 👉bit.ly/AMRweek2025 #AntimicrobialResistance
These illnesses are usually caused by viruses and are mostly self-limiting, whereas antibiotics only work on bacteria.
✅ Let’s handle antibiotics with care and keep these life-saving medicines effective.
Learn more 👉bit.ly/AMRweek2025 #AntimicrobialResistance
November 19, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Antibiotics don’t treat colds or flu.
These illnesses are usually caused by viruses and are mostly self-limiting, whereas antibiotics only work on bacteria.
✅ Let’s handle antibiotics with care and keep these life-saving medicines effective.
Learn more 👉bit.ly/AMRweek2025 #AntimicrobialResistance
These illnesses are usually caused by viruses and are mostly self-limiting, whereas antibiotics only work on bacteria.
✅ Let’s handle antibiotics with care and keep these life-saving medicines effective.
Learn more 👉bit.ly/AMRweek2025 #AntimicrobialResistance
Just seen Mark Thomas's one man 'Ordinary Decent Criminal'. Recommwnd.
November 13, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Just seen Mark Thomas's one man 'Ordinary Decent Criminal'. Recommwnd.
Reposted by Steve Walker
There’s a good chance the British Prime Minister’s main adviser on AI is an OpenAI shareholder - but the government refuses to say whether she is.
🧵 1/5
🧵 1/5
November 11, 2025 at 9:25 AM
There’s a good chance the British Prime Minister’s main adviser on AI is an OpenAI shareholder - but the government refuses to say whether she is.
🧵 1/5
🧵 1/5
The people who own and control AI will (try to) reshape society.
Superintelligence probably not happening, but AI will still reshape society, expert panel says
Superintelligence probably not happening, but AI will still reshape society, expert panel says
Ask 339 people, get 339 answers
Experts may be skeptical about corporate AI hype to varying degrees, but they share the view that machine learning models will have a significant effect on society.…
dlvr.it
November 11, 2025 at 2:13 AM
The people who own and control AI will (try to) reshape society.
Not enough to persuade me back, but still, he's expressing a vital sentiment.
I wanna invite Pope Leo to my Intro to Science and Technology Studies class
November 8, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Not enough to persuade me back, but still, he's expressing a vital sentiment.
Reposted by Steve Walker
Which one is more English?
November 6, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Which one is more English?
The MRC is very much more than this, though.
Today is World Digital Preservation Day! And we're asking "Why do we preserve"? We preserve because the history of our University is really important to all of its members, past, present and future including a digital record of the changing face of our campus #WDPD2025 #DigiPres
Warwick at 60: The Changing Face of Campus
This exhibition showcases the growth and development of the University of Warwick since 1965. Using photographs from the University Archive, discover how accommodation, faculty buildings and sports…
warwick.ac.uk
November 6, 2025 at 10:08 AM
The MRC is very much more than this, though.
Reposted by Steve Walker
Vital piece of investigative reporting from Sky. They've uncovered the X algorithm which feeds users extremist right wing material from the moment they join the site. It is a far-right radicalisation engine, by design.
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
news.sky.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Vital piece of investigative reporting from Sky. They've uncovered the X algorithm which feeds users extremist right wing material from the moment they join the site. It is a far-right radicalisation engine, by design.
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
The scale of the exploitation described in this article is quite astonishing.
‘One of the more bewildering aspects of the South-East Asian scamming compounds – or “internet investment parks”, as they call themselves – is the funhouse mirror they put up to recent American corporate culture.’
Alexander Clapp on industrial-scale scamming:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Alexander Clapp on industrial-scale scamming:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Alexander Clapp · Pig Butchering: Scam Gangs
If it were a national economy, cybercrime would be the third largest in the world, behind only the United States and...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 2, 2025 at 10:02 AM
The scale of the exploitation described in this article is quite astonishing.
Reposted by Steve Walker
Stack of Jacquard loom cards, about two meters in length at Queen’s Street Mill, near Burnley
By my calculation about 120kb of data
By my calculation about 120kb of data
November 1, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Stack of Jacquard loom cards, about two meters in length at Queen’s Street Mill, near Burnley
By my calculation about 120kb of data
By my calculation about 120kb of data
October 27, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by Steve Walker
📣THREAD: It’s surprising to me that so many people were surprised to learn that Signal runs partly on AWS (something we can do because we use encryption to make sure no one but you–not AWS, not Signal, not anyone–can access your comms).
It’s also concerning. 1/
It’s also concerning. 1/
PSA: we're aware that Signal is down for some people. This appears to be related to a major AWS outage. Stand by.
October 27, 2025 at 10:38 AM
📣THREAD: It’s surprising to me that so many people were surprised to learn that Signal runs partly on AWS (something we can do because we use encryption to make sure no one but you–not AWS, not Signal, not anyone–can access your comms).
It’s also concerning. 1/
It’s also concerning. 1/
Another reason to boycott anything to do with Musk.
BBC News - The striking Swedish workers taking on carmaker Tesla
www.bbc.com/news/article...
BBC News - The striking Swedish workers taking on carmaker Tesla
www.bbc.com/news/article...
The striking Swedish workers taking on carmaker Tesla
The industrial action against the company's operation in Sweden has reached its second anniversary.
www.bbc.com
October 27, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Another reason to boycott anything to do with Musk.
BBC News - The striking Swedish workers taking on carmaker Tesla
www.bbc.com/news/article...
BBC News - The striking Swedish workers taking on carmaker Tesla
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted by Steve Walker
Belgian AI scientists are advocating *against* the use of AI in academia. “If independent thinking is no longer encouraged at university, where would it?” apache.be/2025/10/24/b...
Belgian AI scientists resist the use of AI in academia
Several AI scientists have published an open letter calling for a ban on AI use by students.
apache.be
October 24, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Belgian AI scientists are advocating *against* the use of AI in academia. “If independent thinking is no longer encouraged at university, where would it?” apache.be/2025/10/24/b...
Reposted by Steve Walker
The Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service has stopped sharing certain information with the United States: “Sometimes we no longer share things,” officials say, because the information has been finding its way into Kremlin hands. www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/n...
Nederlandse diensten delen minder informatie met de VS: ‘Soms vertellen we dingen niet meer’
Het aantal dreigingen dat op Nederland afkomt is groot, zien de hoofden van de AIVD en de MIVD elke dag: niet alleen Russische agressie, maar ook de opmars van China als digitale macht en binnenlands ...
www.volkskrant.nl
October 19, 2025 at 10:08 PM
The Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service has stopped sharing certain information with the United States: “Sometimes we no longer share things,” officials say, because the information has been finding its way into Kremlin hands. www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/n...
Not just one rotten apple.
The whole loathsome barrel load are corrupt. Charles' treatment of his first wife, Elizabeth's secret lobbying for tax breaks, and so on. We should vote them out of office.
Oh.
The whole loathsome barrel load are corrupt. Charles' treatment of his first wife, Elizabeth's secret lobbying for tax breaks, and so on. We should vote them out of office.
Oh.
Prince Andrew asked his taxpayer funded protection officer to dig up dirt on Virginia Giuffre passing him her date of birth and social security number. He told palace aide he was doing it bit.ly/4nXzINA Scotland Yard is ‘actively’ investigating.
Prince Andrew facing police investigation over Giuffre smear claims
Palace staff may also face questions over knowledge of efforts to dig up dirt on Epstein victim
bit.ly
October 19, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Not just one rotten apple.
The whole loathsome barrel load are corrupt. Charles' treatment of his first wife, Elizabeth's secret lobbying for tax breaks, and so on. We should vote them out of office.
Oh.
The whole loathsome barrel load are corrupt. Charles' treatment of his first wife, Elizabeth's secret lobbying for tax breaks, and so on. We should vote them out of office.
Oh.
I seldom use LinkedIn. Most of my connections there are either academics or trade unionists.
So, why, 'based on my profile', does it suggest I might want to connect with a comedian?!
So, why, 'based on my profile', does it suggest I might want to connect with a comedian?!
October 18, 2025 at 12:31 PM
I seldom use LinkedIn. Most of my connections there are either academics or trade unionists.
So, why, 'based on my profile', does it suggest I might want to connect with a comedian?!
So, why, 'based on my profile', does it suggest I might want to connect with a comedian?!
Reposted by Steve Walker
#OtD 16 Oct 1968 African-American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their gloved fists in a Black power salute as they won medals. Peter Norman showed solidarity by wearing a badge protesting the white Australia policy stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8831...
October 16, 2025 at 8:40 PM
#OtD 16 Oct 1968 African-American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their gloved fists in a Black power salute as they won medals. Peter Norman showed solidarity by wearing a badge protesting the white Australia policy stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8831...
Reposted by Steve Walker
‘Alongside 44 historical buildings and seven archaeological sites, all three depositories of historical and archaeological material in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or destroyed.’
@josephinequinn.bsky.social on an exhibition of Gazan antiquities: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@josephinequinn.bsky.social on an exhibition of Gazan antiquities: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Josephine Quinn · At the Institut du monde arabe: ‘Trésors sauvés de Gaza’
This show has excited controversy: should we even be talking about damage to antiquities in the context of so much...
www.lrb.co.uk
October 13, 2025 at 2:55 PM
‘Alongside 44 historical buildings and seven archaeological sites, all three depositories of historical and archaeological material in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or destroyed.’
@josephinequinn.bsky.social on an exhibition of Gazan antiquities: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@josephinequinn.bsky.social on an exhibition of Gazan antiquities: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
!
In one crisp para — & the 2 charts he highlights — @chrisgiles.ft.com bursts a huge number of “welfare” myths www.ft.com/content/ee67...
October 15, 2025 at 6:52 PM
!
Reposted by Steve Walker
Scenes You Seldom See:
“What I like about the modern world is the way everything keeps changing all the time”
Private Eye cartoon from the archive.
From Eye 1156, April 2006.
“What I like about the modern world is the way everything keeps changing all the time”
Private Eye cartoon from the archive.
From Eye 1156, April 2006.
October 12, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Scenes You Seldom See:
“What I like about the modern world is the way everything keeps changing all the time”
Private Eye cartoon from the archive.
From Eye 1156, April 2006.
“What I like about the modern world is the way everything keeps changing all the time”
Private Eye cartoon from the archive.
From Eye 1156, April 2006.
Reposted by Steve Walker
Another one for the list
October 11, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Another one for the list