Tom Spoors
@tomspoors.bsky.social
Brit in Brussels, Belgium Ex teacher, RAF officer, training director, university lecturer (Critical Thinking, English and Statistics). Private tutor English GCSE and maths. I love books, sci-fi, science, data science and science communication.
It's always sad to see the UK at the 'wrong end' of these charts.
December 2, 2025 at 10:31 AM
It's always sad to see the UK at the 'wrong end' of these charts.
As an RAF officer in the 80s/90s, I was an NBC specialist.
The NBC kit used against chemical agents was stuffy, hot and the pee and poo procedures comical but vital.
Security forces use such agents (eg tear gas). The words from a 1926 US Army newsletter on sternutators (sneeze causers) is direct!
The NBC kit used against chemical agents was stuffy, hot and the pee and poo procedures comical but vital.
Security forces use such agents (eg tear gas). The words from a 1926 US Army newsletter on sternutators (sneeze causers) is direct!
December 1, 2025 at 9:31 PM
As an RAF officer in the 80s/90s, I was an NBC specialist.
The NBC kit used against chemical agents was stuffy, hot and the pee and poo procedures comical but vital.
Security forces use such agents (eg tear gas). The words from a 1926 US Army newsletter on sternutators (sneeze causers) is direct!
The NBC kit used against chemical agents was stuffy, hot and the pee and poo procedures comical but vital.
Security forces use such agents (eg tear gas). The words from a 1926 US Army newsletter on sternutators (sneeze causers) is direct!
Chocolate at €114 a kilogram is just unfair.
November 27, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Chocolate at €114 a kilogram is just unfair.
An excellent summary of what good learning is. We have education systems that seek an "easy to mark" approach; one that filters rather than educates.
Professor Nick Sousanis has some excellent images to illustrate how learning could (should, must) be for our fragile futures.
@nsousanis.bsky.social
Professor Nick Sousanis has some excellent images to illustrate how learning could (should, must) be for our fragile futures.
@nsousanis.bsky.social
November 26, 2025 at 4:42 PM
An excellent summary of what good learning is. We have education systems that seek an "easy to mark" approach; one that filters rather than educates.
Professor Nick Sousanis has some excellent images to illustrate how learning could (should, must) be for our fragile futures.
@nsousanis.bsky.social
Professor Nick Sousanis has some excellent images to illustrate how learning could (should, must) be for our fragile futures.
@nsousanis.bsky.social
The #bond #markets seem satisfied with the #Budget details.
The yield (rate) for a 10-year bond has fallen 0.08 percentage points. This may seem small but bond markets will always prefer stability. The yield is the market's guess at where #inflation might go over the next 10 years.
The yield (rate) for a 10-year bond has fallen 0.08 percentage points. This may seem small but bond markets will always prefer stability. The yield is the market's guess at where #inflation might go over the next 10 years.
November 26, 2025 at 1:19 PM
The #bond #markets seem satisfied with the #Budget details.
The yield (rate) for a 10-year bond has fallen 0.08 percentage points. This may seem small but bond markets will always prefer stability. The yield is the market's guess at where #inflation might go over the next 10 years.
The yield (rate) for a 10-year bond has fallen 0.08 percentage points. This may seem small but bond markets will always prefer stability. The yield is the market's guess at where #inflation might go over the next 10 years.
How to make #skynet seems like a simple #AI research project that'll benefit mankind. We seem in a race to promote our own elimination. Strong democratic government with a #belief in a citizen-first input to scientific research and its social impact would be useful right now.
November 24, 2025 at 9:32 AM
When we say "AI bubble" this is what we mean.
CoreWeave (who build AI data centres) hold $14,000,000,000 debt on $15,900,000 operating revenue.
(Clip of Hedge on X taken from Ox Talks YouTube channel).
CoreWeave (who build AI data centres) hold $14,000,000,000 debt on $15,900,000 operating revenue.
(Clip of Hedge on X taken from Ox Talks YouTube channel).
November 20, 2025 at 7:34 AM
When we say "AI bubble" this is what we mean.
CoreWeave (who build AI data centres) hold $14,000,000,000 debt on $15,900,000 operating revenue.
(Clip of Hedge on X taken from Ox Talks YouTube channel).
CoreWeave (who build AI data centres) hold $14,000,000,000 debt on $15,900,000 operating revenue.
(Clip of Hedge on X taken from Ox Talks YouTube channel).
Lumière appears in the shadows!
#beautyandthebeast
#beautyandthebeast
November 16, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Lumière appears in the shadows!
#beautyandthebeast
#beautyandthebeast
Do you want to hide the fact that you used AI?
Don't worry, Sam has your back!
It's fair enough to use AI's 'guess the next word' features and database lookup capabilities but you should have the courage and integrity to let people know where the ideas have come from.
Don't worry, Sam has your back!
It's fair enough to use AI's 'guess the next word' features and database lookup capabilities but you should have the courage and integrity to let people know where the ideas have come from.
November 15, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Do you want to hide the fact that you used AI?
Don't worry, Sam has your back!
It's fair enough to use AI's 'guess the next word' features and database lookup capabilities but you should have the courage and integrity to let people know where the ideas have come from.
Don't worry, Sam has your back!
It's fair enough to use AI's 'guess the next word' features and database lookup capabilities but you should have the courage and integrity to let people know where the ideas have come from.
Of course #JWST blew up the current model of #cosmology.
That was the whole point of putting it up there. All #science research does this.
The finer the net you cast the smaller the fish you can catch.
At each level you learn something new.
Scientific #knowledge is always a #WIP.
That was the whole point of putting it up there. All #science research does this.
The finer the net you cast the smaller the fish you can catch.
At each level you learn something new.
Scientific #knowledge is always a #WIP.
November 14, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Of course #JWST blew up the current model of #cosmology.
That was the whole point of putting it up there. All #science research does this.
The finer the net you cast the smaller the fish you can catch.
At each level you learn something new.
Scientific #knowledge is always a #WIP.
That was the whole point of putting it up there. All #science research does this.
The finer the net you cast the smaller the fish you can catch.
At each level you learn something new.
Scientific #knowledge is always a #WIP.
From my FB feed...
November 12, 2025 at 11:03 AM
From my FB feed...
Inaccurate language from an expert.
All #mortgages are #front-end loaded; they don't TEND to have bigger #interest at the start - that's the way the mathematical formula works - same way each time. There's no "tend" about it.
All #mortgages are #front-end loaded; they don't TEND to have bigger #interest at the start - that's the way the mathematical formula works - same way each time. There's no "tend" about it.
November 11, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Inaccurate language from an expert.
All #mortgages are #front-end loaded; they don't TEND to have bigger #interest at the start - that's the way the mathematical formula works - same way each time. There's no "tend" about it.
All #mortgages are #front-end loaded; they don't TEND to have bigger #interest at the start - that's the way the mathematical formula works - same way each time. There's no "tend" about it.
Offering 50-year loans is a ploy by lenders to make money for nothing and get cheques for free. If you borrowed 350K at 6% over 50 years, it would take 39 y 1 m to own HALF your house!
Of that same month's payment of 1801.44 (your 469th), 1218.13 (2/3rds) would be interest. Dire Straits, indeed!
Of that same month's payment of 1801.44 (your 469th), 1218.13 (2/3rds) would be interest. Dire Straits, indeed!
November 10, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Offering 50-year loans is a ploy by lenders to make money for nothing and get cheques for free. If you borrowed 350K at 6% over 50 years, it would take 39 y 1 m to own HALF your house!
Of that same month's payment of 1801.44 (your 469th), 1218.13 (2/3rds) would be interest. Dire Straits, indeed!
Of that same month's payment of 1801.44 (your 469th), 1218.13 (2/3rds) would be interest. Dire Straits, indeed!
#Fifty-year mortgages make lenders rich by charging much more.
The table shows data for 25 and a 50-year loans. The data clearly illustrate the exponential maths of finance - a topic confusing for most people.
You'll pay 402 less a month over 50 rather than 25 years but 368,512 more in #interest.
The table shows data for 25 and a 50-year loans. The data clearly illustrate the exponential maths of finance - a topic confusing for most people.
You'll pay 402 less a month over 50 rather than 25 years but 368,512 more in #interest.
November 9, 2025 at 9:09 PM
#Fifty-year mortgages make lenders rich by charging much more.
The table shows data for 25 and a 50-year loans. The data clearly illustrate the exponential maths of finance - a topic confusing for most people.
You'll pay 402 less a month over 50 rather than 25 years but 368,512 more in #interest.
The table shows data for 25 and a 50-year loans. The data clearly illustrate the exponential maths of finance - a topic confusing for most people.
You'll pay 402 less a month over 50 rather than 25 years but 368,512 more in #interest.
I suspect for the same reason tobacco companies sell cigarettes there. To get people addicted to their poison. AI has many useful use cases but general conversational AI, when there are no safeguards against inappropriate "conversations" leading to suicidal ideation, is too dangerous.
November 8, 2025 at 2:19 PM
I suspect for the same reason tobacco companies sell cigarettes there. To get people addicted to their poison. AI has many useful use cases but general conversational AI, when there are no safeguards against inappropriate "conversations" leading to suicidal ideation, is too dangerous.
Happy hundredth birthday to this anonymous building in #Université, Ixelles, #Brussels. The weather is nice too!
November 7, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Happy hundredth birthday to this anonymous building in #Université, Ixelles, #Brussels. The weather is nice too!
Hurrah! The plebs can fight over scraps as the bad news on jobs makes the markets happy!
#Unregulated #capitalism's inevitable #endgame.
#Unregulated #capitalism's inevitable #endgame.
November 7, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Hurrah! The plebs can fight over scraps as the bad news on jobs makes the markets happy!
#Unregulated #capitalism's inevitable #endgame.
#Unregulated #capitalism's inevitable #endgame.
A car registration plate designed to get a Frankie Howard titter.
Mrs Dong owns several local Vietnamese restaurants here in Ixelles, Brussels
@ajpbradley.bsky.social
Mrs Dong owns several local Vietnamese restaurants here in Ixelles, Brussels
@ajpbradley.bsky.social
November 5, 2025 at 7:39 PM
A car registration plate designed to get a Frankie Howard titter.
Mrs Dong owns several local Vietnamese restaurants here in Ixelles, Brussels
@ajpbradley.bsky.social
Mrs Dong owns several local Vietnamese restaurants here in Ixelles, Brussels
@ajpbradley.bsky.social
This headline has been front and centre on the BBC News website for the last 7 hours. Why would they keep a story about sacking a Israeli military Judge Advocate General?
Perhaps because she embarrassed Netanyahu by authorizing the release of video showing abuse of Palestinian prisoners.
Maybe.
Perhaps because she embarrassed Netanyahu by authorizing the release of video showing abuse of Palestinian prisoners.
Maybe.
November 3, 2025 at 5:37 PM
This headline has been front and centre on the BBC News website for the last 7 hours. Why would they keep a story about sacking a Israeli military Judge Advocate General?
Perhaps because she embarrassed Netanyahu by authorizing the release of video showing abuse of Palestinian prisoners.
Maybe.
Perhaps because she embarrassed Netanyahu by authorizing the release of video showing abuse of Palestinian prisoners.
Maybe.
Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 9: Subspace Rhapsody.
Joyous, just joyous!
Joyous, just joyous!
November 2, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 9: Subspace Rhapsody.
Joyous, just joyous!
Joyous, just joyous!
If you live in Brussels and you thought October was dull you'd be right! The lowest sunshine conversion on the roof since my solar panels were installed. This October's production was 38% below the mean for the 4 previous Octobers.
Even so, I'm still saving over a €100 a month for my electricity!
Even so, I'm still saving over a €100 a month for my electricity!
November 2, 2025 at 12:49 PM
If you live in Brussels and you thought October was dull you'd be right! The lowest sunshine conversion on the roof since my solar panels were installed. This October's production was 38% below the mean for the 4 previous Octobers.
Even so, I'm still saving over a €100 a month for my electricity!
Even so, I'm still saving over a €100 a month for my electricity!
The only question now is whether he's a professional clown or an amateur one.
November 1, 2025 at 11:57 AM
The only question now is whether he's a professional clown or an amateur one.
#cat maths. With a better grasp of quadratic equations she'll definitely catch that #pigeon and show #Dick #Dastardly how it's done!
October 31, 2025 at 7:32 PM
#cat maths. With a better grasp of quadratic equations she'll definitely catch that #pigeon and show #Dick #Dastardly how it's done!
Spelling options in WhatsApp. The word I was expecting was pear, I swear!
October 30, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Spelling options in WhatsApp. The word I was expecting was pear, I swear!