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Andrew Weatherall

@andyweatherall.bsky.social
204 followers 142 following 276 posts

Paeds anaesthetist. Helicopter doc. Other things.

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Reposted by Andrew Weatherall
depths of wikipedia @depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social · 19h
The Phantom of Heilbronn, also referred to as the Woman Without a Face, was a presumed female serial killer whose existence was inferred from DNA evidence found at 40 crime scenes across Austria, France and Germany from 1993 to 2009.

In March 2009, investigators concluded that the supposed serial killer did not exist, and the DNA belonged to a woman who worked at a factory that made the cotton swabs used for collecting DNA samples
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 26/09/2026
Does my Speak-n-Spell feel pain when I type O-U-C-H? The jury is out. Philosophers and neuroscientists say that's fucking stupid, but I called a guy from the Center for Pretending that Household Electronics Are Sentient and he said there's no way to know for sure.
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Acid Rain @bearysweet.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
How they make Turkish pastries.. - Spiral-shaped Turkish pastry known as burma katmer sprinkled with crushed Antep pistachios over layers of dough and clotted cream (kaymak). - It's a traditional Turkish dessert popular in regions like Gaziantep and Adana. #desserts #pastry #turkish
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Patrick Lenton @patricklenton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
That will do it
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Greatest trick AI leaders have pulled is convincing many people—especially influential people in govt, media, and business—that their software is intelligent, independent, yet never culpable. Humans build it, humans deploy it, but no one bears responsibility for the things that happen when they do.
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Matt Ford @mford.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Ezra Klein asked Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang about AI making kids worse at math and reading. Huang’s reply: “Does it matter?” Then he said he doesn’t know his own address or phone number. “We’re going to lose some fine intellectual dexterity.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/o...
So the message of this research out of China, where you were seeing a lot of kids using A.I. to help them, was that when they were using the A.I., they were getting things done faster. But it turned out that the skills they were learning were not holding, that their actual personal performance, at least in the way we traditionally measure it, was degrading.

What do you think when you hear that?

The last part — I completely agree. Try to get a kid to do long division right now. The multiplication table is starting to be forgotten. Doing square roots, my goodness. Basic math is being forgotten. Does it matter?

That’s my question for you.

Yeah. I don’t think it does. I don’t think it does.

But there must be some set of skills that matter.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But maybe not those. We’re going to discover new ones. Just maybe not those.

There are a lot of skills that don’t matter. My first confession, I actually don’t know my address.And I ——

I don’t really believe that to be true.

It’s completely true. Janine will tell you and Lori will tell you.

One day I had to pump gas — it was a few years ago. They needed my ZIP code, and I panicked. I didn’t know my ZIP code. I don’t know my telephone number. I forget these things. I can live with it.

But let me take the other side because I don’t want to fall into a thing where, because some skills can be safely offloaded ——

Yeah.

I also can’t get anywhere without a mapping system now. Never could, frankly. But I’m a big reader. And one of the skills I really value, one of the capacities I have that I really value is an attention span formed on physical books.

You’re a big reader. I’ve read about the kind of reading you do. And there is, prior to A.I., a lot of concern and noticing among college professors and others that the way people use the internet has probably shortened attention spans.
Some skills can be safely given away. Others are valuable. They are capacities that are needed for that flexibility, for that creative thinking, for that focus. It can’t be the case that everything can be traded off.Some skills can be safely given away. Others are valuable. They are capacities that are needed for that flexibility, for that creative thinking, for that focus. It can’t be the case that everything can be traded off.

Yeah. Well, I think that we’re going to lose some finer intellectual dexterity, but we’re going to be better systems thinkers.

Today’s engineers are far better systems thinkers than I was when I graduated from school. But I was a much better transistor thinker.

What do you mean by systems thinker?

They think of large systems. Today’s computers have trillions, hundreds of trillions of transistors in them. When I first graduated from school, the first chip I worked on had 200 transistors. I knew every one of them by name. No engineer does that today. Most engineers now work well above the transistor, well above the functionality, and they’re cobbling things together to do things.

So you need to think much more about systems and interactions of systems. So some of the lower-level knowledge is gone.
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Asher Wolf @asherwolf.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
…
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Frovo @frovo.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
FLIGHT ATTENDANT: is there a doctor on board FRANKENSTEIN: *starts to stand* DR FRANKENSTEIN: *pulls him back down* i think they mean me
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Jake_Vig @jakevig.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
WARNING: Moose will try to diagnose what is wrong with your broken vehicle.
Road sign of smashed car and moose
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Futurism @futurism.com · 19/09/2026
It's a disaster in the making.
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MIT Report Finds That AI Is Leading to "Cognitive Surrender" Among Students
A new MIT report finds that students are offloading their thinking to AI -- right at the moment they need to develop it.
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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The Cat Righting Reflex is the official name of the process cats use to automatically correct themselves mid-fall and land on their feet. It develops between 3 - 9 weeks of age, and is responsible for the greatest wikipedia gif of all time.
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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Yayoi Kusama (1929-2026) RIP
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Jane Howard @janeannehoward.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
‘The only method I have found that relieved my illness is to keep creating art’: remembering Yayoi Kusama theconversation.com/the-only-met...
theconversation.com
‘The only method I have found that relieved my illness is to keep creating art’: remembering Yayoi Kusama
The Japanese artist, acclaimed for infinity mirror rooms, sprawling seas of polka dots, and dancing pumpkins, has died at 97.
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James Hell Brooks @kleinman.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Every hour there's a story of like a Norwegian death metal guy saying hey I never met Dolly Parton but she sent me a handwritten note saying she loved our song Corpse in the Copse and to keep speaking our truth
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Mondo Mascots @mondomascots.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
The mascot of Akita Prefecture, Ndatchi, is a cute version of Akita's legendary folkloric monster, the Namahage.
A red mascot with yellow hair and mouth with pointed teeth and an orange skirt and boots stands in front of a promotional booth.
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Andrew Weatherall @andyweatherall.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
I say yes. www.smh.com.au/national/sci...
smh.com.au
Scientists make giant cyborg cockroaches that can fire drug-filled syringes
Australian researchers envision an autonomous swarm of half-insect, half-robot “cyborgs” armed with needles.
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Roger Cormier @themetsnewsletter.com · 25/08/2026
Tweet from 2022 by Marlow Stern:

drunk guy just yelled “i love you” to dolly parton and she said “i love you too but i told you to wait in the trunk”
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Jen Taub @jentaub.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
“A single-payer universal health care system could cover every American, save more than 100,000 lives a year, and still cost $1 trillion less than the system it would replace, according to a new preprint study led by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health.” ysph.yale.edu/news-article...
ysph.yale.edu
Universal Health Coverage Could Save $1 Trillion and 114,000 Lives Every Year, Yale Study Projects
A single-payer universal health care system could cover every American, save more than 100,000 lives a year, and still cost $1 trillion less than the system it
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Johnny Normality (Spooky Mode) @probgobl.in · 14/08/2026
EVERY STORY ABOUT BEAVERS FOR THE LAST DECADE READS LIKE: WE RELEASED A DOZEN PADDLE TAILED LITTLE FREAKS AND THEY IMMEDIATELY BEGAN A TERRAFORMING PROJECT THAT REVERSED A CENTURY OF ECOLOGICAL DAMAGE IN THREE WEEKS.
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depths of wikipedia @depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
amazing article
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Natalie Weiner @natalieweiner.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
the american paradox
truck that says "puritan bakery best buns in town"
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depths of wikipedia @depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
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Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Threaten me not wyth a goode tyme www.irishtimes.com/business/202...
irishtimes.com
AI boom could falter without wider adoption, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella warns
Big tech boss tells delegates at Davos that broader global use is essential if technology is to deliver lasting growth
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Ana Marie Cox @anamariecox.com · 30/07/2026
This is going to make it very difficult to know which sports we should ban them from.
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
TikTok has incredible moderation team. Our InfoWars video about Multiple Horse Theory — the idea that there are many horses in the world and not just one — has been fully deemed misinformation and lost the formal appeals process. Confirmed by Larry Ellison: There is only one horse on Earth.
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The Onion @theonion.com · 29/07/2026
Teacher Required To Provide Own Salary theonion.com/teacher-required-to-pr…
Teacher Required To Provide Own Salary
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Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Missed payments. Slashed staffing. Broken security. A patient who froze to death on a hospital roof. @h-lev.bsky.social & @acleek.bsky.social investigate American Healthcare System, the company driving hospitals around the country to financial chaos. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
A for-profit hospital slashed costs. Then a patient froze to death on its roof.
A little-known company grew on promises to save distressed hospitals. Instead, it sunk them into financial chaos.
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worm @rfksbrainworm.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
extremely normal guy voice: I cloned myself so I can become my own blood boy.
@bryan_johnson

I just cloned myself...as a newborn

With this clone, I can:

+ become my own blood boy
+ test therapies on the clone
+ grow organs for transplantation
+ develop new treatments
+ inject young cells
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depths of wikipedia @depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
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Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Fascinating thread from the writer whose 2017 translation of The Odyssey you are now going to see many people reading!
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
“.. I asked a few AI researchers whether they could name any other real-world software that scales so poorly. None of them could think of any. “.. By economic and engineering measures, generative AI might be the worst technology ever deployed.” @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
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Bec Shaw @brocklesnitch.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
I think Norway should beat England, as a little treat for everyone (except English people)
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Mondo Mascots @mondomascots.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Marimu-chan, a mascot from Lake Akan in Kushiro City, is a sentient ball of algae wearing a traditional local Ainu costume.
A green ball with eyes and limbs is wearing a traditional blue costume and standing in a shopping mall.
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Stilgherrian @stilgherrian.com · 08/07/2026
“Worship me at the office altar: Why narcissistic leaders resist remote work” www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Worship me at the office altar: Why narcissistic leaders resist remote work
Leaders have displayed diverging reactions to remote work, with some supporting it and others resisting it. Surprisingly little research has examined …
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Alan Garner @garnalan.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Despite widespread adoption of the "reversible causes” approach in traumatic cardiac arrest there is no evidence yet for improved survival. We have a look at some recent evidence from large datasets that suggests nuancing of current algorithms is warranted. #hobarttca
url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com
Re-evaluating the traumatic cardiac arrest paradigm: the case for early rhythm assessment and targeted compressions
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 06/07/2026
Academics “examined the behaviour of mainstream large language models provided by Elon Musk’s xAI, Meta, Google, China’s Alibaba and France’s Mistral and found the introduction of bias happens even when the AI tool is instructed to preserve the original sense.”
theguardian.com
AI altering meaning of users’ drafts on issues from abortion to climate, study finds
Researchers say small changes in drafting could spread rapidly and create long-term shifts in public opinion
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Asher Wolf @asherwolf.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Once upon a time I just got ads for weightloss drugs. Now tho…
‘Revenge of the pregnant seahorse’ AI mini series in the ‘For You’ section of TikTok: 

Pink male seahorse with an empty pouch: “if Ellie finds out my pouch is empty…” ‘Revenge of the pregnant seahorse’ AI mini series in the ‘For You’ section of TikTok: 

AI Pink male humanoid seahorse: “…she’ll dump me!” *AI pink male seahorse in anguish* *AI pink male humanoid seahorse dressed in black sunnies and a black trench coat* “Just impregnate my pouch!”
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ma_danni_Lex @glitterstrands.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
mad how the defining cultural image of Steamboat Willie is Mickey whistling and driving the boat, and not the bit where he plays a pig's nipples as a musical instrument while it shrieks in pain
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Bethany Black @bethanyblack.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️ One milkshake to rule the boys, one milkshake to find them, one milkshake to bring the boys and in my yard to bind them 🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️
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Mondo Mascots @mondomascots.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Hirokuma, a bear who turned yellow after eating too many lemons, is the mascot of Hiroshima Pefecture. He actually smells of lemons in person.
A yellow bear mascot with a green stem on his head stands on a green carpet in front of some shelves of produce.
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Gary Gifford @garygifford.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
The would be a pretty funny bit of satire, except it's not satire.
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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
The cost of tokens is not taken into account. Let alone the increasing reports of people having to clean up AI slop code affecting productivity. www.cio.com/article/4189...
cio.com
AI coding token costs are on track to rival human payroll
Growing use of coding agents and consumption-based pricing models could push per-developer AI spending to unprecedented levels over the next two years, says Gartner.
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Lauren Dobson-Hughes @ldobsonhughes.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Musk says not a single person has died due to him axing USAID. Sadly, part of my job involves tracking aid spending. So here’s a thread with just some of the people who lost their lives because of USAID cuts
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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
New: Researchers have quantified how easy AI search is to manipulate. Just 13 words buried in a random Reddit comment can poison AI search results. They suggest this is not easy to stop: "The way you can attack these systems is so much dumber than you think it is" www.404media.co/it-is-trivia...
404media.co
It Is Trivially Easy to Use Reddit to Manipulate AI Search, Research Suggests
"We show that a tiny snippet—just 13 words—of retrieved text on a UGC website like Reddit, Wikipedia, Quora, or Facebook can change AI agents to output spam / scam content pretty consistently."
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Massimo (mirror) @rainmaker1973-m.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
The Caucasian Shepherd Dog is a livestock guardian dog native to the countries of the Caucasus region and one of the world's largest dog breeds. This is its size with humans for scale. Original post
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ArtButMakeItSports @artbutmakeitsports.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
España, by Ricard Verde, 1937, 📸 by Ronald Cortes
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Aaron Blackshear @aaronblackshear.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
soul nate
@MNateShyamalan
...
i'm in a code review with elon musk. ive got the CSS for neopets.com on 3 monitors. my browser's in dark mode so it looks cool. "this part?" he asks, pointing to code for the Giant Omelette. "caches tweets in the mainframe cyberhex," i say. he nods. "as i suspected"
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Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
today I discovered this incredible story of a minor league pitcher who is 6'4 wears glasses and a ginger beard who hurt his elbow and went to the doc for Tommy John surgery and was mistaken for a pitcher from a diff team who was also there for TJ surgery on same day anyway heres their pics and names
Two dudes who were formed from the same mould in consecutive batches at the factory and are somehow completely unrelated
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Richard Meredith @rtm223.me · 12/06/2026
"We're shipping so much more code with AI!" "Good, stable code?" "Oh heavens no. No no no. not at all. We couldn't possibly"
Various graphs related to AI coding adoption, titled "The Acceleration Whiplash"

Epics (features) : +66.2%
Features: +33.7%
Pull Requests: +16.2%
Code Churn: +861%
Incidents (per PR) : +242.7%
Monthly incidents: +57.9%
Bugs per developer: +54%
Bugs per PR: +28.7%
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Mondo Mascots @mondomascots.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Melon Kuma, a terrifying hybrid of a melon and a bear, is a character from Yubari City in Hokkaido, and was inspired by wild brown bears destroying melon patches in the area. He visited the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building today.
An aggressive bear mascot with a green melon head bares his sharp teeth in front of a tourist information centre.
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