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Ian

@ianpatterson.com
1.2K followers 1.4K following 19K posts

We live in a funny world: just making the most of it, one day at a time. Tweeter. Liberaler. Quiddler. Un buveur d’encre. A recovering frog after slowly cooking in Musks cauldron for too long. blog: www.ianpatterson.com

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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 3h
I think this is a Dutch band having some bro antics 😏🫣🤣 www.instagram.com/reel/DdyrDJ4...
instagram.com
Instagram User on Instagram
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 4h
This beach uses loud noisy drones to discourage nighttime swimmers. I could imagine the French having use for these to stop boats leaving. Non lethal but painful sounds should be able to drive boats back at the launching beaches www.instagram.com/reel/Dd4EosI...
instagram.com
Instagram
Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.
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Paul Chandler @paulchandler.bsky.social · 5h
"I don't want any growth in my postcode" Nice when people just come out and say it rather than beating around the bush, you know what you're dealing with.
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 5h
A number of companies are trialling 50Gbs FTTP tech in their UK labs at the moment. Likely customers are those who need to be certain there’s no contention on the line. Early customers might be the mobile cos themselves and some businesses www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/20...
ispreview.co.uk
Vodafone UK and Nokia trial 50Gbps FTTP broadband in their Newbury lab
Broadband and mobile giant Vodafone UK has today revealed a bit more information on their recent trial of 50G Passive Optical Network (50G PON) architecture, wh
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 7h
James O’Brian gets a lot right in this take on Burnham’s speech youtu.be/6lMLTq7PomU?...
youtu.be
James O'Brien analyses Burnham's speech in mammoth monologue
YouTube video by LBC
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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 7h
For Rick Scott, the main purpose of a Republican Congress is to increase the wealth and power of the tech bros by insuring they go unregulated and pay no taxes—in fulfillment of Trump's pact with them from 2024.
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 7h
Oh ffs. Pre-WW2 (largely) when medical regulation, and testing, was more lax, there were a lot of dubious medical products on sale if not downright dangerous ones. Seems influencers have found them - a new source of history to mine. Radium ffs. www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/radioactiv...
newsguardrealitycheck.com
Radioactive Health Hoax from the 1920s Returns
Social media accounts promote long-discredited radium water as a cure-all. PLUS: Introducing “Midterms Watch”
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 7h
Rumour is that the new Apple CEO wants to see Apple launch more products, and do so faster and more frequently. That inevitably means fewer blockbusters - dont expect another iphone - but do expect a lot of ecosystem add on products that fit some people's usage some of the time. ...
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 8h
There's a defeatist Labour MP on #bbcwato just now who's pro Brexit. Before he says we get no say on things, no ability to buy British in EU, he should go on a rail trip and see how France, Italy, Germany do it etc. Its preposterous - part of the old Tory gold plating of EU rules.
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Andy Duchess @andyduchess.bsky.social · 10h
My bestie @princeneale.bsky.social bought me this fantastic tee. I love it 😍
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 8h
One govt trade minister under Starmer said that he'd tried to talk about the lack of success etc under Brexit - and was blocked. One of the craziest aspects of Starmer was refusing to set any narrative on it - despite the evidence. At least Burnham seems to have some brains, and balls.
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 8h
Trump's ludicrous attempt to rename AI as SI may or may not (ahem-much more likely) take hold, but for now there's a gold rush for .si domain names. .si is ofc Slovenia in normal speak. Get your domain now - around £7 to £20 per year plus VAT.
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 10h
There arent enough rich people to tax to keep the triple lock going, such is the ratchet effect on the share of national wealth it will gobble up if continued. The number of workers per pensioner is dropping: we cant afford to keep it. bsky.app/profile/zack...
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Peter Smith @redpeter99.bsky.social · 10h
Until recently, I thought Torsten Bell was the pen name of the fourth Bronte sister. What he is is the best communicator in the government. He should be front and centre of any news media operation.
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 10h
Farage's response to Burnham's speech was basically 'stop foreign aid and smallboats'. Foreign Aid is pretty much zero already. SB arrivals are down 40%; Brexit enabled small boats by ripping up the Dublin Convention (for UK). Farage show the paucity of his politics: his time is over. 👏
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 10h
Pulling together a blog post on the state of the world, and your home country, is a lot of work in its own right. Doing it in as graphically rich way as this Polish chap has done is amazing (too good to have been AIed) tomwojcik.com/posts/2026-0...
tomwojcik.com
September 2026: the world today, as seen by one Polish guy
How a Pole sees the world in September 2026: a scrolling essay that follows one closed strait into fuel, food, bonds, defence and demography.
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 10h
Good reaction podcast to yesterday's Burnham speech by Rory and Alastair. youtu.be/5cxaErj0eaw?...
youtu.be
"It Was Powerful" | Rory and Alastair React To Andy Burnham's Speech.
YouTube video by The Rest Is Politics
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 13h
Gove is talking rubbish #bbcr4today. Other countries have moved to nationalise water services - Berlin for example did it for the city of Berlin not long ago. To say EU bans it is rubbish. Other countries have zero rated, temporarily, some items too.
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 14h
AI training is a fascinating subject. Some people think its like human training in some ways. Its completely different in method, but still requires someone to decide what values to instill, what the quality/target thinking levels desired are etc. But in two areas it can never be same:...
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 14h
Its Nobel Prize announcement week next year (October seems to come round faster every year). Peace Prize is announced on Friday at 11am Norweigan time. When does Trump declare war on the winner? 🤣 www.nobelprize.org/prizes/about...
nobelprize.org
Prize announcement dates
Nobel Prize announcement dates 2026.
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 14h
Just bizarre Care Service interview by #bbcr4today Nick Robinson on two fronts: the pretence that what Burnham has said so far constitutes a nitpickable proposal as opposed to just a stake in ground. Second, the idea that all hospital care is delivered as in-patient is patently nonsense...
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Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 29/09/2026
Wrote about the decline and fall of SCOTUSblog, which used to be the single best resource for Supreme Court stuff, and (thanks to some intervening crimes committed by its co-founder) is now a weird platform for conservative pundits to talk about what a good job the conservative justices are doing
slate.com
It Was the Essential Home of Supreme Court News. Now It’s a Joke. What Happened?
How high-stakes poker brought down a pillar of Supreme Court coverage.
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 19h
There's a lot of UK coverage for Burnham's conference speech today in the media. One under-remarked feature of it: Team Burnham has probably the best operational security of any recent Downing Street team. They don't seem to (thankfully) revel in sharing tittle tattle with matey journalists.
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 20h
Humanoid robots are running off the production line in China now. You can order them from some of the usual suspect retail websites. By next summer, they might just be fighting on the ground in Ukraine's army against Russia www.wesodonnell.com/p/fedorov-wa...
wesodonnell.com
Fedorov Wants Humanoid Robots Hunting Russians Within Six Months
Well, that’s terrifying
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Richard Corbett CBE @richardcorbett.bsky.social · 21h
Andy Burnham has stated clearly that Brexit was a costly mistake, and has promised to look at the options for our future relationship with our European neighbours. Turns out that the most popular option is to become a member of the EU
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 21h
Burnham's pension triple lock proposal arent the red meat policy that Badenoch and Jenrich seem to think it is. It about as mild a change as could be imagined, removing the ratchet effect of the current approach whereby pensions get ever larger wrt the economy as a whole. ...
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Tom Wilson @feedthedrummer.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Found the best Labour Conference protestor.
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 29/09/2026
Boeing and NASA seem set on trying to launch Starliner once again in December, uncrewed this time. Last time, it flew to the ISS but stranded its crew there for months. As one of the two commercially contracted crew launchers, its woefully behind for its objectives. payloadspace.com/starliner-ta...
payloadspace.com
Starliner Targets Uncrewed Flight NET December, Crewed Follow Up in 2028
NASA confirmed Boeing Starliner will fly an uncrewed mission to the ISS no earlier than December 2026, with a crewed follow-up in 2028.
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Jack Tindale @jacktindale.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Crying at how the new intern at work was born in 2005 and knows about the Blair government because "we studied it in sociology".
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 29/09/2026
Sky News is interviewing Labour supporters who cant get into the hall to hear Burnham's speech - its packed out already. Now, the sceptic in me knows its possible to engineer too few seats to give impression of 'sold out'. Lets see what its like inside when the cameras roll
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 29/09/2026
Fascinating look at the history of Japan and how its been driven by geography. unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/how-japans...
unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com
How Japan’s Geography Determined Its History
Samurais, feudalism, Tokugawa, Meiji Restoration, Empire, and present day Japan. All can be understood from Japan's geography.
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 29/09/2026
I thought that Balaclava clad bunch hated people who clog up prisons - he must be popular ;-) bsky.app/profile/gile...
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 29/09/2026
SpaceX gets lots of attention for Starlink - over 12000 satellites launched so far for its megaconstellation. China has 6 constellations of various sorts set to follow, some already having 100s in orbit. This website provides good coverage of Chinese space activities ...
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 29/09/2026
One aspect of the triple lock that needs discussion: pension credits. It'd make sense to make part of the triple lock means tested, delivered via the pension credit top up system.
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 29/09/2026
Labour: 'we must do big bold things to deliver for working people of all ages' Also *some* Labour: 'AARGH PANIC PANIC TRIPLE LOCK CANT BE TOUCHED' Ffs: if its not reformed it'll reach 7% of GDP apparently.
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 29/09/2026
Interesting that Polish Notation (and its relative Reverse Polish Notation) was only invented in 1924. (Its the prefix style of writing operators: 2+3 is written as + 2 3. You'd think human variety would have used it earlier - there's nothing sacred about 2+3 style. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_...
en.wikipedia.org
Polish notation - Wikipedia
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Politics.co.uk @politics.co.uk · 29/09/2026
NEW: Labour will ‘stand by’ ECHR unlike Farage and Badenoch, says @chrisbryant1962.bsky.social “They say they’ll bin the European Convention on Human Rights. They’ve clearly never read the Good Friday Agreement. Or maybe they don’t care about it”, Bryant stated www.politics.co.uk/2026/09/chri...
politics.co.uk
Chris Bryant: Labour will ‘stand by’ ECHR, unlike Farage and Badenoch - Politics.co.uk
Sir Chris Bryant has vowed that Labour will “stand by” the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the Good Friday Agreement, accusing Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch of having “clearly never re...
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 29/09/2026
The idea of weapons in orbit has been in news again recently. There's no evidence yet that anyone has actually put nuclear weapons in orbit, but some have looked at it. 3.5yrs into the space age, here's a look at the declassified US look at it in early 1960s www.thespacereview.com/article/5325/1
thespacereview.com
Nuke the site from orbit: American orbiting nuclear weapons during the Cold War
In the aftermath of World War II, it seemed obvious to many that the future of warfar would involve rockets in orbit designed to deliver nuclear weapons. Dwayne Day and Hans Dolfing examine one study ...
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 29/09/2026
Comically, musically, graphically, the 1957 Bugs Bunny Cartoon 'Whats Opera, Doc' was - is - an absolute gem. Chuck Jones directed it, but the colours, the layour came from Maurice Noble. A look at his work on this cartoon here: animationobsessive.substack.com/p/why-whats-...
animationobsessive.substack.com
Why ‘What’s Opera, Doc?’ Looks Like That
Plus: news.
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 29/09/2026
Google is getting weird. By using AI ahead of search, it sometimes makes crazy assumptions about what you typed. sancho.bearblog.dev/google-weird/
sancho.bearblog.dev
When did Google get so f-ing weird?
I recently had an experience while doing a simple Google search that was so profoundly weird that it stopped me in my tracks. Understanding this Google se...
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 29/09/2026
Good B1M new video on HS2 , worth it just for the views inside the nearly completed (civils anyway) tunnels . He emphasises speed too much imo, rather than capacity. Some may wish to duck the Walmar segment - he was always a critic youtu.be/IJnKt2AOCJ8?...
youtu.be
The £102BN Plan to Finish HS2
YouTube video by The B1M
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 29/09/2026
Reddit seems to have a problem with brands astroturfing comments to 'review' their products www.petervijeh.com/projects/red...
petervijeh.com
Does Reddit have an astroturfing problem? What the data suggests
In 51,129 comments from six knife subreddits, the 5% most brand-heavy accounts wrote 11.3% of the brand mentions in buying threads, against 7.9% expected by chance. For one brand it is 31% against 8%....
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 29/09/2026
Musk's fantasy of 1000s of data centres in orbit will remain just that, pure fantasy. But the need for some computing capacity in space shared between satellites - aka data centres in orbit - is already evident. One co has already tested an Nvidea H100 in space....
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 29/09/2026
China has two satellite constellations moving towards regaular use. One can provide internet service to regular devices using standard 5G protocols albeit with low data rates, another towards a Starlink-like terminal based service. www.china-in-space.com/p/china-mobi...
china-in-space.com
China Mobile Reshaping Tianqi, GuoWang User Terminals Appear
Two of China’s space-based connectivity constellations are moving towards being widely available infrastructures for users.
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 29/09/2026
In an age of AI slop, I do like coming across blogs/content which makes good, consistent use of graphics. This one seems to have used Excalidraw - but kept an excellent coherence to every diagram. Neat. labs.iximiuz.com/roadmaps/doc...
labs.iximiuz.com
Docker The Hands-On Way | iximiuz Labs
Master Docker by solving practical problems. The learning path includes: Must-Have and Digging Deeper routes, theoretical materials where it helps to learn faster, and cross-cutting topics such as sec...
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 29/09/2026
Why does Trump keep on repeating his lies on subjects like the economy? Because to his cult they need to keep on hearing it since that's what they believe, even if its contrary to their own lived experience at the supermarket or petrol pump. robertreich.substack.com/p/maga-repub...
robertreich.substack.com
The MAGA Factor
What separates Trump voters who consider themselves MAGA from Trump voters who do not?
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 28/09/2026
One for map and border nerds. A whole bunch of games . Plus an aggregate map of what borders people have drawn in the games around the world. www.habibicode.org/thedrawnworld
habibicode.org
The Drawn World: a map of every border drawn from memory
Every border anyone has drawn playing Borderline, on an empty map. The only line nobody drew is the coastline.
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 28/09/2026
This blog on AI coding gets a lot right. AI demands intentful instruction: if you can lay out what you want then you will more likely get it. Leaving it - content, process, house style and standards - to the AI to make up is just resorting to law of averages, what it happened to learn. ...
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 28/09/2026
Russian soldiers retreating from an area they had occupied in Ukraine used civilians to provide cover, forcing a group - including someone in a wheelchair - to walk with them through a ditch and then for 10km through a gas pipeline to escape. militarnyi.com/en/news/civi...
militarnyi.com
Russians Used Civilians as Cover During Retreat Through Gas Pipeline in Kupiansk Region
Russian servicemen led civilians from the Kupiansk community through the Shebelynka–Ostrohozk gas pipeline.
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Ian @ianpatterson.com · 28/09/2026
So much wrong with this. A student at a frat house in Cornell Uni says she was drugged and raped over 7 hours. None of the rapists were arrested, 2 were expelled. Punishment for others included 'writing essays'. In age of A, thats even more bizarre than ever www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Investigation of alleged gang-rape at Cornell University fraternity house reopened
Outrage over treatment of alleged offenders, members of Chi Phi fraternity, has grown since lawsuit was made public
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