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Struan Donald

@struan.exo.org.uk
154 followers 27 following 348 posts

7% less grumpy than I appear to be.

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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 18/09/2026
Royal Commission to follow www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
theguardian.com
UK to answer for its ‘dismal record’ in Eurovision before committee of MPs
Digital, culture, media and sport committee expected to hear evidence from BBC bosses and music industry experts
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 13/09/2026
if you don’t strike us down we shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 12/09/2026
beginning to think billionaires were a mistake
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 09/09/2026
we keep striving to do things in the quickest and cheapest possible way only to discover some time afterwards that the things we lost along the way had value
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 05/09/2026
There is something delightful about the attention to detail from one hobby bleeding into the attention to detail in another
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 04/09/2026
This is how I find out Napoleon III is buried in the uk?
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 04/09/2026
you can’t fool me young man, it’s claudes all the way down
A flow chart entitled dynamic workflows with three paths where every box is labelled claude. no, really
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 30/08/2026
*Turns on hand held clothes steamer* Oooh, this sounds just like a guild navigator. The steam must flow!
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 08/08/2026
“how you tackle this is very difficult because you can’t have guards at every stop” You can. www.theguardian.com/money/2026/a...
theguardian.com
Train operators to crack down on ‘donutters’ and other digital ticket cheats
South Western and GTR announce fightback after move away from paper tickets increases fare dodging
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 28/07/2026
Are these socks damp or cold? The eternal debate when removing items from the drying rack.
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 23/07/2026
At some point it would be nice if politicians would start pointing out that many of the problems we have as a nation are because we chose not to spend money in favour of fiscal discipline and that the latter is an abstract concept that does not improve lives and, say, plentiful housing does.
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 17/07/2026
this is good on the hollowness of using AI for art even if it produces results that we respond to. www.epochliterary.com/blog/on-ai-i...
epochliterary.com
On AI, in EPOCH and Elsewhere — EPOCH
Human beings are made to be moved. We respond to patterns. AI generates patterns. When there is nothing of substance there, we use our imagination to fill in whatever will give us what we need. It’s n...
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 13/07/2026
Author: my short story "The never ending World Cup" was a warning. Infantino: www.theguardian.com/football/202...
theguardian.com
Gianni Infantino hints at expansion to 64-team World Cup before 2030 event
Fifa officials will look at the possibility of expanding the World Cup by another 16 teams before the ⁠2030 event, Gianni Infantino said in an interview
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 29/06/2026
Gribben says: “Private equity investment is inherently long term. Private equity firms hold investments for over six years on average.” Long term should at the very least be longer than the lifespan of the animals your business cares for and six years is not. www.theguardian.com/business/ng-...
theguardian.com
Good for business – or profit at any cost? The controversial side of private equity – a visual explainer
The use of private equity in essential services is attracting scrutiny. Here we examine some of its more contentious elements
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 26/06/2026
The title of this comes unbidden to mind at least once a week and today via @mattmuir.bsky.social’s excellent WebCurios. It used not to apply to me as I was a one pair at a time person but these days I regrettably acquire shoes at a gently accelerating rate. www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp4G...
youtube.com
Johnny Boy -You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes &
YouTube video by fabtonerecords
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 24/06/2026
I went on holiday, I wrote some chaotic notes on what I did, there are some links exo.org.uk/blah/japan-i...
exo.org.uk
exo : japan in four hundred thousand steps
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 20/06/2026
“in order to survive, a 200-kilo shark has to consume the calorific equivalent of one and a half chocolate digestives a day” The most remarkable idea here is half a chocolate digestive as a viable unit of measurement. They are indivisible, you cannot consume a half www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
lrb.co.uk
Katherine Rundell · Consider the Greenland Shark
I am glad not to be a Greenland shark; I don’t have enough thoughts to fill five hundred years. But I find the very...
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 19/06/2026
I am on a monorail
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 18/06/2026
What are the properties of social media that makes it less harmful at 17? Just ban algorithmic feeds.
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 16/06/2026
After extensive testing I have concluded that the Muji maple baumkuchen is the best Muji baumkuchen
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 14/06/2026
The level of free stuff in Japanese hotels is remarkable. So far over various hotels we’ve had rice, evening noodles, sake, beer, pastries, tea, coffee and biscoff. All of them have also had umbrellas you can borrow. This applies as much to fairly standard hotels as fancy ones.
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 13/06/2026
A junction in a tunnel is a novel and not entirely welcome bit of road design, especially when you can’t read the road signs.
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 07/06/2026
Single use plastic, big in Japan
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 06/06/2026
why yes Tim, I am on holiday
Apple health steps chart showing the 8 day average as 19546 vs the 20 day average of 7576
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 02/06/2026
One of the interesting things about Japan is how many things you can pay for with travel cards. Our restaurant this evening took Suica cards for payments. Some places seem to take them and not contactless credit cards and that’s certainly the case with most vending machines
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 01/06/2026
Of course the spicy radish comes topped with tiny fish
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 01/06/2026
In a random park in Tokyo and partner can connect to eduroam which is one of the unspoken benefits of being an academic
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 31/05/2026
We can barely manage a fast train line and the Japanese are building star gates
A sculpture that is a big segmented metal ring in Tochomae Metro station, Tokyo
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 28/05/2026
It turns out 4am is when most of the shops at Edinburgh airport open. I would prefer not to have learned this.
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 28/05/2026
This is good on the work we think AI is acceptable for notesfromasmallpress.substack.com/p/a-problem-...
notesfromasmallpress.substack.com
A Problem with AI Policies
But first:
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 27/05/2026
The future really does continue to disappoint
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 24/05/2026
While trying to remove cat hair from the duvet cover while that cat chases the lint roller around is entertaining it is not terribly effective
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 08/05/2026
I realise it’s much more civilised for everyone doing the counting but personally I much prefer the model of waking up and absorbing the results in one go over a slow ratcheting of anxiety over the day
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 07/05/2026
I think about the sort of things described here a lot on bike rides. Because I ride through the same places all the time you really notice how many pubs, and shops and cafes, are closing especially in smaller places. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
theguardian.com
‘Now the village is dead. It’s awful’: why was one of Britain’s best pubs forced to close?
For 400 years, The Hare and Hounds in Bowland Bridge offered a warm welcome to locals and travellers. Then the rent doubled. With two pubs a day closing in England and Wales, can the community save th...
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Reposted by Struan Donald
Matthew Somerville @dracos.co.uk · 02/05/2026
We are looking for a @societyworks.org developer (deadline end of May) and a @mysociety.org user support officer (deadline tomorrow) to join us: www.mysociety.org/about/careers/ I think it’s a good, fun place to work, with good dev processes, but I would say that :) Happy to answer any questions
mysociety.org
Careers
mySociety provides technology, research and data to help people be active citizens, in more than 40 countries around the world.
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 30/04/2026
If I look at your website on one device and then shortly after see an ad for your stuff on insta on another device you understand I don’t experience that as positive reinforcement?
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 24/04/2026
er, are you ok insta?
A picture of a road with blue skies on instagram from my account with a are you interested in this post question underneath
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 23/04/2026
As ever the replies to this are incredible for the well actualising. No insights commemorated here other than it remains not a place of honour.
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 21/04/2026
This is truly delightful
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 20/04/2026
Alex talks about this a lot but it is, when you stop and think, slightly mad that our elected representatives are allowed to accept gifts with few meaningful limits or restrictions. What exactly is the problem that having a "you can accept presents from anyone" policy is solving?
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 19/04/2026
“The electronic spreadsheet is to double entry what an oil painting is to a sketch” from this great piece on the history of spreadsheets is relevant to A.I. and highlights the problem. With a sketch it’s clear details are missing so you treat it accordingly. davidoks.blog/p/how-the-sp...
davidoks.blog
Seeing like a spreadsheet
How the commercial spreadsheet reshaped America
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 17/04/2026
Number must go up is, overall, a cursed idea
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 14/04/2026
This is an absolute delight about a subject close to my heart. Absolutely rammed with your new favourite sentences. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
I Found It: The Best Free Restaurant Bread in America
Thirteen thousand miles. Infinite contenders. One beautiful loaf.
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 10/04/2026
Exercise, it turns out, is tiring
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Reposted by Struan Donald
Jacob Harris @jacobharr.is · 10/04/2026
Tired: Oxford comma advocacy and debates Wired: insisting that everybody uses New Yorker style diereis on words like coöperation or preẽmpt
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 03/04/2026
I am not a horse, but I would like cake
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 01/04/2026
@jukes.ie isn't this your job? www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
theguardian.com
Writing on the wall: Art UK digitises thousands of murals as street artworks go mainstream
From medieval church wall paintings to Liam Gallagher’s viral X post, charity has catalogued more than 6,600 pieces
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 25/03/2026
Absolutely ordering some of these as a conversation starter for the next party www.newscientist.com/article/2520...
newscientist.com
Antimatter has been transported by road for the first time
CERN is working on building an antimatter delivery service. The project passed a big test by successfully transporting 92 antiprotons around a 4-kilometre loop of road
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Struan Donald @struan.exo.org.uk · 07/03/2026
We should have more trains
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Reposted by Struan Donald
Rusty Foster @rusty.todayintabs.com · 23/02/2026
A.I Isn’t People www.todayintabs.com/p/a-i-isn-t-...
Imagine you have two machines. One you can open up and examine all of its workings, and if you give it every picture of a cat on the whole internet, it can reliably distinguish cats trom non-cats. The other is a black box and it can also reliably distinguish cats from non-cats if you give it half a dozen pictures of cats, some apple sauce, and a hug. These machines sort of do the same thing, but even without knowing how the second one works 1 am extremely confident in saying it doesn't work the same way as the first one.
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