iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I am probably going to melt my computer. It's been running at >90% CPU core usage without a break for 4 hours, with another 4+ hours still to go. @mc-stan.org running with 10/12 threads...

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

"Yes" "No" "That would be an ecumenical matter"

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Great thread about the University of Exeter redundancies #DefendExeterUni

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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

"Government has got to stop wasting money on extraordinarily high-margin generic intermediaries to buy in teaching it could commission directly from the starving universities that already provide it."

ft.com

Letter: Don’t pay consultants if universities can do the job

From Amanda Goodall, London EC1, UK and Andrew Oswald, Coventry, Warwickshire, UK

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

The EV charging flap (door) on our VW was very temperamental - couldn't close it when it was open, couldn't open it when it was closed. Luckily it was suitable for DIY repair, so after buying the spare part from a local dealer/service shop for under £40 and following a YouTube video, it's fixed!

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Rachel Cunliffe @rmcunliffe.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Fun (not fun) fact: when the coalition government was changing the student loan system, Vince Cable said the aim of the Plan 2 changes would result in the state funding 40 per cent of a degree, with 60 per cent coming from the individual, which he thought was a fair balance...

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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Behind the bewildering transformation of British universities, are management consultants being paid millions Really proud to have this vital piece on our unis are being gutted from the inside by @jheathershaw.bsky.social on Democracy for Sale. Do read democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-bri...

democracyforsale.substack.com

Inside Britain's university crisis

As teaching staff face job loss, their bosses have netted pay rises and bought advice from a “vampiric” management consultancy, writes Prof. John Heathershaw of the University of Exeter

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Simon Evans @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · 30/07/2026

🧵UK media has been duped about net-zero (again) The playbook is identical: 1️⃣ Find a big scary number 2️⃣ Speed-dial non-specialist hacks 3️⃣ Do say “serious economic damage” 4️⃣ Don’t say “we pretended gas is free” 5️⃣ That's it! Many papers still fell for it 🤷

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Gavin Buckingham @drgbuckingham.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

The Cognition Group in the Psychology dept at Exeter are at risk of redundancy because "basic cognitive psychology research does not align with the current priorities of funding bodies" If you think this is overtly wrong and misguided, please sign this open letter docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

docs.google.com

Open Letter in Support of the Cognition Group, University of Exeter

To Executive members of the University of Exeter, including Vice Chancellor Prof. Lisa Roberts, Senior Vice-President and Provost Prof. Dan Charman, Pro Vice Chancellor and Executive Dean Prof. Sallie...

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

This surely demands a joint response from @ucu.org.uk @universities-uk.bsky.social @ucea.bsky.social and NUS Asking students to pay more to prop up universities is one thing. Asking them to pay more to prop up the Department for Education and Office for Students is something else entirely.

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Ok this is just ridiculous. How can you see a sector apparently on the brink of collapse and think the right thing to do is undermine them further? Sue Gray had universities collapsing on her shit list in 2024. The government seems to think that was a goal rather than something to avoid.

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

I think an underpriced scenario is that Trump fights for and wins the GOP nomination to go for an unconditional third term, he is then hammered in the election, and spends his final days escaping accountability by claiming his advanced dementia makes him unfit to stand trial or give evidence.

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Exeter UCU @exeterucu.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

We just had a meeting with over 700 (!!) of our members and OVERWHELMINGLY voted in favour of a motion to calling for a strike ballot! 🩷 We're doing this together. We are the University! #DefendExeterUni.

EXETER UCU VOTES IN FAVOUR OF MOTION CALLING FOR STRIKE BALLOT

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Wish I had more time to engage with your excellent Bluesky posts? Then get the University of Exeter to withdraw its proposals to cut 200 staff by signing this petition! #DefendExeterUni c.org/ySvZyTfKcf

c.org

Sign the Petition

Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter

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Francesca Stavrakopoulou @proffrancesca.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

I’d love it if you’d sign this. It might not prevent me and my colleagues losing our jobs, but it will draw attention to the ideological vandalism being perpetrated by the wealthy execs running our university. Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter - sign the petition below! c.org/NpvY4sR9gH

c.org

Sign the Petition

Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

So my employer, the Uni of Exeter, is proposing to cut up to 200 jobs (153 full time equivalent). The axe is mostly falling on our highly esteemed Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences... and we can't even get a clear answer why? Please sign this petition to get them to rethink! c.org/pfjK7HLjkH

c.org

Help Anonymous Academic grow this petition! 🚀

Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

If you asked me, off the top of my head, to name a non-Oxbridge university in England synonymous with excellence in the Humanities - I would probably think of Exeter first. This feels like a very deliberate, targeted and ideological Bonfire of the Humanities

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Some serious birther shit here from Tesco. Trump would be pleased.

Two oven pizza boxes from Tesco, one labelled "The Hawaiian", the other "The American"

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Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Hi All, we now have an official text of the USA-Iran MOU from the US point of view. It is extraordinary. The US is in a far weaker position than before it started this war fewer than four months ago. Here is a free, blow-by-blow description why. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...

open.substack.com

Midweek Update #15: The MOU Is Out

Hi all,

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Given one of the most common complaints from former and current government ministers is that when you pull on the levers of power, nothing happens, I think we should rapidly discount anyone whose professional experience involves orders being followed without question. It's no preparation at all.

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Yes it should be axed - here is what I would replace it with to ensure it is sustainable and doesn't lead to pensioners once again slipping into poverty as they did before the triple lock. bsky.app/profile/tmsn...

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

It is absolutely frightening. Lots of money and social media clout is behind a far right vision of this country that would see it ethically cleansed and its politicians and civil servants imprisoned for having carried out lawful duties. They are also dragging the mainstream in their direction.

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Ah yet another HTA model I'm involved in which would be so much quicker to build in R but, for reasons I cannot divulge, must be made in Excel. In fairness, when I have been able to do the models in R, it usually results in more complexity to fill the time rather than increasing leisure...

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Decorate in haste and Repaint at your leisure

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Jess Morley @jessrmorley.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

On Monday the HSJ named me as the "arguably the single most influential voice on ethics and AI policy" on their list of top 50 influential people for NHS tech in 20216 www.hsj.co.uk/news/the-50-... is (a) very kind; (b) most likely untrue. BUT FWIW here are my current top 10 AI messages 🧵:

hsj.co.uk

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Dear #Rstats users, please do not name your main data table/frame "dt" or "df". One day, you will thank me when you need to use the probability density function for the Student's t or F-distribution! ("d" or "dat" are safe 😊)

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Interestingly, this ONE WEIRD TRICK can achieve proportional representation with single member constituencies... Everyone casts a single vote for the person they would like to win, and a vote is drawn at random from all the votes cast. Probability of winning is exactly proportional to your vote.

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

As a rule, if an electoral system involves electing a single person per geography, it will not be proportional. It can still be an improvement on first past the post (plurality voting), but for proportional representation you need to have multi member constituencies or "top up" seats.

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

I am really hoping there is a blue wave which busts the GOP gerrymanders. Explanation 🧵 Under plurality voting (first past the post), your vote share can be (in)efficient. The most efficient way to turn votes into representation is to win small and lose big...

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Adjudicating between departments is harder, but infinitely more productive, than hanging your head in your hands and saying "I thought we'd costed for having cake AND eating it"

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

I thought humans didn't have a thymus! I literally remember reading that T cells in immunology are so called because they are produced in the thymus *in birds* but that humans didn't have a thymus so they were produced elsewhere. Ugh I can't keep up...

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Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 04/05/2026

We have friends everywhere.

and/or
conjunction
ˈand-ˈȯr
—used as a function word to indicate that two words or expressions are to be taken together or individually

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Nadine Batchelor-Hunt @nadinebh.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

‘Mann believes that "very big numbers" of Jews will start to leave the UK "very quickly" if things do not change, telling PoliticsHome that "the freedom to be Jewish in this country has been significantly impaired.’

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

So in a decade the US Supreme Court has gone from saying partisan gerrymandering is non-justiciable to saying it is a right which outweigh constitutional protections for minorities. #14thAmendment #scotus

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

If you worry about the income effect of a price change on poor people, do something about their income rather than the price

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

My superpower is that I'm the only person in the world* who can tell if the TV is off or is just showing black. *or perhaps just my household

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

King Charles' visit to the US should 100% not be happening because of the Iran war. That they haven't now pulled it with security concerns as an excuse is baffling.

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Because nobody asked for it, here is how I would reform the UK state pension #TripleLock. Current system: state pensions are increased by whichever is largest out of year-on-year inflation, earnings growth, or 2.5%. What was once a good thing (ending pensioner poverty) is now a fiscal nightmare...

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Tom Hunter @onelifestand87.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Turns out I was giving Polanski too much credit on Ukraine. What the fuck is he talking about here? Putin has an ICC warrant for the industrial kidnapping of tens of thousands of Ukrainian kids & rewarded the soldiers who massacred civillians Bucha with medals for their ‘bravery’

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TKarney @pecunium.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

This is not wrong.

dhuartson:

Don't let anyone talk you out of spending $15 on a new hobby. That $50 will be the best $400 you ever spent.

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

I have very mixed feelings on this... It is what the New Testament says that believers are saved by faith and not by works. OTOH any church which has endorsed Trump for political office at any point has much to answer for.

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

10 points if you can guess who this is about

[Seymour Skinner out of touch meme]

Am I letting the best be the enemy of the good?
No. The good *is* the enemy of the best.

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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

In other words: a fine memorial to Robert Mueller, a great public servant, is how much Trump loathes him.

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Tristan Snowsill @tmsnowsill.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

So abandoned churches are fine to be turned into fancy houses for wealthy atheists or into Wetherspoons, but it would definitely be wrong if they were used by a religion for worshipping the same God for which they were originally built?

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