Dr_Aust_PhD
@draustphd.bsky.social
Grumpy old lab scientist (retd.), Uni teacher & centrist dad. Irked by trendy nonsense, own waistline, hair 📉 etc. NOT a medic - other ½ of NHS doctor. Long-ago 70s punk rock fan/ guitarist. 2 kids & now no dog (RIP). Personal views.
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
"All of this falls apart if humans don't adopt the tech. This is why you've seen Meta cram its lame chatbots into WhatsApp and Instagram. This is why Notepad and Paint now have useless Copilot buttons on Windows. This is why Google Gemini wants to "help you" read and reply to your emails."
Analysis: OpenAI is a loss-making machine, how can it survive?
Don't call it a bubble! Loss-making monster OpenAI is on the hook for $1.4 trillion (with a T) in compute commitments. How can this go on?
www.windowscentral.com
November 29, 2025 at 11:30 PM
"All of this falls apart if humans don't adopt the tech. This is why you've seen Meta cram its lame chatbots into WhatsApp and Instagram. This is why Notepad and Paint now have useless Copilot buttons on Windows. This is why Google Gemini wants to "help you" read and reply to your emails."
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
"For example, orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal"
"… in the present instance, it was perfectly clear to the accused that killing defenceless people in the life-boats could be nothing else but a breach of the law. As naval officers by profession they were well aware …."
December 1, 2025 at 1:09 AM
"For example, orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal"
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
The “Did Reeves mislead the public?” nothing burger has led the BBC website for almost 3 days now. So, again for those at the back: freezing tax thresholds is not the same as increasing taxes! If Johnson and the Tories misled the public 5 times before lunch that used to be a slow news day.
December 1, 2025 at 8:37 AM
The “Did Reeves mislead the public?” nothing burger has led the BBC website for almost 3 days now. So, again for those at the back: freezing tax thresholds is not the same as increasing taxes! If Johnson and the Tories misled the public 5 times before lunch that used to be a slow news day.
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
I was able to retire at 37 by flying economy, forgoing a daily coffee AND earning £350k per year is the new “I bought my first home at 22 by avoiding avocado toast, Netflix AND getting a £400k gift from my parents.
Fascinating thing about this story is that you could easily write a better and IMO more accurate one about a woman who has fallen in love with someone 17 years older, and has concluded 'I don't want to run the risk of not getting to enjoy my time with you' and has lived frugally to achieve that.
The secret to early retirement; dine out rarely, fly economy and be a Google employee making $390,000/year married to a fellow Google employee 17 years older than you who likely makes twice as much as you.
December 1, 2025 at 7:05 AM
I was able to retire at 37 by flying economy, forgoing a daily coffee AND earning £350k per year is the new “I bought my first home at 22 by avoiding avocado toast, Netflix AND getting a £400k gift from my parents.
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
Just like 2020-24 in the US: talk a load of fantastical nonsense to undermine reality itself. Ignore actual policy. Will probably have the same result.
December 1, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Just like 2020-24 in the US: talk a load of fantastical nonsense to undermine reality itself. Ignore actual policy. Will probably have the same result.
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
I'm not sure a squeezed middle isn't an almost inevitable consequence of demographics. There are 13 million pensioners in the UK. Compared to 25 million full time workers. Do the maths, it won't be pretty however you cut it.
Latest from me: on the budget, Labour's troubles, & the government's increasingly tense & distant relationship with the UK's squeezed middle www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The ‘squeezed middle’ is back – and this time it could be Labour’s undoing | John Harris
Last week’s budget left middle-income families anxious and angry. The party is turning its back on voters it can little afford to lose, says Guardian columnist John Harris
www.theguardian.com
November 30, 2025 at 5:33 PM
I'm not sure a squeezed middle isn't an almost inevitable consequence of demographics. There are 13 million pensioners in the UK. Compared to 25 million full time workers. Do the maths, it won't be pretty however you cut it.
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
What we're seeing is exactly what we saw in the late 1940s, the late 1960s and the mid- to late 1970s: a concerted and hysterical campaign to delegitimise a Labour government, and indeed the very idea of Labour governments at all.
December 1, 2025 at 8:44 AM
What we're seeing is exactly what we saw in the late 1940s, the late 1960s and the mid- to late 1970s: a concerted and hysterical campaign to delegitimise a Labour government, and indeed the very idea of Labour governments at all.
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
Glorious, cathartic, taking no shit at all, Stewart Lee.
Brexit: “like someone stepping round a massive pile of dogshit on the living room carpet. Every day. For nine years.”
If only all our media could be as ruthlessly challenging as this.
www.thenerve.news/p/stewart-le...
Brexit: “like someone stepping round a massive pile of dogshit on the living room carpet. Every day. For nine years.”
If only all our media could be as ruthlessly challenging as this.
www.thenerve.news/p/stewart-le...
November 30, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Glorious, cathartic, taking no shit at all, Stewart Lee.
Brexit: “like someone stepping round a massive pile of dogshit on the living room carpet. Every day. For nine years.”
If only all our media could be as ruthlessly challenging as this.
www.thenerve.news/p/stewart-le...
Brexit: “like someone stepping round a massive pile of dogshit on the living room carpet. Every day. For nine years.”
If only all our media could be as ruthlessly challenging as this.
www.thenerve.news/p/stewart-le...
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
presented without comment
December 1, 2025 at 2:28 AM
presented without comment
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
I wrote for @theobserveruk.bsky.social on the special needs problem highlighted by the budget and the big political battle over it coming next year.
share.google/kTTENR1gX4Y4...
share.google/kTTENR1gX4Y4...
Labour’s holiday homework: solve the problem of special needs education | The Observer
share.google
November 30, 2025 at 8:50 AM
I wrote for @theobserveruk.bsky.social on the special needs problem highlighted by the budget and the big political battle over it coming next year.
share.google/kTTENR1gX4Y4...
share.google/kTTENR1gX4Y4...
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
If Corbyn is banned from leading Your Party, he's no longer got a reason to stay, so I expect he'll leave & start My Party.
No 'Your Party' MP will be allowed to be its leader under rules voted for by members at its Liverpool conference on Sunday
The party membership has approved 'collective leadership', which rules out both Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana leading it, reports @siennarodgers.bsky.social
The party membership has approved 'collective leadership', which rules out both Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana leading it, reports @siennarodgers.bsky.social
Corbyn And Sultana Barred From Leading 'Your Party' As Members Will Front It Themselves
Members of 'Your Party' have stopped a potential leadership contest between Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana after voting in favour of a 'collective...
www.politicshome.com
November 30, 2025 at 8:21 PM
If Corbyn is banned from leading Your Party, he's no longer got a reason to stay, so I expect he'll leave & start My Party.
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
“Hitler was now the law, as Goering said.”
- William Shirer, “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” p. 337
- William Shirer, “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” p. 337
KARL: Did you know about the judge's order when you issued your order for the planes to continue?
KRISTI NOEM: This is an activist judge. We comply with all federal orders that are lawful and binding.
KRISTI NOEM: This is an activist judge. We comply with all federal orders that are lawful and binding.
November 30, 2025 at 7:56 PM
“Hitler was now the law, as Goering said.”
- William Shirer, “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” p. 337
- William Shirer, “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” p. 337
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
A quick reminder of who Nigel Farage was most concerned about when Putin's tanks first rolled into Ukraine
November 27, 2025 at 8:22 PM
A quick reminder of who Nigel Farage was most concerned about when Putin's tanks first rolled into Ukraine
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
I must have missed the wall-to-wall coverage of demands for an investigation into Nigel Farage's lies about being a racist
Or about whether he knew Nathan Gill
Or about who bought his house in Frinton
Or about whether he knew Nathan Gill
Or about who bought his house in Frinton
November 30, 2025 at 9:15 PM
I must have missed the wall-to-wall coverage of demands for an investigation into Nigel Farage's lies about being a racist
Or about whether he knew Nathan Gill
Or about who bought his house in Frinton
Or about whether he knew Nathan Gill
Or about who bought his house in Frinton
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
This article lays out just how clear the case was against Juan Orlando Hernández, the former Honduran president convicted of trafficking cociane to the US was. He primised ro “shove cocaine up the nose of gringos”
Trump promises to pardon him. (Gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/n...
Trump promises to pardon him. (Gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/n...
The Ex-President Whom Trump Plans to Pardon Flooded America With Cocaine
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 7:59 AM
This article lays out just how clear the case was against Juan Orlando Hernández, the former Honduran president convicted of trafficking cociane to the US was. He primised ro “shove cocaine up the nose of gringos”
Trump promises to pardon him. (Gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/n...
Trump promises to pardon him. (Gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/n...
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
Senator Kelly is correct.
Plus a Public Service Announcement:
KEY section of Department of Defense's Law of War Manual is 18.3.2.1.
The VERY rule on the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders gives as its paradigmatic example of what is "clearly illegal:
"orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."
Plus a Public Service Announcement:
KEY section of Department of Defense's Law of War Manual is 18.3.2.1.
The VERY rule on the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders gives as its paradigmatic example of what is "clearly illegal:
"orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."
November 30, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Senator Kelly is correct.
Plus a Public Service Announcement:
KEY section of Department of Defense's Law of War Manual is 18.3.2.1.
The VERY rule on the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders gives as its paradigmatic example of what is "clearly illegal:
"orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."
Plus a Public Service Announcement:
KEY section of Department of Defense's Law of War Manual is 18.3.2.1.
The VERY rule on the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders gives as its paradigmatic example of what is "clearly illegal:
"orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
That’s rich coming from the architect. McConnell is just as responsible as Trump. He thought he could still control Trump and the senators, but he got older and Trump got bolder.
#leopardsatemyface #Politics #News
November 30, 2025 at 7:59 PM
That’s rich coming from the architect. McConnell is just as responsible as Trump. He thought he could still control Trump and the senators, but he got older and Trump got bolder.
#leopardsatemyface #Politics #News
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
Happy anniversary, Pete!
Exactly 80 years ago this precise moment (8:40am Hamburg time, Nov. 30, 1945), German submarine commander Heinz-Wilhelm Eck and two of his former subordinates on the U-852 were shot by Allies in Hamburg for killing the survivors of a ship they had sunk. Pete Hagueseth needs to lawyer up immediately.
The Peleus War Crimes Trial
After sinking the Greek steamer Peleus in 1944, the captain ordered his crew to attack the survivors, three sailors survived and faced their attackers in a war crime trial.
www.usni.org
November 30, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Happy anniversary, Pete!
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
Everyone needs to be calling out Trump’s extreme racism all of the time.
Mark Kelly: "This president, when he says things like 'third world countries,' what is he really saying? I think what he's saying is he doesn't want brown people in our country. And that's disturbing. It's un-American."
Mark Kelly: "This president, when he says things like 'third world countries,' what is he really saying? I think what he's saying is he doesn't want brown people in our country. And that's disturbing. It's un-American."
November 30, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Everyone needs to be calling out Trump’s extreme racism all of the time.
Mark Kelly: "This president, when he says things like 'third world countries,' what is he really saying? I think what he's saying is he doesn't want brown people in our country. And that's disturbing. It's un-American."
Mark Kelly: "This president, when he says things like 'third world countries,' what is he really saying? I think what he's saying is he doesn't want brown people in our country. And that's disturbing. It's un-American."
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
The thinnest skinned man in the world.
A new White House webpage presents a Hall of Shame for news reports the president disagrees with.
A new White House webpage presents a Hall of Shame for news reports the president disagrees with.
Trump ramps up reporter attacks with White House media bias tracker
A new White House webpage presents a “Hall of Shame” for news reports that the president disagrees with, coming after Trump voiced personal attacks on female reporters at ABC, CBS, the New York Times ...
www.washingtonpost.com
November 29, 2025 at 9:13 PM
The thinnest skinned man in the world.
A new White House webpage presents a Hall of Shame for news reports the president disagrees with.
A new White House webpage presents a Hall of Shame for news reports the president disagrees with.
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
This is the most alarming story I’ve read today. Giving up the fight before it’s started
November 30, 2025 at 9:57 AM
This is the most alarming story I’ve read today. Giving up the fight before it’s started
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
Bash: "Do you believe if there was a second strike to eliminate any survivors that it constitutes a war crime?"
Mark Kelly: "It seems to."
Bash: "If you received that order, would you have carried it out?"
Mark Kelly: "No…Going after survivors in the water is unlawful."
Mark Kelly: "It seems to."
Bash: "If you received that order, would you have carried it out?"
Mark Kelly: "No…Going after survivors in the water is unlawful."
November 30, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Bash: "Do you believe if there was a second strike to eliminate any survivors that it constitutes a war crime?"
Mark Kelly: "It seems to."
Bash: "If you received that order, would you have carried it out?"
Mark Kelly: "No…Going after survivors in the water is unlawful."
Mark Kelly: "It seems to."
Bash: "If you received that order, would you have carried it out?"
Mark Kelly: "No…Going after survivors in the water is unlawful."
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
And notice: 11 stars—the number of states in the Confederacy. “Americanism” is the new fascism, as predicted.
November 30, 2025 at 4:52 PM
And notice: 11 stars—the number of states in the Confederacy. “Americanism” is the new fascism, as predicted.
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
HM Treasury before the ref and the Tories own post ref DexEU department both produced analysis showing there was no version of Brexit which could have worked for the economy.
www.gov.uk/government/p...
www.gov.uk/government/p...
November 30, 2025 at 4:41 PM
HM Treasury before the ref and the Tories own post ref DexEU department both produced analysis showing there was no version of Brexit which could have worked for the economy.
www.gov.uk/government/p...
www.gov.uk/government/p...
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
Too little and too late is the general approach to infrastructure and public transport in the Uk. In most of Europe a city the size of greater Manchester would have had a decent underground metro built in the 80s. And what’s most worrying is that Manchester is doing better than most Uk cities…
November 30, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Too little and too late is the general approach to infrastructure and public transport in the Uk. In most of Europe a city the size of greater Manchester would have had a decent underground metro built in the 80s. And what’s most worrying is that Manchester is doing better than most Uk cities…