Gavin Chait;
@gavin.whyqd.com
I am a data scientist, researcher, engineer, sometime-traveler, and African SFF author.
I am fascinated by the frontiers of human progress: innovation vs ignorance; wealth vs poverty, migration vs stasis.
I also drink a great deal of coffee.
I am fascinated by the frontiers of human progress: innovation vs ignorance; wealth vs poverty, migration vs stasis.
I also drink a great deal of coffee.
Pinned
Gavin Chait;
@gavin.whyqd.com
· Nov 11
What gifts hath Fate for all her chivalry?
Even such as hearts heroic oftenest win;
Honour, a friend, anguish, untimely death.
Not sure I entirely agree with Homer. Anguish, yes, but we will endure. Not because we believe in an inevitably better future, but because we believe in living a better us.
Even such as hearts heroic oftenest win;
Honour, a friend, anguish, untimely death.
Not sure I entirely agree with Homer. Anguish, yes, but we will endure. Not because we believe in an inevitably better future, but because we believe in living a better us.
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
Guys, guys, guys:
what if we provide asylum to lots of refugees so that when the conflict in their homeland ends and economic reconstruction begins we have lots of social links to that country that allow us to forge mutually beneficial economic partnerships with it?
what if we provide asylum to lots of refugees so that when the conflict in their homeland ends and economic reconstruction begins we have lots of social links to that country that allow us to forge mutually beneficial economic partnerships with it?
December 2, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Guys, guys, guys:
what if we provide asylum to lots of refugees so that when the conflict in their homeland ends and economic reconstruction begins we have lots of social links to that country that allow us to forge mutually beneficial economic partnerships with it?
what if we provide asylum to lots of refugees so that when the conflict in their homeland ends and economic reconstruction begins we have lots of social links to that country that allow us to forge mutually beneficial economic partnerships with it?
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
presented without comment
December 1, 2025 at 2:28 AM
presented without comment
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
FINAL REVEAL: A brand new Benin bronze plaque, titled "Looting of the Oba's Palace in 1897".
This #newarrival confronts the theft of works from Benin in 1897. It shows what the palace altar looked like before 1897 (left), and British soldiers in the act of looting (right).
This #newarrival confronts the theft of works from Benin in 1897. It shows what the palace altar looked like before 1897 (left), and British soldiers in the act of looting (right).
November 28, 2025 at 5:14 PM
FINAL REVEAL: A brand new Benin bronze plaque, titled "Looting of the Oba's Palace in 1897".
This #newarrival confronts the theft of works from Benin in 1897. It shows what the palace altar looked like before 1897 (left), and British soldiers in the act of looting (right).
This #newarrival confronts the theft of works from Benin in 1897. It shows what the palace altar looked like before 1897 (left), and British soldiers in the act of looting (right).
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
Apartheid South Africa waged endless regional wars under a “total strategy,” claiming it was fighting the Soviets while feeding off Western backing.
Israel now does the same with Iran.
But Pretoria’s militarism only brought isolation, economic strain & accelerated collapse.
🧵>>>
Israel now does the same with Iran.
But Pretoria’s militarism only brought isolation, economic strain & accelerated collapse.
🧵>>>
November 28, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Apartheid South Africa waged endless regional wars under a “total strategy,” claiming it was fighting the Soviets while feeding off Western backing.
Israel now does the same with Iran.
But Pretoria’s militarism only brought isolation, economic strain & accelerated collapse.
🧵>>>
Israel now does the same with Iran.
But Pretoria’s militarism only brought isolation, economic strain & accelerated collapse.
🧵>>>
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
Another shameful Trump act. South Africa has serious problems but it remains exemplary both in its peaceful democratic transition from a racist regime and in its more recent bounce back from corrupt populism. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/w...
Trump Says South Africa Is Not Invited to G20 Summit in U.S. in 2026
www.nytimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Another shameful Trump act. South Africa has serious problems but it remains exemplary both in its peaceful democratic transition from a racist regime and in its more recent bounce back from corrupt populism. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/w...
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
RIP Jimmy Cliff. www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...
Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican reggae singer, actor and cultural icon, dies aged 81
Star of The Harder They Come had hits including You Can Get It If You Really Want and I Can See Clearly Now
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:09 PM
RIP Jimmy Cliff. www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
Lady of the Lake
December 26, 2024 at 5:16 PM
Lady of the Lake
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
@zackpolanski.bsky.social on taxing the rich: "This is about inequality. For decades now poor people have got poorer and rich people have got richer... the money [raised] is important but the real point is about tackling inequality.. we need to get those assets flowing around the economy"
November 23, 2025 at 9:37 AM
@zackpolanski.bsky.social on taxing the rich: "This is about inequality. For decades now poor people have got poorer and rich people have got richer... the money [raised] is important but the real point is about tackling inequality.. we need to get those assets flowing around the economy"
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
November 21, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
The judge who authorised the ICC's arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant is now shut out from modern life as a result of US sanctions.
He has been blacklisted by financial systems and technologies (Visa, Apple, Google, etc)
Paywall bypass: archive.ph/d8NmT
www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...
He has been blacklisted by financial systems and technologies (Visa, Apple, Google, etc)
Paywall bypass: archive.ph/d8NmT
www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...
Nicolas Guillou, French ICC judge sanctioned by the US: 'You are effectively blacklisted by much of the world's banking system'
Six judges and three prosecutors at the International Criminal Court have been sanctioned by the Trump administration. In an interview with Le Monde, Guillou discusses the impact of these measures on ...
www.lemonde.fr
November 22, 2025 at 11:04 AM
The judge who authorised the ICC's arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant is now shut out from modern life as a result of US sanctions.
He has been blacklisted by financial systems and technologies (Visa, Apple, Google, etc)
Paywall bypass: archive.ph/d8NmT
www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...
He has been blacklisted by financial systems and technologies (Visa, Apple, Google, etc)
Paywall bypass: archive.ph/d8NmT
www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
After "film trilogy that dropped a critical plot point exclusively via timed Fortnite event" and "video game series whose story only makes sense if you're aware of the events of a canon pachinko machine", I feel like there are whole frontiers of user-hostile narrative design waiting to be explored.
November 21, 2025 at 9:29 PM
After "film trilogy that dropped a critical plot point exclusively via timed Fortnite event" and "video game series whose story only makes sense if you're aware of the events of a canon pachinko machine", I feel like there are whole frontiers of user-hostile narrative design waiting to be explored.
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
November 21, 2025 at 6:53 AM
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
The Guardian are reporting a significant increase in Jewish people voting for the Green Party.
It's almost like many of us grew up learning a history of persecution & violence.
We don't oppose the Genocide in spite of being Jewish but because of it.
Never again for everyone.
It's almost like many of us grew up learning a history of persecution & violence.
We don't oppose the Genocide in spite of being Jewish but because of it.
Never again for everyone.
November 20, 2025 at 8:09 AM
The Guardian are reporting a significant increase in Jewish people voting for the Green Party.
It's almost like many of us grew up learning a history of persecution & violence.
We don't oppose the Genocide in spite of being Jewish but because of it.
Never again for everyone.
It's almost like many of us grew up learning a history of persecution & violence.
We don't oppose the Genocide in spite of being Jewish but because of it.
Never again for everyone.
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
GREAT cartoon, revisited - because he finally signed it! Carlos Amato of South Africa in the Daily Maverick in 2020, on COVID.
November 19, 2025 at 6:29 AM
GREAT cartoon, revisited - because he finally signed it! Carlos Amato of South Africa in the Daily Maverick in 2020, on COVID.
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
Most asylum seekers arrive with their valuables long lost in bombed or abandoned homes, stolen, or sold to afford the dangerous clandestine passage to safety
The real thing of value to be snatched from refugees under these proposals is far more painful: their families & futures
Me, for @zeteo.com
The real thing of value to be snatched from refugees under these proposals is far more painful: their families & futures
Me, for @zeteo.com
November 17, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Most asylum seekers arrive with their valuables long lost in bombed or abandoned homes, stolen, or sold to afford the dangerous clandestine passage to safety
The real thing of value to be snatched from refugees under these proposals is far more painful: their families & futures
Me, for @zeteo.com
The real thing of value to be snatched from refugees under these proposals is far more painful: their families & futures
Me, for @zeteo.com
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
To suggest that having lived a life so grim that even an English tribunal will grant you asylum, and to have somehow managed to get here at great risk to life, is a "golden ticket" is absolutely fucking contemptible. Shame on this so-called Labour Party.
November 15, 2025 at 11:47 PM
To suggest that having lived a life so grim that even an English tribunal will grant you asylum, and to have somehow managed to get here at great risk to life, is a "golden ticket" is absolutely fucking contemptible. Shame on this so-called Labour Party.
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
ok but he has to deliver it in person
Musk wants to send his racist encyclopedia to Mars www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...
Musk wants to send his racist encyclopedia to Mars
Elon Musk pitched a rebrand for his error-riddled online encyclopedia , Grokipedia, suggesting that it will one day be named Encyclopedia Galactica—an homage to science fiction author Isaac Asimov.
www.dailykos.com
November 14, 2025 at 11:48 AM
ok but he has to deliver it in person
Wake up, Babe. New subgenre dropped. This time it's *Israelis* committing genocide against *Palestinians* which makes their soldiers sad. Hollywood is gonna love it.
November 12, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Wake up, Babe. New subgenre dropped. This time it's *Israelis* committing genocide against *Palestinians* which makes their soldiers sad. Hollywood is gonna love it.
If you "disagree", it is either by analysis of existing hypotheses, or proposing new ones. In all cases, provide evidence. Science doesn't run on vibes you utter sofafucker.
JD Vance: "Science as practiced in its best form is that if you disagree with it, then you ought to criticize it and you ought to argue against it."
November 12, 2025 at 5:42 PM
If you "disagree", it is either by analysis of existing hypotheses, or proposing new ones. In all cases, provide evidence. Science doesn't run on vibes you utter sofafucker.
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
Just been reminded of the existence of the Bitch I’m Fabulous Mantis. Morning all
November 12, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Just been reminded of the existence of the Bitch I’m Fabulous Mantis. Morning all
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
no quote about the US political system has ever gone harder than this one
November 10, 2025 at 10:02 PM
no quote about the US political system has ever gone harder than this one
Reposted by Gavin Chait;
A rare interview with the creators of the always-funny, always-brilliant, and *usually*-sexy—or occasionally anti-sexy—OGLAF!
Cooper has kept a low profile over the years, but is legitimately one of the very best artists in comics today. Read OGLAF if you're old enough to drive!
Cooper has kept a low profile over the years, but is legitimately one of the very best artists in comics today. Read OGLAF if you're old enough to drive!
Talking Oglaf with Trudy Cooper and Doug Bayne: 'We'd stay up all night drawing stuff to make each other laugh' - The Comics Journal
Other than some time off every year for Christmas, Trudy Cooper and Doug Bayne have delivered a new Oglaf comic, skewering fantasy tropes with absolutely not safe for work humor, every week since 2008...
www.tcj.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:42 PM
A rare interview with the creators of the always-funny, always-brilliant, and *usually*-sexy—or occasionally anti-sexy—OGLAF!
Cooper has kept a low profile over the years, but is legitimately one of the very best artists in comics today. Read OGLAF if you're old enough to drive!
Cooper has kept a low profile over the years, but is legitimately one of the very best artists in comics today. Read OGLAF if you're old enough to drive!
Gonna be a whole new subgenre of the more traditional 'invading your country and murdering thousands of your people made our soldiers sad' Christmas films.
If they're still making movies in 15-20 years there will be multiple Oscar noms for playing "remorseful / reflective former ICE agent who knows how Complicated history is"
November 10, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Gonna be a whole new subgenre of the more traditional 'invading your country and murdering thousands of your people made our soldiers sad' Christmas films.
Counterpoint, then, is that Brexit & the rise of Faragian ethno-fascism is a failure of the BBC, & presents as an Achille's heal to a Britain where a future ethno-fascist leadership uses the state broadcaster to motivate for ethnic cleansing. As e.g. SABC during Apartheid.
Quick thread on the BBC and the political and societal significance of recent developments:
One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.
One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.
November 10, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Counterpoint, then, is that Brexit & the rise of Faragian ethno-fascism is a failure of the BBC, & presents as an Achille's heal to a Britain where a future ethno-fascist leadership uses the state broadcaster to motivate for ethnic cleansing. As e.g. SABC during Apartheid.