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Ben Barclay

@benbarclay.bsky.social

3.9K followers 1.2K following 8.6K posts

Translator and textbook writer. Post on climate, energy, health, Spain, Brexit and other stuff. Produce VoiceMap audio tours of Andalucía: https://voicemap.me/publisher/ben-barclay#tours Substack: https://thegreentransition.substack.com/

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Ben Barclay @benbarclay.bsky.social · Dec 31

It’s been a year of ups and too many downs for the world, but on a personal level it’s been fantastic criss-crossing Andalucia to research and test 7 new audio tours.

Here’s a quick reminder why you should visit these 7 fantastic places even if you have no interest in doing one of my tours.

🧵

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Reposted by Ben Barclay

NPR @npr.org · 3h

A mass shooting at a crowded bar on an idyllic South Carolina island has left four people dead and at least 20 injured, officials say. n.pr/42CYV7t

4 killed and 20 more injured in shooting at a bar in South Carolina, sheriff says

A mass shooting at a crowded bar on an idyllic South Carolina island has left four people dead and at least 20 injured, officials say.

n.pr

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Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 10h

UK consumers curb spending more than anywhere else in G7 - on.ft.com/4oAIMIr

Ok, here's my optimistic take.

The UK faces no difficulty keeping demand growing. None. That's simply "not a thing", to use the phrase of the younger folk. It hasn't really been a thing since forever 1/

UK consumers curb spending more than anywhere else in G7

High interest rates and fear of economic shocks spur households to build up savings rather than splash out

on.ft.com

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Reposted by Ben Barclay

Prof. Stefan Rahmstorf @rahmstorf.bsky.social · 8h

High resolution images from satellite and from eddy-resolving ocean circulation models point to an ongoing decline of the Atlantic overturning circulation, a key ocean current for our climate. Read more about it in my new blog article. 🌊
www.realclimate.org/index.php/ar...

RealClimate: High-resolution ‘fingerprint’ images reveal a weakening Atlantic Ocean circulation (AMOC)

The #AMOC is the reason for Europe’s mild climate. Evidence that it is slowing has been piling up over the years – it now is likely at its weakest in at least a millennium, and it may even be approach...

www.realclimate.org

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Ben Barclay @benbarclay.bsky.social · 9h

33 years of progress.

There are finally some promising signs, but there are also serious headwinds.

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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 10h

this is sociopathic behaviour and I think we need to treat it as such! just because something has become easy to do doesn't mean it has become less creepy, or more acceptable!

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Trish Greenhalgh @trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social · 23h

Awesome re-analysis of the Franklin / Crick / Watson story. Explains how Franklin produced (with considerable skill) the *pictures* that made the penny drop for slow-on-the-uptake Watson. Sadly, paywalled.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Reassessing Discovery: Rosalind Franklin, Scientific Visualization, and the Structure of DNA | Philosophy of Science | Cambridge Core

Reassessing Discovery: Rosalind Franklin, Scientific Visualization, and the Structure of DNA - Volume 79 Issue 1

www.cambridge.org

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Ben Barclay @benbarclay.bsky.social · 11h

Thanks! We’ve wanted to go, and we’ve been in Gorafe a couple of times - and even spent the night - but I seem to remember it has quite limited opening hours, so we haven’t actually visited the interpretation centre. Next time we’re there.

Ben Barclay @benbarclay.bsky.social · 20h

A week or so ago, I saw some mad discussion on here about how insulting chatbots/LLMs was aggression towards some kind of human-adjacent beings.

If they had that human sensibility, billions of people asking them endless inane questions would drive them mad. Maybe it has.

Ben Barclay @benbarclay.bsky.social · 20h

This would cause massive evolutionary pressure, and frogs would evolve rapidly into giraffes and pandas.

Molly Ploofkins @mollyploofkins.bsky.social · 1d

Ben Barclay @benbarclay.bsky.social · 21h

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was signed by 154 countries in Rio in 1992. 2025-1992=33. That’s the post.

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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 1d

Free trade and laisser faire are not the same thing. Unfortunately, we’ve spent the last few decades assuming that they are, with consequences tgat are all too apparent on.ft.com/48YLOBs A bad bet on globalisation — and the new age of tech autocrats

A bad bet on globalisation — and the new age of tech autocrats

Bill Clinton emerges as something of a prophet in a book about a gamble on free trade, while Giuliano da Empoli offers a stark warning on the coming world order

on.ft.com

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Ben Barclay @benbarclay.bsky.social · 1d

The badlands, which have featured in many films, and seismites, which are formed by earthquakes in sedimentary rocks, are two of the characteristic landscape features.

Ben Barclay @benbarclay.bsky.social · 1d

It was a fascinating drive across to Murcia, past Puebla de Don Fadrique, which we’ve never visited before.

The north of Granada province has an incredible landscape including the Granada Geopark. Highly recommended for anyone with just a passing interest in geology or simply in unusual landscapes.

GEOPARQUE UNESCO GRANADA 1min ESP SUBT

YouTube video by Geoparque de Granada

m.youtube.com

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Ben Barclay @benbarclay.bsky.social · 1d

I can now recommend the wine and the rock pool.

Salto del Usero Bullas, Murcia, Spain English

YouTube video by Norwegian Viking in Spain

m.youtube.com

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Ben Barclay @benbarclay.bsky.social · 1d

Not familiar with DOP Bullas? Nor were we until a short while ago. By a happy coincidence we went to Bullas last week and came home with this bottle named after a famous waterfall and rock pool where we went for a dip.

It’s in Murcia, not too far from the better-known Jumilla.

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Paul French @chinarhyming.bsky.social · 1d

If you’re visiting London there’s a few reasons to be interested in my VoiceMap Publishers walking tour: Marylebone’s Garden Squares: From Village Green to Georgian Grandeur -
Browse the whole tour here…

voicemap.me/tour/london/...

Beatlemania on Montagu Square

Once across, turn left and walk until you see a blue plaque. Close to the corner of Montagu Place and Montagu Square is #34 - and this is Beatles country. Let's stop here. Ringo Starr rented the...

voicemap.me

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Reposted by Ben Barclay

Ed Porter @edporter.bsky.social · 1d

Had a blast speaking at Everything Electric on the future of resilient grids hosted by the excellent @bobbyllew.bsky.social

Key topics:
🔋 how quickly the battery fleet has grown (now 6.5GW/10GWh) to dominate short term flexibility, for example, in frequency response markets and at lower cost.

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 1d

Record high temperatures are currently being set across the northernmost portions of the #Arctic. In fact, it is effectively ice-free on the Atlantic side of the Arctic all the way up to about 85°N latitude! This includes record low sea ice around Svalbard.

Graphic by zacklabe.com/arctic-tempe...

Line graph time series of 2025's daily 2-m temperature in the Arctic compared to each year from 1958 through 2024. There is a long-term warming trend for every day of the year. There is also large interannual variability and a clear seasonal cycle.

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adamplatform.bsky.social @adamplatform.bsky.social · 1d

Northern #Vietnam has been hit by extreme weather, facing its worst #floods in 60 years and devastating landslides.
📹 The video shows #Nguyencity and the Song Gau River before and after Storm #Matmo, captured by #Copernicus #Sentinel2 on July 31 and October 9. #climateemergency

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Ben Barclay @benbarclay.bsky.social · 1d

They are spectacular. They saved the hunting scenes until last, and we were blown away by them.

The guide described using smaller tesserae as increasing the resolution/pixel count. More expensive, but gives a better, more life-like result.

Ben Barclay @benbarclay.bsky.social · 1d

Incidentally, each tessera (piece of stone) in the mosaic is just the natural colour of the stone - they’re not painted or dyed. That’s why the colours are still perfectly preserved.

A few more photos.

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Ben Barclay @benbarclay.bsky.social · 1d

Visits are only by guided tour (in Spanish), at 9 and 12 from Wed to Sun, and you need to book online, so it needs a bit of planning.

But it is easily accessible off the A-92 motor, and really worth the effort.

Private tours are available in other languages and at other times, but expensive.

Ben Barclay @benbarclay.bsky.social · 1d

The figures are really detailed and dynamic, thanks to small tesserae used and the variety of colour tones. Blood drips from the spear wound in the wild boar, and the lions actually look like lions.

It’s thought the owner of the villa may have been from Africa or had connections with it.

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Ben Barclay @benbarclay.bsky.social · 1d

Just been to the Roman villa at Salar, which was discovered by chance when doing excavations for a wastewater treatmen plant.

Some of the most impressive mosaics we’ve ever seen in situ.

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Kent Parkstreet, Laird of Doofus @kentparkskeet.bsky.social · 2d

Good news everyone.

Green turtle bounces back from brink in conservation 'win'

Once endangered due to hunting, it is making a strong recovery thanks to global conservation efforts.

www.bbc.com

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