Kevin Marks
@kevinmarks.com
Reading your thoughts, as long as you tell me where you're writing them first this week. https://xoxo.zone/@kevinmarks
Sheffield, UK - Don't try direct messaging as I am blocked by daft UK legislation unless I'm on a VPN.
Sheffield, UK - Don't try direct messaging as I am blocked by daft UK legislation unless I'm on a VPN.
Reposted by Kevin Marks
Great to hear that Green Cllr Katie Collier’s pro-play motion was passed yesterday at Worcester City’s full council, focused on enabling more child-friendly neighbourhoods and public spaces, prioritising doorstep play in planning, and play streets.
🙌
www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/2564634...
🙌
www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/2564634...
'Let more children play safely in the street please' says councillor
Cllr Katie Collier says some roads in Worcester could be closed temporarily to through traffic to allow children to play outside
www.worcesternews.co.uk
November 26, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Great to hear that Green Cllr Katie Collier’s pro-play motion was passed yesterday at Worcester City’s full council, focused on enabling more child-friendly neighbourhoods and public spaces, prioritising doorstep play in planning, and play streets.
🙌
www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/2564634...
🙌
www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/2564634...
Reposted by Kevin Marks
Site in Kenya reveals 300,000 years of uninterrupted toolmaking. Archaeologists uncovered nearly 1,300 stone tools spanning 2.44 to 2.75 million years, showing that early hominins taught and replicated the same techniques across roughly 10,000 generations. buff.ly/zQvktxJ
#ShareGoodNewsToo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Advanced 2.5 Million-Year-Old Tools May Rewrite Human History
Early humans crafted the same tools for hundreds of thousands of years, offering an unprecedented glimpse of a continuous tradition that may push back the origins of technology.
buff.ly
November 26, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Site in Kenya reveals 300,000 years of uninterrupted toolmaking. Archaeologists uncovered nearly 1,300 stone tools spanning 2.44 to 2.75 million years, showing that early hominins taught and replicated the same techniques across roughly 10,000 generations. buff.ly/zQvktxJ
#ShareGoodNewsToo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Green Oak Park in Totley has what looks like a great place to play croquet #sheffield geo:53.3144032,-1.5319804?z=18.0&q=53.3144032,-1.5319804(Green%20Oak%20Park)
omaps.app/4td72Swn4w/G...
omaps.app/4td72Swn4w/G...
November 26, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Green Oak Park in Totley has what looks like a great place to play croquet #sheffield geo:53.3144032,-1.5319804?z=18.0&q=53.3144032,-1.5319804(Green%20Oak%20Park)
omaps.app/4td72Swn4w/G...
omaps.app/4td72Swn4w/G...
Reposted by Kevin Marks
People are calling my lede here "appalling," "nightmare fuel," "actively evil," and "a desecration of the human spirit"
The Olivia Nuzzi and RFK Jr. Affair Is Messier Than We Ever Could Have Imagined
Inside the most important, and also least important, story of our time
www.theringer.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:16 PM
People are calling my lede here "appalling," "nightmare fuel," "actively evil," and "a desecration of the human spirit"
Reposted by Kevin Marks
“I’m not purring with you, you sashaying Wicca catastrophe,” thought Babs. “I’m purring at you.”
www.tom-cox.com/the-true-sto...
www.tom-cox.com/the-true-sto...
The True Stories Behind The Photos In Some Of The Vogue Magazine Adverts Of The Late 1960s And Early 1970s
Subscribe now
This post is free for everyone to read but on the off chance you'd like to support my writing you can do so here, at a price of your choice from £20 per year (you can also make a one-of...
www.tom-cox.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:56 PM
“I’m not purring with you, you sashaying Wicca catastrophe,” thought Babs. “I’m purring at you.”
www.tom-cox.com/the-true-sto...
www.tom-cox.com/the-true-sto...
November 26, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Reposted by Kevin Marks
It is genuinely insane to see a judge describe Graham Linehan as a “generally credible witness” in a trial where he claimed Sophia Brooks has been engaged in “trans activism” since 2013 (when she would’ve been 6 years old), then, when challenged, claimed her drivers license lied about her age.
November 25, 2025 at 12:34 PM
It is genuinely insane to see a judge describe Graham Linehan as a “generally credible witness” in a trial where he claimed Sophia Brooks has been engaged in “trans activism” since 2013 (when she would’ve been 6 years old), then, when challenged, claimed her drivers license lied about her age.
Reposted by Kevin Marks
I love stories about following troubleshooting wherever it takes you, however weird it gets¹ and the story about the bug that occurred when Half-Life 2 was ported to VR and somehow went back in time to infect the original!
mastodon.gamedev.place/@TomF/115589...
mastodon.gamedev.place/@TomF/115589...
November 25, 2025 at 2:00 AM
I love stories about following troubleshooting wherever it takes you, however weird it gets¹ and the story about the bug that occurred when Half-Life 2 was ported to VR and somehow went back in time to infect the original!
mastodon.gamedev.place/@TomF/115589...
mastodon.gamedev.place/@TomF/115589...
Reposted by Kevin Marks
we have automated endless september with chatgpt and now we are in endless hacktober
November 24, 2025 at 9:07 PM
we have automated endless september with chatgpt and now we are in endless hacktober
Reposted by Kevin Marks
Viola Fletcher, one of the last survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, dies at 111 🎁
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/u...
Viola Fletcher, Oldest Survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Dies at 111
www.nytimes.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Viola Fletcher, one of the last survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, dies at 111 🎁
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/u...
Reposted by Kevin Marks
Spiritualism skyrocketed in the US after its brutal Civil War killed roughly 750,000 people - and now in the wake of Covid’s million+ death toll, modern Americans are using ChatGPT to speak with the spirits. In this paper I will
I'm literally just living a normal life while also experiencing a theophany via communication with the satellite called VALIS.
November 24, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Spiritualism skyrocketed in the US after its brutal Civil War killed roughly 750,000 people - and now in the wake of Covid’s million+ death toll, modern Americans are using ChatGPT to speak with the spirits. In this paper I will
Reposted by Kevin Marks
The real let down in the new version are the maps. The current one is tight and very rapid to scroll. I can look at the last 6 hours and the next weeks projection, then zoom in locally in 20 seconds. I really get a feel for the rain and how it's moving
November 24, 2025 at 6:00 PM
The real let down in the new version are the maps. The current one is tight and very rapid to scroll. I can look at the last 6 hours and the next weeks projection, then zoom in locally in 20 seconds. I really get a feel for the rain and how it's moving
Reposted by Kevin Marks
It's not that we have to scroll, we have to alternate between clicking and scrolling, and each one causes lots of waiting. More notes in alt text
November 24, 2025 at 5:49 PM
It's not that we have to scroll, we have to alternate between clicking and scrolling, and each one causes lots of waiting. More notes in alt text
Reposted by Kevin Marks
THIS
It saves a tremendous amount of overhead (money) and time (money) and complications (people who are eligible dropping out because they can't prove they are), but mostly it forecloses an extremely common form of fiscal parental abuse.
It saves a tremendous amount of overhead (money) and time (money) and complications (people who are eligible dropping out because they can't prove they are), but mostly it forecloses an extremely common form of fiscal parental abuse.
Periodically I see people justifying means-testing to ensure The Rich don't get stuff for free when they can afford it.
I see the logic, but we can just tax them more.
Plus, the BIGGEST thing not means-testing solves is
*deep breath*
IT STOPS RICH PEOPLE FINANCIALLY-ABUSING THEIR KIDS ANYMORE.
I see the logic, but we can just tax them more.
Plus, the BIGGEST thing not means-testing solves is
*deep breath*
IT STOPS RICH PEOPLE FINANCIALLY-ABUSING THEIR KIDS ANYMORE.
November 24, 2025 at 7:19 AM
THIS
It saves a tremendous amount of overhead (money) and time (money) and complications (people who are eligible dropping out because they can't prove they are), but mostly it forecloses an extremely common form of fiscal parental abuse.
It saves a tremendous amount of overhead (money) and time (money) and complications (people who are eligible dropping out because they can't prove they are), but mostly it forecloses an extremely common form of fiscal parental abuse.
Reposted by Kevin Marks
Reposted by Kevin Marks
I flew to Canada this week to go to a Paul McCartney concert and I wrote about it here:
open.substack.com/pub/naomiald...
open.substack.com/pub/naomiald...
going through hell, keeping going
on art, grief, and the emotional heroism of just bloody keeping on making your work
open.substack.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:23 AM
I flew to Canada this week to go to a Paul McCartney concert and I wrote about it here:
open.substack.com/pub/naomiald...
open.substack.com/pub/naomiald...
Reposted by Kevin Marks
just incredibly thrilled to announce that after months and months of uncertainty over the future of the game, and several I have bought Zombies, Run!, the game I co-created and have been making for the past 12 years:
zombiesrungame.com
observer.co.uk/the-critics/...
zombiesrungame.com
observer.co.uk/the-critics/...
I’m a novelist who’s just bought a video games company. Here’s why you should care about games writing | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 6:08 AM
just incredibly thrilled to announce that after months and months of uncertainty over the future of the game, and several I have bought Zombies, Run!, the game I co-created and have been making for the past 12 years:
zombiesrungame.com
observer.co.uk/the-critics/...
zombiesrungame.com
observer.co.uk/the-critics/...
Reposted by Kevin Marks
In the US, Catholic sisters return Wisconsin land to Ojibwe tribe in a historic first. The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration have transferred a lakefront property to the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa for the same $30,000 they paid in 1966.
buff.ly/iXOhxHj
#ShareGoodNewsToo
buff.ly/iXOhxHj
#ShareGoodNewsToo
For the first time, Catholic sisters return land to a Tribal nation
"This return represents more than the restoration of land — it is the restoration of balance, dignity, and our sacred connection to the places our ancestors once walked."
buff.ly
November 23, 2025 at 2:50 PM
In the US, Catholic sisters return Wisconsin land to Ojibwe tribe in a historic first. The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration have transferred a lakefront property to the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa for the same $30,000 they paid in 1966.
buff.ly/iXOhxHj
#ShareGoodNewsToo
buff.ly/iXOhxHj
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Reeves yet again trying for growth by taxing an export industry, revealing that her supposed economic skills are fictitious
i: Reeves to unveil £600m raid on foreign student
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
November 23, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Reeves yet again trying for growth by taxing an export industry, revealing that her supposed economic skills are fictitious
Reposted by Kevin Marks
That and the atmosphere that breeds that metric
It’s not the metric it’s the people who make it
It’s not the metric it’s the people who make it
Engagement KPIs have been responsible for infinite scroll UI traps, RecSys radicalization spirals, public shame brigades, and basically every modern ailment novel to the past decade. At some point, you have to recognize that the problem isn't any one technology, it's the metric.
The company essentially turned a dial that made ChatGPT more appealing and made people use it more, but sent some of them into delusional spirals.
OpenAI has since made the chatbot safer, but that comes with a tradeoff: less usage.
OpenAI has since made the chatbot safer, but that comes with a tradeoff: less usage.
November 23, 2025 at 10:55 PM
That and the atmosphere that breeds that metric
It’s not the metric it’s the people who make it
It’s not the metric it’s the people who make it
Reposted by Kevin Marks
Most accounts on Twitter turn out to be Russian MAGA bots. Here’s why Bluesky has an intellectual diversity problem
November 23, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Most accounts on Twitter turn out to be Russian MAGA bots. Here’s why Bluesky has an intellectual diversity problem
Reposted by Kevin Marks
I mean it’s not like @jacky.wtf didn’t call this out ten years ago with Google Photos and them matching Black people to Gorillas
And nothing was actually ya know real done but a cottage industry of experts who now claim “users don’t know how this works”
www.bbc.com/news/technol...
And nothing was actually ya know real done but a cottage industry of experts who now claim “users don’t know how this works”
www.bbc.com/news/technol...
Google apologises for Photos app's racist blunder
Google says it is
www.bbc.com
November 23, 2025 at 4:37 PM
I mean it’s not like @jacky.wtf didn’t call this out ten years ago with Google Photos and them matching Black people to Gorillas
And nothing was actually ya know real done but a cottage industry of experts who now claim “users don’t know how this works”
www.bbc.com/news/technol...
And nothing was actually ya know real done but a cottage industry of experts who now claim “users don’t know how this works”
www.bbc.com/news/technol...
November 23, 2025 at 12:54 AM
Reposted by Kevin Marks
Yes! This is so important! Machine Learning is doing wonderful things like mapping Martian craters and analyzing microbe genomes. LLMs are a very specific form & it’s them doing these huge amounts of harm. I also sometimes say “Gen AI”
when I mean both LLMs and art generators; I try to never say AI
when I mean both LLMs and art generators; I try to never say AI
Journalist challenge: Use “Machine Learning” when you mean machine learning and “LLM” when you mean LLM. Ditch “AI” as a catch-all term, it’s not useful for readers and it helps companies trying to confuse the public by obscuring the roles played by different technologies. 🧪
November 22, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Yes! This is so important! Machine Learning is doing wonderful things like mapping Martian craters and analyzing microbe genomes. LLMs are a very specific form & it’s them doing these huge amounts of harm. I also sometimes say “Gen AI”
when I mean both LLMs and art generators; I try to never say AI
when I mean both LLMs and art generators; I try to never say AI