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John Provis

@johnprovis.bsky.social

170 followers 160 following 42 posts

Talks too much about cement. Talks too much in general. More than 10 views on YouTube; some were even intentional. 🇦🇺 in 🇨🇭, via Yorkshire; escaped after 11y in UK academia. Views obviously(!) nobody's official policy. Often bitten by cats. .. more

Videos

Engineering 61%

Materials science 30%

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Reposted by John L. Provis, Jonathan Wolff, Lesley A. Hall , and 3 more John L. Provis, Jonathan Wolff, Lesley A. Hall, Jane Callaghan, Justin Lewis, Kevin O’Sullivan

The Bear @bearlypolitics.co.uk · 2d

So, the plan is to cut English, the arts, and sociology - the degrees that actually study culture - while on another part of your platform claiming to “defend” British culture.

It’s performance nationalism with a reading age of seven.

Badenoch: Curb students taking 'rip-off' degrees such as English
The performing arts, sociology and anthropology are among the subjects the Conservatives would like to cut

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Reposted by John L. Provis

McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 3d

"I support things like civil rights, access to education, and medical research. You could never imagine me sitting in the front row at the inauguration of a far-right ruler who promised to destroy those things."

Hi, I’m an Early 2010s Tech CEO

I wear the same T-shirt every day, and I have a relatably unkempt haircut. I remind you of the smart kids from high school, so I give you hope that...

buff.ly

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John Provis @johnprovis.bsky.social · 22d

Gee Australia must be glad to have spent so much money (and burnt so many other relationships) in support of AUKUS, when our "closest friends" do this...

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Reposted by John L. Provis

BladeoftheSun @bladeofthes.bsky.social · Sep 10

The Ghost of Suppressed Protests Past.

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John Provis @johnprovis.bsky.social · Sep 9

I'd also be very surprised if it were impossible - at least in a technical sense. Whether unwillingness to act makes it impossible in practice may be another question entirely, though...

John Provis @johnprovis.bsky.social · Sep 9

I'd fully support this concept.
Actually I've tried in the past to get a journal to do exactly this - but apparently "the setup of the journal's website system" wouldn't let it happen. I will leave the #academicsky community to ponder whether this is due to a lack of capability, or a lack of will..

John Provis @johnprovis.bsky.social · Sep 5

Other than the tedious tone of "USA good, Europe bad", this article misses the key point: we mainly don't have "robotaxis" here because we don't want hundreds of them bumbling around the place like the idiotic car equivalent of a Roomba..

www.economist.com/europe/2025/...

Robotaxis will be the Sputnik Moment for a declining Europe

A slow-motion car crash on Europe’s roads

www.economist.com

Reposted by John L. Provis

McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · Aug 30

"In this bedroom are fourteen light switches. Ten of them do nothing. One turns on the television. One sounds an alarm in the home of your grouchy next-door neighbor who hates Americans and will let his French bulldog poop on your doorstep. Can you choose the right one in time?"

Escape Room Challenge: Your European Airbnb

Welcome to this tiny fifth-floor Airbnb, your home for the next four days in a major European city. Can you escape without incurring additional fee...

buff.ly

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John Provis @johnprovis.bsky.social · Aug 29

Very well put!

The same is true for an engineering degree, with the added consequences that the roof of the restaurant may also fall down on your head while you're in it.

Robert Komaniecki @komaniecki.bsky.social · Aug 29

Trying to figure out a way to impress upon my students that using AI to skip course work in order to get a music degree is like ordering food at a restaurant and immediately throwing it out the window in order to get to pay the check

Reposted by John L. Provis

Robert Komaniecki @komaniecki.bsky.social · Aug 29

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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · Aug 28

As we seem to be talking ECHR again, here’s my Venn Diagram from more than a decade ago.

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John Provis @johnprovis.bsky.social · Aug 28

Oh no - how sad. Anyway...

John Provis @johnprovis.bsky.social · Aug 27

I believe this is what chemical engineers describe as "chemists discovering that chemical engineering is a properly difficult thing to do"...

(we often say that chemistry is making the first gram of something; chemical engineering is making the next hundred tonnes)

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amy brown (spooky edition) @amybrown.xyz · Aug 22

this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like

Why should I write better when a machine can do it for me?
Because actually no one can do it for you, because your voice is unique among all the people on earth. Siri never petted a horse's neck. Alexa has never been ghosted by the captain of the football team. But you have lived, your heart is beating, you have suffered, and you have something important to say. It's a human's job, to use words, and whatever job you give to a machine, that part of your brain goes dark. Maybe it's worth it when it comes to remembering phone numbers and directions, but when that part of your brain that uses words goes dark, that's a vast area that's very close to your soul. Don't let some internet platform convince you that what you have to say and create isn't worthwhile. Words are the echo of your soul. Honing that echo matters.

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Reposted by John L. Provis

ErrantScience @errantscience.com · Aug 18

Sadly our idea of charging people £7.99 for a blue tick to put on their experimental results didn’t pan out

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John Provis @johnprovis.bsky.social · Aug 14

I'm not exactly sure how many people are making decisions on purchasing a new XRF spectrometer based on seeing ads in Youtube videos... but at least their algorithm has figured out that it seems a better match for my interests than either perfume or funeral plans?

John Provis @johnprovis.bsky.social · Aug 13

Machine Gun Kiss On The Cheek

Reposted by John L. Provis

The Onion @theonion.com · Aug 9

Australia Admits All Those Animals Made Up
theonion.com/austral...

Australia Admits All Those Animals Made Up

SYDNEY—Saying the ruse began as a harmless prank about the continent’s mammals having pouches, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese admitted Tuesday that all those animals like wallabies, numbats, quokkas, and bandicoots were completely made up. “We just assumed everyone would have caught on by now, because these creatures are clearly imaginary,” said Albanese, adding that […]

theonion.com

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Reposted by John L. Provis

Ed Conway @edconway.bsky.social · Nov 21

What’s the most underrated material in the modern world?
How about CONCRETE?
Often dismissed as boring, ugly & inert.
Concrete is actually surprising, dynamic & incredibly complex.
Here is an old (V LONG) thread recycled from the other place, with a few reasons why concrete MATTERS so much 🪨
🧵
1/41

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Reposted by John L. Provis

Angela Liu @angelaliu.bsky.social · Dec 13

Can't stress this enough: a random story you write on a lark may end up being the one that gets you the most recognition while the one you really love may get few reads and/or your worst reviews. Don't overthink it. Publishing is a gamble. You'll win some; you'll lose some.

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Reposted by John L. Provis

Laura Leigh Morris @lauraleighwrite.bsky.social · Dec 14

How you know the journal editors are academics: suddenly, it's December, and all responses stop. No acceptances. No rejections. Just silence as we all grade. #Writingcommunity #Academicsky

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Reposted by John L. Provis

Dan Jagger @auditorynerves.bsky.social · Dec 16

He's making a list,
He's checking it twice;
He's going to tell you in 20-something points how he wouldn't have written that article in the way that you did,
Or cited that particular literature,
Or prepared all those figures that way;
Reviewer 2 has submitted his report to the dashboard.
🧪🎅

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Reposted by John L. Provis

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · Jan 29

Speaking on behalf of anyone who ever wrote anything ever:

If you are a person I’ve never had any communication with before about any topic,

and you notice a small typo in my work that does not affect your understanding of the piece,

bringing that to my attention is not helpful.

Just don’t.

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Reposted by John L. Provis

Private Eye Magazine @privateeyenews.bsky.social · Jan 30

A reader writes…

“The last time I made a submission to Private Eye was in 1968, when I was 15 years old. I received this wonderful response which I still treasure:”

JOHN CLIVE

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Reposted by John L. Provis

John Provis @johnprovis.bsky.social · Feb 17

The title of this paper just keeps getting better and better as it goes along...

(what is a "heating struggle", and why on earth would one want to add "nano-soda-cans" to cements?)

Investigation the mechanical, durability, heating Investigation the mechanical, durability, heating struggle, thermal gravimetric examination, and microstructure of geopolymer ceramic concrete incorporating nano-silica and nano-Soda-Cans

Reposted by Jason Mittell, John L. Provis, Peter Thorne , and 4 more Jason Mittell, John L. Provis, Peter Thorne, Thomas Backhaus, Miranda J. Lubbers, Miklós Kiss, David Rosnick

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · Jul 7

'Vacations.'

The word is 'vacations.'

FAST COMPANY Article:

While retirement typically occurs, after
completing a career and saving and investing for it, a new trend is emerging among Gen Z career professionals
called "micro-retirement." Micro-
retirements involve taking a one to two- week break from work every 12 to 18 months.
Gen Z is using micro-retirement to avoid burnout, find greater fulfillment in their work, and enhance their overall well-being. However, it's not just Gen-Z:

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John Provis @johnprovis.bsky.social · Jun 25

By the way, this is the paper 🧪: doi.org/10.1617/s115...

John Provis @johnprovis.bsky.social · Jun 25

There are various milestones in a scientific career🧪:
PhD✔️
Permanent job✔️
PhD student graduates✔️ several
Paper published✔️ several
Paper in Science/Nature... not yet
Paper featured in the media✔️a few
But the pinnacle of it all: Paper featured on the news screen on the bus ✔️
(translation in alt-text)

Approximate translation of the news screen (in German) - PSI researchers search for sustainable cement recipes using AI
(photo credit - it's not mine, someone sent it to a colleague who sent it to me)

John Provis @johnprovis.bsky.social · Jun 12

Take my money, Mel Brooks.... I must see this movie!

Mel Brooks @officialmelbrooks.bsky.social · Jun 12

I told you we’d be back

Reposted by John L. Provis, Benny Geys, Justin H. Kirkland , and 5 more John L. Provis, Benny Geys, Justin H. Kirkland, Daniel Stone, Michelle Everson, Halvard Leira, Kevin Jon Heller, Dan MacLean

Mel Brooks @officialmelbrooks.bsky.social · Jun 12

I told you we’d be back

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