Brecht Savelkoul
@brecht.myatproto.social
Main account: @brecht.pamphlets.me
Reposted by Brecht Savelkoul
First, framing the decision not to use frozen Russian assets (for now) as a “failure” misses an important point: the €90bn loan package was adopted unanimously, giving it far greater political legitimacy.
December 19, 2025 at 11:15 AM
First, framing the decision not to use frozen Russian assets (for now) as a “failure” misses an important point: the €90bn loan package was adopted unanimously, giving it far greater political legitimacy.
Reposted by Brecht Savelkoul
I hope someone draws this wonderful story about Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and the power of the arts to help us see things differently, to the attention of our Education Secretary. Do read it, it will lift your spirits.
December 2, 2025 at 10:59 AM
I hope someone draws this wonderful story about Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and the power of the arts to help us see things differently, to the attention of our Education Secretary. Do read it, it will lift your spirits.
Reposted by Brecht Savelkoul
I have had to deal with some absolute bullshitry from my energy supplier over the last week and all I can say is that I would like them nationalised regardless of whether that makes them work better, because what I'm looking for is mainly revenge.
November 25, 2025 at 9:45 AM
I have had to deal with some absolute bullshitry from my energy supplier over the last week and all I can say is that I would like them nationalised regardless of whether that makes them work better, because what I'm looking for is mainly revenge.
Maybe worth spelling out why this is ridiculous.
Starting in the 1970s, Russia has increasingly become a petrostate. So the only substantial trade they can offer is oil and gas. And before the war, instead of acting as a reliable supplier, they used it as a weapon to blackmail Ukraine politically.
Starting in the 1970s, Russia has increasingly become a petrostate. So the only substantial trade they can offer is oil and gas. And before the war, instead of acting as a reliable supplier, they used it as a weapon to blackmail Ukraine politically.
U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance has proposed a "brilliant" idea for how to end the war in Ukraine. And how no one thought of it earlier.
November 20, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Maybe worth spelling out why this is ridiculous.
Starting in the 1970s, Russia has increasingly become a petrostate. So the only substantial trade they can offer is oil and gas. And before the war, instead of acting as a reliable supplier, they used it as a weapon to blackmail Ukraine politically.
Starting in the 1970s, Russia has increasingly become a petrostate. So the only substantial trade they can offer is oil and gas. And before the war, instead of acting as a reliable supplier, they used it as a weapon to blackmail Ukraine politically.
Syncy McSyncFace, surely
This thing is mostly written and it's a godsend. It transitions automatically from backfill into live sync, does handle resolution and updates, manages the cursor state for you, and supports websocket or webhook mode. It rules.
So what should we call it?
So what should we call it?
November 17, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Syncy McSyncFace, surely
Reposted by Brecht Savelkoul
Reposted by Brecht Savelkoul
Kind of mad none of the people who raised me taught me this, it was always, “so and so is a sex pest but he’s a brilliant xxx.”
I know now that abusers will always put themselves first, serve themselves first, and whatever thing they’re amazing at suffers as soon as there’s a conflict of interest.
I know now that abusers will always put themselves first, serve themselves first, and whatever thing they’re amazing at suffers as soon as there’s a conflict of interest.
Abusers don’t compartmentalize that shit, they simply cannot be trusted
November 13, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Kind of mad none of the people who raised me taught me this, it was always, “so and so is a sex pest but he’s a brilliant xxx.”
I know now that abusers will always put themselves first, serve themselves first, and whatever thing they’re amazing at suffers as soon as there’s a conflict of interest.
I know now that abusers will always put themselves first, serve themselves first, and whatever thing they’re amazing at suffers as soon as there’s a conflict of interest.
Reposted by Brecht Savelkoul
The thing about AI is that being 90% right about practically anything is superhuman, but chaining together steps that have a 90% success rate results in entirely subhuman performance.
A 5-6 step process becomes a coin flip.
A 5-6 step process becomes a coin flip.
November 7, 2025 at 12:15 PM
The thing about AI is that being 90% right about practically anything is superhuman, but chaining together steps that have a 90% success rate results in entirely subhuman performance.
A 5-6 step process becomes a coin flip.
A 5-6 step process becomes a coin flip.
Reposted by Brecht Savelkoul
Ok Bluesky hive mind: trying to find a clip that was played in a class lecture about three years ago. It was a documentary (I think) featuring a rural Manchurian village where they’re doing a lottery. (Felt just like home LOL) @beijingpalmer.bsky.social @bokane.org any ideas?
November 6, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Ok Bluesky hive mind: trying to find a clip that was played in a class lecture about three years ago. It was a documentary (I think) featuring a rural Manchurian village where they’re doing a lottery. (Felt just like home LOL) @beijingpalmer.bsky.social @bokane.org any ideas?
Hope anglophone followers will pardon my Dutch
haha eet stront Wilders
October 31, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Hope anglophone followers will pardon my Dutch
Reposted by Brecht Savelkoul
haha eet stront Wilders
October 29, 2025 at 8:44 PM
haha eet stront Wilders
haha eet stront Wilders
October 29, 2025 at 8:44 PM
haha eet stront Wilders
Reposted by Brecht Savelkoul
I think any story about Trump's autocracy should be mostly about the people and institutions who failed to stop it. This guy isn't a political genius, everything else just happens to be rotten. 'Toddler Consolidates Power In Household' is a story about incompetent parents, not shrewd maneuvering
October 28, 2025 at 2:07 PM
I think any story about Trump's autocracy should be mostly about the people and institutions who failed to stop it. This guy isn't a political genius, everything else just happens to be rotten. 'Toddler Consolidates Power In Household' is a story about incompetent parents, not shrewd maneuvering
Reposted by Brecht Savelkoul
I have to admit, it's a little odd to me that a lot of the doomerism on here kinda presumes that "nativist fascist regime" is a stable equilibrium. These things inevitably fall apart, and faster than we expect
October 22, 2025 at 1:21 AM
I have to admit, it's a little odd to me that a lot of the doomerism on here kinda presumes that "nativist fascist regime" is a stable equilibrium. These things inevitably fall apart, and faster than we expect
Reposted by Brecht Savelkoul
Believes PLA is in bad shape. Morale is low, incentive to actually fight is low.
But Taiwan is seriously imperilled because of extensive CCP infiltration and cooptation of KMT. Aggressive posturing by PRC could bring preemptive Taiwan collapse. That’s what Xi wants and needs politically.
3/
But Taiwan is seriously imperilled because of extensive CCP infiltration and cooptation of KMT. Aggressive posturing by PRC could bring preemptive Taiwan collapse. That’s what Xi wants and needs politically.
3/
October 15, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Believes PLA is in bad shape. Morale is low, incentive to actually fight is low.
But Taiwan is seriously imperilled because of extensive CCP infiltration and cooptation of KMT. Aggressive posturing by PRC could bring preemptive Taiwan collapse. That’s what Xi wants and needs politically.
3/
But Taiwan is seriously imperilled because of extensive CCP infiltration and cooptation of KMT. Aggressive posturing by PRC could bring preemptive Taiwan collapse. That’s what Xi wants and needs politically.
3/
Reposted by Brecht Savelkoul
Thanks to Brexit (import fee) and OUP (not paying VAT), I´m now paying €22.85 to read a hard copy of my own academic text.
The volume of which it is part, is sold for just under £120 - a price surely reflecting the heavy cost of having outsourced most work to India (and to the scholars themselves)
The volume of which it is part, is sold for just under £120 - a price surely reflecting the heavy cost of having outsourced most work to India (and to the scholars themselves)
October 11, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Thanks to Brexit (import fee) and OUP (not paying VAT), I´m now paying €22.85 to read a hard copy of my own academic text.
The volume of which it is part, is sold for just under £120 - a price surely reflecting the heavy cost of having outsourced most work to India (and to the scholars themselves)
The volume of which it is part, is sold for just under £120 - a price surely reflecting the heavy cost of having outsourced most work to India (and to the scholars themselves)
So far everything's running smoothly over here on blacksky.community. Which is great, because faith of the Blacksky project will be a good predictor of the success or failure of the ATproto ecosystem as a whole.
October 8, 2025 at 7:34 PM
So far everything's running smoothly over here on blacksky.community. Which is great, because faith of the Blacksky project will be a good predictor of the success or failure of the ATproto ecosystem as a whole.
I didn't know that Blacksky also ran a PDS open to everyone. It took me just a few minutes to migrate over, using only the browser on my phone.
migrating to Blacksky's infra took ~20 minutes, mostly I was doing other things while blobs blooped over, super smooth
docs: docs.blacksky.community/migrating-to...
docs: docs.blacksky.community/migrating-to...
October 7, 2025 at 7:06 PM
I didn't know that Blacksky also ran a PDS open to everyone. It took me just a few minutes to migrate over, using only the browser on my phone.
Reposted by Brecht Savelkoul
"Developing countries, especially China, led the clean energy charge but richer nations including the US and EU relied more than before on planet-warming fossil fuels for electricity generation."
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Renewables overtake coal as world's biggest source of electricity
Developing countries lead the historic clean energy charge but the US and EU rely more on fossil fuels than before, a think tank study shows.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 7, 2025 at 8:08 AM
"Developing countries, especially China, led the clean energy charge but richer nations including the US and EU relied more than before on planet-warming fossil fuels for electricity generation."
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
The Mitfords make perfect sense once you realise that the value systems of heriditary aristocracy and ethnonationalism are exactly the same. The latter just allows for a bigger membership.
to avoid confusion I have made a little table of Mitford siblings
October 3, 2025 at 6:45 AM
The Mitfords make perfect sense once you realise that the value systems of heriditary aristocracy and ethnonationalism are exactly the same. The latter just allows for a bigger membership.
Reposted by Brecht Savelkoul
we're going to have to plant a lot of trees
October 3, 2025 at 1:11 AM
we're going to have to plant a lot of trees
Reposted by Brecht Savelkoul
they'd come to the country en masse. the amount of racism is insane. and also a reminder that Chinese nationalists don't just support every policy introduced by the government. digital far right culture sometimes helps with legitimation, but other times destabilises.
September 29, 2025 at 5:19 PM
they'd come to the country en masse. the amount of racism is insane. and also a reminder that Chinese nationalists don't just support every policy introduced by the government. digital far right culture sometimes helps with legitimation, but other times destabilises.
Reposted by Brecht Savelkoul
the China studies version of this is a story about the leadership that you hear from somebody in DC who vouches for it because they got it from a source in China who read about it on a Taiwanese tabloid who copied the story from the Epoch Times who made it up in New York state.
September 18, 2025 at 4:33 PM
the China studies version of this is a story about the leadership that you hear from somebody in DC who vouches for it because they got it from a source in China who read about it on a Taiwanese tabloid who copied the story from the Epoch Times who made it up in New York state.