Reposted
If only the region got on better, a precious piece of East Asia's shared heritage could gain more purchase abroad
Why Go is going nowhere
Three masters, one game, zero consensus
econ.st
January 17, 2026 at 4:20 AM
If only the region got on better, a precious piece of East Asia's shared heritage could gain more purchase abroad
Hmmm. Also facing hundreds of millions of users who find it helpful, a role as AI substrate, and "with enemies like that who needs friends". BTW, the ideals of Wikipedia include knowing what to believe online, and verifying what you write about.
As the free online encyclopedia turns 25, it’s facing political opposition, AI scraping, dwindling volunteers, and a public that may no longer believe in its ideals. www.wired.com/story/wikipe...
Wikipedia’s Existential Threats Feel Greater Than Ever
As the free online encyclopedia turns 25, it’s facing political opposition, AI scraping, dwindling volunteers, and a public that may no longer believe in its ideals.
www.wired.com
January 15, 2026 at 11:20 AM
Hmmm. Also facing hundreds of millions of users who find it helpful, a role as AI substrate, and "with enemies like that who needs friends". BTW, the ideals of Wikipedia include knowing what to believe online, and verifying what you write about.
Reposted
January 15, 2026 at 10:12 AM
Scorecard after 12 months of Donald:
- wants to put the squeeze on all other nations but Argentina.
- wants to be appeased, and thinks Putin has a right to be?
- looks to be helping Chinese economic hegemony, as George W. Bush did.
- favours decapitation as Israel does, but more ignorantly.
Duck.
- wants to put the squeeze on all other nations but Argentina.
- wants to be appeased, and thinks Putin has a right to be?
- looks to be helping Chinese economic hegemony, as George W. Bush did.
- favours decapitation as Israel does, but more ignorantly.
Duck.
View from Portugal @publico.pt:
“Europeus querem reforço da defesa perante divórcio atlântico.“
“Europeans want to strengthen [the continent’s] defences in the face of the Atlantic divorce.”
Just let “Atlantic divorce” sit for a bit. It’s not a trial separation or a bumpy patch.
“Europeus querem reforço da defesa perante divórcio atlântico.“
“Europeans want to strengthen [the continent’s] defences in the face of the Atlantic divorce.”
Just let “Atlantic divorce” sit for a bit. It’s not a trial separation or a bumpy patch.
January 15, 2026 at 8:22 AM
Scorecard after 12 months of Donald:
- wants to put the squeeze on all other nations but Argentina.
- wants to be appeased, and thinks Putin has a right to be?
- looks to be helping Chinese economic hegemony, as George W. Bush did.
- favours decapitation as Israel does, but more ignorantly.
Duck.
- wants to put the squeeze on all other nations but Argentina.
- wants to be appeased, and thinks Putin has a right to be?
- looks to be helping Chinese economic hegemony, as George W. Bush did.
- favours decapitation as Israel does, but more ignorantly.
Duck.
Right. Traditionally Wikipedia's volunteers celebrate by looking around for a while, saying "see how far we've come", and then realising how much there is still to do. And getting back to work.
25 years ago, on 15 Jan 2001, Wikipedia was founded. We've grown a bit, via values of neutral knowledge for all. Thanks for the work by so many volunteers globally who devotedly make it; to the donors who make it all possible; and to our readers who make it worthwhile. To the next 25! #Wikipedia25
January 15, 2026 at 5:08 AM
Right. Traditionally Wikipedia's volunteers celebrate by looking around for a while, saying "see how far we've come", and then realising how much there is still to do. And getting back to work.
Musk's universe is a testament to "feature not a bug" as a panacea.
In one of the most appalling developments of past day, Elon Musk's AI chatbot desecrated Renee Nicole Good's body. That's in addition to harassing women and sexually exploiting minors. By @katieherchenroeder.bsky.social
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Grok deepfaked Renee Nicole Good's body into a bikini
Hours after an ICE agent killed the mother of three, Elon Musk’s chatbot was undressing her.
www.motherjones.com
January 9, 2026 at 5:45 AM
Musk's universe is a testament to "feature not a bug" as a panacea.
Sadly, ORCID is not really oriented towards author disambiguation, of concern to Wikidata. Profiles without public information are a negative, and the system is not de-duplicated. Sadly, too, OpenAlex is poor on the issue, apparently relying on dud AI.
This just published paper spells out just one of the benefits of @orcid.org. I am also a supporter of people using ORCID, as it helps the author disambiguation problem, as I mentioned in my 2017 paper.
🧵
🧵
January 9, 2026 at 5:40 AM
Sadly, ORCID is not really oriented towards author disambiguation, of concern to Wikidata. Profiles without public information are a negative, and the system is not de-duplicated. Sadly, too, OpenAlex is poor on the issue, apparently relying on dud AI.
Aren't the fundamental issues with scholcomms always tied in with publish-or-perish? If careers based on publication were founded on ruling-in of papers, rather than ruling out, matters would look rather different. (Which is what happens informally in the top flight.)
I don't think there will ever be a tool that can consistently, robustly and accurately detect AI generated text. Okay, there might be a for a while, but in this arms race, there will never be an overall winner.
Given this, what is the future for scholarly publishing if AI text cannot be detected?
Given this, what is the future for scholarly publishing if AI text cannot be detected?
January 8, 2026 at 4:41 PM
Aren't the fundamental issues with scholcomms always tied in with publish-or-perish? If careers based on publication were founded on ruling-in of papers, rather than ruling out, matters would look rather different. (Which is what happens informally in the top flight.)
So, is Mariupol up to Reform standards?
"If Sadiq Khan thinks today that London is the greatest city in the world, then he's deluded," says Nigel Farage.
Suspect there may be one or two Londoners who, for all its faults, don't much like their city being talked down.
Suspect there may be one or two Londoners who, for all its faults, don't much like their city being talked down.
January 7, 2026 at 12:54 PM
So, is Mariupol up to Reform standards?
Well, I have done a first pass for updating P486 on Wikidata, from the unofficial meshb-prev.nlm.nih.gov.
I'll know more when the MeSH SPARQL is updated. Currently no 2026 results.
I'll know more when the MeSH SPARQL is updated. Currently no 2026 results.
January 5, 2026 at 11:56 AM
Well, I have done a first pass for updating P486 on Wikidata, from the unofficial meshb-prev.nlm.nih.gov.
I'll know more when the MeSH SPARQL is updated. Currently no 2026 results.
I'll know more when the MeSH SPARQL is updated. Currently no 2026 results.
Reposted
Whatever you might think of Maduro, the seizure and kidnapping of a head of state takes us to a very dark place. Vast, arbitrary, extra-legal power, which could be exercised almost anywhere, regardless of the character of the target government.
January 3, 2026 at 10:14 AM
Whatever you might think of Maduro, the seizure and kidnapping of a head of state takes us to a very dark place. Vast, arbitrary, extra-legal power, which could be exercised almost anywhere, regardless of the character of the target government.
I don't know why "oddly". Farage campaigned for Brexit on an anti-immigration platform, knowing (as he said at the time) that Johnson's case was flawed. Starmer knows that (a) Brits don't like people who argue the toss, and (b) Tory incompetence exacerbated the immigration issue. Timing is key.
After Labour’s landslide victory in 2024 the new government seemed not to want to talk about Brexit. But, oddly, the rise of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has changed this
It’s time to rethink Britain’s relationship with the EU
Almost a decade after Brexit, both sides should be more courageous in getting closer together
econ.st
January 3, 2026 at 10:29 AM
I don't know why "oddly". Farage campaigned for Brexit on an anti-immigration platform, knowing (as he said at the time) that Johnson's case was flawed. Starmer knows that (a) Brits don't like people who argue the toss, and (b) Tory incompetence exacerbated the immigration issue. Timing is key.
Update on the Trump-Monroe doctrine reads "Some Like It Illegal".
January 3, 2026 at 10:16 AM
Update on the Trump-Monroe doctrine reads "Some Like It Illegal".
Reposted
Tesla loses EV crown to China’s BYD ft.trib.al/63A0hnl
Tesla loses EV crown to China’s BYD
Elon Musk’s carmaker delivered fewer fully electric models than its rival in 2025
ft.trib.al
January 2, 2026 at 2:16 PM
Tesla loses EV crown to China’s BYD ft.trib.al/63A0hnl
"Trek" towards "final frontier", obvs. Recall the demise of the TV western at around the time Star Trek was launched. Connotations yes, "starship science" not.
Why a "trek"? What are the connotations of this word? (Hint: they're not all good.) How did the term come about?
Adam Roberts has it covered.
Adam Roberts has it covered.
Tracking, and indeed dragging, the word "trek": latestartrek.substack.com/p/on-the-wor...
January 2, 2026 at 10:17 AM
"Trek" towards "final frontier", obvs. Recall the demise of the TV western at around the time Star Trek was launched. Connotations yes, "starship science" not.
Hmmm. At this time of year, I update MeSH on Wikidata. In 2026, things appear be behindhand:
www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbul...
www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbul...
MeSH and PubMed Baseline Release Scheduled for January 2026. NLM Technical Bulletin. 2025 Nov–Dec
Download 2026 MeSH from links on the NLM Data Distribution page for MeSH Data the week of Jan 5, 2026. The updated MeSH 2026 DTDs are available for download at Download MeSH Data.
www.nlm.nih.gov
January 1, 2026 at 9:02 AM
Hmmm. At this time of year, I update MeSH on Wikidata. In 2026, things appear be behindhand:
www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbul...
www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbul...
Reposted
2025 has provided a terrifying sense of how dramatically socio-technical systems can career out of human control. In 2026 let’s all find ways to re-assert the common good together. Happy New Year Bluesky!
January 1, 2026 at 12:04 AM
2025 has provided a terrifying sense of how dramatically socio-technical systems can career out of human control. In 2026 let’s all find ways to re-assert the common good together. Happy New Year Bluesky!
By the way, the idea of "great mathematicians" post-Gauss seems troublesome.
December 22, 2025 at 12:38 PM
By the way, the idea of "great mathematicians" post-Gauss seems troublesome.
December 22, 2025 at 10:04 AM
"Thou art lost and gone forever. Dreadful sorry, Clementine." What next - cockney rhyming slang for "oranges and lemons"?
Now clementines are ‘easy peelers’, why don’t we rebrand all our fruit? The Becky Barnicoat cartoon
Now clementines are ‘easy peelers’, why don’t we rebrand all our fruit? The Becky Barnicoat cartoon
Juicy details …
www.theguardian.com
December 20, 2025 at 8:36 AM
"Thou art lost and gone forever. Dreadful sorry, Clementine." What next - cockney rhyming slang for "oranges and lemons"?
I think it should be pointed out that the "agentic" Web was actively considered 30 years ago. So the concept is a retread, and we have to wonder exactly what has changed.
www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/micha...
www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/micha...
December 18, 2025 at 7:58 AM
I think it should be pointed out that the "agentic" Web was actively considered 30 years ago. So the concept is a retread, and we have to wonder exactly what has changed.
www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/micha...
www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/micha...
A blazon troublesome for the Drawshield software, but I like the op art vibe of this escutcheon of the Lewis baronets of Harpton Court.
December 17, 2025 at 4:30 PM
A blazon troublesome for the Drawshield software, but I like the op art vibe of this escutcheon of the Lewis baronets of Harpton Court.
Is there a gyre app?
My phone has noticed I often go to Mass on Wednesday mornings so now it’s started telling me to go to Mass - it’s like De Valera’s Ireland but with advanced tech
December 17, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Is there a gyre app?
Reposted
Very welcome news today that the UK will join the Erasmus+ programme in 2027. This will enable greater opportunities for study abroad and contributions in UK universities, and is something we called for in our most recent Manifesto.
December 17, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Very welcome news today that the UK will join the Erasmus+ programme in 2027. This will enable greater opportunities for study abroad and contributions in UK universities, and is something we called for in our most recent Manifesto.