Matthew Skelton

Why a NASA satellite that scientists and farmers rely on may be destroyed on purpose The Trump administration has asked NASA staffers to draw up plans to end at least two satellite missions that measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, according to current and former NASA employees.

Head of NASA Sean Duffy intends to destroy a satellite that collects key data on carbon dioxide and plant health, by causing it to burn up in the atmosphere. The U.S. Dept of Agriculture and private agriculture firms use the data to forecast crop yield, drought conditions and more.

"this product is good because it's like having a pocket full of PhDs" just suggests to me you've never actually been in a room with a bunch of experts on a topic.

You think you're going to come away with a quick, simple, easy-to-digest summary of their expertise? Think again.

Vibe Coding: The Shadow IT Problem No One Saw Coming Vibe coding promises easy AI-generated software but creates massive shadow IT risks for enterprises. Learn why this trend threatens security, compliance and scale.

Vibe coding promises easy AI-generated software but creates massive shadow IT risks for enterprises. Learn why this trend threatens security, compliance and scale.

But it won't happen with LLMs

Patent drawing of a drone from which a coffee cup is dangling. The drone is scanning a group of three people to select the recipient.

A coffee delivery drone that operates "by first providing coffee to a person who is popular, famous, or otherwise has a high social status" and then "allowing others to bid for the remaining coffees."
US Patent 10040551 (assigned to DoorDash)

"The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced the beginning of a coordinated wind-down of its mRNA vaccine development activities...."

cc: Sen. Bill Cassidy

Ghost 6.0 looks superb, too.

I literally had a conversation with one of the managers I work with where I asked him point blank: “if I brought you results that changed every time you looked at them, how would you feel about that?”

He said he wouldn’t trust them.

Then I asked him why he was trusting ChatGPT results.

Thanks to @malwaretech.com for a great read

"I strongly suspect these issues are not being fixed by any introduction of actual logic or reasoning, but by sub-models built to address specific problems ... which is how “AI” has worked for decades."

#AI

"So from an executive perspective, lighting comically large piles of money on fire trying to teach graphics cards how to read is, surprisingly, the logical play. The rest, well, that’s all just creative marketing."

-- Marcus Hutchins

#AI

malwaretech.com/2025/08/ever...

The absolute wildness of them basically recreating evangelical Christianity but with AGI as god and the singularity as rapture.

ELIZABETH WARREN: What Zohran is saying is 'I want people to be able to afford to live in NYC'

FABER: But raising taxes in order to do it?

WARREN: Oh my goodness! Oh dear! Are you worried that billionaires are going to go hungry?

Meh.

If you're selling books to people who spend hours a day on TikTok (AKA many of the world's young people), then it's OK to use words that they use.

Shakespeare used colloquial words, and made up words all over the place. It's fine.

Language isn't dead. It grows and changes.

Contours of European Strategic Autonomy Europe is moving on without the US, and the US does not seem to like it after all.

Today was the day when Europe announced that it is moving on:

The Franco-British agreement to establish a nuclear supervision group, and a permanent headquarters for the Ukraine coalition of the willing can become contours of a new European security architecture - this time without the US.

World Athletics’ mandatory genetic test for women athletes is misguided. I should know – I discovered the relevant gene in 1990 World Athletics says its genetic test for women ensures ‘the integrity of women’s sport’ – but science does not support this overly simplistic idea.

Every TERF is like 'birds and bees, it's easy, folks' and (almost) every scientist actually working on questions of sex is like 'oof guys, what can I tell you, I have been working on this question for 52 years, and frankly, I know less and less every year' theconversation.com/world-athlet...

Oh, yes! I think even the term "tech debt" (Ward Cunningham) is so nuanced that most orgs have never used it in the original way.

Most orgs just have overgrown paths 😁

You Know More Finnish Than You Think Linguistics illuminates the linguistically obscure – or so I’ve always thought. It’s a common theme of my online output that a little bit of historical linguistics goes a long way, maki…

I've strayed into another language family, and made Finnish the subject of this month's post. Under the surface though, it's a piece about prehistoric languages, and how millennia-long linguistic contact can make foreign languages seem more familiar.
dannybate.com/2025/08/03/y...

Yeah, "operational risk" is a useful term.

I was looking for something more ... emotional and relatable in everyday life. Hence "overgrown paths" 🌳🛣️🌳

Agreed and that's why I am searching for a term that resonates with execs better than "tech debt".

Debt is how companies achieve things. Debt is useful. Etc.

"Overgrown paths" has immediate obvious resonance for many people (I think).

Yes! It was articles like yours that have led me to seek another phrase. 👍🏼

Tech Debts There are four things we call tech debt

I try really hard to avoid saying tech debt. It's too overloaded

pauldambra.dev/2021/07/tech...

A guy in sports shades and a green cycle helmet smiling at the camera. Behind is an old curving aqueduct made of stone.

Instead of saying "tech debt" for those things that slow down value delivery, maybe it's time to talk about "overgrown paths".

Navigating paths on a bike gets tricky when the vegetation crowds the path.

#TechDebt

Keep sciencing. We are living through a time when looking at a rock and wondering how old it is qualifies as an act of resistance.

Talk to your neighbour! Start train spotting! Consider tennis! Get a dog and go to puppy classes! What of lawn bowls? What of music lessons! Learn to ceilidh dance! Take French! MY GOD LADS IT DOESNT HAVE TO BE FASCISM.

Microscopic images of charred plant food remains from Shanidar Cave, containing wild mustard.

Did #Neanderthals enjoy mustard? #NationalMustardDay 🏺 #Archaeology

Analysis of plant remains from #Palaeolithic Franchthi and Shanidar Caves indicates wild mustards were intentionally processed and added to foods to give a bitter, astringent taste.

Learn more 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

How to be a man The right story narrative about male attractiveness is grounded in Social Darwinism and free market economics. Can progressives tell a better story?

OK so feeling slightly apprehensive about this, which I suppose is kind of the point. This is an attempt at a progressive view on masculinity and on men getting laid. God help me. iandunt.substack.com/p/how-to-be-...

That looks as ugly as shit and it completely messes up the framing and composition of the shot, thereby ruining the entire point of filming anything.

Agreed. The article reads like it's written by someone new to the area 🤷🏼‍♂️

Yorkshire is indisputably God's Own County, because it's the only one mentioned in the Bible.

"Three men came from the East Riding on camels"