Laura James

🌳✨ Urban Tree Festival
9–17 May 2026

OPEN CALL FOR EVENTS IS LIVE ✨🌳

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i find daisydisk is super useful for figuring out what is consuming disk space...

Yes, didn't do any validation on it tho

Last turbine on first commercial wind farm dismantled The last wind turbine of what was Ireland's first commercial wind farm at Bellacorick in Co Mayo has been dismantled.

Ireland has dismantled its first commercial wind farm to make way for a step-change in scale. Each new turbine generates more power than the entire 1992 Bellacorick site, illustrating how 3 decades of innovation have compressed land use while multiplying output. buff.ly/goiabIO
#ShareGoodNewsToo

It’s inherently right wing because you can’t buy public services & infrastructure with an individual UBI.

Society for Hopeful Technologists For everyone who wants technologies to work for people and planet.

We're looking at setting up the Society for Hopeful Technologists as a co-operative society and I'd love to speak with folks or find examples of folks who have experience of running membership orgs that are also coops societyforhopefultechnologists.org

a black background with three postit notes on that sat Activate Hope, Demystify Tech, Positive Visions

The Society for Hopeful Technologists listened to our community. We know many folks feel tech has gone in the wrong direction and don't know what to do about it. We're going to start by building a solidarity network that makes it easier for Hopeful Technologists to act hopeful.technology

Now I've cleared my notes file, it's time for the Well State of the World 2026. These discussions are always intriguing... people.well.com/conf/inkwell...

#CommonplaceNotes: mental models, autonomy, a poem.
lbj20.blogspot.com/2026/01/comm... HT @dougbelshaw.com @carefultrouble.bsky.social et al for interesting things

ooh :) I've not listened regularly for some time, and only occasionally in 2024, when the hyperlocal consensus was that it Was Not What It Was. is it... picking up? do i want to join in on the whodunnit?

AI being used to help cut A&E waiting times in England this winter Forecasting tool predicts when demand will be highest, allowing NHS trusts to better plan staffing and bed space

I know it's Twixmas but I'm frustrated to see this case study from 2023 being regurgitated without any evidence of actual impact. We should expect better.

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

The video clearly shows he decided it was time for a nap, quite a graceful slump into slumber

Superb! Good knotting there. I'm always glad to see cardamom buns here, cinnamon is so dominant and much less interesting

#CommonplaceNotes lbj20.blogspot.com/2025/12/comm... supply chains, hope, cool

the art installation world still seems to run on Kinects (was in a lovely example earlier today)

So, to those who say "masks don't work", cite the flawed Cochrane report, insist upon an unfeasible RCT, accuse folks of panic, and undermine public health on social and mainstream media during a flu/RSV epidemic...

1. Seasonal viruses may be "normal", but they do immense harm.

2. COVID now adds to disease burden in an unpredictable, perennial way.
3. We maddeningly restrict access to vaccines without considering the wider and long-term costs of disease.
4. Nothing has been done nationally to improve indoor air quality.
5. Vaccines and NPIs synergise.

Okay, hive mind! I'm doing a foresight review on the safe adoption of AI in engineering - am planning a research trip to the Bay Area in Feb, and am looking to speak to folk working on
- transparent approaches to the full AI supply chain, inc data, labour practices, environmental footprint (1/2)

a colleague has their Teams background set to a photo of one of the tiniest 'pods' in HQ, awkward camera angle and all, perfection

Taking Jaggedness Seriously Why we should expect AI capabilities to keep being extremely uneven, and why that matters

This blog post by Helen Toner (well-known by some for a stint on the OpenAI board) is *really really* interesting because it is the first thing I've read by someone in Frontier AI that starts to get to grips with sociotechnical concerns open.substack.com/pub/helenton...

We’re often asked whether we’re optimistic or pessimistic about technologies. That’s the wrong question. If any of this matters, we need to stop seeing technology like the weather, to be merely forecasted, and instead see it like politics, to be collectively shaped.

Careful Consequences Check Let's make technology work for 8 billion people not 8 billionaires

New thing! The @carefultrouble.bsky.social Careful Consequence Check is now live and free to use. Based on research with the Bristol Digital Futures Institute, this practical tool will help you answer the question "is my AI product creepy and weird" www.careful.industries/consequences

#CommonplaceBook notes - not entirely about AI, and there's some novelty in the AI bits too. Thanks to all those who wrote things and linked to things recently! lbj20.blogspot.com/2025/10/comm... Share and Enjoy.

#CommonplaceBook notes - not entirely about AI, and there's some novelty in the AI bits too. Thanks to all those who wrote things and linked to things recently! lbj20.blogspot.com/2025/10/comm... Share and Enjoy.

A morsel for your #WorldFoodDay: We can grow food in ways that restore our planet’s health. Across forests, farms and seas, regenerative food practices can help reduce climate change and biodiversity loss.

Here’s how: https://nature.ly/47rGC7V

#3: A Hopeful Charter and First Events Our draft charter, the first SoHoT community events, and a Hopeful Tech Reading Group with Empire of AI author Karen Hao

Good morning good morning good morning. Society for Hopeful Technologists newsletter just dropped into 710 inboxes, including our draft charter and a load of events to sign up to buttondown.com/society-of-h...

Sadly can't make this - I hope there's some blogging or whatever afterwards! Any particular hashtag? (or am i stuck in the unconferences of the past?)

Are there any live proposals to get DSIT (and/or CLG?) to create a Civic Tech Fund? An initiative to support the UK’s civic tech movement (pro-social platforms like Library of Things, Olio, Park Run, etc) and shared infrastructure for community organising. 1/n

F-Secure Digital Perception-Reality Gap Report | F‑Secure Discover how consumer trust and real cyber risks misalign—and how telcos and banks can close the gap.

While 69% of people feel confident in spotting online scams, 43% still fell victim last year. We conducted a survey to explore where consumer trust and the reality of cyber risks meet - or don't meet #cybersecurity www.f-secure.com/en/partners/...

For Expertise to Matter, Nonpartisan Institutions Need New Communications Strategies To avoid irrelevance when they are needed most, experts and nonpartisan analysts must rethink not just their channels of communication but also their theory of influence.

the requirements to succeed on new media platforms are almost precisely the opposite of what successful experts… have trained themselves to do: maintain an institutional tone of formal detachment & stay ruthlessly on-message at all times.’ @noupside.bsky.social
carnegieendowment.org/research/202...