Matt Potter

Hello lovely BlueSky peeps. I’m writing a long read about how the increased awareness of the neurodivergent experience is changing travel for people with autism, how providers can step up, etc.

If anyone here has experience ir insights on either side & is willing to share, please shout!

#autism

i've given this a lot of thought and considered all the circumstances and here is my conclusion: fuckin lmao

Screenshot from Sky News article reads: Subsidies have been central to Tesla's rise from upstart manufacturer to the world's largest electric vehicle (EV) producer in less than 20 years. But analysis by Sky News' Data & Forensics team reveals the president's cuts could leave a significant gap in its future earnings, raising questions about its business model and market valuation. Revenue from state subsidies accounted for at least 38% of Tesla's profits of $7.1bn in 2024 as the company banked $2.8bn from trading "regulatory credits", a state-level subsidy paid to encourage production of electric vehicles. Meanwhile, accounts for the first quarter of this year show Tesla earned $595m from regulatory credits - almost 50% more than its net earnings of $409m - suggesting that without the subsidy Tesla would be operating in the red.

Free market bros hate handouts and government interference, right?

"Accounts for Q1 of this year show Tesla earned $595m from regulatory credits - almost 50% more than its net earnings of $409m - suggesting that without the subsidy Tesla would be operating in the red."

news.sky.com/story/elons-...

This is excellent.

This billionaire’s fortune is built atop research funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, and yet he seeks to destroy that agency and its investments in the scientific engine that has fueled our tech industry since the 1950s. And why? Because it tried to include more diverse scholars?

The AI Backlash Keeps Growing Stronger As generative artificial intelligence tools continue to proliferate, pushback against the technology and its negative impacts grows stronger.

‘Before ChatGPT’s release, around 38 percent of US adults were more concerned than excited about increased AI usage in daily life… The number shot up to 52 percent by late 2023, as the public reacted to the speedy spread of generative AI. The level of concern has hovered around that same threshold…’

Someone had ditched this Lime public e-bike in a car park, and had painted a dying/shocked face on the front of its basket.

Whoever ditched this Lime e-bike in the abandoned corner of a public carpark took the time for some real mise en scene.

archive.today/2025.06.23-0...

What happens to Nato if the US steps back? The American military has been the alliance’s bedrock. But shifting US priorities, including in the Middle East, are putting new pressure on European allies

That’s a good way to put it:

“Without a replacement for the role the US has been playing for decades, adds Masala, “Nato moves from a modern alliance with an integrated military command structure to a kind of classical alliance with a mutual defence commitment”.”

Looking for some respite-escapism from <horrified looks at the news>? Join a #RubinFirstLook watch party on Mon 23rd June: the cosmos is calming.🔭🧪

#Edinburgh - come to Dynamic Earth (🎟️ almost sold-out): dynamicearth.org.uk/event/rubin-...

🍿: Watch live on YouTube: www.youtube.com/live/Zv22_Am...

Once You Notice ChatGPT's Weird Way of Talking, You Start to See It Everywhere As AI-generated text is becoming increasingly ubiquitous on the internet, some distinctive linguistic patterns are starting to emerge.

Good analysis of ChatGPT's 'style of talking' from @futurism.com. futurism.com/chatgpt-weir...

Way more interesting than its output is how (like SEO before it) ChatGPT's default infotainment-managementese dialect influences the way humans default when stacking up arguments and information.

No shade on Frank Gardner, who is excellent.

Retaliate fast, retaliate later or do nothing are the three most likely paths forward for Iran, writes our security correspondent Frank Gardner

This is a bit weird in terms of analysis.

It’s like a football manager declaring that ‘Today we’ll either win, lose or draw - those are the three most likely scenarios according to my expert view.’

Source: www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/ck...

And of course, as usual, Vucic is using this weird mix of posturing & manoevring as leverage to get cash from

- Moscow
- Middle Eastern governments
- And to a < extent, China.

The budgets that fear-mongering about a resolved Western Europe ‘knocking on the door of the East’ can unlock, hoo boy.

Serbia's Vucic Reveals Secret Military Build-Up, Cites Threats from Kosovo, Croatia, Albania, and Bulgaria - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has stated that Serbia has been secretly rearming its military in recent years, with the goal of significantly boosting its capabilities to ensure national freedom a...

Boy, is Vucic gonna be pissed off when he realises what doofus spilled details of his top secret operation to his enemies.

Source: m.novinite.com/articles/233...

Vucic: I am secretly rearming the Serbian army to defend against Bulgaria, Kosovo, Croatia, and Albania 21.06.2025 - 06:43 Share ПРЕДСЕДНИК Г PRESIDENT OF TI OF SERBIA BGNES

Serbian President Aleksandar Vuic said that the Serbian armed forces are "stronger than ever" and stressed that "few people know" what weapons have been acquired in recent years because this has been "done in secret." According to him, Pristina, Zagreb, and Tirana are "forming a military alliance" and constantly inviting Sofia to join them, so Serbia is "forced to arm itself." He specified that the Serbian army will show what it has at its disposal at a large military parade in September. "We have hidden huge changes in the Serbian armed forces. At most, five people know what we have brought in, and our goal is to defend our country," Vucic said, as quoted by N1 and Danas.

Normal people:
Haha no, real-life leaders aren’t supervillains, breaking the 4th wall by turning to the camera & explaining their top-secret diabolical plans in detail, lol, rofl, lmfao

Serbian PM Aleksandar Vucic:

If this suit is fought & successful, it’ll change loads.

AI companies will have to ally with IP holders, to generate AI outputs based on their owned IP (like Adobe Firefly did) & out-of-copyright works.

Outputs will evolve a visual tone, just as Shutterstock, Magnim, Disney, etc have their tone.

Artificial intelligence: Disney and Universal sue Midjourney over copyright - BBC News The Hollywood studios allege Midjourney's image generator is a "bottomless pit of plagiarism".

Tired:
Generative AI companies continuing to ingest & use copyrighted materials, regardless of individual authors’, artists’ & creators’ objections.

Wired:
Midjourney being sued as a “bottomless pit of plagiarism” by Disney & Universal for copyright infringement.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

How cool is this? Just seen this Sauron birthday cake on Reddit (and now wondering if that means it can also see me, etc etc)

The Dogs of Chernobyl Are Experiencing Rapid Evolution, Study Suggests Have the canines acquired strange mutations living near the power plant?

The story of beneficial mutation in Chernobyl's irradiated wildlife is fascinating - and it's going to keep giving more twists as time passes.

www.popularmechanics.com/science/anim...

‘Slimming Jab Guy’

Slimming Jab Guy, urban successor to Slenderman.

Only in London could you go to the @freudmuseumlondon.bsky.social in the morning, followed by a snack of smoked salmon bagels at @jw3london.bsky.social then head to Camden Arts Centre for an exhibition of Richard Wright paintings, and finish with Vietnamese Pho for lunch.
@mattpotteruk.bsky.social

This gets the story wrong on a fundamental level because it assumes DOGE was about what Musk claimed.

DOGE was about stealing data, getting Musk contracts, shutting down investigations and regulations of Musk’s companies, and terrorizing federal workers. On that front, it succeeded.

NYT reporter: "America has crazy weather."

New Scientist article intro: 'How buried cables are revealing Earth's interior in ncredible detail' by James Dinneen, 21st May 2025

Extract from New Scientist article linked, on how the often disused fibreoptic cables that wind beneath cities and seas and across countries are now found to be of use in detecting geological phenomena, movements, even resources beneath the surface

Seismology extract from the linked article

Map to go with the article linked

What an incredible read in @newscientist.com. 'How buried cables are revealing Earth's interior in incredible detail'.

Scientists are using dormant fibreoptic lines for subsurface imaging, listening & monitoring – & finding everything from movement to resources.
www.newscientist.com/article/2478...

Submissions : Mslexia, a magazine for women's writing and women who write. Submissions : Mslexia, a magazine for women's writing and women who write.

Women can submit anything from a four-line poem to a 3,000-word lead article, from a 300-word bedtime story to a 700-word memoir performance piece – they publish over 60 women in every issue.

Deadline 7th July.

Details in link.

Please share :)

Some of the examples are: We fixed acid rain! (And now nobody talks about acid rain.) We are fixing the ozone hole. Bald eagles are everywhere now. Y2K didn't destroy digital infrastructure. We (mostly) saved the whales!

I’m trying to find a phrase to describe an important phenomenon: When we fix a problem, we forget it. Pop culture forgets, and the mass media forgets, and young people never learn about the problem or how it was solved. Can you help suggest a name for this phenomenon? Read more here:

Thank you! That’s an edit blooper & like a doofus I did not pick the mutha up. :( I’ll get them to change it for future prints, so this is VERY helpful. (Plus the line on your bio ‘don’t be a cunt’ just made me actual real-life laugh, so thanks for that too!) And VERY good to hear you like the book!

Tom Burling’s organization? You’re right, and I’m gutted to hear it says Tulip in that. Thank you very much for this - would you be able to tell me which publisher your edition is by?