Eugene Lim

"Fewer immigrant workers means a smaller economy"

This was the point I was making in the Observer yesterday and on Today this morning.

I know Obi Wan is speaking to the audience, since Mos Eisley is literally Luke's watering hole, but Mos Eisley is (1) clean (2) multiracial living in harmony with each other (3) has an excellent band at the Cantina. I think Obi Wan may be secretly a Reform voter.

Ah, London West End! You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

My focus is now to keep Being Cool to the 5yo as long as I can before the inevitable.

My generation is even beyond Rick and Morty pop culture references now. It’s all meme and tiktok and I tell you it’s tough being a Senior Person(tm) trying to sound cool .

Internal contradictions don’t really implode parties until they get close to power imho; see eg Greens. It might be even a special feature. But I suspect more likely the tent will split (insert joke about Judean Liberation Front here).

More than fifty private schools shut since Labour put VAT on fees Department for Education defends ending tax breaks for independent institutions, after parents lost a legal battle at the High Court this year — view map

The headline here should say:

"Number of private schools increases by 35 - showing fears of an exodus to be unfounded".

(The increase is mentioned way down the article.)

www.thetimes.com/article/19ef...

large parts of UK politics are swinging far-right with very, very frightening speed, and racists are getting increasingly open about expressing their bigotry.

I once tried to use wax on and wax off as a pop culture reference to explain to my UG class the importance of practicing seemingly boring things to build brain muscles. I got back 150 pairs of blank staring eyes back.

Don’t let parent police get you! Both you and 5yo deserve a lie in. It’s tough to be a parent and tough to be a 5yo!

Where Pi Equals 4 and Circles Aren’t Round (Gift Article) In the world of taxicab geometry, even the Pythagorean theorem takes a back seat.

If you missed my New York Times series, "Math, Revealed", here are free gift links to it -- no paywall 🕺

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

With Tom Lehrer's passing, I suppose this is a moment to share the story of the prank he played on the National Security Agency, and how it went undiscovered for nearly 60 years.

1. He wasn’t

2. Even if he was it does not make it right

Since OP is referenced I would say that 1. Counter factual arguments are not useful 2. RS historical record of membership is not perfect (think colonial era) 3. Still true that Musk is a nazi who promoted misinformation and anti science. We can’t change the past but we can change today.

Her argument is that Elon Musk's SpaceX developed amazing rocket technologies. By this argument, the Royal Society should have also admitted the Nazi rocket scientists who designed V1 and V2 rockets during WW2.

So disappointing.

1 in 4 of all UK Nobel Prize winners were born overseas.

Good luck in your new gig!!

Named after the Best Premier League forward ever. I say this is excellent.

Meta brought AI to rural Colombia. Now students are failing exams When Meta embedded AI bots in its apps, even students in the most remote corners of Colombia gained access. But rather than boosting learning, it’s getting in the way.

the enshittification of education is underway

restofworld.org/2025/colombi...

Palestinian children have been killed at a rate of more than one child per hour during Israel's war in Gaza.

“A whole classroom of children killed every day for nearly two years,” UNICEF’s executive director said.

Here are some of their stories: wapo.st/3UCiAjn

Interestingly my very fashion attuned wife who does clothing for work said that 8 foot tall model is probably intentionally. Real Fashion models are aliens and do not have standard proportions. She said 8 ft tall models are literally how you would draw sketches of models (8 heads tall) in design.

The kids aren't stupid. They either want to come to uni because they want to study. Or because they think it leads to a job. They also know it's going to cost them money AND time.

They want a uni brand/site to FEEL like a university. They expect it to be a bit old school. Not a game. Not a company.

Let me try to explain why it's important to study the foundations of quantum mechanics. (1/n)

(Have to do some breathing exercises, b/c to me it's blindingly obvious that "understanding the most important theory in physics" is something physicists should care about, but apparently opinions differ.)

A July 26 SkySat image from Planet Labs showing a large crowd of Palestinians visible around an aid convoy in southern Gaza. There are enough people in the crowd to make it very easily visible in the satellite imagery. There's a large amount of destruction in the area and an IDF outpost is nearby.

A massive crowd of Palestinians surrounding aid trucks is visible in July 26 SkySat imagery from @planet.com near the so-called Morag Corridor at 31.3104, 34.2822 in southern Gaza.

July 26 video from Ibrahim Alsallout on Instagram showed the crowd from the ground: www.instagram.com/p/DMkmVvNo6n...

The level of overt racism being experienced by friends and family especially outside of London is crazy. The UK is changing rapidly. Monkey noises, being kicked out of Airbnb's, racial slurs and a general hostility. People of colour have always had these experiences but it is ramping up.

I agree! I like to think it’s part of the job of an educator to come up with a model of “here is some useful things you need” (even when it is hard and boring). We shouldn’t outsource this job to the students themselves (which I see colleges do sometimes with their surveys and polls).

Eg having bad working memory: ability to remember stuff or learn techniques to remember stuff is a skill!

I understood those views. But I also think if we are not helping students become resilient in a world that needs that resilience if we shy away of making them confront some really hard stuff. There are definitely special cases which need careful handling but we have become too risk averse I think.

My department at Leuphana University offers 6 fully funded PhD scholarships (incl. research funding) for three years.

If you are interested in studying democratic resilience (particularly party competition and elections 🤓) and you have a strong methodolgical background: Apply!

shorturl.at/kcTbG

At this rate we will be banning the internet and going back to copper land lines soon.