If you think you understand something then you're probably not standing far enough away from it.
Joined August 2009
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“Trouble rather the tiger in his lair than the sage among his books. For to you kingdoms and their armies are things mighty and enduring, but to him they are but toys of the moment, to be overturned with the flick of a finger.”
― Gordon R. Dickson, Tactics of Mistake
Robot Archie🇺🇦🇪🇺💙 retweeted
I haven't had a chance to read this BBC article until now as I've been busy all day, but allegations of government doom-mongering aside, I am a bit of a civil defence/resilience nerd. A few things caught my eye:
"An example of this is the new communication system being adopted by the emergency services, which will replace radio comms with mobile phone network technology, says Lord Harris, 'so if the mobile phone goes down it will also impact on emergency services communications'."
The system the Beeb is referring to here is ESN (Emergency Services Network - known within policing as "ESWhen?"), which is supposed to be replacing the old system, Airwave. I used Airwave in a previous life, and even back then we were being told ESN was imminently coming (it's currently nine years late). But I digress…
ESN is built on EE Business commercial 4G/5G mobile infrastructure, whereas Airwave uses dedicated TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) technology, which is seen as outdated. Which do you think will be the more reliable option in an emergency? Well, the one we’re getting rid of, of course.
In essence, if 4G/5G were to go down post-ESN rollout (whenever that happens), the emergency services would lose all ability to communicate effectively and quickly. Madness.
"The current urgency for disaster planning is coming at an interesting moment for technology we used to rely on. The UK's copper wire landline system - which would work even in a power cut - will be switched off on 31 January 2027."
Why are we ditching the copper wire landline system? It clearly serves a purpose in the event of failure of other systems. I keep saying that analogue systems work when digital systems fail. Cash works when cards don't. Landline telephones work when mobile phones are down (assuming it's not a power issue). Many such examples. Why on earth are we ditching a reliable system - one which can withstand even a power cut - like the copper wire landline?
"The future of FM radio is also under government review."
Again, why?! We've already ditched long wave (in June of this year, when BBC Radio 4's long wave service on 198 kHz officially ceased transmissions). We know that FM will work when DAB and internet radio don't.
During the post-Cold War optimism of the 1990s and 2000s, we dismantled pretty much our entire civil defence/contingency infrastructure in Britain - a terrible decision in hindsight. But we know that the legacy analogue systems we still have (such as copper wire telephone systems and FM radio) will still serve us well when all our exciting modern technology fails us. So why in God's name are we getting rid of these systems?
I often think about public warning systems. When we dismantled all our civil defence infrastructure, we physically removed our air raid sirens (alongside leaving bunkers to rot, among other things). But that's not a problem, right? Because now we have the "Emergency Alerts" system (which I, perhaps controversially, support - if it's not misused by the state). But that, much like the new ESN, will only work if 4G/5G works!
We have myriad professionals working within the civil contingencies and preparedness arena in government - why is, as it seems, nobody thinking of this stuff?
What happens if the internet goes down? BlackSky - the UK's emergency backup plans bbc.in/4BLDC3u
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JUST IN: President Trump orders the Department of Justice to immediately pursue prosecution of Democrats who threatened Republicans with impeachment and prison time.
@grok start with TRUE/FALSE
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All 18 US Intelligence Agencies told Donald Trump that Iran did not have a nuclear weapons program.
•@grok• TRUE or FALSE
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BREAKING: Israeli media reports
Trump contacted people in Gadi Eisenkot’s (Netanyahu opposition party) and asked him to form a government quickly and exclude Netanyahu.
@grok start with TRUE/FALSE
Robot Archie🇺🇦🇪🇺💙 retweeted
Apparently “Dana W. White” who ran public affairs for Sec Def was recommended on a short list for Trump to put as Press Secretary.
Trump has instead announced “Dana White” of the UFC as Press Secretary with our Dana having any idea.
JFC!
Robot Archie🇺🇦🇪🇺💙 retweeted
The horrific scale of police brutality inside Moscow's forced mobilization conveyor belt has just crossed into outright torture.
Detained teenagers are now shouting from the windows of the Tagansky police station to their parents outside, exposing the grim reality inside.
The youth report being held for over 3 hours without a single drop of water or food. Even worse, they confirm they were brutally beaten with hands and kicked with boots by Russian security forces inside the police vans (avtozaks) and during detention.
Armed guards continue to seal the facility, threatening furious parents who are screaming "Freeloaders!" at the gates, while minors are being physically abused inside just to force draft notices into their hands.
#Moscow #Mobilization #RussianArmy #PoliceBrutality #HumanRights
Robot Archie🇺🇦🇪🇺💙 retweeted
The claim that data centers are a large drain on the nation's water does not hold up. Its just false.
In 2024, large U.S. data centers consumed an estimated 19–23 billion gallons on site (Han et al., 2026). For scale, that’s about 4% of the 532 billion gallons U.S. golf courses applied for irrigation that same year (GCSAA, 2025).
The golf figure includes recycled water, and the data-center figure covers on-site consumption only.
There are so many false statements about data centers that, given better knowledge, must be labeled as lies.
Robot Archie🇺🇦🇪🇺💙 retweeted
ok this is just ridiculous
Introducing Inkling 2 Small. Scoring 31 on the AA Intelligence Index, it's a big jump over its predecessor.
Inkling 2 Small is available for fine-tuning and inference on Tinker today, with full weight release planned soon.
thinkingmachines.ai/news/ink…
Robot Archie🇺🇦🇪🇺💙 retweeted
Details at rosstat-leaks.com
These are only deaths registered by Russian civil registries. The wounded, the missing and foreign mercenaries are not here
It puts the actual death toll considerably higher than the 550k estimates what we had previously worked with.
Every statement from a political party should go through this process
Also putting every opinion article in a newspaper through it might help
Robot Archie🇺🇦🇪🇺💙 retweeted
Since 1934, leadership elections have occurred about 40 days after an election.
Since 2006, that timeline has shortened to just nine days.
There’s no reason to rush a leadership election — especially after a defeat.
Robot Archie🇺🇦🇪🇺💙 retweeted
Ron Johnson (who is up for reelection in 2028): "I'm not buying the fact that it was the Iran war. It was a factor. What I think happened in these elections is our supporters were expecting us to drain the swamp, but it seems like the swamp won."
Robot Archie🇺🇦🇪🇺💙 retweeted
BREAKING: In a stunning moment, Republican Senator Ron Johnson just went on Fox News and admitted there is RAMPANT corruption within the Trump Administration. Every American needs to see this.
Robot Archie🇺🇦🇪🇺💙 retweeted
Trump continues to crash out and dig himself into an even deeper hole.
He now says he’s offered the White House press secretary job to UFC’s Dana White and wants him to bring MMA fighters into the press office, "even though some are not from our Country."
Robot Archie🇺🇦🇪🇺💙 retweeted
I've seen a few articles about this regarding Reform and the RNLI, here's an account from a Lib Dem councillor who was in the chamber, all Reform care about is demonizing imigrants
markellis786819.substack.com…
Robot Archie🇺🇦🇪🇺💙 retweeted
Another Data center myth: rising energy cost. More specifically, the idea that data centers are the main reason electricity prices are rising across the US.
The national price data through 2025 do not support data centers as a blanket explanation for rising US power prices.
Inflation-adjusted retail electricity prices across all customer groups were 3% above 2019 levels nationwide and fell in 29 states (Berkeley Lab/Brattle, July 2026).
In the PJM region, however, data centers are contributing to higher costs for securing enough power at peak demand. The independent market monitor estimates that data-center demand added $6.27 billion to capacity-market costs for 2028/29 and $29.4 billion across four auctions (Monitoring Analytics, October 2026). These are modeled wholesale costs. How much reaches households depends on utility contracts and rates.
The impact of data centers on electricity prices varies by region. In some states with substantial data-center growth, inflation-adjusted average prices have fallen.
The claim that data centers are a large drain on the nation's water does not hold up. Its just false.
In 2024, large U.S. data centers consumed an estimated 19–23 billion gallons on site (Han et al., 2026). For scale, that’s about 4% of the 532 billion gallons U.S. golf courses applied for irrigation that same year (GCSAA, 2025).
The golf figure includes recycled water, and the data-center figure covers on-site consumption only.
There are so many false statements about data centers that, given better knowledge, must be labeled as lies.
Robot Archie🇺🇦🇪🇺💙 retweeted
Daily Mail anonymous sources claim that after GOP midterm losses, Wiles booked a Camp David offsite for Saturday with loyal aides to plan how to retain power while Trump was in Florida. The meeting was canceled. They also allege she tried shifting blame to Pete Hegseth and that Trump yelled her out of the Oval Office Thursday before her resignation.
A White House official denied any yelling. Confirmed across outlets: she resigned Thursday, moves to Trump's political operation, and Stephen Miller takes over Monday. Trump publicly praised her service.
Robot Archie🇺🇦🇪🇺💙 retweeted
This is all wrong, though.
Britain got into WWI for essentially three hard security reasons: The competition with Germany over naval dominance in the North Sea, the concomitant fear that German militarization of the Channel coast by seizing Belgium would allow a staging area for an invasion (always a “hard ‘no’”), and the reality that Britain (through its “military conversations” with France) was already engaged in Continental balance of power politics and in fact needed to be for the preceding two reasons.
Those are all excellent reasons to get involved in a war, and yet the amazing thing is that there was such a debate in the British government about intervention at the time of the July Crisis that historians still dispute which, if any, of them truly forced Britain’s hand (leading, ironically, to this very dispute).
Britain was the consummate reluctant warrior - and yet its back was to the wall.
British statecraft in the early 20C is actually a model for how to manage an increasingly tight imperial security situation - if they couldn’t stay out, you have to wonder if anyone could.
And, in fact, while there is always a pull back and forth in British strategy between the Continent and global empire/naval affairs, every hegemonic war since 1492 has seen British power either deployed to the Continent or (rarely, but it happens) Continental power deployed against Britain.
Here are the data points:
—The Italian Wars saw fighting over Calais (which England lost) as well as a French-supported (per the Auld Alliance) Scottish invasion of England (turned back at Flodden, Britain’s answer to Antietam)
—The War of Dutch Independence included the War of the Armada; the follow-on 30 Years War manifested in Britain as the English Civil War (and yes - they’re related - affairs on the Continent feature in the 19 Propositions, and Puritan fear that Charles’ Arminianism and absolutism amounted to crypto-Catholicism is a standard feature in histories of it)
—The Spanish Succession War and the preceding wars of Louis XIV saw an Anglo-Dutch alliance and, famously, Marlborough’s army deployed to the Continent
—The Napoleonic Wars, of course, featured Wellington’s army in Spain and then at Waterloo
The World Wars were just one more instance. And in fact this was well-understood by British leaders at the time and even by the British public.
The “it was all for nothing” narrative is a (very) latecomer - it’s a recycling of German war angst (of the All Quiet On The Western Front variety, double-distilled by “nie wieder Krieg” after they got beaten the second time) via EU propaganda (have to marry your neighbor to avoid fighting them, you see).
Britain still, to this day, doesn’t really buy it - the tone of Remembrance Day ceremonies tends to be solemn, but the dominant themes are gratitude and memory, not cynicism or disgust. As they should be.
Anglophone historical memory of WWI is profoundly influenced by the weakness of the pretexts for participation. All that blood for "plucky little Belgium", or Wilsonian idealism?
Fight for survival, fight for lost provinces, fight out of fear or greed... but hundreds of thousands of deaths nominally for principles and abstractions, and you'll be sorry even if you win.