Tim Regan

@pickover Fabulous visualization. What dictates the angular velocity in each circle?

Math. This mystery space-filling curve is a variant of Hilbert's curve, built from epicycles. Watch it evolve as more harmonics are added. Source: I created this animation using Hopperpop's Epicycle Drawer, an interactive tool: hopperpop.github.io/EpicDrawer/

@Sheril_ Does that feel correct — that secretaries are towards the least adaptable?

See which jobs are most threatened by #AI and who may be able to adapt 🤔 wapo.st/4uvCpcY

@jan_murray "it’s also the hardest job I’ve ever done" did you catch @Louise_m_perry & @ElenaBridgers podcast on that very point? It might be paywalled (sorry) but if you can it is worth a listen louiseperry.co.uk/p/why-modern-p… or substack.com/home/post/p-18…

I keep thinking about a post I shared recently. In it, I mentioned the bliss of having breakfast alone in a hotel - at a time in my life when I’d usually have had a small child with me. Which might have meant, among other things, cutting their food up while trying to drink a cup of coffee before it went cold. Someone commented that helping a child eat their breakfast was a “first world problem.” And people liked that comment. There was something about that casual dismissal of motherhood that stuck with me. Because while motherhood is the greatest joy of my life - and sadly I’ve only been able to have one child - it’s also the hardest job I’ve ever done. And one you never get to retire from. My daughter is living away from home right now, and I still sometimes wake in the night, go to the loo, and panic for a second because her room is empty. I’m also the person she doesn’t think twice about calling at any time of the day or night when she needs someone to talk to. One of the hardest moments of my breast cancer experience was having my mum in the room during my mammogram callback appointment. Watching her face as the doctor kept returning to the same spot, frowning, counting enlarged lymph nodes on the ultrasound screen before taking a biopsy from under my arm there and then. It was painful to watch because I knew exactly what she was thinking. If it had been my daughter lying there, I would have swapped places with her in a heartbeat. And I knew my mum was thinking the same thing. Of course none of this takes away from the role fathers play. Many are wonderful parents and bring things to their children’s lives that mothers can’t. But there is also something uniquely powerful about the bond between a mother and her child. In the early years - even when we have a male partner, and regardless of whether we also work - mothers still tend to do the lion’s share of the wiping, soothing, feeding, cleaning scraped knees and drying tears. Partly because we have to (and want to). But also because our children want us to. There is something primeval about the bond between mother and child. When I looked at the profile of the man who left the comment, I noticed he appeared to have a disability. While I couldn’t know the specifics, I wondered if the remark came from reflecting on his own need for help. But even if it had, would that make the dismissal of the role mothers play in society sting any less? Especially at a time when women are increasingly being erased from the language used in healthcare and in public life - reduced to “pregnant people” or “birthing person”. And while this post isn’t about one individual (comments like this are common enough) it’s worth remembering that some mothers never stop providing the kind of practical care people casually dismiss - cutting up food, helping with toileting, offering physical support. Mothers of disabled children often do these things for an entire lifetime. Some of the most chilling messages I receive as someone who speaks up for women’s sex-based rights come from mothers who say: “Thank you for speaking up for my disabled daughter’s right to same-sex personal care. I’m terrified she’ll have no one to advocate for her when I’m gone.” So yes - sometimes motherhood means cutting up someone’s food. And that’s significant. Not because it’s difficult or because you begrudge doing it. But because it captures something essential about motherhood: you’re never really off duty. And if you occasionally get five quiet minutes to finish your breakfast while it’s still hot, it’s still a very small return on a lifetime of care.

@JusBrierley How exciting. I'll have a think. I spent a wonderful day with him once, scroll to the bottom pic for evidence: microsoft.com/en-us/research…

@JusBrierley He looks fabulous. My (grown up) family's just listening to the new audio version of PoA so Sirius is about to make an entrance!

Toby dressing up for World Book Day… but who is he??

@Glinner . @emilymbender & @timnitGebru wrote (with others) On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? 🦜, though sadly they are no longer of this parish

Who are the best people on AI on here? I mean thinkers and nerd philosopher types rather than creatives (but that too if anyone's doing anything interesting)

@CarlBovisNature My wife loves sitting at the window watching Mr & Mrs Pigeon at work in our garden

If you see this photo, please leave a comment! 😊 This is a Woodpigeon caught in the act of eating blossom! 😁 Woodpigeons are regular visitors to my garden, do they come to yours? 🐦

This'll be a fantastic concert. I'm listening to a playlist of the programme to get myself in the mood open.spotify.com/playlist/0ClBg…

I loved this debate, though at times frustrating it is amazing how deep two interlocutors who respect and listen to each other can go. Plus, a Christian appologist who gives their platform and so much time to a sharp witted and knowledgeable atheist gets my praise — go Justin!

@glenscrivener I thought it was fascinating. I thought you were out-gunned (sorry!) but that does not matter. I learnt tons about Christianity and about the Bible from both of you, and I saw how deep a debate between two interlocutors who respect and listen to each other can go. Thank you Glen.

It’s in that context that people are finding faith. This is a thing. THAT’S why I think this stuff matters and how I’m finding it helpful. It’s not “the gospel”, but it is addressing the post-Christian hearer of the gospel and it’s helping many to hear it for what it is. /END

People are rightly asking, Why have a debate like this?👇 It’s not a debate about the truthfulness of Christianity. An atheist might strongly agree with me that our culture’s been thoroughly Christianised (many do!). A Christian might strongly disagree (many do!). Why bother? 🧵

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I just pledged towards PROTECTED a film soundtrack by @DOSMars on @Kickstarter kickstarter.com/projects/danie… The London gig and screening sounds like a very special evening, Joël Espi's film of Halyna Andrusenko's work should be beautiful, and Daniela's flute playing is sumptuous.

@CormStrikeFan Careful, I find such traditions become ocd-like ticks!

It’s becoming a tradition that, before catching my train home, I go into the bookshop at St Pancras and sort the Strike books out

@CarlBovisNature Firecrest? Wow, I've never seen one, and I would love to.

For anyone who needs cheering up... here's Britain's smallest bird having a bath today in a woodland puddle. 😁😍🐦❤️

@CarlBovisNature Wow, the wing colour means there's no way I would have thought "chiffchaff"

Chiffchaff wings! 😍 I hope you like this one, because I love it so much! 😀 It might even be a calendar contender! 🤔♥️🐦

@DrewBoylhart @bo66ie29 And *all* the men and boys have hats on

@bo66ie29 Interesting, I don't see any shorts, flip flops and any open arm pit tee shirts any were.

England in 1903. Whoever filmed this had no idea what a beautiful gift they were capturing for the future.

@CarlBovisNature The iridescence on its tail feathers is beautiful

If you see this photo, please leave a comment! 🙏😊 Did you know that in certain light, a Magpie's tail is multi-coloured? 😍 Magpies aren't very popular.... do you like them? 🐦

@UKLFI 10th not the 8th?

UKLFI Charitable Trust invites you to a webinar on the Abraham Accords, with Fleur Hassan-Nahoum and Natasha Hausdorff, on 8 February 2026 Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regist…

@CormStrikeFan That's incredible!

I tried to recreate the cover photo for #TheHallmarkedMan with my own photo!

@Joseph_Fasano_ That last line, "Love is for the ones who love the work", remind me of @PhilipPullman's talk (and essay) ‘I Must Create a System...’A moth's-eye view of William Blake. It's in his book of reflections called Daemon Voices. If you've not read it I think you would love it.

Whenever I post this, I get a lot of passionate comments about it, and about the final line in particular. I'm always glad there's dialogue about gen-AI and its inherent ethical questions, as these are conversations that also demand an unpacking of what we feel "work" to be. One thing I often say is that we've allowed the word "work" to take on a singular meaning, or we might say that its meaning has been thrust upon us by the power structure of our wage-driven and commodified world. This small poem of mine is attempting to push back against that singular meaning of the word "work." Very often misunderstandings of the final line come from a lack of analysis about what "work" can mean, or a simple acceptance of what we've been told it must mean. And I think that's worth challenging. I think "work" can mean something that is hard, and joyous, and true, and deeply involved with love and the art of living. It's of course natural that many of us in the economically inequitable world, having been so beaten down by thankless labor, can't see it that way anymore. And that's the tragedy: a false dichotomy between "work" and "life/love," a fragmenting of the self, a breakdown of the human soul that once could believe in meaningful and rewarding struggle, lived with an integrated sense of identity. And that fragmented soul is the exact kind of soul that can be sold the product of gen-AI.

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