Tom Standage

Here's “Animals”, the first track from the second album by @SebastopolBand, in which I play drums youtube.com/watch?v=PRYbVL…

@vinography @bonkowskimw Yes, this is quite similar to clairet (clairette is a grape). But clairet uses only red grapes. Blouge uses white grapes too (like Spanish clarete). And now France has recognised a new kind of light Bordeaux red called "claret". It's a recipe for confusion theguardian.com/food/2026/jan/…

@bonkowskimw We already had clairette, which was just fine, thank you.

Wait, people are calling blends of red and white grapes "blouge" wines now? What the hell was wrong with blush, people? At least everyone can pronounce it correctly the first time! economist.com/culture/2026/0…

@DGHetherington @TfL Thanks. I've sent them the digital V5, photos of my car, etc today. (I'm also being asked to prove what kind of vehicle it is, for Blackwall/Silvertown tunnel tolls.) Again, DVLA has already provided TfL with this information!

@tomstandage @TfL this page had the link to their contact form - tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/…

@TfL make it make sense, cleaner vehicle discount for an EV with zero emissions, but doesn’t meet the ULEZ and LEZ emissions standards, how?

@DaffydColes @TfL I have the same problem -- @TfL think my Volvo EV is not ULEZ compliant, even though their ULEZ checker says it is. How did you fix this? Did you have to send them your V5C etc?

Um, those are all elements, not minerals, and none of them is a rare-earth element nytimes.com/2025/02/03/wor…

Guys. We — as in Californian voters who voted in 1988 — voted for a system where every time an insurance company wants to raise rates for automobiles or homes, they have to have a public hearing and an elected insurance commissioner has to approve that rate increase.

@MrT_on_Fleek A-maize-ing! etc etc

We have been experimenting with AI Art in class while reminiscing about that time years ago when Logan got into a corn themed pun war with @tomstandage after reading "An Edible History of Humanity". This is what my midwest students envision of Standage across the pond circa 2020.

Toad sat on the edge of his bed. ’Blah,’ said Toad. ‘I feel down in the dumps.’

Things blamed on radio (From 1920s to 1940s) - Bad economy - Poor grades - Robbery - Dead birds - Dirigible explosions - Broken windows - Fights - Rain - Snow - Drought - Gun deaths - Bad skin - Jail breaks - Unemployment of blind - Blue, green and pink water

@DuchessThompson @ROMtoronto Ha ha! I always do this too! Whatever kind of museum it is, there’s usually a link. At the coin museum in Athens, for example, there are amphorae on the coins of Chios…

Visiting a museum with a specific purpose (eg which artifacts pair best w A History of the World in 6 Glasses' wine chapters?) is my new fav way to learn. @ROMtoronto @tomstandage

@CJHandmer @DrStarson Real nerds go to see Platform 0 at King's Cross, a rare station with zero-based numbering. Perhaps Dijkstra had fans at British Rail back in the day?

@DrStarson It seemed to be obscured behind a rather macabre crush of tourists all hell bent on getting their Authentic Harry Potter Experience (tm).

Continuing my study of Mars City interiors...

@CJHandmer Using synthetic fuel, of course

@tomstandage Absolutely not. Combustion or GTFO.

My politics is that the convention of a "fireside chat" is mis-named unless there is an actual fire.

@CJHandmer @SciGuySpace At @TheEconomist we’ve been saying SLS should be cancelled for years. But are we “space” journalists?

@SciGuySpace Have you or any other space journalist come out and advocated for wholesale cancellation?

An exploration program based on SLS and Orion has long been criticized as being hardware poor. Being hardware rich means you can test a lot. Being hardware poor forces you into difficult corners like this: arstechnica.com/space/2024/09/…

New paper: “Lessons for scaling direct air capture from the history of ammonia synthesis.” Led by Cameron Roberts.   TLDR: If high temperature DAC can grow like ammonia it can meet 2050 targets, but…   1/x

@bradtem It has mirrors, but no steering wheel?

Tesla Teases A Robotaxi And Other Big Changes dlvr.it/TC9l8C

@lilbytelil @patrickc Might I ask how you obtain the full text of each edition? Do you use an ePub/Kindle edition or PDF, or did you write a scraper? (I too have been experimenting with summaries or entire editions, using Gemini, but we have access to PDFs internally)

I still think someone will someday make a very nice business out of the time shifted periodical: subscribe to The Economist (or NYT, or…), starting in 1900, and have time advance by 3 months every week. You retrace the 20th century through to today over the course of a decade.

@azeem @patrickc My thoughts exactly! My daughter just did the same for the letters of Cicero

Right now the advantages from AI accrue to workers, not firms. As a result, they can be hard to notice (especially if you don't try to seriously use AI yourself, which is illuminating) These two accounts by coders are instructive: nicholas.carlini.com/writing/2024/h… erikschluntz.com/software/2024/…