Oh that's really interesting thanks, I assumed there must be!

I really like that old star wars is now double baked nostalgia, 2026 to 1977 to 1950. The wipe transitions between scenes are straight from the flash gordon serials, those already seemed impossibly old when I saw them as a kid. OG star wars is older now than they were then etc.

A miraculous live gig tape archive. Add n to x.. Stereolab.. Godspeed.. Robyn Hitchcock.. Dinosaur Jr... Is it ok? I hope so. Commercial streamers profit by robbing artists. I doubt I'd have paid for these live recordings. But I did just buy new vinyl because of them.

archive.org/details/@aad...

Ha hey thanks but it's quite effortful as you say. I'm really surprised the market hasn't naturally led to this being easily possible, given extremely high prevalence of both podcast hosts and paid music subscriptions!

In Oxford today I cycled past two lots of morris dancers to get to the drum & bass bike (no crossover party..) next to outdoor seating for pubs and cafes. 10 years ago this would be impossible: beautiful Broad Street was a thru road and used as a big car park. We don't always have to put cars first.

Drum & Bass On The Bike - OXFORD YouTube video by Dom Whiting

The drum and bass on a bike chap is back!

Broad Street Oxford today, 2pm.

youtu.be/-pSGF3Z1N3o?...

YouTube has removed "sort by date" in search results. Here's why that's "platform enshittification" (© @doctorow.pluralistic.net) the recurring process of

1. Lock in users with good service

2. Exploit your monopoly for advert £$€

3. Chase profit so hard that your platform becomes bad for everyone

I like number 6. The tx81z is fun but it's too good. The opl3 is the sound of shit old computers.

Lol no

Things I say that get me in trouble, part 7426:

"No but I'll sponsor your partner to look after your children while you train for it".

I have it. It has lost sort by date.

Don't lose your only lifetime on cat videos. Dig your own hole. Explore other people's. Buy good books, some by Cory, or his gadfly blog.

www.pluralistic.net

Thank you for coming to my geek Sunday service.

And here's a thing I find slightly interesting. This problem also presented itself in old media: TOTP was mostly boring, so were popular newspapers. But there was a mitigation. I could buy the LRB, or a niche magazine, often in a normal newsagents. With enshittification, we are all in the same soup.

Now it's suddenly much, much harder for me to find new things with that kind of search term. Good for you if you love cat videos, opinions, and breathless influencers. You're very well served. But my view onto the beautiful world is genuinely diminished by this change.

But I don't really enjoy that stuff. Not because I'm a cool kid. I just have odd interests. I want to see anything anyone has done with the Twisted Electrons Blastbeats (the best use of the Yamaha opl3 4 operator FM chip, to me it's a near spiritual experience, your mileage may vary).

Why? YouTube wants to maximise views. They've learned, by watching the global population, that humans are weak. Overall, people click on boobies, or cats, or pathetic squabbles. They like slick well produced content. To keep me watching, they think it's best to forcefeed me things most people like.

I like to watch niche videos, on niche topics. "Sort by date" with a text term is often the only way to find great new obscure content, by obscure people. The YouTube search algorithm gives you pages of... samey stuff from accounts that are already popular, and that you've probably already seen.

Why is this relevant to YouTube switching off "sort by date"? Because that was one of the best remaining ways to find things by _your_ search terms, under _your_ control, rather than crappy YouTube algorithms designed to hack the weakest human impulses.

YouTube has removed "sort by date" in search results. Here's why that's "platform enshittification" (© @doctorow.pluralistic.net) the recurring process of

1. Lock in users with good service

2. Exploit your monopoly for advert £$€

3. Chase profit so hard that your platform becomes bad for everyone

Cheshire van driver cleared of dangerous driving after four-year-old's death Four-year-old Esmé Rose Weir was run over as she rode her scooter along the pavement to pre-school.

In the news today, a cyclist on the pavement who killed a man is charged with manslaughter.

By contrast, here's a van driver who killed a little girl. He was driving on the pavement: common, and illegal. Killed her. Only charged with dangerous driving. Fully let off.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-engl...

Like any DIY synth geek I've loved Look Mum No Computer for many years. But I didn't expect to him to be the UK 2026 entry to Eurovision. Bravo man, this is the UK at its best, open and inclusive to other cultures, blue tack, string, and very silly. On!

youtu.be/niMKvJ-Itq8?...

OpenSAFELY news: you can apply to do non-COVID research, from today! | Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science We are delighted to announce that - from today - you can submit applications to the OpenSAFELY service for non-COVID-19 studies.

OpenSAFELY is open from today! Huge thanks to all who supported this vast collaboration: whole population GP data; in a productive platform; innovative privacy protections; unprecedented support from professions, privacy campaigners; &c

Now it's over to users!

www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2026/02...

Mirror Mask - What I'm looking at What I’m Looking At is a mirrored mask that allows you to see what the wearer is looking at, reflecting colour, texture, light and movement. #whatimlookingat It is anti selfie - away from the self and...

Just bought one of these gloriously absurd mirror masks

freddieyauner.co.uk/products/wha...

I wish that Spotify or similar would let people make radio shows, where they play music and talk in between. Since you've paid to access the music, it would be nice to have people share and curate, but with rambling humanity in the chat, not just playlists. This is the narrowcasting of my dreams.

Wonderful to see something good that is not just in the lab or proof of concept

What a huge achievement! A major milestone for science in general and a significant world exemplar. I hope many more similar things follow.

I started my career as a Körner implementation clerk in 1987. Since then I have spent most of my career in jobs with data, information or analyst in the title, all working with NHS data to try and improve public health. I retired last year. This is one of the most exciting developments I’ve seen.

BIG NEWS!

This is excellent news and a huge deal!

(Here's my explainer on OpenSafely and why it is incredibly cool.)
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/how-to-use...

Brilliant, geeky, healthy news... well done to @bengoldacre.bsky.social et al.