Kevin Marks
@kevinmarks.com
Reading your thoughts, as long as you tell me where you're writing them first this week. https://xoxo.zone/@kevinmarks
Sheffield, UK - Don't try direct messaging as I am blocked by daft UK legislation unless I'm on a VPN.
Sheffield, UK - Don't try direct messaging as I am blocked by daft UK legislation unless I'm on a VPN.
Loconundrum #212
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October 12, 2026 at 11:11 PM
Loconundrum #212
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October 12, 2026 at 10:37 PM
Reposted by Kevin Marks
🧮 Basic street math: Bicycle parking is not the problem, but a fundamental part of the solution.
October 12, 2026 at 4:07 PM
🧮 Basic street math: Bicycle parking is not the problem, but a fundamental part of the solution.
Reposted by Kevin Marks
Earlier this year, E3G released a big report with the Department of War Studies at Kings College which showed that our dependence on gas is a major national security risk. Cutting heat pumps to fund defence is like not paying for a flu jab so you can buy lemsip. It makes no sense.
October 12, 2026 at 11:11 AM
Earlier this year, E3G released a big report with the Department of War Studies at Kings College which showed that our dependence on gas is a major national security risk. Cutting heat pumps to fund defence is like not paying for a flu jab so you can buy lemsip. It makes no sense.
Reposted by Kevin Marks
Wow Coalburn is a huge battery! It swamps all the other grid-scale batteries on my energy map…
It's currently importing some 473 MW out of a maximum 500 MW, that's nearly half the output level of a massive new wind farm like Dogger Bank A.
It's currently importing some 473 MW out of a maximum 500 MW, that's nearly half the output level of a massive new wind farm like Dogger Bank A.
October 12, 2026 at 10:56 AM
Wow Coalburn is a huge battery! It swamps all the other grid-scale batteries on my energy map…
It's currently importing some 473 MW out of a maximum 500 MW, that's nearly half the output level of a massive new wind farm like Dogger Bank A.
It's currently importing some 473 MW out of a maximum 500 MW, that's nearly half the output level of a massive new wind farm like Dogger Bank A.
Reposted by Kevin Marks
The dirty secret is that rich people need to live in politically stable regimes in order to keep their wealth. They will piss and moan about taxes, but they will not flee en masse. They like paved roads and not being kidnapped too much.
New working paper: the Norwegian wealth tax was a huge success. The "exodus" of wealthy people never happened (less than 100 individuals left). Tax revenue increased by 71.5%. No changes in business activity or investment.
www.nber.org/papers/w35854
www.nber.org/papers/w35854
October 11, 2026 at 3:59 PM
The dirty secret is that rich people need to live in politically stable regimes in order to keep their wealth. They will piss and moan about taxes, but they will not flee en masse. They like paved roads and not being kidnapped too much.
Reposted by Kevin Marks
🔥 New blog post: The best way to use icons in Web UIs
What if I told you, you could use CSS to *insert* and *tweak* icons without touching any HTML?
And that you can manage them alongside your other design tokens?
lea.verou.me/blog/2026/ic...
What if I told you, you could use CSS to *insert* and *tweak* icons without touching any HTML?
And that you can manage them alongside your other design tokens?
lea.verou.me/blog/2026/ic...
The best way to use icons in Web UIs • Lea Verou
What if I told you, you could use CSS to insert and tweak icons without touching any HTML? And that it could be more flexible and maintainable than what you’ve been using?
lea.verou.me
October 12, 2026 at 6:32 AM
🔥 New blog post: The best way to use icons in Web UIs
What if I told you, you could use CSS to *insert* and *tweak* icons without touching any HTML?
And that you can manage them alongside your other design tokens?
lea.verou.me/blog/2026/ic...
What if I told you, you could use CSS to *insert* and *tweak* icons without touching any HTML?
And that you can manage them alongside your other design tokens?
lea.verou.me/blog/2026/ic...
October 12, 2026 at 12:08 AM
Loconundrum #211
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October 11, 2026 at 11:42 PM
Loconundrum #211
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Reposted by Kevin Marks
Bethany wore a “Protect The Dolls” t-shirt during rehearsals. The BBC posted it on their socials then quietly deleted and reposted it without showing her from the front. On TV last night they actually blurred the message #Strictly
October 11, 2026 at 7:08 AM
Bethany wore a “Protect The Dolls” t-shirt during rehearsals. The BBC posted it on their socials then quietly deleted and reposted it without showing her from the front. On TV last night they actually blurred the message #Strictly
Reposted by Kevin Marks
"brute forcing proofs does not help mathematics" and "brute forcing programs does not help software" are, per philip wadler, literally the same statement
October 11, 2026 at 5:25 PM
"brute forcing proofs does not help mathematics" and "brute forcing programs does not help software" are, per philip wadler, literally the same statement
Reposted by Kevin Marks
I've told this story before, but it's worth telling again:
Years ago I took a photography and healing course at Hollyhock on Cortes Island. Photographer and Oscar winner Dewitt Jones was an instructor, and showed us a card in the gift shop with a black and white photo taken by a former student.
Years ago I took a photography and healing course at Hollyhock on Cortes Island. Photographer and Oscar winner Dewitt Jones was an instructor, and showed us a card in the gift shop with a black and white photo taken by a former student.
On a trail on Salt Spring Island last week I was so intent on these mushrooms that I didn't even noticed the two black slugs above them until I got home and put all the shots up on my computer. #mushroom #x100v #invertebrate
October 11, 2026 at 4:41 PM
I've told this story before, but it's worth telling again:
Years ago I took a photography and healing course at Hollyhock on Cortes Island. Photographer and Oscar winner Dewitt Jones was an instructor, and showed us a card in the gift shop with a black and white photo taken by a former student.
Years ago I took a photography and healing course at Hollyhock on Cortes Island. Photographer and Oscar winner Dewitt Jones was an instructor, and showed us a card in the gift shop with a black and white photo taken by a former student.
Reposted by Kevin Marks
Turns out these guys are real
October 10, 2026 at 11:33 PM
Turns out these guys are real
October 11, 2026 at 1:30 PM
Reposted by Kevin Marks
BBC Radio 3
Private Passions
Michael Berkeley's guest is the saxophonist Courtney Pine.
Private Passions
Michael Berkeley's guest is the saxophonist Courtney Pine.
October 11, 2026 at 11:00 AM
BBC Radio 3
Private Passions
Michael Berkeley's guest is the saxophonist Courtney Pine.
Private Passions
Michael Berkeley's guest is the saxophonist Courtney Pine.
Reposted by Kevin Marks
Proposing analog to,”racism can explain every weird thing in America” is, “women are busy working for money is the secret reason everything we miss about a society is now dying.”
This article offers half a dozen reasons why people have stopped having friends and family over, but it ignores the fact that the women who planned parties and kept homes tidy enough for unplanned guests are now working for pay full-time (usually more than 9-5).
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
The dreadful decline of hosting at home: ‘I feel shame any time a friend comes over’
It used to be quite normal to pop next door for a coffee or invite friends over for dinner. But not any more. What’s behind this change – and just how damaging is it?
www.theguardian.com
October 11, 2026 at 5:38 AM
Proposing analog to,”racism can explain every weird thing in America” is, “women are busy working for money is the secret reason everything we miss about a society is now dying.”
Reposted by Kevin Marks
yes, if you can use a model to question the phenomenon in such a way then you have misunderstood how models / phenomena / theories relate. It's like saying if you have a bug in the implementation of a gravity model that that now means things float upwards in reality too.
October 11, 2026 at 7:59 AM
yes, if you can use a model to question the phenomenon in such a way then you have misunderstood how models / phenomena / theories relate. It's like saying if you have a bug in the implementation of a gravity model that that now means things float upwards in reality too.
Loconundrum #210
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October 11, 2026 at 2:57 AM
Loconundrum #210
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Reposted by Kevin Marks
My latest @newscientist.com cartoon
October 10, 2026 at 10:47 AM
My latest @newscientist.com cartoon
Reposted by Kevin Marks
Time for 2026 updates to my annual “opinions about solar” thread, now with storage. If you like these, you might like edition 2 of my book, Solar Power Finance Without The Jargon. A 30% discount code WSQ0437 is valid on publisher website til end of Nov 2026.
www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...
www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...
Solar Power Finance Without the Jargon
www.worldscientific.com
October 10, 2026 at 1:04 PM
Time for 2026 updates to my annual “opinions about solar” thread, now with storage. If you like these, you might like edition 2 of my book, Solar Power Finance Without The Jargon. A 30% discount code WSQ0437 is valid on publisher website til end of Nov 2026.
www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...
www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...
Reposted by Kevin Marks
41. Achieving a low-carbon transition, for most countries, will not look like winning a war or marching while waving flags. It is the ability to say "no thank you, we do not want what you are selling" to the petrostates, and walking (or cycling, or taking a bus, or driving an EV) away.
October 10, 2026 at 1:15 PM
41. Achieving a low-carbon transition, for most countries, will not look like winning a war or marching while waving flags. It is the ability to say "no thank you, we do not want what you are selling" to the petrostates, and walking (or cycling, or taking a bus, or driving an EV) away.
October 10, 2026 at 11:48 AM
“if the effective altruists funding this whole thing dedicated even a tiny fraction of their budget to a red-team of people with proper training in theory and statistics, they’d sleep easy at night and could get back to buying mosquito nets.”
joebakcoleman.com/blog/2026-10...
joebakcoleman.com/blog/2026-10...
Pitfalls in AI Self-Improvement · Joe Bak-Coleman
The evolutionary misconceptions behind recursive self-improvement
joebakcoleman.com
October 10, 2026 at 10:45 AM
“if the effective altruists funding this whole thing dedicated even a tiny fraction of their budget to a red-team of people with proper training in theory and statistics, they’d sleep easy at night and could get back to buying mosquito nets.”
joebakcoleman.com/blog/2026-10...
joebakcoleman.com/blog/2026-10...
Reposted by Kevin Marks
New blog post from me that is a bit of a doozy. It takes an evolutionary biology look at Recursive Self Improvement.
In the spirit of a blog post, its got toy models, a coda with something I'd totally missed before writing it, etc...
joebakcoleman.com/blog/2026-10...
In the spirit of a blog post, its got toy models, a coda with something I'd totally missed before writing it, etc...
joebakcoleman.com/blog/2026-10...
Pitfalls in AI Self-Improvement · Joe Bak-Coleman
The evolutionary misconceptions behind recursive self-improvement
joebakcoleman.com
October 9, 2026 at 6:06 PM
New blog post from me that is a bit of a doozy. It takes an evolutionary biology look at Recursive Self Improvement.
In the spirit of a blog post, its got toy models, a coda with something I'd totally missed before writing it, etc...
joebakcoleman.com/blog/2026-10...
In the spirit of a blog post, its got toy models, a coda with something I'd totally missed before writing it, etc...
joebakcoleman.com/blog/2026-10...
Reposted by Kevin Marks
lying in bed digging the hell out of this indonesian jazz trio
October 10, 2026 at 4:42 AM
lying in bed digging the hell out of this indonesian jazz trio