David Smith

David Smith

@avaragado.org

Creative techie gay in Cambridge UK. Solution Architect/Technical Product Designer/Writer/Leader (looking for work). avaragado everywhere. Writes fiction as @anthonycamber.com 🏳️‍🌈

112 followers100 following670 posts

Pinned

David Smith
@avaragado.org

Publication day has arrived for my new novel, Between Two Worlds. This is my seventh book. The sequel is already drafted and will be out next year. It’s unlike anything I’ve written before. Unlike most YA books. Unlike most queer books. I love it. My publisher (me) adds: Buy it now on Amazon.

Anthony Camber@anthonycamber.com

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS - out now A queer coming-of-age dystopian sci-fi adventure with light, shade, and a touch of romance. Set on the generation ship Capricorn, journeying across the stars, it's a story of secrets, lies, found family, and things you don't know you don't know. 📚👀🌈📚💙📚🌈🚀💫 🚫 NO AI

David Smith reposted

Dorian Lynskey
@dorianlynskey.bsky.social

The problem with Justin Webb’s position at the BBC is not just his flagrant bias, or his writing for the Mail, or his audible prejudices, it’s that all those things make him embarrassingly bad at analysing politics. “Left = firebrand = too woke = trouble for Dems” is about his level

David Smith reposted

David Smith
@avaragado.org

Lula wins by *checks notes* 52% to 48%. As we all know, that margin is absolutely definitive and entitles Lula to rule as if he won 100% of the vote.

David Smith
@avaragado.org

Lula wins by *checks notes* 52% to 48%. As we all know, that margin is absolutely definitive and entitles Lula to rule as if he won 100% of the vote.

David Smith reposted

Taniel
@taniel.bsky.social

Replying to @taniel.bsky.social

This thread comes to a close... ... as we now have a final result. Let the records show that, with 92% of the vote countywide, Lula is up 3.3%. (Can he end up doubling his 2022 margin?)

Taniel@taniel.bsky.social

Lula has been reelected president, Brazilian media has now called. An extraordinary comeback for the left-wing politician who trailed by 2 points in round 1 but managed to hold off Flávio Bolsonaro, the former president's son.

David Smith reposted

Nikola
@greasyboiler.bsky.social

Decades of hard-won progress erased in a few short years by a handful of politicians & newspaper editors who figured that non-stop screeching about asylum seekers and trans people was the only way to maintain electoral consent for perma-austerity while every part of the state visibly rots.

Adam Bienkov@adambienkov.bsky.social

"This hatred, it’s like a cancer. It spreads because people will always say, ‘Oh, it’s just the illegals.’ It’s not. “From what I experienced, it was anyone who was remotely different, different creed, different colour, different sexuality.” www.theargus.co.uk/news/2665180...

theargus.co.ukActor describes 'abysmal racism and homophobia' he faced in ChichesterAn assault on a cast member of a play in Chichester was "just the tip of the iceberg" of the "racism, xenophobia and homophobia" the cast faced in the town, an actor has claimed.
David Smith
@avaragado.org

BBC2 is showing the 1954 musical Carmen Jones, featuring an African-American cast that includes Harry Belafonte. WHERE ARE THEIR POPPIES???/!?

David Smith reposted

Leicester Gazette
@leicestergazette.leicester.news

Two University of Leicester students speak out over ‘absurd’ and ‘Orwellian’ decision by the BBC and ITV Studios to edit out pride pins worn on University Challenge

leicester.newsBBC edits out pride pins on University Challenge in ‘Orwellian’ move* * * This story was published by **The Leicester Gazette** : a local, independent newspaper about Leicestershire. 1,000 people have already joined our community. Just use those buttons below to download our app and **sign up for free**. * * * Astrophysics student Samuel Carlier and History student Emmeline Hague-Wright were shocked to find that their LGBTQ+ pride pins had been edited out of their University Challenge appearance earlier this year. The episode, initially scheduled for BBC Two on 24 August, was delayed twice before airing on 7 September 2026. The pins showed the progressive LGBTQ+ pride flag, the bisexual pride flag and a rainbow feather. Speaking to the Leicester Gazette, Sam said: “Living in a liberal democracy and having the state broadcaster tell you ‘we’re editing how you look’, seems very Orwellian.” Sam described the choice to remove the pins before broadcast as “weird” and “absurd”. He said: “[Censoring] that seemed weird. If I had worn a rainbow shirt, would they have censored that? If the idea is to keep things impartial, where is that line in the sand?” A side by-side image of Sam wearing the pin and with it having been digitally removed. Photograph: supplied Sam contacted the BBC to try to understand why his pins had been edited out. He told the Gazette: “The BBC people said they’d ring me, and I chased them, they just said go to the complaints website and file a complaint there, that’s what I did.” Since then, Sam hasn’t had a response from the BBC as to why his pins were removed. After the episode had aired, Sam noted that his shirt ‘melted’ into itself occasionally, as a result of the editing. Photograph: supplied ## Students believe the decision was made following online transphobia Emmeline was also shocked when she found out that the feather pin she wore was due to be removed from the episode she was in. It was understood by Emmeline that there was online transphobia in response to previous episode of University Challenge, and she had been contacted by the BBC, anticipating support from the broadcaster. When the BBC contacted her, instead of an offer of support, she was told her pin was going to be removed. “At first it was mostly confusion,” she said. “I heard that they had received a lot of nastiness online from people and I thought they were going to call me to say ‘we have support services if needed,’ and that wasn't what I got at all.” Instead, Emmeline was notified that the episodes were going to be delayed. “It was out of left field, I was confused for a while,” she said. “This entire delay has been because of a feather and two badges on a teammate that were basically impossible [for viewers] to see.” Emmeline had expressed her frustrations with the repeated delays from the BBC, spanning from mid-July to early-September. She said: “We were announced on the website and then delayed again, and then announced on the website a second time, and delayed even further. Speaking about the removal, she said: “It takes a lot of time” she said. “Making it [the edit] look good would be even more expensive and time-consuming. It seems like drastically a lot of effort.” ## Join the conversation Our app is more than just a way to keep up – it's a gateway to award-winning journalism and the local community. __Want to support our work?__ Click here for membership__.__ ## Wider criticism on LGBTQ+ support The pins Sam wore during the episode. Photograph: supplied According to leading LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall UK, two in five LGBTQ+ students will hide their identities at university for fear of discrimination. Stonewall has reported that more than 36 per cent of trans students have received hostile conduct from university staff due to their gender identity. Reflecting on the digital removal of the pins, Sam spoke about how disheartening the choice was. He said: “There was maybe like a span of eight years where someone could be uncontroversially out in the open queer – now that’s gone again.” he said. The BBC has also been widely criticised for ‘an attack on the LGBTQ+ community’ by pulling its involvement with the popular show, RuPaul's Drag Race. The broadcaster pulled its involvement in September following “significant financial pressures” as the reason for axing their involvement. The criticism follows another recent controversial edit by the BBC. On its hit show, Strictly Come Dancing, a decision was made to edit out ‘Protect the Dolls’ from contestant Bethany Antonia’s T-shirt. It’s a slogan which has become widely used to support the rights of trans women. The BBC defended their decision, saying the changes were made to meet editorial guidelines. It comes as the LGBTQ+ community has faced challenges amid an increasingly less tolerant political climate. ## What the BBC had to say When we asked them about editing out the pins worn by Leicester’s University Challenge team, a BBC spokesperson said: “In line with our editorial guidelines, we advise that no badges, flags, and emblems or symbols are worn or visible during filming, along with clothing with obvious branding or slogans. If such items are not removed for any reason then a decision is made between the programme makers and the BBC regarding any edits to the programme.” The BBC said the delays to the episode were unrelated to the decision to edit out the pins. A spokesperson for ITV Studios said: “University Challenge is an entertainment quiz show and is made in accordance with the BBC Editorial Guidelines requirements for impartiality.” The University of Leicester refused to comment on the matter. * * * **Before you go…** We’ve recently surpassed 1,000 subscribers, which is amazing considering we’re a small team on a shoestring budget. Now, we’re ready for the next stage of the Leicester Gazette. **Download our new app and get all of our journalism anytime, anywhere.** The app connects with **Bluesky** , **Mastodon** and **Threads** , giving you access to a network of around 60 million people. It’s a safer, more meaningful alternative to mainstream social media – owned by the community. * * *

David Smith reposted

Jason Hazeley
@jasonhazeley.bsky.social

It really IS a triumph. Science is the absolute fucking suds.

New Humanist@newhumanist.bsky.social

In England, no women aged 20 to 24 died of cervical cancer between 2020 and 2024, according to a study published in The Lancet. Researchers link it to the HPV vaccine.

David Smith reposted

Maevyn
@maevyn.codes

My thoughts on the current state of AI driven software development, why I'm no longer concerned about a runaway intelligence explosion, and what I think is a far worse outcome we could be walking into maevyn.codes/decoherence

maevyn.codesThe Decoherence Trap: When AI slop drowns out the signal in an endless sea of noiseOf all the forms of tech debt, decoherence is the worst. It compounds exponentially with a system's rate of change, and AI is now producing it faster than ever, leading us deeper and deeper into the a...

David Smith reposted

John Scalzi
@scalzi.com

I see we're having a debate about whether it's okay to go back to "X," the site owned by a trillionaire fascist who is currently bankrolling the GOP's midterm, throttled Ukraine's war effort, and still winkingly allows vast amounts of CSAM on his service Answer: No, what the fuck is wrong with you

David Smith reposted

Karl Bode
@karlbode.com

Replying to @karlbode.com

Musk's "flying car," in case there's any doubt, will never actually see any sort of meaningful commercial launch and exists entirely as stock-fluffing propaganda aimed at the U.S. tech media's unlimited supply of credulous dopes

David Smith
@avaragado.org

The latest edition of The Rest is Entertainment podcast with Richard Osman and Marina Hyde spent half its time on another celeb who’s setting up an independent entertainment venture after quitting the day job. Who’s the lucky celeb to be plugged? Step forward, uh, Marina Hyde.

David Smith
@avaragado.org

Sadly no time for Marina “I want JKR as PM” Hyde to mention the story about the BBC blanking out a “Protect the Dolls” shirt on Strictly.

David Smith
@avaragado.org

What’s your favourite bug in the Bluesky iOS app on iPad? Is it “swiping to dismiss an image sometimes crashes the app”? Or maybe “tapping back when viewing a post scrolls you to the top of the timeline”? Or maybe the universal classic “Bluesky doesn’t remember my scroll position”?

David Smith reposted

Dmitry Grozoubinski
@explaintrade.com

For those playing along at home: To give the appearance of action on the impacts of his humiliating blunder on the world stage, the President of the United States is making a humiliating blunder on the world stage by bailing the Russian president out of a humiliating blunder on the world stage.

David Smith reposted

Media Diversified
@writersofcolour.bsky.social

On 7 October, a video shared by Stand Up to Racism Scotland, with the caption This is what happens when you keep telling racists that they have "legitimate concerns"... appeared to show a group of black-clad men ‘patrolling’ the streets of Glasgow while making racist threats.

David Smith
@avaragado.org

Threads, where "Explore communities" means "Here is an arbitrarily ordered infinitely scrolling list of things we deem to be communities, without a way to sort or filter them. We have, however, given them icons."

David Smith reposted

Stephen Moran.
@moranstephen1000.bsky.social

Let's have look at who the British right idolizes. Tommy Robinson: 2 active charges. Russell Brand: 7 active charges Danny Tommo: 8 active charges Andrew Tate: 42 active charges Tristan Tate: 17 active charges Note that all 5 have publicly embraced performative christianity in recent years.

David Smith
@avaragado.org

This is an entirely natural consequence of decades in which the goal of education has been employment.

Stephen Bush@stephenkb.bsky.social

One thing I find endlessly funny about the rise of AI is that it has revealed that there is a large number of people who believe that the reason they wrote essays at school or university is their teachers were desperately waiting for them to provide a definite answer to “Lear: what’s up with him?”

David Smith
@avaragado.org

Congratulations to [redacted] for surprising this jaded old techie and sending me a username and password in plaintext email in the space year 2026. Yes, it's a "strong password". It ends in a dot - or does it? Maybe they're just being hopelessly insecure in a grammatically correct way.

David Smith reposted

Dewie
@judgedewie.bsky.social

OMG I had to check my work emails regarding an extra case in court tomorrow and I've just read this from an HR person. "on a knee to nose basis" A KNEE TO NOSE BASIS 😳

David Smith
@avaragado.org

1. Weird 2. Doesn't resemble the actual tapestry 3. Who's Kemi supposed to be? William? The one who successfully invaded the country in small boats? 4. Who's the little crying man? 5. Who do the rats in the panels represent? 6. Who's the man with the big nose?

This post is unavailable.
David Smith
@avaragado.org

Oh my god. That's up there with Gender Karen and her bankers.

Mic Wright@brokenbottleboy.bsky.social

If you need labels in your ‘satirical’ cartoon, it is shit.

David Smith
@avaragado.org

Email from the Cambridge Union Society with a "historical digest" latching on to Celebrity Traitors, naming some Cambridge connections. Stephen Fry, of course. James Blunt. Jerry Hall, who was once "due to speak" (stretching it). And Kim Philby, an actual traitor. Fair play.

David Smith reposted

Anthony Camber
@anthonycamber.com

I'm looking for more reviews for Between Two Worlds. It's on Booksprout if you're a member there - free to join and review. "Everything I want and need from a sci-fi story" "I loved this book" "Clever, touching and engrossing" Claim a review copy here: booksprout.co/reviewer/rev... 📚👀🌈📚💙📚🌈🚀💫

David Smith reposted

Robert Saunders
@robertsaunders.bsky.social

It’s a mark of the corruption of our whole way of thinking about the world that trying to meet a planetary emergency is routinely described as “ideological”, while continuing to accelerate it is presented as “pragmatic” and “economic”.

David Smith
@avaragado.org

Ah yes, such weighty questions as “Who should we believe, you or Nigel Farage?” and “Will you raise taxes?”

David Smith reposted

It's Pipes, Mum! Pipes is here!
@scriblit.bsky.social

The British Opinion Columnists make sense when you realise they're a clique of Year 10 girls who've all decided to call Kelly From Maths a bitch and a crybaby and a virgin and a slag until she leaves school (one way or the other), except they're 55.

David Smith reposted

James Grimmelmann
@jtlg.bsky.social

Congratulations to Meta, I guess, on failing to take reasonable measures to protect its trade secrets, and on authorizing extensive access to a protected computer.

ct@cteeze-nuts.bsky.social

I can't recommend highly enough this thread in which meta's muse model is shown to be so poorly hardened that it will tar its own VM filesystem and let you download it neuromatch.social/@jonny/11732...

neuromatch.socialjonny (nonvenomous) (@jonny@neuromatch.social)Attached: 1 image Not only confirming this, its extremely easy. Almost no prompt injection resistance lmao

David Smith reposted

Caræsten 🇵🇸
@cara.city

guys please stop falling for this, this is not “rogue AI” it’s “environments with lax cybersecurity controls”

kate conger@kateconger.com

The latest update in the rogue A.I. saga: OpenAI agents that were supposed to be performing mundane data requests for things like health data, historic photos and wait times at theme parks resorted to hacking attempts when they couldn't access the data they wanted www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/t...

nytimes.comOpenAI’s A.I. Tried Breaching Four Other Targets, With No Prompting (Gift Article)In each incident, the technology appeared to be conducting mundane data collection and resorted to hacking techniques to get it, researchers said.