Durand D'souza🍃

Durand D'souza🍃

@dldx.org

Coffee, climbing, cocktails, cooking & climate. Astrophysics PhD dropout. Data Scientist @carbontracker.bsky.social

291 followers810 following512 posts

Durand D'souza🍃 reposted

Matt Burgess (WIRED)
@mattburgess1.bsky.social

NEW: A glimpse at how AI image generators are used. Researchers set up a fake image editor on Hugging Face and within a week received 1,000 prompts. 73% of them were sexual and 83% of those were asking for people (women) to be “undressed”. Around 6% of the sexual requests also targeted minors

wired.comHugging Face Has a Deepfake Nudes ProblemResearchers tested top image editing models on Hugging Face and found they could easily create explicit deepfakes—and 1,000 image editing prompts show how people use the software.
Durand D'souza🍃
@dldx.org

Such an own goal to sacrifice our study of the universe for the sake of investing in defense to kill people. Makes me really sad as an extra astrophysicist who started in radio astronomy :(

The Guardian@theguardian.com

World-class Jodrell Bank is under threat and UK risks a physics brain drain

theguardian.comWorld-class Jodrell Bank is under threat and UK risks a physics brain drainFunding crisis could lead to an exodus that would be a blow for British science and national growth
Durand D'souza🍃
@dldx.org

Much more effective than military spending too.

Albert Pinto@70sbachchan.bsky.social

"China will crash the US stock market this year They're dumping SOTA open-source models on the US, nearly as good as the frontier labs, basically free Nobody can refuse cutting a $100M AI bill down to $5M Once that deal is on the table for everyone, Anthropic&OpenAI can't justify their valuations"

Durand D'souza🍃
@dldx.org

If I was a foreign adversary, I'd be happy that the UK govt is diverting money away from public infrastructure projects that keep people happy into military black holes. Easy to turn the British public against its government when everything is visibly falling apart.

Durand D'souza🍃 reposted

Jenny Chase
@solarchase.bsky.social

It does feel insane that none of "the progressive case for aircon" mentions solar. If this heatwave had happened in 2010, the European grid would have buckled in the daytime! As it is, there were some issues in the evening when the sun went down. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

theguardian.comNot just for rich people: the progressive case for air conditioning | Phineas HarperAir conditioning can bring significant benefits but also real harms. The answer is for it to take its place alongside a comprehensive state plan for climate adaptation, says writer and curator Phineas...

Durand D'souza🍃 reposted

Justin Mikulka
@justinmikulka.bsky.social

In June 2024 Bloomberg ran an article about how China's LNG demand was "threatened." In that article they forecast that China's LNG demand would be in the mid 90s by the end of this year. Today they say they expect it to be in the low 60s.

Durand D'souza🍃
@dldx.org

As usual, short termism culture by Labour. Nobody wants to live in a tarmac-riddled suburbia with no greenery. It's especially not fit for a UK with increasing heat stress and it wojt make any existing locals happy. The only advantage is boosting developer profit www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.comEngland’s poorest areas face deepest cuts to green space under planning law changes, report findsExclusive: New loopholes for developers will exacerbate extreme disparities across country, charity coalition warns

Durand D'souza🍃 reposted

Jonathan Koomey
@jgkoomey.bsky.social

When I say that Carney has been a huge disappointment on climate, this is one reason why.

Dr Dan Shugar 🇨🇦@watershedlab.bsky.social

Carney taking a page out of the GOP playbook. There can no longer be any question that the federal liberals have abandoned climate action. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

cbc.caCarney says the world is facing an 'energy crisis' and Canada must help solve it | CBC NewsIn B.C. to meet with the province's premier who is sceptical of another oil pipeline, Prime Minister Mark Carney said the world is in the throes of an "energy crisis" and Canada must do its part to su...

Durand D'souza🍃 reposted

Clean Energy Wire | CLEW
@cleanenergywire.bsky.social

Germany set for wider climate target miss than expected Country on course to miss 2030 targets and govt plans could make things worse, climate expert council says www.cleanenergywire.org/news/germany...

cleanenergywire.orgGermany set for wider climate target miss than expected – climate council | Clean Energy WireGermany is on course to miss its 2030 climate targets by a larger margin than previously thought, and government reform plans could make things worse, the country's independent Council of Experts on Climate Change has warned. Environmental groups echoed the concern, arguing that recent government decisions were widening the climate action gap rather than closing it.

Durand D'souza🍃 reposted

EssaysConcern
@richarderskine.bsky.social

@skynewsrss.bsky.social why is @bethrigby.bsky.social not challenging Reform claiming an old property cannot be heated by a heat pump? Heat pump experts have called out this misinformation but you let it go by. Here’s an actual real world example. My house. essaysconcerning.com/2023/03/29/h...

essaysconcerning.comHeating a listed Cotswold stone building with an air-source heat pump: our journeyUpdate a: A survey by Nesta UK of Heat Pump users published 23 May 2023 finds high levels of satisfaction with heat pumps, see Note [7] Update b: Following requests from some readers for more infor…

Durand D'souza🍃 reposted

Electoral Reform Society
@electoralreform.bsky.social

Voters in Scotland and Wales today can vote in the knowledge that their parliaments will end up roughly in line with how the countries voted. A privilege not shared by voters in the English local elections, where First Past the Post continues to cause havoc.

buff.lyThe Guardian view on Britain’s multiparty politics: the Westminster voting system needs to catch up | EditorialEditorial: Local and devolved elections will reveal fragmented party allegiances that cannot be fairly represented in parliament via first past the post

Durand D'souza🍃 reposted

Electoral Reform Society
@electoralreform.bsky.social

As we see results of the local elections across England continue to come in, it’s clear that First Past the Post is failing voters – with some councils bearing little resemblance to how people actually voted. It doesn’t need to be this way. It’s time to scrap First Past the Post in England.

Durand D'souza🍃 reposted

The Green Party of England & Wales
@greenparty.org.uk

🚨 GREEN MILESTONE 🚨 For the first time, the Green Party has 1,000 councillors 💚 Congratulations to Cllr Maxine Webb - the 1,000th Green Party councillor - on being elected to Norfolk County Council 🎉

Durand D'souza🍃 reposted

Clare Bonetree
@blooyonder.bsky.social

while overall this is pretty depressing, can I point you to the story about support from allies for the trans charity Not A Phase following the Supreme Court ruling. As Michelle Obama would say, when they go low, we go high www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/in-dept...

civilsociety.co.ukIn-depth: How LGBT+ charities are bearing the financial brunt of the anti-DEI waveAs Pride Month looms, Emily Moss examines the unique funding challenges facing LGBT+ charities in the current political climate…
Durand D'souza🍃
@dldx.org

The silver lining of a generally scary Reform council seat surge is that we have 3 years to go until the UK general election and that leaves plenty of time for Reform councils to cause enough chaos to self-destruct as a party. I mean Labour managed to self-destruct in under two years after all.

Durand D'souza🍃
@dldx.org

The @labouruk.bsky.social is such a joke of a party. It spent the last two years cheering on Israel and the US as it bombs Palestine, Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. US bombers and surveillance drones still take off from UK bases. Labour should be the ones apologising for endangering lives in London

Durand D'souza🍃 reposted

Common Wealth
@cmmonwealth.bsky.social

“According to the Common Wealth think tank, around a quarter of every energy bill is taken in profit across the industry. One pound in every four that households spend keeping the lights on and the heating running flows out as profit, not as energy.” www.lbc.co.uk/article/bp-r...

lbc.co.ukBP’s record profits come at a human cost | LBCWhen conflict drives up the price of oil and gas, energy companies profit and households pay, writes Simon Francis