Tom VdP

Tom VdP

@tomvdp.bsky.social

Quiet guy. I'm here to read, not so much to actively contribute.

65 followers119 following220 posts

Tom VdP reposted

Jenna Norton
@jenna-m-norton.bsky.social

4 reasons the Trump administration is attacking science. 🧵 This is still one of the most common questions I hear from people - but why!? Isn't science good for everyone?! So, here is my current thinking on why...

Tom VdP reposted

Aaron Rupar
@atrupar.com

"Please right your right hand. I pledge to the greatest president in history that loves us so much he can't even breathe" -- in extremely culty scene, Trump has his supporters pledge to him that they will vote, then tells them they will "go to hell" if they don't Here's the full sequence:

Tom VdP reposted

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)
@doctorow.pluralistic.net

Replying to @doctorow.pluralistic.net

Rather than legally requiring platforms to spy on kids (to exclude them from being targeted by platforms' algorithms), we could prohibit platforms from spying on *anyone*, including kids, meaning kids couldn't be identified (much less targeted) by algorithms: pluralistic.net/2026/06/23/d... 5/

pluralistic.netPluralistic: Spying on kids to save kids from spying is very, very stupid (23 Jun 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

Tom VdP reposted

AFP News Agency
@en.afp.com

Tens of thousands rally in Albania's capital against a resort linked to US President Donald Trump's family, in the largest protest since a movement against the project began weeks ago. u.afp.com/SKAD

Tom VdP reposted

David Ho
@davidho.bsky.social

Think of CO₂ removal like a time machine. How far back does planting 100 million trees take us? One mature tree takes up ~25 kg of CO₂/year, so 100 million trees will take up 2.5 MtCO₂. That's a time machine that takes us back ~33 minutes in a year. Nature will not save us from fossil fuel CO₂.

Tom VdP reposted

AFP News Agency
@en.afp.com

🐋 Exceptionally rare footage of sperm whale giving birth in the wild Scientists have released footage of a spectacular event rarely witnessed by humans: a sperm whale giving birth while other females worked together to support the mother and her newborn 📹 Project CETI

Tom VdP
@tomvdp.bsky.social

Sensoren in banden kan je eenvoudig tracken. We rijden allemaal met trackers rond. @jbaert.bsky.social

Phil PlAIt@philplait.bsky.social

This is not the dystopia I was promised in movies from the 60s and 70s networks.imdea.org/your-cars-ti...

networks.imdea.orgYour car’s tire sensors could be used to track you - IMDEA NetworksResearchers at IMDEA Networks Institute, together with European partners, have found that tire pressure sensors in modern cars can unintentionally expose drivers to tracking. Over a ten-week study, th...

Tom VdP reposted

Jeroen Baert
@jbaert.bsky.social

Waarom gaan wij nog naar het WK?

Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social

If you're living somewhere outside the USA, one thing you can do is pressure your leaders to boycott World Cup and Olympic events here.

Tom VdP
@tomvdp.bsky.social

#delhaize registreert via mijn klantenkaart al mijn aankopen. Ik koop nooit vlees. Wel veel veggie. Daarnet deze reclame voor het consumeren van dood dier ontvangen. Jakkes! 🤢

Tom VdP reposted

James Dyke
@jamesgdyke.info

Not eating animals is a very robust rule of thumb when it comes to reducing your environmental footprint and the amount of suffering your diet may be producing.

Henry Mance@henrymance.ft.com

FT investigation: Tuna-fishing has among the worst working conditions of any fishing. If you buy tuna from a UK supermarket, you may be buying the product of modern slavery. ig.ft.com/supermarket-...

Tom VdP
@tomvdp.bsky.social

Gaat een zakje knikkers genoeg zijn om ze tegen te houden?

Anton Gerashchenko@antongerashchenko.bsky.social

Chinese company UBTECH Robotics has assembled an army of humanoid robots for factory work. They don’t need recharging - the humanoids are capable of changing their own batteries, making their presence in production almost independent of humans.

Tom VdP
@tomvdp.bsky.social

Obama kan speechen. Vergelijk dat met het incoherent gebrabbel van Trump.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Obama: "The weird videos of a US president with a crown on his head flying a fighter jet & dumping poop on American citizens - that's not even worth booing about. Because all of that is a distraction from the fact that your situation, your life has not gotten better. They do it so you won't notice"

Tom VdP reposted

Steven Boers
@stefendetong.bsky.social

Om jullie een idee te geven hoe betrouwbaar ChatGPT is, vroeg ik informatie over Katastroof, de band waar ik zo'n 20 jaar (en af en toe nog) in speelde en waar ik dus zeer veel over weet. Het resultaat zat boordevol flagrante fouten! Hieronder noem ik ze even op...

Tom VdP
@tomvdp.bsky.social

Waarom is het voor Nederlanders zo moeilijk om de Engelse uitspraak goed te krijgen? Dit klinkt als een karikatuur.

Anton Gerashchenko@antongerashchenko.bsky.social

NATO Secretary General Rutte: …Now there is hardly any Russian naval presence in the Mediterranean left There is a lone&broken Russian submarine limping home from patrol.What a change from the 1984 Tom Clancy novel The Hunt for Red October.Today, it seems more like The Hunt for the Nearest Mechanic

Tom VdP reposted

Meredith Whittaker
@meredithmeredith.bsky.social

📣 Germany's close to reversing its opposition to mass surveillance & private message scanning, & backing the Chat Control bill. This could end private comms-& Signal-in the EU. Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.

Signal@signal.org

We are alarmed by reports that Germany is on the verge of a catastrophic about-face, reversing its longstanding and principled opposition to the EU’s Chat Control proposal which, if passed, could spell the end of the right to privacy in Europe. signal.org/blog/pdfs/ge...

signal.orgsignal.org

Tom VdP reposted

Dr. Jonathan Foley
@globalecoguy.bsky.social

Food causes 22-34% of climate change. But it only gets 4% of the media coverage. Why? Neglect. Misunderstanding. And a hell of a lot of greenwashing.

Sentient@sentientmedia.org

“Emissions from food are still very underreported,” @jennysplitter.bsky.social, Sentient's editor-in-chief, tells Anay Mridul of Green Queen. Learn more about our analysis of 11 major U.S. outlets:

buff.lyLess Than 4% of US Media Climate Coverage Mentions Meat & Dairy's Emissions Toll: New AnalysisAn analysis of hundreds of online articles from US media shows that less than 4% mention and contextualise the role of meat in climate change. Here's why.
Tom VdP
@tomvdp.bsky.social

Steek geen dood dier in je mond. Zo simpel kan het zijn om je bijdrage te leveren aan een betere wereld.

Emily Cassidy@enviroem.bsky.social

Soybeans are overwhelming used for feed. 80% of protein produced on Brazil's croplands is used to feed animals iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1.... The recent tariff issue is a prime example of how the world's taste for meat (not soy) is shaping distant landscapes. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

theguardian.comHow the world’s taste for soya is eating Brazil’s AmazonCultivation of the crop has made a few wealthy but at a huge cost to untouched forest as it spreads across vast areas of former wilderness

Tom VdP reposted

John Sipher
@johnsipher.bsky.social

“As Yuri Andropov once put it, “We just need to plant the seeds. Others will harvest and re-plant for us.” Useful idiots abroad—politicians, activists, or commentators—spread and legitimize Russian narratives…” tomorrowsaffairs.com/putins-lies-...

tomorrowsaffairs.comPutin’s Lies Hide WeaknessRussia has thrived on lies for centuries; its undoing will come when truth proves more powerful than the fictions it desperately spins
Tom VdP
@tomvdp.bsky.social

Omdat het ook eens goed nieuws mag zijn. Goed geschreven stuk met enkele verrassende inzichten.

Our World in Data@ourworldindata.org

Check out the new article by our own @hannahritchie.bsky.social and collaborators at the @oxmartinschool.bsky.social— "Earth has now passed peak farmland. What's next?"

Tom VdP reposted

David_j_roth
@davidjroth.bsky.social

I often find myself saying "what a time to be alive" but friends, today, defector.com/it-took-many...

defector.comIt Took Many Years And Billions Of Dollars, But Microsoft Finally Invented A Calculator That Is Wrong Sometimes | DefectorIt’s not AI winter just yet, though there is a distinct chill in the air. Meta is shaking up and downsizing its artificial intelligence division. A new report out of MIT finds that 95 percent of compa...
Tom VdP
@tomvdp.bsky.social

"politicians decide to regulate technology they don’t understand, targeting problems they can’t define, with solutions that don’t work"

Jeroen Baert@jbaert.bsky.social

Didn’t Take Long To Reveal The UK’s Online Safety Act Is Exactly The Privacy-Crushing Failure Everyone Warned About (Lees je mee, Caroline Gennez?)

techdirt.comDidn’t Take Long To Reveal The UK’s Online Safety Act Is Exactly The Privacy-Crushing Failure Everyone Warned AboutWell, well, well. The “age assurance” part of the UK’s Online Safety Act has finally gone into effect, with its age checking requirements kicking in a week and a half ago. And what do you kno…
Tom VdP
@tomvdp.bsky.social

Ik had al kilo's teek kunnen opsturen. De tuin zit er vol van.

Sciensano@sciensano.be

Ben je gebeten door een teek? Meld het bij Sciensano via TekenNet en stuur ons de teek op voor analyse! 📱 Android 👇 play.google.com/store/apps/d... 📱 Apple Store 👇 apps.apple.com/be/app/teken...

Tom VdP
@tomvdp.bsky.social

You *can* have an impact on this world.

Our World in Data@ourworldindata.org

Half of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture, with most of this used to raise livestock for dairy and meat. How much would our agricultural land use decline if the world adopted a plant-based diet?

Tom VdP reposted

Rutger Bregman
@rutgerbregman.com

Yes, this is fascism. For years, historians and experts were cautious about using the f-word to describe today's events. But that hesitation is gone now. 🧵