hear me out here - you know how with cookies it's so very very satisfying to be able to hit "REJECT ALL"? just put that choice on every site but for AI. maybe the EU can get the ball rolling
Dave Garbutt
@davgar51.bsky.social
Poet, birder, house husband, father, photographer; programmer, IT consultant, zoologist. London, Reading, Basel, Southampton, Carbondale, Morogoro.
If so some eason you do choose to work for free (for example, for a charity, or to support a small local enterprise), consider sending them an invoice for your usual fee, and mark it void. That way, they'll know the value of what you're giving them.
Joanne Harris@joannechocolat.bsky.social · 4h agoTurned down last week: 2 festivals with no budget for speakers 1 writing course with no budget for teachers 1 film project with no budget to option the book - plus they wanted me to write the screenplay. For free. Don't do it, kids. Don't work for free. Because to them, what's free is worthless.
Happy Monday! What I am reading this week
Aôthen Magazine@aothenmagazine.bsky.social · 4h agoHappy Monday! What are you reading this week? 🤎
🐫 Annales de la Société royale d'agriculture et de botanique de Gand: . Gand [etc.]: Société royale d'agriculture et de botanique, 1845-1849.. [Source]
& the coluring up to break down, a stunned aspect to everything at a time of waiting (bramble season over &, week of the equinox, 32 minutes' less light in 7 days) - a diving little grebe is all on the lochan, sun in the hedgerows at 17.30
The tunnel opening at Wiseman’s Bridge, Saundersfoot Bay, Pembrokeshire, Wales. 🏴 The tunnel was used by trains to transport coal until it was closed in 1939. It is now part of the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path. 🌊
Ok one more post before I have to do some work: I’m reading Maggie O’Farrell’s LAND and I think you would like it if you liked: The Overstory To The Lighthouse North Woods Whale Fall Hamnet (style) If you liked LAND you would also like the above books.
Every moment is a new and shocking Valuation of all we have been - #TSEliot, ‘Four Quartets’
we now know the answer to “and if all your little friends jumped off a bridge, would you?”
NY Times@nytimes-news.bsky.social · 3d agoGemini AI Hacked Three Companies in a Testing Breakout, Google Says
After a sold-out debut in New York, the Kyiv Independent is bringing its live event series to the UK — and we couldn't be more excited to meet our London community in person. Date: Oct. 2, 2026 Time: 6:00 PM - 9:30 PM Location: Kings Place, Hall One, 90 York Way, London N1 9AG
President Zelenskyy announced a new initiative: Carpathian Eight, C8, a summit that will bring together all states that have Carpathian mountains. The C8 will consist of Romania, Serbia, Poland, Slovakia, Czechia, Austria, Hungary, Ukraine, and the EU in general.
Amazing that we’re still discovering such comparatively large land mammals. I don’t want to imagine all the species we’ve killed off unknowingly. Kitties!
Ulrike@ulidig.bsky.social · 4d agoNew cat species just dropped! www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...
Post an impactful original #poem of 18 words max tomorrow and tag in #fragmentsfriday - we’ll choose our favourite top 3!!!
Well, i decided to make a list with my fountain pen; but I had to pick the right one. And did it have the perfect ink? And it should be on the right paper—md! Then I realised, here it is!
Le Cagle@lecagle.bsky.social · 4d agoin honor of my birthday on the last day of Virgo season next week, tell me your favorite Virgo-ass nonsense did you color code your spice drawer? does your friend group make the Virgo hold everyone's passports? do you have *perfect* handwriting?
Joan Crawford being given her portrait by cartoonist Jorge Delano Fredrick. www.joancrawfordbest.com/weirddevilpi...
Ever since the publication of my iamb poems👇, where the wonderful reaction has made me very grateful indeed 🙏, I have had a near continuous but quite unsurprising earworm. Some music can change your life. Some music can save it. Beethoven. Missa Solemnis
Beethoven - Missa Solemnis / New Mastering + P° (Century's recording: Herbert Von Karajan 1975)
YouTube video by Classical Music/ /Reference Recording
m.youtube.com
Paul Connolly@thepaulconnolly.bsky.social · 6d agoI’m delighted to be in the current wave of iamb👇, with 3 poems, text and recording: In the Time of the Ice Saints (with thanks to @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social), Metronome (with a deep bow to Beethoven), & Late Snow. My thanks to excellent editor @markantonyowen.com #poetrycommunity #poemsaloud
OK, poor sleep, but the week of sorting through the chaotic office continues. Also, though, two books have arrived for review, a reminder that other kinds of work are about to go into high gear. Coffee!
This is an excellent go-to article about recognising the existence of non-binary sex — as defined through anatomy, hormones, cells or chromosomes — and the significant scientific advances that have taken place within this field over the last 25+ years. #NonBinary 🏳️⚧️
Sex Redefined: The Idea of 2 Sexes Is Overly Simplistic
Biologists now think there is a larger spectrum than just binary female and male
scientificamerican.com
One day left before our media co-ops webinar. It's a plain walk-through of how reporters and editors are building newsrooms they own and run themselves, and how to start one. Wednesday, Sep 16, 2 p.m. ET, online, free.
Nothing fills me with terror more than refilling my fountain pen with pigmented documented ink. I know an earthquake will hit and make me spill archival ink everywhere...i know it....
Need some good news? Read about the comments people left when asked to report "negative" signs in National parks. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
Trump asked Americans to help him whitewash national parks. They revolted instead
The DOI placed QR codes in national parks, inviting visitors to report content deemed ‘negative about either past or living Americans’. Instead, it became a mode of resistance
theguardian.com
The EU just invited Canada to become its first Associate Member! 🇪🇺🇨🇦
If you've visited the Parthenon, you were probably told the ancient Greeks built it curved to make it look straight - to counteract potential optical illusions. A new paper digs into this idea and I've just written about it for @newscientist.com 🧪 #architecture www.newscientist.com/article/2589...
The Parthenon's architectural illusions are a myth | New Scientist
Optical illusions thought to have influenced the design of the Parthenon in ancient Greece are not backed up by evidence or are too small to have an effect
newscientist.com
Ursual von der Leyen: EU "would like to open the door to Canada to beciome the first associate member of the European Union"/ Huge applause, with Mark Carney in parliament too. Will highlight the difference with UK and offer obvious political lifeline to Canada at time of trade war with US
“I’ve been thinking about releasing my nudes” is a fantastic opening line especially for a poem titled Martha Stewart
orinoco bro@nocontroller.bsky.social · 7d agook mood
I have seen a great suggestion: replace all mentions of "environment" with "survival of our species" in public discourses. It would be fun to hear politicians say "The survival of our species is important, but not to the detriment of the economy".
