This is just to say I have OCRed the text thet was in tne arch:ve and whicb yov were prabaldy seamhing for "breahtast" Fargme ms fheg mem debo:w5 sb ?mccf mmb 5c oc1b
Every time I hear the 1812 Overture, I think it sounds like the French won, because the bit with La Marseillaise just sounds so good.
John Rowan@jrowanbxl.bsky.social · last mo.There are only two objectively good national anthems. La Marseillaise is rousing, hair-raising, blood-curdling stuff. All other national anthems want to be like it when they grow up. "Il Canto degli Italiani" is a delightful comic opera in forty-eight parts. All other national anthems are rubbish.
American comedies pause for laughs for slightly longer than British ones, and I find it intolerable.
Andrew Male@andrewmale.bsky.social · last mo.Opening up a judgement free zone but what's the smallest thing that discouraged you from entering into a vast cultural landscape that others have found vastly rewarding. Mine was discovering that the hero/protagonist of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash was called Hiro Protagonist.
Wordle today has a real 'running out of 5-letter words' vibe.
Do it as an anthology series with different writers and directors each episode, no story arcs, no knowing what you might get week to week.
Abigail Thorn@theabigailthorn.bsky.social · 2mo agookay let’s hear your wildest Doctor Who reboot pitches
I don't think it's a good idea to legally privilege someone else's discomfort over another person's rights.
Fascinating, and makes me wonder if there's a gap in the market now for *actual* social media where you interact with people you know.
Petter Törnberg@pettertornberg.com · 3mo agoExhibit A: in a recent antitrust filing, Meta argued it isn't a social media monopoly because it isn't really a social media company anymore. Only 7% of Instagram time and 17% of Facebook time is spent on content from friends or followed accounts. The rest is algorithmic video from strangers.
it is devastating to notice how few benches there are in the world and how some benches have been replaced by weird "leaning" things. the world is incredibly cruel to disabled, elderly, poor, pregnant, tired, homeless, and all people. there should be benches fucking everywhere for everyone
Places Journal@placesjournal.bsky.social · 4mo ago"Benches are where optimistic visions of civic life meet reality. To remove them, or to curate who gets to sit, is to abandon the work of defining a civic ideal and determining, together, how to live up to it." NEW: Why benches are slowly disappearing from public spaces — and why we need them back:
I'm a bit disappointed that they were so equivocal even about the lowest-ranked play, but the bonkersness of the order (Titus Andronicus above Much Ado About Nothing??) really makes up for it.
Keith Stuart@keefstuart.bsky.social · 4mo agoI love that The Guardian has done this - it is the ultimate middle class intellectual shitpost www.theguardian.com/stage/ng-int...
Due to high geopolitical tensions, sports fans are temporarily required to contextualize their posts, for example: ❌ OH GOD OH NO OH FUCK ✔️ OH GOD OH NO OH FUCK how did he make that basketball go in the hole
Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran. I would confess to anything by about the third repetition.
america’s local band cheekface@cheekface.bsky.social · 5mo agofuck your desert island disc, I want to know your Guantanamo bay song. what song would the government use to torture you at a Black Site
Someone in the 00s: "I wish teenage girls could have the same confidence in their bodies as teenage boys!" *monkey's paw curls*
The Times and Sunday Times@thetimes.com · 5mo agoLooksmaxxing: the worrying new extreme teenage trend
It is completely mad that the government is expelling high flying Sudanese students from British universities - from a scheme that is explicitly aimed at the future leaders of countries.
Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 5mo ago39 Sudanese Chevening Scholarship finalists ejected this week from consideration for the scheme, for being Sudanese.
Steam community: “Can we play as a male character?” Me (indie dev in this economy): “Best I can do is sentient tofu.”
One of the things I find frustrating about sci-fi is that because of the American influence of it, all of the planets are called things like Zexion 5 and Danshassia 7. I’d call them things like ‘Nether Roundthorpe’ and ‘Spheresbury’. Gravity Bywell. Chalfont St Globeby. Bishop’s Goitre.
I know it's like the 279th most important way this can fuck right off, but anyone who describes themselves as pro-natal without even *glancing* at the housing shortage should be buried up to their neck with their face smeared in raspberry jam
Pippa Crerar@pippacrerar.bsky.social · 5mo agoFascinating interview by @siennamarla with Reform UK's Danny Kruger - who (among other things) tells her political parties have a "limited but important" role in undoing the sexual revolution and UK is suffering from a "totally unregulated sexual economy". www.politicshome.com/news/article...
Bhutan is an incredible example of the effectiveness of propaganda.
BeijingPalmer@beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 6mo agogenuinely astonishing how many people have fallen for the Bhutanese 'happiness index' over the years. Yes, this isolated absolute monarchy that doesn't allow visitors unless strictly controlled and carried out an ethnic cleansing campaign is definitely somewhere that sincerely values happiness!
Gladiator 2. Bad *and* offensive. My husband persuaded me not to walk out halfway through, and we both regretted staying put.
woke stifler@yelix.bsky.social · 6mo agofun question: what’s the maddest you’ve ever been leaving a movie theater? not necessarily worst movie you’ve seen, but the one that just pissed you off the most. mine is Batman v Superman
Employment rates for non-EU born are now *above* those for the UK born. Gap used be nearly 10 percentage points. A tribute to the success of UK immigration/immigrants and labour market integration, especially in recent years. Something government should celebrate..
I'm finding it very frustrating that so many people discussing the dangers of social media for kids and teens are being coy about what those dangers actually are. Is it algorithms that point them towards extremism? Bullying by peers? Harassment by strangers? Grooming by adults?
If children were more politically active they would be quite pissed to be told that their screen time is “the most urgent public health issue” while the largest measles outbreak since the vaccine sweeps their schools because of conspiracies that the adults in their life believed from social media.
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 6mo ago‘It’s the most urgent public health issue’: Dr Rangan Chatterjee on screen time, mental health – and banning social media until 18
This is the kind of thing that typically prompts me to find the application and write enthusiastically in favour.
Shadow Hedgie 🌻@shadow.hedgie.social · 6mo agojust got an anonymous leaflet in my letterbox asking me to put in an objection to a local Premises License application and making the point that I "may wish to use AI to get a comprehensive view of how to craft your email effectively" 😬
Anyone who had genuine concerns about youth gender medicine would staunchly and wholeheartedly support social transition. Let kids explore their identities to see what works for them! The fact that this movement opposes even pronouns and haircuts shows that it's just bigotry all the way down.
Ethel Weapon@lousadzak.bsky.social · 6mo agoThis draft guidance reproduces Cass insisting that clinicians must be involved in decisions about *social transition* which actually should be none of their damn business They take the line that this "non-directive" intervention should force things to be "keeping options open and flexible"...
I wish we had France’s problem of too much abundant clean energy.
Dan Grey@dangrey.bsky.social · 6mo agoFrance has ended up in a strange position after using some €250bn of tax-payer money to build a fleet of nuclear power stations. Wind and solar power is merrily entering the French power market at prices nuclear production can't match, resulting in huge surpluses of power. 1/
I'm looking forward to the Wikipedia edit war already.
Barry Hertz@hertzbarry.bsky.social · 6mo agoIn a move destined to infuriate copy editors (among other accomplishments), Warner Bros. is insisting that critics use quotations marks when citing the title of Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights.” This is not a joke.
Yes this. The harms of social media are real! So are the harms of blanket bans.
Dorian Lynskey@dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 6mo agoSo many kids affected: LGBTQ, neurodivergent, living in isolated places, living with abusive parents. It's basically a ban on friends who don't live nearby
That this person is not in prison facing attempted murder charges shows how we just don't take vehicle violence seriously
Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 6mo agoWhile the protest was underway, Thames Valley Police issued several tickets to offenders – including one motorist who, when seeing the children wave their signs at him while he was parking on double yellows, mounted the pavement and drove towards them.
ME: I knew Pagliacci was a stage name, but the joke didn't work unless I pretended it was his real name. CHOTINER: So you misrepresented the doctor. M: Well, I didn't know it would be popular. It was just for our followers. C: Right. It's okay to lie when it's only close friends. M: Hold on
Wrong Station@thewrongstation.bsky.social · 6mo agoDOCTOR: I told him he needed to get out to a show, that was how he would cure his depression. CHOTINER: So you learned this technique in school? DR: No, not— listen it was good advice. Pagliacci was in town. C: Right. Is it standard to give advice before learning a patient’s name? DR: Now look
DOCTOR: I told him he needed to get out to a show, that was how he would cure his depression. CHOTINER: So you learned this technique in school? DR: No, not— listen it was good advice. Pagliacci was in town. C: Right. Is it standard to give advice before learning a patient’s name? DR: Now look
The New World asked me to speak to some British trans women about what life has been like for them over the past few years - here's what they had to say, in their own words: www.thenewworld.co.uk/marie-le-con...
