They are not only terrorising volunteers, but actively potentially endangering those in need of assistance at sea. This terrorist activity and needs to be proscribed.
Jackie Kirkham
@jackiekirkham.bsky.social
Author (The Calm Place, The Wizard of Flanders Moss), research nurse, nerd, Scotland. Into books and nature. Lefty. Appreciates a good rant. https://books2read.com/thecalmplace
I am full of a cold (Snot! Splutter! Woe!) and feeling supremely sorry for myself, so Nature's Acre by @gardeningwell.ie has been a lovely comfort read to take me out of my snottiness for a while. I'd have liked to have lingered longer in that lovely space. I also now have garden envy :)
I am still (11 years later) unable to grasp how the images of little Alan Kurdi’s body washed up on a beach wasn’t the final word on treating refugees with compassion and dignity. How we are we having attacks on the RNLI for saving HUMAN lives being encouraged by our media. I weep for our world.
Bill Bryson’s words seem appropriate to post right now
I have an mp3 player to listen to podcasts (I don't want to use my phone for that, because I listen in bed and don't want my phone on overnight). Windows legacy media player enables me to sync to the mp3 player, but it is increasingly buggy/clunky/crap. Can anyone recommend alternative to WMP pls?
I know you're not allowed to say this during the current debate, but the reason the left dominates academics, art, comedy, and music is that the right has stupid, discredited ideas, they're not funny, and dull resentment does not make for good art. No grand conspiracy required.
I’m less curious about how Jason Arday got his appointment at Cambridge than I am about how Noah Carl, who published in Nazi pseudoscience journal Mankind Quartetly, got his, and how Nate Cofnas, also fired for being a race science crank, got his.
This is appalling and tragic. Cambridge University, the media, and those far right 'scholars' and hangers on who sought to capitalise on this case for social media clout surely bear responsibility for what feels like an entirely predictable outcome. www.lbc.co.uk/article/jaso...
Former Cambridge professor Jason Arday found dead aged 41 | LBC
Mr Arday is understood to have been found "unresponsive" at an address in Battersea on Friday afternoon
lbc.co.uk
Life is a constant balance between the primal need to create things and the primal need to nap for 4 hours.
Today is the day! If I lose, my grift is over and look a right dick. Whereas if I win, my grift continues and I look a right dick.
I am writing bits and bobs of poetry at the moment, and thoroughly enjoying it. Today I redrafted one, which mostly consisted of crossing out the pretentious bits. I suspect there's a life lesson in there somewhere.
The short answer is: "no, honest" The slightly longer, and more worrying, answer is: "...because they don't even *need* to" And this post is one of the best longform explanations as to why that I've seen.
Alexis Conran@alexisconran.com · last mo.It’s the question I get asked the most. The answer is troubling.
This week I travelled on the Lumo Stirling direct London service for the first time. Outbound: lovely staff, but short staffed and only 1 functioning toilet. Return: short staffed and not stopping anywhere north of Crewe. Honestly, impressed with the staff, but service is rubbish, won't use again.
Meta have used this without permission to train their AI, and as it's self-published they've essentially stolen from me directly. So if you could see your way to spending a couple of quid on a legitimate copy, I'd be extremely grateful. 15% off code BEACHREAD15. timworthington.org/books/the-ca...
The Camberwick Green Procrastination Society
The Camberwick Green Procrastination Society – a collection of columns and features by Tim Worthington.
timworthington.org
Another reason to wear a mask in public.
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 3mo ago“The issue is not only whether Meta launches the feature. It is whether a device marketed as a consumer AI wearable is becoming a new interface for identification systems shaped by military, intelligence, and law enforcement use.”
This BBC story on the Buchanan Street demo is like a tutorial on ill-faith framing, btw. Thousands on one side and dozens on the other, but it's the dozens to whom the headline and photo give agency, and who they suggest won a tactical victory here.
A week or so ago, I was looking for a couple books by an author from 10 and 15 years ago and my library didn't have them. I requested them via a library form. Today I got a notification in Libby that they purchased both titles. Asking your library for writers' books is an amazing way to support us.
Classicist here to inform you all that this is ancient Greek for summoning a cat
Yiannis@yiannisbab.bsky.social · 4mo agoAh yes, the "Thdpsssps"
Marjane Satrapi (1969-2026), the French-Iranian author and illustrator behind the popular graphic novel series and film “Persopolis,” RIP 🙏
"For this focus group, conducted shortly before a sustained green glow began emanating from the station’s superlaser array, we spoke with residents who said they had backed Emperor Palpatine but now felt conflicted."
“They Would Never Use the Death Star on Us”: Alderaan Residents Reflect on Their Support for the Empire as a Large Imperial Installation Enters the System
“For this focus group, conducted shortly before a sustained green glow began emanating from the station’s superlaser array, we spoke with residents who said ...
buff.ly
Did the ironing today while listening to an audiobook of Seamus Heaney reading his own poetry. Sublime (well, maybe the ironing wasn't quite sublime, although I do enjoy it!).
We're in a bizarre place at the moment where we can't access necessary timely support via the public sector yet papers run articles weekly insinuating there's a rush for autism & ADHD diagnoses to claim all sorts of benefits & special privileges that simply don't exist.
If you're near Stirling, get yourself over to Made In Stirling for @cstrawbridgeart.bsky.social beautiful exhibition of paintings. What a talent! I think the hare painting was my favourite, and the wildflower miniatures. Stunning.
Dr Abu Safiya was kidnapped by Israel from the hospital he worked at in December 2024, he had been beaten, electrocuted, starved and denied medical treatment for over 15 months, he is on the verge of death. But he is still being held without charge in an Israeli torture camp.
It's just unreal how little thought or planning went into starting a new massive war in the Middle East.
Thank you @alcs.co.uk for the payment of secondary royalties. I love ALCS Day! What a great service.
I don't love train travel (anxiety re changes of train, mostly - still two changes to go 😬), but views like this definitely help.
