Jane Austen used 'however' at the beginning of a sentence, and so can you.

Air quality. I grew up in the Los Angeles basin in the 70s and 80s and remember having to stay inside because the smog was so bad - Stage 2 smog alerts, they were called. Apparently they haven't had one of those since 1988. Haven't had a stage one smog alert since 2003.

Constantine@ajaxsinger.bsky.social · 19h ago

Food, man. Food is so much better than it was in 1986. All of it. Poor-people food, restaurant food, fresh food, frozen food. Food is just a hell of a lot better.

You know I have a theory that "savings" by private companies and governments are almost always just transferring the cost to private citizens. This would seem to be an example of that.

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net · 10h ago

This is a pure ripoff. If Google had served the correct result at the top of the page - if it had used its own database of confirmed merchants and their associate websites to validate its ads - then people booking hotels would have saved 35% to 85% on their rooms. 50/

Spotted in Glasgow.

User experience of using an app for sheet music on a digital piano. *turn on piano* *turn on tablet* *wait 30s* Piano is on. Start warming up. Windows: face not recognised, use PIN? Log in. Play more. Notice tablet is ready - launch music app. Play more. Music app needs updated! Choose language.

I would be so pleased, you have no idea. Just fix search again, that worked.

Ayo@darrylayo.bsky.social · 23h ago

Guys like this don’t realize that they are the freak

The shark is old, and retired, and relegated to an aquarium, until an unlikely friendship with a young boy enables a last majestic leap for freedom...

weinberg@weinbergs.bsky.social · 7mo ago

let's pretend: Universal announces a screenwriting contest for Jaws 5. What's your pitch?

A couple of weeks ago I rode to Newburyport MA and saw this COVID memorial and realized this is the only one I have ever seen anywhere. And the fact that I nearly broke down seeing it is something I still think about.

Cash from misery. Time to spread these profits around a little. #climatecrisis

Revealed: major oil firms make $93bn profits amid war and climate crisis

Iran conflict windfall over three months reignites calls for companies ‘cashing in on human misery’ to pay for environmental damage

theguardian.com

As of today, the use of AI becomes more transparent in the EU. Here’s how EU law makes sure AI works for you, in full openness ↓

If you’re a Gondorian soldier your experience with hobbits is a tiny guy shows up with a wizard and is immediately taken in the Steward’s counsel. He saves Faramir when the Steward goes mad. A second tiny guy arrives with the Rohirrim and kills the Witch King. The first one then goes on campaign …

I don't know if I'm just seeing a very specific context (consulting in infrastructure environments) but I feel like this is missing something. The biggest sense I have is fear: people grabbing into whatever looks like it floats because the old world is sinking.

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net · 4d ago

The first is *why*? Why are people in power such easy converts to this religious mania? I have my own theory. The most important discomfort that powerful people experience is having ego-shattering conflicts with subordinates who know how to do things they do not know how to do. 61/

I'm more a reader than a writer these days but honestly my worry isn't that AI will ever be as good as humans. It's that it won't, and big corps won't care and will feed us slop anyway. And writers won't get paid and then won't get good until the whole thing becomes a horrible sucky singularity.

C. Robert Cargill@crobertcargill.bsky.social · 5d ago

Don't let the Ai discourse discourage you aspiring writers out there. Art is valued by its rarity, and the rarest thing in the world is the talent of a single individual. What can be mass produced for cheap has little value. You are an original. A one of a kind. A bespoke wonder. Never forget that.

✨🎸 #comics #webcomic #art

I had a joke about evri but I told your neighbour instead

🦇🤘 Miscreant Jennie 🔶️🏳️‍🌈@rigg.lgbt · 6d ago

Weird. *I* had a joke about Evri but my delivery was terrible

Adding to Aliette's thread, I also think this world has been getting more difficult for neurodivergent people. Too many jobs require similar personalities and strengths, not enough recovery space, not enough support. Cuts in government services require citizens to step in, which has an energy cost.

Aliette de Bodard@aliettedebodard.com · 7d ago

Re neurodevelopmental conditions: diagnoses are increasing, but people aren't faking it. They were always there but not diagnosed--perhaps they couldn't access diagnosis, perhaps they were invisible because compensating, which came with acute anxiety (and frequent burnouts and mental health crises)

Yes but let's not forget that after wildfire season we can expect flooding season and hurricane season, which also have costs. Additional capacity for emergency service response also seems relevant. And that is only treating the symptoms. How long before the UK needs desalination infrastructure?

Dr Rebecca Warren@drrjwarren.bsky.social · 7d ago

If govts won’t tax Big Oil properly because it’s the right thing to do, could we not at least tax them enough to cover the costs of controlling and preventing wildfires?

"Starting July 19, 2026, the European Union officially banned large fashion companies from destroying unsold clothes, shoes, and accessories. Instead of sending perfectly good products to landfills or burning them, companies must now donate, recycle, or repurpose them." via No one Cares

The nearby seismic waveforms are interesting regarding this video. The P wave arrives before the S wave and is orders of magnitude smaller. I think that cat is reacting to the P wave. The first P arrived about 7 seconds before the S wave and the cat jumped about 5 seconds before the big shaking

Massimo (mirror)@rainmaker1973-m.bsky.social · last wk.

Cat senses earthquake seconds before it happens in Japan yesteday. Original post

Wow. It doesn't look like that now. Although apparently Google hasn't been down Sauchiehall Street in nearly a decade - I'm pretty sure it's open now, I was in there last year.

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

Willow Tea Rooms (1903) in Glasgow, Scotland, by Charles Rennie Mackintosh germanpostwarmodern.tumblr.com/post/8234983...

So, what happens if I'm a parent and I know that my kid needs highly paid teachers, a library full of books with diverse characters, trans-inclusive bathrooms and extracurriculars, and a curriculum unpacking topics like systemic racism, colonial oppression, economic inequality, and climate change?

I bought three pairs of trousers from the same shop at the same size today. I need to take one of them back because they are very much too small. Same store, same size. Honestly, sigh.

On the BBC today confirming this

The evidence that shows today's 20-somethings really do have it worse

People in their 20s are facing a tougher start to adulthood than any generation in almost half a century, according to analysis for the BBC.

bbc.co.uk

Marcus 🏳️‍🌈🇧🇧@marcusjdl.bsky.social · last wk.

“Graduates aren’t earning enough they should do more technical qualifications” Have you considered the suppression of wages that’s been really bad for getting on for twenty YEARS now?

Thank you for visiting ten school children.

This Brown Hare has brought you a dandelion. It picked it specially. 📷️ Sue Wood

I’ve found out that if you google Zebedee the AI overview will pull through a description of the biblical Zebedee and an image of Zebedee from The Magic Roundabout.

I was pretty shocked at what my eldest was learning in computing. Visual basic and Microsoft Access, anyone? Yes I know why - or at least I can deduce what might be restricting choice. Still though.

Dr Jo Kershaw@mthrjo.bsky.social · last wk.

Even if the government is right to be betting the house on AI (and I suspect the way things shake out will be different to what we expect), this is likely to have the problem Computing as a subject has always had in schools, ie it’s pretty much instantly out of date. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Kind of ready to support Count Binface for the first UK president at this point.

Here it is. My manifesto for the 2026 Clacton By-Election. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Join me, clean up Clacton and let's make 13th August Bin Day! #VoteBinface #VoteyMcVoteface #YesWeTinCan

The "Serenity Prayer" (*Serenity to accept things I can't change/Courage to change the things I can/Wisdom to know the difference*) is usually cited as pop psychology or addiction recovery advice, but I think there's a place for it in policymaking. 1/