Close encounter with the real Blackadder yesterday

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Not tagging cos I'm not that kind of dick but there's a poster I really like who's become addicted to the whole "roses are red..." meme and it's soooooo annoying. They're not even good at it.

Russell T. Davies said that if you want to write a dialogue that sounds convincing, write it as two monologues, because no-one ever listens to anyone.

Love will always conquer hatred. Unity will always conquer division. And lightness will always overcome darkness.

Sadiq Khan has a post sharing support for the queer community after the attack in Berlin. It's simple but beautiful. And comments and quote skeets are off, presumably because he knows London's Muslim mayor sharing such a message is going to be an inevitable magnet for hate. I feel sad.

A lot of concussed-kitten readings of that t-shirt today. The idea it was an actual threat, incitement to or endorsement of violence is idiotic. Obviously the fake outrage is to be expected but a lot of generally quite sensible people are being very very silly about it.

Today I saw a snake catch a fish! It must have been a grass snake, given where I am (Czechia).

Family of sparrows at the feeder today. One was clearly mummy's favourite: although the little ones can obviously all fly and feed themselves (and they're all as big as she is), mummy was still feeding just this one.

In honour of The Odyssey's release: you've heard of "Elf on a shelf". Here's...

If you read the rest of this thread, well, obviously you have only yourself to blame.

Odd This Day@oddthisday.bsky.social · 4w ago

Today is the delightful 168th anniversary of the time when Boston Corbett—who seven years later would shoot and kill John Wilkes Booth, who had of course shot and killed Abraham Lincoln—was inspired by the gospel of Matthew to castrate himself with a pair of scissors 🧵

I gave Ajax this ball and in exchange he gave me one of my gel earplugs that has been missing for a week that he *somehow* knew was hidden in that specific plant pot under that particular leaf.

A few days before Christmas 2016, a grey Land Rover paused in front of a bank of mirrored windows at this checkpoint on the border between France and Switzerland. What happened next revealed just how looted art worms its way into museums. A 🧵 about my article: hyperallergic.com/why-do-so-ma...

It’s happening! VALENZIAGA will fall. Category is: Science-Fantasy EXTRAVAGANZA! Think Drag Race + a gay Game of Thrones + Chronicles of Amber. High drama & high CAMP! 200+ people already pledged to make this book happen! LATE PLEDGES STILL OPEN! #booksky www.kickstarter.com/projects/tri...

This is appalling. I'm seeing lots of gloating posts on Bluesky about petrol shortages in Russia and Crimea and sure, it's good to see Ukraine's attacks having effects - but triumphalism is premature if other nations can't and won't supply the interceptors Ukraine needs to protect civilian centres.

Tim Mak@timkmak.bsky.social · last mo.

NEWSFLASH: Russia launches another massive attack on Kyiv - but due to severe air defense shortages Kyiv was unable to intercept any of the missiles. Over 600 residents in the Kyiv region are being evacuated due to continuing detonations following the attack.

It's not the first time & won't be the last that I'm sharing something wonderful in the sure and certain knowledge that my minuscule follower count means it will go utterly unnoticed but bloody hell Martyn's work is amazing.

Martyn Warren (he/him)@martynwarren.bsky.social · last mo.

I'm going to keep sharing these until I make my fortune. (So, forever, then).

With trans rights under attack as never before, we need to show our support for the trans community. Will you join us? goodlawproject.org/s/d23a8a

I stand with trans people | Good Law Project

goodlawproject.org

Fuck I wish I was dead

I started following Tom because of the sheep thread. The cow thread is just as marvellous. If you've seen neither, congratulations! You get both at once you jammy buggers

Tom Cox@dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · last mo.

I've decided to compile a definitive thread of photos of the best cattle I've photographed during my walks in the countryside, together with supporting biographical information. I will put the vital info about all the cattle in the alt text, since some of it is a little long to fit in a post.

I know designers who use subtext and they're all cowards #pride

I assigned random gender/ethnicity labels to scientific abstracts from the literature and then asked Claude to do a thematic analysis. Claude identified a clinical versus computational split for female/male authors and a DEI focus for Black/URM authors. All in completely random data.

This is astonishing work. The wedges paper had a big impact on my thinking at the time. It's deeply troubling to learn how strongly it was shaped by BP - especially as part of that shaping was the lay-friendly style that made it hit so hard with me. I feel intellectually soiled.

Maddie Stone@themadstone.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I’ve spent more than a year reporting on how the fossil fuel industry has infiltrated academia over the last 30 years, shaping fundamental paradigms on how to address climate change. My first story in the new @propublica.org and @drilledmedia.bsky.social series, “Carbon Captured”, is out today.

can’t believe a narcissist is being so publicly humiliated by a reflecting pool

Good morning. It's been too hot so I slept on the balcony. Downside is being woken at 4.30. Upside is being woken at 4.30.

My wife bought me an extraordinarily strong hot sauce as a gag gift. The whole bottle was about 5ml and one drop could ruin a meal. It fell out of the fridge door to shatter on the floor and the people in the flat upstairs had to evacuate, eyes streaming. Cleaning it up was a *lot* of fun.

Erin Biba@erinbiba.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Ok let’s do this. What’s the worst thing you’ve ever spilled all over your kitchen?

Hans Würtz fled Nazi Germany in 1938 carrying 7,000 paintings, photographs and figurines showing how disabled people had been represented through the ages. Nearly 90 years later, most of it is still in Prague. And hardly anyone has ever seen it. robjcameron.substack.com/p/break-the-...

A major attack on trans rights in Czechia is under way right now - just two years after the end of compulsory sterilisation as a precondition for transitioning. www.lui.cz/en/news/2265...

Senators want to tighten the rules on legal gender recognition. The proposal would mean court proceedings, a two-year assessment period and the possibility of disregarding their identity documents for...

The Czech Republic only recently abolished compulsory sterilisation as a condition for legal gender recognition. Now, however, a group of senators has put forward a proposal that would once again sign...

lui.cz

A major attack on trans rights in Czechia is under way right now - just two years after the end of compulsory sterilisation as a precondition for transitioning. www.lui.cz/en/news/2265...

Senators want to tighten the rules on legal gender recognition. The proposal would mean court proceedings, a two-year assessment period and the possibility of disregarding their identity documents for...

The Czech Republic only recently abolished compulsory sterilisation as a condition for legal gender recognition. Now, however, a group of senators has put forward a proposal that would once again sign...

lui.cz

Not hard! I'm from an old-school working-class Peckham family. My dad left school at 14 to work building sites, my great-uncle broke horses and later became a fence, the generation before him was ruled by an abusive drunkard known as Mad Jack. And...

Will Jennings📉🗳️@drjennings.bsky.social · 2mo ago

It's quite a fun exercise to try to work out what the most working class and most middle class version of the story of your own social background you could tell. (I could tell wildly different stories about my own social class by picking the biographies of two grandparents - one from each parent.)