Count Binface for the win! www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

It’s magnificent!

So, I honestly thought it was “there’s lemons on sale again”! Anyway, eagerly awaiting portable air conditioning units to be on sale again, over here! m.youtube.com/watch?v=AZKc...

Air conditioning has become the latest front in the energy culture war. Depending on who you ask, it is either wasteful excess we must resist or the only sensible response and anyone urging caution is a zealot. A few thoughts in this 🧵

Love it!

Incredible that you have to spell this out to people who are supposedly so smart they've attained power & status enough to run things. And now the world sees that the C-suite and all these academic leaders are just lackwits who got taken in by the snakeoil salesmen. Even children know it's slop.

Gen Alpha fast becoming GenAI

“Organizing, editing, and brainstorming are part of writing-while-human. They can be hard, even scary, but that doesn’t mean they could or should be done by machines.” An excellent argument for not using genAI by Dr Surekha Davies. Well worth a read.

Charlotte Ritchie presents the critically acclaimed 'For the Record: An Incomplete History of Music', a new landmark nine part docuseries tracing the entire history of music from The Big Bang to AI and everything in between. Stream it now for free on youtube.com/cosmicshambles

My upcoming book is absolutely packed to the brim with em dashes—more em dashes than any well-adjusted human being could possibly need or want—and if any of you tries to claim they are the result of some soulless LLM rather than my own unhinged compulsion I will fight you.

An MA in Creative Writing is beyond many these days for many reasons but how to find out what to study to become a better writer? Join @andrewwille.bsky.social and me on 7th September and we will give you all the ingredients of a DIY MA. Link here. Please share.

Ernest hemming web

Grateful to the Telegraph for providing the definitive answer to its own question, albeit in quite small letters.

Tom just let me tell you that it works! This was my sequence: 1) The Tom Cox is hilarious! Let’s follow him. 2) He doesn’t half repost a lot though, doesn’t he? Still, stay following. 3) He’s hilarious let’s subscribe to his newsletter. 4) Let’s get the paid version!

I literally remembered this this morning and: DAY MADE youtu.be/SaA_cs4WZHM?...

It's friday! Time for the weekly good news thread. What's YOUR good news from the week? What's made you smile?

My son was planning work in class for an EXAM. The teacher told him to “use copilot to get some more ideas” Can we not do this please ? Can we let children struggle and think and learn that they can do things? He ended up with a terrible plan that I had to unpick with him.

Loving Jasper Fforde’s 5th novel in the Thursday Next series: First Among Sequels. I’m well on my way to completing the series before the 8th & final book comes out in October; & @jasperfforde.bsky.social is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. Clever yet accessible writing is what I aspire to

I mean I still don't understand why we don't just have these but then so many UK windows are ancient (and often really pretty) single glazing with gaps for the air to blow through year round "so you don't suffocate" so, whatever youtu.be/ZmitDnEtjjM?...

People in cities think nothing dramatic ever happens in villages but that’s not true. In our village the summer before last the cattle pushed over a fence and escaped from John and Rita’s field and lots of people still talk about it to this day and some of those people don’t even live in the village

And today I’m reading Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer, described by Sarah Winman as ‘absolute joy’ and Kate Atkinson as ‘such a sunny book’. My copy is now extra special because it smells of rosemary and lavender ☺️

I’d like to take my winter holiday now, please, @newscientist.com

On that point - the planet is currently heating at a rate of 0.35°C per decade By that calculation, it would take us 170 years to add 6°C. Something that naturally took 5,000-10,000 years previously (So yes, climate has always changed - but NOT at this rate!) 9/

It was inevitable, wasn't it🙄 Of course the Telegraph would run with something like this👇 So let's remove some of the rose-tinted spectacles and also look at some of that data comparing 1976 with modern heat waves Because the 1976 nostalgia porn is wearing a bit thin at this stage 🧵1/23

“Dan’s never known such a long, hot summer. As the heat drains the village reservoir dry, something weird is revealed in the leftover murk. What, or who, has been lying there all these years?” The boy, kicking back in the hammock, reading an apt @fleurhitchcock.bsky.social novel.

"Finally—deodorant for your entire disgusting body. That’s right. It’s time to start spraying chemicals directly onto your genitals."

LOOK. It's a free book, innit. #buyastrangerabook is ace. You can offer to buy books for other people, or you can reply to offers like this from @lancslass.bsky.social. Come on now. www.biggreenbookshop.com/stuff-you-mi...

It's #buyastrangerabook day! @lancslass.bsky.social is offering to buy someone the book of their choice up to £20. Having just come back from a school re-union, Helen suggests maybe a teacher or a pupil might like it? But it's up for grabs, so if there's a book you'd like, get in touch. UK only

My latest novel is published in paperback on July 2nd. If you pre-order from Blackwell's they'll send it with FREE international delivery & that will help the book get into shops. I'll also be signing EVERY ONE of these: blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...

Finished this today. It’s delightful. Kate DiCamillo is the queen of clean and crisp, seemingly effortless prose.

Slowly melting into the carpet over here

Wow! This was phenomenally good to listen to. It’s graphic and gruesome and terrifying in places but there’s a sliver of dark comedy running through it plus fascinating historical references all told in second person POV, which I love when it’s done well. Everything about this book was done well.

That’s my summer audiobook listening sorted. Courtesy of Borrow Box and @www.joditaylorbooks.com @ronanhession.bsky.social @aptshadow.bsky.social and T J Klune.

Thomas House of Dublin exhibiting the pro-human solidarity that all of us should demonstrate.

Hanna-Barberism

Yes. If you're a bigot who wants to divide communities, a billionaire wanting to preserve your wealth or a "newspaper" that wants to preserve power: we're very sinister indeed. To everyone else: feels a lot like hope. Join.greenparty.org.uk

Advertise your BlueSky account with a Simpsons GIF

SIGNED BOOK NEWS! "Dark Reading Matter", the final book in the incredible Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde @jasperfforde.bsky.social is coming out later this year. Jasper will be signing copies for us and you can order one HERE if you like! biggreenbookshop.com/signed-copie...

LIFE RULES: Insulate your house with books to ward off evil Oppose the zombie AI apocalypse Never click on a link to the Daily Mail Use double the recommended amount of garlic Always stop to say hi to sheep And to horses too (but in a fake posh voice) I think that's more or less everything covered?

We love this moment every year - when we open for entries. Are you working on a YA or children’s novel you might enter? #writingcommunity

Scrummy book post with signatures, spredges and cute endpapers. Turn the volume up loud if you get ASMR from the sound of pages being turned and dust jackets on desks!

“Evil is not what we should fear. Creatures with power acting in their own interest, that is what should make us shudder.” Shehan Karunatilaka.

Bob Odenkirk is a national treasure. Take 44 seconds and watch. www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0rB...

I rewatched Bloodsport over the weekend and I forgot how scared of wasps Jean Claude Van Damme was.

HEY look who's got a second coffee on the go! ☕ Happy Monday, everyone! What are we reading this week?

It’s Monday, a fresh new week, and I’m listening to Trespasses by Louise Kennedy: a story of love, life and survival set in 1970’s Belfast against the backdrop of The Troubles. I’ll be watching the four part adaptation on 4OD when I finish the book.

It’s #FridayReads time! Let’s share books and boost all signals. I have a dark one for you that was born in the summer near the ocean and takes place in the summer near the ocean, so…perfect summer read (and 51%off)! Go ahead, share what you love. www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316...