WTF??

We don't usually see each other's headers. Here's mine.

Today is #WorldOceansDay. These fabulous sea creatures feature in Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (A History of the Northern Peoples), c.1558 by Olaus Magnus.

Finally a break in the weather long enough to go to the local gym.

The replies in this thread give some faint hope that the kids might be all right.

Every time you open a phone camera, an instant high-bandwidth datastream opens up, and a - what, AI agent? - somewhere starts deciding if what it "sees" is authorised for permanent capture. At what refresh-rate? Blithering lunacy.

I think every politician who proposes to ban anything on the internet for teens should be required to propose, as an alternate, a free and accessible and all weather space for teens to hang out in their own hometown

Something which, as a woman lucky enough to get access to all the education I needed (and arguably rather a lot that I probably didn’t) has never really worried me…

My mate Logos could kick Mythos's arse.

Salt'n'vinegar crisps every day, you say?

This afternoon's reflection on AI and the dying internet.

Everybody should listen to this. A more articulate and specific critique of the AI financing speculative bubble than I’ve heard pretty much anywhere else. I guess he didn’t make it past the primary? May not be the last we see of him.

One more reason to totally ignore this shitshow. And I say that as a Scotland supporter.

I went to a powerful session on Palestine at the Jaipur Lit Fest @britishlibrary.bsky.social yesterday. The standout was a horrific 10 minute presentation on the IDF's deliberate targeting of healthcare workers and children by consultant surgeon Nick Maynard. Read these: 1/3

the Department of Unsubtle Metaphors keeps delivering bangers

2/2 Stars of Las Meninas: Maria Agustina offering chocolate to the Infanta.Who is way more interested in visitors to the painter's studio. Or to the picture. Plus attendant dwarves Maribarbola and Nicolas Pertusato.

Infanta Margarita Teresa without all the fuss, painted by Diego Velazquez. And three years later, in blue, with some A+ accessories. Today is Velazquez's day.

Three scenarios discussed in our article illustrate the choices and risks we face. I'd say: let's aim for the green one. We still have a choice, and are not yet destined to bequeath a much less habitable planet to future generations. Our children and grandchildren deserve a fair chance.

We are in the Age of Humans - the Anthropocene. Our new article (open access) shows how even with a moderate future emissions scenario, global temperature will still be elevated by 3-4°C in the year 3000! Lifetime of our CO2 in the air is that long. agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

This shiny stuff is Element 13, called, variously, aluminUM or aluminIUM. It is the most abundant /metal/ in the Earth's crust, at about 8% of total mass. So why the two names? I'll lay out the history.

The first Saturday in June is National Black Bear Day so enjoy this Black bear linocut on translucent washi paper with bark inclusions #linocut #printmaking #bear #blackBear #wildlifeArt #reliefPrint 🐡🧪

Empress Dowager Cixi1 (1835 – 1908), of the Manchu Yehenara clan, was a Chinese empress dowager and regent who effectively controlled the Chinese government in the late Qing dynasty for 47 years from 1861 until her death in 1908. #CelebratingWomen

Happy weekend! Ancient clay pots with octopus decoration from Bronze Age Crete some 3,500 years ago! 🐙❤️ Heraklion Archaeological Museum 📷 by me #Archaeology

London is a foreign country, they do things differently there... By rights, he should really be sitting at the centre of a panopticon, keeping a waxy eye on all the miscreants. Great thread.

If anyone would like to see a photo of a cat that appears to be running very low on toner, then this is your lucky day. #Caturday

Good to see a country push back against foreign billionaire profiteers. I so wish the British public would do the same.

On a train with a craft project inspired by the @economist.com

my nam is trol and wen i see a skete that dos not tend to me i rant and ror i run amok i am a bor i get the blok

NOT NOW, 32000 YEAR OLD SIBERIAN PERMAFROST WORMS

'Labour will make artificial intelligence “work for workers”, and not abandon people whose jobs are swept away by its rapid advance... the technology secretary claimed that the government could shape the way it is adopted...' What a load of utter horseshit. These people are idiots.

if there's another reason to boycott the fucking world cup, here

Our nearest loch. A bit of all right, I'm sure you'd agree.

Many years ago I took a series of photos around my house, close ups of the edge of a table or a door frame, a windowsill. Somehow, without a marker of scale, they evoked great landscapes and skies. I called them Tiny Horizons. Presented without alt text as I've basically already described them.

dear small daughter for a long time I did not write what had already become past-tense was past-tense… —Sheila Black, “Climate (7) (Past Tense)” from BREAK IN CASE OF SILENCE: New Writing Scotland 39 (2021) #WorldEnvironmentDay‌ #poem #poetry asls.org.uk/publications...

Make art with your hands. It’s what humans do. #noAI #artistssupportingartists #humanart

I would buy this album

I don't know how to explain to the people who pop up when creatives complain about "AI" to say there are legit uses for it just how much they sound like someone saying "Well actually fire is used to make bread" when people are talking about an organized arson ring burning down their fucking houses

Fuck AI, fuck users of AI, fuck the pushers of AI. Fire it all into the fucking sun.

Want to find out more about what we hold but don't know where to start? Try our NEW collections highlights page! collections.stir.ac.uk/archive-coll... @artatstirling.bsky.social @isstirling.bsky.social #CultureOnStirCampus

UK publishing generated £7.4 billion in revenue last year. Compare that to: Premier League football: £6.6 billion Home entertainment: £5.6 billion UK film industry: 2.8 billion Now tell me again why authors don't deserve fair contracts and better pay.

This is great. "If you can’t be bothered to write it, why should anyone be bothered to read it?" is spot on.

Cross out "contentious" and replace with "racist" and you got your headline.

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 427: Question anything or anyone that claims to offer you the "secret" to writing success. (This goes for software, courses, etc.) Ask yourself who is behind it, and why. The world is full of people offering publishing advice. It sells.

I have been aware of Froglets for 8 secs and would immediately give my life to protect them.

Oof.

I need to make some money to buy some more bookbinding gear. Which of these cute notebooks should I put up for sale first?

I'm currently most angry about all of us being charged off a cliff by the stupidest, laziest, greediest, most venal amongst us, while those of us with brains seem unable to come up with a plan to stop it. It's not the meek who are inheriting the earth, it's the thick.

There's a new initiative in Makerfield to put signs up pointing at places where idiots live.

I keep being reminded of this question and answer: "What is the problem that AI services are being built to solve?" "Wages."