Shouldn't have let Amazon buy Bond.

Do you remember when social media was terrible and we wished it wasn't a thing? Be careful what you wish for. The trouble is that a lot of indie creative folks rely on it as a primary platform for promoting their stuff Also, old school social media like Bluesky is now an artisanal endeavour.

I'm super grateful that the Met Office app noisily texted me at, let's see, QUARTER PAST THREE this morning to warn me of fog until 8am. Ladies and gents I have looked out of the window and also there is no fog.

For years I've thought there should be an app for trades to review customers so that others can avoid the weird/mental/disturbed/pervert/religious extremist types. I have met so, so many flat out mental, weird and dangerous people I could have avoided.

No waking up one morning to find all the buttons have moved and changed colour because of an update

In the 1980s the USA was having a puritan time of it, automobile-wise. If you look closely, the DeLorean's dashboard in Back to the Future was painted so the speedo looked like it could accommodate 88mph. In truth all dashboards then were mandated to stop at 80.

I've actually got a PhD and not sure how they're mostly funded, tbh. I got mine when there was a glut of scholarships at the uni where I was zero-hours teaching (and where I did my undergrad).

They missed some bits off the kit but it's ok I've got it (sorry about my bad soldering tho)

Got my CD signed by the storm yes I did

Alright Peter Bradshaw. Blimey.

Wait but no-one has checked about trains did he get the train maybe

@serailway.bsky.social Hi, I'm travelling between walmer and Canterbury west and the train is delayed from Dover, any chance the Canterbury connection in Ramsgate can be held for a moment to wait for us to come in? Thanks

When I worked on operator services a colleague had the most amazing mental arithmetic skills. He could add/multiply/work out the square root of the telephone numbers in the time it took to type them in. I thought he was pulling my leg until one day I took a calculator into work and, my god. Skills.

Ex-BT international operator reporting. Leading digit tells the exchange where to send the call: preceding 0 for out of current area code; preceding 1 for operator services (100, 144, 155 (where I worked)); 2-8 - local lines within your area code; 9 - emergency services. Designed for exchange speed.

These live radio feature docs I make are done with realtime music improvisation with amazing musicians responding to the material they hear. The interview clips are pre-edited and cued on Ableton Live so the shape of the show is set, and the live Announcer and poet(s) are cued in by me "conducting".

The last episode of the Goodwin Sands Oral History project is up. This isn't your usual dull and worthy oral history ep - this is a hauntological radio feature doc about the sea and how it changes us. Broadcast from a wrecked ship in the Channel, it was recorded live in 2024.

Really not a fan of the wind. Why is the air in such a hurry? Where is it going? It's already outside, where else does it need to be?

Could have helped with this if only they'd asked www.etsy.com/uk/listing/4... Imaginary tubemaps, I make 'em

Let me tell you something, a friend of mine with MS had her nurse specialist in clinic asking ChatGPT to help choose her next medication cycle. These medications can be dangerous and have risks, not least that they might not work and you relapse and accrue disability.

Why would anyone be using that service to do research when it is often wrong (sometimes wildly wrong), and you have the entire Internet available like a giant bookshelf? Pull the books down, read, interpret and understand for yourself. Like a grown up.

I've found that applying for arts funding costs a great deal of time, and if you worked out the hourly rate and the chances of actually being awarded anything, you might as well not bother. So I don't any more. I just make some work which (hopefully) sells and use that to fund the stuff that won't.

I still have some Garfield books but my faves are the Perishers, a love inherited from my mum. Have loads of vintage books of these

I'm going to Wells-Next-The-Sea in a few weeks to specifically cosplay Paxton (Peter Vaughan) yes I'm taking a big coat and a spade I wanna see what happens when I start digging

Yes this is correct. Unfortunately it's difficult to make some of them actually turn up.

Such a nerdy thing to notice but the Map Men This Way Up book even references it's own ISBN as part of a courtroom skit @jayforeman.bsky.social @markcooperjones.bsky.social Now there's an edit to remember before hitting the "print" button

When I was a Hello Girl for BT in a former career, the 144 Chargecard Service operator terminals had 123 at the bottom, and the 155 International Operator services terminals had 123 at the top. Split shifts on the switchboards took some getting used to.

Also, while I'm here can I please plug the oral history project I've been working on, a new episode is available now. This time, the curator of the Kent Battle of Britain museum talks about what it means to devote your life selflessly to remembrance podcasts.apple.com/py/podcast/s...

Anyway, if you want to hear the sorts of things I make, this is the Goodwin Sands Radiogram, a strange documentary series about the lives of those living along the SE coast of Britain, broadcst from a wrecked ship, narrated by a Pathe News presenter, with live music. www.goodwinsandsradiogram.org

Adding to my podcast thoughts: the lack of time to make stuff means that the audio realm is seldom embraced to its full capacity. My audio work I try to make REALLY interesting and immersive and transporting to another place, but god it takes a long time.

Would also add to Joel's advice: When interviewing people who are not your mates and may be unfamiliar/uneasy with the process, don't use whopping great mics in front of their faces as it can feel very intimidating. I have a pair of small Rode M5s which are discreet and sit out of eyeline.

[email protected] has been copying my homework lol Whole thread here very interesting and shows that podcasting in essence hasn't moved on a great deal from when I did my PhD in it a good few years ago now (2016-2019). Would recommend a read through Joel's advice here, he's exactly right.

And that's my DIY duties for NYE done I guess. Grouting. Exciting. Pfft.

Here we have three Spitfires. Except we do not. They are chunky like Hurricanes, except the wings are shaped like P-51 Mustang wings Wrong colour Extra tail on the closest one?? They all appear to have an extra canopy?? The roundels have no red in them, making them RAAF (Aussie) markings

I've noticed this before, but AI can't do Spitfires. It just can't. Look at this one: Wing angle too acute The nose spinner looks like a Me109 Wtf is the tail, looks like a Boulton Paul Defiant shape The roundels are completely wrong, don't match, and there appears to be two on the fuselage?

I also spoke to Sean Connery on the 144 operator helpline when I was a Hello Girl for BT about a million years ago when his Chargecard (remember them?) wasn't working and he was **pissed off** haha

I caught @bobbyllew.bsky.social having a cheeky cig behind a production van at Beaulieu Motor Museum when he was there filming a Scrapheap Challenge about 20 years ago. I told him I liked his books and he was really, really lovely.

Everyone knows xmas limbo is time to catch up on DIY! [URGH NO PLS] Ok so I installed this shower about 18 months ago but never got round to boxing in the mounting frame I built, I've just finished doing that and have CLEVERLY* used magnets so the panel is removable to inspect for leaks

I went to visit the Rollright Stones this year and went across the road to the barrow and King Stone. Just me and partner there absolutely alone and I swear we heard footsteps behind us.

The other thing about podcasts going over to YouTube is the hegemony of platform. Audio-only can be (and is) hosted by all manner of servers and companies (you can even do it from your Dropbox if you know what you're doing) but YT is the internet standard at the moment, and that comes with caveats.

"Being audio-only is not some failure of technology" is absolutely correct, and I think this article is right in suggesting that audio-only clips are hard to share on the socials, indicating that the pivot to video is about money rather than intent. Radio still being treated as TV's poorer cousin.

My friends know that despite studying, teaching, and thinking about music a great deal, my music theory is not really up to snuff. However, I can report that, having been subjected to a lot of Christmas songs this morning, a great deal of them seem to be in 6/8 time.

I had a dream, a Black Fathom Faith dream that I saw the King-Under-the-Sea. He wore an armour forged from sunken battleships, a crown whose points were the prows of claimed vessels, each with their carved figureheads still screaming salt prophecies. I woke broken. – Claire Ember

Oh god this pleases me so much

Do you like stories of finding washed up bombs on UK beaches? Want to know what it's like to go diving and having to choose between salvaging a Second World War Dornier 17 propeller blade or picking up a very tasty-looking lobster? The Shipwrecks, Sailors & Lost Souls podcast is available now

I have twice now seen cherry trees with next year's spring blossom out already. I am already treading carefully around next year's spring bluebells. This is the first year I've seen this, and I've been working outside for 25 years. Whatever is happening is speeding up. This is not good.

I'm going to say this very carefully for spoiler reasons, but things like Broken Veil, The Sink, even feature docs like Wireless Nights and things, pack the cognitive and emotional power that they do because of the audio-only medium. Seeing podcasts drifting towards YouTube is such a desperate shame

Ok so this is as excellent as it sounds given the list of people involved, and the central *thing* of it (no spoilers) is an unbearably creepy idea that I'll be thinking about for a good while. My only sadness is that now I want to hear Joel and Will talking to me about how unsettling it is

Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong, you mean?