i remember walking out of Force Awakens, annoyed with it. And there was a girl, maybe eight, with her mum. The girl was BOUNCING. "Mummy!! I can be an X-wing pilot!!" And THAT was the point i knew my opinion didn't matter for shit. i would die for the right of that girl to be an X-Wing pilot.

For the record, the historical Helen likely did not look like that, nor did Odysseus look like Matt Damon from Boston, which didn’t exist, if either of :them: existed, which they didn’t. Also and more importantly, none of them spoke English, which didn’t exist. Any questions. 😶

RE: https://fusionpatrol.com/2026/05/09/doctor-who-review-the-dalek-master-plan-fusion-patrol-ep-787/ Apart from it’s obviously a huge thrill to have rediscovered #DoctorWho to watch, I really enjoyed this discussion of The Daleks’ Master Plan with @LoneLocust

This, from @pkellner.bsky.social, is what a lot of centre-left voters should now consider.

lol the shooter has a BLUE SKY ACCOUNT, well here’s one excuse that won’t work:

As a child I was stumped on how they got the motion blur in this scene. It's claymation so it can't just be drawn in. Much later I found out that all the blur in the tracking and panning shots is actual *motion* blur. The sets were moved for a fraction of a second during each exposure!

The two provisos there being a) it will never be easier to move your business off Substack than it is today and b) you can build a very nice business on Substack, just like you can on Facebook or YouTube, if you remember you work for a faceless giant tech company, not yourself.

Imagine if, rather than making it illegal for shops to sell cigarettes to children, the government in 1908* had just introduced a law to say that all schools had to be No Smoking. * I looked it up.

The problem is that evil US social media fims target kids and cause them harm, and the government doesn't want to bring in a law to make that illegal because it will upset them, so instead they bring in a law against the schools to make it look like they're doing something.

There’s some good stuff in here, but the last recommendation of grading to a curve is bonkers. It is interference in academic judgement. We use criterion grading in the UK, and it might not be perfect, but where we have good teaching and good students they should all have the potential to do well.

So I've moved off Bluesky (I think?) and you probably won't notice. Partly because I haven't been posting here, but also because my handle and my account still look the same. So what has changed...?

I will stop picking holes in this I swear. But it changes direction half way down. And why does only half the design mirror? Any plans for odd number of carriages?

We're setting up a new arms length body to run the railway for us. But before we do that we sketched up a new livery for every train on the cheap.

What I would really like to see from any of the so-called radicals in UK politics is to move from their comfort zones and actually home in on real unaddressed issues like the overwhelming government bias towards the largest companies - which could make a real difference.

A story Stoppard told several times, in several places:

Getting some teas for the rest of the family and came across this monstrosity of 21st Century consumerism. On the one hand, what the hell, Twinings? On the other hand, I'm all in for it. #FiveDaysEarlGreysFiveWays

Not the point I know, but a question: if you're changing the gauge, do you add a new rail between the existing two or just undo one and move it in a bit? 1st option means you can carry on using the tracks while the job is done & gives you some interoperabiity, but is much more expensive, I guess?

Last one for now. That was harder. Bloody pleasant open face… Happy doctor who day…

Go on then. Because you asked no nicely… Happy doctor who day again!

Happy Doctor Who day!

I think what they could have done, here, I feel is just put a penny on income tax.

“Professor? Doctor? Who are you?” #silvernemesis Happy #doctorwhoday everyone. #doctorwho

This is bizarre. Like the editor of the guardian or mail or any other paper complaining repeatedly about the front page lead they decided to run with. Very good example of what's wrong with broadcast news - they've given up deciding for themselves what is or isn't news and what the priorities are

My philosophy has always been this: If you try to convince me something is shit, you’re wrong & will fail. If you try to convince me something is great, you’re right & winning at life. If we all agreed on everything life would be dull; it’s how we go about our differences that’s important.

Hi! Today is my first official day as the Executive Director of Mastodon, replacing @[email protected] as CEO. I joined the Mastodon team more than 5 years ago, mostly working for Mastodon in the evenings on top of a 120% day job. I was the driving force behind the incorporation of the […]

We’re also looking ahead to what comes next. In another blog post published today, we introduced Mastodon’s new leadership team. Our Executive Director is @mellifluousbox (formerly, CFO of Mastodon gGmbH), who has already represented Mastodon on international stages. We also shared an […]

Our Founder, @Gargron is stepping down from his position as CEO. He shared a reflection on his time building and growing Mastodon on our blog. We want to take a moment to express the Mastodon team’s deep gratitude and admiration for Eugen, and for the technology and community he has built here […]

Looking for a personal email provider, which lets you use your own domain. Will be used with Outlook client on PC and on Android mobile. For a friend who needs to get set up asap, so any recommendations welcome! Thanks.

The multi-camera drama has disappeared forever: an entire medium, an entire *form of art*, has just gone. Thirty years ago. Unheralded, unnoticed. It’s like the novel disappearing. Or watercolours vanishing. It was cultural vandalism, by oversight. 19/

perfect detail

I dunno about the rest of you, but I want my cardiologist to relax and rest rather than spend her off-time picking litter and sweeping the streets.

Immigration has halved due to increasing restrictions. This has had no impact whatsoever in terms of reducing the popularity of the far right. You would have to be an idiot to conclude that restricting it even further will make a difference.

Hi from Mastodon, new Bluesky followers! ^_^ So you know, I can't interact with you if you don't give me permission! If you want that, it's two clicks, here's how: https://solarbird.net/blog/2025/01/16/hey-bluesky-users/ #bluesky #fedibridge

Be existential to each other…

Oh nice. Today is a Pythagorean triple. Even in America. https://www.npr.org/2025/09/16/nx-s1-5535545/pythagorean-triple-square-day-9-16-25

Sounds more like a Torchwood episode than the main series tbh.

It is with heavy heart (and, unfortunately, deep affection) that I must reshare a snippet from the 1980s masterpiece “Yes, Prime Minister”, in relation to Russia’s drone attack on a NATO ally.

As a kid, I ate up making-of docs and books and magazines. A lot of us raised on the holy Blue Peter / Doctor Who axis of access did the same. I find it baffling when people have no interest or feeling for the creation of the stuff they love, how it actually *works*.

I don't know who needs to hear this, but it's OK to mix up Seeds Of Death and Seeds Of Doom, from time to time. Forget what your parents told you, you're not a bad person.

New blog post! Bridging vs cross-posting. They’re similar, but bridged conversations tend to be more unified across networks, while cross-posting ends up more fragmented. Feedback is welcome! And friendly reminder, if you appreciate what you do here, feel free to check out our Patreon!

This is the stupidest comment I’ve seen today and although it’s early I don’t think it’s going to be beaten until the Americans get out of bed.

You know what emergent tech of the last decade actually works well, and was adopted by millions? 3D printing. It’s great! So many applications. But also nobody is sneering at you for not having or utilizing 3D printing. Nobody is trying to sneak a 3D printer into your garage without your consent

The holy form, this. At the birth of the medium. The three minute pop song of television. The best it ever was. Will die on this hill. Six parts. Half an hour each. That’s how TV tells a story.

A good thought here about the unkindness self deprecation may accidentally generate. As an act of selfless generosity I'm pledging never to self deprecate again, even though I'm absolutely brilliant at it.

We’ve had autocorrect since 1993 and predictive text since 1995. Thirty years down the line, they’re still rubbish. AI is the same. Yes, billionaires will use it to make lots of us redundant. But in thirty years’ time, it’ll still be quoting fake legal cases and drawing people with too many limbs.

The distinction is a false one. All games are cooperative. The very act of agreeing to & honouring rules, & the deeper compact, of temporarily engaging in the roleplay that the drama taking place on the table is *important* - this is a fundamentally cooperative enterprise.

Wet sparrow #sparrow #birb#sparrow#BirdsOfFediverse

National Trust birds #birb #BirdsOfFediverse #StackpoleQuayBirds

The government is actively destroying our economy, world-leading academic excellence and people's lives by letting this crisis go on. It's inexcusable, entirely contradictory to the objective of "growth", and, regrettably, unsurprising.

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