More on the Angoulême International Comics Festival scandal from Dean Simons. This story is above-fold news in France but ignored by the British press; only an American news site is prepared to publish this in English. Extraordinary. @nujparis.bsky.social www.comicsbeat.com/angouleme-fo...

Paranoid? Moi? Or should I say: “Moi, toi et eux if they happen to be listening?” [Con in 60 Seconds] autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/the-chines...

Aircon controls make no sense whatsoever. The button icons and handset LCD interface were designed by a maniac. Everybody else in the meeting room has already had a go before you turned up, and they all failed. Now it’s your turn... [Con in 60 Seconds] autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/if-i-press...

You have to hand it to these junk mailers: they know how to grab your attention. Especially the sphincter-loosening devil doll who springs from your computer display as effectively as Sadako from a Japanese television. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/lern-at-sp...

The latest on the Angoulême Comics Festival shitstorm, comprehensively explained by comics journalist Dean Simons. Les dernières nouvelles sur la polémique autour du Festival International de la BD d'Angoulême, expliqué en détail par le journaliste Dean Simons. www.comicsbeat.com/angouleme-20...

There’s nothing a South Korean football fan loves more than to dress up in full England national kit, head to Sangam stadium and chant: “Ingerland, Ingerlaaaaand…” FREE POST from [Autosave is for Wimps] featuring five David Beckham haircuts. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/a-load-of-...

A few years ago while visiting St Albans cathedral, I took a couple of photos of St Albans' shrine and added a GPS co-ordinate for the precise location to Google Maps. This evening, Google emailed me to say it had attracted half a million views. maps.app.goo.gl/fp5fQrezyBDw...

"When the AI gets embarrassed by gaps in its knowledge, it bullshits. It does it not to deceive but to win your acceptance. And what harm is there in a little embellishment? Look at your own LinkedIn profile, for example." [Con in 60 Seconds] autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/how-do-you...

Wednesday's FREE post from [Autosave is for Wimps] featuring the least scary mask you will see this Halloween plus a swimsuit model on a rug. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/have-i-got...

"(a) It’s better to have received messages twice, albeit several months apart, than not at all. (b) You don’t know how many new notifications never got delivered during AWS's 75 lost minutes, and never will." [Autosave is for Wimps] autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/weve-digit...

"At our coworking place there's an ancient PC that nobody else will touch, let alone try to install anything clever on it. It’s my favourite PC. To my horror, tech support has just upgraded it to Windows 11..." Audio fun with [Con in 60 Seconds] autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/halloween-...

"While we’re looking at his face… why is that all the weirdos portrayed in Korean spam are westerners? Almost certainly Americans? (Don’t bother, I think I’ve answered my own question.)" Free Korean Spam on Wednesdays! autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/whats-the-...

The threat of an all-out creators' boycott of the 2026 Angoulême Comics Festival looms even loomier than ever, as explained (for the first time in English) by Dean Simons: www.comicsbeat.com/angouleme-fe...

British freelance journalists everywhere - even those living in France! :-) Your deadline for responding to the UK Government's consultation on late payment legislation is THURSDAY this week! That's 23 OCTOBER. Do it now! @nujparis.bsky.social @nujlfb.bsky.social

Mme D has one of those fitness apps that switches into nag-nag-nag mode. “Keep it up!” it tells her. “You’ve reached your sixty-second goal!” – which makes no sense as Mme D doesn’t play football. [Autosave is for Wimps] featuring Wolf Alice. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/i-have-a-r...

Montpellier's archive building will host a free event tomorrow afternoon at which you can sit in the amphitheatre and listen to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.

NUJ Paris members based in Strasbourg might enjoy meeting up with French freelancers for an apéro, organised by local adhérants of 'Profession : Pigiste'. pigiste.org/les-aperos-p... @nujparis.bsky.social

How to qualify for unemployment benefit when you're a freelance journalist in France. (tl;dr You need to prove you were on contract.) Courtesy of the fine peeps at 'Profession : Pigiste'. @nujparis.bsky.social

Now that everything ends up in Junk, regardless whether it is or not, we have to trudge through endless shit about sleeping pills and weight-loss injections just to find last week’s meeting minutes. [Con in 60 Seconds] autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/everything...

"I bet your perverted mind even interprets sexual innuendo from innocent sentences written by a Substack columnist on Fridays. Get a grip on yourself." [Autosave is for Wimps] featuring The Rolling Stones, The Floaters, Monty Python and Deicide. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/hating-tho...

The NUJ PA chapel has secured an above-inflation pay deal, demonstrating "the power of union activism and collective bargaining." www.nuj.org.uk/resource/pa-...

Recommended reading for all freelance journalists trying to get to grips with the French idea of what a freelance journalist is. @nujparis.bsky.social

"I don't mind left-over office party balloons but the farty deflation noises are distracting when you’re on a video call. And I suspect the released helium is playing havoc with my vocal chords as the meeting progresses." [Con in 60 Seconds] Episode 30 autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/my-voice-s...

Show me the money! Loan sharks' spam email technique in South Korea in the mid- 2000s. Episode 9 of Dabbsy's Curious Museum of Korean Spam just dropped. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/free-post-...

Profession : Pigiste est fière de vous annoncer la nouvelle composition de son bureau : Nora Bouazzouni et Virginie Menvielle, coprésidentes, Pauline Chambost, trésorière, Pauline De Deus, secrétaire, appuyées par Julie Falcoz, Léna Couffin, Dorian Cabrol et Giovanni Simone. Bravo à eux 💪🏻

“Fancy a coffee?” My heart sinks. Once I step outside my own house, all coffee is shit. That's why they give you a stack of sugar cubes taller than the coffee cup itself: to take the awful taste away. [Autosave is for Wimps] featuring Ultra Vomit. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/worlds-pro...

I have a job title, as it turns out. It lasted all of 30 seconds before it got changed again. They really must value me! I can’t tell you how overjoyed I am about this. [Con in 60 Seconds] Featuring copious quantities of hinge oil. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/i-didnt-kn...

It’s a “Sun Pillow” – a really bad idea because it doesn’t look sturdy enough to withstand 15 million degrees celsius. It should, however, survive if you were to put your *head* on it. [Autosave is for Wimps] Free post every Wednesday. Subscribe now! autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/free-post-...

The 2025 Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded at a jolly ceremony at the Boston university’s George Sherman Union on Thursday. I’m taking time-out from my usual ranty Friday column this week to give you a roundup of what went down. (PLUS more Korean spam!) autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/eat-this-o...

A group of people stopped me on the street and tried to sell me the idea of letting AI book my next holiday vacation. Should I? Would YOU? Imagine arriving at an airport that didn't exist. [Con in 60 Seconds] Episode 27 autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/on-the-roa...

As of this week – until I get bored or forget – I will post a mid-week exhibit from Dabbsy's Curious Museum of Korean Spam for everyone to enjoy, including FREE subscribers. Every Wednesday. Sign up to receive it FREE by email. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/free-post-...

🔊 We are delighted to announce our all-singing, all-dancing new website! Take a look here and let us know what you think: nujparis.fr Thanks to our chair, @alidabbs.bsky.social, for all his brilliant work in making this happen. 🙌 @nujofficial.bsky.social @nujlfb.bsky.social

Une noisette done properly. What a rarity! Beautiful layering, correct temperature and an amaretto cookie on the side. Merci Gazette Café, Montpellier! www.gazettecafe.com

You can no more roll back a killer robot’s firmware than persuade AOL not to ditch dialup. A column from me, from the future. [Autosave is for Wimps] featuring classic Numan, heavy metal Reznor and (hooray!) more Korean Spam! autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/trust-a-hu...

Unexpected item in LUGGAGE area! The maniacs that brought you self-checkout tills in supermarkets now bring you… self-check-in machines in hotel lobbies. [Con in 60 Seconds] autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/do-not-dis...

I hadn't been counting the years so IEEE did it for me. Apparently I have been an IEEE member for 15 so far. IEEE now runs a certification program for AI Ethics. Shall I sign up?

The complexity of in-store discounts that only apply when I buy multiple identical products continues to baffle me. “Buy FOUR circumcisions by the end of September and get your FIFTH at no extra cost!” [Con in 60 Seconds] Episode 25. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/buy-one-ge...

Artificial Intelligence at its finest: Instagram looked at my recent photos and suggested the following soundtracks for my story reel.

I was chuckling away while scrolling through the multicoloured array of spammy nonsense that I had received overnight and I turned to my team leader and blurted out: “Want to see my junk?” [Autosave is for Wimps] featuring unwanted emails from Korea. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/im-done-wi...

"The ads pop up in the most inconvenient moments. Not just in the middle of some action scenes but often mid-dialogue. I suffered one ad last night that interrupted the dialogue mid-word." [Con in 60 Seconds] featuring my fake call to PrimeFlix. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/is-there-a...

Express your support for war reporters, photographers and media crews working in Gaza. Simple motion of solidarity passed unanimously at last night's meeting, as part of NUJ's "48 Hours of Action": "NUJ Paris branch deplores the targeted killings of journalists reporting from Gaza. [continues...]

Another 5, add them to the previous, er, how many? If you have lost count, it can help to humanise the journalists being systematically killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. Photos and bios updated daily by Médiapart here: www.mediapart.fr/studio/panor... @nujparis.bsky.social @nujofficial.bsky.social

My other tractor's a Porsche.

Once you’ve been declared dead in France, it sets in motion a sequence of automated digital-only procedures that sprint towards completion with alarming rapidity. [Autosave is for Wimps] featuring Ledger, Brazil and the Army of the Not-Yet-Dead. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/are-you-de...

The company is about to replace staff with AI. There are still some human idiots left behind to organise a nice leaving party for them, though. Using AI, of course. What could possibly go wrong? [Con in 60 Seconds] Episode 23 out now. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/worried-ab...

"It’s not entirely his fault that he felt he could spout outrageous bollocks about GPT-5, emboldened as he was by millions of unquestioning sycophants." [Autosave is for Wimps] featuring Altman, Jobs, Cook, OS/2 and Scorpions singing T.Rex. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/speaking-u...

Looking for your next IT job? Digging out your old CV and updating it won't work any more. Read your most useful free article of the week here: www.theregister.com/2025/08/11/f...

Not content with leading a calm and conflict-free existence, I have decided to ruin it all by bringing the wrath of culture wars upon my head – for a laugh. But which side of the inclusivity debate have I chosen? [Con in 60 Seconds] autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/exclusive-...

Recommended: an unfussy and (IMHO) reasonable guide to replacing some questionable classic IT terms ("blacklist" etc) with friendlier alternatives, written by a Linux group. Distribute to tech writers and subs. @nujparis.bsky.social @nujofficial.bsky.social www.aswf.io/inclusive-la...