He/him. Trying to be a good ally to all but please call me out if you think I can do better Trying to mostly shitpost but sometimes get stuck in political or aerospace posting nonsense spirals Posts my own and not affiliated with any organisation
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A sign that a setup is dysfunctional is if you keep going through comms directors, because it is a sign that what happens is that, at the point Sean describes, instead of going 'so we need to change the approach' you go 'bad comms. Need a new comms director!'
I can't imagine it in many other professions. If I need to make changes then it can sound brutal if "you're not hitting targets" or "you're not providing the quality we expect" but if I said "you're a little baby, I need grown-ups" then I would rightly expect a call from HR or the union
Dispatches from the West Country: somebody’s painted 🏴s on a load of roundabouts in Penzance and the locals are furious because they also hate the English
Yeah we went back to season 1 of GOT recently and really enjoyed it
I want Starmer to explain to me, calmly and in detail, why it’s bad to have asylum seekers staying in a hotel in my town. Why should I be concerned about that?
But I agree there's no reward for Starmer for this bizarre appeasement act
I think a good number of them will vote Reform
bsky.app/profile/pash...
Gladly it's not everyone, had our first coaches meeting for the new season with the U10s and we discussed politics briefly and the consensus was "refugees shouldn't be a political football and it would be refreshing to hear someone actually supporting them"
I can
It's the same heading south from the NW, mix of union jacks and England flags but they're on more or less every bridge and seeing quite a lot of reform stickers on vans and cars now, they live among us
Liverpool 0-0 Arsenal
I turn on my TV and a TV presenter is asking a Govt minister why they are talking about rolling out free childcare when the big issue is asylum hotels. This is objectively insane.
I think my top ten (in no specific order) is: Thor Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Ant-Man Thor Ragnarok Black Panther Infinity War Endgame Spiderman No Way Home Thunderbolts F4 First Steps If the series count this would be different as I loved several
I feel like a chump, trans friends warned me and I should have listened
bsky.app/profile/luke...
My eldest is teaching my youngest hope to play Pokémon by playing through Sword with her and the way he pronounces Vs means I keep hearing him tell her about the best tactics about battling Corbynites and l it sends me every time
Just finished Thunderbolts and I agree. Both good films but the issues I have with Thunderbolts are definitely less than those I had with F4FS, TB up there with the better MCU movies
I agree, though, as I've said, there are things someone can say and do where they cross the "separate the art from the artist" line and I'm done; I've not seen anything from him that does that but I'm not keeping on top of Eastwood news or anything either
The Wikipedia page on it does seem to indicate that he's getting increasingly "old man shouts at cloud" as he ages but maybe I'm being unkind
I really liked First Steps, I agree it could have been funner and goofier but I think the balance struck was fine and I'm hopeful for what they may do with the new villain
Yeah I try to separate what he says from the films and choose for Gran Torino in particular to decide he's sacrificing himself in part as penance because he knows he was wrong Separate art from artist is a sticky wicket though of course
I see what you mean but I don't think there's been as strong an emotional centre or character development in his films Vs Eastwood's, I think I agree that they're aiming for similar things though as was e.g. the Equaliser movies with Denzel
The vibe of Gran Torino without so much "racism is okay if you're consistent, eat nice food when it's given to you freely, and you stop a gang" would work well for some of the ageing franchise stuff if they really feel the need to crank out another film
I wish I'd given new Captain America a miss but that's a separate point
I'm a sucker for superhero movies anyway so everything I'm hearing about it is good. I would have watched it in the cinema but kids etc and by the time they released the new Captain America on + it was out of the cinema and they've trained me to watch them in order. Silly Disney
Nice, will probably watch it tomorrow
It resonated with me far more than e.g. Bruce Willis dying to explode an asteroid for sure
The other thing I think Hollywood blockbuster land needs to relearn is films like Back to the Future and Honey I Shrunk the Kids etc. The stakes don't have to be "the world is ending" they can just be "this character I like is in trouble I hope they make it"
It's part of the reason I really liked (most of) Wandavision, it explored grief in an interesting and different and arguably brave way and the stakes were mainly emotional until it got to "oh maybe if she's too sad she'll destroy the world or something" but until then it was really interesting
I really liked the Wolverine film for that where he's just trying to help dementia Xavier and rescue some kids, the world is fucked already, he's not trying to save it
I remember watching Green Wing and thinking it was an hilarious Pythonesque romp of fancy and then rewatching after 10 years of marriage to an NHS doctor and it was like my third eye opened
Swift gets the clicks whatever shite you write I guess
Was in a work meeting and agreed to setup a workshop with 9 managers we called "the 9" and I then said "who above all else desire power" and the other guy said "For within these rings was bound the strength and the will to govern over each race" and I swear we almost kissed afterwards
some of you need to make like travis kelce and engage with a tailor swiftly
Up late, can’t sleep, watching replays of Nordic ski races in South Tyrol, Italy, making new friends.
Legions of mayors/candidates the world over musing on whether they can pull it off in their city and not be a flop or induce cringe
WOMEN IN STEM
Ok - so I'm going to do a real context+write up but for now, here's what some of these things look like. To start my data reference is DCinbox which is ~208,000 official e-newsletters over the past 15 years.
The utter madness of so many choosing to vote for a vaguely less horrible horror instead of actually opposing the oppression, in an imagined scenario or reality as is the case for far too many people, is getting worse daily
I've always thought this would be great for post cinema, particularly in the opening few weekends having a phone in show specifically about a big movie, with punters giving their views, not critics
This week in court a white cis woman landlord started *literally crying* when I was doing my opening argument for my client and started saying to her lawyer "how is this allowed? How are these people just allowed to have a lawyer?" through tears, because evidently oppression is when due process
In court, the landlady expected the judge to side with her, to be incensed at the temerity of my friend expecting the leased space to be delivered on time. The judge was so offended by her entitlement, he gave my friend the full judgment plus $1000 for moving costs. And yeah, the landlady cried.
managed to potter about and do some bike nonsense though, so not all bad. folding gravel bike? sure why not.
No meal served to me lasts long enough to be photographed for social media
Think I'll read this once a week forever. Patricia Routledge, I love you.
I like how this gag turned out.
If you have never read his biography, read it, and prepare to fall in love all over again with a man who clearly radiated goodness from his very core. The best time to have encountered his own writing was when you were young & still establishing your personal values: the second best time is today.
He was very good in person with his trans fans too. Growing up going to SF cons, I met many trans people before I even knew what trans meant. I gave my parents very little they needed to accept in their child, so they had lots left over for everyone else. 😉 www.thepinknews.com/2021/08/06/t...
My local library has Sally Rooney prominently in their display next to another display of kids books including one with a prominent watermelon on the cover and I'm here for it
Working as an engineer in the SW you have a great chance of working with engineers who were laid off by Mr "Brexit is great but guess what I'm moving all my engineering and manufacturing abroad" and they always bring the spice
AGE TEST: You fall, people laugh= young You fall, people gasp= old
Perhaps, one day, schoolkids will study this squalid little chapter in British terror-panic history. When they do, I hope these two headlines from today are printed side by side, with clear annotation of which individual faced more outrage and condemnation.
Maybe you could explain to your constituents that they're not on holiday, they're fleeing persecution or worse. This ghoulish framing is disgusting and you should be ashamed.
Whenever I read anything on US law I understand why my legal department is so allergic to any contracting with US entities
It struck me how similar the cases are though and how gratuitous the differences, maybe they were unlucky on the snail but should have been sure and you should feel safe with beverages To label something you know is unsafe as such but then sell to marks where you know they think it's food is bad
Has the US still not had its "snail in a bottle" moment? This seems almost unbelievable to me given it's approaching its centenary in the UK en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donoghu...
Is the cyclical nature of Canadian immigration simply people getting to winter in Canada and realising it's not for them?
Oof In office or potentially in office, sometimes politicians need to learn to take the L and apologise
Watched episodes 1 and 2 of #Alienearth and so far the xenomorph is only killing rich people and tools of the fascist state Is the xenomorph based?
Feel like this little sob story *could* have mentioned that Boyne's Polari nomination came five days after he wrote a piece referring to trans-inclusive women as the evil wives in the Handmaid's Tale, "ready to pin a handmaiden down as her husband rapes her". www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
What do you have to say in your defence, Mr Simpson?
If your solution to people shitting the streets is cops and not toilets you're just a fascist.
wow, all it took was one week of restricted access to porn.
There was part of military training that was specifically "how to aid civil organisations" and it was shocking how many young people were just "why aren't we in charge?" the whole time
Adult content?
If I had been an advisor to Gavin Williamson I would be seeking a super injunction against anyone ever reporting that fact
The design of that film is so iconic
Me every day, waking up a half-hour before my alarm goes off
The UK mostly has really good airports by the standards of their peers. I have never been to a British airport that was by any reasonable international standard 'bad'.
The Hard of Hearing Tones
Update: 16 of 24 authors and 2 judges have now withdrawn. First Book: Curtis Garner Jason Okundaye Sacha Coward Sanah Ahsan Amy Twigg Mae Diansangu Eleanor Medhurst Hanako Footman Ciara Maguire June Thomas Main: Olumide Popoola Robert Hamberger Dean Atta Andrew McMillan Rhian Elizabeth Jane Traies
cis women should not 'take precedence' over trans women, we're all women lol. just. fucking. stop.
I freely admit to being proud to despise anyone who panics at the sight of a non-white child
11 likes on the original post is incredible. An account of his size I'd expect 11 likes just from bots or finger slips This ain't it Iain, have some humility
Shame there's not a pub you can go to but can understand not wanting to be around it when you don't have to
It's also valid to say a person isn't your friend if they're voting Reform. Maybe you can change their mind but if they've done their research and they want to vote reform they're a wrong-un, if they haven't done their research then it's rare you'll be able to use evidence to change their mind
Exactly, I know plenty of Reform voters but they're not my fucking friends
Despite what many may think, the Cookie Monster is actually a very gentle and caring lover and does not just attempt to gobble genitals in the same fashion he attempts to do so with cookies
I think the opposite in this scenario i.e. he wanted to pay with cash and hated that he was "forced" to use card because I guess he didn't want the global conspiracy to know he'd been to Prezzo
Dolly Parton has sent my daughter a new book every month for years as she does for thousands of children. She help fund the development of the Covid vaccine. She’s not a billionaire. I think as non wealthy people it’s hard to even imagine how much billionaires *could* be doing with their money.
I'm this case they did only take card, he had a card, he just didn't want to use it
Genuinely weird to encounter these people in the wild but they're everywhere
I had dinner with a mate and some of his mates who I didn't know and one of them made a huge scene because the restaurant only took card, I even offered to pay for him and he could give me the cash but he just called them foul things and said they were infringing his freedom
You'd think the road to Hell would be paved with *some* bad intentions.
Chris Rea will not answer my questions about this
Great effort it's hard to take up new stuff if you haven't for a while so this is great
Maybe there's so much LLM chatter now that's OS that actually that "mean" is more the product of LLMs themselves anyway than human data production I feel like we can't possibly be at that inflection point yet but I have no data to back that feeling up
I don't think the "mean"* communication style is reassuring deference so it feels trained/instructed behaviour to me Vs it being where they would always head anyway *I know this is an over-simplification of how LLMs work
Yes the answers are going to be statistically generic because that's just how LLMs work, but the way it presents that generic response back is the grift adjacent part
Exactly, the fact that it's designed to make self-important but ultimately not-very-knowledgeable people feel clever and as though they've got unearned authority and respect is a choice that shows that actually the LLM peddlers understand their marks pretty well
Justice for sandwich bro!
The "abolish IR35" is a real tell here as well that what they really want is to use any lever they can to make sure they never have to pay tax again and can go bank to legalised cronyism and corruption
14 of 24 authors have now withdrawn. First Book: Curtis Garner, Jason Okundaye, Sacha Coward, Sanah Ahsan, Amy Twigg, Mae Diansangu, Eleanor Medhurst, Ciara Maguire, June Thomas Main: Olumide Popoola, Robert Hamberger, Andrew McMillan, Rhian Elizabeth, Jane Traies Judges: Nicola Dinan, Bob Hughes
Being homeless is not a crime
How To Become A Roadie In 6 Easy Steps: 1. 2. 1. 2. 1. 2.
Leia genuinely conflicted about whether she stays with Jabba or leaves because she's grown close to him over this time
My latest cartoon for @newscientist.com
Labour shadow cabinet during Tory rule: "The Tories are just doing whatever Farage wants; vote us into power" Labour cabinet in power: "If we just do what Farage wants we'll definitely stay in power. It didn't work for the Tories but it will definitely work for us."
Leave the dick apprentice, return the dick master