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AlanB

@alanjbanks.bsky.social
292 followers 156 following 771 posts

Retired Doctor. Four wonderful grandkids. Servant of 4 yr old Staffie. Love vinyl. Model Railways in various scales. Member of the tofu eating, leftie wokerati. Not keen on tofu, but I've eaten it. Now, a Green Party member. Ban Blood Sports.

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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
What a grand day. Eldest grandson completes Melbourne Marathon and his mum the half. I'm listening to a new band. On the living room floor with sun on my back, dog next to me. Not a care in the world. No time limits, no appointments, no things to do if I don't want. Wendy Lucas. Great voice.
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Saturday 10th October. Its chucking it down and 10⁰C. Heating has come on. A whole month later than last year. Lovely to have a nice warm towel for a change.
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Reposted by AlanB
Appalachian Blue @republicofcascadia.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Phew indeed Wordle 1,933 6/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜ 🟩🟨🟩⬜⬜ 🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩 🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
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Reposted by AlanB
Charles Keener @charleskeener.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Been waiting 7 hours for an ambulance for my elderly neighbour. You can get a parcel from Amazon quicker than that. The crew were excellent as usual. She's on her way to hospital now, thank goodness. Now for some shuteye.
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I was never much at multitasking when younger. Now in the second half of my 70s I should have known. 3D printing a long print. Doing two aquarium water changes. Walking the dog. Cooking a chicken and roast potatoes etc. Only one spill of water so far but I'm knackered and need to lie down. Fish fed!
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Nice evening for a dog walk through my broken gate.
Picture if avwalkwsy through green leaves through a broken gate to a sunset.
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
www.maptap.gg September 17 98🔥 99🎯 98🎯 100🎯 99🎯 Final score: 990
maptap.gg
🎯MapTap Daily Geography Game
Play MapTap - the daily geography game! Find 5 world locations on a 3D globe with historical stories. Free browser-based daily game for geography lovers.
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Reposted by AlanB
Alex Winter @alexwinter.com · 16/09/2026
True story.
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
This country is heading for a very dark place. When the Head of the RNLI has to put out a statement to defend volunteer heroes against stupid and frankly evil attacks on those who risk their lives to save others. Proud to be a governor of the RNLI. RNLI volunteers are the best of us.
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Ive been lucky enough to get a pot of home made plum jam. A friend has had a bumper crop of plums this year and his wife has made quite a lot of jam. To say its bloody good is a gross understatement.
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Seems charity shops no longer want books or cds. They could have been more polite to an old man carrying a load. Now in the bin.
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
That was a race and a half. Not quite sure what I've watched. Well done Kimi. Spectacular driving. Keep it up and the championship is yours. The sea of red cheering a young lad in the silver arrow was one hell of a thing. #monza #antonelli #kimi
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Phew indeed Wordle 1,902 6/6 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Kier Starmer resigning from Parliament is childish. Yah! Boo!! If I can't be captain I dont want to play! Could have the decency to serve his constituency until the general election. Another, me, me, me! Only confirms he was only ever in it for himself. The quality of old party MPs, is diabolical.
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Damn Wordle 1,899 X/6 ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟨🟨🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Possibly a controversial opinion. The Odyssey is terrible. It's the Blake Seven of movie making. Dodgy dialogue delivered woodenly. A ship of 60 men becomes a rowing boat for 2. It is truly awful.
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Ouch Wordle 1,896 6/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜🟩⬜🟨 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟨 🟩🟨🟩🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Wordle 1,895 3/6 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜🟨⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
OK Wordle 1,894 4/6 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
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Reposted by AlanB
Daryl Hannah @dhlovelife.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Dolly broke me in early to her raucous self deprecating sense of humor when we began steel magnolias rehearsals  i asked her - how long does it take to do a hair do like yours? Dolly - no idea, i’m never there when they do it! i started taking Dolly-isms notes on the back of my script after that
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Reposted by AlanB
Natalie Bennett @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Powerful and important letter about artificial so-called intelligence from Sheila Hayman from Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, University of Cambridge, in the FT today
Margaret McGirr’s letter (“AI can lend a hand, but it will struggle to replace one”, July 21) and Chine McDonald’s guest column (“This retro revival is more than a longing for the past”, Opinion, August 7) both touch (sic) on something that should be obvious, but is carefully ignored by almost everyone in the tech world. Namely that our intelligence is embodied, evolved and biological, and inseparable from our bodies.
The brain’s job is to control the body in the world; it is the last organ to develop.
Every square centimetre of our hands (and of the rest of our skin) contains about a 170 touch sensors or nerve endings, sensitive to different kinds of touch: a slap, a burn, a caress, a hug — each of which travels to different parts of the midbrain, prompting the appropriate response. Quickly to the autonomic nervous system for something dangerous; more slowly via a different channel for something carrying meaning.
In addition to the hand’s limitless versatility, it is self-repairing, regulates its own temperature, knows without being programmed how much pressure to exert on an egg, a tennis ball or a day-old chick, and can fuse neurologically to whatever it holds.
So when we put a glass down on the table or slide a knife through an apple, we feel the table, or the apple, not the glass or handle in our hand (try it!).
Finally, and most urgently, the entire human body — including the hands — does everything on 25 or so watts of completely renewable energy: a tiny fraction of what a humanoid robot, even one of the current primitive iteration of robots, needs.
The “retro revival” is thus not cultural nostalgia.
It’s millions of years of evolution crying out to be heard, before we suppress it totally in the service of an automated — and dead — planet.
Sheila Hayman
Member of the Advisory Board, Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, University of Cambridge, London NW1, UK
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Rather fortunate there. Wordle 1,885 5/6 ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩 ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩 ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩 ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
www.maptap.gg August 10 100🎯 100🎯 96🔥 100🎯 100🎯 Final score: 992
maptap.gg
🎯MapTap Daily Geography Game
Play MapTap - the daily geography game! Find 5 world locations on a 3D globe with historical stories. Free browser-based daily game for geography lovers.
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
www.maptap.gg August 6 99🎯 100🎯 100🎯 99🎯 100🎯 Final score: 996
maptap.gg
🎯MapTap Daily Geography Game
Play MapTap - the daily geography game! Find 5 world locations on a 3D globe with historical stories. Free browser-based daily game for geography lovers.
000 0
AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
🌎 Aug 6, 2026 🌍 🔥 30 | Avg. Guesses: 4.57 🟩 = 1 globle-game.com #globle
globle-game.com
Globle
Use your geography knowledge to figure out the mystery country in as few guesses as possible!
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Wordle 1,874 2/6 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
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Reposted by AlanB
Foreigners in Taiwan 🇹🇼 外國人在台灣 @foreignersintw.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Taiwan is a Country. 🇹🇼
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Reposted by AlanB
Don Comer @doncomer.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Yep!
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Look what one gets when one leaves the garden to itself. Absolutely no chemicals. First time I've seen one of these. A Great Pied Hoverfly. Completely harmless though its the size of a large wasp.
A black insect with white band round its middle.  The size of a wasp. No sting. Harmless Great Pied Hoverfly
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
www.maptap.gg July 15 100🎯 100🎯 100🎯 100🎯 98🔥 Final score: 994 Best by a long way. Fortunately no pacific islands or vague places in the interiors of large land masses.
maptap.gg
🎯MapTap Daily Geography Game
Play MapTap - the daily geography game! Find 5 world locations on a 3D globe with historical stories. Free browser-based daily game for geography lovers.
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Its very foggy out! ???????
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Chatgpt has strange ideas about fish.
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Reposted by AlanB
Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
It's not easy being meme-d. #Oh-Gee-I-See-Algae 👀
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Wordle 1,835 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Not convinced this is a real word. Not how I would write it either.
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Painful sole of right foot all day. Checked my shoes socks etc. Just found a short dog hair embedded in my foot like a splinter. This is the culprit.
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
After a very hot sweaty night and now unrelenting heat, I've officially had enough. I think I'm melting. I'll probably be a puddle by the end of the day. Dig's not enamoured either. Best go and check on the aquaria, make sure fish aren't cooking.
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Reposted by AlanB
Karolin Luger @nucleosomepolice.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
sums it up. #heatwave in Europe.
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Keeping cool
Staffordshire Bull Terrier lying in the shadevon grass to keep cool
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
From hedgehogs and bats to butterflies and newts, the UK’s wildlife is disappearing fast – and our government is letting it happen. I’ve just signed @friends-earth.bsky.social’s petition calling for urgent action. Add your name: foe.uk/anyha
foe.uk
Tell the government: act for nature before it’s too late
Add my name Did you know the UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world? There’s less wildlife today than in living memory − and it’s still disappearing before our eyes. From hedgeho...
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Very disappointed to read that the new Labour Mayor of our town Council has reintroduced prayers before council meetings. Entirely inappropriate to mix politics and religion in what is now a secular society. Prayers are lead by a Catholic priest, so not even the established church.
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
Hamilton wins for Ferrari. Wow. What a race. Dreams do come true. David Coultard is emotional!! Better get my Ferrari flag out for the rest of the season.
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Wordle 1,804 2/6 ⬜⬜🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Still not got it in one. 67th in 2 though.
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Its hot, I'm retired, I'm doing nowt today. May as well listen to music. Joni Mitchell first and now Hendrix. Is he the best guitarist of all time? Probably. It may be too stimulating for today! 😇😆
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
The Fat Controller off on another trip with Thomas. Not far today. Sandbach Transport Festival. We're in the town hall Boardroom. Bring the kids and have a go.
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Wordle 1,762 2/6 ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Well I never! That was a surprise.
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
I've just written my second cheque since April 2021, the last being April 2024. It feels very strange, surprised I could find the cheque book. How times have changed.
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AlanB @alanjbanks.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
It must be national lawn mower day. Sun is out, grass is long, and all I can hear are lawnmowers. Mine is next!
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