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Alan Litchfield

@alanl.bsky.social
56 followers 188 following 23 posts

Retired engineer. Interests: science, history, engineering, archaeology...and most forms of motor sport

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Reposted by Alan Litchfield
NewsThump @newsthump.com · 29/08/2026
'Foreign' things are bad, apparently.
Satirical graphic showing a Nigel Farage's tweet arguing "Political parties in Britain should not be able to campaign in foreign languages.  British elections should be for the Britiish people" with bold red caption below mocking the hypocrisy: "Anything 'foreign' bad... unless it's a foreign-based billionaire giving you five million quid."
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Hush-Kit aviation news, history & satire @hushkit.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
"You'll never reach 25K followers with a very niche aviation site purely for obsessives" Prove this right or wrong by sharing or not as you wish.
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NewsThump @newsthump.com · 17/03/2026
NEWS! UK to send Navy to the Gulf to combat imminent threat of Dubai's biggest bellends returning to UK
buff.ly
UK to send Navy to the Gulf to combat imminent threat of Dubai’s biggest bellends returning to UK
The UK government has confirmed it will deploy Royal Navy vessels to the Gulf amid what officials describe as an “escalating and deeply concerning geopolitical situation”, namely the growing risk t…
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Alan Litchfield @alanl.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Protective Solomon's Knot mosaic unearthed in Türkiye's ancient city of Smyrna www.turkiyetoday.com/culture/prot... #MosaicMonday #Turkiye #Archaelogy
turkiyetoday.com
Protective Solomon's Knot mosaic unearthed in Türkiye's ancient city of Smyrna - Türkiye Today
Archaeologists in Izmir uncover a Late Roman mosaic room in ancient Smyrna, highlighting the Solomon's Knot as a symbol of protection against evil
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Andy, the Maintainer @spreadsheetmonkey.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Quick and dirty, but it was fun doing it
Spooks Molloy's photo of an overturned industrial size bin and dumped mattress with a red "St. George's" cross crudely spray painted on it, cropped to resemble The Clash album cover "London Calling" only it's "Clacton Calling" by "The Fash"
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The Onion @theonion.com · 05/08/2025
Left-Wing Group Too Disorganized For FBI Agents To Infiltrate theonion.com/left-wi...
Left-Wing Group Too Disorganized For FBI Agents To Infiltrate
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World Bollard Association™️ @worldbollardassoc.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
Imagine our shock when we saw it was a BMW…😏 #WorldBollardAssociation
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Alan Litchfield @alanl.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
"First ancient Egyptian genome sheds light on life in Old Kingdom" www.turkiyetoday.com/culture/firs...
turkiyetoday.com
First ancient Egyptian genome sheds light on life in Old Kingdom - Türkiye Today
Researchers have sequenced the genome of a 4,800-year-old Egyptian buried in a sealed jar tomb, revealing North African and Mesopotamian ancestry
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Jo Kibble (Political Animal) @politicanimal.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
This is the point where it turns out that, thanks to EU packaging regulations, a cardboard Tesla is less flammable than a real one.
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Alan Litchfield @alanl.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Thread
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NewsThump @newsthump.com · 09/01/2025
Number of Reform MPs in attendance for today's House of Commons debate on tackling violence against women and girls = 0 Number of Reform MPs with criminal convictions for violence against women or girls = 1
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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 27/12/2024
Right (German) BlueSky. You up for a quest. While at my dad's at Xmas, i found a picture and postcard from my godfather, who i have never met. He was a German student. Manfred Maywyrm (?) from Bad Homburg studying in the UK in 1980. Good friend to my parents. They lost touch. Help me find him?
A photo of a brown-haired German man, next to a postcard that reads:

"Dear Moira and Mick, after a long and boring journey i arrived quite well at home, although my parents were already there. Yesterday i slept the whole day long and today i had my first day at school. Dear Moira, i'm very sorry for i could not tell you good bye before i left, but i just did not think of it last night. Also i want to tell you again that the most beautiful day for me was when you asked me to be Gareth's Godfather. I'm looking forward to see you in August. Thank you for the presents and for the nice time we had together, the world's second best darts player and family.
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Donaeld the Unready @donaeldtheunready.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
Future historians identify this as the spark that ignited the debilitating Museums War of 2025-2040. Displays would be ruined, collections broken up, gift shops ravaged. This conflict of course evolved from the 2024 Library Emergency, although little is known about this earlier, largely silent, war.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
I don't see many long threads on here, but I'll try one - it's about Holbein's Ambassadors, his 1533 masterpiece in the National Gallery. It's often presented as a great mystery, but I think once we understand the circumstances in which it was made, its meaning becomes clearer. 1/
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Dreadnought Holiday @dreadships.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
So apparently the correct response to shopping centre Santa ringing his bell is not to shout "bring out your dead!" No sense of humour, some people...
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Donaeld the Unready @donaeldtheunready.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
Yesterday was the 65th anniversary of the loss of RNLB Mona and her crew. Overnight in gale force winds the North Carr lightship dragged anchor off the tip of Fife. A distress call was sent but due to the sea conditions only the Broughty Ferry lifeboat, sheltered in the Tay, was able to launch. 🧵
youtu.be
Luke Kelly The Lifeboat Mona
YouTube video by kellyoneill
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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
It's been a while, so I thought I'd share this again. It makes me happy.
Cartoon drawing in blacks and whites and grays, showing two currants, each in it's own box. The title of the cartoon reads AC / DC. The first currant it labeled: Alternating Currant and it is saying, "Let's take turns!" The other one is labeled Direct Currant and it is saying, "We need to talk."
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Richard Fitch @tudorcook.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Most common question working at Hampton Court Palace...what's your favourite bit? Always tough to answer as I tend not to have favourite things, they change with the context. But if pushed, it would be time like this. 1/3
The empty Tudor kitchen at Hampton Court Palace, waiting for an evening function function to begin. There is an island of two oak tables in the middle of the room, they are lit from above. 
There is a large fireplace on the right hand side of the room and a fire burns within it
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Radio Lento @radiolento.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
NEW! Episode 247 - Natural white noise from the firs of Kielder Forest (47 minutes) The willow warblers in the fir trees delight in the May sunshine in this peaceful place. bit.ly/LenKldrB2
fir trees, heather and bracken on the edge of the forest on a bright May day. No one else around.
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MꙬse Allain @mooseallain.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
I’ve been expecting a letter that was sent days ago. Luckily I remembered to check my junk folder and sure enough, there it was.
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Laura Shepherd-Robinson @laurasrobinson.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
My old man has Xiled and has joined the big party in the blue sky. Give him a follow!
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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
Meet Louise of Prussia. Politician, diplomat and beloved queen and wife. Rode into battle while pregnant. One of my heroes. Famously described by Napoleon famously as "the only real man in Prussia" Gonna ask you to think a bit about that in a sec, but first you need to know about her life. /1 🧵
painting of a young woman, in a red dress, staring at the artist with a firm gaze.
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Donaeld the Unready @donaeldtheunready.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
The bliss of slipping into total irrelevance on a new platform is not to be underestimated.
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Northumberart @northumberart.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Feel free to give me as many shout outs as you like!! I've a Rothbury galllery, and am online crownstudiogallery.myshopify.com
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Richard Fitch @tudorcook.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
Today, I made an error of judgement...again! Yes this is a real thing, no it's not AI, but i think it may have been better if it was. As mentioned earlier, thanks to @dranniegray.bsky.social I've had this tin for a couple of years and today was the day to try the contents A thread. 1/9
a can of SPAM limited edition Figgy Pudding flavour pork & hamtop view of a can of spam with a label written on masking tape that says "for Richard Fitch, I'm sorry (!) Annie x"
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Élodie Marissa: ExDeath, Vampiric Overlord @elodieexdeath.northsky.social · 11/11/2024
This is the Wurst Käse Scenario we were warned about.
Sausage cut in the shape of a radioactive sign with cheese and bread in the background.
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Jens Notroff @jensnotroff.com · 12/11/2024
#GöbekliTepe 's monumental T-pillars are actually giant #anthropomorphic sculptures. Got to admit, though, that in the beginning of my work there, meanwhile more than 17 years ago, I found it ... challenging to recognize this likeness. Until we finally excavated the "hands & loincloth" part ...
Drawing of a T-shaped pillar of the Göbekli Tepe type with arrows pointing out and labelling specific features like arms, hands, belt, and loincloth carved into the stone.
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Donaeld the Unready @donaeldtheunready.bsky.social · 10/11/2024
No starter pack for Independent Kings Who Hate The Danes And Just Want To Make Mercia Great Again, more mainstream monkish bias against honest kings who've pulled themselves up by their father's bootstraps and hoard.
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Andy Marshall @fotofacade.bsky.social · 10/11/2024
A film I did in 2018 to record a very special day at Newchurch in Lancashire: vimeo.com/372080313 #RemembranceDay2024
vimeo.com
The Peal
St. Nicholas, Newchurch
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Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 09/11/2024
A bit of evolutionary biology for a Saturday morning*: all toads are frogs but not all frogs are toads. And the distinction between toads and frogs is just that toads tend to be terrestrial, whereas frogs tend to be more aquatic, with wet skin. 1/6 www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2024/02...
woodlandtrust.org.uk
What is the difference between a frog and a toad?
Ever wondered what the difference between a frog and a toad is? Find out all about these amphibians and why they're so different.
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The Dalai Farmer @grovedigger.bsky.social · 04/11/2024
I keep looking at this stuff and going to say "how is this even close, the guy is a crook and a fucking embarrassment" and then remember this country voted en masse for Brexshit, Bullshit Johnson, and latterly Farridge and the Nazi-Revival party. Bonkers. All of it.
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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 07/09/2024
On the Birkenkopf in #Stuttgart today, also known as “Rubble Hill” because its summit is covered with debris from World War II. 45 percent of the city had been destroyed. 1.5 million cubic meters of rubble were moved to the hill, which resulted in an increase in height of 40 metres. 🧵 1/2
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Gab Minks @earthlymuse.bsky.social · 05/09/2024
A thing of beauty 🥹 the new love of my life has arrived
Mamiya C330 photographic cameraTwo extra lenses
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Flint Dibble @flintdibble.bsky.social · 13/03/2024
#ClassicsBlueSky please boost this petition to shave the ancient languages here at Cardiff University
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 06/01/2024
These throwable fire extinguishers seem like a real-life example of xkcd.com/937 — they have really good reviews from everyone except the few people who tried using them to put out fires
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Liz Anderson @lizanderson.bsky.social · 22/12/2023
I’ve gone full Kirstie Allsopp this year and made my own Christmas table decorations.
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Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 19/12/2023
Disagreeable Liaisons: the prime minister talks to MPs, and my SKETCH introduces the Sunak Snippiness Scale. thecritic.co.uk/disagreeable...
thecritic.co.uk
Disagreeable liaisons | Robert Hutton | The Critic Magazine
It’s the salt that makes the caramel taste so good, the splash of red that lifts the Turner painting, the guitar riff that improves the vocal. What really makes Rishi Sunak’s appearances so specia...
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Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 06/12/2023
A Boris For All Seasons. My SKETCH of Today in men unable to rise to the challenge. thecritic.co.uk/a-boris-for-...
thecritic.co.uk
A Boris for all seasons | Robert Hutton | The Critic Magazine
“I was bewildered, to be honest.” Boris Johnson was giving evidence to the Covid Inquiry about his feelings when he realised that the virus would not be defeated by hearty optimism and a punchy fr...
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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 27/11/2023
This week on the blog! A look at the rather unusual Roman heavy javelin, the pilum, and its place in Rome's rather unusual infantry tactical system! acoup.blog/2023/11/24/c...
acoup.blog
Collections: Roman Infantry Tactics: Why the Pilum and not a Spear?
This week’s post is intended to answer a question which came up in response to the last post looking at the most common type of Mediterranean spear, which to put it simply is: what is up with…
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Tom Isitt @tomisitt.bsky.social · 11/11/2023
Seems appropriate for today
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Jens Notroff @jensnotroff.com · 10/11/2023
Me too, old friend, me too.
Photo of a slightly messed up Halloween pumpkin with. now crooked carved face
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Richard Fitch @tudorcook.bsky.social · 06/11/2023
Am reliably informed that as of Saturday, the majority of visitors to the kitchen now consider being the tournebroche sat next to the fire to work as "best job in the palace". As opposed to throughout the warm summer months, when it ranked as "worst job in the palace" #fickle
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Dr Sue Oosthuizen @drsueoosthuizen.bsky.social · 04/11/2023
A mid-4thC northern European hunter & his two hounds drive a hare into a net… wonderful to see an ancient wood-pasture #landscape so vividly described. Engraved glass bowl probably made in Cologne - & found at Wint Hill, Somerset. ⚱️ Source: collections.ashmolean.org/collection/b...
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Dr Sue Oosthuizen @drsueoosthuizen.bsky.social · 28/10/2023
THREAD. Well, here’s a #landscapehistory puzzle: it’s a small moated site in Great Eversden, Cambs. The moat was originally filled from a stream that runs just beyond the boundary in the centre-R middle distance. The puzzle is the moat's age and purpose.
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Dreadnought Holiday @dreadships.bsky.social · 26/10/2023
Just read a breathless press release claiming a ship is the first "hybrid" to burn fossil fuels and use windpower, and my dudes you are not even fucking close.
Savannah, of 1818, so just the two centuries earlier. The paddlewheels aren't exactly clear in this image due to size, but it's proceeding under sail and steam together, to judge by the plume of smoke
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The Alchemist 🇨🇦 @alchemistsstudio.bsky.social · 24/10/2023
Good afternoon everyone! I am new to Bluesky and I am an artist who works primarily in clay and specialize in raku pottery and explore mythology and nature in my work. Other interests include gardening, nature, astronomy, history, archaeology and spirituality.
A raku pottery vase that's light blue with red and gold metallics.A raku pottery vase that's green with iridescent metallics in in reds, blues and gold.A group of three raku vases on a marble table behind a white door.Adding a molten hot pot to a raku reduction bin with tongs.
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Alan Litchfield @alanl.bsky.social · 24/10/2023
@alchemistsstudio.bsky.social Still not decided if this is the place for me or Mastodon. I don't post much but am facinated by your pottery work. All the best on this new adventure!
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