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Alex MacLaren

@alexmaclaren.bsky.social
304 followers 647 following 3.3K posts

Reading, cooking, counting my blessings. Resident of Folkestone, UK

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Reposted by Alex MacLaren
Kameron Hurley @kameronhurley.com · 3h
HERS has incredible and impressive marketing, but I found the whole experience scammy, transactional, and of course, wildly expensive, but did that for a month because I was desperate. Midi was a night and day difference and I've continued with them
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Tomás Murray @tomasjmurray.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Today is Buster Keaton’s birthday.
With Samuel Beckett on the set of ‘Film’ in 1964
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Jake Broe @realjakebroe.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This was a two act play by the Russians. It’s both a tragedy and a comedy.
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Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Astonished by the passionate voice declaiming ‘J’ecrit ton nom’, during the Liberation of Paris scene in De Gaulle 2 this week. It was Resistance poet Paul Eluard’s own voice, and his own poem, a Romantic tribute to Liberty. Switch off autodub, crank up volume, grab hankie
youtu.be
Paul Eluard : "Liberté" (dit par l'auteur)
YouTube video by Résonance[s]
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
This by David Conn is very good on the legal and commercial background to the Manchester City story www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
theguardian.com
Manchester City’s guilty verdict brings football’s great sell-off crashing to earth
On the day Andy Burnham spoke of the wrong turn Britain took under Thatcher, football was facing a day of reckoning over its own story of corporate acquisition
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Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Video Conferencing flattens status dynamics and exposes the frailty of rank dynamics, so he’s off. The bullying won’t work here
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Dustin A. Chacón @lingdustin.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I've heard people make claims that AI would lead to a new Renaissance, but I didn't imagine it'd happen like this:
Screenshot of a Tweet from Pope Leo XIV. It reads: 

"In this era of artificial intelligence, it is becoming urgen to distinguish human art from what machines produce. There is an ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one, between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of humanity. For this reason, the Church wishes to renew an alliance with artists and cultural institutions to safeguard our humanity."
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Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Hmm. US not UK but still
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Drives Like a Dream @urban-achiever.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
“These brass hats have one great advantage in their favor,” he said. “If we…do what they want us to do, none of us will be alive later to tell them that they were wrong.” -JFK to Kenny O'Donnell, during the cuban missile crisis
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Bruno Catarino @brunocatarino.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This went in a completely different direction than I expected and I love it 🤣
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Phil Tinline @philtinline.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Doctor Who has described the BBC's new AI-generated director general as "pretty good", and suggested that the technology now enabled the creation of content "at the standard of an unimaginative man who spent years working at McKinsey then Google".
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Men Explain Rape to Me.
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Tomás Murray @tomasjmurray.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
With Kim Hunter & Emeric Pressburger
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Tomás Murray @tomasjmurray.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
With Anton Walbrook during the filming of ‘The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp’ (1943)
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Tomás Murray @tomasjmurray.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
With Deborah Kerr during the filming of ‘Black Narcissus’ (1947)
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Tomás Murray @tomasjmurray.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
With Pamela Brown during the filming of ‘I Know Where I'm Going!’ (1945)
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Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Just back from the second of two epic Charles de Gaulle biopics. Very strong recommendation!
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General Boles @generalboles.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Key point from @migueldelaney.bsky.social re expelling #ManCity - verdict may well justify it, however - requires 15 Prem League teams to vote in favour - many teams owned by private equity - good luck getting UAE finance if you expel City www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiQg...
youtube.com
The great Man City sham
YouTube video by Miguel Delaney's Inside Football
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Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I believe fraternity hazing and military hazing and sports team hazing where men abuse each other is acclimating them into a broader culture of abuse where they will then believe it is their right to abuse other more vulnerable people. It’s so insidious. And that’s also why I think men defend it
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Velour Shirt @object.works · 29/09/2026
This is a metaphor for so many things these days that I couldn't choose
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Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
i am feeling lucky. Long ago I went on a date with a girl, on the South Bank in London. The dog we own is right beside me; our teenager is upstairs; the girl in question is drying her hair… but the date was 25 *years* ago today.
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Baroness Floella Benjamin @floellabenjamin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Today it’s 50 years since I first presented Playschool wearing my blue beads and silver heart. I adore bringing joy into the lives of my Playschool Babies during the 12 years I was on the programme. ❤️
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Farage honks his mouth off about ongoing police investigations, when told not to. His Welsh leader is in prison for taking bribes from Russia. He whips up riots. He’s in bed with Trump, foreign money, crooks and crypto billionaires…. A massive problem with national security is Farage himself.
sky news

'We have a massive problem with national security': Farage challenged on Fairford speculation
Reform UK leader told his social media followers the five men arrested after an RAF Fairford situation were "Iranian nationals". Sky's Rob Powell spoke to him after it was confirmed the men arrested are British nationals.
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conputer dipshit @davidcrespo.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
and I'm an expert with access to SOTA tools. so there is a big gap. however: a) people don't conceive their lives as a series of conversations or phone calls or website visits either, yet they do all those things b) we have a computer program that can talk you through changing your self-conception!
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Andrew Male @andrewmale.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The irony is that if you click through to this story about James/Joe McEnroe @the-independent.com will ask you for money to support their journalism.
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Dr. Jim Getz @jimgetz.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Televangelist meme of a man saying "Jesus, I see what you've done for other people, and I want that for me."
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Bijan Parsia @bparsia.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Eh. 1) Nope. You really don’t have to earn the right to express criticism or disagreement as a general rule. Analytic philosophy might go too far in the other direction but honestly it depends a lot on interlocutors good faith and the dialectical vibe. 2)
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J. C. Cantwell 🌻 @segfaultvicta.aludel.xyz · 27/09/2026
as someone who has been really critical of a lot of the initial breathless "teehee, weird sex" reportage, i really appreciate this thread for nailing the actual fucked up immoral thing that is happening; you CANNOT consent if your employment or job success are on the line
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Imogen Foulkes @imogenfoulkes.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
As expected, Swiss voters said a resounding no to stricter neutrality. They know a head in the sand I’m alright Jack approach won’t cut it anymore. Unexpected: the no vote was a massive 70+%. Now ministers are being asked if voters want to abandon neutrality altogether. www.srf.ch/news/schweiz...
srf.ch
Nein zu Neutralitätsinitiative: Bundesrat Cassis nimmt Stellung
«Wir waren neutral, wir sind neutral und wir bleiben neutral»: Ignazio Cassis zieht Bilanz zum Abstimmungssonntag.
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Ryan Boyd @ryanboyd.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
You should not be doing three rounds of interviews for a campus club, you should be sitting on a porch listening to music with your friends. Early careerism is poison.
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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 25/09/2026
I have blamed The agents That hacked Your website And which You probably Reasonably thought I controlled Forgive me I am rich And unaccustomed To taking responsibility
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Jamie Smart @jamiesmart.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Can’t eat a sandwich until you subscribe to sandwiches. Can’t eat today’s sandwich until it has applied daily sandwich updates. Sandwich now has adverts even though you paid for ad-free sandwich. Can pay again to have less sandwich adverts. Now you can eat the sandwich, but it’s smaller.
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Ed Maibach @maibached.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Happy Stanislav Petrov Day He passed in 2017. As Encyclopedia Britannica puts it, “He is survived by his two children, two grandchildren, and the entire human race.” If you don't know his story, please take 3 minutes now to learn it. @gchalliance.bsky.social @docsforclimate.bsky.social
sammatey.substack.com
Happy Stanislav Petrov Day
Take five minutes to not destroy civilization
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Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
That last shot would have blown my mind in 1980, when I was 5
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Old UK Print Ads @oldukprintads.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Sep 1959: Drinks ad from Schweppes «Schweppshire Guide to public speaking»
This is an advertisement for Schweppes drinks. It gives a list of speech equivalents for humdrum ordinary speech.

Schweppshire Guide to public speaking

Too little attention has been paid to the actual speech of a speech. Too many speakers ignore the infinite capacity of the English language for filling up time in the most eloquent way. Let us end with this list of speech improvements on humdrum ordinary language. These phrases are particularly suitable for the sociologico-politico or the serio-humanchapio.

HUMDRUM ORDINARY
I can give you
the gen
Don't listen to
the other side
The other side
is no good
Everyone here is
nice
I am nice myself
Stand up everybody
on our side

SPEECH EQUIVALENT
In default of someone better qualified to accept this privilege, it has
fallen to my lot to undertake the task of attempting to tell you
something of
A great deal is heard nowadays... I know all of you will be chary
of giving too much credence to the easy prophecies of wishful
thinking
None of us must be over eager to find fault but... Our opponents
are gentlemen of mercurial temperament, and vivid, perhaps over-
vivid imagination
Rooted deep in the national character . instinctive appreciation
of the simple things of life and hatred of all that is false
This is something which I, personally, find enormously heartening
Each one of us, today, is conscious of an urgent need for the
spirit of co-operation. It is the fulfilment of our inner want. Urgent
want. inner need. co-operation. urgent
Since the speaker (as will be seen in the illustration) is already bubbling with wingéd
metaphors, he ought, if he uses this wingéd connecting matter, to succeed in being eloquent,
without notice, on nothing whatever.

Written by Stephen Potter; designed by George Him
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Sarah O'Connor @sarahoconnorft.ft.com · 24/09/2026
Please excuse me while I scream into a cushion at the thought of ALL the articles I had to write on the "UK productivity puzzle" in the 2010s www.ft.com/content/c819...
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Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Seems like it should be part of the "are phones ruining the kids" debate that every marker of teen mental health has improved since 2021 www.cdc.gov/yrbs/youth-h...
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Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 24/09/2026
Jim Henson would have been 90 (yup, you read that right: NINETY) years old today. You can celebrate his life by celebrating creativity, diversity, peace, imagination, and silliness.
A tuxedoed Jim Henson sits in a sea of Muppets.
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Mike Cook @mtrc.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
New Post: Why I Love AI Next month it'll be twenty years since I went to university, learned to program, and studied AI. I wrote about why I loved it, why I still love it, and why, unfortunately, it no longer exists. www.possibilityspace.org/blog/posts/i...
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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
So the US is “working on a deal” to buy Potash from a dictator allied with Putin instead of Canada.
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Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Also from @superlinguo.bsky.social whose account of Seven Sisters made me gasp at the ironing board
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Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Brilliant podcast from @gretchenmcculloch.com about Oral culture
podcasts.apple.com
89: Connecting with oral culture
Podcast Episode · Lingthusiasm - A podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics · 16 February 2024 · 55min
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Stephen Collins @stephencollins.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

1
Wide shot of the BRITISH MUSEUM. There are suggestions of fascism around the streets - tanks, barricades, an Orwellian 'Big Brother'-style poster on a wall. A voice of a TOUR GUIDE emanates from the museum:

TOUR GUIDE:
So the Tapestry tells acrucial chapter of our nation's history...

2 
[Cut to interior of museum. A long Bayeaux-style TAPESTRY is on display, and the Tour Guide is speaking to a tour group]

TOUR GUIDE [smiling]:
How modern fascist Britain was created. 

3
TOUR GUIDE:
The Tapestry begins here with the 2008 Crash, then austerity, then the AI Crash...

4
TOUR GUIDE:
...and by the end of the room it's just full-on fash. 

5
CHILD IN TOUR GROUP [gesturing to the tapestry]:
What's this middle bit?

TOUR GUIDE:
This is the 2026 Battle of Legitimate Concerns 

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TOUR GUIDE:
[show a reporter standing next to the Dover protests]
Here's the media saying the government have got to do something about the legitimate concerns...

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CHILD:
...About the failure of capitalism?

TOUR GUIDE:
No about brown people on boats

8
CHILD:
[pointing at boats crossing the sea on the tapestry]
Are these boats the mega-dinghies?

TOUR GUIDE:
Not all of them

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[we see one of the boats  is a giant yacht]
TOUR GUIDE:
That one's a superyacht,
carrying money from the American fascists to the British ones.

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TOUR GUIDE:
You see really it's as much a story of convergence as it is of conflict.

[An alarm sounds in the museum]
DING DING DING DING 

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TOUR GUIDE:
Ok, tour over everyone 

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TOUR GUIDE:
It's time for the Two Minute Hate!

[They all leave the museum]

[ends]
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Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Absolutely brilliant - and a lovely introduction to the ideas in Ong and their relevance for today.
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Van Gogh never stopped learning from his favourite artists ~ he painted his ‘Bridge in Rain’ (1887) as an acknowledged tribute to Hiroshige’s woodblock print ‘Sudden Shower over Shin-Ōhashi Bridge’ (1857) www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collectio...
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The Economist @economist.com · 19/09/2026
Musicians have said that they hate looking out at a sea of iPhones rather than smiling faces. So some are banning devices at their gigs bit.ly/4rc4PHP Photo: Getty Images
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Jim Waterson @jim.londoncentric.media · 19/09/2026
It’s a £41k job now that’s alright.
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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Alan Ritchson seems an okay sort of feller.
From Twitter. fattys_revenge writes "Every season of Reacher so far has been great, and I understand why they may be avoiding the earlier novels due to their slightly less standalone nature, but every year I'm sad to learn that next season won't be the book where he kills his way through a white supremacist militia camp"
Alan Ritchson replies, "My favorite book. Fun fact: I had it approved until someone got re-elected."
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Nicolas Audebert @nshaud.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I'm burnt out of discussing "AI". I don't care for the press releases from big companies. I hate having to comment immediately. I dislike "hot takes". I'm worried we, as scientists, are losing touch with scientific values. We've become customers, salivating at ads marketed to investors. 1/15
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Alina Pereverzieva 🇺🇦 @perevaa.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Indeed, why?
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