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Alistair Dabbs

@alidabbs.bsky.social
115 followers 58 following 368 posts

Freelance journalist | tech & media trainer | CTT+ | Managing Editor, reportingfromparis.fr | Chair, NUJ Paris Branch | Montpellier | autosaveisforwimps.com | authory.com/AlistairDabbs

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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
“Hmm, you’re looking a bit blotchy,” says my on-screen doctor. I explained I was suffering from a bad case of posterization due to lossy over-compression in the codec arising from poor bandwidth. I suggested he should stand closer to his window. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/you-forced...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
You forced me to use this presidential healthcare app and now you're asking for a printout?
Just shake the meds, Mr Sloper, and enjoy your holiday
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Welcome to ‘Super Intelligence’, the new expression for saying “I have shit for brains.” [Con in 60 Seconds] autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/super-dupe...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Super-duper-wuper Intelligence: a rebranding guide for fools, conceived by morons, written by dead-heads
Adjectives Matter. Hang on, I mean ALL Adjectives Matter
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Little did I know that this pinnacle of electronic design, built on the shoulders of Franklin, Volta, Faraday, Ayrton and Tesla, would go on to become a mainstay of sub-£15 office Secret Santa gifts across the First World. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/korean-spa...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Korean Spam returns for Season 3! Dawn of the Planet of the Secret Santa USB tech tat
Curious Museum of Korean Spam S03 EP01
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
It is frustrating being asked to upload proofs of identity to a platform designed to ignore whatever proofs of identity you upload. [Autosave is for Wimps] autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/coinbase-t...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Coinbase: “To confirm that you are not a dodgy customer, send us your bank and credit card details”
How stupid do you think I am? REVOLUT stupid?
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Am I the only person who every time they see a headline today referring to 'Trump - Xi' assume that Donald has formed a cricket team?
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Ici à ESJ Montpellier pour une visite. Profession Pigiste à l'honneur. :-) @pigiste.org
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Journalists on The Lancet are on strike over a poor pay offer. They are being supported by scientists across the world, and of course by their trade union, the NUJ. www.nuj.org.uk/resource/liv...
nuj.org.uk
Live coverage from The Lancet strike
NUJ members working at the Lancet are out on strike today (22 September) over pay - the first time workers have been forced to walk out in the company’s 200-year history.
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Ig Nobel 2026 winner: “My team spent 20 years documenting that rising wealth and increasing money seem to make people more self-interested, entitled and greedy. Wealth seems to free people from the burdensome shackles of caring about other humans.” autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/the-ig-nob...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
The Ig Nobels 2026 air their dirty laundry in Zürich... as MC Marc Abrahams admits he’s quite keen on a ‘fun guy’
Improbable Research team pulls out all the stops in Switzerland
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
The European Commission announced that ChatGPT would be designated as a VLOSE. That stands for ‘Very Large Online Search Engine’ and you can’t knock the Europeans for not having a sense of humour. A VLOSE, you see, is used by VLOSERS. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/how-dare-t...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
How DARE the European Union treat AI as a measly search engine? “Chat GPT, show me the Digital Services Act right NOW”
And mind out for that flock of burning penguins
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
20 years ago, I repeatedly received spam email from South Korea, in Korean language, trying to sell me England national team football shirts. The ad even featured a youthful-looking Michael Owen and David Beckham's exploding groin. Read the story here. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/a-load-of-...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
A load of old balls? Not at all. But they wanted me to buy the shirt and shorts [FREE POST]
The year when Korean spam went football crazy for the wrong team
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
When this spam email turned up one morning in 2005, I had no idea who these people were supposed to represent but I knew straight away that I didn’t like them. The main guy has a rictus grin of entitlement and a faux-floppy American Psycho haircut. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/bogey-flic...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Bogey-flicking Korean psycho wants you to learn from his CD-ROM
OK! OK OK!
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
10am Sunday, beach club at opening time. They tell me it's raining in Paris.
Photo of the Effêt Mer beach club today with warm sun, sea and sand.
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Soulcié in mediapart.fr this week re: data hack of the outdated tech at France's Education Ministry. "I don't understand it! No-one used the floppy disk drive!"
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
"The driver hands over my package, complaining that my house isn’t in the right place. I receive the package gratefully, apologising for my house’s wandering nature and promise to do everything I can to persuade it not to hide from him in future." autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/how-come-p...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
How come picking the stupidest option from a range of sensible alternatives make you a success?
Return to sender? Oh we got their address wrong too
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I want to borrow a DVD at my local library. Nobody knows where that specific DVD has gone. But nor will they remove its entry from their public searchable database… just in case the DVD turns up again one day. 'Con in 60 Seconds' autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/your-libra...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Your library says this item is available but it isn’t. Could you remove it from your listing? No, thought not
It might be lost, it might not. That’s half the fun of librarianing
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Three more exhibits from my Curious Museum of early-century Korean Spam were unlocked on Monday. Read series 1 epsodes 13, 14 & 15 for FREE now before they vanish back behind the paywall. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/perfect-fa...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Perfect families, a business backrub, and a lady on a rug: Korean Spam series 1 ep 13, 14 & 15
More silly reading on Mondays during the summer break
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Data centers in space – a freezing cold vacuum. That solves the cooling problem, right? Er... except that neither conduction nor convection work in a vacuum. How do you persuade the heat to move into the cold of space? Autosave is for Wimps autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/why-arent-...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Why aren’t we putting data centers in SPAAAAACE? Because it’s BOOOLLOOOCKS!
In other news, I spilt coffee under my vowel keys
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
“The camera doesn’t lie.” That’s according to the supermarket security guard who says I’ve been identified as a seven-foot tall, long-haired miscreant in a long coat and motorbike boots. I wish. 'Con in 60 Seconds' audio fun at Autosave is for Wimps autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/automatic-...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Automatic face recognition has turned me into a marked man on the run
Hey, I left my bag-for-life at the checkout!
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Carole Cadwalladr's 7-point checklist for fighting back against digital lynchings when columnists in the mainstream right-wing press join the pile-on. [NB: Do not confuse journalists with columnists on these titles.] @nujofficial.bsky.social broligarchy.substack.com/p/a-digital-...
broligarchy.substack.com
A Digital Lynching
A practical guide for individuals and organisations when the mobs gather
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
These FREE exhibits from my Museum of Korean Spam will duck their heads back behind the paywall after six months so take advantage of them NOW. (Paid subscribers, of course, have unrestricted access to everything) autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/kitchen-my...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Kitchen mystery, gargantuan sport kids and finger-breaking sunglasses: Korean Spam catch-up on Series 1 Episodes 10, 11 & 12
More silly reading on Mondays during the summer break
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
"I look quizzically back at the man across the aisle. He is still pointing. I look downwards. We are now both looking at my crotch, as indeed are other commuters who find themselves lucky enough to be within earshot and crotch-observation distance." autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/judging-by...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Judging by the way your face lit up, my inbox just got more attractive
A message for you, (on your) rudie
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Smart glasses: another vacuous solution that nobody asked for, desperately seeking a demand. Sure, some people buy these but what are they really using them for? Find out how NOT to use them at 'Con in 60 Seconds'. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/nobody-lik...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Nobody likes a stranger wearing smart glasses, especially other strangers wearing smart glasses
You lookin' at me?
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Korean Spam episodes 1 through to 9 are now free to read without a paid subscription at ‘Autosave is for Wimps’. If you haven’t yet signed up, do it now and I will let you know when the next free batch is released on Monday. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/free-money...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Free money, head-only deckchairs, and bogey-flicking English teachers: Korean Spam catch-up on Series 1 Episodes 7, 8 & 9
More silly reading on Mondays during the summer break
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Team leader thinks he is introducing agentic AI to us, oblivious to the fact that we’ve already been burning through this month’s tokens since 00:01 hours on 1 August. 'Con in 60 Seconds' at 'Autosave is for Wimps.' autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/heres-how-...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Here's how to use the office AI agent. Just don't write too many prompts or you might run out of tok...
I wish someone paid ME every time I answered the same question a different way
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Got it marked in my calendar.
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Having quiety slipped out of Substack’s top 50 ‘Rising in France’ list last month, I have just crept in again. I’d explain to you the algorithm that qualifies me as ‘Rising’ but I have absolutely no idea how it is calculated. Just happy to be back on the rise, ooh ah matron. autosaveisforwimps.com
Screenshot of a Substack notification announcing that "Alistair Dabbs is now #44 Rising in France".
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Count Binface unauthorised comic should be out in time for the by-election. goshlondon.com/pre-order-th...
goshlondon.com
PRE-ORDER: THE COUNT BINFACE COMIC BOOK SC (AVAILABLE 06-08-2026)
The online store and blog for London UK comic shop Gosh! Comics
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Lisa Nandy, UK Minister for Culture etc, reminds journalists why they joined the NUJ: your voice is heard all the way to government. www.instagram.com/reel/DbDhtR0...
instagram.com
Instagram
Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
France has some very strange town and village names. There’s one not too far from me called Viols-le-fort. Spelling and grammar quibbles aside, this directly translates as ‘Rape-him-hard’. Autosave is for Wimps featuring Tom Morello and Serj Tankian. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/everything...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Everything’s gone meta: scary new-era technology begins to eat itself rather than prey on the rest of us
It’s all nuanced, you see, which apparently makes it OK
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Is there no corner of civilisation left that is free of advertising? Paying good money isn't enough to stop pop-up ads, apparently. This week's 'Con in 60 Seconds' podcast from 'Autosave is for Wimps'. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/we-spent-a...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
We spent a heap of cash on new kit and it is STILL showing us ads
Is there no corner of civilisation left that is free of this curse?
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Season 2 of Dabbsy's Curious Museum of Korean Spam has concluded. Season 3 is coming soon! To keep you in the mood until then, I will be unlocking the early episodes from the original Season 1 to make them available to everybody for FREE. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/korean-spa...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Korean Spam: the early years. Revisited and FREE to read all over again!
An opportunity to start from Episode 1 – even for my lovely free subscribers
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
I do not write names in a little black book of vengeance. Nor do I maintain a list of “mortal enemies” on a failing late-1980s Verbatim 5.25in floppy disk, like Sheldon Cooper. I don’t need to. Karma catches up to them without intervention from me. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/beware-the...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Beware the curse of Dabbs, stomping where karma fears to tread
Fate may see you reborn as a badly rendered statue of Mussolini
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
I was invited to stand up in front of the UX team and demo a bus ticketing app that I used on holiday. “It’s so simple!” I told them. “You can buy your ticket in three taps!” They did not like it... as you can hear for yourself. [Con in 60 Seconds] autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/a-smartpho...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
A smartphone app with just three buttons? And no ads? Obviously the work of an amateur...
Where's the customer experience if we make the journey too quick?
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
This podcast report on Médiapart today www.mediapart.fr/journal/fran... covers the same story that 'Reporting from Paris' ran last month. www.reportingfromparis.fr/p/french-foo...
mediapart.fr
« Voyous des cités », « ramassis de gosses mal élevés », « pas français » : quand l’extrême droite attaque les Bleus
Après les propos racistes de l’ancien premier ministre espagnol Mariano Rajoy, les élus du RN ont redoublé d’indignation sur les chaînes d’info. Trente ans d’archives démontrent l’hypocrisie de l’e…
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
The video interviews that we run in 'Reporting from Paris' magazine are also available as audio podcasts. You can play them in Substack, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Overcast and probably elsewhere too. Here's our latest on Spotify. open.spotify.com/episode/5UTk...
open.spotify.com
SPECIAL REPORT: France & America, 250 Years Together
Reporting from Paris · Episode
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Tech-dictatorial dystopia isn’t as interesting as I had hoped. This week's 'Autosave is for Wimps' features a sperm cosplayer, smashing up a printer with a baseball bat, writhing robo-Maria (in colour!), and Ultra Vomit at this year's HellFest. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/your-nice-...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Your nice computer wants to kill you. Perhaps you should get the first boot in
Spleen to vent? Take it out on your tech
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
It's all happening this week. My publication ‘Autosave is for Wimps’ has jumped up to 22nd in Substack’s list of Rising Bestsellers in France.
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Business lunch to discuss scope creep. Nice bistrot, looks authentic… until they tell me the menu is online-only and that I have to order my food by scanning a QR code. Bah, what could go wrong? autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/ive-been-i...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
I've been invited to a SMART business lunch at a SMART restaurant but the SMART cutlery keeps interrupting
Put the cake fork down and take three paces back
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Don't let management gut the BBC - a beacon of civilisation for the UK and the world, but now run by a Google businessman - for profit motives. Sign the petition. www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/ba...
megaphone.org.uk
Back Workers. Back Our BBC.
Nearly everyone - 94% of adults in the UK - uses the BBC every month. The BBC has an incredible range of TV, audio and digital services - from Planet Earth to the Proms, from BBC Bitesize and The Worl...
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
It is most gratifying to learn that 'Autosave is for Wimps' is 29th in Substack's Rising Best Sellers list in France this week. And it's not even in French (well, *most* of it isn't). autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
I have just signed Charting Gen AI (©glovelace)’s open letter to Andy Burnham and suggest that you do too. openletter.earth/open-letter-...
openletter.earth
Open letter to Andy Burnham: Ditch Labour’s disastrous stance on AI
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
If British actor and TV presenter Mark Curry was subject to an attempt on his life by an unidentified ne’er-do-well, you would regret that night you staggered out of a pub in Castleford and tweeted to the world: “I COULD MURDER A CURRY”. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/at-a-job-i...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
At a job interview: When you said you wanted to check my records, I didn't realise you'd be rifling through my vinyl
Where do I see myself in five years' time? On parole with a bit of luck
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
I am accompanying a colleague at a mandatory training session for which even a 6-year-old would be overqualified. But I promised to be there as a human witness to his attendance, “just in case”. In case of what? Ah, now that would be telling. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/let-me-sho...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Let me show you old duffers how to use the internet... Oh dear, it's not working... Help!
Is there a middle-management IT support staff under notice of redundancy in the audience?
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
After-work drinks at the Domaine de la Tour in Montpellier with le Club de la Presse Occitanie. National trade unions for journalists are important, and so are local press clubs! @nujparis.bsky.social
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
EFJ solidarity with French journalist unions for tomorrow's march. @nujparis.bsky.social
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
NUJ Paris freelance members are encouraged to participate, if they are available. @nujparis.bsky.social
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Just imagine buying something, anything, that came with a tube of glue because the seller knew it would fall to bits the instant you took it out of the box. 10 out of 10 for customer utility; but 0 out of 10 for faith in your own plasticky tat, pal. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/not-so-muc...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Not so much 'inflatable' as 'deflatable' fun in the pool back in those early-century summers
Spend many hours of fun trying to locate where the bubbles are escaping from
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Watching too many police detective series reassures me that I cannot possibly have stumbled across a murder victim since I am neither a jogger nor walking a dog. Dumped dead bodies are only ever discovered by one or either of the two. autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/they-told-...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
They told me to get lost: Why are street maps' sat-nav walking directions still so hopeless?
I’m a nonentity, get me out of here
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
They sent a sedentary technology consultant around the office to fit our chairs with whoopee cushions. Sorry, I meant '“smart sitting systems”. Instead of a Bronx Cheer this one gives haptic feedback until your posture is correct. Who wants one first? autosaveisforwimps.substack.com/p/dont-be-su...
autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Don't be such a slouch. We're fitting you with a smart seating system! [bzzzt!]
We hope you enjoy the haptic feedback
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Alistair Dabbs @alidabbs.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
NUJ Paris branch meetup in Montpellier today. It was hot! @nujparis.bsky.social
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