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Ben

@bpaul.bsky.social
143 followers 102 following 1.1K posts

Leeds fan, sci-fi geek, all things tech, politics nerd, Radiohead super fan. The usual.

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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Yeah, at this point it just seems farcical that Labour still do not consider environmental and climate policies to be solid vote winners. Even framed simply as an economic, food and water security issue. Baffling it’s not being put front and centre at the moment.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
I’m sure this will go well.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
I think we can safely assume Trafford would be in a first choice XI too.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Oh nice! Much better than the stupid bull logo.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Ooh, nice!
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
I have liked the shirts too but no way I’m paying £75 to have a Red Bull logo on my chest. Even the SBOTOP ones piss me off even though, again, I like the shirt. Might try and get the logo off one day.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
But but but… I thought AI was going to usher in the era of abundance and the post-work society?!?
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
I would stay with them for electricity - they still have the best prices and technology integration for solar management and energy export.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Cancel your Octopus installation if you can and find a reputable local installer instead. It will be cheaper and they’ll almost certainly do a better job.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Sure, but they also overspent relative to the likely total income. Nobody forced them to do that - that’s entirely on them.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Eh?
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
And you don’t need to pay Microsoft $99 per user per month for O365 and online storage. And the UI doesn’t change every month. And features don’t get randomly deprecated. And it’s not trying to constantly shove AI down your throat.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Sorry, make that 3 major signings done already.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Nah, we’ve got a couple of huge signings done already and the policy has been to practice patience on other targets. Don’t forget we didn’t get DCL done until late in the window last year and was looking to do Wilson on deadline day. It will happen.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I don’t give a shit about EA, but I do care about all the amazing studios they aggressively bought and closed down after whatever ‘on-trend’ game an idiot exec forced them to make and shove loot boxes into didn’t meet some absurd sales forecast. And for what?
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Exactly 🙂
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Who of course he would never do because he knows he’d probably last, at best, about 10 days.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
I dunno, I think we should trust the guy that says his cars will *definitely* be able to drive themselves 7 years ago.
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Reposted by Ben
Dr Beth @drbeth.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
If we spend money supporting research, education and practice in areas we're actually good at, there might not be enough money to throw at the long shot of being 'world leaders" in AI.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
They’ll have to do it again in a few weeks too!
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
You already do pay triple, it’s just cocoa flavoured oil now.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Literally no point in them at that price. Might as well just buy a Twix.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Yeah, they used to be amazing value for 15p or whatever. Definitely the best mass to price ratio of the cheap confectionery. Total ripoff now.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Oh, well that’s okay then. Fuck’em.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Yeah, could well be. I often think this about a Curly Wurly.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Hmm, but have they got smaller or has your mouth got bigger?
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Oh mate! Can I add some fruit salad and blackjacks to the shopping list? I swear to God they’re shit now.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I really miss old Dairy Milk.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Or middling albums that are absolutely wormed into your brain because you could only afford to buy maybe one CD a month so you were going to listen to that shit on repeat and learn to love it regardless.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Absolutely! This is the general point Lewis seemingly wants to ignore… keeping schools open wasn’t just about the kids, it was about preventing a substantial (perhaps overwhelming) increase in general transmission.
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Reposted by Ben
It's Pipes, Mum! Pipes is here! @scriblit.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Yes lockdown was really tough for kids. Lots of those kids are teenagers now so maybe as a thank you our establishments could stop deliberately making even more things worse for them due to a weird systemic hatred of our own youth
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Reposted by Ben
EMILY WILSON @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
The oddest thing about the response to this essay is people who say it’s “personal”. You can disagree about some or all of it! I may well be wrong! But it’s not “personal” to analyze a film or other work of art, even negatively. Criticism is more than “Hurray!” or “Hiss!”
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
It was a no-win situation that the government of the day handled exceptionally poorly. But what’s the determination you’re making? That we should have let a lot more people die, risked the lives of teachers and staff (and possible collapse of the NHS) to keep schools open?
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Yes there were negative consequences to schools being shut. It should have been handled better then and more should be done retrospectively to address it now. But you also can’t handwave away that leaving schools open would have resulted in a lot more deaths and long-term disabling illness.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Excess deaths among school-age children was not the only possible negative outcome of schools being open without mitigations (and before vaccines.) Vector for general community transmission? Transmission to teachers and other staff? Long-Covid? Impact of repeat infections?
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
I’m sure I read years ago his tear ducts had stopped working. That would probably have given me pause tbh.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
“Hey, what if we invented a computer that guessed more?”
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
I know, the market is so bizarre at the moment.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Wilson was free and Brandt will be too if we get him. Leaves decent money in the kitty for another player or two at the £40m level, if you believe what Paraag said a month or so ago.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Not the first player to have that as the epitaph to their career.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
I think (hope) you may well be right. This isn’t *just* being circulated in the clickbait media though.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Dunno. Paraag was talking about 3-4 players with an average £40m value. I do think we need another quality CF though. And there will be some more outgoings to offset some of the expenditure, you would think.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Agreed - Delap is still far from proven at this level. Suspect Chelsea will want the money now though.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
If Farke thinks he can get a tune out of him then I’d trust that. But personally I’m entirely unconvinced this is good value.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Oh Christ I seriously hope not. #lufc
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Time for a Beowulf remake!
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Oh yeah, and a hyperloop system that can do New York to DC in 27 minutes.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Is this like how there was going to be a Mars colony 2 years ago and everybody would have fully autonomous cars by 2019 and Optimus was ready for mass production last year?
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Yup. We had done a deal for about £20m then he went on a bunch of mainly unsuccessful loans before signing for Hertha for about £300,000. So bullet 100% dodged there.
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Ben @bpaul.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
We need to include subscription models in this legislation too, particularly where companies have a de facto monopoly (e.g. Microsoft Office becoming O365.)
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