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Chris Williams

@chrisnjwilliams.bsky.social
838 followers 752 following 1.9K posts

LARP, literature, lightsabers, laughs and the law. Personal account. All views are my own. He/him/his.

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Chris Williams @chrisnjwilliams.bsky.social · 43m
SCRAM
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Sarah Nour @sarahnour.bsky.social · 1h
In the Iberian tale "The Seven Pigeons," a princess refuses to marry a knight, so her father orders her death. But a magician instead turns her into a swan with a golden crown, and employs seven maidens who can shapeshift into pigeons as her caregivers. #FairyTaleTuesday
static.klipy.com
Swan Princess Transformation Scene
ALT: Swan Princess Transformation Scene
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Lance Parkin @lanceparkin.bsky.social · 5h
First major AI company collapses. Valued at a billion dollars this time last year, just sold some assets to Disney for $20m.
The first machine army faction has been wiped off the map. ONWARD!
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Adam Warren @adamwarren.bsky.social · 1h
EMPOWERED study based on a delightful panel from Ryo Kaneda’s manga CAN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT YOUR HAIR; penciling hair like this is easy enough, but inking that hair is gonna be VASTLY more difficult, especially with the rather coarse brush-pens I use nowadays. Challenge ahoy!
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Richard J @preachypreach.bsky.social · 1h
#taxnerdery huh, had missed that Avios is in an over half a billion VAT dispute with HMRC on how it treats Airmiles. www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKF... s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/document-api...
s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com
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Chris Williams @chrisnjwilliams.bsky.social · 3h
Easiest way forwards is to do what Manchester did to Salford: keep expanding until there’s no clear line between the cities. Manchester expands west, Liverpool expands east, we’ll merge around about Warrington I reckon. Then we cross the Pennines.
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Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 4h
Calvin may not have changed denominations (for once) but I'm obsessed with this because Monsignor is a title that is specifically bestowed by the Pope as an honour and is unrelated to a priests job or role, and so to decide that you're a Monsignor in a denomination that doesn't have a Pope is WILD.
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Jerad Walker @jeradwalker.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Sleepy Hollow High School (in the very real town of Sleepy Hollow, NY) has the best mascot I have ever seen at any level.
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James Felton @jimmfelton.bsky.social · 8h
Man in a gilet stood on platform 12 gives up on reading the display and asks ChatGPT out loud if he is on the right platform for his train. I don’t want to be dramatic about it but Eratosthenes figured out the circumference of the Earth using a stick and knowledge of a distant well.
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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 9h
The problem seems to be that the people who are coming up with solutions to the everyday tasks we have to do in our ordinary working lives, have never themselves had ordinary working lives.
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Ilanin @ilanin.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Movie posters that could only be put up in British railway stations, one of a series of probably one.
An ad for a ghost movie with the tagline "See it. Séance. Haunted."; a reference to the British Transport Police's long-running "See it. Say it. Sorted." ads encouraging the public to report anything vaguely suspicious.
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Public executions were not abolished out of tenderness towards the criminal. They were abolished because of the effect on the people watching, and the dangers of making human death a source of commercial entertainment. Here's Charles Dickens in The Times, after witnessing an execution in 1849.
"I have seen, habitually, some of the worst sources of general contamination and corruption in this country, and I think there are not many phases of London life that could surprise me. I am solemnly convinced that nothing that ingenuity could devise to be done in this city, in the same compass of time, could work such ruin as one public execution, and I stand astounded and appalled by the wickedness it exhibits. I do not believe that any community can prosper where such a scene of horror and demoralization as was enacted this morning outside Horsemonger Lane Gaol is presented at the very doors of good citizens, and is passed by, unknown or forgotten. And when in our prayers and thanksgivings for the season we are humbly expressing before God our desire to remove the moral evils of the land, I would ask your readers to consider whether it is not a time to think of this one, and to root it out.

I am, Sir, your faithful Servant.
Charles Dickens".
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Brian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 12h
Tib Street entrance to Affleck's Palace indoor market, Manchester, 1995 (Manchester Libraries).
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Louie Stowell @louiestowell.bsky.social · 12h
OK so this doesn't annoy me so much as provokes a headcanon in me. At one point Buffy talks about Vikings going to north america "in the 1400s". So, headcanon: history in the buffyverse is largely the same EXCEPT for scandinavia and the extreme north, due to the impact of vampires in the long nights
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Brian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 12h
Annie Kenney and Christabel Pankhurst were arrested on this day 1905 after disrupting a Liberal rally at Manchester's Free Trade Hall attended by Winston Churchill and Sir Edward Grey. They shouted: ‘Will the Liberal government give votes to women?’
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Dice Company @dicecompany.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
The brilliant @magpiehound.bsky.social has written another awesome story related to our Small Embers D&D campaign Check it our here ✍️👇
dicecompanypodcast.com
D&D Fan Fiction: The Waiting Room - Dice Company Podcast
D&D fan fiction – like the game itself – tends to focus on heroes and villains. But what about the less prominent characters, or even…
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Barry Deutsch @barrydeutsch.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Adorable AI Puppies By me and @nadinescholtes.bsky.social Read more cartoons! —> #Policartoon Support the cartoons! —>patreon.com/barry
TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON
PANEL 1

A young man sits on a couch, smiling at a video on his phone. A black cat sleeps beside him.

MAN (thinking): OMG, this puppy video is so cute!

MAN (thinking): Like!

PANEL 2

The man suddenly looks anxious, one hand pressed to his face.

MAN (thinking): But wait—the last time I “liked” a puppy video, it turned out it was AI.

MAN (thinking): I don’t want to accidentally support slop stealing from real puppies.

Nearby, the black cat holds up a bottle of Xanax.

PANEL 3

Extreme close-up of the increasingly frantic man. Thought balloons circle around his head:

But it’s adorable!
Fake!
Cute!
But it’s fake.
Maybe it’s fake.
The poster says it’s not AI.
Exactly what an AI would say!
Was that tongue too perfectly pink?
Was there an extra claw?
Fake!
Cute!

PANEL 4

A bearded man approaches, holding out his phone for the first man to see. The first man recoils in horror.

BEARDED MAN: Honey, you look stressed! Relax and watch this puppy video.

MAN: AAAAAGH!

CHICKEN FAT WATCH
In panel one, a goldfish is half out of its aquarium, picketing with a sign reading, ON STRIKE FOR BETTER PROTECTION FROM CAT. A framed portrait of Lucy from Peanuts is on the wall.

In panel two, the cat offers the stressed man a bottle labeled XANAX.

In the final panel, the goldfish’s abandoned sign now reads, OH WELL NEVER MIND. The black cat is contentedly eating the goldfish.
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Jessica Ritchey @jmritchey.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
A poster that cues into a mood, idea, tone of the production vs. a poster for a film that is scrambling to meet a release date plucked out years in advance.
Moody Narnia poster with outline of a lion in swirling pastel colors with a image of riders on a winged horse Typically ugly MCU poster for Doomsday though lol forever that Gambit made it to the poster but Shang-Chi didn't
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social · 21h
YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT IN "THE GOLDBERGS," IN THE PRESUMPTIVE 80s THE KID HAD THE REISSUE OPTIMUS PRIME WITH THE SHORTER SMOKESTACKS FOR SAFETY REASONS, AND HIS GRANDFATHER(?) DRESSED UP SPECIFICALLY LIKE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OPTIMUS PRIME, WITH YELLOW ARM-ARROWS AND THE LIVE-ACTION MOVIE AUTOBOT SYMBOL
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Alasdair Cameron @alasdaircameron.bsky.social · 22h
The very earliest coins ever minted in Britain (pre-Roman) held images of wolves and other creatures.
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Jane Coaston @janecoaston.bsky.social · 22h
once again, you're *supposed* to signal virtue, while also attempting to *possess* it.
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antibot4navalny | bot blocker | блокировщик ботов @antibot4navalny.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
To those implying that Kremlin-controlled social media bot/troll farms became silent after Ukraine hit a Yandex data center, posting this CloudFare chart ( radar.cloudflare.com/bots/as13238 ): Hate to disappoint you all ⤵️
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George Penney @georgepenney.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
🧵Spotted in Country Aotearoa New Zealand: A tiny human (2?) is holding Mum's hand as they walk to the end of a VERY LONG driveway and check their letterbox. Waving at cars as they go by. Doing a happy dance when Mum discovers that they have mail.
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Erin @fujoshi.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
"London has the largest number of Neets, an estimated 117,100, or one in six of all Neets in England, said the report" - you'll never guess what the other thing that London has one in six of all the things in England is.
uk.finance.yahoo.com
More than a third of Neets living in nine largest cities, research finds
A study has shone light on ‘stark differences’ between areas.
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Banjon @beardybanjo.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
This is up there with the horrified reports you sometimes see from HR departments that in a Monday to Friday working week up to 40% of sick days are taken on a Monday or Friday
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Diane Duane @diane.dianeduane.com · 10/10/2026
Meanwhile, doing some lighting tests on concept art for PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND STARSHIPS. Here: Lib Bennet gazes at 1813 Aquilae V, a planet called Pemberley...
From the viewing deck of an orbiting starship, Lib Bennet gazes at 1813 Aquilae V / Pemberley
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Chris Williams @chrisnjwilliams.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
And doing well to be so high on the list since there’ve been no new books since the ‘70s!
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Chris Williams @chrisnjwilliams.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of... and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of... don’t cross over much.
en.wikipedia.org
List of best-selling books - Wikipedia
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Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
One Piece stans you are correct, but I didn't include manga, was thinking text only. Probably could have. But that feels like a slightly different category to me, accurately or not
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TallFroGuy - Shape Decider @tallfroguy.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
(The top left hole has two pigeons) #critterposting
Crude drawing of 10 white pigeons in 9 brown and black squares. Shaped like shapes
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Chris Williams @chrisnjwilliams.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
This is One Piece erasure.
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Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
a bunch of you said LOTR. A couple suggested Left Behind. Also had some Narnia and Discworld. A few Famous Five suggestions. All very successful series by authors who are famous for selling books by the ton Only one person got it right. The actual answer is Goosebumps
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Alexander Clarkson @aphclarkson.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Deleted the Yandex data centres post. There are indicators that something around botnets went offline, but the graph in the original was dodgy
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Legal C @legalclaret.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
As a high profile criminal trial is commencing this week, a quick reminder of what you can and cannot do on social media or press reports. You can report facts from open court, for example “the defendant appeared in the dock” or “x gave evidence” if X is a named individual.
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Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
A place where anyone can purchase extra visibility irrespective of quality is the literal opposite of a free market and good luck running a business in a feudal setup where you aren't sucking up to the king
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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Operation Warp Speed developed Covid vaccines, “and the country then went back to treating countermeasure development as something the pharmaceutical industry does when there is a market for it. There is no market for a pathogen that does not exist yet. This must be a government responsibility”
nytimes.com
Opinion | We Need an Operation Warp Speed for New Biological Threats
This is a hair-on-fire moment for the biosecurity community.
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Chris Williams @chrisnjwilliams.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Wait, was he not serious? He certainly looked serious.
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Micah @rincewind.run · 10/10/2026
Discworld QOTD, from Thud!
Would a minute have mattered? No, probably not, although his young son appeared to have a very accurate internal clock. Possibly even 2 minutes would be okay. Three minutes, even. You could go to five minutes, perhaps. But that was just it. If you could go for five minutes, then you'd go to ten, then half an hour, a couple of hours...and not see your son all evening. So that was that. Six o'clock, prompt. Every day. Read to young Sam. No excuses. He'd promised himself that. No excuses. No excuses at all. Once you had a good excuse, you opened the door to bad excuses.
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Gabriele Svelto @gabrielesvelto.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 11/10/2026
I double-checked this on a couple of Xitter stat sites and it's true. Average views of the main AfD account dropped 90% and average engagement dropped by 60%. This is commercial social media for you: bots, damn bots and Russian bots.
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Chris Williams @chrisnjwilliams.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Not even their stuff though, although they get a percentage from the seller (and possibly the buyer too, not sure if PayPal is still the same company).
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Chris Williams @chrisnjwilliams.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Similarly, I just found out EBay will tell a seller you’re interested in an item if you look at it twice. I’ve started receiving offers on items I’ve looked at but not put on my watch list. It’s encouraging you to spend more.
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Sam Whyte @samwhyte.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Whilst we know ChatGPT is a craven, simpering, yes-man machine, so is the insta algorithm. This is why my curated feed regularly includes - Here's the jumper you want an excuse to buy - Why ADHD means nothing is your fault - Your shitty ex is a narcissist, so you retrospectively win every agument
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Chris Williams @chrisnjwilliams.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
“May I have your attention?” is another good one.
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Randy Milholland @choochoobear.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Today's Popeye at @comicskingdom.bsky.social: comicskingdom.com/popeye/2026-...
comicskingdom.com
Popeye Comic Strip 2026-10-11 | Comics Kingdom
Read the Popeye comic strip from October 11, 2026, and check out other Popeye comics by E.C. Segar, Bud Sagendorf, Hy Eisman, Randy Milholland.
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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 10/10/2026
This article offers half a dozen reasons why people have stopped having friends and family over, but it ignores the fact that the women who planned parties and kept homes tidy enough for unplanned guests are now working for pay full-time (usually more than 9-5). www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
theguardian.com
The dreadful decline of hosting at home: ‘I feel shame any time a friend comes over’
It used to be quite normal to pop next door for a coffee or invite friends over for dinner. But not any more. What’s behind this change – and just how damaging is it?
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Standplaats Kraków could really use some cash! @standplaatskrk.pl · 22/09/2026
12b6 on tumblr:

judge: "counsel"
me: "yes"
judge: "what did we say about singing in the courtroom"
me: "dont do it"
judge: "right"
me: "but your honor"
judge: "no"
me: "if you SUBPOENA COLADA"

badmadwolf replies:

Me: "AND YOU'VE BEEN CAUGHT AND ARRAIGNED"

Judge: "I'm holding you in contempt of court"
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Standplaats Kraków could really use some cash! @standplaatskrk.pl · 27/09/2026
penny-anna on tumblr: "Hi I have a question about Pacific Rim. Given that the sparring is just A way to test for drift compatibility and any activity that requires people to collaborate and anticipate each others moves works, including stuff like multi player video games
• Can you test for drift compatibility via improv comedy"

penny-anna on tumblr replies:
[A television still of comedians Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie sitting side-by-side on the set of Whose Line Is It Anyway?.]
"They are piloting a Jaeger together in my imagination"

penny-anna on tumblr replies: 
"#hate this. im in the shatterdome trying to coordinate my jaegers in the field fighting for the fate of humanity #and these two chuckleheads over here won't stop doing bits on the open channel #they keep defeating kaiju with slapstick routines and its INFURIATING

yeah the worst part is it's actually working for them"

kyraneko on tumblr replies: "And their Jaeger is called Nihilistic Singularity (because it's a point that doesn't matter.)"
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Chris Williams @chrisnjwilliams.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Already deleted. Vulture Squad being efficient as usual! All hail Friend Computer.
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