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Toby Bertenshaw

@deceanglius.bsky.social
53 followers 141 following 241 posts

Labrador. Hungry. Owns David, who's too shy to run his own account, and has nothing useful to say anyway, the coward.

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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
It's been decades since I read (and enjoyed it), but doesn't he get quite cross every so often because none of the Welsh people speak proper Welsh the way he does? (Self-taught from a dictionary…)
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Scholastic terrorism is where you *really* have to fear Occam's razor.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Odd, because all along those suitors had been doing their best to Penny pinch.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
One of the joys of learning a new language is going there and finding out that all those exotic place names just mean ’Big Hill‘, or ‘Top Field, or ’St Mary’s Church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the Fly Half factory where they made Phil Bennett to break English hearts as St Max Boyce…’
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I did it this morning and enjoyed it, thanks!
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Very interesting, thank you! But admit it: you wrote the whole essay just to set up that final sentence, didn’t you… An awesome piece of wordplay!
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
It's from the Screwup Letters. They always were a bit dodgy.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
William the Woke.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I did enjoy it – thank you!
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Why didn’t we ask you what you were doing? Sheer Prudence – We didn't like to say. Sheer Prudence –  It's just another day. Your posts arrive, Here on Bluesky It's ours to read, Not reason why… Sheer Prudence It's safer not to say.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
LOL — Leavis Our Lord . JFDI — Jacques Fucking Derrida’s Insane FAFO — Fuck All Foucault
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Just goes to show that there’s nothing new in corporate management failure: even the Romans suffered from the absence of a good Boss to protect them. Absentee Man(niple)agement.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
That's very welcome news! It comes at a good time… I have just finished book 2 of the Aeneid – I read it nearly 20 years ago in the Cecil Day Lewis version, but now I'm working my way through the Shadi Bartsch translation. Which translation will you be using?
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Oh, no, no, no: that accolade is yours for ever….
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
In fact, the bun tasted so bad he tried throwing it over Brittany. That was fun, so he kept on throwing till he'd chucked the whole patisserie over the province: you name it, croissants, Nun's Farts, the lot. It went on for so long they needed a triple album to record it all: Flings over Armorica.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Good grief.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I'm about to do a second degree (46 years after graduating!) and I'm appalled by the level of suspicion aimed at those students who want nothing to do with AI, with awards being delayed for months on the say so of a fallible 'plagiarism' detector. So, no – I do have faith in (most) students!
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
You're confusing cause and effect. The root problem is the AI and the false marketing of it as an adequate substitute for thinking. Some (all?) universities are responding badly to this by relying of fallible 'plagiarism' detectors. Some Unis are going back to in-person exams. Good.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Of course it's the same argument! Allowing widespread use of AI in University courses (o/s those few aimed at teaching AI) is extremely damaging to those students who use it as a crutch to avoid thinking and acquiring the necessary skills, and subsequently to society as whole.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I've been a keen adopter of IT for over 45 years. I'm amazed by how clever the people behind AI's development are. It's being foisted on us by the amoral to enrich themselves, with no thought for the social and environmental consequences, and I do hate the cowardly refusal to deal with this.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
What a profoundly bleak thought.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Fair enough: if you are saying that using AI is acceptable in courses where the subject itself is AI-adjacent, not a means of acquiring the subject's skills, then of course we agree. Though then we're back to 'the point of the course', aren't we?
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Reducing disparate situations to common features to extract lessons is one of the skills you learn at university. But now you’re trying to narrow your claim to a limited subset of courses. Even if it were true, it doesn’t invalidate the general truth that AI is inimical to the point of uni study.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
The point of going to university isn’t the output. Learn the skills first - if later you find you need to use AI, then at least you’ll have a clue when it inevitably gets things wrong.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Now boffins would conclude A flight of such velorcity Reveals the author's paucity Of verisimilitude And this is very Chaucerty. (I hope that's not too rude?)
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Wife of Scottish monarch learns the importance of effective hand-cleaning solutions, while husband pays insufficient attention to the management of forestry boundaries.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
So did Two-Ton Ted from Teddington….
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Ah, sorry, I’ve just repeated your point… I should have read further! Still, I did add the link to the archive and now I’m going to listen to some of them again.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
I used to love listening to Discovering Music while walking the dog. Apparently, they’re still online, all 97 of them… I tink I need to relisten to some of them. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
bbc.co.uk
BBC Radio 3 - Discovering Music - Available now
Available episodes of Discovering Music
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
It's wonderful, isn't it. I first read it when it 1st came out, then again a year or so ago – this time knowing what was going to happen, & I could pick up on the clues about the [massive spoilers]. It seems to have been a little forgotten – a shame because it's very cleverly done & well written.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Exam question: a) Explain the socio-politico-prosodilogical factors behind the switch from "butter FOR the (Royal slice of) bread" used throughout "The King's Breakfast, and the King's use of "butter TO my bread" in the final line. b) Is this a call for revolution on the part of AA Milne?
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I'm glad you walk when necessary, & I agree some junctions are appalling. Seriously: complain to your local Road Safety Partnership – they have the stats and duty of care. There's a difference, too, between edging forward in preparation and whizzing through regardless. One is a lot safer!
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
You can argue about whether life ought to be like this, and I'd agree. Until then, ride defensively, which definitely does *not* mean going through red lights.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I've been a keen cyclist for 50 years, and I dislike cars. I am not unsympathetic and am not seething – just worried about the risks you run and cause. If you feel that a set of lights is too dangerous, then get off and walk: *don't* put yourself other people in danger.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
It's not whether *you* are aware; it's whether other people on the road and pavements are aware that you're doing something unexpected, like crossing the very line that gives them the right of way. Too many fail to spot cyclists anyway: don't add to the risk just because you're impatient.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Same! My dad used to listen to Radio 2 on a Sat PM in the late 60s and they'd play Poisoning Pigeons and Masochism Tango. I don't remember him trying to explain the lyrics of that one to 9 year me, but I can still remember most of them…
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I do love a Lehrer reference. Bluesky needs more Lehrer references!
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I've just pre-ordered the ebook, thank you! (Bookshop because a small donation is made to a local bookshop of you choosing…) uk.bookshop.org/p/books/35-i...
uk.bookshop.org
31 Inventions that Built Our World: FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 47 BORDERS
A FASCINATING DELVE INTO THE HISTORY OF THE CITY, BY THE SUNDAY TIMES #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 47 BORDERS'Charming and outstandingly nerdish'ROBERT WEBB'I love Jonn Elledge; ...
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
@jonnelledge.bsky.social I finished History of the World in 47 Borders last night. It felt very relevant, here in the Marches within sight of the watchtowers on the wall built to keep the bara brith smugglers out of Chester. I learnt a lot and enjoyed it very much – thank you!
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
The other thing is I use software (Scrivener) which makes a retrievable backup and snapshots on every manual save and closure, so to extent it's an automatic process.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Yes! Though even having the pixel trail won't compensate for the worry of a long enquiry process. I suppose it will also help having a tutor who knows your work, so it's not an entirely impersonal bureaucracy led investigation.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Thank you for the reply! It's interesting to hear your perspective and your advice will be very useful for me. I'm sure the vast majority of tutors do their best to help their students out.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Even more worrying is universities using AI to check if a student has used AI. It must be soul-destroying to work without using AI in any way, only to have an algorithmic fantasist accuse you of using the very thing you despise... How do you prove that you didn't use it? It seems very unfair.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Same here – I can remember the lyrics to a fifty year old comic song, but can't remember things that happened yesterday…
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
It’s the single greatest quatrain in the history of English verse…
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Chin wouldn’t rhyme! He said ‘Would you like it pasteurised Cos pasteurised is best?’ She said, ‘Ernie I’ll be happy If it comes up to my chest…’
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
…Ernie, I'd be happy if it comes up to my chest.
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Beloved Friend, I am the wife of a Hittite general who has been forced to flee the country, leaving all our kine behind. Please send four goats to release them and in return we will send you 1 million sacred bulls. Please keep this tablet secret or Tarḫunna will roast your bones, Best wishes…
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
As Monty Python sang… Brave Sir Nigel ran away Bravely ran away! Yes brave Sir Nigel did a bunk He skipped the count (and Count) for funk When Binhead reared his binny head 'Security' brave Nigel said! And with his victory complete He beat a very brave retreat Bravest of the braaave, Sir Nigel!
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Toby Bertenshaw @deceanglius.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Sensible, fair, subscription cancellation procedures *are* a better product.
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