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His Nobel Speech "Create Dangerously" is also eerily relevant again in the era of slop. He argues that art loses its meaning when pumped out to suit corporate or frivolous puropses. Indeed!

It's full of examples of things going wrong in early/mid C20th France, but you could easily replace those with equivalent contemporary examples from the US (-gestures in recent online discourse-)

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"Reflections on the Guillotine" was sobering reading: we abolished the death penalty a few years after this was written, but some people keep calling to bring it back and his arguments against it still hold water.

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James @derpjames.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Got given this by a friend and finished reading it last night. A short collection of writings, but still topical well over half a century later. 💙📚💡

"Committed Writings" by Albert Camus. The cover is plain white with a black and white photo of the author looking philosophical with his hands in his suit pockets.

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Butterflies are certainly much less suspicious than bats, so that'd provide a great cover for nefarious activities! Not so sure about butterflies drinking blood though - some caterpillars are carnivorous, but I'm not aware of any bloodsucking butterflies... 😱

James @derpjames.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

This was a sweet little read - Fairy Tales from the Isle of Man by Dora Broome. It was nice to read some folktales from a part of the British Isles I'm not so familiar with, and the heavy dose of dialect in the telling was a delightful touch. 💙📚

Fairy Tales from the Isle of Man by Dora Broome. The cover image depicts a merman lifting up a smiling young child mermaid holding some seaweed.

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James @derpjames.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Really interesting research from @christianityon.bsky.social - I've seen a few claims that AI detection software is biased against autistic people and it's great that someone has actually fact-checked this (tl;dr, it isn't) youtu.be/SN0_TZ1WoCE

youtu.be

Is AI Detection Software Biased Against Autistic Writing?

YouTube video by Christianity On The Spectrum

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James @derpjames.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

With the Romans it's always good to make sure!

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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

A suggested statement for Andy Burnham.

‘The British public decided in the 1930s that they would not tolerate black-shirted militias marching through their streets. They would cherish robust political argument; they would not accept thuggery and intimidation. When Oswald Mosley led his Blackshirts to Cable Street, local people turned them back. A new law – introduced by a Liberal, backed by Labour and carried by a Conservative majority – banned private militias, political uniforms and ‘the use or display of physical force in promoting any political object’. The British people are as determined today as in the 1930s that they will not accept the methods of Mussolini and the Munich Beer Hall. This government will uphold the law and defend the traditions of British democracy’.

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Dr Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

The RNLI have some of the best people in Britain volunteering for them. They put their lives on the line when they are called on and they will rescue anyone who needs them. Because every life matters, and offering help is the right thing to do. You can donate here: rnli.org

rnli.org

RNLI - Royal National Lifeboat Institution - Saving Lives at Sea

The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea. We do this through lifeboat search and rescue, lifeguards, water safety education and international interventions.

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James @derpjames.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Suttons seed catalogue arrived today and something tells me I'm not their average demographic... #gardening

Another runner bean variety called "St George", which boasts bicoloured red and white flowers.

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James @derpjames.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

#CofEPeeps Not sure how many of you are signed up to the mailing list, but the Real Advent Calendar for 2026 has now been launched, and this year there's a dark chocolate edition too! meaningfulchocolate.co.uk/collections/...

meaningfulchocolate.co.uk

Christmas

Unique ways to share the Christmas story... Next day delivery is made by tracked next day DHL. There is free delivery if you spend £89 or more (mainland GB ex Highlands and Isles).

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Dr Jo Edge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @hagenilda.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

My agent got an UNHINGED LLM-slop email about mypublished book. Some choice quotes: 'There is something so achingly compelling about a book that, when you think about it, is not so different from a lot of other books, except for the part where it features the most surprising questions they can ask'

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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

HOLY SHIT DUDES fucking with the environment is now not just a sin (which Francis also said), it is classed as a direct fuck-you to God and a central tenet of the reasoning is the need to care for "our common home," i.e. you are morally obligated to think about the other people who also live here

americamagazine.org

Vatican theological commission defines ‘sin against creation and the Creator’ in new document

The more than 29,000 word text calls for ecological conversion due to “sin against creation and the Creator.”

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James @derpjames.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I'd also say "will echo" too, since from the perspective of the drama the impact would be in the future. It's just all such an odd way of phrasing things!

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Ben Wood @cosmichope.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

"The Sabbath was made for human beings, not human beings for the Sabbath".

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James @derpjames.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

There is something about the sentence structure and cliches ("echoes down the years") that makes me think you're right 😬

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Met Office - weather and climate @metoffice.gov.uk · 01/09/2026

Summer 2026 is provisionally the UK’s warmest summer on record with the season’s mean temperature made around 130 times more likely due to human-induced climate change. Here, we delve into the numbers 🧵

Mean temperature for 2026 in the UK. The map shows widely above average temperature, particularly in the south.

Rainfall amounts in summer 2026 in the UK compared to average. The maps shows widely dry conditions, though the west of Scotland is slightly wetter than average

Sunshine duration in summer 2026 compared to average. The map shows widely sunny conditions in the season, with the south of the country particularly sunny.

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Helen-Ann Hartley @helenannhartley.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Everlasting God, you sent the gentle bishop Aidan to proclaim the gospel in this land: grant us to live as he taught in simplicity, humility and love for the poor; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Happy feast of St Aidan of Lindisfarne 🫶🙏

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James @derpjames.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I never read any of either of them at school, but I read Heaney's verse translation of Beowulf a "few" years ago and loved it. The war poetry we read tied in nicely with history, but unfortunately also added to the general misery of literature!

James @derpjames.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Same with poetry! I grew up reading Michael Rosen and other purveyors of silliness, and then all the poetry in school was "the world is terrible and I hate my life". Sure, some of that is important, but at least give some fun stuff for balance!

After a bit of a break and pallet cleanse I'm back reading Wealth of Nations. It seems the idea that the colonisation of the Americas wasn't entirely noble and unproblematic isn't as new a phenomenon as some people like to suggest... 💙📚💡

An extract from Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations (published 1776), in which he lays into European colonists for their "folly and injustice" in "hunting after gold and silver mines, and the injustice of coveting the possession of a country whose harmless natives, far from having ever injured the people of Europe, had received the first adventurers with every mark of kindness and hospitality".

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And also much more up-to-date, because the Kirin data is from 2019, and the most recent other source on Wikipedia is 2023!

List of countries by beer consumption per capita - Wikipedia

a PDF report from "Kirin Beer University". It does show Czechia has the highest consumption, but none of the figures match what is in this image. So I suspect the AI has used Wiki as a starting point and hallucinated the rest. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

en.wikipedia.org

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It has 2 number 18s and generally looks like AI, so I've done some digging. I don't thibk any of those figures are real, though the broad placement of countries seems roughly right. In the corner, it credits "Kirin". Wikipedia has a page for beer consumption by capita, and the first reference is...

Full Fact @fullfact.org · 27/08/2026

Reposted by James

Posts being shared thousands of times on social media claim Japan has named a Covid mRNA vaccine the “most deadly drug” in the “history of humankind”. It hasn’t. And it isn’t. Approved Covid vaccines are safe. fullfact.org/world/japan-...

fullfact.org

Japan hasn’t named Covid mRNA vaccine the ‘most deadly drug’ – Full Fact

The misleading claim is being shared again after first appearing in 2024.

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Christian Aid @christianaiduk.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Please join us in prayer for the people of Nepal and Tibet, after devastating flash floods swept through communities along the border 🙏 We hold in our hearts all those affected, and the rescue teams working to reach communities cut off by the disaster.

Black-and-white close-up of hands clasped in prayer, with a person blurred in the background. A dark text banner reads: “Pray for Nepal and Tibet.”

God of compassion, We weep with the people of Nepal and Tibet. Images of devastation tell a story of terrible loss. We cry out to you for the bereaved, for all who could not save their loved ones. We grieve for those who have seen their homes swept away. God, keep safe those waiting for rescue, renew the strength of emergency workers, and turn our shock and sorrow into action. Make us your hands and feet, reaching out and standing with our neighbours in their deep distress and urgent need. In Jesus name, Amen

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James @derpjames.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Picked another tubfull of tomatoes this evening, and found this little oddity - conjoined tomatoes!

Two ripe cherry tomatoes sharing one stalk. They are both perfectly round but joined in the middle, a little like a Venn Diagram

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James @derpjames.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

He's the one taking the photo

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Looking forward to it! 😀

follow-up questions or challenges some more...free-thinking...readers might pose. But on the whole this is great fun, and I certainly learned some cool stuff to file away in the pub quiz section of my brain!

Realistically it couldn't be longer than it already is and still function as an accessible book, but I do wish some of the chapters had been a bit longer and more in depth - partly because I'm greedy and want to know more, but also because I could foresee some of the...

This book is lighthearted and fun, but makes a serious point about how dangerous fake history can be when it comes with an agenda. I particularly liked the emphasis at the start and end of "doing your own research" and investigating claims people make on the internet.

This took me far longer than it should have done, because I decided to read a chapter per night and...it's 101 chapters long...but I've finally finished @fakehistoryhunter.net's book! 💙📚💡

Fake History: 101 things that never happened, by Jo Hedwig Teeuwisse, The Fake History Hunter. A horned helment sits at a jaunty angle on the K

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James @derpjames.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Here's the finished result: about 1.2kg of elderberries! They're really good this year - very plump and juicy! Last year it took multiple trips in different directions to get enough, but we managed to get all these in under an hour!

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Took @mrsemilia.bsky.social out for a romantic walk with a bucket and some secateurs this evening, so now I have some elderberries to sort out! Definitely feel better than last year's, despite the horridly hot summer.

A black plastic bucket with lots of elderberries in it, still on their stalks.