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James T. Harding

@empowermint.bsky.social
668 followers 601 following 734 posts

Liable to tweet about queer and green politics, books (SFF), Edinburgh, TypeScript, and my cats. Former publisher now working as a software engineer. He/him

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Reposted by James T. Harding
Mei 🪽 @meidotwav.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
treat your body like a data center. consume as much water, art and literature as possible. upset local municipalities with your existence.
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
This is clearly a good result for Labour, but it also doesn't strike me as a terrible result for the Greens. Vote share held up from the local elections in a constituency that was never really a target for them
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actually madeleine is the scientist🏳️‍⚧️🇵🇸🦇 @webway.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
getting the error message ‘cannot print - printer may not exist’ and going through a full tyler durden flashback of all the times i thought i was using the printer but it was just me
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Jendia Gammon @jendiagammon.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Ad astra, Margaret Hamilton. A remarkable, brilliant woman of science and an inspiration for all time.
news.mit.edu
Margaret Hamilton, computing pioneer who led software development for the Apollo program, dies at 90 | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Margaret H. Hamilton, a profoundly influential computer scientist best known for leading the software engineering team at MIT’s Instrumentation Lab during NASA’s Apollo program, died at age 90.
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Kate Nevens (she/her) @katenevens.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Ahead of Islamophobia Awareness Month 2026, I've submitted a parliamentary motion recognising the month as an opportunity to raise awareness of the harms of Islamophobia and to showcase the positive contributions of Muslims in Scotland and across the UK.
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Mallory Moore @sexabolition.blog · 07/10/2026
In a world of machine intelligence, the humanities are more vital than ever and I think I've not said enough about that. I work in cybersecurity for my day job. I'm a professional hacker and most people understand that as being really good at coding and understanding computers which is true.
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James T. Harding @empowermint.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
There has been significant migration from the top to the bottom of my face
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James T. Harding @empowermint.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Great project to display my mum’s poetry* on Edinburgh Trams! You can read the full poem here: www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/meadow-... (*Also other poets)
Me, with extra-large beard, on the tram with my mum’s poem in the advertising slot behind me. I look very happy about this.
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Jim Rossignol @rossignol.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
This gets said constantly, but it worth reiterating: Games Workshop being bigger than fishing is important to shout about because you wouldn't know it from government talking points, which are rarely about anything creative or artistic. Growth won't involve fish or steel, it will involve goblins.
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Jenny with a Green Ribbon Around Her Neck @readingtheend.bsky.social · 28/12/2023
Gruff Veteran Uncle: Jennifer, I don't care for situation comedies. I don't like situations.
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maura quint @mauraquint.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Yes every woman has been harassed, many assaulted. But every woman has also experienced invisible loss from moments she avoided harassment. She felt a space becoming unsafe, so she left, while men stayed on. And in leaving, she lost: opportunities, experiences, learning, promotions, even simply fun.
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Edinburgh Linux Cafe @edinburghlinuxcafe.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 23/09/2026
Our next event will be at Duncan Place Community Hub on 10th October, starting at 1:30pm. This one is a special event together with Edinburgh Repair Cafe, in honour of International Repair Day. Book at events.humanitix.com/linux-install-… for the Linux Cafe.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
DoorDash spent $1.4M trying to stop Zohran Mamdani from becoming mayor. This week's historic $131.5M enforcement action against DoorDash for underpaying NYC delivery workers shows why. Yet another reminder that the only thing that can beat organized money is organized people.
theintercept.com
DoorDash Spent $1.4 Million Trying to Stop Mamdani From Becoming Mayor. Now We Know Why.
In a wage-theft settlement, DoorDash now has to pay its workers around 100 times what it spent trying to beat Zohran Mam
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James T. Harding @empowermint.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The guy who lives inside escalators is my fave
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JP @jpbrammer.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
sometimes I get bored and cancel myself on Threads by saying whatever the fuck
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James T. Harding @empowermint.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Yeah, I think the bread crumbs would go soggy 🤣
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James T. Harding @empowermint.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I put pork bones, chicken feet, and aromatics in. They’d take all day/overnight to cook in the hob, but just a few hours under high pressure.
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James T. Harding @empowermint.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I have a slow/pressure combo. I use it for maybe a third of the meals I cook. It’s makes tonkotsu and the like much faster to make!
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William Gibson @greatdismal.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I’ve now lived so much longer than I would ever have expected to that I feel I’m living in the future. This is when I imagined Neuromancer happening. And now the creators of today’s AI warn us that it threatens humanity.
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Naomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
"People are really mad and however mad you are, it’s not enough. Because there is something so profound about no longer believing in the future, about seeing no value in our shared home, in the natural world. They’re traitors to creation.” www.theguardian.com/books/2026/s...
theguardian.com
Naomi Klein: ‘Extreme wealth has a deranging effect. It turns you into a supremacist’
She’s tackled neoliberalism and the digital world, now the writer and activist is taking on tech billionaires. She explains how the super-rich are capitalising on climate and financial chaos in pursui...
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Merrill Barr @merrillbarr.com · 11/09/2026
I am attacked…
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James T. Harding @empowermint.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This Labour front bencher is saying the quiet part out loud: they think speaking to voters and learning what they care about is vaguely degrading.
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Lennie @drgs100.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
If you live near the foot of Easter Road in Leith then you can help save St Andrews Kirk for the public (otherwise it will be lost to luxury flats). leithstandrewstrust.org/help/?ref=ed...
leithstandrewstrust.org
Can you help keep the doors open for future generations? - Leith St. Andrew's Trust
Join the Leith St. Andrew's Trust 'The Heart of a Community' exhibition. Explore its legacy, hear personal stories, and envision the future of this iconic landmark in Leith, Edinburgh.
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James T. Harding @empowermint.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
A sad moment for culture in Scotland
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Neoliberalism has ravaged the UK Workers’ share of gross value added down from 71.9% in 1975, to 59.7%. 1.23m workers are on zero-hour contracts. 4.4m jobs pay less than the real living wage. Poorest 20% pay a higher proportion of income in direct/indirect taxes than the richest 20%.
leftfootforward.org
Here’s how the chancellor can raise the billions needed to improve the quality of life of millions
Prem Sikka is an Emeritus Professor of Accounting at the University of Essex and the University of Sheffield, a Labour member of the House of Lords, and Contributing Editor at Left Foot Forward. Mi...
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Cllr Claire Miller (she/her) @cllrcmiller.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
It's me, I'm 'edinburgh cllrs'. I'll be proposing this motion at our next full council meeting. I'm deeply concerned by both investigations and whether businesses are paying their full non-domestic rates. I very much hope to get support from other councillors so that we can get clarity.
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
“The trouble with you, Spode, is that just because you have succeeded in inducing a handful of half-wits to disfigure the London scene by going about in black shorts, you think you’re someone. You hear them shouting “Heil, Spode!” and you imagine it is the Voice of the People.” Bertie Wooster
Daniel Thomas and his Black Shorts in London today.
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
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scott daGHOSTtino @scottdagostino.ca · 07/09/2026
Everyone’s asking why a liberal government would sit on its hands and do nothing when *masked fascists* riot in the streets?? Well, here it is 👇🏼
prospectmagazine.co.uk
What is a reactionary centrist, and does the UK have them?
A term favoured by US progressives can help us understand Britain’s drift to the right
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absolute horses @jcoglan.com · 06/09/2026
if you have to keep referring to your company as "Brand (formerly OtherBrand)" five years after the rebrand, you do have to conclude the name change has not been a success
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Damon Young @damonyoung.com.au · 04/09/2026
This Finnish guy has been teaching himself Sumerian, and sent a cuneiform tablet to the British Museum to check his progress. They just emailed him that they've sent him something in the post. I'm now thrilled and excited for a total stranger! Clay tablet mail! www.reddit.com/r/Cuneiform/...
a photo of a hand holding a cuneiform tablet
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Ballot Box Scotland @ballotbox.scot · 04/09/2026
Portobello Craigmillar (Edinburgh) by-election 1st prefs: GRN: 1781 (28%, +11.8) SNP: 1531 (24.1%, -13.3) LAB: 1413 (22.2%, -1.7) RUK: 569 (8.9%, new) CON: 522 (8.2%, -7.1) LD: 365 (5.7%, +1.4) SFP: 73 (1.1%, new) Worker: 58 (0.9%, new) ADF: 28 (0.4%, new) Commie: 22 (0.3%, new) Green win stage 10
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James T. Harding @empowermint.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Could be impacted by the fact Greens are very good at getting out the vote on polling day. (Other parties appear to be comparatively short on volunteer power.)
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alex guenther @guentheralex.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
if this "well, actually..." reply to a line of tennyson's is any indication, charles babbage would have been right at home here
He commented: ‘Sir: In your otherwise beautiful poem “The Vision of Sin” there is a verse which reads – “Every moment dies a man, Every moment one is born.” It must be manifest that if this were true, the population of the world would be at a standstill. In truth, the rate of birth is slightly in excess of that of death. I would suggest that in the next edition of your poem you have it read – “Every moment dies a man, Every moment 1 and 1/16th is born.” The actual figure is so long I cannot get it onto a line, but I believe the figure 1 and 1/16th will be sufficiently accurate for poetry. I am, Sir, yours, etc., Charles Babbage.’
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James T. Harding @empowermint.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Sending healing vibes
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The City of Edinburgh Council @edinburghcouncil.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Polls are open in the Southside/Newington (Ward 15) and Portobello/Craigmillar (Ward 17) by-elections. Bringing your poll card with you to vote will help us and speed things along, but this isn't mandatory. The count will begin immediately after polls close at 10pm 🗳️
Exterior of Nelson Hall, a polling place in the Southside/Newington Ward in Edinburgh.
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Jadzia Axelrod 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @planetx.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
Anyway, Brian Eno said it best:
Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable and nasty about a new medium will surely become its signature.
CD distortion, the jitteriness of digital video, the crap sound of 8-bit - all of these will be cherished and emulated as soon as they can be avoided. It's the sound of failure: so much modern art is the sound of things going out of control, of a medium pushing to its limits and breaking apart. The distorted guitar sound is the sound of something too loud for the medium supposed to carry it. The blues singer with the cracked voice is the sound of an emotional cry too powerful for the throat that releases it. The excitement of grainy film, of bleached-out black and white, is the excitement of witnessing events too momentous for the medium assigned to record them.
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Sarah Andersen @sarahseeandersen.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
The image is of a four panel comic.
The title reads, "Suddenly Finding A New Obsession".
In the first panel we see Sarah, the protagonist, in front of her computer. She has a bored expression on her face.
In the second panel we zoom in on her face. She looks suddenly alert.
In the third panel we zoom in even closer on her face. Her eyes and mouth are wide open in intrigue.
In the fourth panel we zoom out and see Sarah in front of her computer again, but this time she is dressed in a frog costume, surrounded by frog toys, and has an "I heart frogs" poster behind her.
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Karen Gregory @karengregory.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Well done to @bkarb.bsky.social and the riders here: workersobservatory.org/news/edinbur...
workersobservatory.org
Council takes first step towards a gig worker hub
Edinburgh Council committee proposes a feasibility study into a hub serving transport workers in the gig economy.
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Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
📌 ICYMI — Reform’s £645,000 ‘Ghost’ Pollster — @josiahmortimer.bsky.social Exclusive: Payments to a business with no public footprint, no VAT number and a string of missing invoices are raising fresh questions about Reform UK's campaign spending
bylinetimes.com
Reform’s £645,000 ‘Ghost’ Pollster
Exclusive: Payments to a business with no public footprint, no VAT number and a string of missing invoices are raising fresh questions about Reform UK's campaign spending
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 25/08/2026
no devices and low-tech for billionaires’ kids but ai for the rest of us plebs www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/t...
nytimes.com
Silicon Valley Executives Are Tech Fans. Just Not for Their Own Kids.
At home, moderation and restraint are the rule for tech parents. Boredom is exalted. Maybe they’re onto something.
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Dr. Aaron Thierry @thierryaaron.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Uneconomic growth is economic expansion where the social & environmental costs of production are greater than the economic benefits gained. "approval is likely to lead to future damages of at least £170bn – £483 bn over their lifetime, 6 – 17 times the economic value they will generate for the UK"
researchsquare.com
Projected climate loss and damages from new UK oil and gas fields unequivocally show their destruction of economic value globally
Modelled future emissions pathways compliant with limiting global temperature rises to 1.5C show the need to avoid expansion of oil and gas supply. However, several countries are examining reversals t...
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James T. Harding @empowermint.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
I reckon the bit that’s most valuable is email trails with external parties who are still alive - as they can verify in court that they wrote their emails.
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James T. Harding @empowermint.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Could not those artefacts have been LLM generated though?
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James T. Harding @empowermint.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
I have (imho) a natural affinity for light-entertainment formats which the industry has mysteriously passed over
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Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Anybody who’s still advocating putting these tools anywhere near a school is not doing so despite the cognitive collapse they cause, but because of it. dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn...
Abstract
Using 30 months of panel data on 26,811 Chinese students in grades 7-12, we study how generative Al affects homework productivity and learning. The data combine monthly closed-book exams, high-school and college entrance exams, and homework scores and completion time across nine subjects. We exploit staggered Al adoption in a difference-in-differences design. Al adoption raises homework scores by 18% and reduces completion time by 30%, but lowers monthly exam scores by 20% within six months.
High-stakes entrance-exam scores fall by 18 and 24%, with the full penalty emerging only after about two years. The losses are largest in social science subjects, followed by STEM and languages, and are especially large for junior students, high-achieving students, and boys. The learning losses are concentrated among roughly 80% of Al users whose behavior is consistent with homework outsourcing, as indicated by exceptionally short homework completion time coupled with high homework scores. Al users who maintain similar homework completion time as non-Al users experience small learning losses.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 23/08/2026
here is the thing. if you tell me that you believe that race is a biological category and that it is a guide to the objective superiority and inferiority of groups of people, i am not calling you a racist to *insult* you, i am calling you a racist because it best describes your beliefs.
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James T. Harding @empowermint.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Join Claudia Winkelman and Harry Windsor on an epic journey across the canalways of Belgium. At each historic town, they meet a ‘friend’ (professional comedian) to learn about local chocolate traditions. All in aid of discovering: The Best Belgian Hot Chocolate. Sundays at 3pm.
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James T. Harding @empowermint.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
If you want to track accounts, put them in a list. It means you don’t have to see them unless you look, and it means they don’t get your +1 to make them look important.
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