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Marc J Thomas

@marcjt1969.bsky.social
325 followers 134 following 48 posts

Woodcut printmaker. SF & Fantasy lover. Head currently full of Pratchett, N K Jemisin, and Martha Wells. He/Him

PostsRepliesMedia
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Dr Lindsey Fitzharris @drlindseyfitz.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Democracy for sale in Britain. 🫠
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Natalie Haynes @nataliehaynes.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Supporting independent shops this weekend? The beautiful indie exclusive edition of Irresistible Monsters is available to pre-order now - if you dare… 🪶 (Signed, plus those sprayed edges!) Order online via link in my bio, or ask your local indie bookshop.
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Marc J Thomas @marcjt1969.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
If anyone sees Ridley Scott sitting at a word processor, please hit the nearest fire alarm.
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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 20/08/2026
Interesting contrast! Her pseudoscience is almost fun & cooky — while his is contributing to the end of the world, book-destroying, non-consensual, etc. She's mocked, rightfully so, by the media. He's lauded and seen as a sensible person, whose words should be taken at face value and seriously.
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Huddersfield Exposed @huddersfield.exposed · 18/08/2026
I can't believe you didn't know that books have many spines, as shown here on the UK Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals web site 😜
AI slop showing an unreadable book with too many spinesPhotograph of the CILIP Member Council.So many fingers.
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Jeff Rudd 🇮🇪 🇨🇦 🇵🇸 @jeffrudd.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
REMEMBER: They all knew.
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David Quantick @quantick.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
You had me at "I am damned."
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Susie Dent @susiedentwords.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I’ve written a short piece on the Americanisms that really get our goat. susiedent.substack.com/p/the-ize-ha...
susiedent.substack.com
The -ize have it
A tale of scapegoating (verb) in English
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Private Eye Magazine @privateeyenews.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
It's Clacton by-election day. Or, if you prefer, Farage-Commons-standards-inquiry-reopening-eve.
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Marc J Thomas @marcjt1969.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
👏
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Shelly 🦑 @inki-drop.com · 05/08/2026
This baby roly poly polar bear is such a menace to their mom 😂 Video by coyukiho on IG! #cute #polarbear
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Reform scores hat trick of losses in Manchester despite the hype, the polling and the noise around Farage. Over to you now, Clacton. Deal the killer blow and vote Count Binface in August. The country could do with the laugh. And without that grifting loser. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
INDEPENDENT

Bev Craig elected mayor of Greater Manchester in huge Labour victory over ReformMeanwhile, it is Reform's third disappointment in Greater Manchester this year, after failing to win in Gorton and Denton or Makerfield.
Nigel Farage's party were made early favourites by the bookmakers when this by-election was first mooted, having performed well in the local elections here, winning 24 of 25 seats available in Wigan in May.
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Count Binface @countbinface.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Here it is. My manifesto for the 2026 Clacton By-Election. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Join me, clean up Clacton and let's make 13th August Bin Day! #VoteBinface #VoteyMcVoteface #YesWeTinCan
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jessamyn @librarian.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful
An aircraft passenger oxygen mask: a drop down passenger mask with air bag and yellow plastic mouth and nose cover, oxygen tube has been cut; Demonstration model used by flight attendant crew for passenger instruction. Has text on the side indicating that it's non-functional.
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Elon Musk, owner of X, has called the editor of the Economist "a traitor to the West, plain and simple" after her recent interview with him. He now argues that "anyone who opposes remigration is a traitor" Musk has been socialising violence since Aug25: "fight or die, that's what it comes down to"
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Dr Naomi Scott @drnaomiscott.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Today, Pollux has brought me this: οὐκ εἰσὶν οἱ παμπλούσιοι ἀγαθοί· εἰ δὲ μὴ ἀγαθοί, οὐδὲ εὐδαίμονες. The very rich are not good people, and because they are not good, they are also not happy. (Plato Laws 743c) Hmm I guess maybe Plato has some merits. Also quite enjoying the Timaeus.
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Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
For those of you that ever wondered what scares the shit out of him: #FabFord
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
looks like Thames Water has given a 14% pay rise to its chief executive and a 26% rise to its finance director
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 12/07/2026
Amnesty International put out a major report documenting the influence of UK based anti trans gender critical organizations and their funding. Within hours, GC groups threatened defamation lawsuits and Amnesty was forced to pull it down. Proving the point they're anti rights. Anyways, here it is.
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Tim Willoughby @timswheelbarrow.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
My random Sam Neil story. An actor friend of mine was cast in a small role on Peaky Blinders. Never receives his script pages. Discovers his role has been pushed to non speaking background, which is less fun/less money. Sam Neil spots him looking dejected on set and finds out.
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Daniel Benneworth-Gray @danielgray.com · 13/07/2026
Sam Neill on tackling depression and imposter syndrome when you’re between jobs.
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ℭ𝔥𝔞𝔬𝔰 ☽|☾ 𝔓𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔰𝔰 @chaospriestess.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
My favorite Sam Neil fact will always be that he designed a future Australian flag that replaces the union jack with the aboriginal flag for Event Horizon and insisted the film use it.
Screencap of Sam Neil in Event Horizon, his flight suit features an Australian flag with the union jack replaced by a yellow circle on black and red, the Australian aboriginal flag
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the beggars out of here getter @milesklee.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
RIP to the incomparable Sam Neill
How long has it been since you've seen the original "Jurassic Park"?

SAM NEILL The last time I watched it in its totality was sitting beside Princess Di at Leicester Square at the London opening.
On the other side of me was my son Tim - he was 11 and completely swept away by it, but about the time the T-Rex turns up, Tim started to fart. And the draft was drifting across me to royalty! I spent the whole film in a muck sweat, thinking, "Princess Di is being exposed to the horrors of a little boy's fart, but she's going to think it's me. I am going to be subliminally blamed for my son's crimes, and I don't think she'll talk to me afterwards." But she was well brought up and never mentioned it.
JEFF GOLDBLUM I love that story, Sam.
I've heard him tell that a couple of times, and it's just amazing the lengths that he will go to still blame the boy.
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Ben Rothenberg @benrothenberg.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
I wrote about the silence around Alexander Zverev on the BBC's TV broadcasts of Wimbledon, which has left UK viewers without the whole picture. Why do the BBC avoid this topic on television when discussing it elsewhere? Free at Bounces: www.benrothenberg.com/p/bbc-wimble...
benrothenberg.com
On BBC’s Wimbledon Coverage, the Information Will Not Be Televised
Viewers in the United Kingdom are not getting the whole picture of Alexander Zverev.
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 12/07/2026
sorry I'll stop going on about it soon but it is so funny to me that last night I kept having to explain to my brother and his friend that watching England play isn't like watching France play, you're not actually meant to be having a good time, it's not a fun activity at all
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Larry the Cat @number10cat.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Ahead of England v Norway in the World Cup, enjoy this classic from my old pal Patrick Kidd in The Times
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Carissa Véliz @carissaveliz.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
It's not OK to wear smart glasses around other people. It's not cool. It's creepy, disrespectful. It pollutes the public sphere with the oppression of surveillance. It puts the onus on non-Glassholes; that's not asking for consent. www.vogue.com/article/do-s...
vogue.com
Do Smart Glasses Have a Surveillance Problem?
Big Tech is investing in fashion’s cultural legitimacy to make AI smart glasses socially acceptable, but consumers view them as synonymous with surveillance. Is removing the camera the key to adoption...
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Thomas Ha @thomasha.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
not saying anything new, but if these folks actually believed in genAI writing, they'd disclose it, tout it, and build their own audiences elsewhere and leave others be. hiding and sneaking it to markets who want no part of it doesn't prove you're good at writing. just proves you're good at fraud.
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Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
There may be some clues here, who knows? “Fiona Cottrell’s son… had offered money-laundering services on the dark web and subsequently wrote a book called How to Launder Money” www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Police investigate £500,000 Reform donations from mother of fraudster who backed Farage
George Cottrell’s mother, Fiona, at centre of criminal inquiry over potential evasion of restrictions on donations
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 08/07/2026
There’s no scientific basis to many of the public health concerns some critics have with solar development, an expert told ProPublica. “People try to come up with a rationale to justify their dislike of things they dislike for other reasons.” (Published April)
propublica.org
Unfounded Health Concerns Are Powering a Solar Backlash
Across the U.S., critics are pressuring public officials to stop or stall new solar projects, often citing unfounded health concerns.
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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 08/07/2026
I feel people do not get why countries make these laws. > Peru lawmakers push open-source software Peru was seeing it from the mid 2000s. Yes, they banned Microsoft.
Peru joins Brazil, China, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and other countries in actively moving toward the Linux operating system and other open-source alternatives that can mean millions of dollars in savings.

But a leading advocate for such alternatives said it remains to be seen whether President Alejandro Toledo will sign the bill into law.

"There are many associations on a national level that do not agree with this because they believe it will affect their interests," including revenues from the sale of proprietary systems, said Jose Cairo Gallardo, president of the Peruvian Free Software Association.

The government palace did not respond to phone and fax requests seeking the president's position on the issue.

In a move that went largely unnoticed, Congress voted 61-0 last Thursday to approve the legislation, which would prohibit any public institution from purchasing computer equipment that ties users to a particular type of software or "in any manner limits information autonomy."

It also bars public institutions from having a predetermined preference for either proprietary software, like Microsoft Corp.'s, in which the source code is mostly secret and licensing fees are charged for upgrades, or for open-source software, in which the underlying code is available to anyone wanting to revise or customize it.
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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Tell me again how the whole Binface thing isn't going to stick to him like glue throughout this by-election and beyond. It's exactly the kind of silly season summer nonsense the mainstream media like. There's no way Farage had "Binface gets interviewed on Radio 4" down on his hopes for today.
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 08/07/2026
just occurred to me that I'm going back to France on Friday and I'm going to have to explain "Count Binface" to my relatives
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Mitch Benn @mitchbenn.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Ridiculously shortsighted and another obvious sop to the Reform-tempted crowd. We “bloody luvvies” are such an easy group to “other” but unfortunately WE’RE THE ONES PAYING FOR EVERYTHING. Nobody is buying British cars, or eating our fish, or our meat & veg… but they’re reading our books, and…
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Lauri Donahue @lauridonahue.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
futurism.com/future-socie... lol
As one New York financier told Financial Times journalist Gillian Tett, new hires who were seen as “AI natives” are turning out to have alarmingly shallow ideas. So much so, the anonymous finance worker admitted, that his firm now actively avoids seeking out AI-literate STEM graduates, and opts to comb through humanities students instead.
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Revan @revan.eurosky.social · 04/07/2026
I was the most senior Catholic in the English government & the Vatican
seemed unwilling to move its moral guidance...
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Cabel Sasser @cabel.panic.com · 04/07/2026
new metaphor just dropped
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Alex Hanna @alexhanna.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
A message for the class of 2026: We need more friction!
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Mel Brooks @officialmelbrooks.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Thank you so much for all of your happy birthday wishes. Honestly, I don’t really feel 100. I feel pretty good. I feel like I’m only 98!
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Maggie Harrison Dupré @mharrisondupre.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
NEW: Workers across industries say that AI-obsessed bosses are creating deeply toxic and chaotic work environments, with some staffers sharing that they feel as though their manager or employer isn't living in reality anymore due to endless AI validation. futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com
Bosses Are Becoming Obsessed With AI, Using It to Make Every Decision, Barraging Their Employees With Nonsensical ChatGPT Directives, and Even Asking It Who to Fire
AI-obsessed executives and managers are creating a distinct new type of toxic work environment for the slop era, workers told us.
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Tom Toro @tbtoro.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
📚🤔 My latest for @climateconnections.bsky.social
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 27/06/2026
More than a decade ago, a group of young, internet-connected Belarusian dissidents launched a series of increasingly high-stakes, increasingly surreal confrontations with the corrupt, authoritarian government of Alexander Lukashenka, a man who is often called "the last Soviet dictator." 1/
Four female chorousters in sumptuous Renaissance robes. Each one's mouth has been stopped up by a Facebook 'thumbs up' icon. Behind them looms Mark Zuckerberg's grinning Metaverse avatar. The book they are reading from has flooded their faces with light. In the background is a sky full of ominous blue/red clouds.
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Marc McDonald @marcmcd.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Mel Brooks is older than sliced bread (first invented in 1928). I guess that makes sliced bread the best invention since Mel Brooks!
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Outbursts Of Everett True @everetttrue.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
The Evansville Press, April 10,1916
MY CARD.
MR. GEO. PUSHEM, EFFICIENCY EXPERT. 

AND STAY OUT!
I HAVE NO USE FOR THE SHARP BOYS THAT GO AROUND SHOWING EMPLOYERS HOW THEY CAN KILL OFF THEIR HELP QUICKER BY
SHIFTING TUO MEN'S WORK
ONTO ONE!!!
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Chuck Wendig @chuckwendig.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
no
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Dare Obasanjo @carnage4life.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Ford has rehired hundreds of senior engineers after replacing them with AI backfired and has cost the company billions of dollars. AI adoption is blamed for Ford being the most recalled automaker in the U.S. with 51 recalls covering over 11 million vehicles in the first half of 2026 alone.
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Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Some amazing quotes in this article about how Ford replaced hundreds of engineers with AI, which broke a bunch of shit causing billions in damage and forcing them to rehire those people. www.the-independent.com/tech/ford-ai...
“Artificial intelligence is a fantastic tool, but it’s only as good as the information you use to train it,” said Charles Poon, Ford’s vice president of vehicle hardware engineering.“Mistakenly, we thought that by just introducing artificial intelligence and ingesting the design requirements that we had, that that would produce a high-quality product.”
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 25/06/2026
1) Open this image up 2) Find the small, blue feature in the very middle Congratulations, you've spotted the Perseverance rover on Mars, photographed from orbit! 3) Trace the rover tracks as they wend their way across the surface
A complex landscape of buttes, hills, hummocks, and sand dunes, in tones of gold and teal. In the middle, a small, beetle-blue feature. Around it, faint parallel tracks.
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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
The way I've gotten this across in talks to US audiences is to explain that by the time the Battle of Gettysburg was fought... ...the London Underground had already been open for six months.
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