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Mark Hillen

@markhillen.bsky.social
125 followers 406 following 795 posts

Equal mix of scientist, editor, and espresso.

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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I guess it’s not the Nicky Campbell from ITV’s Wheel of Fortune and BBC 5Live, then.
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Who is the CDU’s Andy Burnham to their current Keir Starmer?
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
What, in your opinion, is the Wurst Sinfonie?
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Is it me, or is Google Photos (on iOS) really broken these days? Face recognition is now a disaster, and the process of labelling a person is frustrating, inconsistent and doesn’t work most times.
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Stephen Collins @stephencollins.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
[Scene is ICE CREAM VAN, a DAD and his child are at front of queue]

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DAD [to kid]:
What would you like then darling?

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DAD:
Would you like an ice cr-

ICE CREAM MAN:
Cut the crap.

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DAD:
Sorry?

ICE CREAM MAN:
Let’s stop pretending, yeah?

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ICE CREAM MAN:
*You* want an ice cream, don’t ya.

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ICE CREAM MAN:
You, a grown adult, want an ice cream. 

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ICE CREAM MAN:
A special ice cream with spwinkles and a choccy bar pushed into the top, just for you.

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ICE CREAM MAN:
To eat in the street. In your *forties*. 

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ICE CREAM MAN:
You pretend you’re here for your kids, but it’s always for you.

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ICE CREAM MAN:
I’ve given up appealing to kids with cartoon characters on my van

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Just drawn creepy pictures of *your* favourites instead

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[Show the side of his van with a weird airbrushed painting on the side. It depicts the hideous, badly drawn, distorted faces of Fiona Bruce, Alastair Campbell, Rory Stewart, Micah Richards, Richard Ayoade and Noel Gallagher]

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DAD:
Is that… Fiona Bruce?

ICE CREAM MAN:
You love her.

[Ends]
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Meta’s AI is still a bit odd (certainly for medical content) and perhaps a bit horny? Prompt: “Patient receiving a slit lamp exam” Hmm. Did the technician also superglue the eyepiece on first?
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Phenomenonal branding. Hope BAW Motors comes to #scotland
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Badenoch “only repeating what others have said” in order to fling a baseless slur at #pmqs is incredibly shitty stuff.
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
Received yet another set of peer review comments that were clearly a case of reviewer ran it through ChatGPT. Takes a phenomenal amount of time to rebut this nonsense.
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Saw this and immediately thought of Piers Morgan. #beyondhack
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
I hear there’s a new series of Life on Mars coming. It must be set in the nineties. This might explain Manchester Airport Terminal 2’s D gates.
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Ortenca @ortenca.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
New on FT: as.ft.com/r/169805cf-5... Nigel Farage attended Davos as adviser to Iranian billionaire
as.ft.com
Nigel Farage attended Davos as adviser to Iranian billionaire
[FREE TO READ] Reform UK leader’s pass and hotel costs for World Economic Forum event were paid for by Sasan Ghandehari
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Has anyone else noticed on Apple Music that sometimes the music skips and jumps exactly a like a scratched CD might? Did they rip my old CD collection or what?
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 25/12/2025
“As our flight today is fully booked, we kindly ask you to place any small bags under the seat in front of you, and to use the overhead bin primarily for your larger carry-on baggage. Please try to keep the passage clear for the following passengers.” [No list of passengers comes] 
“Please note…”
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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 04/12/2025
It rocks to tell people their shit rocks. Every single person who has ever been nice about my work has been appreciated for doing so. I take time to say I love stuff and it’s always the right time to remind somebody you value their work! You don’t need to get into detail either. Just say it rocks
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
. @captaindisillusion.bsky.social The Swiss Post mobile phone company has cloned you.
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Flying into Edinburgh Airport, baggage reclaim had carousels for flights from both “mad” and “pis”. Pisa’s IATA code is PSA, if anyone cares.
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 12/10/2025
I’m currently in Frankfurt. I’m wondering if Frankfurters think Uisce beatha really does mean “Whisky for Life” or whether they just bloody love alcohol.
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 12/10/2025
This is top shitposting.
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Overheard on tram. Late Swiss German teenagers (speaking in Dialect) suddenly mentioning the book “The Art of Giving a Fuck”.
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Apple Weather: No rain tomorrow! I’ll cycle in to work then. Tomorrow’s weather:
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
*Takes a deep draw on the cigarette* Looks like Windows needs updating again.
A screen in a kebab shop that reads „TAB“ and „HUF“. Of course “tab” means a cigarette, and “huff” means take a deep breath.  Almost immediately that came up, a Windows update request popped up…
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Stuart Houghton @stuarthoughton.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
Related: I am currently craving this from breadandwaterprintshop.com/products/eny...
Enya tshirt in a skate punk style
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Mike Trinder @chthonicionic.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
It’s such fun. I made a Woman’s Hour one for exactly this reason
A black T-shirt with a metal style logo with wings and a pentagram that reads “Woman’s Hour” and “with Jenni Murray” in small letters below.
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
That’s an iiiiiinteresting topic for a Panini sticker album. #swisswrasslin’
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
🎵If you see a faded sign at the side of the road that says 24.14 kilometres to the…
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
I had a few loyalty cards stored on the Stocard app. Stocard has been bought by Klarna. If I want to see, let’s say, my Tesco Clubcard data (physical card left my wallet long ago), I now have to install this micro-borrowing app AND sign up for a Klarna account. Which is very hard to then delete.
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
The fashion line that screams “I want to speak to your manager”.
#Karen by Simonsen - odd choice of a name for a fashion line.
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
Lads, I’ve found the peak grumpy Baby Boomer opinion piece.
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
Totally normal thing in #Zurich happened earlier this week.
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Richard K @rkemb.eurosky.social · 03/05/2025
OH COME ON
"Dickmilch, wie zu Omas Zeiten"
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
NON, FRUITY MATE.
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
If someone in Glasgow said to me “Ahm gantin’ furra pêche”, I’d wonder why : 1. They have started using fancy French words 2. They are wanting to eat fruit And I’d definitely start to suspect that they’re actually an undercover English.
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
At this point, she’s basically William Wallace in trousers.
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
As my wife is watching #gntm - Germany‘s Next Top Model, it occurs to me that the theme music - Madonna‘s Vogue - is fundamentally incompatible with their Media Partner magazine… Harper’s Bazaar.
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ryan @cybreco.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
they made an ai game where you can talk to the patients but forgot to add in prompt safety controls
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Ye gods, Threads is full of bots… and people that don’t read posts very closely before replying anyway.
Of course you get tonnes of engagement there. It’s fake.
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
If Last Tango in Paris was Made in Cologne…
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
@profanity.accountant Hallo!
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Is PubMed b0rked again?
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
My Rock? 30.
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Having to finish off a cross-linking book chapter by the end of today, and yeah, there’s better coffee by far, but I always end up WFStarbucks rather than WFH.
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
It’s going to be pig heart that they use, isn’t it?
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Private Eye Magazine @privateeyenews.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
A reader writes… “The last time I made a submission to Private Eye was in 1968, when I was 15 years old. I received this wonderful response which I still treasure:”  JOHN CLIVE
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
I mean, it’s just rude to charge that when it says £2.29 on the label.
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
FFS, that’s not Avenir, it’s Helvetica Bold, and it’s not Roman, it’s Sans Serif #orrelfussli
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
Swiss consumer products as as Glaswegian epithets. Awrite turtle honey baws
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Mark Hillen @markhillen.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
@limmy.com Mah name’s Dr. Wolfgang Stefinger, and ah lost three years of my life on…
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