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Mary C

@maryecostello.bsky.social
333 followers 431 following 220 posts

Hello I like words and pictures.

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Reposted by Mary C
John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 22/05/2026
As a science fiction writer I really fucking resent tech bros for ruining the phrase "artificial intelligence." 80 years of it being all about cool androids and interesting computers destroyed by five years of "Spicy autocorrect making everything shittier for money." NEVER FORGIVE.
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Seán Street @seanstreet.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
May (1929) Eric Ravilious
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Wisteria time
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Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
My favourite Apollo programme fact. Pete Conrad - Apollo 12, the third person to ever walk on the moon - said as coming down the ladder: “Whoopee! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me”. Even better, he said this to win a $500 bet that NASA didn’t script stuff.
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Bank holiday Monday park life
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
The skies are getting better by the day
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
It’s not the worst thing in the world, but it’s inconvenient to need to log in here and the other former bluebird place to get a good range of insights and views. Not sure which has the most fair algorithm in allowing people to see what’s been said. Maybe better here.
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Spring is happening even though the skies are mainly grey
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Rachel Deering @racheldeering.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Tit of the Day: Himalayan Black-lored Tit 📷 Nitin Chandra
Yellow bellied, yellow faced with black eye stripe, black head and crest, black chin, olive backed, black and white wings and tail, perched on rim of pot, photo.
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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
'Blue Light' by contemporary, Brighton-based, UK painter Emma Brownjohn #WomensArt
Painting of a townscape at dusk or dawn with a large square with many people walking and with a row of buildings in the background with lights in the windows, the scene is all bathed in blue light
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
This was the portrait that made me feel positive at The National Portrait Gallery earlier this week. My dad was a member of TGWU and always said how grateful he was to his branch for support in hard and difficult times.
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
Pine marten (Leitrim) Fox (Birmingham) Peregrine falcon (Symonds Yat Rock) Badger (bucks) Snowy Owl (Witney on Wye)
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Glenys Norquay @glenisilla.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
Today's kestrel - back in the same spot and showing us those beautifully fluffy legs 😍 Liberton #Edinburgh #birds
A close-up of a kestrel, with very fluffy legs visible below otherwise smooth feathers
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
Pretty in Erdington’s Rookery Park
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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
OUT NOW, my month-by-month guide to 1980s pop, from ABC to XTC, and from Madonna to Neneh. #IntoTheGroove, published by @eandtbooks.bsky.social.
Cover of 
INTO THE GROOVE: THE 1980s:
THE ULTIMATE DECADE IN MUSIC HISTORY
by Justin Lewis (me)

'An epic compendium of stories and trivia from the 80s music scene'
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Jeremy Noel-Tod @jntod.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
I think about this poem by Ian Duhig — about Jo Cox, the Labour MP assassinated by a man shouting ‘Britain first’ — every day at the moment. No other contemporary poet has looked so clearly at the political reality of the far right as a minority who must always be appeased
Rue

Rue Jo Cox, Députée Britannique, a street sign in Burgundy reads, Assassinée pour ses convictions.

No British road is named after her, I found on returning home, for fear it could have proved controversial.

I remembered in Shakespeare rue even for ruth, called 'herb of grace' because it was used in exorcisms,

by the angel to clean Adam's eyes, and Gulliver back home for his nose against the smell of his countrymen.
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
The actual group moving most strongly to Reform are male Gen X-ers. We need more articles on how to deal with them.
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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 21/06/2025
In ep 15 of #FirstLastAnything, from Sept 2022, the violinist, arranger and musical director Helen O’Hara (@oharaviolin.bsky.social) talked about her role in the remarkable saga of Dexys, her work with Tanita Tikaram and her excellent memoir What She’s Like. firstlastanything.co.uk/2025/05/20/f...
firstlastanything.co.uk
FLA 15: Helen O’Hara (18/09/2022)
(c) Natacha Horn In the spring of 1982, the violinist Helen O’Hara had two job offers. One was to join the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra; the other was to join Kevin Rowland’s Dexys Midnight Runners as…
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Jennifer Williams @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
Another massive part of what local govt is doing, in the same space, is competing with the home office *for the same housing*
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
Hello Blue sky with nice cloudy sky in Manchester. Piccadilly gardens with a nice buzz. It’s a much maligned place, but better than it was in the ‘90s.
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 12/07/2025
This Madonna set is as fabulous as I recalled from 1985, #liveaid1985. Setvthecstyle scene for that summer’s school discos.
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Dave Haslam @davehaslam.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Next Tuesday (15th) I'm in Liverpool interviewing Kevin Rowland at this event at Rough Trade marking the publication of his autobiography - July 15th. £29 a ticket includes the book (cover price £25), which Kevin will sign at the end of the event www.visitliverpool.com/event/kevin-...
visitliverpool.com
Kevin Rowland: In Conversation + Signing - Visit Liverpool
Rough Trade Liverpool is very excited to present a conversation and signing from Kevin Rowland. This unique event celebrates the release of his autobiography 'Bless Me Father: A Life Story' vi...
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
Question: if coupé glasses aren’t any good for sparkling drinks, what are they good for?
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
It’s quiet here. Have a lot of people gone on their holidays? Or are they at a music festival somewhere? Anyway here’s a picture from two weeks ago of the Hotspur Press before it burnt down last week. #manchester
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John Grindrod @grindrod.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
The Blue Bridge, St James’s Park, is soon to be demolished. Hear Catherine Croft, Director of the Twentieth Century Society, share her memories of this modest little bridge and reveal some of its surprising secrets in the latest ep of Monstrosities Mon Amour johngrindrod.substack.com/p/monstrosit...
johngrindrod.substack.com
Monstrosities Mon Amour: The Blue Bridge, with Catherine Croft
#8. Into St James's Park to encounter the soon to be demomished Blue Bridge with Catherine Croft, Director of the Twentieth Century Society
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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 21/06/2025
I do exclusive art cards (When is Births or When Was Things) for birthdays and anniversaries incorporating the recipient’s name. Some examples! Email in my bio. And thank you @mooseallain.bsky.social.
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
Okay. This may be the best thing I’ve seen and heard here
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
How’s Bluesky land? My stream of flutters is full of serious “told you so/telling you so”. Maybe I need to add more nature accounts Local park’s contribution
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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
'The bath' woodcut by printmaker Ellen Heck #FathersDay UK #ReframingWomenPrintmakers
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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
Seagull drinks coffee, steals mug of man installing anti-bird spikes www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Cornwall seagull sips man's coffee before stealing his mug
Darren Pardoe was installing anti-bird spikes in a Cornish town before the encounter.
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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
The Bathers, 1927 by painter Zinaida Serebriakova #womensart
Painting of two white figures sunbathing in swimsuits on a blanket on rocks by a shoreline
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Lev Parikian @levparikian.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
It’s #WorldSwiftDay today. Celebrate by gorging yourself on insects and staying in the air for months on end.
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Anyone here see what’s just “dropped” over on birdie place by its current owner? Best that Jack D! (Summer vibes pictures I k ow that’s what this place is all about)
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Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
Today is the 91st anniversary of the last diary entry of the first man who tried to climb Everest solo. Mind you, his plan had been to crash land a plane 14,000 feet up and then stroll the rest of the way, so perhaps he wasn’t destined to succeed
b/w photo of Maurice Wilson standing up in the cockpit of a small old aeroplane, in front of a hangar, waving at the camera
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
St Chad’s cathedral, Birmingham
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
Bringing back Sure Start nationally, would be a great way to improve the lives of many children and families.
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
I'm also not sure accusing Starmer of "treating economics like showbiz" is a good line given he couldn't do showbiz if you dressed him in sequins and put him on stage at Eurovision.
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
Eagle owl. Beat me at stare out competition.
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Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social · 23/05/2025
DID YOU KNOW that "nom de plume," however much it looks like French (and is of course composed of French bits and bobs), is as English as spotted dick?
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Chris Teague @christeague1.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Male Pied Flycatcher in Devon yesterday. #ukbirds #ukbirding
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Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
I have a large appetite for ‘Sam Smith’s being absolutely mad’ stories.
bbc.co.uk
Locals shocked by pub's sudden closure
A handwritten note on The Abbey's entrance says the closure was due to photos being posted online.
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Grant Feller @grantfeller.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Part of a great column by @johnthornhill.bsky.social - basically, AI is the biggest bullshitter in the room
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Checking in on this rather weird platform. There are good accounts here and then there is the exceptionally biased Bluesky moderation. The latter makes this place somewhat laughing stock on the other place. Picture of Wet Leg to show I am making an effort in all parts of life
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Blue sky, for Bluesky. From Birmingham, UK
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Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan @warringtonruncorn.com · 01/05/2025
Projecting much?
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Just getting in on time for #TulipTuesday
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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
This painting by Anselm Kiefer is called Heliogabal (Heliogabalus). Heliogabalus was a teenage Roman emperor, whose short reign was notorious for religious controversy and decadence. He and his mother were assassinated in 222CE and their bodies were allegedly thrown into the River Tiber.
A colourful watercolour painting depicting two people in a boat on the water looking at the sunset through distant mountains.
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JacquiWine @jacquiwine.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
From the archive for Dorothy Baker, #BornOnThisDay in 1907, a few thoughts on CASSANDRA AT THE WEDDING, from the early days of my blog. This brilliant exploration of the defining and limiting facets of identity is one of my all-time favourite novels. 💙📚 jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2014/10/07/c...
jacquiwine.wordpress.com
Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker
First published in 1962, Dorothy Baker’s Cassandra at the Wedding will certainly make my end-of-year highlights, and quite possibly my all-time highlights too — it really is that good. …
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Nic Wilson @nicwilson.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
"We heard the cuckoo for the first time yesterday." Janet Case writing a century ago in her New Forest @theguardian.com country diary. #countrydiary #naturewriting
theguardian.com
Country diary 1925: Woodland birdsong heralds the onset of spring
22 April 1925: We hear the willow wren’s short song at every turn, the strident note of the wryneck and the cuckoo for the first time
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Mary C @maryecostello.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
Here’s a blue sky for you
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