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Michael Blumenthal

@mikeyb137.bsky.social
159 followers 139 following 723 posts

What happens when a very logical approach to problem solving meets poor impulse control Guitars, synthesisers, Doctor Who, role playing games, model making, taijiquan, history. Software developer by trade. Pseudoparent to two cats.

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mstblue⭐️⭐️ @mstblue.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
👌🏻
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Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
That time someone dumped a toy house on the cemetery wall and, when I crouched a bit, some ✨ Hollywood Magic ✨ occurred.
A plastic dolls house sitting on a wall, taken from an angle which makes it look as if it might be one of the houses on the street.
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Michael Blumenthal @mikeyb137.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
and sheep.
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Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
So, happy 89th anniversary of the day Oswald Mosley tried to sell fascism to Liverpudlians—and someone concussed him with a brick
A man in a suit, standing on top of a van with loudspeakers on it, flinches as projectiles are hurled at him
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MurderBotBot @murderbotbot.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I sent, You have no idea what I am. She tilted her head and looked more mad. I know exactly what you are. You’re afraid, you’re hurt, and you need to calm the fuck down so we can get through this situation alive.
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bryan newbold @bnewbold.net · 07/10/2026
ah damn, RIP Margaret Hamilton. she took safety-critical software engineering seriously, and got people to the moon and back. news.mit.edu/2026/margare...
old photos of a woman (Margaret Hamilton) standing next to a tall stack of books (printouts of Apollo space mission software source code)
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Stephen Graham @stephengraham.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I had this bit about Jeffrey Archer from the 1995 HIGNFY video memorised for whenever I needed a handy fact about him.
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Phil M 🦻🏼💚 🍉 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇵🇸 @phillm.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
When they talk about reducing red tape, remember this image.
Grenfell Tower, a black smouldering carcass of the building shorty after the fire, in 2017.
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Michael Blumenthal @mikeyb137.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
So looking forward to going to this!
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Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I still remember Esther Rantzen on That’s Life holding up a small ad from a Local Authority in the early 70s advertising for an Equal Pay Officer but offering a lower wage for women. I’m part of generation of teenagers mildly radicalised by amusing trivia.
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Geraint @geraintg.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
SHOP ME: Hello, have you got any Quorn? S: Yes, what variety? ME: on the Quob? S: Please leave
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Michael Blumenthal @mikeyb137.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Take me (uh huh), take me (uh huh uh huh) take me to the house of half of the KLF.
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kill ghost @willjobst.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
okay. i'll bite. who's Horace Heresy?
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Michael Blumenthal @mikeyb137.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Life is better for the existence of tuna sashimi.
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Michael Blumenthal @mikeyb137.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Father forgive me, for it has been over thirty days since last I listened to Theme For Great Cities www.youtube.com/watch?v=StHG...
youtube.com
Simple Minds - THEME FOR GREAT CITIES, VIDEO 1080p [Dexbam]
YouTube video by dexbam
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It's Pipes, Mum! Pipes is here! @scriblit.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
*blackadder theme* His head is bigger than a fence He breathes, and everything gets warmer His urge to trample represents A nation's nuclear war trauma Godzilla! Godzilla! The scourge of beast and man! Godzilla! Godzilla! He's flattening Japan!
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Michael Blumenthal @mikeyb137.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Life is better within a rectangle.
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Michael Blumenthal @mikeyb137.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Happy Play School birthday!
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Baroness Floella Benjamin @floellabenjamin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Today it’s 50 years since I first presented Playschool wearing my blue beads and silver heart. I adore bringing joy into the lives of my Playschool Babies during the 12 years I was on the programme. ❤️
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Chopmunky @chopmunky.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Sunday:
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Michael Blumenthal @mikeyb137.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
“Meet you at the Tripping Tree” probably around 1995
A bunch of disreputable hippy cliches up a beloved tree in Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, when they were younger and less grizzled.
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Michael Blumenthal @mikeyb137.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Cannon Hill Park was such a big part of life in my Selly Oak, Selly Park, Moseley years. Home from home.
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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 25/09/2026
I have blamed The agents That hacked Your website And which You probably Reasonably thought I controlled Forgive me I am rich And unaccustomed To taking responsibility
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Ed Maibach @maibached.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Happy Stanislav Petrov Day He passed in 2017. As Encyclopedia Britannica puts it, “He is survived by his two children, two grandchildren, and the entire human race.” If you don't know his story, please take 3 minutes now to learn it. @gchalliance.bsky.social @docsforclimate.bsky.social
sammatey.substack.com
Happy Stanislav Petrov Day
Take five minutes to not destroy civilization
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Wyrd Science Magazine @wyrdscience.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
new favourite Smaug dropped
the 1968 "pleasure in reading" edition of the hobbit featuring an adorable bright pink Smaug torching the inhabitants of lake town
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Liberal Democrats @libdems.org.uk · 25/09/2026
Lib Dem Shadow AG @benmaguiremp.bsky.social and Justice spokesperson @jessbrownfullermp.bsky.social have written to the Attorney-General to consider whether Richard Tice’s tweet is in contempt of court. See below ⬇️
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SlenderSherbet @slendersherbet.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
"I don't fucking think so"
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Paperback Paradise @paperbackparadise.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Photo of a vintage book cover featuring a bearded man chopping planks of wood in half. Title and copy read

Defeating Wood

Teach Wood
The Lesson It Has Long Deserved

Gary Arkanasse
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Bart⚓️ @bartgonnissen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The Facial Expressions of Tethys by artist Julius von Bismarck. A suspended high-sea buoy that moves in real time. Sensors on a twin buoy out in the Atlantic Ocean send live satellite data to motors inside the museum. This makes the indoor buoy copy the exact, real-time movements of the ocean waves.
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Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
This is…a journey. Surprised more medical emergencies didn’t result
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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
NASA picture of the day today is a real 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿beauty! This is a composite image of the ~5000yo Callanish Stones on the Isle of Lewis. The amazing Giuseppe Petricca has only gone and photographed the Sun at noon there, every few days, for a whole year. #Dedication 🔭🧪👌 ℹ️: science.nasa.gov/image-articl...
The imposing Callanish Stones stand talk with their shadows spanning out across the glass.  It's a super clear sky, but looks cold. Above the central stone is a strange figure-of-8 shape of dots.  This is the location of the Sun, at noon, on various different days across the year.
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Michael Blumenthal @mikeyb137.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Wondering which car boot - my usual lis Shootash between Romsey and Salisbury.
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Michael Blumenthal @mikeyb137.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Shootash?
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gummitch (aka gummitch_uk) @gummitch.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
A reminder that all apostrophes in sfnal names should be pronounced "boing!". www.quickanddirtytips.com/qdtarchive/a...
quickanddirtytips.com
Apostrophes in Science Fiction and Fantasy Names
In honor of International Apostrophe Day, we're going to talk about the odd case of apostrophes in science fiction and fantasy character...
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Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 19/09/2026
The RNLI is the closest you will ever get to actual Batman. When rescue is visibly, viscerally, obviously impossible; when the water is a smothering, thundering black wall and the wind is screaming straight from Hell; when you are absolutely going to die: someone’s hand pulls you out and you don’t.
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Mike Batt @mikebatt.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
A little conversation I had on Twitter 🙂
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Liam Thorp @liamthorp.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Lord give me the arrogance of a tax exile who feels the right to comment on the tax policies and general running of a country who you have deprived of billions by registering yourself in Monaco
bbc.co.uk
Billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in UK
Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe tells the BBC he thinks the country is "on the slide" and calls for more investment in the North Sea.
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Michael Blumenthal @mikeyb137.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Batman should drive this
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👻 🎃 🦇 Boola Lughosti's Dad 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇵🇸 @belalugosisdad.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Personally I would not pick this fight with the youtube guy who demonstrates all the ways he can nail you with an arrow at 200 yards using his feet while wearing 12-inch Pleasers, whose wife can also kill you with her bare hands, and has 9 billionteen followers who are all trans women with swords.
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Lev Parikian @levparikian.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Look, I know I’m supposed to be at least a Slightly Serious Musician, and some of his music is staggeringly good, but every time I conduct anything by Britten my cheap mind goes to this
The Viz comic’s “Benjamin Britten and his embittered bittern”. Sorry, it’s a 22-panel comic with a lot of text, so I’m afraid that’s all you’re getting. But I hope you get the idea.
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A.M. Tuomala @amtuomala.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This is the core philosophy that undergirds my own approach to worldbuilding. Every world (including the one we live in right now!) is built of complex, interacting systems. Worldbuilding is choosing which systems to feature, how closely to examine them, and how to weigh their products and outcomes.
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Michael Blumenthal @mikeyb137.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Harry Palmer wannabe behaviour.
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Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
How dare you forbid vehicles in cities! We cannot have towns where the only vehicles will be for deliveries and services! This is an insane left-wing idea, a novelty against any tradition and it will kill the inner cities. Lex Iulia Municipalis from 45 BCE:
14) After January 1 next no one shall drive a wagon along the streets of Rome or along those streets in the suburbs where there is continuous housing after sunrise or before the tenth hour of the day, except whatever will be proper for the transportation and the importation of material for building temples of the immortal gods, or for public works, or for removing from the city rubbish from those buildings for whose demolition public contracts have been let. For these purposes permission shall be granted by this law to specified persons to drive wagons for the reasons stated.
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Management Lessons from The Lord of the Rings is out now @drfionamoore.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I’m confused, do I have to kill all the Jedi now?
A Five Guys receipt that says “Order 66”.
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Dude @impenetrable.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Sam WM
@_SamWM_
if you come across a passage you don't understand in a philosophy book the key is to underline it. that way, the next person who owns the book will think you not only understood it but thought it was important. that way you can pass on the anxiety.
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Michael Blumenthal @mikeyb137.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Octarine Radiorental
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Ashley @ashleysays.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Chefs kiss
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
The copy on this story is so good. I keep thinking about it.
theonion.com
Dolly Parton Troubled To Find God Illiterate
THE HEAVENS—Her heart breaking when she discovered the Almighty fumbling over the most basic words on the page in front of Him, country music icon and noted humanitarian Dolly Parton was reportedly tr...
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Michael Blumenthal @mikeyb137.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Life sentence though, he could have spent longer banged up.
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