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Ron Manton

@ronmanton.bsky.social
290 followers 199 following 1.9K posts

Unit of capitalist production. Never TPFP. Aspiring musician. Keeper of wolves.

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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
For me, this is also a recognition for a *body* of work. Taken together, "Privacy is Power" and "Prophecy" have very significantly changed my thinking. That's what human, risk-taking authorship does. 🌞
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Looking forward to the Select Committee hearings regarding technical failures, and huge time and cost overruns. #HS2
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Just the angle, or are the clocks showing a different time? Maybe the time *is* different around the corner. Striking photograph.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I never knew that. Thanks. It's all a bit of a mish mash of styles and architectural flourishes along that elevation. All the more beautiful for it, I think.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I am going to buy this *tomorrow*. It's an act of the greatest personal negligence that I have just left it on my list.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
And it's a downward spiral. As output quality and variety decline because of cuts, more people question the licence fee, especially at a time when many "alternatives" vie for attention. As the licence fee funding declines there are more cuts. Even my favourite Radio 3 is fading. We'll regret this.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
"A chance encounter you want to avoid, The inevitable." Wire's take. A sort of reverse serendipity. Great riff.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Doing *anything* to avoid listening to the UK #ToryConference. Admittedly a little niche, but I am heartened to see a Wollstonecraft station (T1,9) on the Sydney transport network. Very (politically) encouraged by this. #ukpol @sydneystations.bsky.social
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
It's going to be the "slashing red tape" Shadow Chancellor speech again. #ukpol
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
From this distance I'd be guessing. Assuming "yes". #rhetorical
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
BBC News is reporting OpenAI has fired (three) researchers for allegedly mishandling information. Hold on. OpenAI has based its business on mishandling other people's sensitive data - only the data is called IP and the company refers to the process as "training".
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Thylarctos plummetus. "To scare the tourists."
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
So much sumptuous stuff out there coming at us and we don't know what to do. It's a struggle to fend it off. Luckily, I have an 18th Century loft. I'd need planning permission to put anything heavier than a bag of sugar in it. #Boogie 🌞
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
*Double* album, fold-out sleeve. Pictures of the band inside. Wall poster - various pictures taken on the sell out tour. Sorry, it's my age; I was assuming vinyl.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Owls. Who'd have thought they would be part of the historic mission of the proletariat? ✊
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
A firm, but fair, analysis.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
You've got jam tart trees in 🇦🇺? I'm on my way...
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Poster in the window tells no lie: "Your Malaysian Craving Ends Here". I've got one, now...
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The only way we can really know is for the peerless Rob Cowan to go down to his shed. However, I would venture to suggest this is a candidate for one of the finest accounts of Mahler's 9th (or is it the 10th?) Symphony. #Solti #ChicagoSymphony #Mahler #MusicSky
Cover art (Nick Findell) for the Decca recording of the 9th Symphony by Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conductor Sir Georg Solti, Orchestra Hall, Chicago, May 1982. Mahler and Solti are depicted side on, facing each other in a black ink line drawing on a grey background.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Loved "Chaos". I'll try and get along.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Just made me think of Umberto Eco, "The Name of the Rose", which, incidentally, I used to drink in. Can't explain this. Probably the medieval sky and the brooding religiosity (to my mind). Love this. 🌞
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
A world with no Greene on the bookshelf is unimaginable.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Frankly, Sarah, I think you have covered it. ✊
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Fab. Cover artwork looks very sharp, too. 🌞
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
That's fantastic, and also rather beautiful. SMILE. Backronym, do you think? I mean, what were the chances?
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
There's also a bargain in the process of being struck over the location of the other shoe.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I can just see the hands on the glass and hear the screams...
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Forever Summer in Cambridge.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Careful, Eric. It's slowing down, and that will end up breaking your wrist.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
...and took a very atmospheric photo. Great in mono. 🌞
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Enjoyed the sailing season. Great photos. "Talisman" coming out of the water marks a turning point in the year. Looking forward to the powder. 🏂❄️
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Various remedies available...I'm told.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Oh man! Now you're talking. Blistering track.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Unless specialised, unlikely to be competitive versus economies that can massively scale. Will probably come with highly damaging deregulation, especially a rolling back of environmental protections. Political fantasy from Healey.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
For my birthday I'm going to buy a book on James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Any suggestions?
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
There also appears to be something about the *physicality* of writing that is reinforcing, embodied. However, I'm no psychologist or neuroscientist. Interesting, though, how we're rewiring ourselves, and losing cognitive depth. Anyway.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I'm much taken by Christine Rosen's remarks on learning in "The Extinction of Experience". Hand writing of notes, for example, seems to reinforce understanding precisely because it is less efficient at capture than a digital alternative. Students are thus forced to précis/synthesise/form a view. 1/2
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Bugger. I was (seriously) thinking of emigrating, and had planned to use the European au pair loophole. Guess now I'll have try a dinghy across to the Gouldburn Islands and take my chances in Arnhem Land.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I think life, well lived, should be a bit niche. No?
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
100%. Huge, and growing, environmental costs alongside marginal benefits. Just an economic model, a derivative, a new capital generator for the oligarchs. WTF are we going to do with some new proteins and a few mathematical problems ticked off from Hilbert's list?
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I'm thousands of miles away, and even I can see this @karinarykman.bsky.social thing is happening. 🎸🌞
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Contingent events. A problem for Manchester City and the Premier League is that, subject to possible appeal, everyone now faces an avalanche of what-ifs. We are about to enter the era of the football counterfactual. The breaches mean years of sporting endeavour have been tainted. #ManCity
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
If he were alive, I think Henry I might be considering legal action. 🌞
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
If I illegally access ("hack") private healthcare data belonging to Australian citizens, I would rightly face the full force of Australian law. If an AI *agent* does likewise, are we saying there is a victim but no indictable perpetrator? OpenAI leadership *must* face direct consequences. Enough.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
How often do you get a dodgy lamp but amazing lighting? You do here. Truly beautiful tones.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Oh, bugger. Does this mean the White Ship didn't go down, after all?
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Halfway and then you're counting down to the finish. Then it's done. Then it's Proms '27 prep. The Northern Hemisphere wishes you good luck. Stay strong. 🌞✊
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
This just says hip surgery to me. Amazing, though.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
So obvious that if we don't move to request joining the EU, British politics is demonstrably rigged - bought and paid for. The EU issue is the litmus test for UK democracy. Now, watch what happens...
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Politicians could have a field day with this paper. Luckily, being merely careerists rather than taking any genuine interest in behaviour they will never see it.
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