Sign in

sprawld

@sprawld.sprawledoctopus.com
74 followers 138 following 179 posts

Web developer and generally nice guy

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by sprawld
flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 13h
Is it not pretty odd that they ever had a leadership class that openly hated the party and most of the people in it? Is it not doubly odd that nobody said this was a problem at the time, and that they either remained silent or cheered wildly for it.
The New Statesman *
@NewSt...• 1h
"It's fantastic to have a leader who likes
Labour!"
Emily Thornberry thinks it's time to be unapologetic.
714435
sprawld @sprawld.sprawledoctopus.com · 28/09/2026
listen to @bloodwork.show
0205
Reposted by sprawld
D.W.A.P. (Ben) @andwap.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
When your gamedev friend shows you progress on their new engine.
2648541696
sprawld @sprawld.sprawledoctopus.com · 22/09/2026
And once again PIP IS NOT GIVEN OUT FOR ILLNESSES. The scoring is based on problems with household activities and mobility. You don't get it for having (diagnosed) condition X, Y
100
Reposted by sprawld
David Wearing @davidwearing.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Saudis will very likely use UK-built Tornados and Typhoons. These can't operate without ongoing British support: maintainace, spare parts and munitions. Whatever fresh round of war crimes may be committed, Britain will likely be a key, enabling accomplice
12721
Reposted by sprawld
Lucy Prebble @lucyprebblish.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Not so smug about the believability of them continuing to build Jurassic Parks now are we
91202250
Reposted by sprawld
Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 12/09/2026
Man standing in front of big neon sign that says “is that good?” As the crowd chants the same. Art by Mattie lubchansky
241448170
Reposted by sprawld
Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
However much you hate British media, it is not enough www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/09...
How having a disability became cool
Young women, nicknamed ‘sickfluencers’, are turning chronic illness into a lifestyle trend and entrenching a culture of economic inactivity

Young women are also more likely to get caught up in “social contagion” – the spontaneous spread of behaviours or emotions previously observed by sociologists in “outbreaks” of bulimia, self-harm and transgender ideology. What may have otherwise been transitory feelings are seized upon and obsessed over until they form a central pillar of a person’s identity. A chronic-illness influencer won’t want to get “better” any more than a female-bodied transgender person would want to re-identify with their sex.
13758101211
Reposted by sprawld
flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I don’t think we need to play Crimes Against Humanity Top Trumps to establish that it is the reaction to the Srebrenica massacre or the horrors going on in Sudan that is standard and expected, and it’s the official treatment of the destruction of the Gaza Strip that is unique and very different.
07516
Reposted by sprawld
flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
This is what happened in the siege of Sarajevo, which was said at the time to bring shame upon the entire continent.
5,434 civilians killed or missing, including 1,601 children
56,000 injured, including 15,000 children
55,000 - 145,980 expelled from the citylt!
2427142
sprawld @sprawld.sprawledoctopus.com · 15/08/2026
Lovely stuff on unwritten rules in language. I'd add to the list 'subject object asymmetry'. A verb can have many (idiomatic) meanings but the are always defined by the object never the subject.
100
Reposted by sprawld
Paul McMillan @mcmillan-astro.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
I was just reminded off a brilliant thing that the brilliantly creative @sprawld.sprawledoctopus.com made: The periodic table, with the squares scaled to the fraction of the universe that is that element! 🔭🎢 sprawledoctopus.com/periodic-tab...
sprawledoctopus.com
161
Reposted by sprawld
Dave @mediocredave.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Accusations of bias actually have specific content that can be assessed. The left attack the BBC for justifying a genocide, the right attack it for having too many black people on screen. These aren't equivalent extremes that cancel each other out leaving only the enlightened centre.
131829339
Reposted by sprawld
Sean T. Collins @seantcollins.com · 28/06/2026
Aragorn giving his big speech outside the Black Gate but now he's saying "Goose was not valued. Eggs do not lay eggs. IT WAS THE GOOSE THAT CREATED THE VALUE"
141747272
sprawld @sprawld.sprawledoctopus.com · 22/06/2026
Has he gone yet?
000
Reposted by sprawld
flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
If there was a chance the new guys would be markedly different and better, about half of their MPs would be on TV right now going apeshit. They are not doing that, so we can conclude agreements have been reached and deals have been made, offscreen.
Suspect this is accurate. Burnham, Streeting et al aren't going to diverge dramatically from Starmer's hostility towards marginalised communities.
Without a major u turn, scrapping the current raft of inhumane policies, and ditching those who pushed them, Labour is toast regardless of who is leader
Mahmood set to remain Home Secretary under
Burnham
Labour MP expected to maintain her current portfolio if Starmer is ousted
• ALT
Le Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bs... • 1d
The only reasonably confident predictions I will make regarding what happens after Starmer is out is that whoever gets in they will:
1) Likely keep Mahmood as Home
Secretary
2) Definitely keep Mahmood's policies
3) Ignore anything they have ever said in the past defending trans rights
818859
sprawld @sprawld.sprawledoctopus.com · 15/06/2026
The supreme court decided you can be civil disobedience organisation just as long as no one commits crimes or has an affinity group.
000
Reposted by sprawld
Naomi Colvin @auerfeld.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
I’m not sure “this is totally different from the Suffragettes bc PA is a ‘covert organisation’ that supports its members who have been arrested” really holds water historically.
28721
Reposted by sprawld
Crowsa Luxemburg @quendergeer.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
we're becoming a literal police state. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Ban on Palestine Action was lawful, court of appeal rules
Judges overturn decision of high court that government proscription of group under Terrorism Act was wrong
2569
Reposted by sprawld
Travis comma bitch @prof-hinkley.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
C'mon man, the horse I rode in on had nothing to do with it
11541136
Reposted by sprawld
Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Happy weekend! Ancient clay pots with octopus decoration from Bronze Age Crete some 3,500 years ago! 🐙❤️ Heraklion Archaeological Museum 📷 by me #Archaeology
My photo collage shows four pottery vessels, all creamy yellow in colour, with black painted decoration depicting lively stylised octopuses with writhing arms. All on display at Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete.

Top L - Minoan storage jar decorated in ‘Marine Style’ with a wide-eyed octopus, argonauts, rocks, and coral. Rounded body which tapers to a narrow circular base. Short cyclindrical neck with black wavy decoration reminiscent of waves. Loop handles attached to the shoulders. Height 55 cm. From Zakros, 1500-1450 BC

Top R - The iconic Minoan ‘Marine Style’ flask.  Rounded body with short cyclindrical neck out-flared at rim, and two small curved handles attached between the top of the spout and the shoulders of the flask. An almost cartoon-like octopus, with wide eyes and sucker-lined arms. Other motifs include sea urchins, seaweed and rocks. Height 27cm. From Palaikastro, 1500-1450 BC.

Bottom L - Minoan alabastron, broad at the base, swelling outwards into a fuller belly before narrowing near the top with a very short cyclindrical neck with flat rim. Decorated in “Marine Style” with a wide-eyed octopus among rocks. From Knossos Little Palace, 1450-1370 BC.

Bottom R - ‘krater’ with rounded body narrowing at the bottom towards the foot. Wide flaring mouth and rim with black painted wavy decoration, and two sturdy handles attached on each side between the top of the mouth and shoulders of the vessel. Decorated with a front facing stylised octopus with wide eyes and tentacles which loop up and down around the body of the pot, 1370-1300 BC.
532581630
sprawld @sprawld.sprawledoctopus.com · 06/06/2026
Thread from a couple of weeks ago. People love to blame AI but that very much includes CEOs trying to pass on the blame.
000
Reposted by sprawld
Erin Anderson @cgsakurapink.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Oh, bullshit. The promotion name, the slogan AND the tumbler size were all fashy memes that Koreans recognized immediately. Maybe they’re spinning this to overseas audiences in hopes that Starbucks headquarters doesn’t strip them of their franchising deal.
03914
Reposted by sprawld
Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
This is the reason I think the term 'Oxbridge' is actively unhelpful, it makes the problem seem 50 per cent less bad than it is!
2340262
Reposted by sprawld
Katy Montgomerie 🦗 @katymontgomerie.com · 02/06/2026
The UK Supreme Court has now decided to strip disabled people of their human rights too "This judgement sets us back decades and removes safeguards that history shows us are vital for disabled people." Horrific www.mind.org.uk/news-campaig...
mind.org.uk
‘The biggest rollback of disability rights in a generation’ – Charities respond to Supreme Court ruling
17512238
Reposted by sprawld
Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
an hour after this was posted, a labour minister told parliament that customers should "alert member of staff" if a trans person walks into the "wrong toilet"
28819318
sprawld @sprawld.sprawledoctopus.com · 25/05/2026
My endless jokes about sampling bias do grow on people. It happened with all my friends.
010
Reposted by sprawld
Ryan Estrada @ryanestrada.com · 23/05/2026
Starbucks done EFFED up in Korea. Bad. May 18th just passed, Democratic Movement Day, when rose up after the military dictatorship sent tanks to mass-murder citizens. Some inappropriately call it "Tank Day." Starbucks commemorated Tank Day with a sale on tank tumblers. It gets much worse...
A Starbucks add that says 5/18: Tank Day! Slam it on your desk! And features a selection of coffee tumblers.
4326731171
Reposted by sprawld
load bearing hole @homosupremacy69.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
jesus fucking christ lmao
7545521032
Reposted by sprawld
Charlie Jane "Lessons in Magic and Disaster" Anders 🏳️‍⚧ @charliejane.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

why does google suck now

Google search feels worse today because its core experience has been traded for ad revenue, clutter, and automated summaries. Several systemic changes have contributed to this decline: 

YouTube
·Alex Falcone
 +2
Ad Clutter and Sponsoring: Top results are heavily dominated by pay-per-click ads and sponsored content, forcing authentic organic results further down the page.
AI Overviews: AI summaries frequently occupy the most prominent space above the search results, which can sometimes scrape and surface incorrect information instead of directing you to the original source.
SEO Gaming: A constant arms race between Google and websites optimizing for search engines means that many results are filled with affiliate links and keywords, rather than genuine, high-quality human content.
Reduced Discoverability: Google has heavily deprioritized exact-match boolean searches (like putting phrases in quotes) and natural language queries, meaning it hides the niche human-written content you are actually looking for. 

seo2.onreact.com
 +5
If you are frustrated with the current state of search, you can bypass the clutter by modifying your habits or trying alternative platforms:
Add "Reddit" to Queries: Many users rely on finding actual human discussions by appending site:reddit.com or just "reddit" to their search.
Try Privacy-Focused Engines: Alternatives like DuckDuckGo filter out the heavily bloated tracking and aggressive sponsored widgets.
Consider Paid Search Alternatives: Platforms like Kagi offer ad-free, premium search experiences designed to surface high-quality human content rather than SEO-farmed websites.
4044851310
sprawld @sprawld.sprawledoctopus.com · 17/05/2026
This is true, and I'm sure they're aware "this will replace jobs" goes down terribly with people. The pitch was aimed at their audience: CEOs and venture capitalists.
060
Reposted by sprawld
NJ @nojusticemtg.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
9406118
Reposted by sprawld
HappyToast @happytoast.co.uk · 11/05/2026
He’d have got away with it if it wasn’t for you pesky anti Corbynistas
0706
sprawld @sprawld.sprawledoctopus.com · 11/05/2026
Amazing how Corbyn can control both the Labour Party and the Green Party (though we can all agree, not Your Party)
040
sprawld @sprawld.sprawledoctopus.com · 10/05/2026
We think Claude built the Torment Nexus because of the poplar "AI companies build the Torment Nexus" meme
000
Reposted by sprawld
Saul Staniforth @saulstaniforth.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
One from the archives. "If you don't like the changes that we've made, I say the door is open, and you can leave"
66867252
sprawld @sprawld.sprawledoctopus.com · 10/04/2026
@nojusticemtg.bsky.social Absolutely loved you corpsing on Novara. Knew it was a matter of time. Side note: apparently "corpsing" comes from actors pretending to be dead but laughing. In any case: you're perfect
010
sprawld @sprawld.sprawledoctopus.com · 08/04/2026
Best Star Trek crew, wrong answers only
The crew of Sealab 2021 (cartoon)
000
Reposted by sprawld
Cameron Blevins @cblevins.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
This is so, so well-articulated.
People call this friction "grunt work." Schwartz uses exactly that phrase, and he's right that LLMs can remove it. What he doesn't say, because he already has decades of hard-won intuition and doesn't need the grunt work anymore, is that for someone who doesn't yet have that intuition, the grunt work is the work. The boring parts and the important parts are tangled together in a way that you can't separate in advance. You don't know which afternoon of debugging was the one that taught you something fundamental about your data until three years later, when you're working on a completely different problem and the insight surfaces. Serendipity doesn't come from efficiency. It comes from spending time in the space where the problem lives, getting your hands dirty, making mistakes that nobody asked you to make and learning things nobody assigned you to learn.
97107673882
Reposted by sprawld
Jack @jackinpogform.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
It's astounding to me that we're 6 years into Starmer's project and this is only the second acknowledge I can remember from the liberal press that Starmer might actually be a horrible person.
One wonders if Westminster etiquette prevents Goodall from even considering the unpalatable alternative, which is that Starmer hasn’t improved people’s lives because he doesn’t want to, and the above gaffes show his instincts when in power are conservative. A wider interrogation of Starmer’s position on Gaza – which is only mentioned in passing as part of the reason for the loss in the Gorton and Denton byelection – and the authoritarian leanings of his response to protest, as well as a look at how Labour’s sources of funding have shifted from many small membership fees to relatively few corporate donations, might have created space for the idea that Starmer does have an ideology: to maintain the status quo, however angry this might make voters. It’s surely possible that the promise of change was a cynical lie, but this argument appears out of bounds
713556
Reposted by sprawld
flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
What did I say? I said: when Sir Keir has outlived his usefulness, you will not be able to miss it.
Cabinet ministers and No 10 advisers strained for loyalty. But it proved too difficult for some. "He is," said one influential aide upon their departure from Downing Street, "the least intellectually curious person I have ever met." Said another politician upon whom Starmer relied heavily:
"He can only prepare by reading briefing books for hours on end. He doesn't brainstorm. He has no fixed views on anything. There's no clarity because there's no belief. There's no belief because there's no understanding. There's no understanding because there's no curiosity." Said a senior civil servant who observed him closely:
"He is not a compassionate man. He's careless about people around him. It's just not warm. He just doesn't think very hard about other people." A once-close adviser, witheringly: "I don't think he has a theory of power. I don't think he's ever sat down and read any history, or has any idea of how power works. I just don't think he would be attracted to the kind of historical figures who got stuff done."
36469145
sprawld @sprawld.sprawledoctopus.com · 07/03/2026
To all those calling this argument "stupid", "idiotic" and "asinine": give a thorough theory of human intelligence before making such claims.
000
sprawld @sprawld.sprawledoctopus.com · 07/03/2026
loving this youraislopbores.me
020
Reposted by sprawld
Dave @mediocredave.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Clown show.
Three news headlines side by side, each illustrated with a picture of Keir Starmer making an official statement in front of two British flags. 

Sky News, 3 hours ago
Starmer denies U-turn claims after giving go-ahead for US to use UK military for strikes on... [headline truncated]

Financial Times, 15 hours ago
Starmer Will let US use UK bases for attacks on Iranian missile sites

The Times, 21 hours ago 
Keir Starmer blocked US from using British bars for Iran attack
02611
sprawld @sprawld.sprawledoctopus.com · 01/03/2026
I read an excellent paper this weekend on possible and impossible words. It's assumed the formation of words obeys some of the rules in sentence formation (syntax). You only have to look at the route from the verb "edit" or noun "nation" to editorialise or nationalisation to see a productive process
100
Reposted by sprawld
A.V. Deggar @avdeggar.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
The most unpopular prime minister since records began stands resolutely behind the unprovoked attack on Iran by the two countries that are actively carrying out a genocide in the Middle East. But please, do elaborate more about "extremism on the Left", Mr Human Rights lawyer KC.
Sir Keir supports whatever illegal shit the US tells him to
13705251
sprawld @sprawld.sprawledoctopus.com · 13/02/2026
I oppose genocide (1/2)
000
sprawld @sprawld.sprawledoctopus.com · 08/02/2026
At times like this my partner gets me to play midnight sonata before tearfully breaking the news. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tr0...
youtube.com
Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata (FULL)
YouTube video by andrea romano
100
Reposted by sprawld
Mollie Goodfellow @hansmollman.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
I don’t want to laugh at a small business but also VERY funny
573069822