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Thomas Y. Jones

@teawhynot.bsky.social
542 followers 1.1K following 1K posts

Teacher of EAP & business English, Buddhist (Gelugpa), amateur translator (Tibetan>English), lover of nature, believer in social equity. Green Party 💚. Preference for music that goes bleep/grrr/toot. (he/him) 🏳️‍🌈🇪🇺🇬🇧 Currently in 🇹🇼. Have also lived in 🇰🇷🇮🇳🇳🇵🇴🇲.

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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Rudely awakened by a fireman pounding on the door around 2.30 am. He even asked if I was cooking. Fire engines and ambulances lined up on the street outside. Headed straight for the stairs, got a couple of steps down, then the fireman called after me, "You can go back." Turns out it was a drill.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
My aircon is broken, and it may take several days to get it fixed. This is really helping me to empathise with friends and family in the UK. Taiwan's autumn is remarkably similar to the UK's summer. Yesterday, it was well over 30°C. Today, it's pissing with rain.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
One of the most important lessons I've learnt in life is that when something falls out of a kitchen cupboard, it's important to shut the cupboard door before bending down to pick the thing up, so you don't bray your head on the door when you stand up again.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
It's always surprised me how enjoyable I find gradually getting my living space back in order after a stint in goblin mode.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I have just seen the absolute nadir of society: Crocs patterned to look like herringbone tweed.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Full of cold. Good excuse to lie on the sofa and watch Mandalorian & Grogu. *duduk intensifies*
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I keep misreading it as Piddlington.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Down to the last teabag. How did it come to this?!
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Can someone explain how disposable barbecues are a problem but extracting more fossil fuels from the North Sea is fine?
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
This peaceful bronze bovine outside a museum in Taipei.
A bronze statue of a very relaxed and happy looking cow in a municipal space.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Dear Points of View, Why oh why oh why do I have to key in my employment history manually on every single application? Isn't that literally what a CV is for? Heavens, a simple AI could scrape it all off the internet in seconds.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Been spending half my life Waiting for job application webpages to load.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Just heard a recording of my own voice and didn't cringe. Didn't expect that.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Despite leaving home at 16 & spending most of the last 2 decades in Asia, I am still so shaped by my upbringing that I just sang my shopping list of bog roll and oats and vegetables to the melody of "Oats and beans and barley grow".
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
I wonder if last night's anxiety dream about moving house means that one of the applications I sent off yesterday will actually be successful.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Fruit teas taste minging, right? Wrong! It turns out they're actually delicious as cold infusions. Pop a bag in a water bottle, fill it up with room-temperature water, and within minutes, you have something that tastes better than squash. Mind blown. (Also a great method for non-bitter green tea.)
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Help defund hate speech: actionstorm.org/petitions/ko... @StopFundingHate
actionstorm.org
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
"The rational move is to favour systems that protect you at your worst, not just reward you at your best." nonzerosum.games/theveil.html
nonzerosum.games
VOTING THROUGH THE VEIL
John Rawls on selfish vs selfless voting.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
TFW you wake up to a glorious morning and then discover a typhoon day has been declared
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Happy semiquincentennial to a remarkable and noteworthy document, a bold statement of self-determination and innate human dignity, far exceeding the needs of the moment, that subsequently became one of the foundation stones of the sensibilities of the modern world. www.archives.gov/founding-doc...
archives.gov
Declaration of Independence: A Transcription
Note: The following text is a transcription of the Stone Engraving of the parchment Declaration of Independence (the document on display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum). The spelling a...
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Proud teacher moment: using Spandau Ballet to ensure my students don't default to the New World variant of an idiom.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
If you see me drinking Coke, it's like seeing a dog eating grass. Ghastly stuff normally, but surprisingly useful for treating an upset stomach.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Had a cancellation. Immediately thought I'd better put the time to good use, then almost instantly stumbled across the Latin term 'otium' and it's opposite 'negotium'. I love the way this places personal/family time at the centre of life, and work as a disruption from that.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Someone on this subway has been with 5 m of durian recently.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
I still can't believe anyone in the North, where /ˈbrɛksɪt/ literally means "breaks it", voted for this. Perhaps the next Prime-Minister-for-15-minutes will do something to undo it.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
British politics is bananas
Andy Warhol's famous banana motif with the caption "In the future, everyone will be Prime Minister for 15 minutes"
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
It strikes me as odd that 'skewed' doesn't include a q in its spelling.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Being considerably older and wiser than yesterday, I'm really starting to contemplate the deep questions, like whether I should increase the font size on my phone or try to remember to carry my reading glasses everywhere.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Being visibly not from around here does have its benefits. The local chuggers absolutely will not make eye contact with me here. Such a great silver lining!
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
This would really level up rental bike networks like Taiwan's YouBike system. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NGa...
youtube.com
Want to ride an e-bike? No batteries needed! • FRANCE 24 English
YouTube video by FRANCE 24 English
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Reposted by Thomas Y. Jones
skELLY @ellyzoe.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Lovely. With alt text
Author Kurt Vonnegut on telling his wife he's going out to buy an envelope:
"Oh, she says, well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And see some great looking babies. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up.
And I'll ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know. The moral of the story is we're here on Earth to fart around. And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And it's like we're not supposed to dance anymore."
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
...the hounds
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
There's a fair point embedded in here. Dharmamitra is really reluctant to break down Sanskrit compounds, and Claude does that well if you prompt it to, so they work well in tandem. It's not a research tool, though, which is what he was trying to use it for. www.academia.edu/167377061/Ad...
academia.edu
Adventures in AI - Claude forges Sanskrit Buddhist scripture, and apologizes
The title says it all.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
This looks amazing!
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Yet another reason why reintroduction could benefit us! I certainly feel a bit less stressed after seeing this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNeP...
youtube.com
Studies show that watching a beaver eat cabbage lowers stress by 17%
YouTube video by El Burro “El Burro Grande” Grande
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Reposted by Thomas Y. Jones
Led By Donkeys @ledbydonkeys.org · 17/05/2026
Immigration make Britain brilliant
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Google on the blink this morning. Makes me hanker for a job that doesn't rely so heavily on tech.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Feeling rather buoyant after receiving a distinction for my TESOL MA dissertation. Yippee!
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Puffin cam! Wednesday can't come quickly enough.
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Reposted by Thomas Y. Jones
Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Had a dream last night where there was a new series of Blackadder with Blackadder as the UK Ambassador to America, and now feel this needs to be made.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
TIL that "Ex." has been used to introduce examples in standard American English for generations. For two decades, I've been telling my students it's simply wrong, or at least non-standard, perhaps an East Asian regional variant, and that they must use "e.g." to be taken seriously. Mind blown.
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Reposted by Thomas Y. Jones
Cat Hobbs @cathobbs.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Woop woop! The official petition calling for a referendum on public ownership of water has hit 100,000 🎉🎉🎉 Please keep signing to show the government you want a referendum petition.parliament.uk/petitions/76... Public ownership is normal in 9 out of 10 countries 💧TAKE BACK OUR WATER 💧
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
My students are always amazed when I show them pictures of the Washington window in Selby Abbey. It's a great conversation starter.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Can't stop thinking about the differences between the two conversations the Artemis II astronauts had with their respective country leaders. With the Canadian PM, they were laughing, relaxed, visibly happy to speak with him. Quite the opposite with the other guy.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Academic writing can sometimes be really frustrating. Loved Sam van Schaik's recent dip into the history of tormas, but he doesn't seem to have twigged that using the singular as the plural doesn't make you seem erudite, it makes you look out of touch. www.academia.edu/165587831/To...
academia.edu
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
What's on my schedule for tomorrow? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! For the first time in years, I have an entire day completely devoid of obligations. What an outrageous luxury!
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
It's in! Just submitted my MA dissertation. Quite a slog, although I actually really enjoyed the last few days as it all came together. How shall I celebrate? Rest! I'm utterly spent.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Had a conversation about Sweet Home then walked past a shop selling live bivalves, so now I've got Sweet Molly Malone stuck in my head for the rest of the day.
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Lots of chums still on Faceache, so I occasionally swing by to see what they're up to. Saw a friend's post about the Inside the Manosphere documentary. She wrote well about it, so I took the time to read it, but then my feed got flooded with hit pieces against Louis Theroux. FB is nearly as bad as X
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Thomas Y. Jones @teawhynot.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Just realised that Easter and the Tomb Sweeping Festival coincide this year. That's a crossover I wasn't prepared for.
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