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tedbeaton.bsky.social

@tedbeaton.bsky.social

499 followers 223 following 1.3K posts

Featherless biped. Amateur Homo Sapien. 🇨🇦 🇺🇦

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tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Sentence of the Day: A Tale of Two Cities; Charles Dickens. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

Military officers destitute of military knowledge; naval officers with no idea of a ship; civil officers without a notion of affairs; brazen ecclesiastics, of the worst world worldly, with sensual eyes, loose tongues, and looser lives; all totally unfit for their several callings, all lying horribly in pretending to belong to them, but all nearly or remotely of the order of Monseigneur, and therefore foisted on all public employments from which anything was to be got; these were to be told off by the score and the score.

A Tale of Two Cities; Charles Dickens.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Sentence of the Day: A Tale of Two Cities; Charles Dickens. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there is, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it!

A Tale of Two Cities; Charles Dickens.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Sentence of the Day: (**I’m beginning with this first sentence because it is so oft quoted but rarely in its entirety, and it seems to me that this as a whole reads more accurately, “rar like the present period.”) A Tale of Two Cities; Charles Dickens. #Booksky

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Sentence of the Day: Vimy; Pierre Berton. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

They played "Mademoiselle from Armentières,"
"Pack Up Your Troubles," and “Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty," and they played ragtime and jazz as the troops sang and adjusted their equipment and drew their Mills bombs and extra rations, packed away their bully and bis-cuits, and wrote letters home, carefully avoiding any suggestion of the possibilities the dawn might bring.

Vimy; Pierre Berton.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Sentence of the Day: Vimy; Pierre Berton. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

They did it for their closest friends - the half-dozen private soldiers with whom they slept, ate, laughed, worked, and caroused, the men in their own section - grenade throwers or riflemen or Lewis gunners- whom they could not and would not let down because in moments of desperation and terror their virtual existence was woven together as tightly as whipcord.

Vimy; Pierre Berton.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Sentence of the Day: Vimy; Pierre Berton. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

The preparations for the battle would require the combined talents of loggers, locomotive engineers, tunnellers, carpenters, track crews, tailors, telegraphers, train dispatchers, road builders, and, sadly, grave diggers, for the cemeteries must be ready to receive their tribute.

Vimy; Pierre Berton.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Sentence of the Day: Vimy; Pierre Berton. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

Hughes fought back at the slightest reproof with long, vituperattive letters of self-vindication refusing ever to apologize for his sins, announcing that he was "loved by millions" and comparing his critics to yelping puppy dogs vainly chasing an express train.

Vimy; Pierre Berton.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Sentence of the Day: The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI; Cory Doctorow #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

Musk dressed a person up in a robot suit and pretended it was a robot, in order to pretend to investors that his company would soon be able to grow by convincing manual laborers' bosses to fire them and replace them with robots, and split their wages with Musk.

The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI; Cory Doctorow
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Sentence of the Day: The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI; Cory Doctorow #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

In July 2025, Delta Air Lines announced a partnership with Fetcherr, an Israeli surveillance pricing company, claiming that they would be charging each passenger a different price based on the commercial surveillance data they held on them, which would be converted to a price by means of Al analytics.

The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI; Cory Doctorow
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Sentence of the Day: The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI; Cory Doctorow #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

It's true that there is no consensus about what consciousness is, but it's also true that advocates for the idea that consciousness is a matter of guessing words really well haven't offered any evidence for their assertion.

The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI; Cory Doctorow
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Sentence of the Day: The Blind Assassin; Margaret Atwood. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

When I closed my eyes at night I could see the numbers on the page before me, laid out in rows on my square oak desk at the button factory - those rows of red numbers like so many mechanical caterpillars, munching away at what was left of the money.

The Blind Assassin; Margaret Atwood.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Sentence of the Day: The Blind Assassin; Margaret Atwood. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

Laura, on the other hand, had taken to religion in a serious way during Mr. Erskine's tenure: she was still frightened of God, but forced to choose between one irascible, unpredictable tyrant and another, she'd chosen the one that was bigger, and also farther away.

The Blind Assassin; Margaret Atwood.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Sentence of the Day: The Blind Assassin; Margaret Atwood. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

I couldn't get out of my mind the image of Laura, in the icy black water of the Louveteau - how her hair had spread out like smoke in a swirling wind, how her wet face had gleamed silvery, how she had glared at me when I'd grabbed her by the coat.

The Blind Assassin; Margaret Atwood.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Sentence of the Day: The Blind Assassin; Margaret Atwood. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

As she was the only one who could understand what my grandfather was saying, or who claimed she could, she became his interpreter; and as the only one allowed to hold his hand, she guided his signature; and who's to say she didn't use her own judgment sometimes?

The Blind Assassin; Margaret Atwood.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

I can neither express or describe the Joy that touch'd my very Soul when I found, for it was easy to discover that Part, that he came not as a Stranger, but as a Son to a Mother, and indeed as a Son, who had never before known what a Mother of his own was; in short, we cryed over one another a considerable while, when at last he broke out first, MY DEAR MOTHER, says he, are you still alive! I never expected to have seen your Face; as for me, I cou'd say nothing a great while.

Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

As the publishing this Account of my Life is for the sake of the just Moral of every part of it, and for Instruction, Caution, Warning and Improvement to every Reader, so this will not pass I hope for an unnecessary Digression concerning some People being oblig'd to disclose the greatest Secrets either of their own or other Peoples Affairs.

Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Suburban street orange with wildfire smoke.

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

A suburban street with deep orange-yellow sky.

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

The Moral indeed of all my History is left to be gather'd by the Senses and Judgment of the Reader; I am not Qualified to preach to them, let the Experience of one Creature compleatly Wicked, and compleatly Miserable be a Storehouse of useful warning to those that read.

Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

I understood the Game well enough, tho I pretended I did not, and play'd cautiously; it was to keep a good Stock in my Lap, out of which I every now and then convey'd some into my Pocket, but in such a manner, and at such convenient times, as I was sure he cou'd not see it.

Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

But this Affair had its End too; for after about a Year, I found that he did not come so often as usual, and at last he left it off altogether without any dislike, or bidding adieu; and so there was an End of that short Scene of Life, which added no great Store to me, only to make more Work for Repentance.

Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

Thus you see having committed a Crime once, is a sad Handle to the committing of it again; whereas all the Regret, and Reflections wear off when the Temptation renews it self; had I not yielded to see him again, the Corrupt desire in him had worn off, and 'tis very probable he had never fallen into it, with any Body else, as I really believe he had not done before.

Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

I came home with this last Booty to my Governess, and really when I told her the Story it so affected her that she was hardly able to forbear Tears, to think how such a Gentleman run a daily Risque of being undone, every time a Glass of Wine got into his Head.

Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

One of the greatest Dangers I was now in, was that I was too well known among the Trade, and some of them whose hatred was owing rather to Envy than any Injury I had done them began to be Angry that I should always Escape when they were always catch'd and hurried to Newgate.

Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

Thus the Devil who began, by the help of an irresistable Poverty, to push me into this Wickedness, brought me on to a height beyond the common Rate, even when my Necessities were not so great, or the prospect of my Misery so terrifying; for I had now got into a little Vein of Work, and as I was not at a loss to handle my Needle, it was very probable, as Acquaintance came in, I might have got my Bread honestly enough.

Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

Now I seem'd landed in a safe Harbour, after the Stormy Voyage of Life past was at an end; and I began to be thankful for my Deliverance; I sat many an Hour by my self, and wept over the Remembrance of past Follies, and the dreadful Extravagances of a wicked Life, and sometimes I flatter'd my self that I had sincerely repented.

Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

It is manifest to all that understand any thing of Children, that we are born into the World helpless and uncapable either to supply our own Wants, or so much as make them known; and that without help we must Perish; and this help requires not only an assisting Hand, whether of the Mother or some Body else; but there are two Things necessary in that assisting Hand, that is, Care and Skill, without both which, half the Children that are born would die, nay, tho they were not to be deny'd Food; and one half more of those that remain'd would be Cripples or Fools, lose their Limbs, and perhaps their Sense: I Question not, but that these are partly the Reasons why Affection was plac'd by Nature in the Hearts of Mothers to their Children; without which they would never be able to give themselves up, as 'tis necessary they should, to the Care.

Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

We had a great deal of close Conversation that Night, for we neither of us Slept much; he was as Penitent for having put all those Cheats upon me as if it had been Felony, and that he was going to Execution; he offer'd me again every Shilling of the Money he had about him, and said, he would go into the Army and seek the World for more.

Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

I play'd with this Lover as an Angler does with a Trout: I found I had him fast on the Hook, so I jested with his new Proposal and put him off: I told him he knew little of me, and bade him enquire about me; I let him also go Home with me to my Lodging, tho I would not ask him to go in, for I told him it was not Decent.

Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

But all this was nothing; I found no encouraging Pros-pect; I waited, I liv'd regularly, and with as much frugality as became my Circumstances, but nothing offer'd; nothing presented, and the main Stock wasted apace; what to do I knew not, the Terror of approaching Poverty lay hard upon my Spirits: I had some Money, but where to place it I knew not, nor would the Interest of it maintain me, at least not in London.

Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

But I was in the wrong Place for it; I was not now at Redriff, where If I had set myself tollerably up, some honest Sea Captain or other might have talk'd with me upon the honourable terms of Matrimony; but I was at the Bath where Men find a Mistress sometimes, but very rarely look for a Wife; and Consequently all the particular Acquaintances a Woman can Expect to make there must have some Tendency that way.

Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

Then I told her my own Story and my Name, and assur'd her by such other Tokens as she could not deny that I was no other, nor more or less than her own Child, her Daughter born of her Body in Newgate; the same that had savd her from the Gallows by being in her Belly, and the same that she left in such and such Hands when she was Transported.

Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe.
#Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

In short, we were married, and very happily married on my side I assure you, as to the Man; for he was the best humour'd Man that ever Woman had, but his Circumstances were not so good as I imagined, as on the other hand he had not bettered himself by marrying so much as he expected.

Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe.
#Bosky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

It was indeed a Subject of strange Reflection to me to see Men who were overwhelm'd in perplex'd Circumstances, who were reduc'd some Degrees below being Ruin'd; whose Families were Objects of their own Terror and other Peoples Charity; yet while a Penny lasted, nay, even beyond it, endeavouring to drown their Sorrow in their Wickedness; heaping up more Guilt upon themselves, labouring to forget former things, which now it was the proper time to remember, making more Work for Repent-ance, and Sinning on, as a Remedy for Sin past.

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

After the end of five Weeks I grew better, but was so Weak, so Alter'd, so Melancholly, and recover'd so Slowly, that the Physicians apprehended I should go into a Consumption; and which vex'd me most, they gave it as their Opinion, that my Mind was Oppress'd, that something Troubl'd me, and in short, that I was IN LOVE; upon this, the whole House was set upon me to Examine me, and to press me to tell whether I was in Love or not, and with who? but as I well might, I deny'd my being in Love at all.

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

I am the more particular in this part, that if my Story comes to be read by any innocent young Body, they may learn from it to Guard themselves against the Mischiefs which attend an early Knowledge of their own Beauty; if a young Woman once thinks herself Handsome, she never doubts the Truth of any Man that tells her he is in Love with her; for if she believes herself Charming enough to Captivate him, 'tis natural to expect the Effects of it.

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Sentence of the Day: Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe. #Booksky

Sentence of the Day:

Moll Flanders; Daniel Defoe.
#Booksky

To give the History of a wicked Life repented of, necessarily requires that the wicked Part should be made as wicked as the real History of it will bear, to illustrate and give a Beauty to the Penitent part, which is certainly the best and brightest, if related with equal Spirit and Life.

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Sentence of the Day: The Count of Monte Cristo; Alexandre Dumas. #Booksky

But in the end, since I myself failed and was found wanting - more profoundly perhaps than other men; well, since that time I have shaken out their clothes to discover a blemish, and I have always found it; I will say more: I have found it with joy, this evidence of human weakness and perversity.

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Sentence of the Day: The Count of Monte Cristo; Alexandre Dumas. #Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Sentence of the Day: The Count of Monte Cristo; Alexandre Dumas. #Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Sentence of the Day: (A little later than usual.) The Count of Monte Cristo; Alexandre Dumas. #Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Sentence of the Day: The Count of Monte Cristo; Alexandre Dumas. #Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Sentence of the Day: The Count of Monte Cristo; Alexandre Dumas. #Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Sentence of the Day: The Count of Monte Cristo; Alexandre Dumas. #Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Sentence of the Day: The Count of Monte Cristo; Alexandre Dumas. #Booksky

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Energy Saving Tip: Lining the outside walls in your home with books improves your home’s R-value by … who cares how much. Your walls are lined with books, dammit!

A wall of books.

tedbeaton.bsky.social @tedbeaton.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Sentence of the Day: The Count of Monte Cristo; Alexandre Dumas. #Booksky