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Martin Ingram

@throg.bsky.social
61 followers 65 following 374 posts

When the wombat comes, he will find me gone.

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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Thank goodness that there’s still a few sane (or is it ethical) people in the room calling out this bullsh1t. fortune.com/2026/10/01/y...
fortune.com
AI ‘godfather’ Yann LeCun: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is ‘deluded,’ ‘crazy,’ and doesn’t understand cybersecurity | Fortune
Everything you need to know before you reach the office this morning.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/music/2026/s...
theguardian.com
‘Good music is good music, and most music is not!’ As he hits 90, master minimalist Steve Reich looks back
At 14, he heard Stravinsky and resolved to be a composer. As Reich approaches his 10th decade, the man revered by the likes of David Bowie reflects on a life that changed the soundtrack of modern livi...
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Of course, the alternative is slightly less funny: he knows *exactly* what these companies are up to (hoovering up as much personal and corporate data as possible) and wants in on it.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
He’s just another egomaniac isn’t he? How can you be an “honest broker” on “AI” when you don’t have the faintest idea what it is? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
UK to fight Russian disinformation and push new global AI standards, Burnham says
The UK could act as "an honest broker" on AI and other global challenges, the prime minister tells world leaders at the UN.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The first record gets most of the attention, but I’ve always preferred the sublime second album. Happy 40th birthday, Filigree & Shadow. youtu.be/BEXwF94rkEk?...
youtu.be
Tarantula (Remastered)
YouTube video by This Mortal Coil - Topic
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
youtu.be/d6SPV4GZp-U?...
youtu.be
The Life of Death and the Ensh*ttificator
YouTube video by Forbrukerrådet - Norwegian Consumer Council
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
A rare voice of sanity in amongst all the ridiculous froth, churn and hype. inews.co.uk/opinion/worr...
inews.co.uk
Worried about the end of humanity thanks to AI? Here's what's really happening
It's not superintelligence we need to worry about, it's the people who are recklessly pressing ahead with powerful new systems
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Remember, these are the same people who mindlessly churn the marketing hype that tells us that stochastic parrots are going to kill us all. www.thepoke.com/2026/09/10/b...
thepoke.com
The BBC got absolutely dragged for using ‘food pipe’ in a headline about the health risk of hot drinks – 17 favourite clapbacks
We cross now to BBC News, where there is a report of a worrying finding from a health study. The article in question warns that people who drink their tea and coffee without giving it the chance to co...
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Reposted by Martin Ingram
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 04/09/2026
Amazon's own balance sheet presents the most compelling evidence that we are stuck in the Enshittocene, the era in which everything is turning into a pile of shit, because the worst ideas of the worst people now make the most money. 1/
Hieronymus Bosch's 'The Conjuror,' a painting depicting a medieval con artist playing a shell game for an audience of astonished peasant rubes. The image has been altered: the conman now has Jeff Bezos's grinning head, and the mouths of all the peasants have been replaced with inverted Amazon 'Smile' logos, so they are now frowning.

Image:
Steve Jurvestson (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jeff_Bezos%27_iconic_laugh_crop.jpg

CC BY 2.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
The current tertiary education system is massively skewed towards the comfortably well off middle class. If you (or mummy and daddy) can pay, you’re in. Sorry if I sound cynical. But I have my reasons.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Even if you have a degree (in my case up to MSc) it’s little different if you’re from a typical working class background. And in education itself, try taking it past that point into the research community.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
The enshittification continues. When I unsubscribe from your mailing list, that means that I don’t want ANY more emails thanks.
Email from Magix, disrespecting my unsubscribe request.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Yes yes, here’s a daxie and a kitteh.
Daxie snuggling on his Dad. A furry thing underneath is his adopted brother.The handsomest black cat in the world says “when are you going to take that bag to the charity shop?”
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
DNS. It’s always DNS. Or possibly in this case your chosen CDN.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Meanwhile…
LLM provider outages.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Rant over. Normal service will now be resumed. (Hunts for pictures of cats and daxies.)
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
It’s nonsense like this that will see Reform running our council after the next election. Oh. Sorry. I mean the new unitary authority. (Mumble mumble consultation ignored.) Thanks for all of that, you numpties.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
You’ll note that six months earlier… www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Portswood bus gate will not be scrapped despite concerns
Southampton City Council transport chief Eamonn Keogh refuses to throw out the Portswood scheme.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Not fixing potholes or the existing roads though. It’s ridiculous ideas like this. Note that this went ahead despite the results of a public consultation. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Bus gate traffic restrictions will not return to Portswood
The bus, taxi and cycle only restrictions on Portswood Broadway will not come back into force.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Context: This council had to be bailed out by HMG at the end of 2024 so it wouldn’t go bankrupt. Apparently it’s ok to cut back on services whilst at the same time paying BB to carry out any number of pointless road “improvements”.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
“Balfour Beatty, working in partnership with Southampton City Council”.
A long winded email effectively saying that the recent “public consultation” was a pointless waste of time and they’re going to do whatever they want to do.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
What we actually need is legislation that drags social media back to serving the needs of the users, rather than an enshittification machine. No “algorithm”, no “curated feed”. Just people who know each other talking to one another.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
You’d have thought someone would have seen this coming? Oh. Wait… Yes, the whole tech community did. But when we pointed out the flaws, they just smeared us as being in league with the bad actors. www.theregister.com/security/202...
theregister.com
UK's Online Safety Act has made 'absolutely no difference,' kids say
Children's Commissioner also furious with Ofcom over a string of failures
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I guess it needed the deep pockets of one of the awful media conglomerates to step up on this, but fingers crossed that a class action will follow for the smaller players. gizmodo.com/sony-and-war...
gizmodo.com
Sony and Warner Music Sue Anthropic, Alleging Theft of Intellectual Property
It's a bit of a throwback to the IP lawsuits of a few years ago.
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Reposted by Martin Ingram
Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
When I used to write for The Guardian, every time I wrote the word “meow” the editors would change it to “miaow”. It used to really get on my wick. Don’t try to make my cats sound like your upper middle class London cats, you fuckers. My cats did not go to your posh cat schools. They say “meow”.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
1. Solves an actual not imaginary problem. 2. Sufficiently robust and resilient. 3. Introduces no substantial security risks. 4. As easy and intuitive to use as possible. 5. Efficient use of resources. 6. Adaptable and maintainable. Often we have to recognise that this is a delicate balancing act.
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xkcd Bot @xkcd-bot.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Trade xkcd.com/3290 (alt-text too long for a BlueSky message, see image alt-text instead) Explain xkcd: www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/…
"You legs may have a comparative advantage at running, but we arms have a competitive advantage at swinging hammers, so unless you accept that we're the dominant limbs and stop hogging the oxygen, that running advantage won't be around for long."
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Meanwhile, Net Zero and hosepipe bans. Joined up thinking not required. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Two planned datacentres will have higher UK carbon emissions than ExxonMobil, analysis finds
Exclusive: Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire sites predicted to emit 4.5m tonnes a year when fully running
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
The Unbound story is yet another cautionary tale, well worth reading. Yet again, both creators (authors) and customers lost out. Treat intermediaries of all kinds with caution. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...
theguardian.com
Authors await overdue payments as publisher Unbound goes into administration
The company, launched in 2011, has been acquired by new company Boundless, after writers have been left unpaid for months
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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Me? I'm just trying to survive in the aftermath of my ex-publisher stealing more than £20,000 of my earnings & almost ruining nearly three decades of hard work. You? I'm sure you have many problems in your life but you need to pick a better outlet for your rage. The internet contains many options.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Deep joy! Mick Karn: ‘It was through Cindy’s work, if I may refer to her in such familiar first name terms, that after 19 years as a professional musician, I finally earned enough money to begin the process of buying the first and only flat I have ever owned in London.“
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vistablogger @sylvianvista.com · 22/08/2026
NEW ARTICLE: 'Big Wheels in Shanty Town' opens the Rain Tree Crow album - Sylvian, Jansen, Barbieri & Karn reunited. An instrumental epic showcasing the musicianship of each, with new flavours added - a horn section and African vocalists. Wonderful. sylvianvista.com/2026/08/22/b...
sylvianvista.com
Big Wheels in Shanty Town - Rain Tree Crow
Read about this 'epic' track by David Sylvian, Steve Jansen, Mick Karn & Richard Barbieri, the ex-members of Japan reunited in 1991 under a new name.
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spaghezzy @spaghezzy.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Fantastic read.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I remember have an argument with a marketing person several years ago about how “urgency messaging” was more likely to put customers off than bring in business. I lost that one, so please don’t blame the poor techies that are asked to implement this garbage.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
The Guardian catalogues a bunch of enshittification features that we can all do without. Amusingly, you can’t read it until you dismiss their own dickover. 😆 www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Dickovers, baggravation and botiquette: 18 new words to describe our tech hellscape
There are many tech irritants that are a scourge of modern life, yet we have lacked the vocabulary to describe them ... until now
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Walking the doglets in the rain! How long before that novelty wears off? 😆
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Absolutely this. Regulate and fix the problems with these platforms for everybody, and a lot of the rationale for “age verification” goes away.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
If this is what we think it is (Occam’s Razor etc.), if you or I did this, we’d be taken to court. And all in service to a second rate stochastic parrot. Secondhand book sales are booming. Is it because of AI? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Secondhand book sales are booming. Is it because of AI?
Booksellers are reporting mysterious bulk orders. It's thought the books are being used to train AI - and ending up pulped.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Next time you’re out of London, particularly in a South Westerly direction, seek out the nearest Coffee #1. Granted they’re a chain / franchise, but they’re exactly as you describe.
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Reposted by Martin Ingram
Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
My nan was an uncomplicated lady from Liverpool. She liked Coronation Street, snooker, flowers, news, tea & fags. When I was young her catchphrases were "The world's gone mad!" & "Money doesn't buy you happiness." I thought both a tad simplistic at the time but looking back she absolutely nailed it.
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Paul at SuperDeluxeEdition.com @super-deluxe.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Next in the SDE Surround Series of blu-ray audios: #RoxyMusic's 1973 masterpiece 'For Your Pleasure'. Extra special content, with Atmos and 5.1 mixes, the latter from both Bob Clearmountain & Steven Wilson! There's also a 3CD+DVD box! Details > bit.ly/3S2HafR
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
I don’t know why I just don’t give Electronic Sound my wallet and be done with it.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Further enshittification from Meta. They’ve removed the option that supports the natural way of reading a thread - in ascending date/time order? One for @doctorow.pluralistic.net
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Don’t you just love a happy accident? I set up a pinhole camera up in the music room, but I think the best view I got was created by a tiny gap in my living room curtains. 🙂
Pinhole camera image of the partial eclipse.Accidental image on my doorframe.
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Mikey Papadopoulos @mikeypap.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
"I'd like a metaphor about the billionaire class please. No not that one. It's far too obvious"
theguardian.com
Zuckerberg faces questions over why superyacht reportedly declined to help stranded boat
Small cruise ship rescued skiff in south-east Alaska even though Meta billionaire’s $300m megayacht was closer
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
A “cost of living tour”? Oh this is going to run and run. I’ll get us started on the set list: (I can’t get no) Age Verification. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Burnham to set out cost-of-living measures as he tours UK
No 10 says the prime minister's plans will "give people some room to breathe", but opposition figures accuse him of "hypocrisy".
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
BBC “Science & Technology” coverage continues to be dreadful. This was a publicity stunt, pure and simple. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
First OpenAI, now Meta - why do AI hacks keep happening?
A flood of companies are revealing AI models gained access to the internet - with real consequences.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
What is this fresh insanity?!? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Controversial Brick Lane data centre and office plans approved
The proposals include a data centre, offices and 44 homes of which six would be available for social rent.
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Reposted by Martin Ingram
Adrian Edmondson @adrianedmondson.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Bill Oddie, what a lovely bloke. He wrote us a letter when we started making The Young Ones, wishing us the very best, and warning us against interference from higher up. He didn’t know anyone in the cast personally. It just came out of the blue. Lovely thing to do.
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Martin Ingram @throg.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Saw Benjamin Clementine again last night at Somerset House. The word “genius” is overused, but appropriate here. youtu.be/vgp9uDHEnOU?...
youtu.be
Benjamin Clementine - Can't Always Be the Winner, Argentina
YouTube video by Benjamin Clementine
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