Fardels Bear

@npub1ks7…eg5u
I highly recommend Sue Limb's parody of the Romantic poets, in particular, the tedious William Wordsworth.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fvyn3/episodes/guide

2024-04-02 22:10:41

JK Rowling will be so disappointed at not getting arrested. There's nothing worse than being loud and offensive and nobody pays you any attention.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/02/jk-rowling-will-not-be-arrested-under-new-scottish-hate-law-say-police

2024-03-20 08:58:10

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@npub1sfh…9gqj
Joe Manchin on the right side of history for possibly the first time in his life.

2024-03-17 09:11:26

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@npub1yk6…4zz4
The 'Twilight of the Presidents' is so much more impressive than the original, cheesy theme park. I can imagine them in a fully grown forest a century from now.

2024-03-15 16:05:07

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@npub1hqq…8lad
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/100/315/765/804/396/original/aabd732b5b98c73d.jpg

2024-03-11 16:06:52

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@npub1nn8…8sed
Good to know.

2024-03-04 16:39:49

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@npub1ks7…eg5u
Yes, but what about space aliens and ancient civilisations? Everyone knows the pyramids represent the nose cone of a space ship.

2024-02-23 16:27:10

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@npub1czg…el70
The farmers aren't there. They're off on their tractors at demonstrations and being pandered to by politicians.

2024-02-18 13:55:51

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@npub1u3t…c6ug
'Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' is just political cant, a cynical form of bait and switch, unless you provide a legal context in which these things can flourish.

2024-02-06 18:38:43

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@npub1lrv…tth9
Sounds fair to me. Taylor Swift should be held to the same standards as Elon Musk when it comes to using private jets.

2024-02-01 16:35:38

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@npub1uw8…88kr
TED Talk:
1) An event in which a bien-pensant mildly titillates an audience of bien-écoutants for their mutual pleasure.
2) The art of safe ideas.

2024-01-24 20:11:42

A BBC spokesperson said: “Dragons’ Den features products from entrepreneurs and is not an endorsement of them. Dragons’ Den shows real businesses pitching to investors to lift the lid on what happens in the business world. This episode features an entrepreneur sharing their own, personal, experience that led to a business creation.”
Weasel words from the BBC. They chose Giselle Boxer for the programme and should have done due diligence to weed out scammers.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/jan/24/doctors-complain-to-bbc-over-dragons-den-contestants-claim-to-have-cured-me

2024-01-24 15:55:25

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@npub1ywy…cksd
I'm an American Typewriter fan. As soon as Mastodon gets its act together and enables interesting fonts, I'm going retro. Serifs rock.

2024-01-22 18:10:24

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@npub1ffl…tv7d
No doubt it will be lovely, but only techbros and their employees could afford to live there. Cities like this aren't the answer to homelessness, and the actually homeless wouldn't be tolerated. That would be too much reality for what is essentially a gated community, even if it doesn't have the gates.
Real urban renewal happens in existing cities and requires democratic political will. It needs densification, much more mass transit, and housing/social spaces for everybody.

2024-01-20 11:04:11

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@npub1vqm…ccpx
I resisted getting a mobile phone until it was impossible to function without one. Even now, I only use it as a camera and alarm clock. Incoming calls go mysteriously to voice mail, so I'm not even aware of them, and for outgoing calls I use a landline.
I've never understood why people allowed themselves to be trained to use an electronic leash.

2024-01-13 13:23:45

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@npub1g0t…tvm4
The homeopathic method demonstrated or, taking the piss.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1B2aFElfjE

2024-01-08 11:24:10

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@npub1lrv…tth9
I've used Firefox for over a decade. Reluctantly, I had to use Chrome for Open University tutorials since nothing else worked. Now the bastards seem to have put the OU home page, where I do all the course work, out of reach of Firefox. I have to use Chrome. Not happy. Tech help were less than helpful.

2024-01-05 07:35:14

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@npub15x4…3p3l
Quote posting is a useful feature to have. I use quotation marks sometimes, but they're not the best solution. The fact is that any feature can be abused with enough ill-will. That's no excuse not to have it.

2023-12-29 14:07:36

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@npub1ks7…eg5u
This was a set book at school and I loved it from the first word. The stream of consciousness parts were an easy introduction to that form of writing, and I've never had any problems with it since. There are passages that have stuck with me all my life, even modified my behaviour. And there's nothing more terrifying in horror fiction than the Jesuit sermon on Hell, coupled with Stephen's dream about it.

2023-12-28 11:56:35

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@npub1lrv…tth9
Up to now, it's felt like a slow motion train crash. If Trump wins in 2024, it will speed up rapidly.

2023-12-26 11:43:04

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@npub1g0t…tvm4 @npub1kt3…5004
The spurned book that you pounce on in a charity shop gets all the love denied to it as a gift.

2023-12-24 20:20:52

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@npub1muj…p74g @npub1ccn…czwu @npub16lu…5aha
"My perception of a person's intelligence automatically goes down a few notches when I realize they are religious, no matter who they are."
So Newton was a dunderhead then? You could have done so much better.

2023-12-24 17:01:36

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@npub1ccn…czwu @npub1muj…p74g @npub16lu…5aha
Does that mean Catholic priest George Lemaître, who proposed the Big Bang theory in 1927, was proselytising for the church?
Historically, many scientists we think of as pioneers held religious beliefs. Newton was a real mess. Science is a method. It exists independently of the religious beliefs of its practitioners.
I think most atheists probably know as little about science as I do. What you're describing is an affectation designed to embiggen a prejudice.

2023-12-24 16:20:40

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@npub1hth…he0c @npub16lu…5aha @npub1ccn…czwu @npub1lvu…3ua2
I think it's important to challenge religious institutions when they're using their faith to abuse people, corrupt democracy, or maintain inequality. But apart from that, it's none of my business what other people believe.

2023-12-24 16:13:41

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@npub16lu…5aha @npub1ccn…czwu @npub1lvu…3ua2
Give me a kind-hearted religionist with a sense of humour, any day.
True story. As a newly-minted atheist back in the 90s, I signed up for the Richard Dawkins forum, expecting a glorious feast of reason. What I found was mostly ignorance and bigotry. This is why I enjoy poking a stick at the fundamentalists.

2023-12-24 15:52:38

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@npub1ccn…czwu @npub1lvu…3ua2
(Some) atheists take their atheism far too seriously...QED.
Would Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris be able to dance on the end of a pin? You'd be the person to ask.

2023-12-24 12:30:24

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@npub1lvu…3ua2 @npub1ccn…czwu
This is what I find so fascinating about religious belief. Literally anything goes. If you believe in one god then all the other conceivable gods are equally possible.
Just before the Big Bang would be the perfect hiding place, which conveniently provides a prime cause for existence.
It's not difficult to construct a whole theology based on that idea.

2023-12-23 23:00:08

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@npub1xq2…8eud @npub1ccn…czwu
Hitchen's razor says that what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.
What is being asserted is crucial. The existence of the gods can be dismissed without evidence & so can the categorical assertion that the gods don't exist. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Are you asserting the latter?
In science, nothing is ever proven, there is only a preponderance of evidence one way or the other. Fundamental atheism is unscientific.

2023-12-23 20:31:23

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@npub1ccn…czwu To play the Devil's advocate, how do you know it's bunk? Religionists can't prove the existence of their gods, but neither can atheists prove their nonexistence.

2023-12-23 12:54:25

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@npub1yyx…qa5g
I got so irritated by ridiculous CWs that I disabled them all. Nothing shows up which actually deserves a CW because of my filters and the sort of people I follow.

2023-12-19 15:06:49

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@npub1efv…4jx2
Being opposed to fascism is not particularly progressive. It should be a bog-standard mainstream opinion. To position it as something progressive is to cede the middle ground and play the fascist game.
Trump told us what he is. Believe him.

2023-12-18 18:08:54

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@npub1nn8…8sed
I have no idea, but Charles Addams once saw this lad and was inspired to draw the Addams Family cartoons.

2023-12-15 14:41:21

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@npub1s9c…hg5j @npub1ccn…czwu
Where's a time machine when you need it? I'd kidnap him from his timeline before he could do any damage.

2023-12-07 18:58:22

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@npub1pu6…u9fd @npub1aex…th8e
"Power first, then the rest will follow..."
Talking to you, I'm reminded that Labour is now a cult where the Dear Leader is always right. Despite all the evidence, you project onto Starmer the things a Labour leader should do but which he won't. Because he values power more than the good things he can do with it, he will do anything to get and stay in power. And that means never offending Tory voters.
Be careful - the Kool-Aid is bad for your political health.

2023-12-07 18:16:27

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@npub1pu6…u9fd @npub1aex…th8e
"The #Tories ... are daring #Labour to propose raising borrowing to get us out of it, so they can label them a tax & spend party."
Tax and spend is exactly what governments are supposed to do, to make life better for everyone. Not to give it away in tax cuts to those who already have more than enough. It's much better to put money in the pockets of people who don't have enough because they spend it. Starmer is being gaslit, and he's gaslighting us in turn.

2023-12-06 18:47:32

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@npub1pu6…u9fd
Exactly, nothing to do with Starmer yet you used it to plug a Labour win under Starmer. And because things are even worse now, they need structural change even more.

2023-12-06 18:32:28

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@npub1pu6…u9fd
I'm guessing that Alice from Bolton, that 'valiant Senior Citizen' you were so supportive of in the OP, would have wanted more than smoke and mirrors. She looks like someone who knows the smell of bullshit, Tory and Labour. I think it was dishonest to use her as a selling point for Starmer when she was voting for Labour on a Corbyn manifesto.
If I were her, standing across the street from No 10 when Starmer takes up residence, well, I'd feel disappointed, even cheated.

2023-12-06 17:38:01

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@npub1pu6…u9fd
There's not much point in winning power if you don't do anything meaningful with it.
A wealth tax could raise £70b-130b pa. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/20/new-wealth-tax-uk-arguments
Then there's:
1) Raising income tax to 50%.
2) Raising capital gains tax to match income tax.
3) Axing unnecessary projects like the Stonehenge road scheme.
Labour clearly don't want to scare the Tory horses so they stampede and break the Ming vase, but what if the vase is a fake? Or just a vessel for Starmer's ambition?

2023-12-06 15:58:14

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@npub1pu6…u9fd
He may have mentioned these things in general terms but, as you say, the manifesto has yet to be published. In the meantime, he's talked about strict financial restrictions while refusing to raise extra taxes on the wealthy. In other words, austerity and cuts to social services. He will certainly privatise chunks of the NHS.
I think he will smooth off some rough edges and put a smiley face on the status quo. If I'm wrong, you can tell me when the manifesto comes out.

2023-12-06 15:33:02

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@npub1pu6…u9fd
If you're so 'chilled' by the structural inequality highlighted by the ad, why are you content with an empty suit of a Labour PM who will do nothing about it?
Effective change is the legacy that counts, not being able to worm your way into No 10 by pretending to be all things to all people.

2023-12-06 14:57:08

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@npub1pu6…u9fd
It took a Labour party led by Corbyn to actually care about those issues and create a campaign ad around them. Starmer wouldn't dare to be so outspoken for fear of offending his new Tory chums.
So when he shows up on the steps of No 10, we won't get anything like the sort of social and economic justice promised by Corbyn. Instead, it'll be a slightly more anodyne Toryism with none of the structural inequalities addressed. Better than the Tories, but better's not good enough.

2023-11-29 22:37:44

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@npub1nn8…8sed
Then there's 'with all due respect," which means the opposite of what it seems to say. The word 'due' does a lot of heavy lifting.

2023-11-28 16:47:42

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@npub1ks7…eg5u
When I was doing my English degree, I had a chance to take a class in William Blake. Because I thought he was too woo and a little bit crazy, I turned it down.
I've regretted that choice ever since.

2023-11-27 17:28:12

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@npub1nn8…8sed
Deep joy, I didn't know Thomas Ligotti was on youtube.

2023-10-22 15:07:13

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@npub1f6s…y8ra
Reminiscent of the wood chipper in Fargo.

2023-09-24 13:34:56

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@npub1xzm…eykm
Superb. It's actually the first time I've listened properly to that song, apart from hearing snippets as background noise.

2023-08-31 11:58:07

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@npub1ks7…eg5u @npub1kvn…hm73
“Dost thou love picking meat? Or wouldst thou see
A man in the clouds, and hear him speak to thee?”
I like this quote from Pilgrim's Progress. It's a shrewd reason why people turn to religion, but also goes far beyond that as a call to the imagination.

2023-08-31 11:13:23

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@npub15zu…s7lx
Apparently nuclear testing has given Germany's wild boars an evolutionary advantage.

2023-08-30 13:23:19

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@npub1w30…dh68
It used to be only the countries with appalling human rights records that got this sort of warning.

2023-08-15 12:41:46

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@npub1g0t…tvm4
"Levelling up is a long-term programme of reform that sits at the heart of our ambition as a government."
Seems like this Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is similar in spirit to Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Plenty, and the Ministry of Love in 1984.
Like them, it's purpose is to deliver the exact opposite of what their titles suggest.
What's wrong with an algorithm that fairly allocates resources?

2023-08-14 20:42:37

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@npub1sk4…d83s
Makes perfect sense.

2023-08-06 19:59:20

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@npub1nn8…8sed I couldn't finish it one sitting.

2023-07-30 20:55:04

It's the 'touch points' that make us human, give us the power of collaboration and free exchange of ideas. Human interaction is a threat to the corporatisation of the world, with atomised, powerless consumers in thrall to apps and technology.
Ask who it's ultimately convenient for.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/30/billionaires-yearn-for-a-life-free-of-human-contact-and-they-are-imposing-this-on-the-rest-of-us