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James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 7h

A schoolfriend who is a mutual on here is very into MTG and I gather from his posts that he's decidedly unimpressed with the Spider-Man deck.

I don't quite follow why but it seems the core community don't like these tie-ins and, according to him, the Spider-Man one is not selling.

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James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 13h

The belief that fertility collapse is an existential risk is something of a tell.

There are 7 billion of us. Humanity dying out due to lower birthrates is something we don’t have to worry about for a good few centuries yet.

That aspect of Children of Men is not likely (though others may be).

James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 13h

I was not at all surprised to see Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nick Bostrom mentioned, as they are both AI doomers whereas I think Thiel is an accelorationist? Scott Alexander (SlateStarCodex) is another that I’m sure looms large for him.

They are all, of course, into Race Science (so called) and IQ.

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James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 14h

Enjoy your last day!

Great to meet you in person, and to hear your talk.

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James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 14h

Thoroughly enjoyed my week at @gladlib.bsky.social.

Strongly recommend to anyone wanting to do some reading, writing or just pondering, in the stillness and companionable quiet of a Grade 1 listed reading room, surrounded by Gladstone’s own books.

Great food too.

An Edwardian library reading room, with shelving, wooden desks, armchairs and a wooden gallery above.

An Edwardian building of red stone with a central section and two wings on the left and right.

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James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 1d

What, like Bob Odenkirk in that movie?

James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 1d

Enjoyed this piece about Peter Thiel.

A key quote is this:

“…in Thiel’s mind there are two cosmic forces warring over creation itself, and they both consist of Peter and his friends.”

I think this does capture the self-involvement of a lot of senior tech sector men, and the “thinkers” they like.

Peter Thiel’s off-the-record antichrist lectures reveal more about him than Armageddon

Silicon Valley titan desperately tries to detach self from power in amateurish talks attempting to ape his favorite philosopher

www.theguardian.com

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James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 1d

Rebecca Ferguson wants to be the next Bond villain.

100% would watch.

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James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 1d

There’s a bit in Robert Harris’s Fatherland, which is set in alternate-reality 1964 where Germany won the war, where a father and son take a tourist bus tour around Berlin which has all of Speer’s Germania designs realised.

It’s an eerie scene.

James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 1d

In thinking about that, I try to keep in mind the difficulty of the 'moral task' in hand.

e.g. I didn't break the rules but I'm somewhat introverted so it was a heck of a lot easier than it was for you.

If the rules had been 'you must go out every night' I'd have had a much greater challenge

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James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 1d

….Forgot to say, this is on the latest episode of No Such Thing As A Fish.

James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 1d

New ASMR just dropped:

@meladoodle.bsky.social reciting Pi to 55 places…from memory.

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Reposted by James Elder

Standplaats Kraków @standplaatskrk.pl · 7d

A woodcut style ink drawing of a Tardigrade: "Just because I can survive harsh conditions doesn't mean I should have to."

(If anyone knows the artist, I'd love to make (a version) of this available for sale and can only find tumblr replies via tineye.)

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James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 2d

Good shout.

Olivia Rodrigo introduced Robert Smith (who was joining her for duets during her Glastonbury set) as “perhaps the best songwriter to come out of England” and a case can certainly be made for that.

Reposted by James Elder

Alexandra Meakin @ameakin.bsky.social · 2d

Yep, but it's a brilliant way to show how the building was absolutely not designed as a legislature! And @satisfactory20.bsky.social's insights are always worth sharing 🙌

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James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 2d

Mari explained that in the mid 19th century it was assumed that members and peers didn’t need offices - when not in the chamber, they would likely be working/meeting/networking/relaxing in their Club.

I think @seththevoz.bsky.social has written on that.

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James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 2d

Makes me wonder: has there been a good film or TV drama about Reconstruction.

There's so much good material there - and I do recommend the PBS/Henry Louis Gates documentary series 'Reconstruction: America After the Civil War' (especially as a useful counterpart to Ken Burns' The Civil War).

James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 2d

I recently read 'Race and Reunion' by David Blight, about how the US remembered the Civil War and slavery in the 50 years after.

The main theme is that white America largely excised slavery from memory.

The book concludes with the release of 'Birth of a Nation' (based on the book The Klansman).

DiscussingFilm @discussingfilm.net · 3d

Ubisoft canceled an ‘ASSASSINS CREED’ game set in the post-Civil War era

• Featured a Black Assassin who was formerly a slave

• Players would fight the emerging KKK

• Leadership canceled it after concerns with U.S. political climate & Yasuke backlash

(Source: www.gamefile.news/p/scoop-ubis...)

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James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 2d

@ameakin.bsky.social I expect you knew this!

James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 2d

TIL from a talk at @gladlib.bsky.social by @satisfactory20.bsky.social that almost all MPs' and Peers' offices in the Palace of Westminster weren't designed as such by Charles Barry.

They were originally living quarters for the large residential staff of maids, cooks etc.

Only converted later.

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James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 2d

TIL from a talk at @gladlib.bsky.social by @satisfactory20.bsky.social that almost all MPs' and Peers' offices in the Palace of Westminster weren't designed as such by Charles Barry.

They were originally living quarters for the large residential staff of maids, cooks etc.

Only converted later.

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James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 2d

Archives folk: is anyone involved in this Wikidata project? It certainly seems like a good idea.

Wikidata:WikiProject Archival Description - Wikidata

www.wikidata.org

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James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 2d

Maybe, but I think there is also the factor that universities take their duty of care more seriously.

Maybe that only matters in halls of residence and Oxbridge colleges, but I have noticed the difference going back to College dinners.

Drinking games etc have gone completely.

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James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 2d

It is going to be fascinating to see if the Gen Z relationship with alcohol (which aligns more with my own) sticks around as a cohort effect - and indeed if there’s a reversion to mean in the next generation.

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James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 2d

“Does Magna Carta mean nothing to you?
Did she die in vain?”

Tony Hancock in the “Twelve Angry Men” episode of “Hancock’s Half Hour”.

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James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 3d

Hot takes from 1973:

Faust IV is a good album.