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Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 24m

The ending is pretty wild & may annoy some, but after the initial disorientation & after some processing time, I do think it's an excellent place to end.

The characters & interactions are so enjoyable. I'd be very surprised if this isn't adapted as a film.

2/2

Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 24m

Just finished reading The Trees by Percival Everett.

That this book made racist lynching & generational revenge so funny is nothing short of a miracle. A rare example of carefully balanced gallows humour against historical horror.

#booksky

1/2

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Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 5h

Ancient woodlands need intervention to survive & thrive.

Humans put these ecosystems at risk & humans can protect & help return them to their former glory (and they are utterly glorious!)

How can you help?

Sponsor charities like Protect Earth & join us at events.

Join the gang!

Phil Sturgeon 🌳🚵⚓️ @philsturgeon.com · 20h

Nobody is paying for the ancient woodland restoration work we do at @protect.earth. Not special enough to access the elusive new grants (yet!)

Instead you can sponsor the work directly by the sq. meter. Keeps us in loppers, saw blades, and volunteer biscuits. 🫡 shop.protect.earth/products/anc...

Ancient Woodland Restoration

Help us to conserve and restore UK Ancient Woodland today. Your contribution will benefit the protection and restoration of ancient woodlands, a carbon rich habitat and precious woodland ecosystem her...

shop.protect.earth

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Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 20h

Great day in the woods taking the fight to the invasive rhododendrons in Rhayader today.

2

Reposted by Duncan Porter

Phil Sturgeon 🌳🚵⚓️ @philsturgeon.com · 21h

Another ancient woodland rescued from hundreds of rhododendron near Rhayader! Solid crew of young and old today (ex-military 83yo absolutely ragging rhodos with just a bowsaw.)

If you’re struggling on your land give @protect.earth a shout. We’ll grab an army of volunteers and be right over.

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Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 1d

Stunning autumn morning in the Cambrians

Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 1d

Waking up in the Elan Valley, ready for a day of clearing invasive rhododendron with the Protect Earth gang.

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Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 2d

Cure for doomscrolling:

1. Whizz down the feed to where you think you should stop.

2. Then scroll back up to the top.

Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 2d

I'd have been happy with STV - it would have dealt with a challenge like this better than PR IMHO.

Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 2d

No discussion needed: not a trace of doubt in my mind.

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Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 3d

Now "the kids" seem to be feasting on back catalogue soundtracking music, with 90s Radiohead back in the charts, I hope some of the more generic protests songs will become synonymous with the many modern challenges & provoke similar awakenings in the younger generations.

/ramble_ends

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Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 3d

This book does often question how much impact the protest music had, but I'd suggest that's really hard to measure, given that many of these songs, while apparently ineffectual at the time, influenced morals & political direction for decades after, including my own.

5/

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Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 3d

Right now, for many people music is an emotional cue for TikTok videos, but like any internet service, the content you see is decided by an algorithm, rather than your peers or a DJ.

The protests now mostly come in the form of disposable memes or media savvy stunts.

4/

1

Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 3d

But it's no wonder so many artists who write protest music end up distancing themselves from it, especially in an age of antagonistic scrutiny on the internet & too often it's the negativity that gets the engagement.

3/

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Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 3d

Some thoughts...

Artists can create amazing contradictory pieces of art, but are then often held up as subject matter experts by their fans and in interviews, when frankly they're not.

I was always guilty of this as a young fan, but it was also a doorway to new perspectives & moral arguments.

2/

1

Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 3d

Just finished reading 33 Revolutions Per Minute by @dorianlynskey.bsky.social

Have been chewing my way through this tome for a couple of weeks & loving every moment. Learned a lot, discovered much & found new context in familiar music.

#booksky

1/

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Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 3d

We may be years away from a general election, but this is how we shift the discourse right now.

Labour will be paying very close attention to this movement - if it's significant enough, they will shift their narrative accordingly.

Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 3d

Latest poll puts Greens just two points behind Labour. When I said we weren't here to be disappointed in Labour but to replace them, I meant it.

Join us and let's make hope normal again.

join.greenparty.org.uk

Poll from find out now showing greens on 15 and labour and Tories on 17. Reform on 32.

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Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 3d

It sounds exhausting - is it worth it?

Every chapter is a long paragraph which does not contain line breaks -quote from wikipedia

1

Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 3d

Daisy is joining the #corgi, #corgicrew & #corgisky gang tonight.

She's a corgi-cross, so of course she sleeps like this!

Daisy the corgi cross, kipping on her back - the best way for corgis to kip

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Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 4d

It would be more fun if AI had to learn creativity from scratch rather than copying existing styles or conventions.

1

Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 4d

Kind of agree, but the owner would no longer have the apples to use themselves. This is more like piracy, I guess.

Is an artist painting a picture of a house stealing from the architect who designed the house?

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Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 4d

Just finished reading The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald.

Have to confess, I didn't love it. It wasn't a fun read & didn't do much for me. Lots of unlikable privileged characters & felt a lot like work 🙂

Enjoyed some of the prose, but left cold overall. Maybe I missed something?

#booksky

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Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 5d

This sound an awful lot like a job for hypothesised taxes on emissions / impact, which would influence both behaviours & investment.

www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Reposted by Duncan Porter

Rhianna Pratchett @rhi.bsky.social · 5d

Dad’s books are full of empathy, common sense, and a healthy suspicion of the powerful. But at its heart his work is also about how systems keep people poor while pretending it’s their own fault. So I hope Kemi’s taking notes as well as reading the jokes.

Paul Haine @paulhaine.bsky.social · 5d

Kemi Badenoch claiming Terry Pratchett as her favourite author is wild

140 2K 7.7K

Duncan Porter @misterduncan.bsky.social · 5d

Impossible Soul - Sufjan mangling a load of notes like it's 3AM, he's had way too much sugar & he needs he needs something extra to stitch together his 25 minute song 👌

youtu.be/RFXzbe2UAR0?...

Impossible Soul

YouTube video by Sufjan Stevens - Topic

youtu.be