Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Scurra @scurra.com · 5h

dRac @d-rac.bsky.social · 6h

They say nothing but in a very pretty way.

Scurra @scurra.com · 7h

Private Eye's summary of PTA in the current issue is just about perfect I think.
"Anderson is the current great Hollywood auteur, but ever since There Will Be Blood he's mostly been turning out worthless masterpieces. They're remarkable in almost every way but no real use to anyone."

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Scurra @scurra.com · 1d

The weird part for me is that they did the best update for it decades ago, in the shape of Monolith's Tron 2.0, which still stands up remarkably well.
(I don't disagree wrt to Wreck-It Ralph though! That's how you need to *actually* do that concept now.)
I thought Ares was fine. Just pointless.

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Scurra @scurra.com · 2d

The polarisation that was happening across society (probably exacerbated by the 80s) can be seen in religion with hindsight. The different 'wings' of Christianity, Islam, even Judaism (and others) actually became much more separated but if you weren't inside you were unlikely be aware of it.

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Scurra @scurra.com · 3d

I might even put Major at the top in that regard. Thatcher never really faced the "end-of-an-era/small majority" problem (see also Blair)? Major managed to keep his government running and passing significant legislation for five years even as it collapsed around him. That's an achievement.

Scurra @scurra.com · 4d

I think it was because at least one of the security services ran a lot of monitoring services there (for obvious reasons.) I think the prominent MI6 building in Vauxhall was classified in the same way - it's nonsense, but at least it's *consistent* nonsense!

Scurra @scurra.com · 4d

Also famous for being an "Official Secret" and thus not appearing on Ordnance Survey maps even though everybody could see it. (ISTR this may be an urban myth? It's too good to be true.)

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Scurra @scurra.com · 4d

Fine piece. But considers blocking you for the Sudoku slur. 🙂
I think "puzzles" fit your distinctions of coding quite well - a tool can turn out endless Sudoku, but handcrafted puzzles are more interesting to solve because the domain knowledge behind them is what enables unexpected stuff to happen.

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Scurra @scurra.com · 5d

I reread *Jingo* the other day. It's not in my top ten (which is an invidious idea anyway!) but boy, did it hit really, really hard just at the moment.

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Scurra @scurra.com · 6d

Oh wow, that brought on a Proustian rush of childhood memories!

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Scurra @scurra.com · 7d

It's also genuinely horrifying for those of us in churches who have spent centuries trying to explain why "King" in this context does *not* mean "authoritarian ruler who demands unquestioning obedience (and preferably patriarchal hierarchies to enforce it)" but that's what these men want.

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Scurra @scurra.com · 7d

And all four of those pictures are a great demonstration of why (generative) "AI" cannot ever work at more than a superficial level. All the artistic choices in those images are fantastic, but also delightfully intangible. Love them all.

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Scurra @scurra.com · 9d

Don't forget to visit the shop to buy your map and upgrades. Otherwise when you get to the double-jump bit, you'll be stuck.

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Scurra @scurra.com · 11d

No, I haven't got something in my eye.

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Scurra @scurra.com · 11d

Would you like the British to come over and do it again?

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Scurra @scurra.com · 12d

Chat-GPM. Magic.

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Scurra @scurra.com · 13d

Congratulations.

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Scurra @scurra.com · 14d

Presumably the inverse to Barry Cryer's joke, which is that it tastes like golden eagle.
(Guy shot an eagle, was prosecuted
Judge said "what did you do with it?"
Guy says "I ate it"
Judge says "what did it taste like?"
Guy says "rather like a swan")

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Scurra @scurra.com · 16d

The Netherlands seems to have gone a bit crazy too? And France isn't exactly showing brightness either. Honestly (and this is a deeply depressing thought) I put it down to a lack of a massive European war, which helped paper over the cracks every generation or so.

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Scurra @scurra.com · 16d

(remember also there is decent evidence that Cameron expected to be able to "negotiate away" the referendum in a coalition deal with the LibDems, just as he did in 2010. There are an almost infinite number of reasons why that was a stupid idea as well.)

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Scurra @scurra.com · 18d

A strong endorse of this, from another listener in the UK.
Especially as we watch our own Trumpian wannabees embrace all the same distressing techniques and too little pushback.

Scurra @scurra.com · 19d

Also possibly spooked by the rest of NATO unanimity over the "accidental" incursions. If it's clear that they won't splinter, and if anything are more resolved, then he loses a key tool there too. (Of course, that's ascribing awareness to Trump that may be overly generous based on evidence.)

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Scurra @scurra.com · 20d

Not just the internet, of course. As endless shelves of "self-help" books in shops and libraries will attest.

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Scurra @scurra.com · 21d

@slacktivistfred.bsky.social (who spent years on his blog wonderfully deconstructing the truly terrible Left Behind novels) posted this, which encapsulates it nicely.

bsky.app/profile/slac...

SlacktivistFred @slacktivistfred.bsky.social · 22d

In 1995 at a part-time bookstore job a customer wanted to special order “88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988.” It was out of print.

Customer: Out of print? But it’s such a good book.

Me: It’s 1995, sir.

C: But it’s a good—

Me: NINETEEN. NINETY—

My Boss: OK, let me handle this one.

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Scurra @scurra.com · 21d

I'm wondering how fast Starmer had to talk to get Canada and Australia to wait until after Trump had been and gone before formally doing it? Because it was clearly co-ordinated but imagine how much more difficult it would have made last week!

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