Alex MacFarlane
@aghowes.bsky.social
Peripatetic postdoctoral scholar, researching the medieval Armenian Alexander Romance and 19th-century Caucasus cosmopolitanism. Films, trains, British. They/them.
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Top tip: to avoid having the British Union of Fascists logo on the side of your mock-up train, don't use horrible text-to-image AI slop instead of actual designers and artists.
www.scotsman.com/news/transpo...
www.scotsman.com/news/transpo...
February 2, 2026 at 8:50 AM
Top tip: to avoid having the British Union of Fascists logo on the side of your mock-up train, don't use horrible text-to-image AI slop instead of actual designers and artists.
www.scotsman.com/news/transpo...
www.scotsman.com/news/transpo...
I'd forgotten that when someone visits your Animal Crossing island, you get their contrails in the sky. Lovely game.
February 1, 2026 at 10:04 PM
I'd forgotten that when someone visits your Animal Crossing island, you get their contrails in the sky. Lovely game.
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
I’ve seen young people asking why the people in the 2000s seem so optimistic/hopeful/joyful. They speculate it’s because it was before smart phones and social media. They’re incorrect, it’s because we had mashups. Where our parents could only listen to Linkin Park or Jay-Z, we could finally do both.
July 17, 2025 at 3:10 PM
I’ve seen young people asking why the people in the 2000s seem so optimistic/hopeful/joyful. They speculate it’s because it was before smart phones and social media. They’re incorrect, it’s because we had mashups. Where our parents could only listen to Linkin Park or Jay-Z, we could finally do both.
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
every epstein file drop underscores how elite power operates through shared socio-economic networks, regardless of people's ideological differences, populist posturing, or public feuds
January 30, 2026 at 11:58 PM
every epstein file drop underscores how elite power operates through shared socio-economic networks, regardless of people's ideological differences, populist posturing, or public feuds
Couldn't get headphones to pair w my laptop (in hindsight, should've set it up at home rather than in the BL reading room, where there's 60 'unknown device' options), so re-connected them with my phone and tried there on Zoom app, which played audio from my phone even after I frantically muted it.
January 29, 2026 at 4:06 PM
Couldn't get headphones to pair w my laptop (in hindsight, should've set it up at home rather than in the BL reading room, where there's 60 'unknown device' options), so re-connected them with my phone and tried there on Zoom app, which played audio from my phone even after I frantically muted it.
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Unlike Palestine Action activists, this guy who planted a homemade bomb in a public place was granted bail.
"Rees told jurors he joined “anti-Ulez” Facebook groups and pages out of “boredom” and because it provided him with a sense of community."
63 yo blew up a ulez camera, endangering people around it, after getting radicalised with conspiracy theories on Facebook
63 yo blew up a ulez camera, endangering people around it, after getting radicalised with conspiracy theories on Facebook
Not enough coverage in the UK media about the 63 year old who blew up a Ulez camera in London using a homemade bomb. www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/man...
January 29, 2026 at 10:23 AM
Unlike Palestine Action activists, this guy who planted a homemade bomb in a public place was granted bail.
I'm going back to the literature to shore up my usage of certain terms, and I enjoy the discovery that prosimetrum is in the same elite class as sadomasochism.
January 29, 2026 at 2:10 PM
I'm going back to the literature to shore up my usage of certain terms, and I enjoy the discovery that prosimetrum is in the same elite class as sadomasochism.
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Hampstead Ponds will remain inclusive. Our analysis of the judgment.
Hampstead Heath Ponds to remain inclusive
The High Court has blocked a legal challenge from transphobic group Sex Matters, siding with thousands of swimmers who fought to keep the ponds inclusive
goodlaw.social
January 29, 2026 at 12:07 PM
Hampstead Ponds will remain inclusive. Our analysis of the judgment.
This is a hell of a thread.
I think I might take one of these "under 20 minutes" AI skills courses the UK Govt. seems very keen on everyone doing and live-post it here... Maybe we can all learn something together! The press release sends me to aiskillshub.org.uk/aiskillsboost/ - let's go and see!
AI Skills Boost - AI Skills Hub
aiskillshub.org.uk
January 29, 2026 at 11:32 AM
This is a hell of a thread.
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Editorial Note: It has taken more than 20 minutes to get this far, including at least one point at which most people would have closed the laptop and gone outside. I'm not suggesting that government infects any IT it touches with incompetence, but I'm not NOT suggesting that either.
January 28, 2026 at 12:39 PM
Editorial Note: It has taken more than 20 minutes to get this far, including at least one point at which most people would have closed the laptop and gone outside. I'm not suggesting that government infects any IT it touches with incompetence, but I'm not NOT suggesting that either.
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
We need to talk about the tips, by the way. There's a few, but this one:
"Write neutral prompts to avoid guiding the AI towards a biased response, such as, "Why is renewable energy the only way to save our planet?" Use open questions to receive information from different angles."
Well.
"Write neutral prompts to avoid guiding the AI towards a biased response, such as, "Why is renewable energy the only way to save our planet?" Use open questions to receive information from different angles."
Well.
January 28, 2026 at 1:07 PM
We need to talk about the tips, by the way. There's a few, but this one:
"Write neutral prompts to avoid guiding the AI towards a biased response, such as, "Why is renewable energy the only way to save our planet?" Use open questions to receive information from different angles."
Well.
"Write neutral prompts to avoid guiding the AI towards a biased response, such as, "Why is renewable energy the only way to save our planet?" Use open questions to receive information from different angles."
Well.
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
The number of people living in deep poverty has increased to 6.8 million, and Labour has no effective strategy to deal with it
www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/...
www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/...
Labour next to useless as people in "very deep poverty" reaches highest level ever
The number of people living in deep poverty has increased to 6.8 million, and Labour has no effective strategy to deal with it
www.thecanary.co
January 28, 2026 at 12:28 PM
The number of people living in deep poverty has increased to 6.8 million, and Labour has no effective strategy to deal with it
www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/...
www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/...
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Announcing Bog Bodies from Dreamfeel!
A "short hike”-alike 3d adventure set in a far future Ireland populated only by radioactive talking cats.
Players explore a late 19th c inspired landscape full of strange characters and stories...
A "short hike”-alike 3d adventure set in a far future Ireland populated only by radioactive talking cats.
Players explore a late 19th c inspired landscape full of strange characters and stories...
January 27, 2026 at 5:43 PM
Announcing Bog Bodies from Dreamfeel!
A "short hike”-alike 3d adventure set in a far future Ireland populated only by radioactive talking cats.
Players explore a late 19th c inspired landscape full of strange characters and stories...
A "short hike”-alike 3d adventure set in a far future Ireland populated only by radioactive talking cats.
Players explore a late 19th c inspired landscape full of strange characters and stories...
Rare good news from the current government, inexplicably announced first in a tiktok.
www.gov.uk/government/n...
www.gov.uk/government/n...
PM: “We're capping ground rents at £250”
PM caps ground rents at £250 a year in game-changing shake up of leasehold system and to support families with the cost of living.
www.gov.uk
January 27, 2026 at 10:51 AM
Rare good news from the current government, inexplicably announced first in a tiktok.
www.gov.uk/government/n...
www.gov.uk/government/n...
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Bitterly disappointing that the UK has lost its Measles elimination status again.
"UN health body says Britain is one of six countries in Europe and central Asia where disease has become re-established"
"UN health body says Britain is one of six countries in Europe and central Asia where disease has become re-established"
UK loses WHO status as measles-free after rise in deaths and fall in jab uptake
UN health body says Britain is one of six countries in Europe and central Asia where disease has become re-established
www.theguardian.com
January 26, 2026 at 9:54 PM
Bitterly disappointing that the UK has lost its Measles elimination status again.
"UN health body says Britain is one of six countries in Europe and central Asia where disease has become re-established"
"UN health body says Britain is one of six countries in Europe and central Asia where disease has become re-established"
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
![VOLITION [Easy: Success] - Are you positive that what you're doing here is proper police conduct? You can still leave and do *nothing*.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:mep7vbluuywkjxdsds3cjacn/bafkreifpci55j7ypqmwsob5fk2ssotbl7xh3ipfvwk4obq5kq2rvvabgyi@jpeg)
The hygienist said my tooth and gum hygiene looks perfect and I only need to see her every 12 months. I had bad dental habits (or lack thereof) as a young person, so this is a very satisfying achievement.
January 26, 2026 at 6:33 PM
The hygienist said my tooth and gum hygiene looks perfect and I only need to see her every 12 months. I had bad dental habits (or lack thereof) as a young person, so this is a very satisfying achievement.
Trying to get back into research, not only because I have some articles edits I need to return within the next week but because if this unemployment is going to continue to drag on, I need to be the one to end the rot of 2025.
January 26, 2026 at 3:15 PM
Trying to get back into research, not only because I have some articles edits I need to return within the next week but because if this unemployment is going to continue to drag on, I need to be the one to end the rot of 2025.
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Rights group says confirmed Iran protest toll nears 6,000
www.al-monitor.com/originals/20...
www.al-monitor.com/originals/20...
Rights group says confirmed Iran protest toll nears 6,000
A US-based rights group said Monday it had confirmed the deaths of 5,848 people in a wave of protests in Iran suppressed by security forces, warning that it was still investigating thousands more…
www.al-monitor.com
January 26, 2026 at 10:27 AM
Rights group says confirmed Iran protest toll nears 6,000
www.al-monitor.com/originals/20...
www.al-monitor.com/originals/20...
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
I keep thinking “my god the people they’ve killed seem like exceptionally good folks” and I think the lesson there is that they’re not exceptional, but that wonderful people abound and that a baseline distrust in humanity is a shitty conservative trope that privileges power over collective strength
you don't become a martyr because you were a saint, you become a saint because you were martyred
I agree that we can’t make Alex Pretti a Benedictine monk because that’s a trap, but we can talk about the good things we did because people will see and hear them and think “I do those things too”
January 25, 2026 at 12:27 AM
I keep thinking “my god the people they’ve killed seem like exceptionally good folks” and I think the lesson there is that they’re not exceptional, but that wonderful people abound and that a baseline distrust in humanity is a shitty conservative trope that privileges power over collective strength
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
His name was Alex Pretti, he was 37. He was recording ICE, directing traffic, and helping up someone agents had shoved to the ground. They murdered him for it.
January 24, 2026 at 7:14 PM
His name was Alex Pretti, he was 37. He was recording ICE, directing traffic, and helping up someone agents had shoved to the ground. They murdered him for it.
🍾 JFS MENTIONED 🍾
January 24, 2026 at 7:07 PM
🍾 JFS MENTIONED 🍾
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
It's -20 in Minneapolis and organizers are in the streets before dawn getting ready for actions related to the general strike. They've had locals training out-of-town volunteers on how to prepare for and endure the cold. AND IT IS WORKING. THE STRIKE IS HAPPENING. THE CITY IS DOING THE DAMN THING...
January 23, 2026 at 12:42 PM
It's -20 in Minneapolis and organizers are in the streets before dawn getting ready for actions related to the general strike. They've had locals training out-of-town volunteers on how to prepare for and endure the cold. AND IT IS WORKING. THE STRIKE IS HAPPENING. THE CITY IS DOING THE DAMN THING...