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Alex MacLaren

@alexmaclaren.bsky.social

150 followers 420 following 1.4K posts

Reading, cooking, counting my blessings

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Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · Jan 24

If you care about the meaning of words, the Oxford English Dictionary offers free access to its online version via your local library, something that amazed me when I discovered it and has delighted and reassured me ever since. Libraries are the best. Go here: www.oed.com/information/...

Oxford English Dictionary

The OED is the definitive record of the English language, featuring 600,000 words, 3 million quotations, and over 1,000 years of English.

www.oed.com

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Jill Blake @biscuitkitten.bsky.social · 17h

“the girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa”

Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund in Casablanca

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Joe Uchill @joeuchill.bsky.social · 7h

For the record…

Truth social TOS says dms are not encrypted.

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Ben Fenton @benfenton.bsky.social · 10h

If a news organisation is making -200% margin after five years, it is not a commercial operation and should be assumed to have a different purpose.

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 12h

The channel lost £33 million to communicate its content to a large audience
www.business-live.co.uk/enterprise/g...

GB News suffers huge loss despite doubling revenue and growing audience

The TV channel, whose well-known presenters include Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, fell to a pre-tax loss of £33.4m in the year to 31 May, 2024

www.business-live.co.uk

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Katie @vimtotime.bsky.social · 12h

I thought I would do a thread to reply to the below pal because there is a lot to consider about being autistic and feeling comfortable with people. It’s something I have thought a lot about recently 💘🧵

Jennifer Sensiba, Desert Bloom RV Adventures @desertbloomrv.com · 14h

Tell me more. I'm curious what it's like. Do you mean like you feel like you can't be weird around people?

(Weird isn't being used negatively here)

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Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 11h

Fantastic thread! Following you.

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Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 11h

That bit about the gold chain through the collar is very much relatable content

Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 12h

I just watched a horrible youtube video in which Polish film-makers' words were auto-translated into English subtitles, which were simultaneously read out by a computer-generated voice. I had a visceral reaction, not the usual queasiness I associate with generative AI content, more like "mild anger"

Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 12h

It's one of the most profoundly intimate collaborative endeavours, and leading it is terribly difficult

Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 19h

I deliberately chose last Friday to do both, hoping that by Monday would be fine. Blows out cheeks. I was ok by Tuesday morning but a close call I tell you

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Grant @gdubbstl.bsky.social · 20h

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Denise Wheeler @denisedwheeler.bsky.social · 1d

Reuters photographer Jonathan Ernst noticed that Bondi flipped open a file during the Senate hearing and he zoomed in.

Inside were her crib notes for attacking the senators.

The GOP now practicing Cliff's Notes Fascism

In other words, under oath Bondi was purely a performance.

Bondi senate hearing had a folder full of notes for attacking the senators

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Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 1d

I’m imagining the furious conversation after exposure five, when cleaning lady’s unionized status means she can’t be moved to other premises. Archbishop complains to new girfriend about this. Slily says ‘but she doesn’t work Thursdays’. Never give up, your grace

Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 2d

Everyone should keep asking him about his antics in the world of planning permission.

Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 3d

I think the work of belief-sustaining is what mainly occupies their time and energy. Though there are many conmen of their number too, I don’t doubt

Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 3d

You don’t think some are discovering they are out of their depth? Many have no experience of managing a budget beyond their own households; famously on election night there were many victorious paper candidates urgently discussing how they could stand down immediately.

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Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 3d

I hesitate to apply the term ‘stupidity‘, but I do think some of these people are in good faith, and must be managing some real dismay. There is no doubt that others are just vandals, using fantasies of prudence as cover

Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 4d

This is basically a supergroup of UK screen dramatic talent, and the challenge will be to see it straight through the high expectations: www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Riot women! Inside Sally Wainwright’s joyous, raucous TV show about menopausal punks

The Happy Valley creator has turned her darkest hour into a rebellious tale of midlife women uniting in musical anarchy. The team behind the highly awaited drama talk vodka, rock’n’roll and hot flushe...

www.theguardian.com

Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 4d

Well, look at them. Tools? or jewels?

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Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 4d

As a fellow whisk-mender, I endorse this. When you get one that is weighted such that it doesn’t trebuchet your cake mix across the kitchen wall, you keep it alive dammit

Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 4d

Good thoughts these, and the sympathetic ear is already improving my kitchen mood

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Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 4d

It infuriates me because there was no need to rubberise anything, and they are otherwise excellent utensils now spoiled. My paranoid brain is beginning to suspect deliberate built-in obsolescence.

Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 4d

Alright, please help me, internet. Some of my kitchen utensils came with a space-age rubberized grip element, which in my hands has degraded into a foul, almost sticky, texture. What am I doing wrong? Why did the manufacturers do this? And have they stopped?

Kitchen scissors and a bread dough scraper, the handles of which have been clad in some terrible material which has turned into chewing gum

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Alex MacLaren @alexmaclaren.bsky.social · 4d

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attingh...

Attingham Park - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

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Alona Ferber @aloner.bsky.social · 4d

The Board of Deputies’ response to the Israeli government inviting Tommy Robinson to visit

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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 4d

What an admirably clear statement from the Jewish Leadership Council, especially when all of those involved must surely have been dealing with so many other urgent challenges in safety, security and grief + shock today before having this further divisive and distracting intervention to address too.

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