James T. Harding
@empowermint.bsky.social
Liable to tweet about books (SFF), RPGs, queer politics, Edinburgh, TypeScript, and my cats. Former publisher now working as a software engineer. He/him
Reposted by James T. Harding
No one in this ball pit is taking me seriously.
November 18, 2025 at 7:14 PM
No one in this ball pit is taking me seriously.
Reposted by James T. Harding
*sad trombone noise*
November 19, 2025 at 9:59 AM
*sad trombone noise*
Reposted by James T. Harding
Happy birthday to the Soviet linguist Yuri Knorozov who casually deciphered the Mayan script in 1952 and got pissed when editors removed his cat as co-author on papers or cropped her out of his author headshot (the only picture of himself he even liked)
November 19, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Happy birthday to the Soviet linguist Yuri Knorozov who casually deciphered the Mayan script in 1952 and got pissed when editors removed his cat as co-author on papers or cropped her out of his author headshot (the only picture of himself he even liked)
Reposted by James T. Harding
Argonaut Books needs your help 📣
Waterstones are set to open a store less than 100m from the indie bookshop's front door.
Full info on @argonautbooks.bsky.social's Insta: www.instagram.com/p/DRMULI1jCI...
Waterstones are set to open a store less than 100m from the indie bookshop's front door.
Full info on @argonautbooks.bsky.social's Insta: www.instagram.com/p/DRMULI1jCI...
November 18, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Argonaut Books needs your help 📣
Waterstones are set to open a store less than 100m from the indie bookshop's front door.
Full info on @argonautbooks.bsky.social's Insta: www.instagram.com/p/DRMULI1jCI...
Waterstones are set to open a store less than 100m from the indie bookshop's front door.
Full info on @argonautbooks.bsky.social's Insta: www.instagram.com/p/DRMULI1jCI...
Reposted by James T. Harding
Argonaut is my local, and is the best bookshop I've ever been near. They're lovely people who care about what they do, know the tastes of their regulars, and have been nothing but supportive of me and my work. Waterstones can fuck right off.
Waterstones to open about 100m from Argonaut, a particularly nice indie bookshop. Quote from Waterstones management makes it sound like they got Argonaut mixed up with the gaming café next door.
www.heraldscotland.com/news/2562908...
www.heraldscotland.com/news/2562908...
Anger as Waterstones snaps up prime site on doorstep of independent bookshop
UK's biggest bookselling chain under fire over plans for new store beside Edinburgh tram line.
www.heraldscotland.com
November 18, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Argonaut is my local, and is the best bookshop I've ever been near. They're lovely people who care about what they do, know the tastes of their regulars, and have been nothing but supportive of me and my work. Waterstones can fuck right off.
Waterstones to open about 100m from Argonaut, a particularly nice indie bookshop. Quote from Waterstones management makes it sound like they got Argonaut mixed up with the gaming café next door.
www.heraldscotland.com/news/2562908...
www.heraldscotland.com/news/2562908...
Anger as Waterstones snaps up prime site on doorstep of independent bookshop
UK's biggest bookselling chain under fire over plans for new store beside Edinburgh tram line.
www.heraldscotland.com
November 18, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Waterstones to open about 100m from Argonaut, a particularly nice indie bookshop. Quote from Waterstones management makes it sound like they got Argonaut mixed up with the gaming café next door.
www.heraldscotland.com/news/2562908...
www.heraldscotland.com/news/2562908...
Reposted by James T. Harding
Great explainer of small-press financing here. Note that at no point did the people doing the work of editing, production and publishing get paid.
How Much It Costs to Run a Literary Journal – 2025
Radon Journal is a not-for-profit science fiction publisher committed to transparency. This is our yearly public financial thread. We also want to show aspiring editors the true costs of running a semi-pro journal. #writingcommunity (1/10)
Radon Journal is a not-for-profit science fiction publisher committed to transparency. This is our yearly public financial thread. We also want to show aspiring editors the true costs of running a semi-pro journal. #writingcommunity (1/10)
November 17, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Great explainer of small-press financing here. Note that at no point did the people doing the work of editing, production and publishing get paid.
Labour apparently got Snowpiercer mixed up with its ministerial training video
November 17, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Labour apparently got Snowpiercer mixed up with its ministerial training video
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trans people exist.
billionaires shouldn't.
billionaires shouldn't.
November 16, 2025 at 6:23 PM
trans people exist.
billionaires shouldn't.
billionaires shouldn't.
Reposted by James T. Harding
London Mayor Sadiq Khan on why the Far Right lie about London crime: “They don’t want our modern, multicultural, progressive metropolis to succeed because they can’t stomach the truth. London is a place where people of every creed, colour and culture live together in peace and mutual respect.”
November 16, 2025 at 2:03 PM
London Mayor Sadiq Khan on why the Far Right lie about London crime: “They don’t want our modern, multicultural, progressive metropolis to succeed because they can’t stomach the truth. London is a place where people of every creed, colour and culture live together in peace and mutual respect.”
Reposted by James T. Harding
There is no difference in practice between removing rights of individuals and leaving the ECHR. The end outcome is still the same, people lose rights. If human rights are an obstacle to your policy it is not the rights which are the issue, it is your policy. Labour going full Reform at this stage.
November 16, 2025 at 10:00 AM
There is no difference in practice between removing rights of individuals and leaving the ECHR. The end outcome is still the same, people lose rights. If human rights are an obstacle to your policy it is not the rights which are the issue, it is your policy. Labour going full Reform at this stage.
Reposted by James T. Harding
Labour turning the dial that says "racism" and looking back towards the public like a contestant on the price is right only to discover every time they turn the dial the only thing that changes is Reform's increasing vote share.
Your strategy of xenophobia has already failed. More won't help.
Your strategy of xenophobia has already failed. More won't help.
November 15, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Labour turning the dial that says "racism" and looking back towards the public like a contestant on the price is right only to discover every time they turn the dial the only thing that changes is Reform's increasing vote share.
Your strategy of xenophobia has already failed. More won't help.
Your strategy of xenophobia has already failed. More won't help.
Reposted by James T. Harding
Attacks on VPNs are attacks on digital privacy and digital freedom. And that battle is being fought by people who clearly have no idea how any of this technology actually works. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
Lawmakers Want to Ban VPNs—And They Have No Idea What They're Doing
It's unfortunately no longer enough to force websites to check your government-issued ID before you can access certain content, because politicians have now discovered that people are using Virtual
www.eff.org
November 15, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Attacks on VPNs are attacks on digital privacy and digital freedom. And that battle is being fought by people who clearly have no idea how any of this technology actually works. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
Reposted by James T. Harding
To reiterate, this is about making life immeasurably more miserable and stressful for some of the most vulnerable people, in the almost certainly vain hope of winning over the votes of racists.
Anything more shabby and shameful is difficult to envisage.
Anything more shabby and shameful is difficult to envisage.
Asylum in UK to be made temporary under Home Secretary’s plans
Shabana Mahmood will lay out reforms modelled on the Danish system on Monday.
www.independent.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 9:14 AM
To reiterate, this is about making life immeasurably more miserable and stressful for some of the most vulnerable people, in the almost certainly vain hope of winning over the votes of racists.
Anything more shabby and shameful is difficult to envisage.
Anything more shabby and shameful is difficult to envisage.
Reposted by James T. Harding
Computers were a skill. They were taught in classrooms as a skill. Skills give you power over your tools because you work them as an expert and that is leverage to multiply externally.
And then computers became an A/B tested telemetry-based advertising conduit to brains for SaaS recurring revenue.
And then computers became an A/B tested telemetry-based advertising conduit to brains for SaaS recurring revenue.
November 14, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Computers were a skill. They were taught in classrooms as a skill. Skills give you power over your tools because you work them as an expert and that is leverage to multiply externally.
And then computers became an A/B tested telemetry-based advertising conduit to brains for SaaS recurring revenue.
And then computers became an A/B tested telemetry-based advertising conduit to brains for SaaS recurring revenue.
Reposted by James T. Harding
One of the best lions in the history of art. Detail of Saint Jerome Extracting a Thorn from a Lion's Paw by the Master of the Murano Gradual (Italian, active about 1430-1460), Tempera and gold leaf, Ms. 106 (2010.21), recto (J. Paul Getty Museum)
August 26, 2024 at 4:06 PM
One of the best lions in the history of art. Detail of Saint Jerome Extracting a Thorn from a Lion's Paw by the Master of the Murano Gradual (Italian, active about 1430-1460), Tempera and gold leaf, Ms. 106 (2010.21), recto (J. Paul Getty Museum)
Reposted by James T. Harding
I’m sorry I just found out that in 1379, as in, 650 years ago, a baby girl was born in Yorkshire and named Diot Coke
history is a fucking joke lmao
history is a fucking joke lmao
November 13, 2025 at 10:50 PM
I’m sorry I just found out that in 1379, as in, 650 years ago, a baby girl was born in Yorkshire and named Diot Coke
history is a fucking joke lmao
history is a fucking joke lmao
Reposted by James T. Harding
And today a reminder that there are real people whose lives are affected by the current C of E policies on LGBTQIA+ relationships viamedia.news/2025/11/13/a...
A Question of Conscience - ViaMedia.News
by Revd Ruth Harley (Vicar, Cowgate and Priest in Charge, Newbiggin Hall) Standing at the font, I smiled at the scene unfolding in front of me. A happily gurgling baby and his two proud parents, surro...
viamedia.news
November 13, 2025 at 8:01 AM
And today a reminder that there are real people whose lives are affected by the current C of E policies on LGBTQIA+ relationships viamedia.news/2025/11/13/a...
Reposted by James T. Harding
If the Prescott memo is true, and there is a secret cabal of LGBTQ+ journalists stopping any negative stories about trans people being published or aired at BBC News, then, I have to say, they’re doing a really fucking shit job of that.
November 12, 2025 at 10:41 AM
If the Prescott memo is true, and there is a secret cabal of LGBTQ+ journalists stopping any negative stories about trans people being published or aired at BBC News, then, I have to say, they’re doing a really fucking shit job of that.
Reposted by James T. Harding
The British government admits it is now monitoring VPNs use by UK residents. Regulator Ofcom has contracted with an AI-powered surveillance service to detect the number of citizens using VPNs to evade the Online Safety Act.
The UK tech minister has said a VPN ban is on the table.
The UK tech minister has said a VPN ban is on the table.
Exclusive: Ofcom is monitoring VPNs following Online Safety Act. Here's how
Ignoring VPNs risks creating ineffective laws, but tracking them threatens people's privacy
www.techradar.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:39 PM
The British government admits it is now monitoring VPNs use by UK residents. Regulator Ofcom has contracted with an AI-powered surveillance service to detect the number of citizens using VPNs to evade the Online Safety Act.
The UK tech minister has said a VPN ban is on the table.
The UK tech minister has said a VPN ban is on the table.
Reposted by James T. Harding
Can a robot do housework for you? Absolutely not, but you're more likely to believe one can if it has arms and walks around on two legs like a person
November 11, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Can a robot do housework for you? Absolutely not, but you're more likely to believe one can if it has arms and walks around on two legs like a person
The only line Labour has left it that its institutional inertia is advantageous. The reality is that it has purged so much its competent left that any serious political talent entering the game now is joining the Greens or biding their time to see how YP pans out.
What happens if the Greens overtake Labour in the polls? All bets are off | Gaby Hinsliff
What happens if the Greens overtake Labour in the polls? All bets are off | Gaby Hinsliff
They may lack Labour’s party machine, but Zack Polanski’s burgeoning popularity could have seismic consequences for British politics, says Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:29 AM
The only line Labour has left it that its institutional inertia is advantageous. The reality is that it has purged so much its competent left that any serious political talent entering the game now is joining the Greens or biding their time to see how YP pans out.
Reposted by James T. Harding
A radio programme like the Shipping Forecast but it’s called Bin Day and it just reads out every single council in the country’s bin schedule
November 10, 2025 at 11:53 PM
A radio programme like the Shipping Forecast but it’s called Bin Day and it just reads out every single council in the country’s bin schedule
Reposted by James T. Harding
shout out to men on the subway with ereaders. you may not get the attention men with physical books get for some reason but i appreciate that you're signaling to the world "moving apartments is a lot easier for me"
November 10, 2025 at 4:35 PM
shout out to men on the subway with ereaders. you may not get the attention men with physical books get for some reason but i appreciate that you're signaling to the world "moving apartments is a lot easier for me"