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Reposted by James Vincent

Maris Kreizman @maris.bsky.social · 22h

This is so damn scary. The book claimed that Jeffrey Epstein was the one who introduced Donald and Melania. Now the CEO of Harper UK is out.

Jay Rayner @jayrayner1.bsky.social · 1d

In other news Charlie Redmayne, the long serving CEO of HC in the UK, resigned yesterday.

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James Vincent @jjvincent.bsky.social · 1d

thank you jay! though I would say that one can take the phrase to heart without it becoming , as you say, bullshit. as I said in the piece, i think it's generally quite advice; but obviously it's been deployed in a certain way right now...

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James Vincent @jjvincent.bsky.social · 1d

damn, hadn't seen this - wonderful, thank you!

James Vincent @jjvincent.bsky.social · 1d

solid plan (also, solid beard)

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James Vincent @jjvincent.bsky.social · 1d

the harder i work the more hideous my moustache becomes; science has yet to account for this

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Reposted by James Vincent

savin dos louvadeus 🦗 @savcavalcante.behind.camera · Jul 1

fiquei obcecado, catei um catálogo do cara e vi tudo até esbarrar num louva-a-deus - é CLARO que ia ter um

temos um louvinha, uma efêmera e um inseto imaginário, muito simbolismo rolando

print de uma ilustração de Joris Hoefnagel contando um louva-a-deus verde, uma efêmera e um inseto imaginário que parece um dragãozinho de seus patas e quatro asas; todos em cores e feitos com realismo.

no topo, lê-se em latim:"privs locvsta bovem".

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James Vincent @jjvincent.bsky.social · 2d

brilliant piece on prion diseases. i hadn't realized that the discovery of the link between prions and neurodegenerative disorders was so recent.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Stephen Buranyi · Folding and Unfolding: Protein to Prion

How and why do proteins, which are produced by our body to build structures (such as skin and muscle) or carry out tasks...

www.lrb.co.uk

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Reposted by James Vincent

The Baffler @thebaffler.com · 2d

Can you really “just do things?” As @jjvincent.bsky.social writes, the popularity of the exhortation speaks to a pessimism about society’s capacity to improve itself—throwing responsibility back on the individual.

High-Agency Individuals | James Vincent

The exhortation to “just do things” is in part a response to the specter of automation.

thebaffler.com

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James Vincent @jjvincent.bsky.social · 2d

I wrote about whether or not you can really "just do things" — a meme that responds to a world in which institutional power is increasingly sclerotic and individual agency under threat from AI
thebaffler.com/latest/high-...

High-Agency Individuals | James Vincent

The exhortation to “just do things” is in part a response to the specter of automation.

thebaffler.com

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Reposted by James Vincent

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 5d

Macron remarks are notable- some quotes: "We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks that are controlled either by large American entrepreneurs or large Chinese companies, whose interests are not at all the survival or proper functioning of our democracies."

Defend Democracy @defenddemocracy.bsky.social · 6d

President Macron: “Europeans, let's wake up!

We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks.”

defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...

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James Vincent @jjvincent.bsky.social · 5d

on a different tangent, it made me think of Jan Švankmajer's work. in Švankmajer's films, faces are malleable rather than sources of stable identity. this is uncomfortable, but also offers opportunity for connection as we smushed the sacred into one other youtu.be/EbbNuGkHO_0?...

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James Vincent @jjvincent.bsky.social · 5d

fascinating piece here on the face as a particularly contested site in contemporary politics. this focus is overdetermined: a response to facial recognition and biometrics, to masking by protestors and police, to a video culture that prizes human response
www.theideasletter.org/essay/facial...

Facial Recognitions - The Ideas Letter

Davies traces the political history of the human face, showing how it has become both a weapon and a site of contestation—from far-right mobilizations fueled by viral images to the…

www.theideasletter.org

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Reposted by James Vincent

Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 6d

In her lunch with the FT the OnlyFans CEO says her company pays more tax than the entire British fishing industry. Quite a stat.

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James Vincent @jjvincent.bsky.social · 6d

my cheap bluetooth earphones often disconnect in one or both ears and it’s annoying but also kind of pleasing. it makes the invisible connection something almost physical, that i “untangle” in 3D space by moving my phone or waggling my head like I’m dislodging water from my ears

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James Vincent @jjvincent.bsky.social · 6d

strauss parsed socrates for hidden truths; online rw'ers celebrate when their favourite towelboy meme shows up in a DHS fashwave video.

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James Vincent @jjvincent.bsky.social · 6d

good piece on the heritage of leo strauss and the claremont institute. made me think about how the concept of straussian eso/exoteric readings and hidden truths fits (in a degenerate fashion) online meme culture www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2025/1...

Donald Trump, Charlie Kirk and the Claremonsters

Meet the philosophical cabal remaking America

www.newstatesman.com

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Zachary Lesser @zacharylesser.bsky.social · 6d

Kofta kebab recipe in England c. 1660. Amazing find!

Danielle Clarke @rhetorician.bsky.social · 6d

Would anyone like to take a guess at the word before “kebob”? Which predates OED - ms is 1660

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James Vincent @jjvincent.bsky.social · 7d

you do have to admire OpenAI's chutzpah for holding a gun to the global economy, stacking dubious deal on dodgy evaluation, and telling the world: this is going to work or we're taking you all down with us

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James Vincent @jjvincent.bsky.social · 8d

"Police in a Silicon Valley suburb were flummoxed last weekend after pulling over a self-driving Waymo robo-taxi for making an illegal turn, then finding no driver they could issue with a ticket." www.theregister.com/2025/09/29/c...

California cops confused after trying to ticket Waymo

: Don't tell Elon, he'd have Tesla's Robotaxis going ludicrous speed

www.theregister.com

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Reposted by James Vincent

Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 8d

I hope people understand just how horrifying this is as a trans person.

You could just be getting in with your life, not doing anything to hurt anyone - and suddenly you find yourself dragged into a horrible legal case where the press is painting your going to the toilet as somehow predatory.

Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 8d

So tired

[News Letter]

Trans case hears of ‘secret toilet’

An engineer began using a “secret toilet” at her workplace after encountering a transgender colleague in the female bathrooms, an employment tribunal has heard.

Maria Kelly said she does not want to “sacrifice my privacy and my dignity” by sharing toilets with a man and is taking legal action against her employer Leonardo UK.

She has lodged a complaint alleging harassment, direct and indirect discrimination.

Ms Kelly, people and capability lead for the aerospace firm’s electronics department in Edinburgh, said that as someone who suffers from heavy periods, female toilets are important to her as a place of refuge and privacy to deal with them.

She told the tribunal in Edinburgh that after encountering a transgender colleague in the female bathrooms she began using two toilets that only women know about.

She added: “I don’t know any man who knows about them. I know women who use them because of the increased privacy.”

Ms Kelly said she had first become aware of a transgender person using the female toilets in 2019 when a member of staff from an office elsewhere in the UK came to Edinburgh and female colleagues told her about it, seeming “genuinely upset”.

She said she did not raise the issue with the company at the time as she feared being labelled “transphobic” or being put on the “naughty list”.

Her lawyer Naomi Cunningham asked her for her understanding of what constitutes a man and a woman.

She replied: “It’s always been related to sex, so it’s the sex that you were born, so if you were born male you remain male and if you were born female you remain female.”

The tribunal continues.

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James Vincent @jjvincent.bsky.social · 8d

can't imagine one of these beetle-bots making it over blackfriars bridge during rush hour without causing trouble. i still get pissed off at the tourist trikes which make passing impossible

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James Vincent @jjvincent.bsky.social · 8d

interesting: doordash plans to put its new autonomous delivery robots (pictured) in US bike lanes. could this be good for cycling infrastructure? it could create pressure to expand lanes to manage more traffic (or they might just be clogged up) www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

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James Vincent @jjvincent.bsky.social · 8d

there's no real explanation for why these subjects share space, but it's irresistible to note that pillows present an awakening: the head and hand are prepatory sketches for his 1493 self-portrait, considered to be one of the first independent self-portraits in western art

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James Vincent @jjvincent.bsky.social · 8d

looking at Dürer's pillow studies this morning. on the recto, a self-portrait, hand, and pillow; the verso, six more pillows. these are, i think, just sketches - drapery studies - but the juxtaposition of self and pillow seems symbolic. the ruffled pillows as the imprint of the dreaming imagination.

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Reposted by James Vincent

vantazach @vantazach.bsky.social · 9d

10/10. no notes

"Comedians performing at the festival’s headliners do not seem particularly concerned about the criticism – or the alleged wrongdoing. “One reporter was killed by the government – unfortunate, but not a fucking hill that I’m gonna die on,” Jim Jefferies said on Theo Von’s podcast in August, arguing it is for the greater good that “freedom-of-speech machines” such as himself bestow their “edgy” material on the kingdom and its subjects. (Since making the comments, Jefferies has since disappeared from the festival’s lineup; his representatives did not respond to inquiries about this.)"

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