Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 36m

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Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 2h

… Clarkson would split the vote, more or less guarantee the seat for Labour

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Reposted by Patrick Middleton

Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · 6h

“With your patient and rigorous work, you can act as a barrier against those who, through the ancient art of lying, seek to create divisions in order to rule by dividing,” he said. “You can be a bulwark of civility against the quicksand of approximation and post-truth...”

apnews.com/article/pope...

Pope urges news agencies to stand as bulwark against lies, manipulation and post-truths

Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the “ancient art of lying” and manipulation.

apnews.com

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Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 8h

Alan Turing on the £50 note?
Bah.
Shoulda picked Bill Penney

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Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 8h

Tommy Flowers, come on down

Reposted by Patrick Middleton

Bethany Moore @historyandmoore.bsky.social · 1d

Bits and pieces seen left on the wall at Ulster Tower yesterday afternoon, which the group were fascinated with. Including a driving band, a round still with cordite in and the remains of a boot. I wonder who it belonged to...

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Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 9h

Snap!

M10 Achilles (tank destroyer, Royal Ordnance 17pdr gun) at La Roche en Ardennes, picture taken July 2025

Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 9h

+1

Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 14h

This is an exact encapsulation of why I moved to Bluesky.

No amount of handwringing in the Atlantic about how I owe some eternal Promethean suffering to the discourse is going to make me stay on a site I hate, that stopped doing anything for me professionally years ago.

Well – no. Bluesky may or may not be, as one centre-right friend who felt unwelcome put it, “self-righteous island”. But the idea that’s why we went is nonsense. That I’ve largely stopped posting on a site that’s done more to shape my career and social circle than the rest of the internet combined is less about avoiding rival opinions (I love arguing with people who are wrong!) than with the fact the site simply became unusable. It stopped generating the things (good jokes, interesting debate, clicks) I wanted; it became extremely good at generating the things (racists, pornbots, racist pornbots) I did not.

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Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 22h

Intriguing. How 'bout tantalum, indium or neodymium, stuff US industry uses?

Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 1d

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Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 1d

BBC late to the party

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Icebreakers and golf forge Trump and Finnish leader's unlikely friendship

Alexander Stubb has become a key voice for Europe at the White House amid the Ukraine war.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 2d

Wilkin & Sons of Tiptree for me, far end of the county, about an hour’s drive

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Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 2d

Making glass bottles and jars? The industry completely revolutionised in the 19th century by the invention (in the USA, naturally) of the Owen machine?

Tsk

Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 2d

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Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 2d

Mile & A Third public house Oktoberfest; promotional image featuring Bjorn the Badger wearing Lederhosen and toting a Mass

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Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 2d

Let me guess: training site, in support of exports?

Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 2d

Yeah, well, the power of magical thinking.
They prefer to believe in a truth they want, rather than contemplate the actual truth

… the real world does not, cannot lie.

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Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 2d

Mmm? It is October after all

Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 2d

yes, well, how many of the lizards did he end?

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Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 2d

A fundamentalist Islamic state, tolerating gender reassignment surgery in any way?
I call BS.

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Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 2d

If you have the eyesight to track a golf ball in flight, that is an advantage that is immense in any sport.
Experienced golfers can spot the ball because, having hit it, knowing how they hit it, they know where to expect it to be.

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Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 2d

“The most common collective nouns for a group of pelicans are a squadron, pod, pouch or scoop of pelican”

birdfact.com/articles/wha...

What is a Group of Pelicans Called? (Complete Guide)

Pelicans are gregarious and social birds that colonise islands and coastal areas, so, what is a group of pelicans called? The most common collective nouns…

birdfact.com

Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 3d

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Reposted by Patrick Middleton

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 3d

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Patrick Middleton @leeharveyosmond.bsky.social · 3d

Given that in medieval Bruges, the public baths were where the real deals were made, possibly sweetened with some of the horde of prostitutes infesting the baths … clean?

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