mark thompson
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markposts.bsky.social
mark thompson
@markposts.bsky.social
data software engineer @ Twenty3 Sports || sport for all || (he/him) || ⚽🎾💻📰🏎️🤖
Trying something with the 'Live Football Chat' feed to remove the need to remember a hashtag on your live match chatter
We use an algorithm to bring posts by followers of this account into the feed. It's not perfect (ID-ing a post as being about a live football match is tough!) but it's surprisingly good

bsky.app/profile/did:...
January 11, 2026 at 11:10 AM
Has anyone studied the motion dynamics of sports scuffles? They always carry on after one/both of the initiators have been dragged away
January 10, 2026 at 7:44 PM
It's almost funny how often Villa play it out to Maatsen - who's pushed up - and a Villa midfielder pulls wide and drops into space to pick up an easy pass if he can't advance. Then Villa keep playing it around til there's an opening.
January 10, 2026 at 6:23 PM
It'd be interesting to see stats on squad and starting XI consistency for Villa over the last year or so. The coordination seems really good, and coupled with some really great ball-control in tight areas
January 10, 2026 at 6:09 PM
I had a bunch of this at work this week. Being able to hand-off some of the coding tasks and spending the 'Claude is cooking' time to read up on other stuff. And I learnt about aspects of packages that had been in the coding work!
"you know, I can read three more competing arguments to this one because I don't have to fix those plots anymore" is a thought I've had this year and you could too

Then I reviewed the plot fixing code and quizzed myself on THAT because I'm good at learning.
January 10, 2026 at 5:51 PM
Reposted by mark thompson
It finishes Macclesfield 2, Crystal Palace 1. It's the biggest upset in FA Cup history. 117 league places between the two teams is the biggest gap overcome. Macclesfield are a semi-pro National League North team (sixth-tier), Premier League Palace are the current holders. #FACup #footy-live
Macclesfield now 2-0 up vs Palace. Would be one of the biggest upsets in FA Cup history due to the gap between the two teams in the league pyramid. More significant still as Palace are the current cup holders.
Sixth-tier Macclesfield take the lead against Premier League Crystal Palace #FACup #footy-live
January 10, 2026 at 2:13 PM
signs are pointing in a good direction in some tests (in a different, burner feed) so watch this space
Doing some experimenting with the #Footy-Live feed fyi, trying to work out how best to inject life into it, or if I can't then just hand it over to someone else
January 10, 2026 at 12:58 PM
Gauff has been really impressive. Excited for the new season
January 10, 2026 at 10:52 AM
Doing some experimenting with the #Footy-Live feed fyi, trying to work out how best to inject life into it, or if I can't then just hand it over to someone else
January 10, 2026 at 10:48 AM
Absolutely unreal defence from Gauff on that deuce point
January 10, 2026 at 10:21 AM
Reposted by mark thompson
The RSS Revolution Is Beginning. Now Is The Age Of The Quiet Personal Website. The Indie Bloggers Shall Inherit The Earth.
January 7, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Reposted by mark thompson
Today's edition of Tick Tock Tennis Daily Intel now in inboxes!

A quick preview of today's semifinal action and a quick round-up of wildcard, withdrawals, and whatnot from the Australian Open.

Subscribe: www.ticktocktennis.com

It's free! (Or... you could donate if you like what you get. 😎)
January 9, 2026 at 6:56 PM
"any images of children (and women) in government comms on X put those children in harms way" is stark
EXCLUSIVE: Leaked WhatsApp messages show Labour MPs urging govt to leave X, arguing that it should "show direction to others in the UK"

The MPs said X owner Elon Musk is "fascist" and that the platform's AI tool, Grok, had put "children in harm's way"
January 9, 2026 at 6:53 PM
Reposted by mark thompson
🌍🍿 The AFCON 2025 quarterfinals start today!

Don't miss our big preview of all four games:
www.fotmob.com/en-GB/topnew...
January 9, 2026 at 2:30 PM
0.44xG combined between the two teams in the first half. The weather looks attractive in comparison
The Tour de France is practically a tourist ad for the country/region, with beautiful sweeping shots through lovely scenery.

The weather for this Arsenal-Liverpool match is like the opposite
January 8, 2026 at 8:54 PM
It is 2030. Amanda and Jade are still voting for each other at the round table.
January 8, 2026 at 8:46 PM
Love an 'in-game average positions map with all of a team's markers in their own half'
January 8, 2026 at 8:20 PM
Reposted by mark thompson
Bayesian goal models are back in penaltyblog v1.8.0 - and this time, they’re dependency-free! ⚽️📈
January 8, 2026 at 8:00 PM
The Tour de France is practically a tourist ad for the country/region, with beautiful sweeping shots through lovely scenery.

The weather for this Arsenal-Liverpool match is like the opposite
January 8, 2026 at 8:05 PM
This rocks. Sports are the best, and I'm so happy that more people have more of an in into sports nowadays
Feels like a weird time to post about this but I wanted to highlight something: So dang proud of the fact that NFL Live is up nearly *50%* with women.

We have consistently grown our female audience since relaunching the show five years ago.

Football is for everyone.
January 8, 2026 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by mark thompson
This, by the way, is why newsletters are not a sustainable strategy by themselves for newsrooms that want to make first-party connections with their readers / audiences / communities. Inboxes are next to be intermediated.
Google is forcing more generative AI on Gmail users. I couldn’t think of a better moment to finally drop Gmail (and other Google services)!

I have a guide to do just that here: disconnect.blog/getting-off-...
January 8, 2026 at 1:27 PM
Reposted by mark thompson
Japan is the joint-largest market for the WSL outside of the UK, fuelled by EA FC, YouTube and the social media posts of the Japanese national team players playing in the WSL and one YouTube channel called Japarton (an amalgam of Japan and Everton)

www.nytimes.com/athletic/683...
The Women's Super League found an unlikely market in Japan: 'Let’s embrace this'
www.nytimes.com
January 8, 2026 at 1:30 PM
'BBC Verify' has been around a while now and it's still used in quite confusing ways. The screenshot here is an update on the BBC's liveblog(?) of the Minneapolis shooting. The videos are actually described in an update on 2 hours earlier.

[Link: www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c7... ]
January 7, 2026 at 10:53 PM
Meanwhile, early high-fliers Sunderland have plummeted* down to 10th

*(two points behind Newcastle)
Don’t look now but Newcastle are a point out of a champions league spot.
January 7, 2026 at 10:26 PM
Pretty tepidly spectacular set of results
The full-time scores from all six of the 7:30pm kick-offs in the Premier League.

Antoine Semenyo's stoppage time strike gave Bournemouth a huge win over Tottenham, while Manchester City were held by Brighton and Fulham beat 10-man Chelsea.
January 7, 2026 at 9:49 PM