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Michael Bench-Cauldron

@mikebenchcapon.bsky.social

2.6K followers 830 following 6.1K posts

I have a PhD in philosophy and now I work in a library. He/him. michaelbenchcapon.blogspot.com

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · Nov 1

If your post is liked by just one wise person it is as though it had been liked by the whole world

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 18m

Is international relations plural like relations or singular like politics?

• Plural
• Singular
• Other
• Question makes no sense

Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 21m

International Relations really is quite fascinating

Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 21m

International Relations really is quite fascinating

Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 21m

I suppose a more cynical person than me might speculate that the nominations were among the terms of the deal and not fully sincere

Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 24m

Yeah it came up when I was looking but I blush to confess that I have not yet built up a relationship of trust with that outlet

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 25m

The article mentions India disputing Trump's claim but it says that the leaders of both Armenia and Azerbaijan nominated him for the Nobel so it sounds like the latter wants to pick a lane

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 34m

I tried looking into the context for her Israel stances but it seems that would involve familiarizing myself with which non-MSM publications are and aren't trustworthy; maybe now she's won the prize the Guardian will make an explainer for me in a few days

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 48m

How about that; I can well imagine the Venezuelan opposition having neoliberal sympathies in a grass-is-always-greener kind of way but I'm a bit surprised to hear they gave to peace prize this year to a genocide supporter

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 50m

I agree that if the person who wins instead is Hitler then that would rather detract from the joy at Trump not winning

Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 51m

I suppose one odd thing here is that he counts six this year but can only think of one to count from his first term

Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 54m

Tbc do you actually have a problem with her or just think people shouldn't celebrate her win if she's an unknown quantity to them

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 55m

I think it's fine to celebrate Trump not getting it whoever the person they actually gave it to is

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1h

If everyone was suddenly pretending to be an expert on and longstanding fan of María Corina Machado that wouldn't be a great look either

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1h

I suppose I'd concede that they are probably interested mainly in the click, and in classic clickbait they may well expect you to just click through to get a single piece of information that could have been put into the headline, making the story no less atomic than a sharebait story would have been

Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1h

I was wondering which wars Trump thinks he's stopped and found an article about it news.sky.com/story/which-...

Which seven wars has Trump claimed to have ended?

The US president says he has ended six wars during his second term and one in his first. What wars are they and how accurate are the claims?

news.sky.com

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1h

Maybe there should be another genre of news presentation called sharebait where they put the most interesting stuff in the headline to try to make people share it without clicking

Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1h

So they're trying to do the opposite of reduce news to atomic stories lacking in nuance

Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1h

At least they're trying to make us click on the full story

Reposted by Michael Bench-Cauldron

It’s Justy! @rlyehsurfclub.bsky.social · 2h

(speaking into a $500 microphone while I start a grift as a masculinity crisis podcaster) men used to hunt to make spreads of meat, now men sit to make spreads of sheet…

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1h

Am I doing this right

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1h

Seeing some QTs of this that are once again reminding me that some people really think the word "priest" only refers to Catholic priests

Lindsay Beyerstein @beyerstein.bsky.social · 12h

Of all the clerics they could have popped, those ICE idiots had to hit Hot Priest.

Presbyterian minister David Black on CNN, who was shot with pepper balls while praying outside an ICE facility.

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Reposted by Michael Bench-Cauldron

Ben Stanley @benstanley.eu · 2h

Nicely done

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Reposted by Michael Bench-Cauldron

ceej @ceej.online · 9h

damn. hoping it at least signifies something

William Shakespeare @shakespeare.lol · 10h

It is a tale
Told by an idiot

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Reposted by Michael Bench-Cauldron

Jason Furman @jasonfurman.bsky.social · 2h

The other day a student asked me about the prevalence of insider trading in prediction markets. I now have an answer.

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1h

Clickbait is annoying but since it by definition makes you click on the actual story rather than just reading a tweet-length version of it and moving on it seems to me that it does the opposite of reducing news to atomic stories and destroying nuance

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1h

Mark Kermode not loving Tron: Ares www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP4w...

Mark Kermode reviews Tron: Ares

YouTube video by Kermode and Mayo's Take