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JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 3h

This is delightful, from pal Helen Pilcher who is still not on Bluesky :) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Dogs name toys while elephants name each other. Animal language is more complex than we imagine | Helen Pilcher

If we really want to grasp what animals are ‘saying’, we need to understand their communication on their terms, not ours, says science writer Helen Pilcher

www.theguardian.com

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JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 23h

I love the Barbican generally but this lack of exploitation of an event on their own premises baffled me. In contrast the Royal Albert Hall, when screening Independence Day alongside a live orchestra performing David's score, invited the aliens :D
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfVV...

Independence Day: LIVE in Concert in Royal Albert Hall - 22 September

YouTube video by Filmmuziek Journaal

www.youtube.com

JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 23h

Coincidentally the Barbican has an actual martini bar. Imagine having a concert (where the 2nd half is all the Bond themes / songs & therefore many in the audience will likely be Bond film fans who might fancy a martini) and having only 1 member of staff to cope with all the shaking-not-stirring.

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JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 23h

I wrote this in 2015, partly inspired by a concert of David Arnold's film music (he wrote the score to several James Bond films) at the Barbican which they didn't particularly tweet about brodiesnotes.blogspot.com/2015/11/mark...

Marketing: why don't venues promote events happening at their venue even if organised by a third party?

brodiesnotes.blogspot.com

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JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 23h

I also see this with organisations that host events which fail to woohoo events that a third party has booked the venue for. Genuinely "huh?".

This book business is even MORE baffling as the publisher directly benefits from more ppl hearing about the book so surely want to share stuff about it.

Alom Shaha @alomshaha.bsky.social · 1d

Publishers to authors: you need to be active on social media
Authors to publishers: Sure! Could you help me make some stuff to help promote my book:
Publisher:
Author: please
Publisher:
Author: at least repost this for me?
Publisher:

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Reposted by JoBrodie

Alom Shaha @alomshaha.bsky.social · 1d

Sometimes feel I’m the only author I know who’s willing to talk openly in public about the many shitty aspects of the publishing industry. Spoke at a book event recently and so many people contacted me afterwards how “refreshing” it was to hear my take. Sigh.

Alom Shaha @alomshaha.bsky.social · 1d

Publishers to authors: you need to be active on social media
Authors to publishers: Sure! Could you help me make some stuff to help promote my book:
Publisher:
Author: please
Publisher:
Author: at least repost this for me?
Publisher:

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JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 1d

I also feel that my ability to pay someone through UK university finance systems is at an Olympic gold level ;)

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Reposted by JoBrodie

Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 1d

Window Screen

xkcd.com/3151/

4-panel comic. (1) [person in front of window, shaped like a trapezoid with a curved top] This weekend, I had to make an oversized screen for a porch window. (2) [person sitting with hands on head surrounded by images of assorted equations and measurements] It involved countless tiny problems, each somehow way harder than it should be. Oblique angles. Curved edges. Noncoplanarity. (3) [person in front of window with screen on it, with building detritus strewn on the ground] ...I solved them all. I measured precisely. I did trigonometry. I made custom parts. And it fit *perfectly.* No gaps, no ripples. (4) [person typing at computer] I know that your foundation normally limits its purview to physics, medicine, peace, chemistry, and literature. However, if you review the attached photos showing how well the screen fits into the...

30 290 2.8K

JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 2d

Making a Hallowe'en zine for CS4FN, free to download. Needs a bit of tweaking as the little bat fell off the bottom when printed. Or rather was severed in the middle (not unreasonable for Hallowe'en I suppose).
Icons from various Pixabay creators, will all be linked here cs4fn.blog/halloweenzine/

A screenshot of page 1 of the mini zine.

How it prints out. The front page says Happy Hallowe'en from CS4FN in bold text with space to colour in the letters. Also to colour in are a broom, cauldron with vapours rising, potion bottles and a witches hat. At the bottom of the CS4FN text hangs half a bat as he was severed in the printing process as I got the margins a bit wrong.

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JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 2d

Digital inclusion in SCOTLAND, money available to help folk with that find-government-grants.service.gov.uk/grants/conne...

Deadline 30 Oct 2025, 23:59
They've put (midnight) in brackets next to 23:59. I bet the back story involved 00:00 at some point ;)

Connecting Scotland Digital Inclusion Fund
The Connecting Scotland Digital Inclusion Fund supports projects that tackle digital exclusion in Scotland. The Scottish Government administers and manages the Fund, which is deploying funding from the UK Government’s Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund.
Opening date: 2 October 2025, 10:00am
Closing date: 30 October 2025, 11:59pm (Midnight)

Summary

The Connecting Scotland Digital Inclusion Fund supports projects that tackle digital exclusion in Scotland. The Scottish Government administers and manages the Fund, which is deploying funding from the UK Government’s Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund.

£442,327 of the Connecting Scotland Digital Inclusion Fund is being distributed via this call for applications.

Applicants may request funding between £10,000 and £50,000, depending on the scope and nature of the proposed project.

A separate £321,692 of funding, also from the UK Government's Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund, is to be distributed via the Scottish Government’s CivTech Round 11 challenge. This pot of funding, totalling over £1 million when including additional Scottish Government funding, falls outwith the process detailed here. Applicants interested in pursuing this opportunity should consult the link above.

Funding is available under the following two categories:

Category 1: £321,692: Resource support for projects that replicate or scale best practice in digital inclusion interventions or deliver innovative approaches to tackling digital exclusion

Category 2: £120,635: Capital investment in equipment and assets to support delivery of digital inclusion activities (e.g. laptops, devices, software).

Applicants must state which category (or categories) they are applying for, and applications can combine Categories 1 and 2.

Your project must address digital exclusion in Scotland and meet at least one of the following objectives:

support innovative initiatives to increase digital participation, producing new insights on what works;

support best practice with the ambition to scale and replicate successful digital inclusion activities across Scotland.

JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 3d

I tried the Hej! Workshop in Greenwich (community working space) but didn't realise it was meant to be chatty (failed to spot its Deskpass Mood badged as Lively) & have piped music / store announcements coming through. Every voice heard indeed... blackheathandbeyond.wordpress.com/2025/04/15/g...

Words painted onto a wall saying "inclusive, adjective - where everyone is valued and every voice heard"

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JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 3d

Nice shot.

747 on the right with an A380 behind it.

JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 3d

Big Jet TV live
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmC2...

Airbus A380 aircraft coming in to land at Heathrow's 27R runway.

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JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 4d

That does seem quite likely!

JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 4d

This low-flying glider over London is either a glitch or a bad idea (surely) www.flightradar24.com/GCUGC/3c8364d2

Live Flight Tracker - Real-Time Flight Tracker Map | Flightradar24

View flight on Flightradar24

www.flightradar24.com

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JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 4d

@michaelrosenyes.bsky.social Have you ever explored phrasing by academics in their papers? I think this is a pretty unbeatable start to the 1976 paper about a man who died from rabies.
"Seven weeks after he was bitten on the lip by a puppy in the Gambia..." pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/944605/

JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 4d

This was lovely, and a nice accompaniment to tidying the kitchen.
Bins emptied, dishes done
And now I'm off to have some fun :)

Save Redland Library @saveredlandlibr.bsky.social · 6d

3:30pm TODAY on @BBCRadio4

Julia Donaldson: A life in language
Word of Mouth

Julia Donaldson, author of The Gruffalo, tells Michael Rosen about her writing, reading, speaking and listening, beginning with her own childhood experiences then busking in Paris.

@michaelrosenyes.bsky.social

BBC Radio 4 - Word of Mouth, Julia Donaldson: A life in language

The Gruffalo author tells Michael Rosen about her writing, reading, speaking and listening

www.bbc.co.uk

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JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 5d

A delivery van has parked near my house and doing all their deliveries. All I've heard for the last half an hour is sporadic 'beep beeps' as they scan each item. It's driving me slightly doolally.

JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 5d

Lunchtime winning :)
I played squaredle.com 10/03:
55/55 words (+28 bonus words)
📖 In the top 3% by bonus words
🔥 Solve streak: 25

- I was pleased to find a slightly obscure aviation term in there
P_ _ _ _ (as in tube, airspeed measurement)

Squaredle

Squaredle is a daily word building game. Swipe letters in the grid to test your vocabulary every day and rise to the top of the leaderboards!

squaredle.com

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JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 6d

I'll be back in the office next week to send out more of @cs4fn.bsky.social's free colourful primary computing posters to folk in the UK, here's a batch I sent out earlier this week. Ideal for teachers, librarians, home educators, walls. Just add blue tack :)
Get yours here cs4fn.blog/heroes/

Composite image showing a batch of 5 colourful posters in the top photo, then two shots showing a stack of brown and white A4 envelopes each containing a set of the posters, ready to be transferred to QMUL's post room and sent out via Royal Mail to requesters.

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JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 6d

Developing sound-sensitive app which, when 3 ppl have a bluetooth-enabled phone in range of someone poomphing out crap on public transport it will automatically trigger the co-ordinated playing of this YouTube video @ full volume ;)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cDD...
[Won't play if 🎧 are in of course]

Chris McCormack - Erase Techno

YouTube video by Crazy Techno Tracks

www.youtube.com

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JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 6d

I've tweaked this for knotwork made from multiple strands.
Based on IronEcho Design's excellent instructional video (linked in post).
howtodotechystuff.wordpress.com/2025/10/01/a...

A panel of the same piece of knotwork, at various stages completion, from four separate strands to a single unified piece at the end.

JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 7d

Hooray, I have finally discovered / developed / learned a way of making Celtic knotwork on Inkscape that I can actually do and enjoy the process. Plenty of other ways, here's my worked example plus file to play along howtodotechystuff.wordpress.com/2025/10/01/a...

A way of doing interlocking knotwork (Celtic, Pictish etc) with Inkscape

Difficulty level: moderate, I’d need to adjust the instructions a bit for those newer to Inkscape. Finally after 6 years of learning Inkscape (on and off!) I seem to have got somewhere with t…

howtodotechystuff.wordpress.com

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JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 8d

Job: London (King's Place), The Guardian - Cyber Security Engineer, the salary band for this position starts at £72,000 per annum, closing 6 Oct 2025
• workforus.theguardian.com/jobs/871/
• fa-euxy-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Cyber Security Engineer

We are now looking for a Cyber Security Engineer to join the Group Technology & Data team.

fa-euxy-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com

JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 8d

Thanks to reading this, then googling further I'm at this interesting event at Wellcome on health misinformation & contested health claims www.kcl.ac.uk/events/beyon...

Beyond Misinformation? Encountering, recognising and approaching contested health-claims | King's College London

Beyond Misinformation? Encountering, recognising and approaching contested health-claims

www.kcl.ac.uk