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Reposted by The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard

Michael Molcher @molcher.bsky.social · 31m

"I use it, it's just a tool like Photoshop," is the refrain from people I know that has me biting virtually clean through my tongue.

No. It's emptying you.

MiMi Aye @meemalee.bsky.social · 4d

Author and filmmaker Justine Bateman on generative AI

"They're trying to convince people they can't do the things they've been doing easily for years - to write emails, to write a presentation. Your daughter wants you to make up a bedtime story about puppies - to write that for you." We will get to the point, she says with a grim laugh, "that you will essentially become just a skin bag of organs and bones, nothing else. You won't know anything and you will be told repeatedly that you can't do it, which is the opposite of what life has to offer. Capitulating all kinds of decisions like where to go on vacation, what to wear today, who to date, what to eat.
People are already doing this. You won't have to process grief, because you'll have uploaded photos and voice messages from your mother who just died, and then she can talk to you via AI video call every day. One of the ways it's going to destroy humans, long before there's a nuclear disaster, is going to be the emotional hollowing-out of people." - author and filmmaker Justine Bateman from a piece by Emine Saner for the Guardian

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 1h

I saw it in its opening week.
*Sighs heavily in old*

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Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 4h

grawlix | noun | a series of typographical symbols (such as $#!) used in text as a replacement for profanity

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 1h

Is he lovely these days, then? No. Still a fascist, but at least he now regards the Kool-Aid with suspicion.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 1h

In the famous "Dark Judges" arc, Dredd gazes into the face of Judge Fear and survives the ordeal because he is fearless; Fear has nothing to work with. The more modern Dredd is stricken with fears, specifically about the survival of Mega-City One. Early Dredd would never have had an image like this:

From "Chaos Day" (Progs 1787-88), scripted by John Wagner, art by Henry Flint, colours by Chris Blythe, and lettering by Annie Parkhouse. Judge Dredd, at the edge of despair, head bowed, respirator down (there's contagion in the air). The caption reads "His city -- his beloved city -- is dying before his eyes."

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 1h

I, too, have been reading a lot of Dredd recently. As an aside, it's interesting how the character has matured from his early "twattish martinet" persona to a much more ambiguous figure, who knows his precious Law is broken, but it's that or, he believes (with some justification), everything falls.

Tufty McTavish @tuftymctavish.com · 23h

🔖 It turned into an epic reading project but I completed @molcher.bsky.social’s excellent “I Am The Law” tonight.

The reason for the long elapsed time was I kept going off to read a huge stack of #JudgeDredd: “The Complete Case Files” 🤗

👨‍🏫 #NonFictionBooks 💡📚💙 #BookSky 🦋
🦹‍♂️ #ComicBooks 📚 #ComicSky 🦋

A tall stack of “Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files” beside Michael Molcher’s “I Am The Law” stood up beside them on a table. The case files that I read are stacked flat and tower over the upright paperback beside them. A yellow bookmark sits in front of all the books to denote that they were read.

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Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 7h

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 4h

He's like the phrase "Uh, well, *actually*..." grew a face.

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Solaris Books @solarisbooks.bsky.social · 4h

At 7pm on 9th October, don't miss @aptshadow.bsky.social at Leeds Waterstones for a very special panel event on "Building Brilliant Worlds" alongside @rjbarker.bsky.social and
@davewragg.com in association with @britfantasysoc.bsky.social!

Tickets only £5! www.waterstones.com/events/panel...

A screenshot of the Waterstones Event Graphic.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 4h

I adore Turkish Delight. When people say "Oh, but C.S. Lewis made it sound amazing, but I had some and yech," I say, "That's because it is transcendent and its divine pleasures lie beyond the comprehension of your weak, undeveloped palates, obviously."

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Alwyn Roberts 💙💛 @stalfry.bsky.social · 7h

Screenshot of twet from Rhys Wynne @rhyswynne:

“Games Workshop is worth 3 times as much to the British economy than Brexit fishing.

If you are unaware, one is a popular fantasy game, entrenched in make believe which allows poorly dressed overweight men to play out their wartime fantasies, and the other is Games Workshop.”

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 5h

Yeah, it may just look like a couple of glasses on a table, but they contain strange meads, the locale is my favourite pub in the country - the Man & Scythe in Bolton - and my drinking partner across the table is @premeemohamed.com, as excellent company as she is a writer. That was a good day.

Two glasses of liquor on a wooden table. One is a light amber, the other a slightly unearthly reddish. Somebody is sitting on the other side of the table.

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Suzan the chalant goth @sillysyntax.bsky.social · 7h

"An English degree is a rip off" said by the people who are currently ripping everyone off. They don't want you to be literate, to understand the context, the references or the rhetoric they are using to scam you.

A rip off for THEM. If you can read, write and parse meaning, you're harder to fool.

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Martonnax at 99.8% Restoration @rakshasa.bsky.social · 9h

How fucking embarrassing is it for the entire political establishment that they're being outflanked on the left by MICHAEL FUCKING HESSELTINE

BBC Newsnight @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social · 1d

“You described Reform and other parties across Europe today as among the 'right wing equivalents of the fascists in the 1930s'. Why?”

“Because that’s what they are”

@vicderbyshire.bsky.social asks Lord Heseltine about remarks he made at Conservative Party Conference.

#Newsnight

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Naomi Alderman @naomialderman.bsky.social · 9h

feels like yet again time to mention that the *videogames* industry (that's a creative industry, which people do creative degrees in) brings in more than twice the amount to the British economy as the fishing and steel industries *combined*

Naomi Alderman @naomialderman.bsky.social · 9h

I cannot understand what these people think the purpose of human life is?

It is *not* "pursue joy, deal justly, love well, try to understand as much and see as much of this beautiful world and of the deepness, richness and variety of human culture and experience as you can before you die"?

Tim Worthington @outonbluesix.bsky.social · 9h

How is this repeatedly made into a policy issue - by *all* parties - when the blunt fact of the matter is that grown adults who are obliged to pay for their own education, and relentlessly pursued to repay their loans, should be able to study whatever the fuck they want.

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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 8h

Still I'm sure it'll be fine. It's not like those expectations are based on a completely unproven product with deranged costs and hysterical levels of hype.

FinTwitter @fintwitter.bsky.social · 8h

BANK OF ENGLAND FPC: RISK OF A SHARP MARKET CORRECTION HAS INCREASED || EQUITY MARKETS ARE PARTICULARLY EXPOSED SHOULD EXPECTATIONS AROUND AI BECOME LESS OPTIMISTIC

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 8h

Man oh man, but I miss York. I can't even guess how many times I wandered up and down Stonegate in the decade I lived in the city. The street's changed so little that even a Victorian painting is enough to give me those temps perdu blues.

Merchant Adventurers’ Hall @merchantshallyork.org · 8h

We interrupt your mid morning tea break to invite you for a constitutional down an old street of York.

Today's saunter is down Stonegate, or the via praetoria to our Roman friends.

Come join us!

We are looking at an oil painting showing a street with buildings of different periods from late Tudor to Georgian and newer Victorian buildings. Shop fronts are brightly painted and people are stood in doorways or looking into windows. Some in the distance is climbing into a carriage.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 8h

Exactly. As you know, I'm very fond of Manchester. A while back there was an analysis of UK demographics and it came back with the datum that Manchester was the most cosmopolitan city in the country, with more varied ethnicities than anywhere else. I was delighted. A homogenous city is a dull city.

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Alexander Clarkson @aphclarkson.bsky.social · 10h

In the early 2010s it was infuriating to see endless screeds on "legitimate concerns" against East Europeans from analysts and scholars who seemed oblivious to how the moment political leaders capitulated to this xenophobia it would just lead to escalating hatemongering against other diasporas

Captain Haddock @realcaptainhaddock.bsky.social · 10h

It was inevitable that “too many people speaking Polish” Brexitism would become outright “too many brown people”

And it’s what people like Gove, David Davis and Johnson enabled

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 19h

I'm not saying I would absolutely never work for Musk if he showed the unexpected good taste to offer me a job in his shittily-named studio, but I wouldn't come cheap. He wouldn't be the world's richest man for long afterwards, put it that way.

Every Film Now @everyfilmnow.bsky.social · 2d

Elon Musk announces xAI game studio will release a great AI-generated game before end of 2026.

Powered by Grok, the studio aims to revolutionize gaming with dynamic, photo-realistic experiences.

#xAI #Grok #AIGaming

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 20h

I'm enjoying the current Kamen Rider series, KAMEN RIDER ZEZTZ, plus I'm fond of this moment in the titles where the central characters briefly turn kaiju for no reason other than why not?

A moment from the titles to KAMEN RIDER ZEZTZ (2025) showing the central characters in a miniature city set. There's a very nice outdoors miniature Tokyo, and this may be that with the sky matted out, as what we have here looks a little artificial.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 21h

The only one I recall (it was a while ago) was KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE (2015). I *think* I know what they were getting at: both have set-piece fights between one person versus an overwhelming force. My script was sadly lacking in gratuitous anal sex jokes, however; a silly oversight on my part.

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The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard @jonathanlhoward.bsky.social · 21h

I lurve this film. I lurved it so much, I wrote a modern day sequel a few years ago and submitted it to Hammer, who rejected it on the grounds that it might attract the sort of audience that liked... (and here rattled off a list of very successful action films). As rejections go, I remain baffled.

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 21h

Now watching: ‘Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter’ dir. Brian Clemens, 1974. 🎥🎬

A poster for the film showing a swashbuckling vampire hunter with a cape and a sword. The tagline is: The only man alive feared by the walking dead.

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Lucy Worsley @lucyworsley.bsky.social · 22h

One thing I love about living by the river in central London is that yesterday I was able to text home 'sorry going to be late, my boat got stuck behind the HMS Waverley, the UK's oldest working steam ship.'

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Ed Burmila @edburmila.bsky.social · 22h

True story, during the Great Recession, Airbus said that to survive it needed to open some non-EU factories in places with cheap, compliant labor, no environmental restrictions, and no meaningful labor law and after a lengthy internal study the two sites they chose were Bangladesh and Alabama.

Jack Tripper @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 22h

I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that all these data centers are going into communities that have been historically targeted for exploitation and have the least amount of civic power wielded by the people living there.

wordinblack.com/2025/09/alab...

Why Are Plans for This Alabama Data Center So Hush-Hush?

Officials in Bessemer, Alabama, are mum on Project Marvel, a proposed data center the size of 18 Walmart Supercenters.

wordinblack.com

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