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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 4m

+1 Do you mind my asking which ISP you use?

Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 5m

yes this is my life right now.

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 1h

huh! same! tbf part of that is I mask in cinema/crowded trains etc. so I'm less exposed, but also I get (symptomatically) very few of the colds and chesty bugs my +1 brings into the house and sneezes all over me. It is odd.

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 2h

Truly! I've not aged as much as healthy contemporaries. I've genuinely been asked what my secret is and tempted to say it's down to spending chunks of the last 3 decades alone in a darkened room while they were out living normal lives, and would they like to swap?

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 2h

Fuckit though I'll take the win. 🥰

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 2h

I mean, 'sovereign' as in minting multiple gold sovereigns for Open AI...? Otherwise I do not think the word sovereign has the meaning the picture makers seem to think it has. 😆

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 2h

oh man... Caring for someone else when you're in this condition just be incredibly hard and leave nothing or next to nothing for you.

and, ha, yes! someone told me I looked great the other day. thanks?! meanwhile I was literally leaning most of my weight on the kitchen counter to stay upright.

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 2h

Just blocked a genocide supporter who asked what the people on the illegally seized flotilla bringing food and medicine to Gaza had ever done to ... bring food to Gaza.

As well as being obnoxious these people are just remarkably fucking stupid.

Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 3h

Two Irish novelists have now done more to break the blockade and end man-made famine in Gaza than the entire UK government.

(Naoise Dolan on the flotilla and Sally Rooney with her words and deeds)

Dr Mary McAuliffe @drmarymcauliffe.bsky.social · 3h

Author and TD among five Irish people on board latest Gaza flotilla intercepted by Israel
#speirgorm #stopthegenocide
jrnl.ie/6838266

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Reposted by Maria Farrell

Jacob Aron @jjaron.bsky.social · 3h

Honestly, when the financial press starts printing diagrams like this, isn't it time for a regulator to step in?

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Reposted by Maria Farrell

Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · 3h

Emotional abuse hides. You can exist in an abusive relationship for years and explain it away. Until the penny drops. Then you can no longer stay.
psyche.co/turning-poin...

My husband had been abusive for years, I just couldn’t see it | Psyche Turning points

A smart, educated woman, there’s no way I could have ended up in an abusive relationship, could I?

psyche.co

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 3h

Thank you @georgemonbiot.bsky.social for continuing to point out UK govt contempt for both science and ppl with ME/CFS

My reality: I gave a talk abroad 4 weeks ago, so now, after morning shower, I need to lie down for 1-2 hrs

20 minutes of dog walk? Lose 1/2 a day of work

We just want to be well.

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 4h

ME/CFS is a devastating condition that has long been denied, dismissed, psychologised and underdiagnosed. Research is at last starting to catch up with it, with glimmers of hope for those who have been left untreated for so long.
There's a huge BUT coming ...🧵
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Scientists develop first ‘accurate blood test’ to detect chronic fatigue syndrome

Research could offer hope for ME patients – but some experts urge caution and say more studies needed

www.theguardian.com

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 3h

I'm so sickened (ha!) and sickeningly unsurprised by who Streeting picks to pick on the ill.

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 3h

Two Irish novelists have now done more to break the blockade and end man-made famine in Gaza than the entire UK government.

(Naoise Dolan on the flotilla and Sally Rooney with her words and deeds)

Dr Mary McAuliffe @drmarymcauliffe.bsky.social · 3h

Author and TD among five Irish people on board latest Gaza flotilla intercepted by Israel
#speirgorm #stopthegenocide
jrnl.ie/6838266

Author and TD among five Irish people on board latest Gaza flotilla intercepted by Israel

There were five Irish citizens aboard boats in the flotilla.

jrnl.ie

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Reposted by Maria Farrell

NightMar on Hicks Street, Part 4: The Rabbit’s Revenge @histoftech.bsky.social · 3h

Eeyore😭😭

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 3h

oh Eeyore!! Bestest grand-dog ever.

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 3h

5 times I've been through the 'break / ban encryption' debate.

1st time was late 90s, trying to get encryption to use AT ALL.

Imagine what progressive tech could have built if we didn't have to drop everything to fight this BS off every few years.

Support your local digital rights org. Please.

Robin Wilton 🇱🇧 @komadori.bsky.social · 13h

At some point, you'd think they ought to conclude that *there isn't an acceptable, mandatory alternative*, and put the resources into other, more practical ways of addressing the *societal* problem of child abuse instead. But they'd rather have the means of mass surveillance and censorship. 🤷‍♂️

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 15h

oh well now! credit where it's due and great to call out (positively) the good ones. and that must have been QUITE a day. 👏🎂📕

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 15h

oh dear LORD

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 15h

I've done a fair few of them at this point, tks!

but I seriously objected to filling one out to get reimbursed for my own money spent as a European to go to another European-organised meeting IN EUROPE because somebody somewhere decided to out-source their admin to an American firm. gnghghghgh!!

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 17h

The Pirate Party is calling it. Germany has stayed solid on blocking an EU Council majority for "Chat control"?! Fantastic news if so!

H/T @privacymatters.bsky.social

Citizen Protest Halts Chat Control; Breyer Celebrates Major Victory for Digital Privacy

In a major breakthrough for the digital rights movement, the German government has refused to back the EU's controversial Chat Control regulation today after facing massive public pressure. This block...

www.patrick-breyer.de

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 17h

:-0

Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 17h

My brain is blanking on the name of it. It's an IRS form for when you're paid as a furriner by a US entity and you're saying 'please don't tax me, I live somewhere you already have a tax treaty with'?

but these days I'm increasingly scared of any future border crossings and how they may be used.

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 17h

It's weird. I've had some real outliers. Deutsche Telekom required me to creat a profile and log in and I went UGHGHGH this will be AWFUL but then it went so smooth and quick. But universities? I don't think I'll work for them again.

A new thing is v. small orgs outsourcing to 3rd parties who DGAF.

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 17h

honestly I'm increasingly doing that. for one I finalised today, I'm booking my own travel ahead. but it's for an old old comrade who's treated me very well in the past. for new orgs I'm now pushing back hard at the assumption that I should cashflow and risk-carry the travel costs in advance.

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 17h

oh! I'm so fed up of the comfortably salaried squinting curiously, and frankly impatiently, wondering why I don't want to spend another 2 days of unpaid admin to get paid, when they simply turn up and sit in a chair to keep money just flowing into their accounts

And ad people can be v. clueless IME

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