Nick Telford-Reed
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mountainhippo.bsky.social
Nick Telford-Reed
@mountainhippo.bsky.social
93 followers 450 following 140 posts
Alpine herbivore. Work in payments for which I apologise. I like mountains, films, music, a fairer world, cool technology, the open web, football. Co-chair, Web Payments Working Group, W3C.
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mountainhippo.bsky.social
I enjoyed The Oatmeal's impassioned take on AI. I think I feel the same way about coding and other aspects of life that are being gobbled up in a giant cloud of soot, CO2 and techbro snake oil

theoatmeal.com/comics/ai_art
A cartoonist's review of AI art - The Oatmeal
This is a comic about AI art.
theoatmeal.com
October 8, 2025 at 11:46 AM
mountainhippo.bsky.social
Very much enjoyed the Archers connection in Andor/Rogue One, with David Archer turning up as an Imperial doctor before Emma Carter comes on the scene to steal the Death Star plans
#theArchers #Andor
May 14, 2025 at 7:10 PM
mountainhippo.bsky.social
TIL that my older children (early twenties) call Keir Starmer "Queer Harmer" for his sudden but inevitable betrayal of trans people
May 1, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Reposted by Nick Telford-Reed
stephencollins.bsky.social
Happy St George' Day!
Cartoon for St George's day by Stephen Collins for the guardian. Script as follows: Scene is outside a cave, ST GEORGE in armour etc is confronting the DRAGON while the CAPTURED PRINCESS looks on. DRAGON: So let me get this straight. DRAGON: You’re hoping to reinforce ‘helpless princess’ tropes… DRAGON: By publicly stabbing an *endangered animal* to death with a *sword*… DRAGON: So you can force a whole Syrian village to convert to Christianity…. DRAGON: And become a nationalist icon for a colonial state… DRAGON: Through the cultural appropriation of ancient medieval dragon myths.  DRAGON: You’ve not been *online* very long, have you? GEORGE:  I have been quite surprised by the comments. GEORGE’S SOCIAL MEDIA ASSISTANT [who is filming this encounter on an iPhone]: I told you it’s problematic, George. DRAGON: Problematic? It’s a *bin fire*! DRAGON: OK. Here’s how you turn this round -  CUT TO a YoutTube post called ‘MY JOURNEY (An apology)’. GEORGE is crying to camera, Dragon in background. GEORGE:  I am *so sorry* guys… 
April 23, 2025 at 7:45 AM
mountainhippo.bsky.social
A scientific corrective to the assertion "sex is binary".
www.scientificamerican.com/article/sex-...
Sex Redefined: The Idea of 2 Sexes Is Overly Simplistic
Biologists now think there is a larger spectrum than just binary female and male
www.scientificamerican.com
April 16, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Reposted by Nick Telford-Reed
greyskiesthinking.bsky.social
Morning.
April 16, 2025 at 10:08 AM
mountainhippo.bsky.social
Norfolk coast looking beautiful this weekend
A pebbly beach beneath sea cliffs. Waves crash over a man-made structure. The sun shines in the sky through gauzy cloud
April 13, 2025 at 3:47 PM
mountainhippo.bsky.social
I was very struck by the last exchange in this sequence and the comparison drawn between the defence of the slave trade in the late 18th/early 19th century and of the oil/gas/energy industry today.
April 7, 2025 at 11:49 AM
mountainhippo.bsky.social
Things you don't want to see on you ATM
A cash machine (ATM) displaying a Windows boot manager error
March 27, 2025 at 4:48 PM
mountainhippo.bsky.social
Mature cheddar cheese and lime pickle might be the best sandwich ever. Discuss.
February 24, 2025 at 12:43 PM
mountainhippo.bsky.social
As @mountainhippo.bsky.social I wholeheartedly approve of this message.
Nick stands in front of a ivy-covered coffee shop sign that reads "Kiss the Hippo" coffee
February 13, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Reposted by Nick Telford-Reed
larryandpaul.bsky.social
🛑 LATEST: What Is Ethnic Cleansing?

👇🏻 Let #BrokenNews explain all in their latest report. Please like and share this message.

youtu.be/XFG4IE6XsYQ?...
What Is Ethnic Cleansing? - #BrokenNews Explains
YouTube video by Larry & Paul
youtu.be
February 7, 2025 at 5:18 PM
mountainhippo.bsky.social
I just learned that following Musk's gestures at Trump's inauguration, some people are now referring to Tesla vehicles as Swasticars.
January 29, 2025 at 8:40 AM
mountainhippo.bsky.social
Larry and Paul eating and leaving no crumbs, as I believe younger people are wont to remark.

youtu.be/CrGpAIBc754
Goodbye, USA - #BrokenNews
YouTube video by Larry & Paul
youtu.be
January 20, 2025 at 10:28 PM
mountainhippo.bsky.social
Wow. Also - I want
girlonthenet.bsky.social Girl on the Net @girlonthenet.bsky.social · Dec 29
Recently a friend gave me the most incredible gift I have ever received. Would you like to see it? OF COURSE.

Here is the tube map... IN CROSS STITCH.

It takes my breath away that anyone could create this, let alone create it for me. She's astonishing.
Huge canvas map of the London Underground in cross stitch
December 29, 2024 at 9:29 PM
Reposted by Nick Telford-Reed
thomaswpenny.bsky.social
Fred, my oldest friend's son, died last month. He was 12.
He was a wonderful boy, with an infectious enthusiasm for food, learning and life.
It was a joy to share his journey, and devastating to say goodbye.
Please read his obituary, share it and be more Fred.
www.theguardian.com/food/2024/de...
Freddie Braithwaite-Smith obituary
Other lives: Aspiring food critic who visited restaurants across Britain and would happily spend all day preparing a meal
www.theguardian.com
December 17, 2024 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Nick Telford-Reed
ofalafel.bsky.social
I’ve just seen a witch and a lion trying to carry a huge wardrobe into the house next door - I asked what they were up to and they said "Narnia business".
December 11, 2024 at 7:26 AM
mountainhippo.bsky.social
Small reasons to be optimistic #23...
adamvaughan.bsky.social Adam Vaughan @adamvaughan.bsky.social · Dec 10
Wind, solar and hydropower have overtaken fossil fuel power in the UK for the first time, @ben-spencer.bsky.social reports on a new report from @ember-energy.org

link.thetimes.co.uk/view/633483f...
December 10, 2024 at 3:06 PM
mountainhippo.bsky.social
A lovely educational thread that I enjoyed
acjsissons.bsky.social Andrew Sissons @acjsissons.bsky.social · Nov 25
Right, I have a poorly / recovering child and there has been awful flooding in England and Wales.

If you want to ask me anything about flood policy and what more we should be doing, I’ll do my best to answer…

(I used to be in charge of economics at the Environment Agency for England)
November 26, 2024 at 2:20 AM
mountainhippo.bsky.social
I knew cryptobros had led the last investment round at Bluesky. Was not aware of some of the rest of this, nor have I validated it. But forewarned is forearmed, I guess.
davetroy.com Dave Troy @davetroy.com · Nov 13
1/IMPORTANT thread about Bluesky funding and origins. Many folks know that it was seeded by Jack Dorsey around a libertarian vision of a magical network that wouldn’t need moderation because it would be decentralized and baked into a protocol (somehow).
November 21, 2024 at 10:39 AM
mountainhippo.bsky.social
This is what I come to social media for. An excellent, informative thread about which I previously knew nothing.
kevpluck.bsky.social Kevin Pluck @kevpluck.bsky.social · Nov 20
UK shoe size is based on the length of the last used to make the shoes, measured in barleycorns (1⁄3 inch) starting from the smallest practical size which is called size zero.

The last is typically longer than the foot by 1 1⁄2 to 2 barleycorns, so one must add 2 barleycorns.
November 20, 2024 at 7:32 AM
mountainhippo.bsky.social
This morning, while eating my porridge*, I learnt that some people work as a "comparative thanatologist"† which is an interesting field but an even cooler job title
November 17, 2024 at 8:09 AM
mountainhippo.bsky.social
Action watercolour from last night's Royston Town Band rehearsal! Thanks to Virginia Mappledoram
An original watercolour of Nick as he plays his B♭ Tuba. A hand-written label says "Nick hits the high notes in a Merry Christmas Royston 14/11/24"
November 15, 2024 at 8:31 AM
mountainhippo.bsky.social
Also, today (via Reddit), I found out about this awesome website that lets you park spaceships in real life places at the proper scale. Here is Serenity parked on Parker's Piece in Cambridge for your enjoyment
parkmyspaceship.com/E4UwxgdgjgWj...
Serenity parked at Someplace on Earth - Park My Spaceship
Park real & fictional spaceships, anywhere on Earth. From Star Wars to Star Trek to a very surprised looking sperm whale.
parkmyspaceship.com
November 13, 2024 at 7:02 PM
mountainhippo.bsky.social
Every now and then while wandering around central London, it's possible to turn a corner and come unexpectedly upon a wazzbaffle, so was delighted to discover one today on the stairs up to Tower Bridge
Picture of a metal sheet shaped as a quarter disc, fixed into the corner between two walls on one pedestrian staircase up to the southern end of Tower Bridge from Shad Thames.
November 13, 2024 at 6:57 PM