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Mathew Nicolson

@eyjarskeggi.bsky.social

2.1K followers 5.6K following 630 posts

PhD in the history of Scottish island political & constitutional history. Can also be found doing things at: @EuropeElects.bsky.social @ShetlandElects.bsky.social @HistoryofElections.bsky.social @ScotHistNetwork.bsky.social

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Mathew Nicolson @eyjarskeggi.bsky.social · Jul 13

I married my best friend today ❤️

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Mathew Nicolson @eyjarskeggi.bsky.social · 1d

Dora's really been on a journey since I watched her as a kid

Reposted by Mathew Nicolson

Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 1d

🧵
What is coming down from the left is the Moon, appearing so large because photographed through a telescopic lens.

The video, made during the 2018 full Milk Moon,
isn't time-lapse: this was really how fast the Moon was setting behind Mount Teide.

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap20032...

🔭 🧪 #science

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Mathew Nicolson @eyjarskeggi.bsky.social · 2d

'When most people hear the word “spectrum”, they may picture a straight line, like colours arranged from red to violet. Applied to autism, this suggests autistic people can be ranked from “more autistic” to “less autistic”. But that’s not how autism works.' theconversation.com/why-its-time...

Why it’s time to rethink the notion of an autism ‘spectrum’

The idea of autism as a single spectrum has shaped thinking for decades. But many autistic people and researchers now argue the metaphor is misleading.

theconversation.com

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Mathew Nicolson @eyjarskeggi.bsky.social · 2d

"we might reflect on how Shetland’s economic history, often characterised as boom and bust, has fostered an unfortunate belief that we need one or two big things rather than the sustainable development of many smaller things." www.shetnews.co.uk/2025/10/05/a...

A Shetland moment

In this Viewpoint, the former Scottish Labour candidate and Shetland Charitable Trust reform campaigner Pete Hamilton offers a response to Jonathan...

www.shetnews.co.uk

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Mathew Nicolson @eyjarskeggi.bsky.social · 3d

Interesting LGiU interview about the changes to electoral registration and administration in England over recent decades lgiu.org/blog-article...

The challenges of running modern elections: Interview with Laura Lock - LGiU

In this interview, LGIU's Dr Greg Stride spoke to Laura Lock, Deputy Chief Executive of the Association of Electoral Administrators, on the modernisation of elections in England. We asked Laura about ...

lgiu.org

Mathew Nicolson @eyjarskeggi.bsky.social · 3d

I saw a comment that Hearts of Iron 4 is turning into a visual novel, and I can kinda see it

Reposted by Mathew Nicolson

Kevin Hearne @kevinhearne.bsky.social · 4d

The reclaiming/reframing of frogs as Antifascist after enduring years of the execrable Pepe is glorious and I am here for every scrap of new heroic frog art

Christopher Doll @blackbirdcd.bsky.social · 4d

This is Space Frog

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Mathew Nicolson @eyjarskeggi.bsky.social · 7d

Nothing new here for anyone who's been following generative AI, but Kurzgesagt have a great summary of how AI slop is wrecking the internet and poisoning wider society
youtu.be/_zfN9wnPvU0?...

AI Slop Is Killing Our Channel

YouTube video by Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

youtu.be

Mathew Nicolson @eyjarskeggi.bsky.social · 7d

"In order to make us happy, the AI invented or extrapolated 20% [of the information]"

Mathew Nicolson @eyjarskeggi.bsky.social · 10d

The perfect book doesn't exis-

Reposted by Mathew Nicolson

Richard Kadrey @richardkadrey.bsky.social · 11d

The mystery of medical diagnosis!

Anyone: Why are there suddenly so many AHDH diagnoses?
Dr. Jen: Same reason there are suddenly more stars after we built telescopes.

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Reposted by Mathew Nicolson

Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 12d

We've updated our three BlueSky starter packs for historians.

Our principal list now includes details of 130+ societies and networks, based in the UK and Ireland, that advance the study, research and promotion of history go.bsky.app/AZaYQDd

Please let us know if there are gaps.
#Skystorians 1/2

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Reposted by Mathew Nicolson

Oregon 🕎🎲 @oregonthedm.bsky.social · 12d

Goodall transcribes field notes by lamplight in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park c.1960

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Mathew Nicolson @eyjarskeggi.bsky.social · 12d

This is real Britain

Reposted by Mathew Nicolson

Emily C. Hughes @emilyhughes.bsky.social · 12d

no no the publishing industry is doing fine, why do you ask

A screenshot from Publisher's Lunch:
Jennifer L. Armentrout and Hellmann's
In a promotion designed for BookTok enjoyment, Jennifer L. Armentrout’s just-published THE PRIMAL OF BLOOD AND BONE is available in a special, limited-edition "garlic-scented copy, infused with Hellmann’s Garlic Aioli to create a one-of-a-kind, Craven-proof book." They explain: "This exclusive edition is printed with garlic-infused ink, designed to ward off Armentrout’s bloodthirsty monsters, the Craven. While humans may dread garlic breath, Hellmann’s has cleverly transformed this social faux pas into an unexpected – and delicious – form of supernatural protection."

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Reposted by Mathew Nicolson

Robert “The Bobby Yaga” McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 18d

Happy 120th birthday, special relativity!

Albert Einstein introduced special relativity in the paper "On The Electrodynamics Of Moving Bodies," published in Annalen der Physik #OTD in 1905. 🧪 ⚛️ 🔭

Manuscript: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
English: www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einst...

A black and white photo of Albert Einstein, around age 25, sitting at a desk. He is a wearing a flannel suit and resting his right arm on the desk. Einstein is looking to the left of the photographer in this posed photo.

The first paragraph of the paper, in German. Translated to English is reads:

It is known that Maxwell's electrodynamics—as usually understood at the present time—when applied to moving bodies, leads to asymmetries which do not appear to be inherent in the phenomena. Take, for example, the reciprocal electrodynamic action of a magnet and a conductor. The observable phenomenon here depends only on the relative motion of the conductor and the magnet, whereas the customary view draws a sharp distinction between the two cases in which either the one or the other of these bodies is in motion. For if the magnet is in motion and the conductor at rest, there arises in the neighbourhood of the magnet an electric field with a certain definite energy, producing a current at the places where parts of the conductor are situated. But if the magnet is stationary and the conductor in motion, no electric field arises in the neighbourhood of the magnet...

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Reposted by Mathew Nicolson

Picture This Scotland @74frankfurt.bsky.social · 18d

Great North of Scotland Railway, 1914

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Reposted by Mathew Nicolson

Shetland Elects @shetlandelects.bsky.social · 18d

Orkney and Shetland UK constituency, YouGov MRP projection:

Liberal Democrat: 49%
Reform UK: 16%
Scottish National Party: 13% (-2)
Green: 11% (+3)
Labour: 6% (-1)
Conservative: 4% (-1)

+/- vs. 29 May - 18 June 2025

Fieldwork: 31 August - 24 September 2025

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Mathew Nicolson @eyjarskeggi.bsky.social · 22d

Me whenever there's an election happening somewhere my friends and family don't yet know about

Reposted by Mathew Nicolson

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 23d

"I had not touched a cat in 15 years when an orange kitten wandered over to sit with me in the grass one day. I was left without adequate words to describe that experience.

It reminded me I am alive. It instilled in me a raw, unbridled happiness that I had never felt before, not even as a child."

Prison Journalism Project @prisonjournalism.bsky.social · Apr 4

"Perhaps prison would have persisted this way forever. Perhaps our granite hearts and iron wills would have never crumbled. Perhaps the prison mentality, that we be cold and heartless, would have endured.

Perhaps. But then there were kittens."

When Kittens Came to My Prison, I Had Not Petted One in 15 Years

I had not touched a cat in 15 years when an orange kitten wandered over to sit with me in the grass.

prisonjournalismproject.org

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Mathew Nicolson @eyjarskeggi.bsky.social · 23d

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Paul Franke @paulfrahistory.bsky.social · 23d

Academic career symbolized in a picture.
#Ichbinhannah #postdocchatter

Staircase leading into a wall / into nothing.

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Reposted by Mathew Nicolson

Ian Kikuchi @curatorian.bsky.social · 23d

Some years ago I went to the National Archives to see the original of this map, drawn by TE Lawrence and presented to the British war cabinet in November 1918. Proposes a divvying up in which Faisal getting Syria and Transjordan, and Abdullah gets Iraq. Always struck by the ?? over Kurdistan.

Lawrence of Arabia's map, presented to the Eastern Committee of the War Cabinet in November 1918

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Mathew Nicolson @eyjarskeggi.bsky.social · 23d

I'm amazed it took Penguin 90 years to produce this

Book cover: "The Penguin Book of Penguins"

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Mathew Nicolson @eyjarskeggi.bsky.social · 24d

New island just dropped www.islandinnovation.co/content/news...

Island Innovation - Sustainable Development for Islands Worldwide

Island Innovation is a leading consultancy specializing in sustainable development, climate resilience, and innovation for island communities worldwide.