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Alastair Millar

@skriptorium.info

4.8K followers 4K following 1.8K posts

Translator & flash sf writer (BSFA); 🇨🇿/🇬🇧 Posts eclectically (archaeology, travel, current affairs, words); likes good coffee & bad puns; blocks for unsolicited DMs. Happily married; he/him; 🏳️‍🌈/🏳️‍⚧️ ally; #NAFO fella; 🇺🇦 🇬🇪 Links: https://linktr.ee/alastairmillar

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Alastair Millar @skriptorium.info · Jun 16

My flash science fiction collection, 'Mars & More', is still available!

If you'd like to get YOUR hands on some punchy, bite sized SF, you can find the ebook here: books2read.com/MarsMore

Or order in print (paperback) through your favourite bookstore: the ISBN is 979-8-227-17966-1

Cover of 'Mars & More' by Alastair Millar. On a lunar landscape, a suited astronaut observes conflict on the planet and in space.

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Alastair Millar @skriptorium.info · 11h

Despite all the evidence, the last thing Russia wants is for people to think that Ukraine is competent and capable by itself... 🙄 Classic propaganda.

The audience for comments like this is both domestic, and the European anti-war shills who will take anything Moscow says as gospel.

TVP World @tvpworld.bsky.social · 11h

The head of Russia’s Federal Security Service has accused the U.K. of direct involvement in attacks on Russia, including Ukraine’s high-profile Operation Spiderweb.

Alastair Millar @skriptorium.info · 12h

AGAIN?? HOW??
There have been many, many, prior instances of lawyers finding that AI was making up precedents and cases out of thin air. This should absolutely not still be a thing that happens - and especially not when failure could send a client into grave danger.

The Independent @the-independent.com · 12h

Judge blasts lawyer for using AI after he cited ‘entirely fictitious’ cases in asylum appeal

Judge blasts lawyer for using AI after he cited ‘entirely fictitious’ cases

www.independent.co.uk

Alastair Millar @skriptorium.info · 17h

The latest attacks on Ukraine by Russia involved 320 Shahed-type UAVs and 37 missiles.

This is your reminder that Europe/NATO is (still) not yet prepared to deal with a threat of this kind on this scale.

And that Ukraine does so daily.

Reposted by Alastair Millar

History Daily - This Many Years Ago @thismanyyearsago.bsky.social · 20h

1335 years ago, on the 16th of October 690, Wu Zetian became empress of the Zhou dynasty. She had held de facto power previously during the reigns of her late husband and two of her sons. She is the only female sovereign in the history of China who is widely regarded as legitimate. #otd #history 🗃️

Tang Empress' Travel painting in detail, depicting Wu Zetian and her attendants

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Reposted by Alastair Millar

Tade Thompson @tadethompson.bsky.social · 19h

The lesson of genAI has very little to do with genAI.

The real lesson here is that as soon as your bosses found something that could approximate the worst possible worker in your team, they obliterated entry-level jobs.

It's not coming alive. That's nonsensical. But your bosses are already alive.

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Reposted by Alastair Millar

NOELREPORTS @noelreports.com · 20h

A new drone incident disrupted NATO's Falcon Autumn drills in Poland, Rzeczpospolita reports. Belarusian-plated cars were spotted near a Dutch camp site, followed by unidentified drones that jammed communications. The exercise was restructured, and Dutch EW systems were flown in.

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Reposted by Alastair Millar

UNITED24 Media @united24media.com · 1d

⚡️ Russian forces are boasting online about their drone strike on a UN convoy in Ukraine’s Kherson region.

Footage they shared clearly shows the UN logo on the vehicles they attacked.

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Alastair Millar @skriptorium.info · 22h

Do not forget what is happening in Georgia.
🇬🇪

Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 @marikamikiashvili.bsky.social · 1d

The Georgian Dream PM Kobakhidze says that they'll be banning "up to 10" parties.

You probably won't be surprised when I say that this is the entirety of democratic opposition.

#TerrorinGeorgia #GeorgiaProtests

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Reposted by Alastair Millar

Grandiloquent Word of the Day @grandiloquentwords.bsky.social · 1d

Solipsism [SOL-ip-siz-um]
(n.)
-Extreme preoccupation with one's feelings, desires, etc.
-Self-centeredness.

Used in a sentence:
“Her solipsism was not the loud, brash sort, but the quiet, ecclesiastical kind—like a cathedral built entirely for the purpose of echoing her own opinions.”

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Reposted by Alastair Millar

Wanted in Rome @wantedinrome.bsky.social · 22h

On this day 82 years ago, more than 1,000 Jews, including 200 children, were rounded up during a Nazi raid in Rome’s Jewish Ghetto and deported to Auschwitz. Only 16 would return to Rome alive: 15 men and one woman.

Rome marks 82 years since Nazi raid on Jewish quarter

Nazis deported more than 1,000 Jews from Rome to Auschwitz in October 1943. Rome's Jewish community on Thursday will commemorate the 82nd anniversary of the deportation of more than 1,000 of the city’...

www.wantedinrome.com

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Reposted by Alastair Millar

Dr. Michelle I. Turner @chaco-arch.bsky.social · 1d

Archaeologists, the Gene S. Stuart Award committee of the SAA needs new members. This is an award for journalism about archaeology, so it's a great experience for anyone who's interested in scicomm. It's not a heavy lift. Please volunteer or pass it on to colleagues.🏺 www.saa.org/career-pract...

Gene S. Stuart Award

www.saa.org

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Reposted by Alastair Millar

Holly Anderson 🍇 @hollyanderson.bsky.social · 1d

you fucked around and now the Episcopalians are doing memes. are you happy now. are you

Screenshot of a Facebook post featuring three of the Portland protesters wearing inflatable frog costumes with the following text:

Episcopalians on Facebook
Elizabeth Rose Elrod • 22h •
Exodus 8:2-6
"But if you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs...
The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your officials."

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Alastair Millar @skriptorium.info · 1d

Same.

Reposted by Alastair Millar

Kevin Wilbraham @kpw1453.bsky.social · 1d

Relief of the sun god Sol from Roman Corbridge (Coria). The relief is on display in the site museum. 📸 My own. #ReliefWednesday #RomanBritain #Corbridge

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Alastair Millar @skriptorium.info · 1d

Interesting assessment of China's latest iteration of the tank, and how it differs from its predecessors - as well as where China likely sees it being needed. Very different from current Western approaches.

Type 100: China's Vision for a Modern Tank - Militarnyi

Explore the innovations of the Type 100 tank and its role in the future of armored warfare amidst changing military paradigms.

militarnyi.com

Alastair Millar @skriptorium.info · 1d

When you hear someone say that "there's no such thing as an innocent [insert nationality/ethnicity/political affiliation here]", I advise you to remember the words of Iain M. Banks:

"A guilty system recognizes no innocents."

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Reposted by Alastair Millar

Archaeology Data Service @ads-update.bsky.social · 1d

⭐ The ADS Data Catalogue is Live!⭐

Explore hundreds of thousands of archaeological resources including over 100,000 reports and 5,000 archive collections.

👉To find out more and start exploring visit buff.ly/BMulYqQ

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Reposted by Alastair Millar

Anton Gerashchenko @antongerashchenko.bsky.social · 1d

Lithuanian National Defence Minister Dovilė Šakalienė:

For Russia,strategic dilemmas are its tools,its weapons…Until Russia feels that it will suffer consequences of its war of aggression that would impair its ability to expand its military power, everything else is just talk.

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Alastair Millar @skriptorium.info · 1d

Oh hey, you're in 🇨🇿 too? Awesome!
Did you manage to get to the Lucy/Selam exhibition at the NM in Prague?

Reposted by Alastair Millar

Grandiloquent Word of the Day @grandiloquentwords.bsky.social · 1d

Benignant [buh-NIG-nunt]
(adj.)
- Kindly, gracious, and benevolent.

From “benign” (exerting a good influence) on model of its opposite, “malignant”

Used in a sentence:
“He offered a benignant smile that suggested he might forgive you for existing—so long as you stopped doing it so loudly.”

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Alastair Millar @skriptorium.info · 1d

A brief article in English (with site photos) on this remarkable find from north Bohemia: a Stone Age hunting site and the remains of 19 (!!) mammoths from 26,000 years ago.

#archaeology #prehistory #mammoth #stoneage

19 Mammoths Found in Northern Czechia

Archaeologists in northern Czechia uncovered remains of 19 mammoths from 24,000 BC at a site in Ústí nad Labem during construction work.

praguemorning.cz

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Alastair Millar @skriptorium.info · 2d

Just Trump - who demands that Europe stop buying Russian oil - fulsomely praising the European leader who buys the most Russian oil and glorifying himself again. 🤡

Euronews @euronews.com · 2d

Trump to Orbán: “You are fantastic. I know a lot of people don’t agree with me, but I’m the only one that matters.”

Reposted by Alastair Millar

Vikki C. @vikkicwrites.bsky.social · Sep 8

🔥 Now available for pre-order from @icefloepress.bsky.social 🔥

IN THE BLUEPRINT OF HER IRIS - A hybrid collaboration – my poems with stunning visual art by @rfredekenter.bsky.social. Exploring origins, heritage, ecologies & love amid our current crises.

icefloepress.net/in-the-bluep...

In The Blueprint of Her Iris – A Collaboration. Vikki C. (Poems) Robert Frede Kenter (Images)

Now Available for pre-order: In The Blueprint of Her Iris is a collaboration between Vikki C. (Poems) and Robert Frede Kenter (Images). It is 69 pages, full colour, 6″ x 9″ dimensions. …

icefloepress.net

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Alastair Millar @skriptorium.info · 2d

Deluded idiot probably thinks he has a chance. The old fool genuinely doesn't seem to realise how disrespectful he's being.

Reuters @reuters.com · 2d

U.S. President Donald Trump described Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as “a beautiful young woman”, as she stood behind him on stage at a Gaza summit in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

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Alastair Millar @skriptorium.info · 2d

'Stunning' is the right word.
As Keats put it, 'a thing of beauty is a joy forever'.

Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 3d

A stunning 2,000 year-old Roman blue glass amphoriskos.

📷 Getty Museum www.getty.edu/art/collecti...

#Archaeology

Getty Museum photo of a translucent, dark blue, two-handled, glass flask (amphoriskos) against a grey background. The free-blown body is bulbous in shape, with a narrow neck with a flattened rim. The two handles were added afterwards and attach to the body and mouth. The handle on the right has been attached slightly higher up on the body than the other side. Height 10.5 cm. There is some incrustation on the interior of the glass.

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