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Reposted by Katharine Hodgson

Translators Aloud @translatorsaloud.bsky.social · Mar 14

⚡ #FLASHBACKFRIDAY ⚡
Today we revisit this beyond wonderful reading by @muireanndinosaur.bsky.social from Aleksandr #Beliaev's 'Professor Dowell's Head', from RED STAR TALES, the first comprehensive collection of translated #Russian and #Soviet #sci-fi. Don't wait; dive in! youtu.be/WVyW7ZQeazs?...

Muireann Maguire reads from Aleksandr Beliaev's 'Professor Dowell's Head'

YouTube video by Translators Aloud

youtu.be

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Reposted by Katharine Hodgson

Dr Katie Twomey @k2mey.bsky.social · 21h

Having talked to my students recently it seems like the 18ish-year-old population think "AI" is cringey awfulness that devalues learning. They say this before I've told them my opinions. The world is in good hands, and this is a bubble. Let's not waste our resources on it please.

Dermot Casey @dermotcasey.bsky.social · 1d

💥💥 their entire pitch is “wouldn’t it be great if there were no such things as talent, craft, and skill” 💥💥

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 1d

It’s tiresome at this point, but again, their entire pitch is “wouldn’t it be great if there were no such things as talent, craft, and skill,” and what that means is a bland, slop-filled world. www.businessinsider.com/marc-andrees...

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Katharine Hodgson @katharineh.bsky.social · 13h

The one he's holding looks about the right size.

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Katharine Hodgson @katharineh.bsky.social · 13h

The Ukrainians are at home. Only one side in this war needs to go home.

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András Forgács W @andraswf.bsky.social · 1d

Immigrants don't suppress your wages

Bosses do

Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 1d

500 employers fined £10m for failing to pay the national minimum wage.

42,000 workers repaid more than £6m.

Roll of exploitation includes Holland & Barrett, Centrica, Adecco, Avis, Euro Garages, Genting Casinos, Go Outdoors, Mitchells & Butlers. Some have a history.

None forgot to pay execs.

£6 million repaid to workers as Government cracks down on employers underpaying their staff

Nearly 500 employers fined over £10 million for failing to pay the National Minimum Wage

www.gov.uk

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The British Academy @britishacademy.bsky.social · 1d

The beloved BBC Radio 4 programme In Our Time has been awarded the 2025 British Academy President’s Medal!

Professor Susan J Smith, President of the British Academy, praised the programme for bringing rigorous yet accessible discussion of complex ideas to millions of listeners: buff.ly/1bn63FD

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Holger Hestermeyer @hhesterm.bsky.social · 1d

Not that anyone seems to care, but just a quick reminder that Hungary is still a member state of the ICC and Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin still under indictment by the Court and Hungary still under an obligation to arrest him.

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Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 2d

Every decade, university administrators excite themselves over the prospects of firing all the faculty and 95% of the staff.

Early 2020s: LLMs
Early 2010s: MOOCs
Early 2000s: Wikis

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dag @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 2d

"expert" is just a word for someone who knows what they are talking about.

Barbara Sobel @barbarasobel.bsky.social · 2d

RFK Jr: We need to stop trusting the experts... Trusting the experts is not a feature of science or democracy, it's a feature of religion and totalitarianism.

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David Benedict @eggsbened.bsky.social · 3d

Today is the centenary of the birth of the great Tony Hart who opened the eyes of generations to visual art and who is forever associated with this, the shimmering Gallery theme from Vision On – which was also pretty much everyone’s introduction to the vibraphone. youtu.be/-ZNkJXKV7_w

Vision On - The Gallery Tune - BBC1 1960/70s

YouTube video by Lost 1960s TV and Radio

youtu.be

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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 3d

All of this is being put out to placate the right wing press...

In the meantime, it's causing fear & confusion. As I understand it:

● this only applies to some people on skilled visas
● it's not "A level English" it's something called SELT
● much the same requirement exists elsewhere in EU

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Darth Putin @darthputinkgb.bsky.social · 4d

This really triggered a lot of folks who struggle so much with the past they can't tell you what will happen yesterday.

Darth Putin @darthputinkgb.bsky.social · 5d

What causes WW3 as per my tankies:
🇹🇷Shooting 🇷🇺jet down
🇺🇸Killing 🇷🇺troops in🇸🇾
🇺🇸bombing Assad
🇺🇦Defending itself
Giving🇺🇦:
Training
Javelins
155mm shells
Patriots
Tanks
F-16s
HIMARS
ATACMS
Tomahawks
🇺🇦striking crimea
🇺🇦Deep striking🇷🇺
🇺🇦Occupying🇷🇺
Cutting🇷🇺off swift

What doesn't cause WW3:
🇷🇺attacking places

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Katharine Hodgson @katharineh.bsky.social · 6d

New REF rules announced

Katharine Hodgson @katharineh.bsky.social · 6d

Many are good at both.

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Katharine Hodgson @katharineh.bsky.social · 6d

The cost of teaching for an Engineering programme is much higher than for History. Does that mean that fees for Engineering should be higher and fees for History lower? Universities had a teaching grant that used to provide more funding for expensive degrees. Replaced by high fees for all.

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Slurmsadako MacKenzie @slurmsmackenzie.bsky.social · 6d

GenAI truly was the worst technology to come along at this moment.

An energy and water guzzler when we most urgently need to take climate action.

A disinformation machine as our journalism fails.

A bias machine as fascism takes root.

A job killer in a cost of living crisis.

Bria "tries to write a book" Horses @thevoidencore.bsky.social · 11d

The "cognitive decline and brain damage from repeat COVID infections" and "easy to use robot that makes slop and melts your critical thinking skills" is a hell of a combo in a post-fact media ecosystem

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 7d

Good to blame Farage for the dull-arsed, ruinous, tedious failure of Brexit.
Not that good to keep punishing us for that failure, rather than looking to swiftly boost our prosperity by asking to rejoin the Single Market and Customs Union.
But yes. It’s a start.

www.thetimes.com/article/8875...

Starmer and Reeves are expected to argue that if it hadn't been for Brexit this type of downgrade would not have been needed - and cite official figures suggesting that if Britain had not left the European Union the economy would be about £120 billion greater by 2035 than current forecasts suggest.
The message is simple: Farage is ultimately to blame, as the man who delivered Brexit with "easy sloganeering" then walked away from the aftermath rather than putting in the hard yards.
Or to put it another way: Farage, not us, is responsible for putting up your taxes.
The theme will tie to the main thrust of Starmer's argument at conference, that the Reform leader is selling easy solutions that are just a fantasy.

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Count Binface @countbinface.bsky.social · 7d

I hereby declare war on premature Christmassing.

Any shop caught doing this before 1st December must be shut down and turned into affordable housing.

Choose sanity. Vote Binface.

(Photo dated 9th October 2025)

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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 9d

I’ve been saying this for ten years now but possibly not often enough: Ask Them What They Think The Words They’re Using Mean. And then ask them to name the ‘problematic’ people. We had ‘sovereignty’, ‘laws’ & ‘unelected bureaucrats’. The US now has ‘Antifa’, the ‘radical left’ & ‘insurrection’. Ask!

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 8d

What the hell does Farage thinks he’s doing, going off to America *again* to maliciously slag off British teachers at some private Christian college, while offering to peddle their courses over here?
What a repulsive, grubby little traitor.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Nigel Farage accuses teachers of ‘poisoning our kids’ on race issues

Exclusive: Reform UK leader’s remarks at event for private US college criticised as ‘grossly irresponsible’ by NEU leader

www.theguardian.com

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Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 9d

Our authoritarianism is run on clichés borrowed from the Eastern Europe of twenty years ago. Paid protestors, disloyal cities, evil Soros, vast conspiracies — it was all tiresome then and there, and now it’s pathetic.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10d

Trump: "They're, like, insurrectionists, they're terrible people. But you really wonder why. Why are they doing it? What are they gaining? Other than they're obviously paid. They're paid a lot of money."

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Darth Putin @darthputinkgb.bsky.social · 9d

What do you call a Russian mother who buys her mobilised son a carton of long life milk for the train ride?

An optimist.

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Deborah Marsh @djmarsh24.bsky.social · 9d

I remain puzzled as to why some continue to trot out that academia is not the "real world". I have endless responsibilities, deadlines, expectations, and work long hours. This is my "real world" & I hope that my efforts over a long career contribute to improving the "real world" of others. 🧪

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Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 10d

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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Oregon 🕎🎲 @oregonthedm.bsky.social · 11d

Boxes also work on bobcats

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