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William Russell

@robotowilliam.bsky.social

420 followers 300 following 2.5K posts

He/him | 38 | Lifelong explorer and learner | 🦋Reylo | ⏹️Stop AI MSc Animal Behaviour (Queen's University Belfast) interested in animal cognition and social behaviours https://linktr.ee/robotowilliam

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William Russell @robotowilliam.bsky.social · Nov 17

淀川の北側から

Reposted by William Russell

Leia: Sam Raimi Enthusiast (Spooky Season)🇵🇷🏳‍⚧ @madamephosphorus.bsky.social · 9h

This scene was the most earned moment in the trilogy. While sadly we never got to see Leia bring Ben back into the light, the decision to have a vision of Han do it due to Carrie Fisher's passing was a smart one.

Kylo Ren wasn't meant to stay evil. "Kylo Ren is dead. My son is alive."

two men are looking at each other in a blue sky

ALT: two men are looking at each other in a blue sky

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by William Russell

Leia: Sam Raimi Enthusiast (Spooky Season)🇵🇷🏳‍⚧ @madamephosphorus.bsky.social · 9h

I genuinely pity people who think keeping Kylo Ren evil was a good idea. It was set up since The Force Awakens that Leia would be the one to save him down the line.

Keeping him evil and killing him evil is a fundamental betrayal of the franchise's core themes of redemption and forgiveness.

The Star Wars Underworld @theswu.bsky.social · 11h

Should they have stuck with Colin Trevorrow's original idea to make Kylo Ren the final main bad guy of Episode 9?

#DueloftheFates #StarWars #Sequels

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Reposted by William Russell

Michael Dashow @mdashow.bsky.social · Aug 19

Warning to anyone who has their art on Spreadshirt.com: They now have a feature where anyone can remix your art and it's impossible to opt out unless you just leave the site altogether.

Spreadshirt to artists: We’re taking your designs for AI pivot-to-ai.com/2025/08/19/s...

Spreadshirt to artists: We’re taking your designs for AI

Spreadshirt is an online print-on-demand store. You can sell T-shirts and mugs and so on. My wife Arkady Rose is an artist as well as a musician, and had a pile of designs on Spreadshirt and Redbub…

pivot-to-ai.com

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William Russell @robotowilliam.bsky.social · 16h

🤡

Jeremy Clarkson reneges on NHS criticism after needing urgent treatment

Presenter, who called service ‘a creaking monster, says he’s ‘eternally grateful’ to medics who aided him

www.independent.co.uk

William Russell @robotowilliam.bsky.social · 17h

Comment from the Reddit thread from someone on the front lines

dvb70 [score hidden] 4 hrs (edited 3 hrs) My company purchased lots of licensing for MS Co-pilot for business as it was decided everyone needed it. After 6 months or so we decided to do some reporting on usage and found almost no-one was using it outside of IT folk. Licenses were then pulled back. The business expected some sort of magic to happen just by providing the tools where as most people when asked had no real clue as to how the tools were meant to help them do their job.

I attended an MS conference on Al a little while back and the difference in attitude between MS's sales pitch and real world feedback could not have been more stark when it came to O&A. Real world feed back was all our users don't know how to use Al or how it's meant to help them.

Al for most businesses unless there is some real strategy and planning involved is like throwing magic beans at people and expecting some miracle to happen.

William Russell @robotowilliam.bsky.social · 17h

Ironically this site uses AI generated images in its articles.

UK businesses wasting millions on ChatGPT-style AI tools

Companies are investing heavily in AI tools like ChatGPT in the hope to boost productivity and streamline workflows.

www.cityam.com

Reposted by William Russell

Humanists UK @humanists.uk · 18h

'The law seeks to strike a balance between harm, which includes disorder, and our right to freedom of expression. I think in this specific case, the Court of Appeal judges got it right.'

@andrewcopson.bsky.social on @lbc.co.uk

Full interview ⬇️

soundcloud.com/humanistsuk/...

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Reposted by William Russell

Kasey Gifford @kaseygifford.bsky.social · 1d

We should be asking this
c o n s t a n t l y.

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Andrew Copson @andrewcopson.bsky.social · 20h

We've joined @equallyours.bsky.social & others in calling on the Government to take a definitive stand against the far-right’s cynical spreading of division & hostility between communities and defend the values of inclusion, equality, & anti-racism. @humanists.uk

UK charities say toxic immigration rhetoric leading to threats against staff

Voluntary organisations forced to introduce extensive security measures to protect staff and property

www.theguardian.com

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William Russell @robotowilliam.bsky.social · 1d

Daisy is Mr Darcy! Haha, awesome 🤩

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Reposted by William Russell

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 1d

Ultimately, the death of US manufacturing is about this attitude. It's easy to say "buy american or stfu" because virtue signaling is free. But it's hard to actually sustain a business because many Americans simply don't want to pay what it costs to produce things ethically in this country

Someone on Twitter replies to me: "meh. buy american or stfu."

Two hours later, in a separate thread, the write: "$30 for a single button-up is ridiculous unless it is decent quality silk."

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 1d

I interviewed one of these factory workers in Los Angeles. She gets paid three cents to sew a zipper, five cents for a collar, and seven cents to prepare the top part of a skirt.

This is how fast fashion brands like Fashion Nova can put "Made in USA" tags on dress shirts that retail for only $25

"Every day at 6 am, Bilma boards a bus that shuttles her to downtown Los Angeles’s Fashion District. When she reaches the garment factory an hour later, she starts working immediately, without punching in. Like thousands of other garment workers in the United States, Bilma’s wages aren’t tethered to the clock but rather to the quantity of operations she executes. Three cents for a zipper or sleeve, five cents for a collar, and seven cents to prepare the top part of a skirt before she passes it onto the next sewing operator in line. Assembling an entire dress earns her a mere 15 cents. Bilma toils away on garments primarily for fast-fashion labels such as Fashion Nova, Lulus, and Lucy in the Sky, who prioritize quickly stocking on-trend items over the quality of materials. These companies peddle things like $80 maxi dresses, $25 poplin dress shirts, and $5 crop tops, all modeled by beautiful people and bedecked with the tantalizing promise of low-cost glamor."

"This worker payment system, known as “piecework” in the garment industry, is how US-based manufacturers can sidestep labor laws that require companies to pay at least the minimum wage. Rather than compensating Bilma for the exhausting 12-hour shifts—a regimen that, according to LA County’s minimum wage requirement, should yield $202.80—her pay is determined by the individual tasks she performs, which can fluctuate daily. Despite her adept handling of hundreds of garments a day, Bilma’s earnings typically linger around $50 per day. That’s $300 weekly for the standard six-day grind and $350 if she opts for Sunday labor. Doing what she can with this modest income, Bilma spends $400 a month to live in a two-bedroom apartment with six other people, some of whom are day laborers. In this crowded arrangement, two occupants squeeze into each bedroom, while two more lay claim to the living room. Bilma sleeps in the corner of the bustling kitchen."

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William Russell @robotowilliam.bsky.social · 1d

Lucky!

William Russell @robotowilliam.bsky.social · 1d

My Pixel won't stop telling me I need to install a 3GB(!!) update which seems to be essentially AI shit I don't want

Reposted by William Russell

Stephen Montgomery @ebablab.bsky.social · 1d

This is immensely weird and immoral

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

‘I realised I’d been ChatGPT-ed into bed’: how ‘Chatfishing’ made finding love on dating apps even weirder

Where once people were duped by soft-focus photos and borrowed chat-up lines, now they have to watch out for computer-generated charm. But it’s one thing to use a witty phrase – another thing entirely...

www.theguardian.com

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William Russell @robotowilliam.bsky.social · 1d

A low polygon video game man running, on the left in t-shirt and jeans, on the right in a suit. Caption says "Run" and "🛡️ Run as administrator"

William Russell @robotowilliam.bsky.social · 1d

All I'm thinking is, why is any sensible person still on X, much less paying Elon monthly for a blue check?

Alex Degen (Magic Serple 2025) @adactivity.bsky.social · 2d

It’s all happening on x dot com where I do my banking

Reposted by William Russell

Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 1d

this is sociopathic behaviour and I think we need to treat it as such! just because something has become easy to do doesn't mean it has become less creepy, or more acceptable!

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Nikkolas Smith @4nikkolas.bsky.social · 3d

after millions of views and shares of my Portland Frog art. (thank you all🙏🏾) I got requests to highlight priests, and chickens, and Chicagoans, and T-Rexes, and more… all of us who refuse to bend the knee. so this is for US.
𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚕.
𝚆𝚎 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚆𝚒𝚗.

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John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 3d

Not only will AI grading be the end of teaching because of the labor dynamics Marc covers, but it kicks off a process of what I call "self-alienation" where the teachers gradually remove themselves from the essential human experiences of their own work.

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John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 3d

I strongly urge everyone to not just read this warning from @marcwatkins.bsky.social, but heed it, and be vocal and forceful pushing back against using AI to grade student writing. This must be anathema if we're going to have a world where learning means something. substack.com/inbox/post/1...