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ronmanton.bsky.social
Ron Manton
@ronmanton.bsky.social
160 followers 180 following 800 posts
Unit of capitalist production. Never TPFP. Aspiring musician. Keeper of wolves.
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ronmanton.bsky.social
Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 10h
I think they do electric guitar workshops. A bit easier than a harpsichord. Well, for me at any rate.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 20h
Woke up this morning, and I felt trapped in my life. There's someone I care about very much, and I know it's not to be. It's all in #GrahamGreene. Everything. I just know where things are going. Nothing is "written", but some paths are no longer open.
The front cover of Graham Greene's masterpiece, "The Heart of the Matter" (1948). The cover is a grainy, black and white photograph of (possibly) a West African village. It is framed by the dark trunks of tropical trees. A dirt track with a rough building on the right leads to another structure in the near distance; this is presumably a school house. It has a pitched roof, and there are the vague outlines of children sitting outside the front. The author's name in black capitals, and the title in black mixed type appear inside a white, black-bordered rectangle towards the foot of the cover. Graham Greene 1904-1991. Cover photograph: W. Eugene Smith/Magnum. Penguin Twentieth-Classics Edition, 1978.
ronmanton.bsky.social
Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 1d
Closest boat weekend to next boat season! I've enjoyed the trips. 🌞
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 2d
O.K. I'll say freedom of movement would be a benefit. We had it and lost it (-ive message); in rejoining, we would get it back (+ive message).
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ronmanton.bsky.social
Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 2d
I assume this means the U.S. will "pull out of, and no longer recognise", the Nobel Prize? Perhaps AFPI will sponsor a new "beautiful" peace prize, and Trump will be anointed. "A lot of people, you know, people were saying I couldn't win, but we did it...".
#NobelPeacePrize
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ronmanton.bsky.social
Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 2d
Indeed. I assume this means the U.S. will "pull out of, and no longer recognise", the Nobel Prize? Perhaps AFPI will sponsor a new "beautiful" peace prize, and Trump will be anointed. "A lot of people, you know, people were saying I couldn't win, but we did it...".
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 2d
Might there also be a small role for both the politicians and an undiscriminating (mostly English) electorate in this descent to dangerous levels of irresponsibility? However,.yes. "If these results were repeated at a GE..." is arrant nonsense.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 2d
Like the fact the Urban Dictionary has this as "heavy duty" kissing. I associate heavy duty with footwear or paint stripper; kissing not so much. Maybe that's where it all went wrong.
ronmanton.bsky.social
Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 2d
Yes. A digital ID repository will be compromised. Separately, you know when politicians are not to be trusted when they use expressions like "taken forward". Teenage kids. Labour, just stop for one second. Step back and consider what you will be doing to people's lives, the society in which we live.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 6d
Very upsetting news about "Crazy Horse". Best back row in an England/Tigers jersey. But rugby can't continue like this? Or is it life? Give it a rip doing what you want until something cracks? Probably. If I had a son, what would I be telling him? I don't know, but I do know this is bitter #mnd 🌹
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 7d
If the party does these things for long enough there comes a point where it is "Labourish". Whatever the history of the party and any core values it purports to have, it is, in the end, what it does.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 8d
So. This is interesting to me. Thanks. Used to be confident in my analysis of lots of life things. I had a belief in a simple, linear view of cause and effect. Now I realise, except for basic things, I can never have enough "data" to plan. So much is unknowable *in principle*. Bit frightening.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 8d
7 across. 9 letters. "That Saturday morning feeling". Fantastic.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 8d
Agreed. Part of the problem is that the description "short black" exists at all when there is a perfectly valid term: ''espresso". You can't mess with "espresso". "Short black" just sounds like nonsense marketing, and you can put anything in that. Just as well you didn't order a Martini.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 9d
Now you're talking. I wasn't going to drink tonight, but, in honour of German unity, I'll get a few down. #Einheit ✊
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 9d
I'm still an amateur on these matters, but I cannot recommend enough @brianklaas.bsky.social's book, "Fluke". It has reshaped the inside of my head when it comes to randomness, chance, evolution, predetermination and free will. #Fluke
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 9d
Great! Been reading about Epicurus' idea.👏 Thanks. I wasn't thinking everything is inevitable: our free choices influence our future options ("El jardin de senderos que se bifurcan"); the choices (unknown) others make, likewise. Randomness, just pure chance, plays probably the biggest hand of all.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 10d
It's a bit like #Heisenberg. I decided to post about having posted 777 times, but then, all of a sudden, I hadn't. Made me remember that everything we do changes everything. #PhilSky
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 10d
Love the posts and photographs, Andreas. These are very much the trips I'd like to be able to do. Thanks. 🌞
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 10d
The gift of a book. My beautiful 1909 edition of Thomas Mann's masterpiece, "Buddenbrooks", subtitled "Verfall einer Familie". This was gifted to me when I was in my teens by a lady from Graz. I have always treasured it. #BookSky
The cloth cover of Thomas Mann's (1875-1955) novel, "Buddenbrooks" first (published in 1901). 1909 edition. The fabric of the cover is light grey and finely mottled brown. It has the rough texture of an old wallpaper. Woven into the fabric in thin, red cotton is the depiction of the front aspect of what appears to be a fine town house. Beneath this drawing, also in red, is the title. The spine is of brown leather with gold lettering. The title page of the novel, published by Deutsche Buch Gemeinschaft in 1909. The author's name appears at the top in black capitals. Under it, the title, ”Buddenbrooks”, in elaborate, cursive text. Centrally placed on the page is the subtitle, „Verfall einer Familie”, in rather diminutive, non-cursive, mixed case. Towards the foot of the page is the publisher's logo, comprising a sort of weighing scales made up of a balance arm with letter d at one end, g at the opposite, and b at the fulcrum; this rests on a wireframe representation of a globe, which in turn sits on top of a book placed on its side. Under the logo is the publisher's name, again in small capitals („Deutsche Buch Gemeinschaft”) and, at the very bottom, „Berlin”, in a cursive script. The title page is framed by a thin black line border. The first page of "Buddenbrooks", in a traditional, "gothic" typeset. I could be wrong; I'm no expert here. The publisher's page, in a gothic style script. Its logo appears at the top, under which „Dieses Werk ist eine Veröfferentlichung der Deutschen Buch Gemeinschaft”.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 11d
The reality is, whatever UK governments say about limiting requests for private data access (appropriateness of warrants, etc.), you will never know who's watching unless this gross intrusion is stopped, full stop
ronmanton.bsky.social
Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 11d
1. Companies whose offerings depend upon an encryption pledge (IM, secure email, etc.) will have to quit the UK rather than accede to govt. pressure, leaving us with inferior protection.
2. it is ethically bankrupt to expose the majority of law-abiding citizens thus because crime/threats exist.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 11d
"If this new order [for access to Apple user data in the UK] isn't stopped, the UK Government will likely issue similar orders to other companies, too." Caroline Wilson Palow, legal director for Privacy International.

The new pursuit of Apple could leave every UK citizen less safe online.
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 12d
Working on my indefinite leave to remain.
A small pile of books on a table, stacked on their side. From bottom to top: "Fowler's (English Usage)", Roget's Thesaurus, a Collins (Compact) English dictionary, "The Approach to Latin (Part I)", "My Grammar and I" and "i before e".
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Ron Manton @ronmanton.bsky.social · 12d
Appropriate the spider was forced to fast on an Ember Day.