Alastair Millar
@skriptorium.info
Translator & flash sf writer (BSFA); 🇨🇿/🇬🇧
Posts eclectically (current affairs, archaeology, words, writing)
❤️ travel, coffee, puns; 🚫 genAI; unsolicited DM = block
Happily married; he/him; 🏳️🌈/🏳️⚧️ ally; #NAFO fella; 🇺🇦 🇬🇪 🇬🇱
Links: https://linktr.ee/alastairmillar
Posts eclectically (current affairs, archaeology, words, writing)
❤️ travel, coffee, puns; 🚫 genAI; unsolicited DM = block
Happily married; he/him; 🏳️🌈/🏳️⚧️ ally; #NAFO fella; 🇺🇦 🇬🇪 🇬🇱
Links: https://linktr.ee/alastairmillar
Pinned
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
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
Seems appropriate for a lot folks in the Northern Hemisphere today!
Ninguid [NING-gwid]
(adj.)
Snowy; covered in a great quantity of snow.
Used in a sentence:
“The world looked magical under a ninguid blanket, each tree and shrub adorned in sparkling white, as if nature herself had dressed for a lavish winter ball.”
(adj.)
Snowy; covered in a great quantity of snow.
Used in a sentence:
“The world looked magical under a ninguid blanket, each tree and shrub adorned in sparkling white, as if nature herself had dressed for a lavish winter ball.”
January 25, 2026 at 5:33 PM
Seems appropriate for a lot folks in the Northern Hemisphere today!
Reposted by Alastair Millar
Dominical. adj. [dominicalis, Latin.] That which notes the Lord’s day, or Sunday.
johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/1773/dominic...
johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/1773/dominic...
January 25, 2026 at 3:15 PM
Dominical. adj. [dominicalis, Latin.] That which notes the Lord’s day, or Sunday.
johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/1773/dominic...
johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/1773/dominic...
Reposted by Alastair Millar
– The current design of artificial intelligence systems facilitates the degradation and destruction of our critical civic institutions.
Jeg tror du skal lese denne og ta den med på jobb på mandag.
Og Finansdepartementet bør ta en prat med Tangen…
Jeg tror du skal lese denne og ta den med på jobb på mandag.
Og Finansdepartementet bør ta en prat med Tangen…
How Generative AI is destroying society
An astonishingly lucid new paper that should be read by all
garymarcus.substack.com
January 25, 2026 at 3:01 PM
– The current design of artificial intelligence systems facilitates the degradation and destruction of our critical civic institutions.
Jeg tror du skal lese denne og ta den med på jobb på mandag.
Og Finansdepartementet bør ta en prat med Tangen…
Jeg tror du skal lese denne og ta den med på jobb på mandag.
Og Finansdepartementet bør ta en prat med Tangen…
Reposted by Alastair Millar
Reposted by Alastair Millar
If this is what they do when they're out on the street with people pointing cameras at them, what do you think is happening inside the ICE prison camps that they keep denying Members of Congress access to?
January 25, 2026 at 7:20 AM
If this is what they do when they're out on the street with people pointing cameras at them, what do you think is happening inside the ICE prison camps that they keep denying Members of Congress access to?
Reposted by Alastair Millar
Imagine what’s happening in the camps.
Imagine how much they’d be lying about what happened without all the videos showing it from multiple angles.
January 24, 2026 at 11:29 PM
Imagine what’s happening in the camps.
Reposted by Alastair Millar
Exosculate [eks-OSS-kyoo-layt]
(v.)
- To kiss fervently, repeatedly, or fondly.
Used in a sentence:
“The mistletoe dangled above them like a permission slip from the universe, an overdue excuse they’d both been waiting for to finally exosculate with shameless abandon.”
(v.)
- To kiss fervently, repeatedly, or fondly.
Used in a sentence:
“The mistletoe dangled above them like a permission slip from the universe, an overdue excuse they’d both been waiting for to finally exosculate with shameless abandon.”
January 24, 2026 at 9:50 PM
Exosculate [eks-OSS-kyoo-layt]
(v.)
- To kiss fervently, repeatedly, or fondly.
Used in a sentence:
“The mistletoe dangled above them like a permission slip from the universe, an overdue excuse they’d both been waiting for to finally exosculate with shameless abandon.”
(v.)
- To kiss fervently, repeatedly, or fondly.
Used in a sentence:
“The mistletoe dangled above them like a permission slip from the universe, an overdue excuse they’d both been waiting for to finally exosculate with shameless abandon.”
Russia is trying to freeze Ukraine into submission; they have no interest in a genuine peace, only in bending another country to their will.
Kyiv, a major capital in Europe, is plunged into darkness by incessant Russian missile and drone attacks on civilian energy infrastructure.
More than 1 million residents are without electricity as winter settles in.
Heat, light, water, schools, and transport are disrupted.
Photo: @oleh.west
More than 1 million residents are without electricity as winter settles in.
Heat, light, water, schools, and transport are disrupted.
Photo: @oleh.west
January 25, 2026 at 5:21 AM
Russia is trying to freeze Ukraine into submission; they have no interest in a genuine peace, only in bending another country to their will.
A reminder - Georgians are still protesting their authoritarian, anti-European, Russophile government every single day. Despute provocations and arrests, they have not resorted to violence.
January 25, 2026 at 5:20 AM
A reminder - Georgians are still protesting their authoritarian, anti-European, Russophile government every single day. Despute provocations and arrests, they have not resorted to violence.
In June 1980, a general strike was held in El Salvador to protest police death squads, funded by the US govt. Asked about exports of torture equipment, US Under Secretary of State Abrams said "I think we have earned enough trust not to be questioned..."
This post is not about El Salvador.
This post is not about El Salvador.
January 25, 2026 at 4:43 AM
In June 1980, a general strike was held in El Salvador to protest police death squads, funded by the US govt. Asked about exports of torture equipment, US Under Secretary of State Abrams said "I think we have earned enough trust not to be questioned..."
This post is not about El Salvador.
This post is not about El Salvador.
Reposted by Alastair Millar
"If you use AI there’s a loss of process—art process, theatre making, translation....Process is where you build knowledge. Just going from A to B without process, you gain no knowledge, no human experience. You gain zero opportunity because you are not having to engage with anybody else..."
#xl8 💙📚
#xl8 💙📚
“[I]n a sense, a translator is always like a fan. You’re always in this position of admiration, but you are also emulating the author.”
Sarah Gear interviews translator Jen Calleja on the art, politics, and livelihood of literary translation. At Asymptote: buff.ly/3WmFKtX
Sarah Gear interviews translator Jen Calleja on the art, politics, and livelihood of literary translation. At Asymptote: buff.ly/3WmFKtX
An Interview with Jen Calleja - Asymptote
I met with Jen Calleja—author, musician and translator from German extraordinaire—at the Edinburgh International Book Festival where she was taking part in two events. In the first, she appeared…
buff.ly
January 23, 2026 at 10:40 AM
"If you use AI there’s a loss of process—art process, theatre making, translation....Process is where you build knowledge. Just going from A to B without process, you gain no knowledge, no human experience. You gain zero opportunity because you are not having to engage with anybody else..."
#xl8 💙📚
#xl8 💙📚
@abracanabra.bsky.social has written an excellent essay on writing under pressure, which I recommend to all writers out there.
aswiebe.com/marketlist/j...
aswiebe.com/marketlist/j...
January 2025 - Writing Under Pressure - Aswiebe's Market List
Writing Under Pressure in Minneapolis, Intergalactic Space Stories, and more science fiction, fantasy, and horror short story market listings!
aswiebe.com
January 24, 2026 at 9:48 PM
@abracanabra.bsky.social has written an excellent essay on writing under pressure, which I recommend to all writers out there.
aswiebe.com/marketlist/j...
aswiebe.com/marketlist/j...
Reposted by Alastair Millar
“There are two futures before us. In one, closed platforms strangle competition with no incentive to make things better.
In the other, open networks let anyone with a good idea build a better version of social media.” @jay.bsky.team
www.ft.com/content/c698...
In the other, open networks let anyone with a good idea build a better version of social media.” @jay.bsky.team
www.ft.com/content/c698...
Banning under-16s won’t fix social media
The toxic ecosystem we have today can be better addressed with competition than regulation
www.ft.com
January 24, 2026 at 6:47 PM
“There are two futures before us. In one, closed platforms strangle competition with no incentive to make things better.
In the other, open networks let anyone with a good idea build a better version of social media.” @jay.bsky.team
www.ft.com/content/c698...
In the other, open networks let anyone with a good idea build a better version of social media.” @jay.bsky.team
www.ft.com/content/c698...
Reposted by Alastair Millar
To bring a smile to your face this weekend …
An ancient bowl with human feet!
Made in predynastic Egypt around 5,500 years ago.
The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
📷 by me
#Archaeology
An ancient bowl with human feet!
Made in predynastic Egypt around 5,500 years ago.
The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
📷 by me
#Archaeology
January 24, 2026 at 10:49 AM
To bring a smile to your face this weekend …
An ancient bowl with human feet!
Made in predynastic Egypt around 5,500 years ago.
The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
📷 by me
#Archaeology
An ancient bowl with human feet!
Made in predynastic Egypt around 5,500 years ago.
The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
📷 by me
#Archaeology
Reposted by Alastair Millar
Trump knows Carney spanked him at Davos and is now having a predictable petty despotic meltdown. But what he will never understand is that in doing so he is proving the points Carney made in his landmark speech.
January 24, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Trump knows Carney spanked him at Davos and is now having a predictable petty despotic meltdown. But what he will never understand is that in doing so he is proving the points Carney made in his landmark speech.
The fact that this will release to 27 countries illustrates the self-importance of the US political class - nobody else (except perhaps in Melania's native Slovenia) is likely to be interested, and thinking otherwise is just delusional.
White House Launches Desperate Bid to Save Melania’s Movie
The White House is pulling out all the stops to try to salvage Melania Trump’s documentary, which is widely predicted to bomb when it opens next weekend. The vanity project, for which Jeff Bezos’ Amaz...
www.yahoo.com
January 24, 2026 at 4:13 PM
The fact that this will release to 27 countries illustrates the self-importance of the US political class - nobody else (except perhaps in Melania's native Slovenia) is likely to be interested, and thinking otherwise is just delusional.
Amongst other things, according to Bloomberg CSG going public makes Czech Michal Strnad, its chairman of the board, the world's 3rd richest man.
January 24, 2026 at 3:36 PM
Amongst other things, according to Bloomberg CSG going public makes Czech Michal Strnad, its chairman of the board, the world's 3rd richest man.
Just can't resist interfering in other countries' affairs, can he?
Trump threatens Canada with 100% tariffs over trade deal with China
Trump threatens Canada with 100% tariffs over trade deal with China
Canada this month negotiated a deal to lower tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in return for lower import taxes on Canadian farm products.
www.lemonde.fr
January 24, 2026 at 2:54 PM
Just can't resist interfering in other countries' affairs, can he?
Europe can start doing this by being more self-sufficient, i.e. manufacturing more of its defence necessities itself, and by buying European equipment instead of American goods.
Less intervention, more burden-sharing. The latest U.S. defense strategy, shaped under Donald Trump, calls on European allies to lead on regional security, emphasizes that the war in Ukraine is Europe’s responsibility to deal with, and redirects U.S. military focus towards the Indo-Pacific.
January 24, 2026 at 2:12 PM
Europe can start doing this by being more self-sufficient, i.e. manufacturing more of its defence necessities itself, and by buying European equipment instead of American goods.
Because of course it does. Tech bros love them some fascism.
January 24, 2026 at 2:11 PM
Because of course it does. Tech bros love them some fascism.
Reposted by Alastair Millar
Staying informed on current affairs can be overwhelming and depressing.
Do it anyway.
Do it anyway.
January 19, 2026 at 6:42 PM
Staying informed on current affairs can be overwhelming and depressing.
Do it anyway.
Do it anyway.
Didn't we go through all this the FIRST time they tried foisting 'smart glasses' on the world?
Women filmed in secret for TikTok content - then harassed online
Women filmed in secret for TikTok content - then harassed online
So-called manfluencers wearing smart glasses approach women and then post videos to TikTok.
www.bbc.com
January 24, 2026 at 10:24 AM
Didn't we go through all this the FIRST time they tried foisting 'smart glasses' on the world?
Reposted by Alastair Millar
A scientist can pretend that his work isn't himself, it's merely the impersonal truth. An artist can't hide behind the truth. He can't hide anywhere.
January 24, 2026 at 9:55 AM
A scientist can pretend that his work isn't himself, it's merely the impersonal truth. An artist can't hide behind the truth. He can't hide anywhere.
Honestly, some people are just SO STUPID.
A Czech teacher phoned in a fake report of a school shooting because he wanted to 'test response times'. He probably traumatised his students as well as wasting police time.
Prison's too good for people like this.
A Czech teacher phoned in a fake report of a school shooting because he wanted to 'test response times'. He probably traumatised his students as well as wasting police time.
Prison's too good for people like this.
Prague teacher detained following false school shooting report
Prague police are investigating a false school shooting report made by a teacher; students are safe, and the teacher faces possible prison time.
www.expats.cz
January 24, 2026 at 9:16 AM
Honestly, some people are just SO STUPID.
A Czech teacher phoned in a fake report of a school shooting because he wanted to 'test response times'. He probably traumatised his students as well as wasting police time.
Prison's too good for people like this.
A Czech teacher phoned in a fake report of a school shooting because he wanted to 'test response times'. He probably traumatised his students as well as wasting police time.
Prison's too good for people like this.
Found on Insta. NATO nation casualties in US-led operations since 9/11, when the US became the only country to ever trigger Article 5 asking for help.
January 24, 2026 at 8:55 AM
Found on Insta. NATO nation casualties in US-led operations since 9/11, when the US became the only country to ever trigger Article 5 asking for help.