brianobrian
@brianobrian.bsky.social
reader of books balancer of accounts neither popular nor profitable BadLanguageModel
At a time when education is under attack it is useful to understand why people should study literature and fiction. Amongst other things it is so as to be able to distinguish fact from fiction, and to be able to distinguish between true and false.
November 8, 2025 at 7:40 AM
At a time when education is under attack it is useful to understand why people should study literature and fiction. Amongst other things it is so as to be able to distinguish fact from fiction, and to be able to distinguish between true and false.
That's Saturday taken care of.
Exhibition turns out to be breathtaking. Super-condensed curated examination of my father’s way of being in the world. Fascinating - even to me - moving and revealing. Kudos to Federico Varese, Jessica Douthwaite, Richard Ovenden et al.
I’m just going to link again
visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/lecarre
I’m just going to link again
visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/lecarre
John le Carré: Tradecraft
Free exhibition at the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford
visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
October 3, 2025 at 8:00 AM
That's Saturday taken care of.
I suspect billionaires believe that their relative wealth gives them the right to edit their own histories, and other people's futures.
September 26, 2025 at 4:12 AM
I suspect billionaires believe that their relative wealth gives them the right to edit their own histories, and other people's futures.
Early social media exchange of views
Dear Sir:
Thou eunuch of language; thou Englishman, who never was south the Tweed; thou servile echo of fashionable barbarisms; thou quack, vending the nostrums of empirical elocution…
—Robert Burns, Letter to a critic (1791)
#WorldLetterWritingDay #C18th
news.lettersofnote.com/p/thou-pickl...
Thou eunuch of language; thou Englishman, who never was south the Tweed; thou servile echo of fashionable barbarisms; thou quack, vending the nostrums of empirical elocution…
—Robert Burns, Letter to a critic (1791)
#WorldLetterWritingDay #C18th
news.lettersofnote.com/p/thou-pickl...
September 7, 2025 at 7:05 AM
Early social media exchange of views
Reposted by brianobrian
Choose your online engagement.
August 23, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Choose your online engagement.
Reposted by brianobrian
This is Leo. He is patiently waiting for this guy to throw the ball. Gonna be here a while. 13/10 (TT: twogoldenleos)
September 4, 2025 at 4:51 PM
This is Leo. He is patiently waiting for this guy to throw the ball. Gonna be here a while. 13/10 (TT: twogoldenleos)
Reposted by brianobrian
And on a personal note, I really prefer to have smaller numbers of likes (sounds so weird to say online, right?)
But thinking about it, the bigger the number is, the bigger is the reach, the easier people can steal, use it without my concent.
The bigger the pain is for me to take care of that.
But thinking about it, the bigger the number is, the bigger is the reach, the easier people can steal, use it without my concent.
The bigger the pain is for me to take care of that.
August 23, 2025 at 7:21 PM
And on a personal note, I really prefer to have smaller numbers of likes (sounds so weird to say online, right?)
But thinking about it, the bigger the number is, the bigger is the reach, the easier people can steal, use it without my concent.
The bigger the pain is for me to take care of that.
But thinking about it, the bigger the number is, the bigger is the reach, the easier people can steal, use it without my concent.
The bigger the pain is for me to take care of that.
Reposted by brianobrian
good to see Carl Sagan condemning the bloated cost of Star Wars here, clearly he already had an inkling of what the future movies would look like.
When Ted Turner asked Carl Sagan if he was a socialist, Sagan gave the answer America keeps failing to learn.
August 21, 2025 at 6:25 PM
good to see Carl Sagan condemning the bloated cost of Star Wars here, clearly he already had an inkling of what the future movies would look like.
Denim, reality and appearances, cheap manufacture and culture wars.
I've had enough.
In this thread, I will tell you, definitively, whether Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.
This way, you will be more informed when shopping for your wardrobe . 🧵
In this thread, I will tell you, definitively, whether Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.
This way, you will be more informed when shopping for your wardrobe . 🧵
August 3, 2025 at 4:34 AM
Denim, reality and appearances, cheap manufacture and culture wars.
Reposted by brianobrian
I’m told I need to find a way to live together, in harmony, with these loathsome bigots, and I don’t really feel any desire to try. I would rather work to undermine them, to humiliate them, to deny them peace or joy.
August 2, 2025 at 3:35 PM
I’m told I need to find a way to live together, in harmony, with these loathsome bigots, and I don’t really feel any desire to try. I would rather work to undermine them, to humiliate them, to deny them peace or joy.
This explains donald trump's lack of clss.
He keeps saying Pardon! instead of saying What?
He keeps saying Pardon! instead of saying What?
There's a great (1970s!) book by Jilly Cooper called "Class" and it is hilarious. Generally UK classes have less to do with money and more to do with lineage, education and profession. It's full of gems - for example, saying "pardon" is lower class than saying "what?".
July 30, 2025 at 5:27 PM
This explains donald trump's lack of clss.
He keeps saying Pardon! instead of saying What?
He keeps saying Pardon! instead of saying What?
Five stages of Trump-Epstein
• Denial of ever knowing Epstein
• Anger at failure to edit the files
• attempt Bargain with Rupert M
• attack De Press in desperation
• Accept offer to spend exile in Trump Towers, Gaza
#TrumpEpstein
• Denial of ever knowing Epstein
• Anger at failure to edit the files
• attempt Bargain with Rupert M
• attack De Press in desperation
• Accept offer to spend exile in Trump Towers, Gaza
#TrumpEpstein
July 28, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Five stages of Trump-Epstein
• Denial of ever knowing Epstein
• Anger at failure to edit the files
• attempt Bargain with Rupert M
• attack De Press in desperation
• Accept offer to spend exile in Trump Towers, Gaza
#TrumpEpstein
• Denial of ever knowing Epstein
• Anger at failure to edit the files
• attempt Bargain with Rupert M
• attack De Press in desperation
• Accept offer to spend exile in Trump Towers, Gaza
#TrumpEpstein
Reposted by brianobrian
Two days ago I posted about how many folks said disabled people who can’t cook for themselves should be institutionalized.
Today Trump signs an executive order permitting the arrest and institutionalization of homeless people & those with mental disabilities.
Eugenics.
Today Trump signs an executive order permitting the arrest and institutionalization of homeless people & those with mental disabilities.
Eugenics.
July 25, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Two days ago I posted about how many folks said disabled people who can’t cook for themselves should be institutionalized.
Today Trump signs an executive order permitting the arrest and institutionalization of homeless people & those with mental disabilities.
Eugenics.
Today Trump signs an executive order permitting the arrest and institutionalization of homeless people & those with mental disabilities.
Eugenics.
Reposted by brianobrian
continuing to run the UBI experiment 14,000,605 times every decade in search of one time it ever won't produce clear positive results for everyone involved so there can finally be an example for the ultra wealthy people to point to illustrating why we can't do that like they've always been saying
July 24, 2025 at 5:18 PM
continuing to run the UBI experiment 14,000,605 times every decade in search of one time it ever won't produce clear positive results for everyone involved so there can finally be an example for the ultra wealthy people to point to illustrating why we can't do that like they've always been saying
Reposted by brianobrian
“the kindest person in the room is often the smartest.” JB Pritzker is a mensch.
July 17, 2025 at 1:20 AM
“the kindest person in the room is often the smartest.” JB Pritzker is a mensch.
Reposted by brianobrian
This Herblock cartoon was published 71 years ago, and it’s just as pertinent now.
July 14, 2025 at 6:07 PM
This Herblock cartoon was published 71 years ago, and it’s just as pertinent now.
Only-Epiphanies.con
I think it's now possible to make a poli-sci course that equips one for modern political analysis better than most classic theory and has a syllabus sourced entirely from random internet posts.
Text 1. Wilhoit's Law, born as part of a 2018 blog comment
crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/l...
Text 1. Wilhoit's Law, born as part of a 2018 blog comment
crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/l...
July 13, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Only-Epiphanies.con
Cheese culture appropriation
Actually the most angry I have ever been about English food was learning that the Ploughman's Lunch was just invented in the 60s to sell cheese
July 13, 2025 at 5:57 AM
Cheese culture appropriation
Reposted by brianobrian
A day later and I'm still thinking about this...
July 11, 2025 at 9:06 PM
A day later and I'm still thinking about this...
Reposted by brianobrian
Ok. I take that back. This is better.
July 11, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Ok. I take that back. This is better.
" They "
I hadn't properly spotted this – Allison Pearson columns are *so long* these days – but this part is even more explicitly far right, warning about possible "civil war" with what she portrays as an alien and duplicitous Muslim population.
July 9, 2025 at 1:35 PM
" They "
Douglas Adams wrote a funny scifi book.
EMusk (age 13 3/4) thinks its a great work of philosophy . . .
EMusk (age 13 3/4) thinks its a great work of philosophy . . .
July 1, 2025 at 3:02 AM
Douglas Adams wrote a funny scifi book.
EMusk (age 13 3/4) thinks its a great work of philosophy . . .
EMusk (age 13 3/4) thinks its a great work of philosophy . . .
Reposted by brianobrian
My cartoon in this weeks @newyorker.com
June 30, 2025 at 2:40 PM
My cartoon in this weeks @newyorker.com
The guy with the Nazi salute is funding population and fertility studies?
I guess you don't typically mention every funding source in every Op-ex, but readers might like to know Michael Geruso and Dean Spears are funded by Elon Musk
Opinion | Depopulation Is Coming. Don’t Expect It to Solve Our Problems.
www.nytimes.com
June 30, 2025 at 9:22 AM
The guy with the Nazi salute is funding population and fertility studies?