Duncan
@brickbats.bsky.social
🏴 🍀
Stacking shelves in the marketplace of ideas. Also I make music.
http://brickbatsmusic.bandcamp.com
Stacking shelves in the marketplace of ideas. Also I make music.
http://brickbatsmusic.bandcamp.com
Reposted by Duncan
As a centrist, I think Donald Trump is bad, but the political and economic conditions that enabled him to become president twice are good
November 30, 2025 at 2:53 PM
As a centrist, I think Donald Trump is bad, but the political and economic conditions that enabled him to become president twice are good
Reposted by Duncan
Making music isn’t about doing whatever you want or having fun. It’s about constructing an opaque sonic bureaucracy, which you then diligently work within as a stifled but honest functionary.
December 11, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Making music isn’t about doing whatever you want or having fun. It’s about constructing an opaque sonic bureaucracy, which you then diligently work within as a stifled but honest functionary.
Reposted by Duncan
Which is why the current government instantly started drowning, the second it took power. If our problems cannot be resolved with flag-fucking, crackdowns, means-testing and belligerent war speeches, then they are all out of ideas and they have nothing left but doing these things louder and harder.
December 11, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Which is why the current government instantly started drowning, the second it took power. If our problems cannot be resolved with flag-fucking, crackdowns, means-testing and belligerent war speeches, then they are all out of ideas and they have nothing left but doing these things louder and harder.
Reposted by Duncan
This is extremely awkward because it raises issues like “If he’s just bog standard National Front vermin, then why did all those important people spend all those years insisting he speaks for the man in the street and demanding his Nazi bullshit be accommodated by the left?”.
December 11, 2025 at 10:33 AM
This is extremely awkward because it raises issues like “If he’s just bog standard National Front vermin, then why did all those important people spend all those years insisting he speaks for the man in the street and demanding his Nazi bullshit be accommodated by the left?”.
Reposted by Duncan
We now learn that Fifa had a very specific "ask" in exchange for its "Peace Award" to Trump, with loads of gold trinkets, and that was dismissal of a criminal corruption case against senior Fifa officials. And Trump granted it. Another corrupt bargain, barely noticed (and ignored by US media).
December 11, 2025 at 12:59 AM
We now learn that Fifa had a very specific "ask" in exchange for its "Peace Award" to Trump, with loads of gold trinkets, and that was dismissal of a criminal corruption case against senior Fifa officials. And Trump granted it. Another corrupt bargain, barely noticed (and ignored by US media).
Reposted by Duncan
can't get over the team behind the mcdonald's ad wanting credit for all the late nights and long hours they spent prompting for clips. you've somehow invented a form of ersatz creativity that recreates the suffering inherent to all creative work without any valuable output or intellectual growth
there’s just a certain type of person who would show up to your writer’s group wanting praise for presenting work but violently rejecting any form of constructive criticism that might improve it, and that right there is the target market for AI
December 10, 2025 at 7:28 PM
can't get over the team behind the mcdonald's ad wanting credit for all the late nights and long hours they spent prompting for clips. you've somehow invented a form of ersatz creativity that recreates the suffering inherent to all creative work without any valuable output or intellectual growth
Reposted by Duncan
Britain is like this because our national politics is a shrivelled husk of democracy: a country where the world’s most poisonous media outlets fill a great gaping void empty of actual politics with relentless fear, incitement and hatred.
December 11, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Britain is like this because our national politics is a shrivelled husk of democracy: a country where the world’s most poisonous media outlets fill a great gaping void empty of actual politics with relentless fear, incitement and hatred.
Reposted by Duncan
Gee whizz, how come a bunch of horrible roaring wingnuts came to take over a party that doesn’t like them, doesn’t want their policies and doesn’t agree with their wacky fixations? That seems like an extremely weird thing to have happened undetected, in a democratic country with a free press.
December 10, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Gee whizz, how come a bunch of horrible roaring wingnuts came to take over a party that doesn’t like them, doesn’t want their policies and doesn’t agree with their wacky fixations? That seems like an extremely weird thing to have happened undetected, in a democratic country with a free press.
Reposted by Duncan
you have a reintroduced section 28.
that will be your legacy as education secretary.
you are implementing segregation laws.
that will be your legacy as equalities minister.
that will be your legacy as education secretary.
you are implementing segregation laws.
that will be your legacy as equalities minister.
For the record:
📈 2,300 more secondary and special school teachers
📈 Trainee teachers up 11%
📈 Physics up 36%
📈 Computing up 44%
📈 Maths up 16%
📈 Attendance improving
📈 Behaviour improving
Labour is getting more children in class & more teachers in front of them.
#PMQs
📈 2,300 more secondary and special school teachers
📈 Trainee teachers up 11%
📈 Physics up 36%
📈 Computing up 44%
📈 Maths up 16%
📈 Attendance improving
📈 Behaviour improving
Labour is getting more children in class & more teachers in front of them.
#PMQs
December 10, 2025 at 3:37 PM
you have a reintroduced section 28.
that will be your legacy as education secretary.
you are implementing segregation laws.
that will be your legacy as equalities minister.
that will be your legacy as education secretary.
you are implementing segregation laws.
that will be your legacy as equalities minister.
Reposted by Duncan
my primary impression of fallout 76 was watching an official teaser on the alien update, hearing this weapon's sound effect, and having to rewind to make sure I didn't hallucinate it
January 3, 2025 at 1:22 PM
my primary impression of fallout 76 was watching an official teaser on the alien update, hearing this weapon's sound effect, and having to rewind to make sure I didn't hallucinate it
Reposted by Duncan
Herman Melville on moderates, all the way back in 1857:
May 27, 2024 at 8:27 PM
Herman Melville on moderates, all the way back in 1857:
Reposted by Duncan
can't stop watching this clip of a tesla Optimus teleoperator taking his headset off before properly logging out the robot
December 8, 2025 at 9:29 AM
can't stop watching this clip of a tesla Optimus teleoperator taking his headset off before properly logging out the robot
Reposted by Duncan
December 8, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Reposted by Duncan
“This is another key to understanding — and thus deflating — the AI bubble. The AI can’t do your job, but an AI salesman can convince your boss to fire you and replace you with an AI that can’t do your job.”
doctorow.medium.com/https-plural...
doctorow.medium.com/https-plural...
The Reverse-Centaur’s Guide to Criticizing AI
My speech for U Washington’s Neuroscience, AI and Society lecture series.
doctorow.medium.com
December 8, 2025 at 1:47 PM
“This is another key to understanding — and thus deflating — the AI bubble. The AI can’t do your job, but an AI salesman can convince your boss to fire you and replace you with an AI that can’t do your job.”
doctorow.medium.com/https-plural...
doctorow.medium.com/https-plural...
Reposted by Duncan
everybody who develops "a relationship" with a chatbot is basically admitting they want to be a cult leader but lack the charisma needed to manipulate real people into being their followers
December 8, 2025 at 2:22 AM
everybody who develops "a relationship" with a chatbot is basically admitting they want to be a cult leader but lack the charisma needed to manipulate real people into being their followers
Reposted by Duncan
Period: Nanboku-chō period (14th century).
Material: Made of bronze and wood with pigments.
Significance: The sculpture represents the fusion of Shinto and Buddhist beliefs that occurred in medieval Japan. The deer is considered a sacred messenger of the Kasuga Shrine deities in Nara, Japan.
Material: Made of bronze and wood with pigments.
Significance: The sculpture represents the fusion of Shinto and Buddhist beliefs that occurred in medieval Japan. The deer is considered a sacred messenger of the Kasuga Shrine deities in Nara, Japan.
December 6, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Period: Nanboku-chō period (14th century).
Material: Made of bronze and wood with pigments.
Significance: The sculpture represents the fusion of Shinto and Buddhist beliefs that occurred in medieval Japan. The deer is considered a sacred messenger of the Kasuga Shrine deities in Nara, Japan.
Material: Made of bronze and wood with pigments.
Significance: The sculpture represents the fusion of Shinto and Buddhist beliefs that occurred in medieval Japan. The deer is considered a sacred messenger of the Kasuga Shrine deities in Nara, Japan.
Reposted by Duncan
this has become a very important video to me
December 7, 2025 at 4:29 AM
this has become a very important video to me
Reposted by Duncan
hillary clinton doesn't get a lot of love on this site but let's never forget she took odo's virginity with such gentleness and skill that they made a baseball card out of it
December 5, 2025 at 4:57 AM
hillary clinton doesn't get a lot of love on this site but let's never forget she took odo's virginity with such gentleness and skill that they made a baseball card out of it
Reposted by Duncan
original Channel 4 report of Farage's bigoted school days was over 12 years ago (Sept 2013). didn't land at all because the wider press didn't engage with it for even a day. British journalists submitted Jeremy Corbyn to an order of magnitude more scrutiny for saying he loved James Joyce's Ulysses
December 5, 2025 at 8:29 AM
original Channel 4 report of Farage's bigoted school days was over 12 years ago (Sept 2013). didn't land at all because the wider press didn't engage with it for even a day. British journalists submitted Jeremy Corbyn to an order of magnitude more scrutiny for saying he loved James Joyce's Ulysses
Reposted by Duncan
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Wes Streeting accuses BMA of behaving like 'moaning minnies'
Wes Streeting accuses BMA of behaving like 'moaning minnies'
The health secretary has accused the British Medical Association of "juvenile delinquency" and behaving like "moaning minnies" after the union announced that resident doctors will go on strike in the run-up to Christmas.
news.sky.com
December 3, 2025 at 2:02 PM
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Reposted by Duncan
Thames Water boss addressing shareholders on its half year profits of £400 million
December 3, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Thames Water boss addressing shareholders on its half year profits of £400 million
Reposted by Duncan
'Skeleton Wearing a Top Hat Playing the Shamisen for a Small Dancing Yōkai' (circa 1870)
Kawanabe Kyōsai
Kawanabe Kyōsai
November 18, 2025 at 2:00 PM
'Skeleton Wearing a Top Hat Playing the Shamisen for a Small Dancing Yōkai' (circa 1870)
Kawanabe Kyōsai
Kawanabe Kyōsai
Reposted by Duncan
Reposted by Duncan
"We would have punished these guys if it hadn't taken us 4 decades to get round to it" is just a fantastic summary of police accountability in Britain
12 police officers would have faced gross misconduct cases over Hillsborough, says watchdog
12 police officers would have faced gross misconduct cases over Hillsborough, says watchdog
None of the former officers accused by the IOPC will face disciplinary proceedings because they have all retired
Twelve police officers would have faced disciplinary cases of gross misconduct for a catalogue of professional failings relating to the Hillsborough disaster if they were still serving, the police watchdog has said.
However, no former officer named by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) will face disciplinary proceedings because they have all retired. Some, including Peter Wright, the chief constable of South Yorkshire police at the time of the 1989 disaster, have died. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:20 PM
"We would have punished these guys if it hadn't taken us 4 decades to get round to it" is just a fantastic summary of police accountability in Britain
Reposted by Duncan
Compare with the original scene and not only can you see how they used an alternate or pre-FX version where they haven’t digitally removed the crew, you can also see how horrible the colours and the lighting looks in this new one.
youtu.be/qvRHzvoCf_s?...
youtu.be/qvRHzvoCf_s?...
December 2, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Compare with the original scene and not only can you see how they used an alternate or pre-FX version where they haven’t digitally removed the crew, you can also see how horrible the colours and the lighting looks in this new one.
youtu.be/qvRHzvoCf_s?...
youtu.be/qvRHzvoCf_s?...