Chris Stokes
@nisaccom.bsky.social
Reposted by Chris Stokes
#NowSpinning Rautavaara’s Cantus Arcticus. This is a marvellous gem. The composer casts a very special spell over and under the recorded bird sounds. It’s a desolate kind of beauty, but addictive and beguiling.
January 6, 2026 at 9:47 AM
#NowSpinning Rautavaara’s Cantus Arcticus. This is a marvellous gem. The composer casts a very special spell over and under the recorded bird sounds. It’s a desolate kind of beauty, but addictive and beguiling.
Reposted by Chris Stokes
AI tool developed by a company owned and run by a Fellow of the @royalsociety.org floods the internet with sexualized photos of women and minors www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...
Elon Musk's Grok AI floods X with sexualized photos of women and minors
When contacted by Reuters for comment by email, xAI replied with the message "Legacy Media Lies."
www.reuters.com
January 5, 2026 at 4:02 PM
AI tool developed by a company owned and run by a Fellow of the @royalsociety.org floods the internet with sexualized photos of women and minors www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...
Cornwall owes the pope.
January 5, 2026 at 4:04 PM
Cornwall owes the pope.
Reposted by Chris Stokes
Please enjoy this detail from Fra Angelico’s The Virgin with Apostles and Saints of two bishops sick of spending eternity with a monk who wants to share his work in progress.
January 4, 2026 at 9:26 AM
Please enjoy this detail from Fra Angelico’s The Virgin with Apostles and Saints of two bishops sick of spending eternity with a monk who wants to share his work in progress.
Reposted by Chris Stokes
VP Delcy Rodriguez, whom Trump indicated earlier today was collaborating with the US government, is live on television right now.
Earlier reports that she's in Russia are false. She's in Caracas with the rest of the cabinet.
Rodriguez: "We will never again be a colony for any empire"
Earlier reports that she's in Russia are false. She's in Caracas with the rest of the cabinet.
Rodriguez: "We will never again be a colony for any empire"
January 3, 2026 at 7:17 PM
VP Delcy Rodriguez, whom Trump indicated earlier today was collaborating with the US government, is live on television right now.
Earlier reports that she's in Russia are false. She's in Caracas with the rest of the cabinet.
Rodriguez: "We will never again be a colony for any empire"
Earlier reports that she's in Russia are false. She's in Caracas with the rest of the cabinet.
Rodriguez: "We will never again be a colony for any empire"
Reposted by Chris Stokes
L'aventure a commencé lorsqu'un membre de la communauté a partagé des photos sur iNaturalist qui ont attiré l'attention car il s'agissait d'une espèce non décrite. Cette observation initiale a donné lieu à une collaboration qui a finalement abouti à la description formelle de l'espèce.
Une fois de plus, la science citoyenne contribue à la découverte d'une nouvelle espèce sur iNaturalist
Community science leads to yet another scientific discovery! A new species of wasp-mimicking flower fly, Monoceromyia ndidiae, has been identified in the Dominican Republic through iNaturalist.
From observation to publication: A new species of wasp-mimicking flower fly
Publié le 30 Jui 2025, 16 h 32 min par seastarya
image : Observation by @franklinhowley
------
traduction
« L'aventure a commencé lorsque @franklinhowley, membre de la communauté, a partagé des photos sur iNaturalist qui ont attiré l'attention du naturaliste Aaron Schusteff (@arbonius), qui a reconnu qu'il s'agissait d'une espèce non décrite. Cette observation initiale a donné lieu à une collaboration qui a finalement abouti à la description formelle de l'espèce. Jiri Hodecek (@jiri_hodecek), entomologiste légiste chez SHIFT à Lausanne, en Suisse, a collecté le spécimen holotype. Ximo Mengual (@ximo_mengual), chef de la section Diptera au musée Koenig -LIB de Bonn (Allemagne), explique comment cela s'est déroulé : « L'observation dont Aaron parlait est celle partagée par @franklinhowley, mais il a pu trouver d'autres observations de la même espèce. Ce n'est que lorsque nous avons su que nous avions un spécimen physique que nous avons pu confirmer l'espèce. »
Traduit avec DeepL.com (version gratuite)
A New Species of the Wasp Mimic Flower Fly Genus Monoceromyia Shannon, 1922 (Diptera: Syrphidae) from the Dominican Republic, 16.07.2025 https://bioone.org/journals/proceedings-of-the-entomological-society-of-washington/volume-127/issue-1/0013-8797.127.1.70/A-New-Species-of-the-Wasp-Mimic-Flower-Fly-Genus/10.4289/0013-8797.127.1.70.short
Les photographies du nouveau taxon ont d'abord été partagées sur iNaturalist, où il est resté sans nom pendant des années jusqu'à ce qu'un spécimen soit collecté à l'aide d'un piège lumineux dans le parc national Valle Nuevo en République dominicaine.
via Monoceromyia ndidiae de Jardin Botanico, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic le 22 Jan 2023 à 11:55 par Franklin Howley-Dumit Serulle · iNaturalist
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/147287717
sco.lt
January 3, 2026 at 7:09 PM
L'aventure a commencé lorsqu'un membre de la communauté a partagé des photos sur iNaturalist qui ont attiré l'attention car il s'agissait d'une espèce non décrite. Cette observation initiale a donné lieu à une collaboration qui a finalement abouti à la description formelle de l'espèce.
Reposted by Chris Stokes
it's like the FIFA Peace Prize means nothing anymore
January 3, 2026 at 2:47 PM
it's like the FIFA Peace Prize means nothing anymore
First illusion shattering of the new year. Know that story of Messiaen's about the first performance of his quartet for the end of time? The four of them are in their prisoner-of-war camp, where it was composed, but the cellist had only three strings on his cello?
![Crop from a photo of some text in the sleeve notes for a Deutsche Grammophon recording of Olivier Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps.n This passage is from an interview with cellist Etienne Pasquier, one of the musicians who gave the first performance of the quartet, in Stalag VIII A at Görlitz in Silesia. The interviewer was Hannelore Lauerwald. It reads:
'[HL] Messiaen claims that at the first performance you played with only three strings on your cello.
'[EP] Yes, he repeatedly made this claim, but in point of fact I played on four strings. A piece as difficult as the one that Messiaen wrote can't be played on three strings. In telling this story he presumably wanted to illustrate the inadequacies surrounding this first performance.'](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vvmemo42dno4yqacaglx4mnb/bafkreihzcp46tup2rxyajhxttqxupwflj5vtam2sre2v5at2yjptqwx7oe@jpeg)
January 3, 2026 at 3:21 PM
First illusion shattering of the new year. Know that story of Messiaen's about the first performance of his quartet for the end of time? The four of them are in their prisoner-of-war camp, where it was composed, but the cellist had only three strings on his cello?
Reposted by Chris Stokes
At 5.15pm GMT today, the Earth will be at perihelion, the closest point to the Sun in our annual round.
This should be the start of the year. Happy new orbit, everyone!
This should be the start of the year. Happy new orbit, everyone!
January 3, 2026 at 9:48 AM
At 5.15pm GMT today, the Earth will be at perihelion, the closest point to the Sun in our annual round.
This should be the start of the year. Happy new orbit, everyone!
This should be the start of the year. Happy new orbit, everyone!
Reposted by Chris Stokes
“I mean really ‘experimental’ just means not using paragraphs or arbitrarily introducing line-breaks to prose without any evidence you’ve ever read a single poem, doesn’t it?” said one embittered scribbler.
January 3, 2026 at 12:54 PM
“I mean really ‘experimental’ just means not using paragraphs or arbitrarily introducing line-breaks to prose without any evidence you’ve ever read a single poem, doesn’t it?” said one embittered scribbler.
Reposted by Chris Stokes
This is incredibly worth reading in light of what is happening now and the basis on which Trump and Rubio are pursuing charges against Maduro.
The Narco-Terrorist Elite - The American Prospect
Why is Marco Rubio so hell-bent on making Iran-Contra again?
prospect.org
January 3, 2026 at 12:56 PM
This is incredibly worth reading in light of what is happening now and the basis on which Trump and Rubio are pursuing charges against Maduro.
Reposted by Chris Stokes
This person went on a buying spree over the past 24 hours. Fresh wallet. Only existed since Dec 27th and has only bet on Venezuela-related markets.
polymarket.com/@0x31a56e9E6...
polymarket.com/@0x31a56e9E6...
January 3, 2026 at 7:49 AM
This person went on a buying spree over the past 24 hours. Fresh wallet. Only existed since Dec 27th and has only bet on Venezuela-related markets.
polymarket.com/@0x31a56e9E6...
polymarket.com/@0x31a56e9E6...
Reposted by Chris Stokes
Super tanker Tyne Pride under construction at Swan Hunter shipyard, Wallsend, UK. And a kid riding a Raleigh Chopper.
1975
📷Tom Buist
1975
📷Tom Buist
January 3, 2026 at 2:07 AM
Super tanker Tyne Pride under construction at Swan Hunter shipyard, Wallsend, UK. And a kid riding a Raleigh Chopper.
1975
📷Tom Buist
1975
📷Tom Buist
Best bit so far—'"swan-eating, canary-sucking prelates"', which Drabble attributes to an unidentified non-poetic work of Milton's. (Turns out it's a hack-style misquote from Of Reformation. Still...)
January 2, 2026 at 3:38 PM
Best bit so far—'"swan-eating, canary-sucking prelates"', which Drabble attributes to an unidentified non-poetic work of Milton's. (Turns out it's a hack-style misquote from Of Reformation. Still...)
Reposted by Chris Stokes
Delighted to have an article published in The British Journal for the History of Science, on Charles Darwin's chromatic vocabulary on the Beagle voyage. With enormous thanks to @sgsah.bsky.social, @edincollegeofart.bsky.social, @sochistnathist.bsky.social
Capturing colour on HMS Beagle: Charles Darwin and Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours (1821) | The British Journal for the History of Science | Cambridge Core
Capturing colour on HMS Beagle: Charles Darwin and Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours (1821)
www.cambridge.org
January 1, 2026 at 7:34 PM
Delighted to have an article published in The British Journal for the History of Science, on Charles Darwin's chromatic vocabulary on the Beagle voyage. With enormous thanks to @sgsah.bsky.social, @edincollegeofart.bsky.social, @sochistnathist.bsky.social
Reposted by Chris Stokes
#10minutesfromhome #Eastcoastkin #Scape #ClassicMono
My favourite photo of the year
A foggy day in October
My favourite photo of the year
A foggy day in October
December 31, 2025 at 7:20 PM
#10minutesfromhome #Eastcoastkin #Scape #ClassicMono
My favourite photo of the year
A foggy day in October
My favourite photo of the year
A foggy day in October
If your assessment of humanity doesn't already have you on the verge of misanthropy, this film about Hersh is worth watching. My main disappointment is that it doesn't touch on Hersh's work on Israel's nuclear weapons programme & US involvement in it, but that's a minor quibble.
The documentary about Seymour Hersh, 'Cover Up', is available on Netflix from today (Dec 26). Here are my initial thoughts on the parts that concern the My Lai Massacre. 1/
December 31, 2025 at 10:42 PM
If your assessment of humanity doesn't already have you on the verge of misanthropy, this film about Hersh is worth watching. My main disappointment is that it doesn't touch on Hersh's work on Israel's nuclear weapons programme & US involvement in it, but that's a minor quibble.
I asked French film director Claude Miller a Q and he gave his A in the Q&A after a screening at EIFF in 1989 of his film La Petite Voleuse.
Right folks. Feeling rather down at the moment so bringing back an oldie
Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction
Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction
December 29, 2025 at 11:17 PM
I asked French film director Claude Miller a Q and he gave his A in the Q&A after a screening at EIFF in 1989 of his film La Petite Voleuse.
Reposted by Chris Stokes
The English word ‘shirt’ has the same origin as ‘skirt’.
While ‘shirt’ directly stems from Proto-Germanic *skurtijōn, ‘skirt’ was borrowed from its Old Norse descendant.
Here’s number 10 in my doublet series: English doublets with a Germanic origin.
Tomorrow: German.
I started this series ... 1/
While ‘shirt’ directly stems from Proto-Germanic *skurtijōn, ‘skirt’ was borrowed from its Old Norse descendant.
Here’s number 10 in my doublet series: English doublets with a Germanic origin.
Tomorrow: German.
I started this series ... 1/
December 28, 2025 at 6:58 PM
The English word ‘shirt’ has the same origin as ‘skirt’.
While ‘shirt’ directly stems from Proto-Germanic *skurtijōn, ‘skirt’ was borrowed from its Old Norse descendant.
Here’s number 10 in my doublet series: English doublets with a Germanic origin.
Tomorrow: German.
I started this series ... 1/
While ‘shirt’ directly stems from Proto-Germanic *skurtijōn, ‘skirt’ was borrowed from its Old Norse descendant.
Here’s number 10 in my doublet series: English doublets with a Germanic origin.
Tomorrow: German.
I started this series ... 1/
Reposted by Chris Stokes
Much like Labour, the BBC has burned its natural supporters to chase the populist right, who inevitably continue to despise it
The BBC tells the story of Britain in a way Netflix simply cannot. In the year to come, please remember that | Tony Hall
The BBC tells the story of Britain in a way Netflix simply cannot. In the year to come, please remember that | Tony Hall
I love many shows on the streaming channels, but the BBC is our storyteller. It defines a nation and its culture – and we must defend it, says former BBC director general Tony Hall
www.theguardian.com
December 29, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Much like Labour, the BBC has burned its natural supporters to chase the populist right, who inevitably continue to despise it
Who says Margaret Drabble didn't get on with her mum?
December 28, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Who says Margaret Drabble didn't get on with her mum?
Reposted by Chris Stokes
The Government has announced the first of their ‘nine new river walks’: a section of the River Mersey near Stockport. Yet what’s being presented as a national breakthrough is, in reality, a set of long-overdue local council upgrades to existing riverside paths.
A skim through the details... 🧵
A skim through the details... 🧵
December 26, 2025 at 9:57 AM
The Government has announced the first of their ‘nine new river walks’: a section of the River Mersey near Stockport. Yet what’s being presented as a national breakthrough is, in reality, a set of long-overdue local council upgrades to existing riverside paths.
A skim through the details... 🧵
A skim through the details... 🧵
Reposted by Chris Stokes
I bought some Penguins at Christmas. One J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye". It made me laugh a lot. I liked it.
December 26, 2025 at 10:39 AM
I bought some Penguins at Christmas. One J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye". It made me laugh a lot. I liked it.
Reposted by Chris Stokes
Foucault’s Christmas - "a Christmas day without writing, that was impossible! ... a day when, as he said, 'nothing has happened for several thousand years' " progressivegeographies.com/2024/12/25/f...
December 25, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Foucault’s Christmas - "a Christmas day without writing, that was impossible! ... a day when, as he said, 'nothing has happened for several thousand years' " progressivegeographies.com/2024/12/25/f...
Reposted by Chris Stokes
beautiful day out there
December 29, 2024 at 8:53 AM
beautiful day out there