Widdersbel
@widdersbel.bsky.social
Mostly baking and crosswords
Reposted by Widdersbel
I literally thought Trump's new FIFA Peace Prize was a dude crying into his hands.
December 5, 2025 at 6:42 PM
I literally thought Trump's new FIFA Peace Prize was a dude crying into his hands.
Back when I worked on a restaurant guide in the late 90s, the editor’s line was “having a no-smoking area in a restaurant is like having a no-pissing area in a swimming pool”
I'm old enough to remember when you'd go into a restaurant and the first thing they'd say was "smoking or non" as if cigarette smoke would stay on one side of an enclosed space. The cultural shift on tobacco use over my lifetime is really remarkable and I don't think it could be replicated today.
it is MIRACULOUS that we got rid of lead paint and asbestos when we did. if we had tried that today, there would be people whining about how we're restricting their rights.
December 4, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Back when I worked on a restaurant guide in the late 90s, the editor’s line was “having a no-smoking area in a restaurant is like having a no-pissing area in a swimming pool”
Reposted by Widdersbel
Free speechwriting tip for the PM: www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
December 4, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Free speechwriting tip for the PM: www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
Reposted by Widdersbel
All of the companies that make the software I use are increasing their prices, to account for an "investment" in AI.
I'm sat here imagining how my clients would feel if I added 30% to each invoice, because I "really got into gambling".
I'm sat here imagining how my clients would feel if I added 30% to each invoice, because I "really got into gambling".
December 4, 2025 at 8:41 AM
All of the companies that make the software I use are increasing their prices, to account for an "investment" in AI.
I'm sat here imagining how my clients would feel if I added 30% to each invoice, because I "really got into gambling".
I'm sat here imagining how my clients would feel if I added 30% to each invoice, because I "really got into gambling".
Reposted by Widdersbel
Spotify wrapped 2025:
Funded research into AI military drones
Allowed AI generated music
Used Ghost artists
Had a dodgy market share based model
Didn’t pay artists adequately
Funded research into AI military drones
Allowed AI generated music
Used Ghost artists
Had a dodgy market share based model
Didn’t pay artists adequately
December 3, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Spotify wrapped 2025:
Funded research into AI military drones
Allowed AI generated music
Used Ghost artists
Had a dodgy market share based model
Didn’t pay artists adequately
Funded research into AI military drones
Allowed AI generated music
Used Ghost artists
Had a dodgy market share based model
Didn’t pay artists adequately
Reposted by Widdersbel
Nigel Farage was a racist bully at school but Rachel Reeves won the wrong chess championship so who can say who is worse?
December 2, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Nigel Farage was a racist bully at school but Rachel Reeves won the wrong chess championship so who can say who is worse?
Seen in window of local second-hand music/dvd/memorabilia emporium - wonder if it includes Ed Reardon’s episode…
December 2, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Seen in window of local second-hand music/dvd/memorabilia emporium - wonder if it includes Ed Reardon’s episode…
Reposted by Widdersbel
Must have: ability to carry a trombone.
Must not have: fixed gear.
Take that, hipsters!
👏 @cyclinguk.bsky.social
Must not have: fixed gear.
Take that, hipsters!
👏 @cyclinguk.bsky.social
December 2, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Must have: ability to carry a trombone.
Must not have: fixed gear.
Take that, hipsters!
👏 @cyclinguk.bsky.social
Must not have: fixed gear.
Take that, hipsters!
👏 @cyclinguk.bsky.social
Reposted by Widdersbel
The lovely @johnfinnemore.bsky.social (and he won’t mind me saying that as he’s not REALLY on here) has got some pallets of this diamond (by which I mean excellent and harder than rock) puzzle back from the Unbound catastrafuck. He got zero from them for reasons. buy this and he gets deserved cash!
The Researcher's First Murder
A new Cain's Jawbone puzzle by John Finnemore.
johnfinnemoreshop.com
December 2, 2025 at 8:16 AM
The lovely @johnfinnemore.bsky.social (and he won’t mind me saying that as he’s not REALLY on here) has got some pallets of this diamond (by which I mean excellent and harder than rock) puzzle back from the Unbound catastrafuck. He got zero from them for reasons. buy this and he gets deserved cash!
Reposted by Widdersbel
December 2, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Reposted by Widdersbel
Proffsssor Plummm, in the master roksn, with the candlcstrikk
December 1, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Proffsssor Plummm, in the master roksn, with the candlcstrikk
Reposted by Widdersbel
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
December 1, 2025 at 11:09 AM
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
Reposted by Widdersbel
May we never stop trying to write cricket bats.
![HENRY: Shut up and listen. This thing here, which looks like a wooden club, is actually several pieces of particular wood cunningly put together in a certain way so that the whole thing is sprung, like a dance floor. It’s for hitting cricket balls with. If you get it right, the cricket ball will travel two hundred yards in four seconds, and all you’ve done is give it a knock like knocking the top off a bottle of stout, and it makes a noise like a trout taking a fly… (He clucks his tongue to make the noise.) What we’re trying to do is to write cricket bats, so that when we throw up an idea and give it a little knock, it might … travel … (He clucks his tongue again and picks up the script.) Now, what we’ve got here is a lump of wood of roughly the same shape trying to be a cricket bat, and if you hit a ball with it, the ball will travel about ten feet and you will drop the bat and dance about shouting ‘Ouch!’ with your hands stuck into your armpits. (Indicating the cricket bat.) This isn’t better because someone says it’s better, or because there’s a conspiracy by the MCC to keep cudgels out of Lords. It’s better because it’s better. You don’t believe me, so I suggest you go out to bat with this and see how you get on. [quoting from the play] ‘You’re a strange boy, Billy, how old are you?”Twenty, but I’ve lived more than you’ll ever live.’ Ooh, ouch! (He drops the script and hops about with his hands in his armpits, going ‘Ouch!’ ANNIE watches him expressionlessly until he desists.)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:tfusco6lurhflepbh3g7m7s5/bafkreihts3fxnflkahxc7f6q4gpmjmbfxxkoeerd7ksiqmqvgl2mvgerbe@jpeg)
November 29, 2025 at 7:17 PM
May we never stop trying to write cricket bats.
Reposted by Widdersbel
On every public policy committee I sat on - gambling, drugs, animal experiments, law of homicide and others - someone would ask ‘But what would the Daily Mail say about our recommendations?’ I now regret that we never gave the right answer. ‘We shouldn’t care.’
November 30, 2025 at 7:37 AM
On every public policy committee I sat on - gambling, drugs, animal experiments, law of homicide and others - someone would ask ‘But what would the Daily Mail say about our recommendations?’ I now regret that we never gave the right answer. ‘We shouldn’t care.’
Snapped Ankles. The kind of gig that’s such a joyous shared experience you find yourself hugging random strangers at the end. Amazing. #hardtimesfuriousdancing
November 29, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Snapped Ankles. The kind of gig that’s such a joyous shared experience you find yourself hugging random strangers at the end. Amazing. #hardtimesfuriousdancing
So that’s not a ‘no’ then
‘Is Nigel Farage a Russian asset?’
‘Are you seriously asking me that?’
@shelaghfogarty.bsky.social refuses to back down while questioning Reform’s Zia Yusuf.
‘Are you seriously asking me that?’
@shelaghfogarty.bsky.social refuses to back down while questioning Reform’s Zia Yusuf.
November 26, 2025 at 9:39 PM
So that’s not a ‘no’ then
Reposted by Widdersbel
I was on strike today and yesterday. Most people were lovely. One older guy came up to me and said "strike! Keep fighting for what is yours!" and that was a fucking joy. Support striking workers and don't cross a picket line. We're all in this together and that is as magical as it is scary.
November 26, 2025 at 5:18 PM
I was on strike today and yesterday. Most people were lovely. One older guy came up to me and said "strike! Keep fighting for what is yours!" and that was a fucking joy. Support striking workers and don't cross a picket line. We're all in this together and that is as magical as it is scary.
Reposted by Widdersbel
the genAI bubble relies on you conflating the genuinely tremendous potential of using machine learning for e.g. image recognition in radiotherapy, protein folding, simulations in power systems etc with the child abuse image generators and schizophrenic delusions generators
People on BlueSky: AI is useless! A stochastic parrot!
Mathematicians/biologists/physicists: It is already helping us do frontier technical research and in some cases solve open problems arxiv.org/pdf/2511.16072
(There are of course, as always, many caveats, but the paper is genuinely remarkable)
Mathematicians/biologists/physicists: It is already helping us do frontier technical research and in some cases solve open problems arxiv.org/pdf/2511.16072
(There are of course, as always, many caveats, but the paper is genuinely remarkable)
arxiv.org
November 26, 2025 at 4:11 PM
the genAI bubble relies on you conflating the genuinely tremendous potential of using machine learning for e.g. image recognition in radiotherapy, protein folding, simulations in power systems etc with the child abuse image generators and schizophrenic delusions generators
Reposted by Widdersbel
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
November 25, 2025 at 4:15 PM
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
Reposted by Widdersbel
As well as the moral case for lifting children out of poverty, there’s a powerful economic case for abolishing the two-child cap. blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...
Abolishing the two-child benefit limit would be a great investment | British Politics and Policy at LSE
Abolishing the Two-Child Benefit limit and overall Benefit Cap is good policy not just for ethical reasons but because investment in children pays off.
blogs.lse.ac.uk
November 24, 2025 at 3:48 PM
As well as the moral case for lifting children out of poverty, there’s a powerful economic case for abolishing the two-child cap. blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...
Reposted by Widdersbel
I do not use ChatGPT because I still remember when you had to go to your local at a specific time of day to listen to someone slurring conspiracy theories with utmost confidence and I will never allow Sam Altman to take that from me
November 23, 2025 at 11:28 AM
I do not use ChatGPT because I still remember when you had to go to your local at a specific time of day to listen to someone slurring conspiracy theories with utmost confidence and I will never allow Sam Altman to take that from me
Look on my works ye mighty and… pass the gravy boat
November 23, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Look on my works ye mighty and… pass the gravy boat
Reposted by Widdersbel
Google should be formally stripped of its status as a verb now anyway.
November 21, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Google should be formally stripped of its status as a verb now anyway.
It’s 8pm on a cold wet November Thursday, I’m tired and didn’t think I was up for a gig tonight but I already had a ticket for Decius at the Scala so here I am… and DJ Rosie Ama is very quickly getting me in exactly the right mood. This is flipping fantastic… it’s going to be a good night after all!
November 13, 2025 at 8:01 PM
It’s 8pm on a cold wet November Thursday, I’m tired and didn’t think I was up for a gig tonight but I already had a ticket for Decius at the Scala so here I am… and DJ Rosie Ama is very quickly getting me in exactly the right mood. This is flipping fantastic… it’s going to be a good night after all!
Reposted by Widdersbel
A £4,000 e-bike replaces a £35,000 car. An e-bike saves the NHS £1,400/year. An e-bike cuts emissions immediately. Yet Rachel Reeves wants to limit the cycle to work scheme while preserving tax breaks for £60,000 Teslas? Make it make sense.
November 13, 2025 at 8:03 AM
A £4,000 e-bike replaces a £35,000 car. An e-bike saves the NHS £1,400/year. An e-bike cuts emissions immediately. Yet Rachel Reeves wants to limit the cycle to work scheme while preserving tax breaks for £60,000 Teslas? Make it make sense.