Brian McGill
brianmcgill.bsky.social
Brian McGill
@brianmcgill.bsky.social
Hau hau
Reposted by Brian McGill
An observation test for you - for your inner 8 year-old

“The artist has hidden 12 things in this picture. How many can you find?”

Treasure magazine, 1964
Official answers coming soon

(Even if you don’t reply, could you please ‘like’ or share this one? 🙏)
October 11, 2025 at 7:07 AM
Reposted by Brian McGill
Earlier this year, Dr. Jane Goodall sat down for an interview for Brad Falchuk’s new Netflix series, Famous Last Words.

The premise of the series is to interview people on the condition that the interview not air until the subject has passed away.
October 5, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Took my daughter to the bank to open her own Junior account so she can learn about responsible money management. The nice banking lady asked her to spell her name because it has different spellings. "A for Apple," she said, followed by "B for Bollocks". Mortified.
September 23, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Reposted by Brian McGill
Got to hand it to the British authorities. At first I was mad when they scrubbed the #Banksy, but they have unintentionally made one of the most powerful artworks of all time.
September 10, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Reposted by Brian McGill
This is the best product listing copy I’ve ever read
August 20, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Brian McGill
Last night brought the shock news of Ozzy Osborne's passing, just weeks after he and Black Sabbath reunited for a Villa Park homecoming show.

Richard Franks traced the Aston roots of the rockers for us earlier this year.
How 1960s industrial Brum shaped world-conquering Black Sabbath
Heavy metal pioneers were forged in a heavy metal environment
www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk
July 23, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Reposted by Brian McGill
June 7, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Reposted by Brian McGill
The absolute disgrace taking place today in front of cameras in the White House is yet another reminder that for all the talk of Joe Biden's failures, the people who failed America the most are our citizens. Empowering this guy (again) was a foreseeable disaster we'll be lucky to survive.
May 21, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Reposted by Brian McGill
“Norm.txt”, a plain text file of Norm’s greetings from Cheers, is the first computer file I have a specific memory of.

norm.txt has been rattling around the Internet for decades, emblematic of a pre-web Internet where files like this were the coin of the realm.

🍻

sparkherd.com/humor/norm.txt
May 21, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Reposted by Brian McGill
Life-changing (ish) top tip from the always-excellent @christt.bsky.social 's weekly Border Crossing email. It fucking works!
May 11, 2025 at 10:06 AM
May 8, 2025 at 6:41 AM
Reposted by Brian McGill
For #AlienDay, my deep dive into the creation and destruction of the iconic Space Jockey.
filmstories.co.uk/news/alien-t...
Alien | The birth and curious death of HR Giger’s Space Jockey
To mark Alien Day, we head back to the late 1970s to see how HR Giger designed the Space Jockey - and its fate after the film's premiere...
filmstories.co.uk
April 26, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Reposted by Brian McGill
There's a lovely blog post about the real world areas of countries compared to the Mercator projection here:

geospatialworld.net/blogs/maps-t...
March 27, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Brian McGill
Zuck said Meta is in a "partnership" with White House; Google is following suit. They are all that stand between you and Trump admin data grabs.

Here's a resource collection of non-US services to replace email, search, docs, music, video, backups, and more:

www.wired.com/story/trump-...
How to Avoid US-Based Digital Services—and Why You Might Want To
Amid growing concerns over Big Tech firms aligning with Trump administration policies, people are starting to move their digital lives to services based overseas. Here's what you need to know.
www.wired.com
March 21, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Reposted by Brian McGill
Here’s my NYT Books piece on Jaime Hernandez’s “Locas” stories
Drawing the Same Woman for 40 Years: A Master Cartoonist Ages Alongside His Heroine (Gift Article)
In “Love and Rockets,” Jaime Hernandez has been chronicling his alter-ego since 1982, telling a sprawling tale of life, love and broken relationships.
www.nytimes.com
February 27, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Reposted by Brian McGill
This is why we need independent media outlets funded by the public.

Our Byline Times story is still available to read despite attempts to suppress it.
February 21, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Reposted by Brian McGill
It was thirteen years ago today that my dear friend and colleague #MarieColvin was murdered by the Assad regime while on assignment in Syria. Myself, Edith Bouvier and Wa’el were all badly wounded. Remembering them and all the people of #Homs who looked after us and helped in our escape 🙏
February 22, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Reposted by Brian McGill
Correct. If the birthdate field contains corrupt or mismatched data, it defaults to 1875-05-20, which serves as a flag. May 20, 1875, is the day the international standards and metrics treaty was signed. Everything is a conspiracy when you don’t know how anything works.
February 15, 2025 at 5:53 AM
Brent geese social. #Portsmouth #Langstoneharbour
January 12, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Brian McGill
"Twelfth Night Till Candlemas"

The story of a 40 year book-quest and of its remarkable ending

And about goblins and Christmas; the perils of ChatGPT; and the real value of librarians and so on

Substack emptycity.substack.com/p/twelfth-ni...

Personal blog davidallengreen.com/2024/12/twel...
December 20, 2024 at 10:30 AM
Reposted by Brian McGill
He makes a great point, where was the coverage when 5 times as many people marched to protect nature in June?
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Flat-cap Clarkson only wants his nose in the trough | Stewart Lee
The broadcaster thinks if he fires up his farming fanbase they can shield him from his obligation to contribute his fair share to society
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2024 at 12:04 PM
bit tasty down #Southsea this afternoon.
November 24, 2024 at 3:23 PM
Reposted by Brian McGill
🧵SALT🧵
It's been snowing in the UK and the road gritters are out in force, begging the question:
Have you ever wondered where that grit actually COMES from?
The answer is more magical, beautiful and fascinating than you probably realised.
1/14
November 19, 2024 at 3:03 PM
I mean, don't record at shows, I guess. But God DAMN!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uud...
Gossip. Standing in the way of control. SWG3. Glasgow
YouTube video by Back in my day
www.youtube.com
November 15, 2024 at 11:18 PM