Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
@matgb.uk
Displaced Devonian in Yorkshire, goth with a tendency to yawn lots. Never saw the appeal of being a "real man" so a little bit NB, here for the SF, history, science and friends
Icon and banner from Doomtown, best card game ever made
Icon and banner from Doomtown, best card game ever made
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
New bee! New bee!
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
New 'Lucifer' bee with devil-like horns found in Australia
The native bee was found near a rare wildflower, prompting scientists to call for the area to be protected.
www.bbc.com
November 11, 2025 at 8:51 AM
New bee! New bee!
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
She seems to fly under the radar as a truly disgusting person so share this clip
Emily Maitlis admitting she worked at the bbc to try and get healthcare for trans people shut down
November 10, 2025 at 10:11 PM
She seems to fly under the radar as a truly disgusting person so share this clip
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
Indo-European linguistic connections like this are so cool. So too, "pur" or "puri" (British spelling, "pore") in many place names in India, e.g., Jodhpur, Jaipur, Kanpur.
Another example: "knowledge." Greek "γνώ" as in gnosis, Sanskrit "ज्ञा" as in jnana, and English "kno" as in know/ledge.
Another example: "knowledge." Greek "γνώ" as in gnosis, Sanskrit "ज्ञा" as in jnana, and English "kno" as in know/ledge.
November 10, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Indo-European linguistic connections like this are so cool. So too, "pur" or "puri" (British spelling, "pore") in many place names in India, e.g., Jodhpur, Jaipur, Kanpur.
Another example: "knowledge." Greek "γνώ" as in gnosis, Sanskrit "ज्ञा" as in jnana, and English "kno" as in know/ledge.
Another example: "knowledge." Greek "γνώ" as in gnosis, Sanskrit "ज्ञा" as in jnana, and English "kno" as in know/ledge.
36 years ago
Era defining moment
So obviously, obviously wrong that explaining it to people too young to remember it is almost impossible
Era defining moment
So obviously, obviously wrong that explaining it to people too young to remember it is almost impossible
#otd in 1989, Günter Schabowski of the East German Socialist Unity Party (SED) held a press conference where he appeared to say that citizens could now travel more freely outside of the GDR. By the end of the day, the Berlin Wall had been opened and the stage set for the end of SED rule.
November 10, 2025 at 9:24 AM
36 years ago
Era defining moment
So obviously, obviously wrong that explaining it to people too young to remember it is almost impossible
Era defining moment
So obviously, obviously wrong that explaining it to people too young to remember it is almost impossible
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
Perry Farrell is a wanker?
It's always the ones you most suspect.
It's always the ones you most suspect.
"Recently, an art piece that I co-created over 30 years ago with my then-partner, musician Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction, was unearthed from a storage facility, after apparently being misplaced by the band’s management."
I Watched One of the Biggest Bands of the '90s Erase Me from Their Story:
I Watched One of the Biggest Bands of the '90s Erase Me from Their Story:
I Was A Creative Force Behind One Of The Biggest Rock Bands Of The '90s. Then I Watched Them Erase Me From Their Story.
"At that time, the band had broken up, and I was told they would never reunite. But that’s not what happened."
www.huffpost.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:38 AM
Perry Farrell is a wanker?
It's always the ones you most suspect.
It's always the ones you most suspect.
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
Still confused that you're not using DINO when it's right there and even highlights their age
November 10, 2025 at 2:58 AM
Still confused that you're not using DINO when it's right there and even highlights their age
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
I'm not here for cowardly nihilists or people who just want to lay down on the ground and let these fuckers run us over.
I am 87% spiteful hope by volume, I will burn down the world before I let them win by giving the fuck up.
I am 87% spiteful hope by volume, I will burn down the world before I let them win by giving the fuck up.
November 10, 2025 at 3:55 AM
I'm not here for cowardly nihilists or people who just want to lay down on the ground and let these fuckers run us over.
I am 87% spiteful hope by volume, I will burn down the world before I let them win by giving the fuck up.
I am 87% spiteful hope by volume, I will burn down the world before I let them win by giving the fuck up.
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
Ok so what you need to know about these is that:
BLUESKY RESETS YOUR MODERATION SETTINGS PERIODICALLY WITHOUT TELLING YOU.
YOU HAVE TO CHECK ANYTIME THE SITE UPDATES BASICALLY.
BLUESKY RESETS YOUR MODERATION SETTINGS PERIODICALLY WITHOUT TELLING YOU.
YOU HAVE TO CHECK ANYTIME THE SITE UPDATES BASICALLY.
Wondering why no one likes your posts anymore, even among your friends? It's because @jay.bsky.team and team have decided to hide a huge amount of content from all of our feeds by default.
Here's how to turn it off.
First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner
Here's how to turn it off.
First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner
November 6, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Ok so what you need to know about these is that:
BLUESKY RESETS YOUR MODERATION SETTINGS PERIODICALLY WITHOUT TELLING YOU.
YOU HAVE TO CHECK ANYTIME THE SITE UPDATES BASICALLY.
BLUESKY RESETS YOUR MODERATION SETTINGS PERIODICALLY WITHOUT TELLING YOU.
YOU HAVE TO CHECK ANYTIME THE SITE UPDATES BASICALLY.
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
Dealer: alright everyone ante up
Chuck Schumer: I fold
Dealer: … we haven’t even dealt the hand yet
Chuck Schumer: I 👏 fold 👏
Chuck Schumer: I fold
Dealer: … we haven’t even dealt the hand yet
Chuck Schumer: I 👏 fold 👏
November 9, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Dealer: alright everyone ante up
Chuck Schumer: I fold
Dealer: … we haven’t even dealt the hand yet
Chuck Schumer: I 👏 fold 👏
Chuck Schumer: I fold
Dealer: … we haven’t even dealt the hand yet
Chuck Schumer: I 👏 fold 👏
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
This was also my life as a freelance writer - my back was fucked in an accident when I was in my 20s and I have several conditions, all of them "pre-existing," so I spent ten years with no health insurancce, getting meds only when I could get them for free.
I'm still paying the price today.
I'm still paying the price today.
Before the ACA, I couldn't get insurance as a freelancer at all, bc I'm a type 1 diabetic, so "pre-existing conditions." It was absolute shit on my health, scavenging for insulin & test strips, constantly in life or death debates about being able to go to the doctor. I had no primary care.
November 9, 2025 at 11:33 PM
This was also my life as a freelance writer - my back was fucked in an accident when I was in my 20s and I have several conditions, all of them "pre-existing," so I spent ten years with no health insurancce, getting meds only when I could get them for free.
I'm still paying the price today.
I'm still paying the price today.
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
niche but delicious nightmare scenario just dropped
November 9, 2025 at 6:55 PM
niche but delicious nightmare scenario just dropped
First Trek film I saw in the theatre
This news warms my cynical little heart (the nuance in the thread is worth a read tho)
This news warms my cynical little heart (the nuance in the thread is worth a read tho)
Another species no longer on the global Endangered list:
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae).
A few decades after a Star Trek movie where the central conflict was the total extinction of the humpback, their numbers are rising fast enough to put them at "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List.
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae).
A few decades after a Star Trek movie where the central conflict was the total extinction of the humpback, their numbers are rising fast enough to put them at "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List.
a man with a mustache says there be whales here in a dark room
Alt: Scotty from Star Trek Original Series (played by Jimmy Doohan) says there be whales here in a Klingon vessel's cargo hold.
media.tenor.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:35 PM
First Trek film I saw in the theatre
This news warms my cynical little heart (the nuance in the thread is worth a read tho)
This news warms my cynical little heart (the nuance in the thread is worth a read tho)
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
MY NAME IS JOHN CRICHTON
AN ASTRONAUT
AN ASTRONAUT
November 8, 2025 at 11:44 PM
MY NAME IS JOHN CRICHTON
AN ASTRONAUT
AN ASTRONAUT
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
Ealing Comedies as Star Wars
Passport to Pimlico - where people on Tatooine discover an ancient charter that says they're not part of the Empire and everything is off-ration.
Passport to Pimlico - where people on Tatooine discover an ancient charter that says they're not part of the Empire and everything is off-ration.
November 8, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Ealing Comedies as Star Wars
Passport to Pimlico - where people on Tatooine discover an ancient charter that says they're not part of the Empire and everything is off-ration.
Passport to Pimlico - where people on Tatooine discover an ancient charter that says they're not part of the Empire and everything is off-ration.
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
Genuinely sad to see this as he was the Car Dad of my youth, but also genuinely in awe of his kids’ names
November 8, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Genuinely sad to see this as he was the Car Dad of my youth, but also genuinely in awe of his kids’ names
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
1) Agreed
2) Still the best description of Star Wars:
2) Still the best description of Star Wars:
Star Wars Described by a Non Fan
YouTube video by Trigon's Trailers
www.youtube.com
November 8, 2025 at 9:45 PM
1) Agreed
2) Still the best description of Star Wars:
2) Still the best description of Star Wars:
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
Watson was deeply influential to me as a genomicist, but not how you may assume
From stealing Rosalind Franklin's lab notes to his frequent sexist & racist bioessentialist comments later in life, he showed how the scientific community would still worship a terrible person
Don't idolize bad people
From stealing Rosalind Franklin's lab notes to his frequent sexist & racist bioessentialist comments later in life, he showed how the scientific community would still worship a terrible person
Don't idolize bad people
BREAKING: James Watson, co-discoverer of DNA’s double helix whose work reshaped medicine, forensics and genetics, dies at 97.
James Watson, co-discoverer of the double-helix shape of DNA, has died at age 97
Scientist James Watson, who shared a Nobel prize for helping discover the double-helix shape of the DNA molecule, has died. He was 97.
bit.ly
November 7, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Watson was deeply influential to me as a genomicist, but not how you may assume
From stealing Rosalind Franklin's lab notes to his frequent sexist & racist bioessentialist comments later in life, he showed how the scientific community would still worship a terrible person
Don't idolize bad people
From stealing Rosalind Franklin's lab notes to his frequent sexist & racist bioessentialist comments later in life, he showed how the scientific community would still worship a terrible person
Don't idolize bad people
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
We have hit the Spamularity—it's the singularity, but we got there by way of an iterated spam/spam-detector Turing test arms race and now Everything Is Spam
November 8, 2025 at 6:22 PM
We have hit the Spamularity—it's the singularity, but we got there by way of an iterated spam/spam-detector Turing test arms race and now Everything Is Spam
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
Obligatory at this point really.
November 8, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Obligatory at this point really.
No idea how we're defining 'superhero' but if a bloke in a suit of armor is one then a punk in a tank definitely counts
November 8, 2025 at 6:44 AM
No idea how we're defining 'superhero' but if a bloke in a suit of armor is one then a punk in a tank definitely counts
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
My favorite Frantics character. Although nothing beats my introduction to the group. youtu.be/17xMZni3zw4?...
The Frantics - Every Episode of Star Trek
YouTube video by J
youtu.be
November 8, 2025 at 3:58 AM
My favorite Frantics character. Although nothing beats my introduction to the group. youtu.be/17xMZni3zw4?...
Reposted by Mat Bowles (He/Þei)
"Watson was also famously insulting and arrogant as a professor at Harvard, even for a professor at Harvard."
I wrote this 11 years ago and had forgotten the details of just how awful he was. He was awful.
I wrote this 11 years ago and had forgotten the details of just how awful he was. He was awful.
November 8, 2025 at 2:47 AM
"Watson was also famously insulting and arrogant as a professor at Harvard, even for a professor at Harvard."
I wrote this 11 years ago and had forgotten the details of just how awful he was. He was awful.
I wrote this 11 years ago and had forgotten the details of just how awful he was. He was awful.