Matt Potter
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mattpotteruk.bsky.social
Matt Potter
@mattpotteruk.bsky.social
Journalist, author, magpie, scriptwriter, nerd. Washington Post, BBC, etc. Nonfic books incl WE ARE ALL TARGETS & OUTLAWS INC. Science, languages, virology, art, illicit networks, deviance, cyber, psychology, weird, prehistory, subculture. ND. He/Him
Reposted by Matt Potter
IMPORTANT NOTICE 📣

If you are an Equity member who was recently engaged as a performer or stage management on Squid Game: The Experience by Luna Cinema/Luna Entertainment, please contact Equity with a copy of your contract at pmpp@equity.org.uk
January 5, 2026 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by Matt Potter
With Grok stuff, I don’t know if people know but last year Twitter launched an AI girlfriend who acts as a schoolgirl who likes to be choked. It was launched by Elon, who showed off said schoolgirl.

They were also hiring for a “full stack engineer for waifus”.

Elon is basically a WizardChan guy.
January 5, 2026 at 1:33 PM
Reposted by Matt Potter
Went to check if this screenshot (posted by @aric.bsky.social) was real (it is) and then made the mistake of also scrolling through Grok's replies on X. Still constantly cranking out sexualised images of young girls. Beyond bleak.
January 5, 2026 at 11:22 AM
This article is an 822-word subtweet. Absolute scenes in the author's Welsh village. www.businessinsider.com/why-i-stoppe...
I stopped being the first to reach out to friends. It made me realize I don't need to be liked by everyone.
Pulling back from friendships showed me exactly who wanted me in their lives — and it finally quieted my lifelong fear of rejection.
www.businessinsider.com
January 5, 2026 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by Matt Potter
Neat! The English have been installing "hedgehog highways" to remove barriers for all sorts of critters in more urban areas, too. Seems like a logical design improvement for any container intended for larger animals.
BBC on Instagram: "Hedgehog Highways are the cutest thing you've learnt about today 🥹⁣ #WildLondon #DavidAttenborough #WildLife #London #Hedgehog ⁣ ⁣ After a life spent travelling the globe, David Att...
17K likes, 180 comments - bbc on January 3, 2026: "Hedgehog Highways are the cutest thing you've learnt about today 🥹⁣ #WildLondon #DavidAttenborough #WildLife #London #Hedgehog ⁣ ⁣ After a life spent...
www.instagram.com
January 4, 2026 at 10:16 PM
Great idea. A small, floor-level doorway designed into farm fences, so that smaller wild mammals can pass through into and out of the fields, while livestock remains. You can see the trails they’ve made as they’ve used it.
January 4, 2026 at 9:46 PM
Reposted by Matt Potter
And there ya have it…

Officials from top Wall Street firms will be traveling to Venezuela to investigate “investment prospects” of the country. “The trip will feature about 20 officials from the finance, energy and defense sectors.”
Finance Industry Eyes Investment Opportunities in Venezuela
Some on Wall Street are already considering possible investment opportunities in Venezuela following the capture of Nicolás Maduro, according to Charles Myers, chairman of consulting firm Signum Globa...
www.wsj.com
January 3, 2026 at 7:13 PM
What is it with embattled Republicans invading places.

(I know, the question answers itself.)
January 3, 2026 at 6:33 PM
Reposted by Matt Potter
CNN quickly got someone on to talk about how the US can successfully occupy Venezuela. So there’s your answer, everyone who thinks Americans themselves are going to put a stop to this.
January 3, 2026 at 6:26 PM
Reposted by Matt Potter
Happy 2026! To start the year, here's a tree ring chiton, a 5cm ocean mollusk that sticks to rocks. Instead of having obvious eyes on a head, it's got 100s of tiny eyes embedded in the hard plates on its back, each with a rock crystal to focus light. Its top is one big eye spying on the world above
January 1, 2026 at 7:38 AM
Here’s to 2026, you awesome lot.

Reliably the most interesting, clever, funny, geeky, kind bunch of people, thanks for making last year much cooler than it would otherwise have been.

I hope this year’s good to you.

x
January 1, 2026 at 8:44 AM
Reposted by Matt Potter
Having many more, but also smaller companies also creates the space for regulatory enforcement that isn't (a) entirely captured or (b) impossible to enforce because the sector critically depends on a few major players too.
December 29, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Reposted by Matt Potter
Total broken record on this, but what the better approach is antitrust enforcement to open up the market to more new entrants who can then compete on more narrow niches in the sector including safety, rather than this approach which will ossify the sector to a few mega-corps
December 29, 2025 at 7:15 PM
"The most complete fossil shark of any kind, anywhere, of any age" – One of my favourite prehistoric sharks has turned up just outside Glasgow!

(It's an amazing AWACS kind, like Stethanocanthus - an Akmonistion zangerli. We can even see the remains of is last meal.)

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
The prehistoric shark found in a suburban town in Scotland
The fossil was so complete experts could see remains of the last meal it ate, 330 million years after it died.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 29, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Reposted by Matt Potter
Added to this most 'artist marketing gurus' start with saying know your audience. And I have no idea who likes the shit I do
Getting your art found by the people who are looking for it should not involve having to jump through a series of video game levelling-up metrics at the whim of various platforms.
There must be a better way to do discovery?
Your launch doesn’t skyrocket magically! The initial 72 hours determine if you're the star or just an extra. Check out this actionable plan to increase saves, completes, and gain real momentum: www.audiartist.com/s... #MusicStrategy
December 29, 2025 at 10:27 AM
“Now you’re an author, I bet you’re living off the royalties.”
December 29, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Reposted by Matt Potter
Trump is extorting the International Criminal Court.

“A French ICC judge spelled out the impact of US sanctions: “All my accounts with US companies, Amazon, Airbnb, PayPal & others, have been closed. I booked a hotel in France through Expedia & a few hours later, the reservation was cancelled.”
Into the void: how Trump killed international law
The rules-based global order, its institutions and value system face a crisis of legitimacy and credibility as the US turns away
www.theguardian.com
December 26, 2025 at 4:15 AM
I feel like the academic publishers advertising in my timeline are engaged in some kind of dialogue
December 26, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Matt Potter
The incredibly corrupt, lawless, & unconstitutional nature of the entire DOGE enterprise requires Elon Musk and lots of other people to spend the rest of their lives in jail.
The Wisconsin component of the analysis here is revealing. Evidence is consistent with DOGE strategically delaying contract terminations in WI until after the 2025 state Supreme Court elections to mitigate electoral risk.
December 26, 2025 at 1:30 PM
New typeface just dropped

(via u/howrunowgoodnyou on Reddit)
December 26, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Matt Potter
God damn.

The Two Towers.
Die Hard is Christmas movie, Die Hard isn’t a Christmas movie, yada yada yada…

The real hot take: Die Hard is a Hobbit movie.
December 25, 2025 at 9:56 AM
This Christmas morning, I am away from my children & home, helping a dying relative in the final stages.

I’m not complaining.

But you know who else is not complaining?

The Hospice people who came out at 3am.

The home care teams calling by round the clock to help.

They are out there now.
December 25, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Reposted by Matt Potter
December 25, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Reposted by Matt Potter
"The others named ... are: Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate; Josephine Ballon and Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, leaders of HateAid, a German organisation, and Clare Melford, who runs the Global Disinformation Index (GDI)."

US mad EU disallows wanton enshittification
US bars five Europeans over alleged efforts to ‘censor American viewpoints’
US to deny visas to an ex-EU commissioner and four others it accuses of efforts to censor speech on social media.
aje.io
December 25, 2025 at 12:18 AM
All those angry online-fandom people slagging off Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ trailer are inadvertently making it sound REALLY good.
December 25, 2025 at 8:31 AM