Squiffy-Marie von Bladet, PhD
@vonbladet.bsky.social
Dull old man; now Dutch
Since this actually applies to me I actually read the article, but it doesn't really clarify my personal edge-case very well: as an EU citizen who occasionally pays brief visits to Britain, could I just pay the ETA fee each time instead?
Dual nationals to be denied entry to UK from 25 February unless they have British passport
Dual nationals to be denied entry to UK from 25 February unless they have British passport
New border controls require ‘certificate of entitlement’ to attach to second nationality passport that costs £589
Dual British nationals have been warned they may be denied boarding a flight, ferry or train to the UK after 25 February unless they carry a valid British passport.
The warning by the Home Office comes amid scores of complaints from British people living or travelling abroad who have suddenly found themselves at risk of not being allowed into the country.
If you are affected by the change and want to share your story, email lisa.ocarroll@theguardian.com Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
February 13, 2026 at 2:11 PM
Since this actually applies to me I actually read the article, but it doesn't really clarify my personal edge-case very well: as an EU citizen who occasionally pays brief visits to Britain, could I just pay the ETA fee each time instead?
Reposted by Squiffy-Marie von Bladet, PhD
Unclear if the politician here is lying, or simply west wing brained so they think our Supreme Court is the same as the American one? Because the UK government can, in fact, simply change the law on which a judgement rests. It absolutely can do that.
Angeliki Stogia (Labour). Angeliki broadly performed well, but she felt very hemmed in by her government's record. When questioned about trans rights, for instance, she stated that the Labour Party would always stand against transphobia and that they couldn't just change the supreme court decision
February 13, 2026 at 9:53 AM
Unclear if the politician here is lying, or simply west wing brained so they think our Supreme Court is the same as the American one? Because the UK government can, in fact, simply change the law on which a judgement rests. It absolutely can do that.
_Caliban and the Witch_ is a very well-known feminism but (it turns out) not a particularly good historical scholarship
Systematically and brutally. Caliban and the Witch is utter utter bullshit start to finish which has been obvious to anyone with even a passing interest in the history forever but no one has ever written it up as a subject specialist. This piece is glorious.
February 13, 2026 at 10:38 AM
_Caliban and the Witch_ is a very well-known feminism but (it turns out) not a particularly good historical scholarship
"Between Sydney and Groningen" includes by my reckoning pretty much anywhere on earth, so that's nice.
(I live in Groningen and have enough PhDs for now, so I won't be competing for this.)
(I live in Groningen and have enough PhDs for now, so I won't be competing for this.)
Medievalist friends! Applications are open until end of Feb for a fully-funded PhD in Arthurian Literature with the brilliant Louise D'Arcens @medievalafterlives.bsky.social and myself, based between Sydney (Australia) and Groningen (The Netherlands).
Please share widely!
tinyurl.com/f7su6urv
Please share widely!
tinyurl.com/f7su6urv
Global PhD on Middle English Arthurian romance
The University of Groningen and Macquarie are offering a co-funded scholarship to support a student undertaking doctoral research in medieval literature.
tinyurl.com
February 13, 2026 at 10:36 AM
"Between Sydney and Groningen" includes by my reckoning pretty much anywhere on earth, so that's nice.
(I live in Groningen and have enough PhDs for now, so I won't be competing for this.)
(I live in Groningen and have enough PhDs for now, so I won't be competing for this.)
Y Cooper's brand was always the Lawful Evil; she'd deport people just as hard as the Tories but at least the paperwork would be filled in correctly. Now it turns out she wasn't even serious about the "lawful" bit, so I guess her brand is just "evil" now
May Labour's Yvette Cooper, the former Home Secretary, be remembered always as the politician who imposed the ban at the behest of Britain's powerful weapons industry, so it could continue to profit from the deliberate massacre of the people of Gaza
February 13, 2026 at 10:34 AM
Y Cooper's brand was always the Lawful Evil; she'd deport people just as hard as the Tories but at least the paperwork would be filled in correctly. Now it turns out she wasn't even serious about the "lawful" bit, so I guess her brand is just "evil" now
I only subscribe to the radio version of Big League Beisból, because I like to listen to it on my commute to The Forest.
This year they are bundling some new features that aren't available outside US&A, but to keep the admin simple they are doubling the price for everyone. So that's nice.
This year they are bundling some new features that aren't available outside US&A, but to keep the admin simple they are doubling the price for everyone. So that's nice.
February 13, 2026 at 9:23 AM
I only subscribe to the radio version of Big League Beisból, because I like to listen to it on my commute to The Forest.
This year they are bundling some new features that aren't available outside US&A, but to keep the admin simple they are doubling the price for everyone. So that's nice.
This year they are bundling some new features that aren't available outside US&A, but to keep the admin simple they are doubling the price for everyone. So that's nice.
Reposted by Squiffy-Marie von Bladet, PhD
Sweden deports eight month old baby to Iran without his parents, national public radio reports. The ruling is a consequence of the harsh immigration laws initiated by the success of the nazi-originated party that is now crucial to the government’s mandate, but most parties are behind these laws.
Born in Sweden, baby Emanuel to be deported to Iran - Radio Sweden
After a ruling by the Migration Agency, eight month old baby Emanuel, who was born in Sweden, is facing a deportation order to his family's homeland of ...
www.sverigesradio.se
February 13, 2026 at 6:22 AM
Sweden deports eight month old baby to Iran without his parents, national public radio reports. The ruling is a consequence of the harsh immigration laws initiated by the success of the nazi-originated party that is now crucial to the government’s mandate, but most parties are behind these laws.
This is going to be Kieth Labour's legacy and it is a foul thing
New School Guidance announces:
Full bathroom ban.
Full PE ban.
Full school trip accommodation ban.
Trans kids will not go to the bathroom, do PE or go on any school trips. 1/
Full bathroom ban.
Full PE ban.
Full school trip accommodation ban.
Trans kids will not go to the bathroom, do PE or go on any school trips. 1/
February 12, 2026 at 7:36 PM
This is going to be Kieth Labour's legacy and it is a foul thing
Reposted by Squiffy-Marie von Bladet, PhD
Sam Altman was right - this unironically is PhD-level intelligence
February 12, 2026 at 9:14 AM
Sam Altman was right - this unironically is PhD-level intelligence
Reposted by Squiffy-Marie von Bladet, PhD
This is the FINAL time I will explain the difference between ice dance and pairs. Ice dancers have wider, U-shaped snouts, while pair skater snouts are more pointed and V-shaped. Pair skaters prefer saltwater habitats, while ice dancers inhabit freshwater marshes and lakes.
February 12, 2026 at 5:41 AM
This is the FINAL time I will explain the difference between ice dance and pairs. Ice dancers have wider, U-shaped snouts, while pair skater snouts are more pointed and V-shaped. Pair skaters prefer saltwater habitats, while ice dancers inhabit freshwater marshes and lakes.
Reposted by Squiffy-Marie von Bladet, PhD
Please boost. Im doing delivery to make a little money but it's barely keeping food on the table. It could be another two months before all of the issues with my bank will be settled if they are at all. Thank you and I love you 🖤
February 11, 2026 at 4:16 PM
Please boost. Im doing delivery to make a little money but it's barely keeping food on the table. It could be another two months before all of the issues with my bank will be settled if they are at all. Thank you and I love you 🖤
I played Adventure on a green-screen terminal in a computer lab; I stuck a rubber strip to my ZX81's 16Kb ram pack to reduce wobble; I installed Slackware Linux from floppies; l wrote CGI* code in Perl before the first Internet bubble burst; I thought iso-latin-? encodings were neat
* Not graphics
* Not graphics
Age verification? I have pulled out a disk, flipped it over and re-inserted it when leaving the Brittania overworld to enter a town.
Age verification? My first computer game was zork.
February 11, 2026 at 4:25 PM
I played Adventure on a green-screen terminal in a computer lab; I stuck a rubber strip to my ZX81's 16Kb ram pack to reduce wobble; I installed Slackware Linux from floppies; l wrote CGI* code in Perl before the first Internet bubble burst; I thought iso-latin-? encodings were neat
* Not graphics
* Not graphics
This is an excellent choice; in most retail outlets you don't have to talk to anyone about anything these days so all my textbooks' chapters on "kruidenieren en groenteboeren" were of modest use, but you do actually have to talk to Bicycle Repair Man
LMAO the Swede's Dutch text book this week has an entire chapter that is called "at the bike repair shop" ["Bij de fietsenmaker"]
@sundance.bikesky.social
@sundance.bikesky.social
February 11, 2026 at 2:51 PM
This is an excellent choice; in most retail outlets you don't have to talk to anyone about anything these days so all my textbooks' chapters on "kruidenieren en groenteboeren" were of modest use, but you do actually have to talk to Bicycle Repair Man
Reposted by Squiffy-Marie von Bladet, PhD
I love how the media uncritically repeats his speed freak ravings, now that's the sign of a functional and healthy system
xAI all-hands meeting: Elon Musk tells staff that xAI needs a factory on the moon to build AI satellites and a massive catapult to launch them into space (New York Times)
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
February 11, 2026 at 1:28 PM
I love how the media uncritically repeats his speed freak ravings, now that's the sign of a functional and healthy system
Reposted by Squiffy-Marie von Bladet, PhD
The FT is, sadly, one of the better newspapers left but they can still apparently have someone covering the Gee Whizz Space Tech Business beat whose head is blissfully untroubled by how physics works, bless their heart
This would have been a good point for someone to have asked, is that really how things work? Or is vacuum in fact an excellent insulator? www.ft.com/content/a5cf...
February 10, 2026 at 3:48 PM
The FT is, sadly, one of the better newspapers left but they can still apparently have someone covering the Gee Whizz Space Tech Business beat whose head is blissfully untroubled by how physics works, bless their heart
"Dear citizens!
We've updated our class system there is no 'bourgeois' category anymore you're either a plutocrat or a peasant now no exceptions. We'll still be pandering to racist gammons and rentiers though, obviously.
Lol,
Kieth"
We've updated our class system there is no 'bourgeois' category anymore you're either a plutocrat or a peasant now no exceptions. We'll still be pandering to racist gammons and rentiers though, obviously.
Lol,
Kieth"
February 10, 2026 at 11:10 AM
"Dear citizens!
We've updated our class system there is no 'bourgeois' category anymore you're either a plutocrat or a peasant now no exceptions. We'll still be pandering to racist gammons and rentiers though, obviously.
Lol,
Kieth"
We've updated our class system there is no 'bourgeois' category anymore you're either a plutocrat or a peasant now no exceptions. We'll still be pandering to racist gammons and rentiers though, obviously.
Lol,
Kieth"
Our many Dutch children strongly prefer Spanish to French as a school language, although their many schools do not all offer it.
Like all* god-fearing** Dutchpersons we spend our summer holidays camping in France every year; this doesn't seem to count for anything with the youths
Like all* god-fearing** Dutchpersons we spend our summer holidays camping in France every year; this doesn't seem to count for anything with the youths
Spanish is clearly now the world’s coolest language. So why do we push British children to learn French? | Gary Nunn
Spanish is clearly now the world’s coolest language. So why do we push British children to learn French? | Gary Nunn
As Bad Bunny showed at the Super Bowl, español is the coming thing. No wonder it’s now the top GCSE language choice, says journalist Gary Nunn
www.theguardian.com
February 10, 2026 at 10:35 AM
Our many Dutch children strongly prefer Spanish to French as a school language, although their many schools do not all offer it.
Like all* god-fearing** Dutchpersons we spend our summer holidays camping in France every year; this doesn't seem to count for anything with the youths
Like all* god-fearing** Dutchpersons we spend our summer holidays camping in France every year; this doesn't seem to count for anything with the youths
Reposted by Squiffy-Marie von Bladet, PhD
I had to look up the word Jouissance
October 22, 2025 at 9:48 PM
I had to look up the word Jouissance
Post a banger only intermittently and sarcastically in ze Engleesh
"Ich kenne Schritte, die sehr nützen,
und werde euch vor Fehltritt schützen.
Und wer nicht tanzen will am Schluss,
weiß noch nicht, dass er tanzen muss."
"Ich kenne Schritte, die sehr nützen,
und werde euch vor Fehltritt schützen.
Und wer nicht tanzen will am Schluss,
weiß noch nicht, dass er tanzen muss."
February 10, 2026 at 4:52 AM
Post a banger only intermittently and sarcastically in ze Engleesh
"Ich kenne Schritte, die sehr nützen,
und werde euch vor Fehltritt schützen.
Und wer nicht tanzen will am Schluss,
weiß noch nicht, dass er tanzen muss."
"Ich kenne Schritte, die sehr nützen,
und werde euch vor Fehltritt schützen.
Und wer nicht tanzen will am Schluss,
weiß noch nicht, dass er tanzen muss."
Reposted by Squiffy-Marie von Bladet, PhD
This is VERY exciting 🌟 🔭
Maybe the first find of a millisecond pulsar in the galactic center 👀
Maybe the first find of a millisecond pulsar in the galactic center 👀
Finally out in the Astrophysical Journal. Results from the deepest radio pulsar search of the innermost 1.4 arcminutes of the Galactic Center region at 10 GHz. Work led by recent Columbia PhD Karen Perez. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...
On the Deepest Search for Galactic Center Pulsars and an Examination of an Intriguing Millisecond Pulsar Candidate
On the Deepest Search for Galactic Center Pulsars and an Examination of an Intriguing Millisecond Pulsar Candidate, Perez, Karen I., Gajjar, Vishal, Bogdanov, Slavko, Halpern, Jules P., Demorest, Paul B., Croft, Steve, Lebofsky, Matt, MacMahon, David H. E., Siemion, Andrew P. V.
iopscience.iop.org
February 9, 2026 at 10:16 PM
This is VERY exciting 🌟 🔭
Maybe the first find of a millisecond pulsar in the galactic center 👀
Maybe the first find of a millisecond pulsar in the galactic center 👀
Reposted by Squiffy-Marie von Bladet, PhD
this is literally going to strongarm every queer user into giving info after they declared every single lgbtq+ server to be "adult servers" years ago.
so now it's literally give us your info or lose access to your communities and resources.
fuck you discord.
so now it's literally give us your info or lose access to your communities and resources.
fuck you discord.
Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month
Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month
Age verification for all.
buff.ly
February 9, 2026 at 3:16 PM
this is literally going to strongarm every queer user into giving info after they declared every single lgbtq+ server to be "adult servers" years ago.
so now it's literally give us your info or lose access to your communities and resources.
fuck you discord.
so now it's literally give us your info or lose access to your communities and resources.
fuck you discord.
Yeah, that's going to be the end of that you might reasonably surmise
Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month - all accounts set to "teen-appropriate experience" by default www.theverge.com/tech/875309/...
discord.com/press-releas...
discord.com/press-releas...
February 9, 2026 at 3:06 PM
Yeah, that's going to be the end of that you might reasonably surmise
Wait, Green Day didn't even bother to perform in Spanish? Disrespectful, too me.
February 9, 2026 at 2:13 PM
Wait, Green Day didn't even bother to perform in Spanish? Disrespectful, too me.
"It's a big club and ok technically *you* are in it, but the pig people watching at home? They are very much not in it, fuck them."
"People like me, people like Pat that come onto programs like this are going to be supportive of people that we have worked closely with"
Asked about Pat McFadden defending Morgan McSweeney keeping his job yesterday, Baroness Jacqui Smith accidentally says the quiet bit out loud
Asked about Pat McFadden defending Morgan McSweeney keeping his job yesterday, Baroness Jacqui Smith accidentally says the quiet bit out loud
February 9, 2026 at 9:28 AM
"It's a big club and ok technically *you* are in it, but the pig people watching at home? They are very much not in it, fuck them."