Claire Debenham
@clairedeb.bsky.social
Japanese-to-English medical translator, dog-lover, servant of cat. Human companion to @fenlandlapphund.bsky.social
Reposted by Claire Debenham
On a rainy day, I recommend heading to your local bookshop and charming the staff into giving you treats. Or on any day, in fact.
November 14, 2025 at 3:23 PM
On a rainy day, I recommend heading to your local bookshop and charming the staff into giving you treats. Or on any day, in fact.
Storm Claudia making her presence felt here.
November 14, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Storm Claudia making her presence felt here.
Reposted by Claire Debenham
Why do traditions get invented? Often, when there are identity gaps to fill. Reflecting on why new rituals of Remembrance mattered in the 1920s + how they can now help us address a core question of the 2020s: how our past, present + future are linked
easterneye.biz/uk-remembrance-day-shared-history/
easterneye.biz/uk-remembrance-day-shared-history/
Remembering together is more important than ever today
One of the most important foundations for a cohesive society is to understand how our past, present and future are linked, says Sunder Katwala
easterneye.biz
November 5, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Why do traditions get invented? Often, when there are identity gaps to fill. Reflecting on why new rituals of Remembrance mattered in the 1920s + how they can now help us address a core question of the 2020s: how our past, present + future are linked
easterneye.biz/uk-remembrance-day-shared-history/
easterneye.biz/uk-remembrance-day-shared-history/
The Home Office is consulting on the use of AI for automated translation and transcription in immigration administration, including asylum applications, but is only taking submissions from technology providers, NOT people who know about language. Please sign the petition and share! c.org/nfSb77ftDk
Sign the Petition
Home Office: before automating translation, please listen to the experts
c.org
October 28, 2025 at 8:53 AM
The Home Office is consulting on the use of AI for automated translation and transcription in immigration administration, including asylum applications, but is only taking submissions from technology providers, NOT people who know about language. Please sign the petition and share! c.org/nfSb77ftDk
Reposted by Claire Debenham
In Japan, most of the current nuclear power plants were planned and built before plate tectonics was accepted as mainstream science. A correlation to this is that a number of power plants were built over active faults.
![Comic. [two connected spacecraft hovering in space above the Earth] Houston, the view is superb. We can see the continents spread out below us, right where they’ve been since the Earth formed. [caption] I still can’t believe we developed spaceflight before we figured out that the continents moved.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreicp2ka5asjgkmgfdfj33vnjb5bbvk3vnyao6ju5kipxcdc23pqasm@jpeg)
October 27, 2025 at 8:28 PM
In Japan, most of the current nuclear power plants were planned and built before plate tectonics was accepted as mainstream science. A correlation to this is that a number of power plants were built over active faults.
Reposted by Claire Debenham
Tom of Finland meets Norman Rockwell.
October 27, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Tom of Finland meets Norman Rockwell.
Reposted by Claire Debenham
"Let's not forget, when we remember the service and the sacrifice with this poppy, that the people who bled and died for our democracy and our freedom, weren't just my grandfather who looked like me & worshipped the same God, but people across Empire & Commonwealth, who were Muslim, Sikh & Hindu'
October 26, 2025 at 10:13 AM
"Let's not forget, when we remember the service and the sacrifice with this poppy, that the people who bled and died for our democracy and our freedom, weren't just my grandfather who looked like me & worshipped the same God, but people across Empire & Commonwealth, who were Muslim, Sikh & Hindu'
Reposted by Claire Debenham
The Established Church needs to find a voice on this kind of dehumanising depiction of men, women and children who have come to our country, being spilled all over the place to say the only thing that has human value is a salary above £38k and thst any foreigner who ever earns less must get out
October 22, 2025 at 5:00 PM
The Established Church needs to find a voice on this kind of dehumanising depiction of men, women and children who have come to our country, being spilled all over the place to say the only thing that has human value is a salary above £38k and thst any foreigner who ever earns less must get out
Reposted by Claire Debenham
I would happily join any such group - if you would too then get in touch with Marie. The madness being proposed by Tories and Reform needs to be opposed, and migrants' rights need to be protected.
(if anyone would like to maybe start some sort of campaigning or pressure group of and on behalf of immigrants with ILR and settled status in Britain then I would be interested in helping, or indeed trying to get it off the ground myself, email in bio, etc)
October 22, 2025 at 10:31 AM
I would happily join any such group - if you would too then get in touch with Marie. The madness being proposed by Tories and Reform needs to be opposed, and migrants' rights need to be protected.
Reposted by Claire Debenham
Based on the account of the Ascension, it's all in the cloud.
All these people telling me "Jesus saves" but no one wants to stop and discuss his archived backup process, and I worry that Jesus is gonna lose a lot of files one day.
October 21, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Based on the account of the Ascension, it's all in the cloud.
Reposted by Claire Debenham
To be clear: deportations to increase cultural homogeneity is the text book definition of ethnic cleansing. Demands that come even close to this are so far outside any democratic norm and the rule of law. What has happened to a country when this is not condemned in the strongest possible terms?
October 21, 2025 at 10:47 AM
To be clear: deportations to increase cultural homogeneity is the text book definition of ethnic cleansing. Demands that come even close to this are so far outside any democratic norm and the rule of law. What has happened to a country when this is not condemned in the strongest possible terms?
A cake for autumn: honey, pumpkin and walnut loaf.
October 21, 2025 at 12:00 PM
A cake for autumn: honey, pumpkin and walnut loaf.
Reposted by Claire Debenham
'Staying at Gail’s and hoping for a promotion is, for Sanjana, the only option. Like thousands of other workers in Britain’s ever-deepening hostile environment, her life is bound to her employer.'
www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/at-gails-w...
www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/at-gails-w...
'We're just a bakery': Does Gail's rely on low-paid migrant workers to further its expansionist vision?
The economics and migration behind the Gail’s expansion. Words by Sasha Patel and Ben Jacob. Illustration by Kruttika Susarla.
www.vittlesmagazine.com
October 20, 2025 at 2:54 PM
'Staying at Gail’s and hoping for a promotion is, for Sanjana, the only option. Like thousands of other workers in Britain’s ever-deepening hostile environment, her life is bound to her employer.'
www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/at-gails-w...
www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/at-gails-w...
Reposted by Claire Debenham
Yet more evidence that #translators are true collaborative partners and deserve wider recognition: James Rion on translating engimatic author #Uketsu's debut novel Strange Houses. jimrion.com/2025/09/30/t...
Translating Strange Houses
Jim goes on a somewhat spoilery journey looking back on an issue encountered in translating Strange Houses by Uketsu, which ended up making a major difference on the book.
jimrion.com
October 19, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Yet more evidence that #translators are true collaborative partners and deserve wider recognition: James Rion on translating engimatic author #Uketsu's debut novel Strange Houses. jimrion.com/2025/09/30/t...
Reposted by Claire Debenham
NAE KINGS, NAE MASTERS!
You want to keep your liberty?
Guard it like a favorite stick. You let one fool call himself ‘Master of Treats,’ and next thing you know, he’s telling you when to sit and when to beg.
Democracy’s a chew toy. If you don’t protect it, someone else will drool all over it.
You want to keep your liberty?
Guard it like a favorite stick. You let one fool call himself ‘Master of Treats,’ and next thing you know, he’s telling you when to sit and when to beg.
Democracy’s a chew toy. If you don’t protect it, someone else will drool all over it.
October 18, 2025 at 3:19 PM
NAE KINGS, NAE MASTERS!
You want to keep your liberty?
Guard it like a favorite stick. You let one fool call himself ‘Master of Treats,’ and next thing you know, he’s telling you when to sit and when to beg.
Democracy’s a chew toy. If you don’t protect it, someone else will drool all over it.
You want to keep your liberty?
Guard it like a favorite stick. You let one fool call himself ‘Master of Treats,’ and next thing you know, he’s telling you when to sit and when to beg.
Democracy’s a chew toy. If you don’t protect it, someone else will drool all over it.
Reposted by Claire Debenham
This morning my ChatGPT quota was inexplicably exhausted.
It took a while but I pieced it together. Voice mode somehow got activated when I went to bed.
The bot then engaged in a 10 hour conversation with my snoring dog, answering questions the pup wasn’t asking and praising him for his insight.
It took a while but I pieced it together. Voice mode somehow got activated when I went to bed.
The bot then engaged in a 10 hour conversation with my snoring dog, answering questions the pup wasn’t asking and praising him for his insight.
October 18, 2025 at 9:04 AM
This morning my ChatGPT quota was inexplicably exhausted.
It took a while but I pieced it together. Voice mode somehow got activated when I went to bed.
The bot then engaged in a 10 hour conversation with my snoring dog, answering questions the pup wasn’t asking and praising him for his insight.
It took a while but I pieced it together. Voice mode somehow got activated when I went to bed.
The bot then engaged in a 10 hour conversation with my snoring dog, answering questions the pup wasn’t asking and praising him for his insight.
Reposted by Claire Debenham
pleasures of the flesh fade, other people however much you love each other will sometimes let you down, the world is filled with sorrows. but from today until the last day of your life, wherever you are if you pay attention there is something new to learn. it's a great comfort.
October 13, 2025 at 6:30 PM
pleasures of the flesh fade, other people however much you love each other will sometimes let you down, the world is filled with sorrows. but from today until the last day of your life, wherever you are if you pay attention there is something new to learn. it's a great comfort.
Reposted by Claire Debenham
Translator Polly Barton talks with us about HUNCHBACK, longlisted for the 2025 National Book Award for Translated Literature. Read the interview here, as well as all our interviews in this series:
The National Book Award Interviews: Polly Barton - Words Without Borders
Translator Polly Barton talks with us about "Hunchback," longlisted for the 2025 National Book Award for Translated Literature.
wordswithoutborders.org
October 10, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Translator Polly Barton talks with us about HUNCHBACK, longlisted for the 2025 National Book Award for Translated Literature. Read the interview here, as well as all our interviews in this series:
Reposted by Claire Debenham
Smashed windows and graffiti at the Brighton Conference Centre, where women have come from all over the world to talk about male violence and women's human rights. This is trans activism, and it's misogyny in action.
October 10, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Smashed windows and graffiti at the Brighton Conference Centre, where women have come from all over the world to talk about male violence and women's human rights. This is trans activism, and it's misogyny in action.
Reposted by Claire Debenham
The only gigs that come my way these days are helping train the AI that will presumably replace me. I turn them down. I hope for the strength of will and financial solvency to turn them down forever. But it’s bleak!
Well we need a new furnace so if anyone knows of a J-E localization project that needs an extra set of hands do let me know.
October 8, 2025 at 2:16 PM
The only gigs that come my way these days are helping train the AI that will presumably replace me. I turn them down. I hope for the strength of will and financial solvency to turn them down forever. But it’s bleak!
Reposted by Claire Debenham
There may be unforeseen costs to downgrading our understanding of the national language
October 8, 2025 at 9:44 AM
There may be unforeseen costs to downgrading our understanding of the national language
Reposted by Claire Debenham
The International Federation of Translators (FIT) published a position paper on #MachineTranslation (MT) to draw attention to the consequences of using MT both for the users and for professional translators. Read it at en.fit-ift.org/position-and.... #Translator #ai #Language #Tech #xl8 #1nt #atanet
Position and Discussion Papers – International Federation of Translators
The voice of associations of translators, interpreters and terminologists around the world
en.fit-ift.org
October 6, 2025 at 5:31 PM
The International Federation of Translators (FIT) published a position paper on #MachineTranslation (MT) to draw attention to the consequences of using MT both for the users and for professional translators. Read it at en.fit-ift.org/position-and.... #Translator #ai #Language #Tech #xl8 #1nt #atanet
Reposted by Claire Debenham
It starts with Palestine protests. But where will the crackdown on Britain’s democratic freedoms end? | Owen Jones
It starts with Palestine protests. But where will the crackdown on Britain’s democratic freedoms end? | Owen Jones
In making dissent a privilege, not a right, Labour is crafting a repressive toolkit. Imagine it in the hands of a Farage government, says Guardian columnist Owen Jones
www.theguardian.com
October 6, 2025 at 6:32 PM
It starts with Palestine protests. But where will the crackdown on Britain’s democratic freedoms end? | Owen Jones
Miniature kiwi fruit harvest from the garden. The vine was planted three years ago, but it's the first time they've ripened enough to eat.
October 2, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Miniature kiwi fruit harvest from the garden. The vine was planted three years ago, but it's the first time they've ripened enough to eat.
Please sign this petition to restore the funding due to be cut from the Arthur Rank Hospice in Cambridgeshire, which would result in the loss of 9 of their 22 beds. www.pippaheylings.org.uk/campaigns/sa...
Save palliative care beds at Arthur Rank Hospices - Pippa Heylings MP
www.pippaheylings.org.uk
October 1, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Please sign this petition to restore the funding due to be cut from the Arthur Rank Hospice in Cambridgeshire, which would result in the loss of 9 of their 22 beds. www.pippaheylings.org.uk/campaigns/sa...