Alison
@finger-post.blog
I write about the Franklin Expedition and other parts of history heavy on the “doomed” and “ill-fated” side of things. I also enjoy petting cats in Victorian cemeteries.
Humanitarian. She/They. #MDANT. #NUJ. #NoTerfs.
https://finger-post.blog
Humanitarian. She/They. #MDANT. #NUJ. #NoTerfs.
https://finger-post.blog
Pinned
Alison
@finger-post.blog
· Jun 12
A couple of years ago, underwater archaeologists working on the #FranklinExpedition wrecks told me that one of my articles had helped them to identify an object in Captain Francis Crozier's cabin on HMS Terror. Their site has been updated with images - and a credit! 🥹
parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/nu/e...
parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/nu/e...
Oh my god, someone brought me mango gummies from Malaysia. Screaming and flailing. And eating mango gummies.
November 20, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Oh my god, someone brought me mango gummies from Malaysia. Screaming and flailing. And eating mango gummies.
Reposted by Alison
It’s the exclusive everyone wanted, the story that will win next year’s Pulitzer…
I can reveal London’s giant AI generated Christmas artwork, the subject of much online mockery, is being torn down - and I honestly *genuinely* think you’ll never guess why. www.londoncentric.media/p/ai-artwork...
I can reveal London’s giant AI generated Christmas artwork, the subject of much online mockery, is being torn down - and I honestly *genuinely* think you’ll never guess why. www.londoncentric.media/p/ai-artwork...
London's giant AI artwork to be torn down
The bizarre story of why a much-talked-about creation is being torn down. Plus: Docklands Light Railway extension, giant laser stalks the night sky, and more tales of Android phone theft rejection.
www.londoncentric.media
November 20, 2025 at 7:18 AM
It’s the exclusive everyone wanted, the story that will win next year’s Pulitzer…
I can reveal London’s giant AI generated Christmas artwork, the subject of much online mockery, is being torn down - and I honestly *genuinely* think you’ll never guess why. www.londoncentric.media/p/ai-artwork...
I can reveal London’s giant AI generated Christmas artwork, the subject of much online mockery, is being torn down - and I honestly *genuinely* think you’ll never guess why. www.londoncentric.media/p/ai-artwork...
"The exact contents of the collection are not known to the public despite the fact that the collection likely forms one of the most comprehensive and historically significant collections of Canadiana in the entire world."
As Canadian history is put on the auction block this week, re-upping my article @ricochetmedia.bsky.social about why the HBC Collection belongs to Canadians, why it should be in a museum, and how Heritage Canada lacks the teeth to protect Canada's heritage
#cdnpoli
ricochet.media/indigenous/d...
#cdnpoli
ricochet.media/indigenous/d...
Despite requests from Indigenous leaders, HBC artifacts will not be returned
Those interested in the items have been required to sign non-disclosure agreements
ricochet.media
November 19, 2025 at 10:14 PM
"The exact contents of the collection are not known to the public despite the fact that the collection likely forms one of the most comprehensive and historically significant collections of Canadiana in the entire world."
This email could have been a search note left in a cairn in 1850, telling me who's looking for me and directing me to the nearest stash of booze and snacks.
November 19, 2025 at 12:32 PM
This email could have been a search note left in a cairn in 1850, telling me who's looking for me and directing me to the nearest stash of booze and snacks.
There are three people loitering in the draft I'm trying to rewrite and it's giving me massive performance anxiety. Why do people do this? Maybe I should start selling tickets.
November 19, 2025 at 9:56 AM
There are three people loitering in the draft I'm trying to rewrite and it's giving me massive performance anxiety. Why do people do this? Maybe I should start selling tickets.
The new remake of The Thing looks rubbish.
This mural has gone up in Kingston, ostensibly for Christmas but AI has ensured it's actually to celebrate the return of our dark lord Cthulhu
November 18, 2025 at 10:41 AM
The new remake of The Thing looks rubbish.
I'm glad to see this, even if I don't agree with all of it. The BL is vitally important not only for academics, but for everyone who's ever been curious.
It must be protected, and from the ground up: paying the workers salaries they can live on is one place to start.
It must be protected, and from the ground up: paying the workers salaries they can live on is one place to start.
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 18, 2025 at 8:13 AM
I'm glad to see this, even if I don't agree with all of it. The BL is vitally important not only for academics, but for everyone who's ever been curious.
It must be protected, and from the ground up: paying the workers salaries they can live on is one place to start.
It must be protected, and from the ground up: paying the workers salaries they can live on is one place to start.
Reposted by Alison
POV: you are a young woman celebrating a recent academic success
November 17, 2025 at 7:20 PM
POV: you are a young woman celebrating a recent academic success
Reposted by Alison
Memorial to the Sinti and Roma Victims of National Socialism, it’s next to the Reichstag on the edge of the Tiergarten. This is where the rhetoric of othering leads.
November 17, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Memorial to the Sinti and Roma Victims of National Socialism, it’s next to the Reichstag on the edge of the Tiergarten. This is where the rhetoric of othering leads.
Vivid stress dream that I got a notification about a plane squawking 7700 General Emergency and I looked at the flight number and it was the plane I was on.
Added bonus fun: I was dreaming this on a plane.
Even more fun: I was woken up by turbulence.
Added bonus fun: I was dreaming this on a plane.
Even more fun: I was woken up by turbulence.
November 14, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Vivid stress dream that I got a notification about a plane squawking 7700 General Emergency and I looked at the flight number and it was the plane I was on.
Added bonus fun: I was dreaming this on a plane.
Even more fun: I was woken up by turbulence.
Added bonus fun: I was dreaming this on a plane.
Even more fun: I was woken up by turbulence.
Reposted by Alison
Happy Nov 14th, everybody!
November 14, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Happy Nov 14th, everybody!
Reposted by Alison
THIS IS WHY WE NEED THE HUMANITIES IN SCHOOL
This is a real flight school, teaching people to fly planes!!! Like????
November 14, 2025 at 2:31 AM
THIS IS WHY WE NEED THE HUMANITIES IN SCHOOL
Without downloading new pics, describe your gender:
November 13, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Without downloading new pics, describe your gender:
There’s nothing like a healthy lunch. And this indeed is nothing like etc etc.
November 13, 2025 at 11:34 AM
There’s nothing like a healthy lunch. And this indeed is nothing like etc etc.
Trying to explain to my mother that, as it is her birthday, I am legally allowed to watch a documentary about the development of the DC3.
November 12, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Trying to explain to my mother that, as it is her birthday, I am legally allowed to watch a documentary about the development of the DC3.
I still have the cap and I still wear it.
Love these. The Scots aren't too shabby either. I once wore a vintage overcoat and a fisherman cap into a West Highland bar. The barman said "So sorry about your mates who went missing from Eilean Mòr."
November 12, 2025 at 2:36 PM
I still have the cap and I still wear it.
All pro writers have blindspot words and I thought I knew all of mine. But no. Turns out "unprecedented" is another. I have discovered this because so many of the crises/suffering I'm writing about are unprecedented.
November 12, 2025 at 10:18 AM
All pro writers have blindspot words and I thought I knew all of mine. But no. Turns out "unprecedented" is another. I have discovered this because so many of the crises/suffering I'm writing about are unprecedented.
[0] days without being gaslit by my employers.
November 11, 2025 at 12:15 PM
[0] days without being gaslit by my employers.
10th November 1975.
youtu.be/Uu1GpQeYh5g
youtu.be/Uu1GpQeYh5g
The Edmund Fitzgerald (1976 song version)
YouTube video by nh6central
youtu.be
November 10, 2025 at 3:58 PM
10th November 1975.
youtu.be/Uu1GpQeYh5g
youtu.be/Uu1GpQeYh5g
Reposted by Alison
Look at this great fund. £200 for really small charities to spend on boring things. Easy, quick to apply.
Link below.
Please share :)
Link below.
Please share :)
Boring Fund | Christina Poulton
Applications now open!
£200 grants available for small charities, CICs and voluntary groups towards some of those boring but hard-to-fund costs.
www.christinapoultoncreative.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Look at this great fund. £200 for really small charities to spend on boring things. Easy, quick to apply.
Link below.
Please share :)
Link below.
Please share :)
So rare to see a political story that doesn't make me want to move back to the UK so I can leave it again in a massive flounce of screaming outrage.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
A rats to riches story: Larry the Downing Street cat finds place in TV spotlight
Popularity of Britain’s top mouser – ‘the guy to meet in No 10’ – to feature in documentary series
www.theguardian.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:18 AM
So rare to see a political story that doesn't make me want to move back to the UK so I can leave it again in a massive flounce of screaming outrage.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Alison
"PhD students should embrace plagiarism and being
unpredictably wrong without warning" is quite the claim
unpredictably wrong without warning" is quite the claim
"AI is not just another research tool; it is redefining what research is, how it is done and what counts as an original contribution." Alex Sen Gupta writes in Nature how doctoral training must evolve to make the most of AI outputs. #Academicsky 🧪
PhD training needs a reboot in an AI world
As machines get better at data analysis and writing tasks, doctoral training must evolve to make the most of artificial-intelligence outputs.
go.nature.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:18 PM
"PhD students should embrace plagiarism and being
unpredictably wrong without warning" is quite the claim
unpredictably wrong without warning" is quite the claim
Reposted by Alison
Solidarity with @pcsunion.bsky.social workers at the British Library.
300 workers on strike. Some of them having to take second jobs or taking out loans just to be able to survive.
A Pay "award" below inflation is a pay cut. Unacceptable.
Solidarity - and keep organising! ✊🏼
300 workers on strike. Some of them having to take second jobs or taking out loans just to be able to survive.
A Pay "award" below inflation is a pay cut. Unacceptable.
Solidarity - and keep organising! ✊🏼
November 7, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Solidarity with @pcsunion.bsky.social workers at the British Library.
300 workers on strike. Some of them having to take second jobs or taking out loans just to be able to survive.
A Pay "award" below inflation is a pay cut. Unacceptable.
Solidarity - and keep organising! ✊🏼
300 workers on strike. Some of them having to take second jobs or taking out loans just to be able to survive.
A Pay "award" below inflation is a pay cut. Unacceptable.
Solidarity - and keep organising! ✊🏼