Joe Williams
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joewilliamskent.bsky.social
Joe Williams
@joewilliamskent.bsky.social
380 followers 2.7K following 91 posts
Walkable cities. Climate. Making stuff. Archaeology. Fungi. Music. Kent. London. General leftiness. All this and more. (he/they)

2020s Twitter turned me into more of a lurker than a poster, but maybe that'll change here.

#Vegan #RejoinEU
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joewilliamskent.bsky.social
Li'l camper guy - Dali, Yunnan (China), 2018. I'm guessing this started out as an auto-rickshaw type thing. I kind of love it.
A vehicle about the size of a golf buggy, made to look like an old split-screen VW camper. It has a two-tone paint job (turquoise and white), and what appears to be a top-hinged full-height door. A side-on view of the same vehicle. The wheels aren't visible because they're fully within the bodywork - there's no front wheel arch, and the rear one is tiny.
November 17, 2025 at 11:54 PM
joewilliamskent.bsky.social
I've been having fun over the last couple of days experimenting with Pagan (a music sequencer for Android developed by @quintinfsmith.bsky.social). Enjoying it even more after finding this "How do I..." FAQ in the documentation.
Screenshot from website, of text reading: "Use Pagan with generative AI to create music? You have a contempt for human creativity that is fundamentally opposed to being an artist."
October 16, 2025 at 9:24 AM
joewilliamskent.bsky.social
Well, he's not wrong...
greenamerica.org/your-green-l...
Screenshot from the linked article : "In the early 2000s, British Petroleum (BP) popularized the term “carbon footprint,” as part of another ad campaign. In 2004, BP released its carbon footprint calculator and provided “solutions” such as going on a low-carbon diet—essentially putting the onus of solving climate change on buyers instead of BP taking responsibility for its product. Additionally, BP funded anti-climate change messaging and opposed climate legislation. The company’s failures were laid bare six years later when the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (also referred to as the BP oil spill) poured an estimated 210 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico."
September 23, 2025 at 3:04 PM
joewilliamskent.bsky.social
Well, looks like I'm a Skycards guy now. This was up there when I opened the app for the first time!
August 28, 2025 at 10:48 AM
joewilliamskent.bsky.social
I'm not a marketing guru so I could be wrong, just seems like maaaaaybe there'd be a more reassuring figure from mythology to name your plane company after.
July 18, 2025 at 10:47 AM
joewilliamskent.bsky.social
I don't seem to have the option for Reader View toolbar shortcut since updating, is it elsewhere? I've definitely got this new version, as I could change tab switcher to a list.
May 22, 2025 at 8:14 AM
joewilliamskent.bsky.social
Magdeburg.
Photo taken in central Magdeburg (Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany) in 2007, showing a street scene. A green tram is passing by on the carriageway (appearing blurred in the photo because of its motion), and in front of it are two people conversing on a wide pavement area. One of the people has stopped their bike and stands astride it (this is a shared use pavement, while further south there is a dedicated cycle route) and the other has a pram/stroller. Both are wearing everyday clothes and rucksacks. There are three stationary cars visible, parked within marked bays between the carriageway and the pavement; all three fit well within the bay markings because they aren't bloated SUVs. The pavement itself is made up of at least six different surface finishes (including flat cobblestones, 50cm square cement slabs, and smoother mixed-size rectangular stone slabs). This variety both adds visual and tactile interest, and subtly divides areas of motion from areas of encounters. Within the flat cobbled area are three bronze statues on cuboid plinths of different heights.
December 29, 2024 at 10:13 AM
joewilliamskent.bsky.social
Record company design committee: As you can see from the listener feedback graph, people didn't really get what The London American Legend Part 1 was all about when they looked at the cover. This time can you dial up the American a couple of notches?

Cover artist: I got you fam
The sleeve of a compilation LP entitled ”The American Dream (The London American Legend Part 2" on a charity shop shelf. The dreamer of said dream, a bald eagle with a facial expression suggesting it's experiencing some nasty gastric distress, is standing on a vinyl record which it's talons have surely scratched the bejeezus out of. Above the eagle's head is a thought bubble containing the dream itself: a teenage American football player in blue-and-gold kit, sitting cross-legged in a white expanse with his gold helmet in front of him, with some kind of blue-green glow emanating from his nether regions. In time-honoured charity shop tradition, "The Magic of Mantovani" is also on the shelf.
November 14, 2024 at 10:02 PM
joewilliamskent.bsky.social
Over the last year I've been accumulating old hand tools, and recently I finished making one of my own. This mallet started out as a newel post that I had to grab when I saw it being thrown out - covered in layers of thick paint, but I had a feeling from its weight there'd be nice wood under there.
A large mallet made from reclaimed wood sits on a cutting mat amid wood shavings from shaping the handle, which has just been fitted. It's surrounded by some of the tools that were used to make it - a Stanley No. 5 plane, a spokeshave, a brace and bit, and a countersinking tool (which resembles a small screwdriver with a transparent orange handle, but with a conical head with sharp protrusions). The countersinking tool is one of my favourite flea market finds - it's great for softening off sharp edges with just a couple of quick twists after drilling holes.
November 7, 2024 at 11:51 PM
joewilliamskent.bsky.social
Every now and again I remember this #RomanMosaic of the wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, laugh out loud at the memory, then have to look it up and LOL again. Today's the first time I've noticed that the mosaicists have clearly stuck a "wolf" front end on a horse's rear.
A Roman mosaic in earthy tones, with a geometric border of repeated concentric diamonds. The central panel shows the mythological scene of Romulus and Remus being suckled by a "she-wolf" (no closet is included, sorry Shakira fans). The black wolf stands under a black-trunked tree with a few leaves, bent 90 degrees halfway up the trunk to fit within the frame. The wolf's face is rendered front-on in a very flat cartoonish fashion, with big round googly eyes, a snout that begins at the forehead, and a particularly goofy human-like mouth that seems to say "awright guvna".
November 7, 2024 at 6:19 PM
joewilliamskent.bsky.social
Stranger at bar: Oh, I've never really heard Tom Waits before, what kind of music does he make? Me: umm ... * shows this picture * A sepia-tinted photo that looks to be from the early 20th century. A railroad signalman with a large moustache and two spindly low-tech prosthetic legs leans against his signal box, while a monkey operates the signal switches.
November 6, 2024 at 1:03 AM
joewilliamskent.bsky.social
If you see this, post a photo taken in the mountains

(Bocce court on a terrace built on a steep hillside - Partigliano, Province of Lucca, Tuscany)
October 30, 2024 at 5:30 PM
joewilliamskent.bsky.social
#IMetLi'lSebastian - he's alive and well in the Weald of Kent.
A very small brown pony, with a white mane, seen through the branches of a hedge.
October 28, 2024 at 9:06 PM