This world is definitely not Earth Prime.

Funny to think there's a timeline in which Brexit, Covid, Ukraine and two terms of Trump never happened and where I'm typing, "Funny to think there's a timeline in which Brexit and Trump happened..."

One thing I've found myself saying a lot recently: *Both can be true*.

Lots of interesting folks here. #humanism

Independent musician Mary Spender has an interesting discussion of the state of the #music industry up on her YouTube channel. Questions: Would you let your child sign a contract at 13? How about if it took 100% of their income for years? Hmm.

I heartily recommend Garbage and guest Screaming Females's cover of Patti Smith's 'Because the Night'. Just when you think it's done and dusted, Marissa Paternoster does an *incredible* guitar solo. (This was 11 years ago but I've only recently discovered it.)

Reading enjoyment on the decline in the UK. Interestingly, the article doesn't mention phonics.

I was up for Liz Truss! The Prime Minister who lasted six weeks while crashing the economy... enough said.

4:59am: Labour slip into a majority at exactly the same time as part-time ventriloquist dummy Jacob Rees-Mogg loses his seat. Bliss.

Brexit, Partygate, pandemic chaos, austerity, the country run by psychopaths... Tonight, relief at getting the Tories out, tempered by the UK/US/Europe all swinging towards right-wing populism. These people destroy everything, including themselves, but until they do we are in for a rough ride.

No, Hollywood didn't fake an entire 'Mid-Atlantic accent' and force actors of the 30s and 40s to use it in films. A phonetician explains...

#linguistics #accents #English #Hollywood #film

Watched 'The Wolfman' (2010) last night and am still trying to take in its majesty. A bad film with a lot of very good actors in it... but *why* is it bad? Probably the plot and pacing, combined with a lead actor who (spoiler alert) looks like a werewolf *before* he actually gets bitten by one.

Followed lots of people I was following on The Other Place using the Sky Follower Bridge extension for Chrome/Edge/Firefox. It *kind of* works: kept failing a few hundred accounts in and it sometimes links the wrong accounts, but it's the best option I've seen so far.

Mitchell (2021)'s fallacies in artificial intelligence:

*Narrow intelligence on continuum with general;

*Easy = easy, hard = hard [cf walking vs chess in humans vs robots];

*wishful mnemonics [way we discuss AI];

*intelligence only in brain [eg perceive via sensory input: embodied cognition].

The footage survives and you'll find it on-line, but it's nice to read #BertrandRussell speaking from 1959.