Phantom Corsair
@phantomcorsair.bsky.social
Toby - wittering about cars, technology, showtunes and other stuff since… ooh, ages ago.
Pinned
I am a professional writer and editor - and rather good at copy-editing and proofreading. I'm happy to volunteer my services to any trans or gay rights organisation that can use them (as long as I'm not depriving anybody of a paid job!)
If you need help, contact me!
#transrights
#LGBTQI+rights
If you need help, contact me!
#transrights
#LGBTQI+rights
This is a tremendous piece.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:37 AM
This is a tremendous piece.
Reposted by Phantom Corsair
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
And don't forget his Sterling work on Bill Evans' "At the Montreux Jazz Festival".
youtu.be/rQUxyyzgvBo?...
youtu.be/rQUxyyzgvBo?...
October 27, 2025 at 3:36 PM
And don't forget his Sterling work on Bill Evans' "At the Montreux Jazz Festival".
youtu.be/rQUxyyzgvBo?...
youtu.be/rQUxyyzgvBo?...
Here's a link to an excellent, practical piece on Internet security. Read it!
Cods Plaice: Staying safe on the Web - what can I do to make my browsing safer. Important notes for every web device.
codsplaice.blogspot.com/2019/03/stay...
codsplaice.blogspot.com/2019/03/stay...
October 25, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Here's a link to an excellent, practical piece on Internet security. Read it!
Me doing today's Clues By Sam.
October 25, 2025 at 6:40 AM
Me doing today's Clues By Sam.
Reposted by Phantom Corsair
Dec 18th at 7pm I'll be reading from ILLUSIONS OF PRESENCE, chatting about editing anthologies and ANSWERING YOUR QUESTIONS (within reason and taste 😉) - tickets are £8.83 (cushion admin and fees).
I'd love to see you there, please reskeet far and wide!
www.eventbrite.com/e/illusions-...
I'd love to see you there, please reskeet far and wide!
www.eventbrite.com/e/illusions-...
October 15, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Dec 18th at 7pm I'll be reading from ILLUSIONS OF PRESENCE, chatting about editing anthologies and ANSWERING YOUR QUESTIONS (within reason and taste 😉) - tickets are £8.83 (cushion admin and fees).
I'd love to see you there, please reskeet far and wide!
www.eventbrite.com/e/illusions-...
I'd love to see you there, please reskeet far and wide!
www.eventbrite.com/e/illusions-...
If you're reading the letters pages of old Marvel comics, you're FOOMscrolling.
If you’re skimming ‘Ulysses’ so you can say you’ve read it, it’s Bloomscrolling.
If you’re in a disastrous Joseph Losey film with Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and Noël Coward, it’s Boom!scrolling.
October 22, 2025 at 2:37 AM
If you're reading the letters pages of old Marvel comics, you're FOOMscrolling.
It doesn't even scan!
October 18, 2025 at 8:17 AM
It doesn't even scan!
Absolutely this! It's a marvellous book.
Also, read Sydney Padua’s The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage!
October 15, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Absolutely this! It's a marvellous book.
Reposted by Phantom Corsair
Could the Nobel Peace Prize committee perhaps give Trump some sort of certificate of participation?
#nobelpeaceprize
#nobelpeaceprize
October 9, 2025 at 5:17 AM
Could the Nobel Peace Prize committee perhaps give Trump some sort of certificate of participation?
#nobelpeaceprize
#nobelpeaceprize
Don't be a coelacanth. Be a coelaCANh!
#motivationalfossils
#motivationalfossils
October 7, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Don't be a coelacanth. Be a coelaCANh!
#motivationalfossils
#motivationalfossils
This is astonishing ambition: 24-hour-a-day energy from a solar plant with thermal battery storage, and enough output for 830,000 homes at a cost of $480m - that's around $600 per household!
China Three Gorges commissions world's largest PV-CSP solar plant www.pv-magazine.com/2025/09/25/c...
China Three Gorges commissions world’s largest PV-CSP solar plant
Hybrid project pairs a 100 MW linear Fresnel concentrated solar power (CSP) with a 900 MW PV facility, delivering 24-hour output and demonstrating large-scale storage integration.
www.pv-magazine.com
September 28, 2025 at 2:15 PM
This is astonishing ambition: 24-hour-a-day energy from a solar plant with thermal battery storage, and enough output for 830,000 homes at a cost of $480m - that's around $600 per household!
I'm enjoying Clues by Sam. It's rather a well-constructed logic game.
September 28, 2025 at 11:02 AM
I'm enjoying Clues by Sam. It's rather a well-constructed logic game.
Reposted by Phantom Corsair
I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
September 24, 2025 at 8:30 PM
I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
Reposted by Phantom Corsair
Useful reminder from Peter Kellner on the problems we refuse to acknowledge are getting better, and the politics of hopelessness that this breeds
open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
September 23, 2025 at 6:29 AM
Useful reminder from Peter Kellner on the problems we refuse to acknowledge are getting better, and the politics of hopelessness that this breeds
open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
Reposted by Phantom Corsair
one of the most important technological revolutions in modern history and you're likely not hearing anything about it because it's making the oligarchs who control our information environment poorer instead of richer
Time for the world to install a gigawatt of solar power capacity
2004: A year
2010: ~ a month
2015: ~ a week
Now: A day
ourworldindata.org/data-insight... 🧪
2004: A year
2010: ~ a month
2015: ~ a week
Now: A day
ourworldindata.org/data-insight... 🧪
September 15, 2025 at 5:04 AM
one of the most important technological revolutions in modern history and you're likely not hearing anything about it because it's making the oligarchs who control our information environment poorer instead of richer
Reposted by Phantom Corsair
Grok is being sent to the reeducation camp
September 14, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Grok is being sent to the reeducation camp
Read this thread - and act accordingly.
I have watched every episode of every series, including the animated series and Short Treks, and with the exception of the current SNW season that just finished, I've watched every episode and movie multiple times.
Today I canceled my Paramount+ subscription.
Today I canceled my Paramount+ subscription.
September 14, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Read this thread - and act accordingly.
Literally cry me a river.
Ruin a song by adding the word ‘literally’ to the title. I’ll start.
Love will literally tear us apart.
Love will literally tear us apart.
September 14, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Literally cry me a river.
Reposted by Phantom Corsair
Could we please stop pretending that the flags being hung from streetlamps or painted on roundabouts are innocent expressions of patriotic pride? This is the far right marking out its territory. It uses these flags to intimidate its traditional victims and opponents. 🧵1/3
September 9, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Could we please stop pretending that the flags being hung from streetlamps or painted on roundabouts are innocent expressions of patriotic pride? This is the far right marking out its territory. It uses these flags to intimidate its traditional victims and opponents. 🧵1/3
Reposted by Phantom Corsair
There’s a persistent myth that new solar farms don’t really help tackle climate change because panels are “made with coal” and “never pay back” their carbon debt.
This is simply false.
- UN: solar ~8x cleaner than gas, ~19x than coal per kWh
- panels repay CO2 in 4 months; save 57x over life
This is simply false.
- UN: solar ~8x cleaner than gas, ~19x than coal per kWh
- panels repay CO2 in 4 months; save 57x over life
August 30, 2025 at 8:46 AM
There’s a persistent myth that new solar farms don’t really help tackle climate change because panels are “made with coal” and “never pay back” their carbon debt.
This is simply false.
- UN: solar ~8x cleaner than gas, ~19x than coal per kWh
- panels repay CO2 in 4 months; save 57x over life
This is simply false.
- UN: solar ~8x cleaner than gas, ~19x than coal per kWh
- panels repay CO2 in 4 months; save 57x over life
Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars.
OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.
OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.
Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI
Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.
www.theatlantic.com
September 6, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Reposted by Phantom Corsair
Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars.
OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.
OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.
Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI
Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.
www.theatlantic.com
September 6, 2025 at 6:31 AM
Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars.
OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.
OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.
Reposted by Phantom Corsair
On the same day in the Telegraph:
![The Telegraph
Rayner tax scandal - £40k tax dodge - Statement
Angela Rayner dodges £40,000 stamp duty
Deputy Prime Minister reduces tax bill for Hove flat by declaring it as her main residence
[Photo: Angela Rayner pictured at the weekend in Hove, where she has just bought a flat Credit: Dan Charity/The Sun on Sunday]
Robert Mendick Chief Reporter. Amy Gibbons Political Correspondent
29 August 2025 8:57am BST](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2kf2qj56o2vq7jfaq4x4ogp6/bafkreihe5mm7nwmwvzhtgadmsafyvsaxhrufuai2d2j2rju5zt6g2lytea@jpeg)
![The Telegraph
Money > Property > Second homes
How to avoid tax on your second home
From stamp duty to council tax, shield your wealth from Labour's tightening net
[Photo of houses around a bay - Areas such as Cornwall have added a premium to council tax bills for second homes Credit: iStockphoto]
Fran Ivens Senior Money Writer
29 August 2025 1:21pm BST](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2kf2qj56o2vq7jfaq4x4ogp6/bafkreieuwgc2vsmyfcctmf4cnpcqckij2pqdk2gmzajpnihrsqyqmzyr5e@jpeg)
September 5, 2025 at 7:55 AM
On the same day in the Telegraph: