Matthew Bradford

AI industry horrified to face largest copyright class action ever certified Copyright class actions could financially ruin AI industry, trade groups say.

AI training is nothing but the wholesale and brazen theft of other people’s intellectual property.

Clay relief showing an ancient hydraulis (water organ) at the center, flanked by two gladiators, each raising an arm as if in a gesture or salute. The figures are dressed in typical gladiatorial attire, and the organ features several upright pipes.

For #ReliefWednesday a depiction of a hydraulis – a water organ with a keyboard and pipes, the supply of air was created by water pressure. The instrument on the terracotta relief found in Trier is flanked by gladiators, a retiarius and a secutor. Water organs were used in... 🧵1/2

🏺 #archaeology

YouTube video by Roy Ayers Ubiquity - Topic We Live In Brooklyn, Baby

#DavidsMonthOfMusic

Day 9: Roy Ayers RIP

‘We Live In Brooklyn, Baby’.

As horrific as it is incredible, and aged only 22. Lest we forget.

Mustangs of 112 Squadron, carrying 500lb bombs, at Cervia airfield. The unit had operated Kittyhawks until June 1944, which though older aircraft, were more robust and resistant to ground fire. 📷 IWM (CNA 3494) (Single engined fighters taxiing along a pierced steel planking trackway on a dirt airfield. Tall, spindly trees are visible in the background)

August-December 1944: George Cross action of Sergeant Arthur Banks, 112 Squadron RAF. Flying a Mustang III in an attack on rail installations around Ravenna and Ferrara in northern Italy on 9th August, his aircraft was hit by flak which damaged the engine.
🧵1/11

Those two cats are locked-on to each other!

Simulated Chinese blockade of Taiwan reveals Singapore as lifeline The previously unreported exercise offers a rare window into contingency planning over Taiwan, which some Asian and Western military attaches and security analysts say is becoming increasingly necessary.

Simulated Chinese blockade of Taiwan reveals Singapore as lifeline – Reuters: ‘The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), which organised the exercise, told Reuters in a statement that participants had attended in their private capacities’

A picture from Life Magazine showing women taking part with their cats in a black cat audition for the 1962 horror film Tales of Terror.

🐈‍⬛ For #Caturday a picture from a black cat audition for the 1962 horror film Tales of Terror. Somehow it portrays a less scary time in history.

"Several were disqualified thanks to white paws or noses"
.
#cat #catsky #cats #filmsky #CatsofBluesky 🗃️ #history #USA #skystorians

Amazed how they fit all this kit into a mobile phone.

I know Tim Cook is just trying to protect his company but saying the president is a “well endowed and quite generous lover” seems a bit too far

This may be the best thing I've read today.

ICE is hiring! US immigration and Customs Enforcement is looking for highly motivated, morally indifferent individuals to join our team. Open positions include: Senior Goon Racism Enforcement Office Unmarked Van Driver (Part-Time) Experience with children a plus usajobs.gov

From this month's edition of The Onion.

And enjoy…. ☺️

YouTube video by RastaChaka Serge Gainsbourg - Aux Armes Et Caetera

#DavidsMonthOfMusic

Day 8: Serge Gainsbourg RIP

‘Aux Armes Et Caetera’.

A recently-recorded Byzantine buckle made c. 540-600AD and found at Coddenham, Suffolk. @findsorguk.bsky.social SF-A6D42C. Only one other of this early type has been found in Britain - in Lambourn, Berkshire.

YouTube video by Les Rita Mitsouko Les Rita Mitsouko - Un soir un chien (Audio Officiel)

#DavidsMonthOfMusic

Day 7: Fred Chichin RIP

Les Rita Mitsouko ‘Un Soir, Un Chien’.

Australia Completely Loses The Plot, Plans To Ban Kids From Watching YouTube Last fall, heavily influenced by Jonathan Haidt’s extremely problematic book, Australia announced that it was banning social media for everyone under the age of 16. This was already a horrifically …

"Once you’ve built the system to block kids from YouTube, you’ve built the system to block anyone from anything. And that system will be irresistible to future governments with different ideas about what content people need to be 'protected' from."
— @mmasnick.bsky.social in @techdirt.com

We are looking at a black and white photo of two men carrying a large carved oak Coat of Arms up the stairs into a timber framed building. Three men in suits watch on from the top of the stairs.

Here's the late, great Dick Reid: wood and stone carver extraordinaire (and later Merchant Adventurer) bringing in our new Coat of Arms in 1971.

Want to know more about our Coat of Arms?

Does it include a Pegasus you ask?

You're in luck! Read on...

YouTube video by Jimi Hendrix - Topic Remember

#DavidsMonthOfMusic

Day 6: Jimi Hendrix RIP

‘Remember’.

China’s Political Calendar as a Guide to Leadership Succession In the context of Chinese politics, what’s coming up offers insight into what’s going on.

China’s Political Calendar as a Guide to Leadership Succession – The Diplomat thediplomat.com/2025/08/chin...

For Microsoft to claim the job of Historian is almost uniquely vulnerable to AI is either a measure of the click baity nature of the "report", or of a profound ignorance of what historians actually do.

Historians don't just synthesise sources published online (which is all AI does).

I hope there isn't a second author tangled up in the Unbound/Boundless saga who had 8000+ books go missing. The more I pull on the thread of my underreported book sales, the angrier I am.

A tiny thread:

George Bernard Shaw wrote an article this week in 1914 urging both sides to shoot their officers and go home.

Shameful behaviour by Unbound either way.

HK gov't to look into inaccurate flag design used at rope-skipping competition The HK gov't has said it will look into an incident at a rope-skipping competition in Japan over the weekend, during which an inaccurate design of the city’s flag was allegedly displayed.

Incredible but true.

‘Hong Kong gov't to look into inaccurate flag design used at rope-skipping competition in Japan’.

The Gaylads - Africa (We Want To Go) [Jamaica, Reggae, 1966]

The Gaylads - Africa (We Want To Go) [Jamaica, Reggae, 1966]
https://redd.it/ebfczg
https://youtu.be/ETprYNVwG0s

#CeJourLà #OnThisDay - Le 5 août 1943, création du Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), ou Service de pilotes féminines de l'US Air Force, est une organisation para-militaire rassemblant des femmes pilotes civiles, employées par la United States Army Air Forces, pendant la #WWII.

'Oh the Anunnaki!' cried Humbaba. 'Oh what a dream Gugalanna has sent me!'

🇦🇺 Congrats to my co-author @badiucao.bsky.social for his first solo exhibition in Australia, DISAGREE WHERE WE MUST. The title references the common phrase used by Australian diplomats when talking about engagement with China while glossing over human rights, which clearly irked Badiucao!

YouTube video by deekomodska65 Prince Buster - al capone

#DavidsMonthOfMusic

Day 5: Prince Buster RIP

‘Al Capone’.