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Joel Evans

@joelevans.bsky.social

Culture and politics. Views my own.πŸ‰

659 Followers  |  567 Following  |  34 Posts  |  Joined: 15.01.2024  |  1.7824

Latest posts by joelevans.bsky.social on Bluesky

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A $60 Mod to Meta’s Ray-Bans Disables Its Privacy-Protecting Recording Light Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses usually include an LED that lights up when the user is recording other people. One hobbyist is charging a small fee to disable that light, and has a growing list of customers ar...

New: a $60 mod to Meta's Ray-Ban glasses disables the privacy LED light. This is supposed to light when people are filming with the glasses. We bought the mod, verified it works. Now you can never be sure whether someone wearing Meta Ray-Bans is filming you or not
www.404media.co/how-to-disab...

23.10.2025 13:01 β€” πŸ‘ 1818    πŸ” 883    πŸ’¬ 218    πŸ“Œ 573

E.E. Cummings once had a collection of poems rejected by 14 publishers. When he eventually got it published as "No Thanks" in 1935, he dedicated it to those 14 publishers in a visual poem shaped like a funeral urn

14.10.2025 15:39 β€” πŸ‘ 84    πŸ” 24    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 1
SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems... SIMON: What? SHAPIRO: ...Or saying... SIMON: You imagine that? SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over. SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level. SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this. SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

David Simon, creator of β€˜The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

09.10.2025 04:42 β€” πŸ‘ 28870    πŸ” 9120    πŸ’¬ 340    πŸ“Œ 925
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Home Office could outright ban protests that risk β€˜intimidation’ or β€˜serious disruption’ The Home Secretary is considering giving police new powers to ban protests

The British government is Very Sensible and so can be trusted with the power to decide which protests have happened Enough Now and don't need to be heard from anymore thank you very much. It will be fine. When Reform get in they will be even more Sensible about all this.

inews.co.uk/news/politic...

07.10.2025 11:12 β€” πŸ‘ 106    πŸ” 24    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0
Cat next to the book

Cat next to the book

Toddler reading the book

Toddler reading the book

I was very excited to come home to find the author copies of my book had arrived!

Though one young reviewer is disappointed that there are no tractors in it, if you are interested in early modern poetry and the occult, you can order below πŸ‘‡

www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/...

24.09.2025 20:05 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 1
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What will it be like to work or study at Lancaster University, if the current plans to fire 1 out of 4 staff members are implemented? How will these impact local communities and businesses? And who will be held accountable?
Sign our petition to stop unnecessary cuts to education!
chng.it/xJpLzrsVvs

01.10.2025 18:11 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

This is my regular reminder to everyone that jstor is open to the general public now; a free account there will give you access to 100 papers a year.

29.09.2025 13:19 β€” πŸ‘ 3439    πŸ” 1221    πŸ’¬ 85    πŸ“Œ 72

Govt claims requiring all adults in Britain to have β€œdigital ID” will β€œhelp control borders” and β€œillegal immigtation”.

That could only be true if police are given powers to require ID, without suspicion of a crime.

A 🧡explaining why:

26.09.2025 12:23 β€” πŸ‘ 189    πŸ” 87    πŸ’¬ 15    πŸ“Œ 12
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Petition: Do not introduce Digital ID cards We demand that the UK Government immediately commits to not introducing a digital ID cards. There are reports that this is being looked at.

If you are concerned about how your data might be hacked, abused or sold, and more generally about unecessary digital surveillance, sign the petition.

[Let's not even both talking about the fact you will need a smartphone in order to have one of these].

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...

26.09.2025 12:04 β€” πŸ‘ 22    πŸ” 10    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

We already *had* this for immigrants. They want the digital ID cards so they can be dicks to everyone.

26.09.2025 07:34 β€” πŸ‘ 133    πŸ” 13    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Petition: Do not introduce Digital ID cards We demand that the UK Government immediately commits to not introducing a digital ID cards. There are reports that this is being looked at.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...

26.09.2025 07:25 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Since Lisa Nandy is doing the media round for Lab this morning, here she is in October 2023 being asked 3 times whether Israel breached intl law when it cut off power & water to Gaza. Nandy refused to answer & when pressed she said it would be grandstanding to answer the question

26.09.2025 06:58 β€” πŸ‘ 46    πŸ” 19    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2

True and good but that doesn't quite equate to the above

25.09.2025 13:59 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Perhaps you can say Greens Organise are. But that suggests more a liberal environmentalist party with eco-socialists in it rather than what you say above

25.09.2025 12:09 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I'm not sure about that last claim, but park it. One basic criterion for a socialist party would be that it tries to achieve for workers control over the means of production. I'm not sure the Green Party - even Polanski, who I support - are on board with that, or are vocal about it anyway.

25.09.2025 12:05 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Can understand that. But I guess it's worth reflecting also on why it is that not everyone wants to join the Greens. The mix of liberal and left environmentalism, for example, puts a lot of people off. There is often an instinct there to attack others on the left (see this thread, for example).

25.09.2025 08:48 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
British Working-Class and Radical Writing Since 1700 - University of London Press At a time when working-class writing is gaining long-overdue recognition and radical ideas may be more important than ever, this timely collection of eighteen essays examines the powerful intersection...

Published today by ​Leverhulme Early Career Fellow @adambridgen.bsky.social @durham-university.bsky.social is a new, co-edited, open-access essay collection: British Working-Class and Radical Writing Since 1700.
Available, for free, at: uolpress.co.uk/book/british...

25.09.2025 08:36 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Ok. Not sure any of that is much of an issue if you think about the bigger picture. Personally I would trust Corbyn with data + money -- he's got a proven track record of being an honest broker for the left. The rest is just fluff.

24.09.2025 19:11 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Eg:

24.09.2025 18:05 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Obviously not saying you should be charitable to particular individuals. And glad you're involved in that. Pretty clear that it's not going be a stitch up though I think.

24.09.2025 18:00 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

You're evading the issue by accusing me of evading the issue, but whatever. The main point is that surely it would be worth being a bit more charitable about the whole thing? Like Green-YP alliance would be quite good if possible?

24.09.2025 17:12 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

'Corbyn and his motley bunch of transphobes.' Really? You could just as easily replace Corbyn with Polanski for the same reasons. Beyond me how that expresses your concern for comrades or expresses actual solidarity with trans people.

24.09.2025 16:54 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Which is Bizarre since a good proportion of these people consider themselves on the actual left.... including yourself from what I can gather

24.09.2025 16:37 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

It's a kind of mixture of glee at apparent failure (yet to be borne out) and smears/faux solidarity with minorities the likes of which remind me of the labour right.

24.09.2025 16:35 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 0

Read this and thought it was some right wing or Labour account. Quite bizarre the reaction a lot of Green party people have had to all this.

24.09.2025 16:19 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Deleted my academia dot edu account. Not even sure why I had it anyway.

24.09.2025 07:57 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

We want robust, enormous research that is SUCH good research, you already know how important and right and insightful it is before you even start it. We want research so predeterminedly world-changing that there is hardly any point actually doing the research at all.

12.09.2025 07:11 β€” πŸ‘ 137    πŸ” 37    πŸ’¬ 11    πŸ“Œ 3
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In December 2023, Israeli president Isaac Herzog was pictured signing bombs due to be dropped on Gaza.

Next week he’ll be in the UK at the invitation of the British government.

05.09.2025 10:27 β€” πŸ‘ 175    πŸ” 158    πŸ’¬ 19    πŸ“Œ 21

We built a calculator that doesn't work, but don't worry, it's also a plagiarism machine that will tell you to kill yourself. It runs on the world's oceans and costs 10 trillion dollars.

29.08.2025 18:24 β€” πŸ‘ 16642    πŸ” 5255    πŸ’¬ 125    πŸ“Œ 124

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