Helen McCarthy

It’s Sam Altman: the man who stole the rights from copyright. If he’s the future, can we go backwards? | Marina Hyde His AI video generator Sora 2 has been reviled for pinching the work of others. One giant leap for Sam: for everyone else, not so much, says Guardian columnist Marina Hyde

It’s Sam Altman: the man who stole the rights from copyright. If he’s the future, can we go backwards? | Marina Hyde

The Skeltons - Terror [Brazil ; Surf / Garage Rock] (1964)

The Skeltons - Terror [Brazil ; Surf / Garage Rock] (1964)
https://redd.it/q7d3de
https://youtu.be/ZrxIFntJcMc

The alleged home tree of the Wood Sprite known as Blood Squall. His reputation is high among the fiercest and most troubling of cursers. His favoured appeasements are said to be the medicate wine Tor Tonic, items of pewter, chocolate raisins and teeth – human or animal.

As Toby Young points out, Black people are over-represented in advertising. He somehow forgot to mention they are over-represented in poverty, unemployment and homelessness statistics too.

There will be those who will once again council empty reconciliation with Republicans, on the grounds that “we need to be better than them.”

But here’s the thing: we ARE better than them. Much better than them. Everyone is far far far better than them. That’s why they all need to go to prison.

I watched Question Time for the first time in ages tonight. Great to see the audience pushing back on the anti-immigration rhetoric from the majority of the panel. Well done @zackpolanski.bsky.social for making your points so well. I expect the membership will be well into six figures soon.

To anyone feeling upset that they didn't get the #NobelPeacePrize today, please remember that bringing about a ceasefire in a conflict you enabled, helped to prolong and showed intent to profit from doesn't qualify.

The ‘Anthropological Change’ Happening in Venezuela Maduro is still in place, but a pro-democracy movement is transforming the beleaguered country.

Congratulations to Maria Corina Machado, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize - her incredible optimism has already changed her country. I spoke to her, and wrote about her, at the beginning of this year:
www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

Typically astute analysis from @alanderminna.bsky.social 👇

"So far the main concept for deterrence by punishment has been “deterrence by attribution”, i.e. threatening reputational costs by naming and shaming. Unfortunately, Russia is clearly quite far beyond the point of caring about reputation."

The £1m man: Why did Boris Johnson take his donor to Ukraine? Exclusive: Leaked files offer a glimpse of the ex-prime minister’s relationship with Christopher Harborne As he boarded the night train to Ukraine, Boris Johnson had the usual entourage of aides and bodyguards – plus the man who had given him £1m. Less than a year had passed since Johnson accepted what is thought to be the largest donation ever to an individual MP. It was from Christopher Harborne, one of the UK’s biggest and most private political donors. Continue reading...

The £1m man: Why did Boris Johnson take his donor to Ukraine?

Nobel Laureates every Nobel laureate by country, prize and academic affiliation

Here's an interactive graphic representation of the Nobel laureates by country, gender, category, affiliation and time ➡️ reut.rs/432uR5m

It really feels like they’re trolling our autocrat.

It's hardly progress. They're only doing it because she's female.

We have just eaten and drink ourselves almost to a standstill at Burr's in Newport, IOW. Good food beautifully cooked and charmingly served in pleasant surrounding, plus they make a really good Old Fashioned. Very highly recommended.

"Trickle down economics" are actually piss-on-the-peasants economics.

Change in distribution and abundance of southern right whales. (A) Shows historical and contemporary wintering distributions (Figure 1 from Carroll et al., 2018), and (B) shows decline in abundance and subsequent recovery (solid line is the mean, dashed line shows upper and lower 95% CI). Modified Figure 1 from Jackson et al. (2008). Contemporary sightings are divided into regions where large aggregations are seen during winter: Argentina (ARG), Brazil (BZL), South Africa (SAF), southwest Australia (SWA), south central Australia (SCA), and New Zealand sub-Antarctic (NZSA) and regions where sightings are typically of small numbers of individuals per year. The large aggregations are IWC management units and correspond to historical whaling grounds, although another 5 whaling grounds show little sign of recovery. Summer feeding areas are poorly described and so not shown.

The global whaling industry experienced a boom c. 1840-1950 as technology allowed whalers to hunt the Southern Ocean around Antarctica.

Under standard models, we would have expected krill populations to have *exploded*.

Instead, they DROPPED exponentially.

Let's talk about the KRILL PARADOX.

Peel off the 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 barely covering the uglies following Yaxley Lennon & ilk and you'll soon find the 🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺. Coming to a roundabout near you soon 👇

"That a UK politician, a member of the party currently leading the polls (and news agenda) has been revealed to have taken bribes to make statements in favour of Russia – when Russia had illegally annexed chunks of Ukraine and was killing and attempting to kill people on British soil – is alarming."

Yep

If Christian's really want to covert others, they should be like #DollyParton - leave judgement to God, give to the poor, support education, encourage reading and learning, and let their actions and treatment of others do the preaching.

Everyone on the fence about A.I., there's something you don't realize.

It's purpose is to eliminate human jobs and human skills.

That's it. That's its single purpose. For companies to no longer pay people or train them in skills.

Thrilled and can't wait to read the seventh story in one of the best and most beautifully illustrated adventure series for just about anyone!
@helenmccarthy51.bsky.social

the rose called Peace
has buds streaked red as blood
yet transmutes to gold

#haiku #poetry #hope #GivePeaceAChance

the ageing year is
now more greying than golden
but still well-dressed
in a riot of colour
not yet time for monotone

#tanka #poetry #changingseasons #enduringbeauty

Transgenerationality - the ageing up (and ageing out) of Japan's animation industry - Helen McCarthy At the beginning of July I was privileged to speak at a symposium on Transnational Perspectives in Anime. It was held on the Lancaster University campus, co-hosted by Dr. Zoe Crombie and Japan Foundat...

Up on my website now: a post on #transgenerationality and its impact on anime. (And not just anime - every aspect of Japan's media mix will be affected by it.)
helenmccarthy.net/transgenerat...

When #DollyParton leaves this world it will be a devastating blow to #literacy and #education - though I suspect this caring, giving, loving, truly Christian woman has provided for her work to continue.

Americans, please stop kidding yourselves it was monarchy that got you into this tragic state. Don't confuse metaphor with fact. It was the gerontocracy you built, with its collegiality and trust in the status quo and insistence on "wait and see." Your President and political system caused this.

You missed the #AI techbro with his mouth bloody from swallowing all those creators' incomes to feed his insatiable and all-polluting hunger.

Out for launch day date night. Pub loo graffiti says "Fuck the Tories (NOT SEXUALLY)" which is an important clarification I guess.