Richard_Littler

Richard_Littler, 48 minutes ago to bluesky

Jack Dorsey is furious that #Bluesky has attracted "very very common" people. He also doesn't like the idea of moderation tools facilitating the banning of racists.

All these tech billionaires are like a version of the movie Big, in which a pre-adolescent boy wakes up in the body of an aging Howard Hughes. Or Colonel Kurtz. Or a sardine.
#JackDorsey

Richard_Littler, 1 day ago to music

I'm revisiting early-mid 1980s albums by prog rock (& related) artists, when they decided to try new, more stripped down, approaches, many of which provoked vilification & even decades-long grudges among older fans who accused their favourite bands of selling out (see also: Queen's Hot Space album).

#music #1980s #progrock

Richard_Littler, 1 day ago to apple

One of the most depressing ads I've seen, and yet it perfectly captures the presumptuousness and obliviousness of 21st C 'tech bro' culture, which seems hellbent on running roughshod over, well, any kind of creativity that it can't exploit financially. https://twitter.com/tim_cook/status/1787864325258162239
#apple

Richard_Littler, 7 days ago to asd

It has taken me two years to change my bio from "Neurodivergent, apparently" to just "Neurodivergent". Despite being open about my #ASD and #ADHD, the 'apparently' must have been a subconscious way of distancing myself from the diagnosis somehow.

#autism
@actuallyautistic
@actuallyadhd

Richard_Littler, 7 days ago to random

If you want to know how seriously Europeans take the UK nowadays: I'm watching a German TV quiz show. The host presented a photo of Stonehenge and asked the contestant to name it. They joked that the answer was "Liverpool after Brexit"

Richard_Littler, 7 days ago to ai

"Mike, my beloved husband of 40 years died two weeks ago and I used #AI to write his eulogy. I inputted a few biographical details, which were then transformed into a lengthy, heartfelt tribute. I had no idea, however, that he'd also been an electrical device for amplifying sound. He'd kept that to himself. A humble man. I'm so proud."

Richard_Littler, 8 days ago to random

Popped over to LinkedIn. It still resembles a corporate Midsommar; a Stepford Wives business cult with post replies like: "Thank YOU for sharing this inspiring Mindframe Innovation video. It really drive-empowered my creative leadership enhancement validation. Praise AI!"

The Wicker Man(agement)?

Richard_Littler, 8 days ago to MIjazz

For some, Miles Davis' early 1970s albums are a tough listen because they're furious, chaotic, frenzied, but they perfectly reflect the conflicts of a very different time: war, corruption, attacks on the rights of women & minorities, riots, disgraced presidents, violent campus protests... As I say, a very different time... oh

#jazzfusion #jazz #vinyl

Richard_Littler, 9 days ago to generationx

Could there be anything more #1970s than album art by Roger Dean?..

#graphicdesign #illustration #vinyl

Roger Dean record label logo Virgin Records mid 1970s.
Roger Dean art from the Fragile booklet - flora with a creature of some type
Roger Dean inner-sleeve art from the Yessongs album. Fantasy landscape.

Richard_Littler, 9 days ago to jazz

It's #internationaljazzday!
Here are some #jazz facts: According to research, jazz improves your verbal ability, focus, memory and mood. It also increases productivity & boosts creativity because it activates theta brain waves. It also promotes relaxation by increasing alpha waves. It has even been found to lessen depression symptoms. Jazz musicians improvising with other musicians show robust activation in the same brain areas traditionally associated with spoken language.

Richard_Littler, 11 days ago to random

I see he's reached 'Gulling the Gullible', chapter 2 of 'Big Con: The Right-Wing American Grifters Playbook'. If Jesus existed, he'd sue this unctuous, mock-spiritual, sham-Dickensian hustler. Would you buy a used cardinal from this man?

Richard_Littler, 11 days ago to books

Just finished this. One of Patricia Highsmith's books that many people don't seem to like, but I did. A scathing attack on Reagan's conservative America and the rise of evangelicalism, which of course has by now mushroomed into a febrile shitshow.

#books #USpolitics

Richard_Littler, 11 days ago to random

I've just realised who Elon reminds me of: Beavis and Butt-Head rolled up in one person. And he's lesser than the sum of the parts.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/28/the-demise-of-twitter-how-a-utopian-vision-for-social-media-became-a-toxic-mess

Richard_Littler, 12 days ago to classicalmusic

It was the annual Vide Grenier today, the day when Bern old town becomes a huge flea market. I finally picked up a record boxset I always keep an eye out for. A 60-year-old first pressing in mint condition for 2 quid. Looks unplayed.

#classicalmusic #vinyl

Richard_Littler, 13 days ago to random

The book in 69th place is a pad of A4 graph paper.

"Liz Truss book enters bestseller list in 70th place with 2,228 copies sold"
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/26/liz-truss-book-first-week-sales-bestseller-list?CMP=twt_b-gdnnews

Richard_Littler, 13 days ago to random

It's #AlienDay. Here are my photos of the bar that H R Giger designed. It jars enormously with its location - a little, picturesque Swiss village.

Photo of the bar tables and seats designed by HR Giger
Photo of the bar ceiling designed by HR Giger. Looks like spines.
Photo of the bar wall designed by HR Giger. Looks like dead babies.

Richard_Littler, 14 days ago to random

Me: "I'm starting work on a simple story idea. Shouldn't require any research..."
3 weeks later
Me: "I'm researching ontology/epistemology, astronomy, politics, mass sociogenic disorders, psychology, etc. I understand <1% of it and I can't write the story because I don't possess all human knowledge"

Richard_Littler, 15 days ago to ai

AI 'art' is metastasising through the internet. I just looked up Hieronymus Bosch and there were more AI imitations than I expected (or recall seeing on previous searches). I tried three browsers: Google, DuckDuckGo, and Brave. At a glance, Google seemed to be the worst offender, which shouldn't surprise me, given that its functionality & quality seem to have plummeted in recent months...
#AI #art #history #internet

Richard_Littler, 15 days ago to Autism

Just spotted this. In a neurotypical world which hasn't been created with sound-sensitive neurodivergent people in mind, this statement is an act of revolution.
The uprising has begun...
...Inaudibly.
✊
@actuallyautistic

#autism #ASD #misophonia

Richard_Littler, 17 days ago to books

Sorting out #books. A Beat Gen. (and related) selection from back when cool young people wouldn't dream of going out without a copy of Kerouac's On the Road, a counterculture poetry chapbook, or a lit mag, such as Evergreen Review, stuffed into their back pockets...

Richard_Littler, 18 days ago to vinyl

#NowPlaying live art-rock/prog albums from the early (more interesting half of the) 1980s. That incarnation of King Crimson was so tight. They make some other bands sound like they're trying to run through a muddy field in wellies. Great live album, very energetic.

#progrock #vinyl

Cover: King Crimson: Absent Lovers, Live in Montreal, 1984