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Jim Finnis

@jfinnis

Computer science lecturer: neural nets, robots, ExoMars PanCam image tools. (@jimfinnis@mastodon.social). Former gamedev. Dysgu Cymraeg. He/him. This is very much my personal account.

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06.10.2023
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Latest posts by Jim Finnis @jfinnis

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Yesterday I filmed several baby birds walking across a street directly at my camera and asked Bluesky to suggest music

Several dozen folks did

Some even dubbed music over the original clip.

I haven't been able to get this out of my head.

So I give you

A Bluesky exclusive:

Reservoir Ducks

🐣 πŸͺΆ

09.03.2026 03:46 πŸ‘ 2721 πŸ” 989 πŸ’¬ 89 πŸ“Œ 79

Oh FFS, not this shit again.

08.03.2026 12:29 πŸ‘ 69 πŸ” 21 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Pretenders to the Throne of God Arthur C. Clarke winner and Sunday Times bestseller returns to a world steeped in magic – and the Tyrant Philosophers' campaign to bring reason, logic and 'perf…

Finished @aptshadow.bsky.social's Pretenders to the Throne of God.

My favourite fantasy series by a margin, always creative, moving and full of heart and empathy.

How to classify it? Weird fiction's Andor?

Not sure. But, misery and wickedness, it's damn good.

www.bloomsbury.com/uk/pretender...

07.03.2026 15:40 πŸ‘ 53 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1

holding old timer bats so they can still feel like flappy lads is some real heartwarming stuff

07.03.2026 13:26 πŸ‘ 470 πŸ” 101 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 4
Meme triptych of Duke Leto and Paul Atreides

Text:

We must not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.
Why not?
Because people are fucking idiots, Paul.
They're just... incredibly stupid.

Meme triptych of Duke Leto and Paul Atreides Text: We must not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind. Why not? Because people are fucking idiots, Paul. They're just... incredibly stupid.

05.03.2026 05:01 πŸ‘ 1043 πŸ” 305 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 6
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Misrepresenting the Refugee Convention. It also says this:

05.03.2026 11:25 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

There have been MULTIPLE early leaks of scientific discoveries via DECORATED CAKE. Scientists are good at many things, but shutting up is definitely not one of them.

04.03.2026 11:51 πŸ‘ 884 πŸ” 218 πŸ’¬ 10 πŸ“Œ 10

When someone says β€žScientists do not want you to knowβ€œ you can dismiss everything from there on. Scientists want you to know. They are desperate that you know. They can’t shut up about what they found out and want you to know.

03.03.2026 12:10 πŸ‘ 9524 πŸ” 4135 πŸ’¬ 77 πŸ“Œ 165

Every tech post I see now:

Use Blurp for porting ChatGTP nano splines to Claude and maximise your gash tokens for optimal wang performance efficiency in 35 easy steps.

04.03.2026 13:10 πŸ‘ 239 πŸ” 41 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 0
04.03.2026 15:11 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
It's the blue canary night light from the song Birdhouse In Your Soul. It's a transparent blue night light in the shape of a canary.

It's the blue canary night light from the song Birdhouse In Your Soul. It's a transparent blue night light in the shape of a canary.

Did you know that They Might Be Giants sell a Blue Canary Night Light?

This is delightful!

tmbgshop.com/collections/...

03.03.2026 18:51 πŸ‘ 25 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 0

Everything old is new again

03.03.2026 20:47 πŸ‘ 69 πŸ” 28 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Same here too - we lay under it for hours. Magical.

04.03.2026 08:53 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
HMS Irresistible sinking during the Dardenelles campaign, having proved to everybody's satisfaction that the name might just have been a teeny-tiny bit premature after all.

HMS Irresistible sinking during the Dardenelles campaign, having proved to everybody's satisfaction that the name might just have been a teeny-tiny bit premature after all.

If I'd rushed into a poorly planned campaign around a notorious maritime choke point that left it closed to friendly shipping I'd carefully lay off the Churchill comparisons, but hey...

04.03.2026 08:39 πŸ‘ 413 πŸ” 92 πŸ’¬ 15 πŸ“Œ 6

Panic! at the Sheepfold

03.03.2026 17:23 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I had no idea one of my favourite books had been filmed, and with probably my favourite actor. Thanks!

03.03.2026 16:43 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

Jesus wept.

03.03.2026 13:27 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

From the French equivalent of The Onion

Seeking revenge, Dubai parachutes 3000 influencers on Tehran.

03.03.2026 10:12 πŸ‘ 708 πŸ” 178 πŸ’¬ 9 πŸ“Œ 4
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"We called London a war zone and moved to Dubai by mistake"

03.03.2026 08:16 πŸ‘ 6606 πŸ” 1564 πŸ’¬ 91 πŸ“Œ 45

One of the things I have become very tired of hearing from the Labour party, before and after getting into government, is the repeated appeals to being serious and grown up.

The current approach to asylum is neither.

It creates more problems and expense as well as being performative cruel.

02.03.2026 13:02 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Absolutely - it's a fundamental flaw of the architecture that you can't just get around with "more training."

02.03.2026 15:03 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
An excerpt from Politics by Aristotle (4th Century BCE) transcribed in Fall of Civilizations by Paul Cooper.

But he also warns that the Carthaginian system put too much emphasis on the wealth of the rulers rather than their competence, and expresses concerns that this could lead to corruption. (Paul Cooper)

"They think that the rulers should be chosen not only for their merit but also for their wealth, as it is not possible for a poor man to govern well or have leisure for his duties ... It is a bad thing that the greatest offices of the state, the kingship and the generalship, should be for sale. For this law makes wealth more honored than worth, and renders the whole state avaricious; And it is probably that those who purchase their office will learn by degrees to make a profit out of it. (Aristotle)

An excerpt from Politics by Aristotle (4th Century BCE) transcribed in Fall of Civilizations by Paul Cooper. But he also warns that the Carthaginian system put too much emphasis on the wealth of the rulers rather than their competence, and expresses concerns that this could lead to corruption. (Paul Cooper) "They think that the rulers should be chosen not only for their merit but also for their wealth, as it is not possible for a poor man to govern well or have leisure for his duties ... It is a bad thing that the greatest offices of the state, the kingship and the generalship, should be for sale. For this law makes wealth more honored than worth, and renders the whole state avaricious; And it is probably that those who purchase their office will learn by degrees to make a profit out of it. (Aristotle)

Gosh this Aristotle guy has fresh ideas. I think he's on to something here.

01.03.2026 11:42 πŸ‘ 53 πŸ” 16 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 0
a photo of JG Ballard

a photo of JG Ballard

β€œI think we are moving into extremely volatile and dangerous times, as modern electronic technologies give mankind almost unlimited powers to play with its own psychopathology as a game.”
β€”JG Ballard

01.03.2026 17:00 πŸ‘ 174 πŸ” 70 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 5
Maltesers: Look on the Light Side, Companion
Maltesers: Look on the Light Side, Companion YouTube video by Ads of Brands

Reminds me of this recent UK advert: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQkL...

27.02.2026 21:02 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
tweet by the late Dawn Foster from Sep 4th 2020 

"Matt Goodwin once emailed me to accuse him of being racist when I called him a β€œracist whisperer” and I had to explain to him that horse whisperers aren’t horses."

tweet by the late Dawn Foster from Sep 4th 2020 "Matt Goodwin once emailed me to accuse him of being racist when I called him a β€œracist whisperer” and I had to explain to him that horse whisperers aren’t horses."

RIP to a real one

27.02.2026 09:05 πŸ‘ 1615 πŸ” 363 πŸ’¬ 12 πŸ“Œ 13

Bot Outing. A new game for all the family πŸ˜†

27.02.2026 10:08 πŸ‘ 78 πŸ” 21 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

There are currently 711 bills under consideration that target trans people.

This is an all out assault that has not abated since the moment Republicans understood they could target trans people with little pushback and much support from moderates and liberals.

26.02.2026 06:58 πŸ‘ 234 πŸ” 112 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 1

Not long now until everyone gets to massively over-interpret a by-election, in line with their prior beliefs! Can't wait. Fun times.

26.02.2026 08:58 πŸ‘ 190 πŸ” 25 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 2

some years back i ran a private multiplayer Europa Universalis 4 game for a cross-party group of MPs. All of whom played it regularly already single-player.

It was gloriously fun, full of unexpected alliances and the odd backstab.

24.02.2026 10:59 πŸ‘ 123 πŸ” 17 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 1
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some benevolent cyberpunk for you

22.02.2026 01:46 πŸ‘ 2375 πŸ” 736 πŸ’¬ 43 πŸ“Œ 92