@miblo@mas.to

Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Jul 31, 2026

Replying to @JeffGrigg@mastodon.social

@JeffGrigg@mastodon.social @idoubtit@mstdn.social Haha! I swear those two are as bad as each other! 🐺

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Jul 29, 2026

Replying to @idoubtit@mstdn.social

@idoubtit@mstdn.social Aww well, a phrase from my English degree: context is key. (Between you you'd have to share enough of it for their meaning to get through.)

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Jul 26, 2026

Replying to @gloriouscow@oldbytes.space

@gloriouscow@oldbytes.space cc @Cognessence@social.linux.pizza

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Jul 25, 2026

Replying to @alex@dair-community.social

@alex@dair-community.social @emilymbender@dair-community.social Thank you for the far more informational and level-headed term "language technology"! All these years, and it even having been in my degree as computational corpus linguistics (which I enjoyed, and have lately been citing when the hyped up topic has come up), yet I didn't know the term.

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Jul 02, 2026

Replying to @ChrisMayLA6@mastodon.me.uk

@ChrisMayLA6@mastodon.me.uk Gosh yes, bring on the Clacton by-election!

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Jun 22, 2026

Replying to @SecondUniverse@autistics.life

@SecondUniverse@autistics.life @davidaugust@mastodon.online Genius!

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Jun 03, 2026

Replying to @Walrus@toot.wales

@Walrus@toot.wales @openrightsgroup@social.openrightsgroup.org Yikes! I actually hit up against this very thing – database vs spreadsheet – when volunteering at our local hospital some years ago. Archiving historical litigation case files, some to be shredded immediately, some at a future date, manually typing rows into a spreadsheet, and offering to make it into a database for easier entry-addition / querying by non-techies. And yeah, the push-back was from another volunteer, worrying about having no one technical enough able to change the system if I don't stick around! Sincerely hope the MoD haven't got volunteers involved in this. 🤓

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Jun 01, 2026

Replying to @baldur@toot.cafe

@baldur@toot.cafe Totally, seeing things in terms of where they sit on the power concentration–distribution spectrum is kind of a recent breakthrough for me. Even as someone who has pretty consistently gravitated towards power-distribution approaches all my life, as it happens, it's given me a new way of articulating this. Makes me wonder how widely people just don't have even a subconscious sense of the power implications of LLMs, let alone anything else.

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Jun 01, 2026

Replying to @ianbetteridge@social.vivaldi.net

@ianbetteridge@social.vivaldi.net Bricking it…

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · May 22, 2026

Replying to @jencmars@mastodon.art

@jencmars@mastodon.art Beautiful, and perfect for World Goth Day! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Goth_Day

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · May 12, 2026

Replying to @quixoticgeek@social.v.st

@quixoticgeek@social.v.st Such a key point about the "unspecific nature of the term". We hear the same hand-wavy, anti-informative mechanism at play with the term "common sense".

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · May 10, 2026

Replying to @simon_lucy@mastodon.social

@simon_lucy@mastodon.social @ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us Aha, cheers. Yep, I reckon I had taken my eye off the Brexit ball when it came to these election results.

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · May 10, 2026

Replying to @simon_lucy@mastodon.social

@simon_lucy@mastodon.social @ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us Right, nice one. This swapping between CON→REF is what would make sense to me, but I've been struggling to actually see in results! It's been looking to me like LAB→REF compounding it, but maybe I've just been failing to account for Labour stay-at-homes…

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · May 10, 2026

Replying to @simon_lucy@mastodon.social

@simon_lucy@mastodon.social @ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us Wow, well spotted. It's a pretty interesting observation from the perspective of my constituency that actually voted the dreaded 52−48 back in 2016. • 2026 Local Election: https://democracy.stockport.gov.uk/mgElectionResults.aspx?ID=70&RPID=240572646 • 2024 General Election: https://electionresults.parliament.uk/elections/3527 These more current results don't map to anything like the closeness of our 2016 vote, encouragingly, I'd suggest.

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · May 09, 2026

Replying to @kathimmel@mstdn.social

@kathimmel@mstdn.social Oh cool, nice one for posting and cheers @essjayjay@tech.lgbt for boosting into my view! Interesting entry for one resignation – https://informuk.org/derbyshire/jack-bradley – linking to this list compiled by the Lib Dem peer Mark Pack: https://www.markpack.org.uk/175342/how-many-councillors-has-reform-uk-lost-since-may/

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · May 07, 2026

Replying to @Cognessence@social.linux.pizza

@Cognessence@social.linux.pizza @sean_ae@post.lurk.org @elifyalvac@tldr.nettime.org @Rushup_Dee@mastodon.social Oh yeah, of course! By the way, that figure, with fresher ears and at half-speed, pretty sure I'm now hearing right as E♭-F-E♭-B♭-D. 🫣

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · May 07, 2026

Replying to @Gustodon@mas.to

@Gustodon@mas.to @RickiTarr@beige.party And we then keep on discovering ways to improve our health… 🤫

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · May 07, 2026

Replying to @robertklaschka@mastodon.online

@robertklaschka@mastodon.online @sinabhfuil@mastodon.ie @pluralistic@mamot.fr Ah right, interesting profile but, yeah, a surprise and a shame to hear of this. Really no place for such lies and smears among those of us on the power-distributive side of things, imo. Same, though, I'd (otherwise) welcome more Greens, and actually voted for and got a Green MEP at our most recent European Parliament elections, when I figured the D'Hondt method was up to the task!

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · May 07, 2026

Replying to @robertklaschka@mastodon.online

@robertklaschka@mastodon.online @sinabhfuil@mastodon.ie @pluralistic@mamot.fr Yeah, worth also saying, I reckon, that this is a national issue, while today we're electing local councillors.

Same as our elections generally, my formula:

understand the electoral profile of our ward, e.g. here's me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bredbury_and_Woodley_(Stockport_electoral_ward) (2-way "split", across 3 seats, between Labour and Lib Dem, albeit seems the actual current LAB councillors have since gone Indy!).
vote for the closest aligned to us out of those with a chance of getting in.

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · May 07, 2026

Replying to @Cognessence@social.linux.pizza

@Cognessence@social.linux.pizza @sean_ae@post.lurk.org @elifyalvac@tldr.nettime.org @Rushup_Dee@mastodon.social Ohhh right, yeah, I think I get the two wrongs bit now, maybe? I mean, just that B♭ figure – D-F-D-B♭-D – was crazily throwing me off, I kept hearing that first D as an E♭, which had been in the bass! Amazing stuff.

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · May 06, 2026

Replying to @Cognessence@social.linux.pizza

@Cognessence@social.linux.pizza @sean_ae@post.lurk.org @elifyalvac@tldr.nettime.org @Rushup_Dee@mastodon.social Haha, you're welcome, no worries. I'm just loving trying to figure out this I-now-realise-beautiful melody! Dude, those two bars at 0:42, their crashing 4th beats. Gorrrgeous!

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · May 06, 2026

Replying to @Cognessence@social.linux.pizza

@Cognessence@social.linux.pizza @sean_ae@post.lurk.org @elifyalvac@tldr.nettime.org @Rushup_Dee@mastodon.social Wow, I'm just absolutely smitten with this remix! 🥰

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · May 06, 2026

Replying to @ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us

@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us @RaffKarva@sunny.garden Wow, yeah, cheers for boosting this into my view! Related to a sentence in https://lakmusz.hu/2026/05/05/experts-takeaways-from-the-hungarian-election-it-was-surprising-how-quickly-the-magic-of-propaganda-disappeared that really chimes with me: "There are large players like TV2 that operate in the entertainment market and quickly adjusted their news programming, effectively putting the past 16 years period in parentheses." This idea of putting unwelcome periods / political developments into parentheses, rather than bolstering them, is something I reckon we need to do here.

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · May 05, 2026

Replying to @grimalkina@mastodon.social

@grimalkina@mastodon.social Looking forward to read the paper and, honestly, it's threads like this I'm thinking of when I want a "favourite entire thread" button / option!

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Apr 20, 2026

Replying to @neauoire@merveilles.town

@neauoire Just leave it lying around in a dungeon for the next plunderer to take their chances…

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Apr 18, 2026

Replying to @Cognessence@social.linux.pizza

@Cognessence @sean_ae Oh yeah, so much to love in here! Your love for the bass, Sean, straight away made me think of Ravel's 'Menuet antique', e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZUf2vFIRIk Some really nice bass in there, I think. (Once upon a time I could play it too, fwiw.) I'm a sucker for that bit around 1:01 (of your improv, Robert), which then kinda echoes lower down at 1:41. I think it's that subtly descending movement, sounds really wistful, pensive, you know?

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Apr 17, 2026

Replying to @bloor@bloor.tw

@bloor Aye, after not quite sitting right with me around the time of Change UK / TIG – which, personally, I welcomed – the word now shines! 💩

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Apr 17, 2026

Replying to @pheonix@hachyderm.io

@pheonix Gosh, this is a tough one! I've never actually had a smartphone – just regular mobiles ever since my teens – so haven't "switched back" creating a gap to fill. I suppose one thing I've seen smartphone users do: when something pops up in conversation / on TV that piques their interest, they look it up immediately. I'd instead make (or add to) a reminder on my phone of things to look up later when at the computer. And if I ever get rid of the phone, I'll carry a notepad around again.

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Apr 16, 2026

Replying to @jzb@hachyderm.io

@jzb@hachyderm.io I kinda think there should be such a thing as the "unenforceability fallacy", crystallising this situation.

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Apr 16, 2026

Replying to @pheonix@hachyderm.io

@pheonix Can confirm, in 2026 without a smartphone, this is still nice!

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Apr 16, 2026

Replying to @statsguy@mas.to

@statsguy@mas.to Oooh yeah, maybe!

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Apr 16, 2026

Replying to @statsguy@mas.to

@statsguy@mas.to It's all such a gaping missed opportunity, imo. Health: Breaking chains of viral transmission. Politics: Engendering solidarity, resilience, and going some way to undoing all the divisiveness. Education: Vaccine literacy, evolution happening before our eyes in the fast-mutating virus itself.

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Apr 15, 2026

RE: @urlyman@mastodon.social

Now 48,542.

#Petition

mastodon.social

Jonathan Schofield: "So far, only about 1% of the British electorate h…" - Mastodon

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Apr 13, 2026

Replying to @beasts@social.mythic-beasts.com

@beasts Wow, nice one! This'll make my recent switch from UK2 to Mythic Beasts £2.75 per year more worth it.

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Apr 11, 2026

Replying to @MarkHoltom@mastodonapp.uk

@MarkHoltom Totally, and the brilliant C4 drama Dirty Business presents a laser-focused understanding of England's sewage problem – scandal, frankly – as a direct product of privatisation. https://www.channel4.com/programmes/dirty-business

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Apr 03, 2026

Replying to @Natasha_Jay@tech.lgbt

@Natasha_Jay Whatever next? Chocolate fireguard? 🍫

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Apr 01, 2026

April Fools', the day of second-guessing all our favourites / boosts…

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Mar 27, 2026

Mind-blown by this American Don deluxe edition and the story behind these True Live Tapes: https://doncaballero.bandcamp.com/album/american-don-deluxe-edition

First impressions: What a fascinating document of the sheer difference that the acoustic space and recording process both make.

#Music

Don Caballero

American Don (Deluxe Edition), by Don Caballero

16 track album

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Mar 27, 2026

In the bits I've read, it's good to see my MP Lisa Smart (Lib Dem) and Ellie Chowns (Green) advocating scrapping the 2022 Tory-introduced requirement for voter ID here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2026-03-26/debates/f290cda4-4e60-422e-a309-c15babf507e5/RepresentationOfThePeopleBill(FifthSitting)

You're looking for "clause 19".

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Mar 27, 2026

Replying to @mariafarrell@mastodon.social

@mariafarrell@mastodon.social Cheers, yeah, planning to send these from now on. This is just the kind of propaganda I – well… – dig.

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Mar 27, 2026

Replying to @mariafarrell@mastodon.social

@mariafarrell@mastodon.social @beabusaniche@rebel.ar Wow, cheers for mentioning this! And price-wise, going by the first two shops I've found – https://www.theseedcardcompany.com/ and https://ukseedpaper.com/plantable-cards/ – I'm pretty sure these are cheaper than non-plantable ones I've previously bought.

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Mar 24, 2026

Replying to @liw@toot.liw.fi

@liw Oh, this is Hobson's choice, isn't it? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobson%27s_choice

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Mar 14, 2026

Replying to @farah@beige.party

@farah@beige.party @RickiTarr@beige.party Aaah yeah, maybe! I'd wondered if they're just really big fans of Percy Sledge. Or the green dude from Thomas the Tank Engine…

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Mar 14, 2026

Replying to @RickiTarr__dup_16900@beige.party

@RickiTarr@beige.party Totally, and I wonder if these kind of bygone names may be making a comeback. My sister, for instance, mentioned that a new-parent friend (of a friend?) called their kid Percy!

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Feb 27, 2026

Replying to @bloor@bloor.tw

@bloor Old school timescales! 🕰️

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Feb 27, 2026

Replying to @kristiedegaris@mastodon.scot

@kristiedegaris@mastodon.scot Beautiful! 🪨

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Feb 27, 2026

Replying to @nicol@social.coop

@nicol Aww yeah, really nice, and cheers so much for sharing such a personal video! So far, it's all been for programmers. Handmade Hero-style live programming streams; conferences; more information-dense programming / presentation videos; a CAD project; we've had the odd interview too; even one "Book Club" project which was just a read-through of a book. Oh yeah, now you mention this about BASIC, I actually recall spotting with curiosity that we could write it on both the Spectrum and 386.

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Feb 27, 2026

Replying to @nicol@social.coop

@nicol Ooh yeah, very cool! Transcription actually came up in my degree, and I seem to recall activities taking me 10× the material's duration! (Pic attached.) Last I knew Vimeo actually had built-in support for chapter points – just the basic textual summary – which I guess you may add for Cath's interview based on all the timing you've done. And, btw, if you fancy my stuff I'm very available to do it for you! Vimeo supported. (Also, the photoed BASIC book lives in my peripheral vision!)

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Feb 27, 2026

💚 It's official, the people of Gorton and Denton have only gone and won themselves a Green MP: https://members.parliament.uk/constituency/4066/overview

"The seat has been held by Hannah Spencer (Green Party) since February 2026".

#Politics #UKPol

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Matt Mascarenhas @miblo@mas.to · Feb 26, 2026

Replying to @nicol@social.coop

@nicol Hehe, ikr! Further parallels with Mike's story: ZX Spectrum was very first computer I used; typing BASIC in from magazines (although it didn't sink in for me, probably too young); and later the continuous-upgrading in my own software works exactly as Mike describes WordPress's. Really beautiful interview! Aww, cheers for asking. Yeah, time-synched metadata is bang on, I'd say. Example of it at https://guide.handmadehero.org/code/day667/ There's the basic textual summary, but also categories and references.

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Matt Mascarenhas

Posts

Jonathan Schofield: "So far, only about 1% of the British electorate h…" - Mastodon

American Don (Deluxe Edition), by Don Caballero

Remote instance