Jacob-

Hey, been reading this thread for a while, climate change is a really serious issue, lots of what you've said here is at risk of happening and I hope to God governments around the world start taking it more seriously. This year has been seriously exacerbated by El Nino (which itself was exacerbated by climate change), we could be looking at a serious chance to turn things around in the next few years. The future of the climate is bleak and uncertain, but we just don't know how quickly or how severely things are going to turn. We can't predict the future, what we do know about climate change is we need immediate action to avoid even worse effects. All of that said, and the reason I wanted to respond, is this kind of doomer-ism is so so unhealthy for you. Saying things like "I see every single person here dying a premature death" really isn't helpful, it isn't necessarily accurate, frankly could scare the shit out of some people reading it, and especially as you've narrowed down your message to 'everyone here', I know it's not meant as such because I know you don't want the things you've detailed to happen, but it reads as borderline threatening. Also, crucially worrying to this degree will not help you or anyone else, nor will it do anything to solve the issue. Honestly, and I mean this is the best way possible, it sounds like therapy might be really good for you if you can get it, and I say this as someone who's had CBT, so there's no judgement there at all. Not to say that you're wrong to be worried about the climate, but this kind of spiralling ain't it, even if you end up being right about 100% of everything you've written here, and I know you and me both hope you're not. Be practical and level headed about this, prepare for a warmer climate and sure, as we've just had a drought, stocking up on non-perishables slowly over time is never a bad idea - note; don't panic buy, just get a few more tins every now and again, just stay well stocked up as a habit. Be political about it, contact your MP/ representative - especially if AI data centres are popping up near you as they're absolutely horrible for the environment (among other things), and/ or even become actively involved in a political party with the climate as a key policy such as the Greens. Relentlessly advocate for green energy- if you can afford it, get your own solar panels and drive an EV or use public transport wherever possible if not. Go on protests if you have the time, motivation and resources. Make changes in your life insofar as is possible, but bear in mind that individual impact is very minimal and the term carbon footprint was popularised by companies like BP to shunt the responsibility onto consumers; remember that 100 companies emit 71% of emissions. Globally. Economic inequality and rampant late stage capitalism is intrinsically linked to the climate crisis, solve that one, you at the very least make a tonne of headway towards fixing the other issue.

Apple Music - Web PlayerNuggets 19 by Jacob on Apple MusicPlaylist · 30 Songs

TikTok was the first to popularise short form video in portrait with endless scroll on a wide scale. Instagram used to be a photos app, YouTube had one format of (usually) landscape long-form videos with a defined end for each video (no automatic looping), Facebook's feed was at least more text and photo based and Twitter has had plenty of other cough fascist reasons for going downhill, but it's also not been immune to the autoplay trend either, if maybe a little less than the others. Because of TikTok's success in holding users attention longer by ironically pushing shorter content, just a lot more of it, the trend spread to other platforms and made them all worse. They all already had a lot of downsides, but the short form video style of addictive content is by far the worst culprit keeping people there longer than they intend to be. Worse still, with so many short videos with a variety of content, people are less likely to even remember a lot of what they've been watching once they're finished.

TikTok is one of the worst platforms out there, it pioneered the autoplaying endless scroll short form attention span destroying shit that has now infected Instagram and YouTube in particular. An outright ban of any particular platform is unlikely to be effective, but mandating changes to all platforms as a blanket rule could be desirable. In principle, I agree that under 16s should not be using algorithmic platforms, but inevitably it's just going to be another way to try to force adults to hand over their ID to 3rd parties, just to be leaked in a year or two while a sizeable portion of those over the age of 12 just finds a dodgy free VPN to skirt around it, or worse finds sites on the dark web or similarly illicit sites that don't adhere to such regulation. Ideally, getting platforms to change for everyone would be better, all of this: " implement a process of parental verification for teenage users change its "dopamine-manipulating recommendation algorithms" remove many image filters that change one's appearance in photos end autoplay of video content prohibit the creation of multiple accounts end disappearing or "ephemeral" posts, such as Instagram Stories " Sounds like a great idea. Social media has become increasingly parasocial and a way to access quicker but ultimately less fulfilling entertainment (so less time commitment per individual piece of content), rather than what it was purportedly originally for; a way to keep in contact with friends and family, in the case of YouTube a place for sharing and viewing creative and/ or educational content or in the case of Twitter, following messaging from public figures. It always had a lot of these problems, but it is depressing to think about how much worse and more addictive it's become, even just over the past few years since covid.

I usually try to listen to every song in full, but sometimes I just know I don't like it. I'll skip through 3 minute songs if I really don't like the first verse and chorus (especially by the final if I've heard and disliked it from my semi) so don't see what the issue is. For a longer song, maybe it takes you longer to judge it but if it hasn't grabbed your attention at all within the length of a normal song (3-4 minutes) and you know you won't vote for it, skip through it or past it. If it does grab your attention, great, you've found something you like, even if it took a bit longer. I get finding time can be difficult, I find it hard on a normal week too, but on average we're probably talking 20-30 mins total variance at most for an entire semi, and not even that if you skip what you're not enjoying. For me, a lot of the time a track being longer than 5 minutes allows it time to be a different kind of piece of music than the standard pop (broad sense of pop I mean) song, but that doesn't guarantee it's good and quantity isn't indicative of quality. It just gives the opportunity for the track to have the space to breathe and develop for a certain kind of song or piece. With some styles fast and punchy works better, with others, drawn out with slow development really helps it.

Very clever strategy to drip feed good news policies slowly over the first few days in office, it means it dominates the headlines for a day and sticks in people's minds. They're good policies, but nothing groundbreaking so far. That said, it is nice to see something positive after the effective continued austerity of 'short term pain for long term gain' or 'tough but fair decisions'. Starmer's government occasionally had some good policies as well, they just a) didn't communicate them well and b) were often too incremental. The way this has been delivered at least (so far), sorts the first problem, if not the second. Cutting VAT on energy is welcome, even if it won't come to much with prices rising, but at least it's a counterbalance. Lower bus fares will help a lot of people, and always up for supporting pubs and live music venues, they desperately need something at the moment. Don't know if targeting vape shops to pay for it is enough, but no one really likes them and it's one kind of shop I wouldn't mind see closing down in droves. Hoping to see something on student loans (specifically that threshold freeze), income tax thresholds, nationalisation of water and energy (I know there's been murmuring on all of these, but nothing official yet), and dare I say in terms of funding, windfall taxes on oil and gas companies raking in record profits*, closing loopholes for tax avoiding companies such as Amazon or even individual wealth taxes over £10 million and a capital gains review. But I'm not holding my breath. *Also, on this note, if this North Sea nonsense is going ahead, can it at least be set up like Norway so it's not all sold on the global market by private companies with no benefit to the UK? Thanks. x

01 (0) - 02 (1) - BJSC 110 // "Gloria" - The Midnight 03 (0) - 04 (0) - 05 (1) - BJSC 96 // "Giants" - Lights 06 (0) - 07 (1) - BJSC 157 // "A Gallant Gentleman" - We Lost The Sea 08 (0) - 09 (1) - BJSC 180 // "A Hair On The Head Of John The Baptist" - Saltillo 10 (0) - 11 (2) - BJSC 104 // "Looped" - Kiasmos | BJSC 174 // "Fortuna" - Trikk 12 (0) - 13 (0) - 14 (1) - BJSC 145 // "Gravity" - Holding Absence 15 (0) - 16 (2) - BJSC 130 // "Kyra (The Midnight Remix)" - Clubhouse | BJSC 139 // "Military Fashion Show" - And One 17 (1) - BJSC 185 // "Proximity" - Close Control 18 (0) - 19 (2) - BJSC 132 // "Alive" - Phil Lober | "Overtime" - The Strike 20 (2) - BJSC 97 // "Old Man" - Billy Lockett | BJSC 117 // "Carissa" - DESERT STAR 21 (1) - BJSC 184 // "SURFACE TENSION" - Lights 22 (2) - BJSC 106 // "Enough" - SONOIO | BJSC 140 // "Hvítir Sandar" (feat. Alcest) - Kælan Mikla 23 (0) - 24 (1) - BJSC 102 // "Girl" - Timecop1983 (Feat. Seawaves) 25 (3) - BJSC 112 // "Skylarking" - BT [12th without 15% deduction] | BJSC 162 // "Already Over" - Mike Shinoda | BJSC 176 // "This Is A Raid" - YOU LOVE HER [COZ SHE'S DEAD] 26 (2) - BJSC 142 // "Dead Of Night" (feat. Linnea Olsson) - Daniel Olsén & Jonathan Eng | BJSC 171 // "Evilest Man" King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard 27 (2) - BJSC 137 // "Strange Symmetry" (feat. High Fantasy) - Arwelone | BJSC 148 // "Glow" - Ashbury Heights 28 (0) - 29 (2) - BJSC 123 // "Desperado Vespa" - LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER | BJSC 133 // "Cry Of Peace" (feat. IIINO and Luciana Zogbi) / "Forever" (feat. IIINO and Asja Kadric) - Florian Bur 30 (2) - BJSC 98 // "Down The Road" - C2C | BJSC 122 // "Bats In The Attic (Unravelled)" - King Creosote & Jon Hopkins 31 (0) - 32 (0) - 33 (2) - BJSC 124 // "Stiff Kittens" - Blaqk Audio | BJSC 164 // "Zobacz mnie" - Klaudia Sobotka 34 (2) - BJSC 94 // "Up Ship!" - Port Blue | BJSC 101 // "Welcome Oblivion" - How To Destroy Angels 35 (4) - BJSC 109 // "Outbreak" - Feint (Feat. MYLK) | BJSC 115 // "Warm Water (Snakehips Remix)" - BANKS | BJSC 154 // "Vitamin Sea" - Owl City | BJSC 179 // "In A Spiral" - Phantogram 36 (2) - BJSC 93 // "Dear Adelaide" - Breanne Düren | BJSC 163 // "Let Me Live / Let Me Die" - Des Rocs 37 (4) - BJSC 89 // "Pass Out" - Sœur | BJSC 95 // "Tides" - Nu:Tone (Feat. Lea Lea) | BJSC 169 // "Joli Rouge" - The Dreadnaughts | BJSC 177 // "Where We Started" - PRXZM 38 (1) - BJSC 107 // "The Enemy" - Mat Zo (Feat. Sinéad) 39 (0) - 40 (1) - BJSC 91 // "No One Really Wins" - Copeland 41 (2) - BJSC 125 // "Hop On Hop Off" - Goodluck | BJSC 178 // "the devil wears converse" - LØLØ 42 (2) - BJSC 127 // "Beyond You" - Thomas James White | BJSC 160 // "Liquor Fish & Cigarettes" - KMFDM 43 (1) - BJSC 152 // "See The Light" - Weird Wolves DNQs: (20) (1) - BJSC 121 // "Blueless Bird" - Joni (21) (6) - BJSC 86 // "Above The Clouds Of Pompeii" - Bear's Den | BJSC 99 // "Slow Days" - Sœur | BJSC 113 // "Savages" - Savoir Adore | BJSC 143 // "Pins" - Fever Fever | BJSC 147 // "Shadowplay" - GOOSE | BJSC 166 // "Life In Vain" - Daniel Johnston (22) (3) - BJSC 92 // "Loves The Jobs You Hate" | BJSC 158 // "The Broken One (Feat. Ashley Alisha)" - Louis La Roche | BJSC 168 // "Feel" - Lies Of P (Seo Jayeong) (23) (6) - BJSC 108 // "PTL" - Relient K | BJSC 126 // "Bless My Heart" - Cady Groves | BJSC 138 // "No Computer" - Kaleida | BJSC 144 // "Champion" - Warpaint | BJSC 159 // "Mumei" - Nanashi Mumei | BJSC 172 // "River Mouth" ML Buch (24) (6) - BJSC 84 // "Into Your Veins" - Five Iron Frenzy | BJSC 90 // "Unbreakable" - Fireflight | BJSC 105 // "But Blood" - Hockeysmith | BJSC 120 // "Just A Little" - Violet Days | BJSC 129 // "14.3 Billion Years" - Andrew Prahlow | BJSC 153 // "Crystal Jellyfish" - Linx (25) (8) - BJSC 87 // "Man On The Street" - Imperial Leisure | BJSC 118 // "Navajo" - Masego | BJSC 119 // "Embers and Envelopes" - Mae | BJSC 134 // "Same Sea" - Lights | BJSC 136 // "A Letter To Ashley" - Your Broken Hero | BJSC 167 // "Leviathan (feat. Corey Taylor)" - Bear McCreary | BJSC 182 // "Bulletproof" - Lamb | BJSC 183 // "TOTETO" - PUPPET SUNSUN (26) (3) - BJSC 155 // "Bad List" - Ayria | BJSC 175 // "nudes" - Luna Shadows | BJSC 187 "Moontide Theory (Hugo Kant Remix)" - Neroche (27) (6) - BJSC 100 // "Headlights" - Meadowlark | BJSC 111 // "Burn" - The Soft Moon | BJSC 141 // "New Life" - MAVRUS & Vika Dove | BJSC 150 // "Tell Him" (feat. Lalah Hathaway) - Moonchild | BJSC 161 // "Dead Weight" - Ella Jane | BJSC 181 // "Villain" - Pom Pom Squad (28) (4) - BJSC 85 // "Nostalgia" - Said The Sky (Feat. Missio) | BJSC 88 // "Cat" - Relient K | BJSC 128 // "Rise Up" - Jared Halley | BJSC 165 // "Uncanny Long Arms" - Underscores & Jane Remover (29) (2) - BJSC 116 // "A Toast To You" - Pagan Fury | BJSC 146 // "Love Is Real" - Moods (30) (3) - BJSC 103 // "Esperanza" - Moriaty | BJSC 131 // "Turn To Static" - Run Into The Night | BJSC 135 // "Planet Boom" - Tune Of Soul | (31) (1) - BJSC 156 // "When God Closes A Door - Larkin Poe

Happy with 17th, higher than I thought (a lot of small points adding up plus a couple of medals!), thanks for that. Great winner, Addy. Always great to see that duo doing well, Moonlight Shadow is one of my favourite songs, certainly from that era, so crazy that I didn't even think to look for another collab between Mike and Maggie. Great discovery and deserving winner.

Just so you know, the fact that it is AI would disqualify it from my votes. I’d rather not spend my limited time on this earth listening to anything spat out by a plagiarism machine. Maybe find a song that the generator of the unholy amalgamation slop product was trained on? x

I believe it's illegal to reveal someone else's vote in a polling station, even accidentally, and you might receive a fine (£5000 iirc) for doing so, so people are told not to post pictures which is technically banned. But votes in the ballot box are anonymous so there would be no reason to discount any votes. Good result for the Greens with the mayoralty in Hackney, hope to see a lot more councillor gains as results for their target areas come in, I expect we'll see gains for them in London especially. That said, it's hard not to feel depressed seeing how many people have voted Reform, and it makes me really worried for the next GE. We could lose our NHS, our infrastructure would slowly disintegrate, homelessness and poverty would skyrocket, going carbon neutral and getting cheaper energy would become a distant dream and you can forget about fixing water/ sewage. It seems like no one actually looks at Reform policies and just vote based on vibes, culture wars talking points and "but the iMiGranTs". National politics aside, at the very least when Reform f*** up local council budgets and fail to deliver functioning councils and raise council tax everywhere to cover their failures and ballooning debt people will see that they're not to be trusted, but they'd probably just blame the national government. 3 years is a long time, just got to hope they keep running their concentration camps ads I guess and enough people will find it distasteful enough to not vote for the fascists.

Yay really nice to Q this year and first announced. 😮

DNQ and lost my 12, 10 and 8. Honestly don't know what's up with this contest sometimes. :/ +12 // Wholune // Nekrogoblikon // Secret Elephant (feat. Reel Big Fish) +10 // Ennea // World's First Cinema // Make Me A Monster +08 // Ben's Sanctuary // SCHILLER // Euphoria: Der Traum (Extended Version) +07 // Q +06 // Q +05 // Q +04 // Q +03 // Pagasa // This Is Lorelei // Dancing In The Club +02 // Q +01 // Q Tbf Wholune was a 33% deduction but still, awful results. 🙃

BBC NewsLord Mandelson arrested on suspicion of misconduct in pub...The Metropolitan Police says a 72-year-old man has been taken to a London police station for interview following the arrest in Camden.Mandelson getting the Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor treatment. Good.

Oh yeah and it's worth saying I was super impressed by this performance before deciding to enter Desperado Vespa to BJSC (I heard this before the studio version), from what I've seen he's a great live act.

Aelandor trendsetter. *.* Fantastic choice, a really cool artist who makes a lot of his own (usually analogue) synths. There's a lot that could be done with staging (I imagine loads of wires and industrial looking stuff everywhere) and I reckon he could pull off something both heavy and dancey if it's anything like Desperado Vespa (so perhaps broad appeal :O ), but will have to see what the song is like.