Martin B

@martinb8

Helps people make software for people. Scottish. Loves music of various volume and intensity. Fitba. Got married to No. 2 in The Village. He/Him. Opinions = personal and all that jazz.

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Martin B@martinb8· 15d

Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam or Alice In Chains. American Music Club and Smart Went Crazy. Still tied for my favourite album of all time, and both albums I think are genuinely perfect.

American Music Club ‘Mercury’ cover. Blue-tinted image of a strange rock in the foreground with what looks like a ruined cathedral in the background.

Smart Went Crazy ‘Con Art’ cover. A thick black line separates a block of amber colour from a white abstract image of a a dried flower with long stalk, mimic’ed by a piece of wire coiled at the top into a tight loop.

Martin B@martinb8· Jun 8

Also, from the Guardian report…

This week, Iranian officials said support staff had even been denied visas at the last minute, a claim disputed by the US state department, while the Iraq striker, Aymen Hussein, was held and questioned for nearly seven hours at Chicago’s O’Hare airport. The Swiss midfielder Breel Embolo was also denied an entry visa last week, but Swiss authorities said they had successfully appealed against the decision.

Martin B@martinb8· May 16

This is what a good Bhoy looks like 💚

Large German shepherd dog wearing a Celtic top.

Martin B@martinb8· May 4

The problem with LLMs, demonstrated for Scottish football fans… Predicted Rangers XI for tonight (courtesy of a friend). Using Claude’s state of the art model, it includes 3 players not even at the club anymore. It also had Dessers on the bench.

Opus 4.7 with 1 million context window and max thinking enabled (burned 11k tokens):

Best-guess XI (4-2-3-1):
- GK: Butland
- RB: Tavernier (c)
- CB: Souttar
- CB: Djiga
- LB: Jefté
- DM: Raskin
- CM: Barron
- RW: Černý
- AM: Aasgaard
- LW: Gassama
- ST: Igamane

Martin B@martinb8· Apr 16

Knew it was her fault.

Sky news headline: “Helen Mirren’s link to
food prices”

Martin B@martinb8· Apr 10

That’s me in from the Full of Hell gig.

Pink box of GRIND House Blend Whole Bean coffee.

Martin B@martinb8· Mar 19

“… I did once, but I think I got away with it.”

Donald Trump sitting in White House. He’s wearing a gold tie, and has his hands open, explaining something to a press audience.

Martin B@martinb8· Mar 2

Och well. That’s the main thing, eh?

Online headline from The Times: Britons in Dubai keep calm with Bridgestone and Cocktails alongside a thumbnail pic of what looks a child sitting on a beach feeding some kind of seabirds.

Martin B@martinb8· Feb 19

7” vinyl label Meatloaf “Two out of Three Ain’t Bad”

Martin B@martinb8· Dec 9

You will be visited by three spirits.

Motörhead classic 3-piece line up with Fast Eddie Clarke, Lemmy and Philthy Phil wearing leather biker jackets and staring moodily into the camera.

Martin B@martinb8· Oct 11

Oh and this too. I thought they were going to be a grunge thing. They were not.

Rocket from the Crypt, Circa: Now album cover.

Martin B@martinb8· Oct 11

This. Oh boy.

Album cover, 13 point program to destroy America, by Nation Of Ulysses.

Martin B@martinb8· Aug 30

Hard not to read this as as anything other than “It appears over half the people that live in the UK are arseholes”. Pretty depressing.

Colourful pie chart overlaid on a map of the Uk, showing voting intention for UK elections : Reform have 35% and Conservative 17%. Labour have 20%

Martin B@martinb8· Aug 29

Honestly, I can’t even begin to imagine what would have made you think that…

Amazon ‘Recommended for You’ phone notification: “We thought you’d like new Imagine Dragons shirts and hoodies.”

Martin B@martinb8· Aug 25

🤔

Sky News headline: Israel may not be targeting journalists, but it is certainly killing a lot of them.

Martin B@martinb8· Aug 25

Has everyone at Sky News been drinking!?

2 headlines from the Sky News website next to each other.

The first : “Is it time for gunboat diplomacy to help stop the people smugglers?”

The second : “How to buy cheap stolen goods (without getting in trouble)”.

Martin B@martinb8· Aug 14

I mean, where do you even start with this?

Guardian headline from journalist Martin Kettle “Nicola Sturgeon’s immense political talent is undeniable. The nationalism was the problem.”

Martin B@martinb8· May 29

Sorry, the world wide whit? When I went on the computer the only thing it was connected to was one of these…

Martin B@martinb8· May 25

Ace your next performance review at work, with this ONE tip:

Screenshot of Sky News headline saying “He’s accused of being workshy - but is Prince William just trying to use his power in a different way?” next to a thumbnail of him in some magenta robes.

Martin B@martinb8· May 23

Ah well, it was good while it lasted. See you next summer.

Screen cap of weather forecast app showing that it’s raining for the next 9 days in Glasgow.

Martin B@martinb8· May 8

Have you been getting it to write your marketing emails, perchance?

Email from Agile Lean International with the subject line “#ALI2025 The AI Conference id here!” (sic)

Martin B@martinb8· Apr 23

The best bit about working from home. Lunch out the back, in the sun, with this lovable daftie for company.

Martin B@martinb8· Apr 7

Ahh, there’s a special place in hell reserved for those idle hands that occupy themselves during workshops by doing the ‘concertina-thing’ with your post its…

Someone has carefully removed each post it in a pile and re-attached it in an alternating orientation to make the post its unwind like a slinky. Don’t do that kids. It makes facilitators sad.

Martin B@martinb8· Apr 4

Beautiful afternoon in Glasgow. Sat down outside Mono for a pint in the sunshine… Imagine my horror when I realise the vintage clothes shop next door has burgled my house and has the entire contents of my wardrobe up for sale…