Philippe Auclair

Philippe Auclair

@philippeauclair.bsky.social

Writes and sings for Josimar, The Guardian and Tapete Records

32.3K followers968 following11.5K posts

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With renewed thanks to @lilithwittmann.bsky.social for breaching the defences of the Curacao Gaming Board/Authority and giving us the springboard for this new Alice in Nightmareland story.

JosimarFootball@josimarfootball.bsky.social

New! Ny! Who is behind K8, Atlético de Madrid’s illegal betting sponsor? The road led via the Philippines and Curaçao to Tønsberg. By @philippeauclair.bsky.social and co. josimarfootball.com?p=43353

Philippe Auclair reposted

A month ago, Sir Jim Ratcliffe lectured the Prime Minister, telling him he should run Britain in the same way he runs Manchester United

The worst Manchester United performance since the last time we said "the worst Manchester United performance since the last time we said" "the worst Manchester United performance since..." ad inifinitum, on a never-ending loop.

I remember visiting that place with my parents a long time ago, and noticing that a number of visitors were in fact pilgrims (they weren't hard to spot, believe me). Razing it to the ground felt like the best option then, and still does now.

AFP News Agency@en.afp.com

Firefighters on Saturday tackled a huge blaze that tore through Adolf Hitler's "Eagle's Nest" mountain retreat in the Bavarian Alps, as police detained a suspect who investigators said may have psychiatric problems. u.afp.com/Sy4n

This is the position from a game played between Sumiya Shinguun IM and Kazybek Nogerbek GM at the 2026 Atyrau Open. At this point, Shinguun found an extraordinary "invisible" move which gives White a winning advantage. The Times' David Howells picked it as his "move of the year". Which is it?

...Nd6!! If the bishop takes the intruder, Qxf6+. If the queen does, Ba5+ is lethal. If Nd5, Qe8+!, followed by a smothered mate on f7. The Black knight on f4 is doomed, giving White a winning material advantage. Nogerbek tried Nxg2+ in desperation but lost.

A striking passage from the "Queensland" chapter of Perkins', Gapps', Murray's and Reynolds' recently-published "The Australian Wars". "The colonisers themselves [...] had ultimately been successfully colonised by global capitalism as well".

I am not referring to the actual conversion (good luck to them all!), I am referring to the use of "to convert" as a transitive verb. You convert *to a * religion, you do not "convert religion". Please.

Philippe Auclair@philippeauclair.bsky.social

Am I terminally out of touch, or is "to convert religion" (God, it hurts to type that) a genuinely new monstrosity? At least outside of the USA, where I suspect it was born?

I travelled back to Britain yesterday, starting from Sydney, via Hong Kong, and let's just say I've had more pleasant flights. "Moderate" turbulence does not feel *that* moderate when you're in it, and we were. A lot. Then I saw this Smithsonian map, and I understood why. Explanation to follow.

Am I terminally out of touch, or is "to convert religion" (God, it hurts to type that) a genuinely new monstrosity? At least outside of the USA, where I suspect it was born?

DJT and Musk should make the shortlist but, stricto sensu, Pavel "Telegram" Durov is the enabler par excellence.

Who has done the most to empower organized crime and corruption this year? OCCRP’s Person of the Year public nominations are open! ⚠️ Not a popular vote — our independent panel evaluates candidates based on evidence and impact. Nominate today 👇 buff.ly/OuF2YKZ

And, in the thick of it, again, the noxious AI cheerleader encamped at the heart of Burnham's government, Kanishka Narayan.

"Only" detects AI content generated by NVIDIA, OpenAI, Google and kakao, but precious all the same.

Cyber Detective@cybdetective.bsky.social

SynthID Detector Identify AI generated media: Images (JPG, JPEG, PNG, BMP, WEBP, AVIF, HEIC, HEIF, TIFF, TIF, GIF) Video (MP4, MOV, WEBM) Audio (WAV, MP3, OGG, FLAC, AAC, M4A) synthid.com Tip by Benjamim Strick

3 July 2023 - two and a half months after Paul and I decide to team up and work on 777 Partners, our first piece is published in @josimarfootball.bsky.social.

JosimarFootball@josimarfootball.bsky.social

Following the Josh Wander news, we have lifted the paywall on some of our 777 Partners stories for you to enjoy. Kudos to @pbsportswriter.bsky.social and @philippeauclair.bsky.social for reporting this story out. First up. josimarfootball.com/2023/07/03/t...

Allow @pbsportswriter.bsky.social and I to raise a glass to this news. It's been a long, long road to travel for the two of us since we first turned our full attention to this man and his associates for @josimarfootball.bsky.social. But the story isn't over yet.

Australian Aviation@australianaviation.com.au

Former 777 Partners CEO Joshua Wander has pleaded guilty over a US$500 million (around AU$720 million) fraud scheme. #aviation #aerospace https://australianaviation.com.au/2026/10/ex-bonza-financier-pleads-guilty-in-500m-fraud-case/

"I feel myself ashamed and degraded at the brutal curiosity which took me to that brutal sight; and that I pray to Almighty God to cause this disgraceful sin to pass from among us, and to cleanse our land of blood".

I had the privilege of being Melbourne Victory's guest tonight, to witness their 3-0 win over FC Seoul in the AFC Champions League 2; I also received a very precious gift: one of the shirts that MVFC had made for the Afghanistan women's national team who sought and were granted asylum in Australia.

A genuine piece of history (no replica shirts were made), and the tangible illustration of this club's commitment to actual football values. I'm not a collector of football shirts; but this one is very, very special indeed. Thank you, John and everyone at Victory.

"Used right". The caveat says it all, as it is not, and will not be. This, and the use of meaningless words such as "unleash" immediately give away the ideological standpoint from which articles like this one are written. As to Florida himself...

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I could go on like this for a while, not that the Floridas of this world are that interested in what happens at the coal face of music production. They also fail to take in consideration the civilisational threat posed by AI agents by only taking into account the economic dimension of creative work.

"Creative" being defined here in a way which suits their purpose, agenda and personal interest. There is nothing remotely "creative" in generative AI. Prompts "produce" content, they do not "create" it.

"Used right". The caveat says it all, as it is not, and will not be. This, and the use of meaningless words such as "unleash" immediately give away the ideological standpoint from which articles like this one are written. As to Florida himself...

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In parallel, said companies, by swamping the market with AI musical slop, claim a growing percentage of performance rights which used to feed the communal pots distributed to creators by rights collection/distribution agencies and associations.

Library music, a genuinely creative field and a substantial source of income for composers, arrangers and instrumentists - and publishers! - has all but died a death as a result. TV companies and video games manufacturers now routinely use AI tuned slop for background music.

"Used right". The caveat says it all, as it is not, and will not be. This, and the use of meaningless words such as "unleash" immediately give away the ideological standpoint from which articles like this one are written. As to Florida himself...

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It is noticeable that Florida and his like love quoting figures but *always* shy away from granular detail. If they did, they would be able to analyse the measurable (catastrophic) impact that the use of generative AI has on musical professions. Big numbers are much safer for them. So they don't.

For example, AI "music" is proliferating on streaming platforms, especially Spotify, with thousands of new "tunes" registered every day by specialist companies, diminishing the already small pool of income which used to be distributed among actual musicians.

"Used right". The caveat says it all, as it is not, and will not be. This, and the use of meaningless words such as "unleash" immediately give away the ideological standpoint from which articles like this one are written. As to Florida himself...

The FT does not mention these "details" in its admittedly short description of who he is, or, indeed, that he owns a consultancy called the Creative Class Group through which he monetises his consultancy work.

Half a dozen handles have been added since this afternoon, so do check the Pack again if you have an interest in this delicious/infuriating pastime.

Philippe Auclair@philippeauclair.bsky.social

It seems that @bsky.app is the platform of choice for cryptic crossword setters; so I have compiled and updated a Starter Pack listing key accounts. My apologies to those I will have missed - please mention the absences in the replies, and I'll do the necessary.

Philippe Auclair reposted

Swedish top division game today. 0-0 at half time. 5-6 at full time. From 5-1 down to getting the equalizer in the 97th. Still lost it in the 99th. Oh and it was a derby.