Russ Swan

@russs.bsky.social

230 Followers 257 Following

Recovering journalist, universe/UK/Notts. Geek, nerd, dweeb. Fixer. Author of popular science book. Columnist @ Lab News. Motorcycles. Spaniels. Science. Engineering. Screaming into the void

Screenshot from The Bookseller newsletter: "Latest news: Publishing has the lowest uptake of AI across the creative industries, according to new report. The publishing industry has reported the lowest uptake of AI usage at only 6%, reflecting ongoing concerns around copyright and authorship, the Creative Access 2026 Thrive report has revealed." The full article is behind a paywall so this is all I can share, but that's the gist.
A view underneath the old pier at Saltburn. It's 200m long, built in 1869, and is the last remaining seaside pier in Yorkshire UK. My pic shows vertical central cast iron columns with canted columns on either side and criss cross diagonal bracing on each of the many bays heading out to sea. A pebble beach is visible at bottom of frame with white breaking waves approaching.
Ducati roadshow at Donington Park UK today
My Triumph Trident Sprint in British Racing Green parked in a roadside layby, with the recently completed sculptural tribute to the Avro Lancaster bomber - 'On Freedom's Wings' - visible beyond the hedge. There is a car park quite close to the sculpture but in typical British fashion it is never open, so visitors must resort to roadside parking and limited views of the artwork. This is surely a road safety hazard as well as a source of frustration to all concerned.
A green John Deere combine harvester (yellow details hardly visible in this shot) travels towards the viewer while harvesting barley. To the right of frame only stubble remains of the crop. Behind, a bank of woods looks like distant green hills. Pic by me, today.
A tweet from UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves (why the gov is still on the Nazi platform is beyond me) in which she accepts Nigel Farage's resignation as an MP (in archaic parliamentary language) and concludes "if he wants to spend the summer arguing with a bin, I won't stop him"
A very shiny silver metal single seat Morgan three-wheel sports car. It had a long silver fuselage a little like a fighter aircraft, with an open cockpit and a small flyscreen. The two front wheels are mounted on red chassis members and have no mudguards. The number plate AAU 148 is visible below the radiator, and has silver characters on a black background. Two round headlights are mounted on either side at the top of the radiator.
An instruction manual which came with a Bush television. It reads: BUSH Instructon Manual, followed by a long model number (the word instruction is rendered without the second i)
A light band of cloud against a black sky and black ground. The clouds are lit by the sun, which is below the horizon, and dusting wispy structures with a faintly yellow/orange tint at the horizon. A single star is visible at upper left.
A fuzzy grey-white spider's web in a distinctively funnel or cone shape, nestling in grass. Several flecks of light coloured matter, elongated and with split ends (resembling the shape of an X-chromosome) are trapped in the web. Of the spider itself there is no sign.
Image by Mark P Witton shows a group of Rhamphohynchus pterosaurs with pointed scythe-like wings and extremely long tail extensions flying over a turbulent sea
Benefits Pulled from the full job description * Annual leave * Employee discount * Sick pay * Employee assistance programme * Company pension * On-site gym * Cycle to work scheme
Frances Tophill and Monty Don, two presenters on BBC TV's Gardener's World, at the opening of the GWL event at the NEC on Birmingham today.
A hydraulic excavator fitted with a massive chisel attachment rests its chisel on the ground of what is probably a construction site. The excavator and its powerful arm are mainly green while the chisel attachment is white.
Inside a Shell service station, customers sit at a large window admiring the traffic on the A19 while sipping their lattés. Around them are the usual accoutrements of a roadside petrol station with motoring accessories and snacks, while suspended overhead is an inverted red Formula One Ferrari, for no obvious reason. It does however carry the Shell logo among its sponsorship branding.
A replica Dalek from Doctor Who on display outside a shop called Punny Dukes (no idea why). The Dalek has a grey dome but is otherwise resplendent in rainbow colours. It stands in front of a small shop with multiple Georgian style windows in light blue framework.
A small black and white moth with some yellow around the head and tail rests on my little finger. Its wings are bordered in black with several black spots against a white, slightly grey, background.
A fingerpost road sign on Exmoor, a remote part of Southern England. It is painted white but shows signs of age (patina). A small pyramidal post topper bears the letters S C C, presumably Somerset County Council. A finger points to the left reading Exford 2½, and fingers below point to the right reading Cloutisham 2½ and Stoke Pero 2. The post has a name plate reading Porlock Post, an indicator of its importance as a landmark in this rather bleak terrain. A single track paved road runs from lower left to centre right behind the sign.
List of books to read before you die: 1. Any book you want 2. Don't read any books you don't want to read 3. That's it 4. Congratulations you did it [Reply]: I really like this list. All my favourite books are on it. [Response]: Thanks I worked really hard on it.
"Media Alert: [deleted]s World’s first AI-Powered Wireless Recovery Boots now available online, bringing professional sports therapy to every athlete"
An ice cream van in Whitby, North Yorkshire, built on a Land Rover base as shown by the distinctive front wings and grille. The vehicle is mostly creamy white colour on the body and roof, pastel blue in the middle section, with a red bumper. It stands next to a black waste bin and there is a monument pillar in the background.
The shafts of two old spanners showing the brand names. The upper one had the words BRITISH MADE KING DICK stamped onto it, the lower one SUPERSLIM cast in.
A springer spaniel, on the right, looks at the camera having been discouraged from eating the flesh of a skeletal fish on the muddy river bank.
The skull of a hare, showing a large eye socket and very delicate lace-like bone structure around the nasal area. No lower jaw was found.
A blue butterfly with dark tips to its wings, feeding on the flower of a holly bush with dark green spiky leaves glossy in the afternoon sunshine.
Extreme crop of a phone image shows a swallow with a light coloured chest and dark wings, it's tail streamers just about visible at this resolution, against a blueish white partly clouded sky. At the bottom of frame some hedge bushes are seen, bearing some blossom.
A title frame from an animated TV series called Crystal Tips and Alistair, showing a girl with wild purple hair and a yellow and blue striped dress adorned with a heart and flower, and her dog. You can probably work out which is which. The episode is called Hide and Seek. The theme tune goes like this: diddly-dee diddly-dee dee dee dee dee dee, diddly-dee diddly-dee dee dee dee dee dee.
An ancient oak tree is silhouetted against a towering cumulonimbus cloud with brilliant blue sky above. Yes, I got wet. But it's only water.
A man wearing a tan coloured jacket and dark baseball cap, his face not visible, leans over a woodworking project with both hands operating a router - a power tool with a vertical spindle and blades used to form channels and edge details in wood.
A cluster of wood anemones, small white flowers about 3cm across, with six petals, surrounding pale yellow stamens, against a background of dark green foliage.
A cluster of wild bluebell flowers seen in the wild today on the secluded site of an iron age hill fort. Bluebells are a springtime glory in the UK and parts of Europe, carpeting woodlands with a distinctive purplish colour.
My copy of Spycatcher, a memoir by Peter Wright, a former assistant director of British security agency MI5. The book included revelations about Soviet agents within the agency and interference in government. The Thatcher government blocked publication in the UK but failed to prevent publication elsewhere, notably Australia. In 1987, as a freelance journalist in London, I ordered a copy from a bookshop in California after seeing an advertisement in Private Eye. Remember this was before the internet and email, when a hard copy by physical post was the only way to read the contents.
A table top display in a public library with a black and red banner reading BANNED BOOKS and several hardback, paperback, and audiobooks. Each title has a small slip of paper as a bookmark, upon which are details of the book, where and when it has been banned, and the excuse given for the ban.
Classic view of St Mary's lighthouse on the North Sea coast at Whitley Bay, sitting on a tidal island just off shore. The white lighthouse sits on dark rocks with a scattering of buildings near its base. The sea is grey and the sky looks moody. A triangle of green grass in the foreground is framed by a section of yellowish beach and dark rocks to the left and a low stone wall and railings to the right.
Multiple curved steel structural sections form an elegant web to support a pedestrian bridge, framing part of the sprawling mansion that is Cragside. A man in a flat cap is seen on top of the walkway.
Steampunk-looking electrical control panel at Cragside, showing a number of guages and switchgear.
Lurid green hollow glass scientific apparatus from the laboratory of William Armstrong, owner of Cragside. Two helical tubes are joined at top and bottom and contain electrodes.
A tall man in blue jeans, brown leather jacket, and black hat (me) at the extreme left of frame gestures towards a rolling grassy landscape falling away to the right, with some scrubland visible below and darker conifer plantation towards the horizon. A thin fence separates the path I'm standing on from the main slope. My dog, a white and brown springer spaniel, looks down the slope. Behind me, out of frame, stretches Kielder Water, the largest artificial lake in England. It's about 8 miles long and the far end is only a mile or two from the Scottish border.
A rainbow arcs high over Northumbrian moorland near Haltwhistle today, with a low stone wall in the foreground and a fuzzy squall shower framed beneath the arc.
Panoramic view inside Nottingham's Royal Concert Hall, showing the tiered seating and acoustic canopy.
A hot rod style custom car, which wouldn't be out of place in a movie such as Grease. Possibly based on a Ford Model T, it has a V8 engine with no engine cover/bonnet/hood. The chrome radiator carries the Ford logo. White wall tyres with chrome hub caps are also exposed, with no mudguards. Behind the cream-coloured firewall, the minimal bodywork is mostly black with a large number 54 in white on the door. A low straight windscreen is supported on cast aluminium brackets, and the interior is upholstered in red leather. Just the thing for cruising down the Santa Monica boulevard but less common on the mean streets of Netherfield, an insalubrious suburb of Nottingham.
A recently-trimmed hedgerow occupies the lower two-thirds of the frame, with mixed woodland visible behind. To the left of centre a small bird with a bright yellow breast and brown wings sits, chirping in the pale sunlight of an early spring afternoon. This is a yellowhammer, Emberiza citrinella, not rare but less common than they used to be. The call of the yellowhammer is often said to be 'a little bit of bread and no cheese'.
A male fire fighter lies on the floor, wearing a motorcycle helmet, with a female fire fighter squatting beside his right shoulder, her arms reaching towards him. Above his head another man, a civilian, reaches toward the helmet in preparation to remove it from his head. Helmet removal from a motorcycle casualty may be necessary to assure an unobstructed airway and hence survival, but is a tricky operation. Practicing this manoeuvre is a valuable part of the Biker Down training programme aimed at motorcyclists, who may be the first on the scene of a motorcycle accident.
Oblique view of a classic set of Andy Warhol portraits, with four identical photographic screen prints each overlain with different colour washes. The subject is the actor Brooke Hayward.
Screengrab from the BBC story about a history professor finding an iron age hoard by use of a metal detector. Beneath the headshot of the academic the caption reads: 'Prof Tom Licence said he liked to imagination the coins belonged to his ancestors'
An old and battered bedside clock in which the dial and mechanism are upside down. The case is oval shaped with a tarnished gold-coloured bezel, the face is brown with gold hands and Arabic numerals. In the centre of the dial the words BIG BEN, REPEATER, and WESTCLOX can be seen, upside down.
Close up of some roses currently on sale in Sainsbury, a leading UK supermarket. The petals have been treated with synthetic dyes to produce a rainbow effect on each bloom - yellows, bright pinks and purples, blues, orange, and red. They make my eyes bleed.
Close look at the frilly edges of this fungus, possibly Trembling Crust (Merulius tremellosus), showing pale yellowish frills or gills on the upper face around the perimeter of the bracket-like main bodies, which are a beige -brown mushroom colour.
A laminated sheet of A4 paper is affixed over a hand towel dispenser in a lavatory. It reads PLEASE DO NOT FLUSH HAND TOWELS, SANITARY NAPKINS, YOUR HOPES AND DREAMS, RECEIPTS, OR ANYTHING ELSE OTHER THAN TOILET ROLL DOWN THE TOILETS, THANKS! (smiley emoji).
A clipping from The Bookseller's daily newsletter shows mugshots of a woman and a man with the headline NEWS Wales' Children's Laureates pen open letter warning of 'urgent literary emergency'.
A fragment of bone recovered from the Cresswell Crags site in England had the didtinct outline of a horse scratched into it, along with several crossing-out marks as if the artist was unhappy with it. Red ochre pigment emphasises the scratched lines and makes this the oldest known coloured image in the UK, dated to 12,500 years ago.