Liam Stokes (@LNJStokes) header
Liam Stokes (@LNJStokes) profile picture

By day: Gardener and conservation communicator. By night: Fantasy writer and enthusiastic nerd. Without ceasing: trying to pray.

Chippenham, England
Joined August 2011
Photo by Liam Stokes (@LNJStokes)Photo by Liam Stokes (@LNJStokes)Photo by Liam Stokes (@LNJStokes)Photo by Liam Stokes (@LNJStokes)Photo by Liam Stokes (@LNJStokes)Photo by Liam Stokes (@LNJStokes)Photo by Liam Stokes (@LNJStokes)Photo by Liam Stokes (@LNJStokes)Photo by Liam Stokes (@LNJStokes)Photo by Liam Stokes (@LNJStokes)
Stuffing environmentalism in a box and marking it "liberal" is an awful idea, in church and in politics. Care for creation should go hand in hand with fiercely orthodox, joyfully weird transcendental faith, and folk of all political stripes should be welcome in the coalition.
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Liam Stokes retweeted
Church websites. 95% are frankly not good enough. A local audit I conducted this morning looking for confessions: Parish 1: has a new page but not linked to old domain, so when you search the parish it brings up an old website and you can only get the new URL from the newsletter. Parish 2: has been “under construction” for the last month and so has a temporary website which gives an error message when you try to download the newsletter. Parish 3: Better website but lists the Bishops’ message for people to return to church after COVID as it’s top news item… Parish 4: functioning website but no mention of confession time at all even in their newsletter. Parish 5: up to date, mass times well signposted with online version of newsletter, but website looks terrible and can’t find confession times. That’s just a selection locally and I’m sure it’s a similar picture in most areas. Most people looking for information about their local Catholic Church will look online first. We are neglecting one of the biggest tools we have in our missionary arsenal. You can create a website entirely in Claude now - you don’t need to pay astronomical amounts to a web agency, or even have much skill. What’s the issue here - is it a lack of knowledge of clergy? Lack of willing volunteers? Or a lack of caring?
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You've just ordered Pizza Hut and a 2L Mountain Dew. You've loaded up Ocarina of Time. No school tomorrow. Your parents don't care if you stay up all night long. A perfect fall night. You are 36 years old. The year is 2026.
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Everyone getting stressed about Midterm Elections and I'm over here writing about how much I loved Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy. Get out of US politics and into Six Duchies politics, that's what I say.
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Check it out here, especially if you haven't read them. liamstokeswriting.substack.c…
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This is very clever
Here’s the thing about spotting the horrendous, soulless AI-generated writing infecting every corner of the internet now: it’s not just about the words — it’s about the patterns. And once you start noticing them, you can’t unsee them. The unnecessary em dashes. The polished transitions. The examples given in groups of three. The weird metaphors that kind of make sense but kind of don’t — like a parachute opening inside a submarine. The load-bearing use of the term “load-bearing.” The random one sentence paragraphs. The way a bunch of bland gibberish is quietly reframed as a profound insight. The on-going and un-necessary hyphenation of every-day words that really don’t need it. The cliches. Read that again. Cliches. Louder for people in the back. Tons of cliches. That’s not a typo. Sit with that for a moment. And the biggest red flag? Asking yourself a question and answering it. Because honestly? No sentient human writes like this. And truthfully? If you can’t identify these red flags, you might not actually be sentient yourself. Because really? If this formatting doesn’t immediately strike you as awkward and artificial, it means you don’t read books. Ever. Seriously. But here’s where it gets interesting: It doesn’t. The point has been made but I’ll keep going. That’s what AI writing is all about. Let’s delve into real problem. It isn’t the technology. It’s the people using it because they’re too retarded to generate an original thought of their own. That’s not thoughtfulness. It’s intellectual laziness wearing digital makeup. It doesn’t make the internet more fun. It makes me want to throw my phone in the river and forsake all of humanity and live as a hermit in the woods for the rest of my life. Seriously this shit fills me with despair. I’m not kidding. And the distinction matters. Especially when you’re saying the distinction matters without actually drawing a distinction. But here’s what nobody tells you. When you ask a machine to manufacture your personality, you’re not just automating your writing. You’re quietly announcing that you’re a boring, insipid dork with nothing interesting to say. Let that sink in. The uncomfortable truth? AI didn’t turn these people into tedious midwits. It quietly revealed what they already were. And perhaps — just perhaps — that’s quietly the most important takeaway of all. But what do you think? Let's unpack this together in the comments. 👇
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Are you honestly trying to tell me you don't want to see The Chosen with Twilight-esque vertical running angels? I feel like we're about to enter into an era of creatives trying to capture the stranger parts of the Christian worldview, and there will more misses than hits.
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Can't have All Hallows Eve without All Hallows now can we?
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Liam Stokes retweeted
I’ll never have a second team but if I did it would be Bayern Munich after playing ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ on German soil to salute Harry Kane. Lots of stadiums in England wouldn’t play it for risk of offending someone…so hats off to Bayern! 🫡 🇩🇪 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🤝
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Finished Farseer Trilogy. My copy of Dune Messiah arrived today, pre-reading for the movie, but it's too soon. 4 months my imagination has roamed the Six Duchies and it's too soon to up sticks and head off the Arrakis just yet.
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Was forced to visit a Starbucks today and couldn't even console myself with pumpkin spice because they've already swapped it out for their Christmas drinks range. We haven't even had Halloween yet. Madness.
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Of his many iconic roles, let's not forget Patrick Stewart was one of the funniest cameos ever to appear on Frasier, and that's a very high bar to clear.
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Daphne: I'm Daphne, Niles's wife. Alistair Burke (Stewart): No. Niles: We're expecting. Alistair Burke: Can't say I was.
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Pray for the repose of his soul. Pray for all who suffer this terrible illness, and for the skill and success of those who seek its cure.
Patrick Stewart’s cause of death was Alzheimer's disease and lewy body dementia. He passed away peacefully at his home at age 86.
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Watching the Arsenal with my eldest daughter, 3pm Saturday kick off on a rainy October afternoon in North London. Family heritage.
A towering display 💪 This afternoon's Player of the Match, as voted for by you, is Big Gabi 🏅 🤝 @WhatsApp
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Looking at the names the UK Storm Centre has prepared for 26/27 and I feel they are raising expectations by planning for a Storm Olaf.
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Tried to take the traditional first fire of the season photo, and it looks like we have Calcifer living in our stove.
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Liam Stokes retweeted
Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder, that's relativist garbage. These covers by Vance Covax are objectively beautiful. That's not my opinion. I don't make the rules.
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i am trying to post less politics content, but the French riots are such a dire warning it seems dereliction not to share what's happening
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Liam Stokes retweeted
A French woman says that the rioters and looters broke into her building and threatened her with rape while she was holding her child in her arms. “That’s collateral damage” responds the feminist activist Bettina Zourli who holds a Master’s in gender studies and focuses her work on gender norms, motherhood, reproductive rights, and voluntary childlessness (“childfree”) She describes herself as “feminist, childfree and Antifa” Zourli also says that all the stores getting looted also constitute a case of collateral damage and that the revolution, which she supports, must be violent. She has lectured in gender studies, including at the University of Lille and Université Rennes.
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