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Heads up! April 4th 👉 #VictoriaBC & area folks! Fun #Spring #MigratoryBirds #birding event!
Come out & enjoy a lovely outdoors community connecting with nature event!
I'm going to be there with my Indigenous friend, Jada.Migratory Magnificence : #Camas Meadow Medley.
Join #SNEMITIYE Dominque James & #SpecialBirdService for a springtime Camas Meadow Medley at #CattlePoint and #UplandsPark.
Early April marks one of the most vibrant seasonal shifts on southern Vancouver Island. Camas meadows begin to wake, early wildflowers emerge, and the sharp metallic buzz of Rufous Hummingbirds returns to the landscape.
These small but fierce migrants travel thousands of kilometres each year, arriving along the coast just as nectar sources begin to bloom. Their presence signals the true beginning of spring.
Together we will explore the Garry oak ecosystem and coastal meadows of Uplands Park, learning how to notice hummingbird behaviour, listen for territorial calls, and observe feeding patterns among early blossoms.
This is not a fast-paced checklist focused walk. It’s an opportunity to slow down and tune into the rhythms of spring migration.
Open to all who agree to abide by the Cormorant's Creed. No birding experience required.
https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/migratory-magnificence
Friends of the Feather Ticket:
Free ticket to walk and waddle with us. You belong. Aimed at providing BIPOC &, or Queer folks, facing multiple barriers to outdoor education, recreation and stewardship, opportunities. You belong.Contributing Cormorant
$15
To help us sustain the work and offerings for our communities, we ask our first time walk attendies, allies and supporters to contribute. Supports SBS’s year-round programming rooted in joy, access, and learning. Open to all who can contribute. Thank you.#NatureWalk #Birdwatching #BirdLovers #OakBay #Saanich #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #Cascadia #PNW #CommunityEvent #NatureLovers #GarryOak #ecosystem #ecological #Meadows #Inclusive #BIPOCFriendly #Conservation #Stewardship #Wildlife #Avian #biodiversity
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Heads up! April 4th 👉 #VictoriaBC & area folks! Fun #Spring #MigratoryBirds #birding event!
Come out & enjoy a lovely outdoors community connecting with nature event!
I'm going to be there with my Indigenous friend, Jada.Migratory Magnificence : #Camas Meadow Medley.
Join #SNEMITIYE Dominque James & #SpecialBirdService for a springtime Camas Meadow Medley at #CattlePoint and #UplandsPark.
Early April marks one of the most vibrant seasonal shifts on southern Vancouver Island. Camas meadows begin to wake, early wildflowers emerge, and the sharp metallic buzz of Rufous Hummingbirds returns to the landscape.
These small but fierce migrants travel thousands of kilometres each year, arriving along the coast just as nectar sources begin to bloom. Their presence signals the true beginning of spring.
Together we will explore the Garry oak ecosystem and coastal meadows of Uplands Park, learning how to notice hummingbird behaviour, listen for territorial calls, and observe feeding patterns among early blossoms.
This is not a fast-paced checklist focused walk. It’s an opportunity to slow down and tune into the rhythms of spring migration.
Open to all who agree to abide by the Cormorant's Creed. No birding experience required.
https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/migratory-magnificence
Friends of the Feather Ticket:
Free ticket to walk and waddle with us. You belong. Aimed at providing BIPOC &, or Queer folks, facing multiple barriers to outdoor education, recreation and stewardship, opportunities. You belong.Contributing Cormorant
$15
To help us sustain the work and offerings for our communities, we ask our first time walk attendies, allies and supporters to contribute. Supports SBS’s year-round programming rooted in joy, access, and learning. Open to all who can contribute. Thank you.#NatureWalk #Birdwatching #BirdLovers #OakBay #Saanich #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #Cascadia #PNW #CommunityEvent #NatureLovers #GarryOak #ecosystem #ecological #Meadows #Inclusive #BIPOCFriendly #Conservation #Stewardship #Wildlife #Avian #biodiversity
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Heads up! April 4th 👉 #VictoriaBC & area folks! Fun #Spring #MigratoryBirds #birding event!
Come out & enjoy a lovely outdoors community connecting with nature event!
I'm going to be there with my Indigenous friend, Jada.Migratory Magnificence : #Camas Meadow Medley.
Join #SNEMITIYE Dominque James & #SpecialBirdService for a springtime Camas Meadow Medley at #CattlePoint and #UplandsPark.
Early April marks one of the most vibrant seasonal shifts on southern Vancouver Island. Camas meadows begin to wake, early wildflowers emerge, and the sharp metallic buzz of Rufous Hummingbirds returns to the landscape.
These small but fierce migrants travel thousands of kilometres each year, arriving along the coast just as nectar sources begin to bloom. Their presence signals the true beginning of spring.
Together we will explore the Garry oak ecosystem and coastal meadows of Uplands Park, learning how to notice hummingbird behaviour, listen for territorial calls, and observe feeding patterns among early blossoms.
This is not a fast-paced checklist focused walk. It’s an opportunity to slow down and tune into the rhythms of spring migration.
Open to all who agree to abide by the Cormorant's Creed. No birding experience required.
https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/migratory-magnificence
Friends of the Feather Ticket:
Free ticket to walk and waddle with us. You belong. Aimed at providing BIPOC &, or Queer folks, facing multiple barriers to outdoor education, recreation and stewardship, opportunities. You belong.Contributing Cormorant
$15
To help us sustain the work and offerings for our communities, we ask our first time walk attendies, allies and supporters to contribute. Supports SBS’s year-round programming rooted in joy, access, and learning. Open to all who can contribute. Thank you.#NatureWalk #Birdwatching #BirdLovers #OakBay #Saanich #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #Cascadia #PNW #CommunityEvent #NatureLovers #GarryOak #ecosystem #ecological #Meadows #Inclusive #BIPOCFriendly #Conservation #Stewardship #Wildlife #Avian #biodiversity
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Stuck in the Filter: January 2026’s Angry Misses By KenstrosityFinally, the new year is upon us! A fresh start for some, same shit different year for others; mainly, my minions who toil in the mines ducts of the Filter. Since they don’t get any holidays, they probably don’t even fucking know it’s 2026 yet, but that’s okay. As long as they come back to HQ with a substantial haul, their ability to know when it is is immaterial.
These are the sacrifices we (not me, though), make to ensure you get the goods relatively on time-ish. So say thank you!
Kenstrosity’s Freaky Foursome
Upiór // Forefathers’ Eve (Redemption) [January 2nd, 2026 – Self Released]
Featuring members of Gorod (Benoit Claus) and Xaoc (Kévin Paradis), Upiór pinged my radar after a certain cosmic Discordian pinged me. A blistering combination of Fleshgod Apocalypse opulence and Wachenfeldt aggression, sophomore release Forefathers’ Eve (Redemption) impressed me immediately as “The Black Paintings ripped my face right off. “A Blessing or a Curse” doubled down on speed, blasting rhythms, and eerie melodies to propel itself straight into my Song o’ the Year long-list. Even with three instrumental interludes, all of which are quite fluffy, Forefathers’ Eve (Redemption) crams pummeling riffs, exuberant percussion, and dramatic lushness into its 51-minute runtime. “Forefathers’ Eve (Part I),” a fantastic companion to Fleshgod Apocalypse’s “Cold As Perfection” without aping its features, conjures a similarly affecting character that draws me in completely. Forefathers’ Eve (Redemption)’s middle section continues to build personality and develop greater dynamics from that point, represented most clearly in melodic riffs and expressive leads/soloing (“The Woman that Weeps”). Leading into its conclusion, a tonal shift towards the dire at this junction foreshadows the imminent release of Upiór’s second act, Forefathers’ Eve (Damnation) (due in early April), charring songs like “Forefather’s Eve (Part II)” and “Between the Living and Dead” with blackened rabidity and dissonant flourishes. All of this to say, Upiór launched this latest arc with a striking blow, and I can only imagine what’s in store for Damnation.
Forefathers’ Eve (Redemption) by Upiór
KadavriK // Erde666 [January 9th, 2026 – Self Released]
Germany’s melodic death metal quintet KadavriK have been cranking out records since 2007, but I only heard about them this year, once again, thanks to Discord. Erde666, their fifth outing, takes an unorthodox and progressive approach to melodic death metal, which makes comparisons difficult to draw. Stripped down and raw in some moments, mystical and lush in others, Erde666 is all about textures. Its opening title track explores that spectrum of sounds and philosophies to its fullest, even drawing heavy influence from blues, psychedelia, and sludge at times (“Getrümmerfreund”), but it all coalesces seamlessly. Following up an opener as strong as that would be a tall order for anyone, but KadavriK are clever songwriters, and the long form served them well even compared to the more straightforward tracklists of previous installments (“Nihilist,” “Das Ende Des Anthropozäns”). Off-kilter guitar melodies countered against twinkling Kalmah synths and sweeping strings do a lot of work to elevate and liven the crushing chords of their high-impact riffs as well, which adds a ton of interest into an already unconventional melodic death record (“Widerhall”). All of this makes for a record that might not be as immediate or fast-paced as most aim for in this space, but, counterintuitively, significantly more memorable. Don’t sleep on this one, folks!
Luminesce // Like Crushed Violets and Linen [November 20th, 2026 – Self Released]
Prolific at a scale I haven’t witnessed since Déhà, Luminesce mastermind Alice Simard, based in Québec, piqued my curiosity for the first time with Like Crushed Violets and Linen, her sophomore effort under the Luminesce moniker. Boasting machine-gun rapidity (“Exploited Monochromaticism”), off-kilter rhythms (“Silver”), and a downright romantic sense of melody (“Like Crushed Violets and Linen,” “Lamp of Fulguration”)—countered by lyrical themes ranging from guilt complexes to gender identity (“To Restore”)—Like Crushed Violets and Linen is a deeply personal record forged in a melodic technical death metal mold. And as such a record, it recalls the vicarious guitar pyrotechnics of Inferi and Obscura while securing a melodic sensibility more in line with neoclassical composition (“The Covenant of Counterfeit Stars”). Unlike many of her contemporaries, however, Alice is a master of editing. Filled with killer ideas and instrumental wizardry without involving a drop of bloat, each of these seven songs coalesce into a buttery-smooth 30-minute excursion that punches far above its feathery mass. The addition of delightful chiptune dalliances helps distinguish Luminesce further from the pack (“To Restore”), though I’m torn about how far forward they are in the mix. In fact, the mix is my main gripe, as Like Crushed Violets and Linen is muffled and a bit flat, despite boasting a much-appreciated meaty bass presence. Nonetheless, if you’re looking for an unlikely tech-death contender, Luminesce might be just what you need.
Like Crushed Violets and Linen by Luminesce
Bone Storm // Daemon Breed [January 30th, 2026 – Self Released]
As the CEO of this Filter company, I withhold the right to break the rules and include a very cool bonus fourth option, Bone Storm’s cavebrained Daemon Breed. Do you like Bolt Thrower? Yes, you do. Do you like Bear Mace? Yes, you do. By proxy, then, you already like Connecticut’s Bone Storm as they draw from the same chunky, groove-laden school of death metal. At a somewhat overachieving 50 minutes, Daemon Breed pummels the listener beneath a veritable smorgasbord of neck-breaking riffs built upon a framework of triplet grooves, swaggering syncopations, and galloping double bass assaults. Their approach is simple and unburdened by blistering speed, fiddly technicality, or atmospheric deviation, and in that way recalls the undeniable immediacy and brutal effectiveness of records like Black Royal’s Firebride. With highlights “Heaven’s End (Burn Them All),” “Plaguerider,” “Sanctimonious Morality,” and above all “Ritual Supremacy,” Bone Storm use that approach with aplomb, proving that the spirit of classic, no-frills death metal is vital and vicarious. Delightfully cogent roars and gutturals allow the most difficult deliveries (see “Daemon Breed”) to feel vicious and purposeful, while a subtle thread of melody (see “Cursed Born”) affords the record a small measure of songwriting variety to break things up just when Daemon Breed needs it most. Heavy reliance on triplets and perhaps a zealous desire to put down every idea that seems good even if it’s placed immediately adjacent to much better one (“Halo of Disease” and “Hammer of Judas” bookending “Ritual Supremacy” are tough positions to defend, as is “Wrist Slitter” next to the fun Frozen Soul-esque “Blood Priest”), hold it back from higher praise only mildly. Moral of the story? Enter the bone zone, with haste!
Creeping Ivy’s Riffy Remainder
Lord Elephant // Ultra Soul [January 30th, 2026 – Heavy Psych Sounds]
Sometimes, you don’t need dynamic songwriting, harmonic density, or even a vocalist. Sometimes, all you need are riffs. Okay, and maybe some psychedelic leads to go over those riffs. Ultra Soul, the sophomore album from Italian instrumental trio Lord Elephant, delivers 48 minutes of pure, mostly unadulterated stoner-doom. In the feudal jungle of heavy riff rock, Lord Elephant pays scutage to King Buffalo, similarly forming longish compositions where simple, bluesy figures reign supreme, stretching their limbs in grassy patches. Occasionally, guitarist Leandro Gaccione, bassist Edoardo De Nardi, and drummer Tommaso Urzino lock into some lively, head-bobbing grooves (“Gigantia”). But mostly, Lord Elephant keeps things meditative, hypnotizing listeners with Earthless drones and lurches (“Smoke Tower,” “Black River Blues”). De Nardi’s bass often leads the way (“Electric Dunes”), the underwater tone of which reminds me of falling for Isis.1 Lord Elephant aren’t reinventing any wheels here; the familiarity of their bluesy riffing simply won’t interest those for whom such bluesiness is a staid marker of old-man rock. The absence of vocals, however, makes Ultra Soul work as pseudo-ambient music that can set the mood, or accompany tasks, or gateway a normie. Closer listening will reveal, though, a tight trio reveling in the rudiments of rock music—a drummer, bassist, and guitarist vibing on a riff.
Andy-War-Hall’s Salvaged Windfall
Juodvarnis // Tékmés [January 23rd, 2026 – Self Released]
Lithuania’s Juodvarnis cooked for a long six years between albums for their fourth record Tékmés. With the confidence and sharpness displayed on all levels by Juodvarnis here, that was clearly time well spent in the kitchen. Sporting a brand of progressive black metal that blends the Enslaved framework of prog-black with the epic heft and melody of Iotunn and the crushing rhythms and harsh vocals of Gojira, Tékmés is tight, lively and achieves a remarkable level of melancholic thoughtfulness without neglecting the average listener’s chronic need for riffs. Translated to “flow” from Hungarian,2 Tékmés navigates inter-song and album-wide progressions of pummeling rhythms (“Dvasios Ligos”) and slow marches (“Tamsiausias Nušvitimas”), impassioned clean vocals (“Platybės”) and razor-throated screams (“Juodos Akys”) to achieve a gradual, natural sense of advancement across its 42-minute journey. If progressive black metal that knows how to riff and can turn the reverb off 11 sounds like a good time to you, give Juodvarnis’ Tékmés a shot sometime.
Thus Spoke’s Obscure Offerings
Ectovoid // In Unreality’s Coffin [January 9th, 2026 – Everlasting Spew Records]
Normally, it takes copious amounts of reverb, wonkiness, melody, or turbo-dissonance for death metal to be palatable to me. Every once in a while, however, an album like Ectovoid’s In Unreality’s Coffin comes along and shows me that there is another way. The music’s stickiness has a lot to do with its boundary-straddling take on OSDM. Ostensibly, the battering, percussion, sawblade riffing, and gruff gurgling growls mark it as your everyday modern no-nonsense death metal, somewhere between Cryptopsy and Immolation. But In Unreality’s Coffin is more like tech-death, disso-death, and brutal-death in a trench coat than it is any one of them, or another subgenre.3 Its arpeggios can be rhythmically snappy, sometimes combined with equally sharp vocal delivery (“Intrusive Illusions (Echoes from a Distant Plane)”), but more often than not channel a churning chaos that resists punchiness for a darker unease I find addictive (“Collapsing Spiritual Nebula,” “Erroneous Birth”). The music is constantly speeding up or slowing down, churning guitars collapsing with slides (“Dissonance Corporeum”) or pitching upwards in squeals (“In Anguished Levitation”), or evolving into mania as screams and growls fragment and layer (“Formless Seeking Form”). Rather than being exhausting, it’s exhilarating, with expertly-timed releases of diabolically echoing melody (“Collapsing Spiritual Nebula”) or a new groove to latch onto (“In Unreality’s Coffin”) coming to keep you afloat. Ectovoid keep you guessing without actually really pushing the boundaries, making In Unreality’s Coffin both a lot of fun and straightforwardly br00tal enough to sustain a savage workout; or just a really intense 45 minutes.
In Unreality’s Coffin by Ectovoid
Exxûl // Sealed into None [January 15th, 2026 – Productions TSO]
Phil Tougas has had an impressive start to the year. Before Worm’s Necropalace this February, came Sealed into None, the debut by Exxûl—a genre-blending, kinda blackened epic-power-doom-heavy-metal group also comprising several of Phil’s Atramentus band-mates. Several people brought up this album in the comments on my Worm review, often to the tune of “Exxûl better,” and while I respectfully disagree on the quality ranking of the two, I can’t deny how fabulous Sealed into None is. Here again are genres of music I’m usually unable to connect with—in this instance, power and classical heavy metal—but shaped in a way that opens my eyes and ears. Yes, the high-pitched wail style of singing first took me a little off-guard when they first arose on “Blighted Deity,” and they offend my usual tastes. But they are impressive, and work in a way I thought only harsh vocals could when following the trajectory of distorted keys and guitar (“Walls of Endless Darkness”), or shouting into an atmospheric abyss (“The Screaming Tower”). Oh, and of course, the overall vibe of magnificent, melodramatic blackened doom that sets the scene, capped off with—predictably—phenomenal guitarwork, is just magic and enough for me to get past my knee-jerk vocal ick and love it not in spite of that, but because of what it can bring to the whole. I love the slow builds to dazzling solos (“Bells of the Exxûl through to “Blighted Deity,” “The Screaming Tower”) and the way the camper, heavy-metal sides blur into something darker (“Labyrinthine Fate”). I just love this album, to be honest.
ClarkKent’s Canadian Catch
Turpitude // Mordoré [January 1, 2026 – Self Released]
Since 2019, Alice Simard has been a prolific presence in Quebec’s underground metal scene. She consistently releases albums for several different projects, from the ambient atmoblack of Coffret de Bijoux to the tech death of Luminesce (also uncovered in this month’s Filter by our Sponge Fren). Mordoré, the fourth full-length for Turpitude, thrives on its riffs and carries a cheerful energy reminiscent of the carefree raw black metal of Grime Stone Records stalwarts Wizard Keep and Old Nick. Yet Simard opts for traditional instruments, no synths, though production choices make the drumsticks sound as if they’re banging against blocks of wood, give the guitars a lofi reverb, and cause Simard’s voice to fade into the background in a cavernous growl. The riffs are the real star, with some terrifically catchy melodic leads and trems throughout (“La Traverse Mordorée,” “Aller de L’avant”). This combination of riffs, a raw sound, and often upbeat tunes draws comparison to Trhä and To Escape. While Mordoré keeps a mostly cheery tone, Turpitude’s no one-trick pony. There’s a tinge of the melancholic on the moody, atmospheric “Peintra,” as well as a successful stab at covering a non-metal song a lá Spider God on “Washing Machine Heart.”4 This is a worthwhile endeavor for those who like their black metal raw and energetic.
Grin Reaper’s Heavy Haul
Valiant Sentinel // Neverealm [January 16th, 2026 – Theogonia Records]
Greek heavy metal heroes Valiant Sentinel dropped their sophomore platter Neverealm back in mid-January, unleashing forty-six minutes that reek of high fantasy. Galloping riffs, driving drums, and vocal harmonies aplenty supply a cinematic adventure that basks in fun. While the pacing of Neverealm mainly operates in high-energy bombast, Valiant Sentinel smartly weaves in mid-paced might, evidenced by how the controlled assault of “Mirkwood Forest” provides a breather after opening chest-thumpers “War in Heaven” and “Neverealm.” Acoustic pieces “To Mend the Ring” and “Come What May” further diversify Neverealm’s heavy metal holdings, and while I’m usually keener on more aggressive numbers, these two tracks comprise some of my favorite moments on the album.5 Mostly, Valiant Sentinel summons comparisons to Germany’s heavy/power scene—chief among them Blind Guardian—going so far as to bring in BG drummer extraordinaire Frederik Ehmke. I also catch fleeting glimpses of Brainstorm and Mystic Prophecy in Valiant Sentinel’s DNA, though guitarist and composer Dimitris Skodras does a commendable job carving out a distinct identity for the band. Featuring skilled performances across the board and guest spots from Burning Witches’ Laura Guldemond (“Neverealm”) and Savatage’s Zak Stevens (“Arch Nemesis”), Valiant Sentinel packs loads of drama into a streamlined package. So what are you waiting for? Go grab your polyhedrals and a Spelljammer, and set sail for Neverealm.
Fili Bibiano’s Fortress // Death Is Your Master [January 30th, 2026 – High Roller Records]
Does Shredphobia keep you away from metal? Does the sultry siren call of licks, riffs, and chugs make you break into a cold sweat? If so, I strongly urge you to stay away from Fortress’ sophomore album, Death Is Your Master. Channeling Tony Martin-era Black Sabbath and 80s Judas Priest, Fortress drops six-string shenanigans that’ll get your booty shaking and the floor quaking, offering a romping retro slab that goes down slow ‘n’ easy. The overt classic 80s heavy metal worship on tracks “Flesh and Dagger” and “Night City” delivers riff after riff recalling the glory days, giving Fortress an authenticity that expands what could have otherwise been a one-dimensional LP. Guitarist Fili Bibiano sizzles with axe-slinging abandon, occasionally conjuring the neoclassical debauchery of Yngwie (“Savage Sword,” “Maze”). Still, it’s not all about the guitar, and drummer Joey Mancaruso and vocalist Juan Aguila nail their contributions as Fortress wends their way through a trim thirty-four minutes. On a guitar-forward album featuring slick songwriting and singalong jams, Death Is Your Master bumps, dives, and wails in a slow-burn frenzy of classic heavy goodness. Dig in!
Death Is Your Master by Fili Bibiano’s Fortress
Baguette’s Brutal Burglary
Skulld // Abyss Calls to Abyss [January 23rd, 2026 – Time to Kill Records]
While last year was alright for death metal and notably starred Dormant Ordeal, I felt it was lacking in quantity of impressive releases for said cornerstone of the metal underground. Fortunately, Italian group Skulld is here to start off the year with a bang! Abyss Calls to Abyss takes Bolt Thrower’s tank-rolling grooves (“Mother Death”) and Dismember’s melodic buzzsaw action (“Wear the Night as a Velvet Cloak”) and adds in some crust punk influence as extra seasoning (“Le Diable and the Snake”). It feels like they’ve taken some influence from both Finnish and Swedish varieties of death metal as well, and I’m here for it! The band is fluent in switching things up at the drop of a hat without sacrificing energy or cohesion. “Mother Death” and “Drops of Sorrow” go from heavy, dissonant chords to big lead guitar melodies, which in turn lead to a chunky and punky death metal groove that’s bound to get your head moving. Teo’s drumming controls the mood in excellent fashion, adding fast blast beats or slow-pummelling stomps when called for. The vicious, varied growls of Pam further cement the violence contained within and add to the album’s attitude. At a brief 34 minutes spread over eight songs, it wastes no time going for your throat in a multitude of ways. Get this album into your skull or get Skulld!
Total Annihilation // Mountains of Madness [January 16th, 2026 – Testimony Records]
What would happen if you took Vader, Slayer and Sodom and threw them in a big ol’ manic death/thrash blender? The answer is Mountains of Madness! While Swiss Total Annihilation’s earliest works were more in line with classic ’80s thrash metal, they have increasingly moved towards more aggressive and relentless pastures, and their songwriting is all the better for it. Fourth album Mountains of Madness channels records like Vader’s Litany and Sodom’s Tapping the Vein in particular (“The Art of Torture,” “Age of Mental Suicide”), taking advantage of a relentless, drum-forward groove and a furious vocal performance. The album’s dual guitar attack weaves together thrashier tunes with parts that reach straight up Swedeath territory, be it melodic or not. In addition, tracks like “Mountains of Madness” and “Choose the Day” throw some melodic thrash akin to Sodom’s self-titled album into the mix for that extra bit of variety and replay value. Mountains of Madness isn’t afraid to slow things down with a satisfying lead riff, but most of Mountains of Madness is at a respectful lightning-fast pace, as thrash should. Another brief but powerful addition to the January pile ov skulls!
Mountains Of Madness by Total Annihilation
Polaris Experience // Drifting Through Voids [January 2nd, 2026 – Distant Comet Entertainment]
On the earliest days of the year, Japan delivered an awesome surprise drop of death metal-influenced progressive thrash! Polaris Experience features various Cynical riffs (“Interplanetary Funambulist,” “Bathyscapes”) while sporting a similarly old-school guitar tone throughout. Being progressive thrash, the main focus is naturally on the oh-so-sweet instrumentation that balances melody and groove seamlessly. The instrumental “Parvati” alone highlights how tight everything is, from the snappy drumming to the bouncy bass work. Most importantly, the music is catchy and memorable despite its relative complexity and lack of brevity. Additionally, Drifting Through Voids uses vocals sparingly but in all the right ways, complementing its technicalities with a traditional thrashy, harsh bark. The fact that it’s a two-man project and a debut makes it all the more impressive. Fans of similar recent progressive and technical shenanigans like Species should take notes post-haste. Considering we’ve already had this and Cryptic Shift this early in the year, and how prog/tech thrash is usually only allowed one or two notable albums per year, we could be in for a banner year for the subgenre. It also marks the first time in ages that a Japanese album has genuinely good production. Welcome to the new millennium!
Drifting Through Voids by Polaris Experience
#2026 #AbyssCallsToAbyss #AmericanMetal #Atramentus #BearMace #BlackMetal #BlackRoyal #BlackSabbath #BlackenedDeathMetal #BlindGuardian #BoltThrower #BoneStorm #Brainstorm #BurningWitches #CalliopeCarnage #CanadianMetal #CoffretDeBijoux #CrypticShift #Cryptopsy #Cynic #DaemonBreed #DeathMetal #Dismember #DistantCometEntertainment #Doom #DoomMetal #DormantOrdeal #DriftingThroughVoids #Earthless #Ectovoid #Enslaved #EpicMetal #Erde666 #EverlastingSpewRecords #Exxûl #FiliBibianoSFortress #FleshgodApocalypse #ForefatherSEveRedemption #Fortress #GallowglassGalas #GermanMetal #Gojira #Gorod #GreekMetal #Hardcore #HeavyMetal #HeavyPsychSounds #HighRollerRecords #Immolation #InUnrealitySCoffin #Inferi #InternationalMetal #Iotunn #ItalianMetal #Jan26 #JapaneseMetal #JudasPriest #Judovarnis #KadavriK #Kalmah #KingBuffalo #LikeCrushedVioletsAndLinen #LithuanianMetal #LordElephant #Luminesce #MelodicDeathMetal #Mitski #Mordoré #MountainsOfMadness #Neverealm #Obscura #OldNick #PolarisExperience #PowerMetal #ProductionsTSO #ProgressiuveMetal #ProgressiveBlackMetal #ProgressiveDeathMetal #Punk #Review #Reviews #Savatage #SealedIntoNone #SelfRelase #SelfReleased #Skulld #Slayer #Sodom #Species #SpiderGod #StonerDoom #StonerMetal #StuckInTheFilter #StuckInTheFilter2026 #SwissMetal #SymphonicDeathMetal #TechnicalDeathMetal #Tékmés #TestimonyRecords #TheogoniaRecords #Therion #ThrashMetal #TimeToKillRecords #ToEscape #TotalAnnihilation #Trhä #Turpitude #UltraSoul #Upiór #Vader #ValiantSentinel #Wachenfeldt #WizardKeep #Worm #Xaoc -
Steel Druhm’s Top Ten(ish) of 2025 By Steel Druhm
First things first: 2025 was not what I consider a lodestar of great metal. I was much more miserly than usual with my high scores, and though there were a lot of albums I liked, there were not many I truly loved. I had fewer issues curating my Top Ten than usual, with a smaller pool of contenders jockeying for slots. That likely means 2026 will be an overwhelming pornocopia of metal goodness, as flat years are usually followed by market booms. Let’s hope the historic trends continue.
On the AMG front, we had a great many seasoned staffers bow out and take time away from the site, which is always a sad event, but we got a healthy infusion of new blood, too. Hopefully, the blend of new and old will provide new perspectives, but it’s sure to result in some awful takes, too. We apologize for that in advance. Fear not, though, for I have it on good authority that a few long-absent writers will be making a shocking return in the new year.
Personally, 2025 was my least productive year in a while as far as the sheer number of reviews churned out. This was mostly due to my taking on the enormous duties of promo sump management, which takes up a significant amount of time weekly. I’ve gotten faster and more efficient at the promo herding over the year, so I hope to push my review production back up to massive aggressive levels in 2026. I love this little blog, and I invest a lot of myself in it each day. It gives me peace and comfort through challenging times, and more importantly, it keeps me off the streets looking for seedy, low-rent metal blogs to write for.
As I do every year, I want to extend a big thank you to all the readers who grace our pages, comment on our reviews, complain about scores, and generally raise a ruckus. We appreciate you, tolerate you, and continue to do our best to entertain you. Behind the scenes, though, we think you are a bunch of overrating, high-maintenance, diva do-nothings. Keep up the good work and tell your friends about us!
I’d also like to thank all the old and new staff members and AMG Himself for their efforts to keep AMG the bastion of high opinions that it has become. It’s easy to suffer burnout here, and there are times when the words all seem to blur together, and it becomes a battle to formulate new ways to describe shitty, lo-fi death metal. There’s something highly satisfying about the work, though, and doing it with a bunch of lovable rejects makes it all the more so. We have a good group of misfits here, and though we bicker and argue, we love one another most of the time. Because of all this goodwill and affection, I hope none of them make me sabbaticalize them this year. The wood chipper is still clogged from last year’s bonanza of retirements, and I’m just too busy to take cadavers apart the old-fashioned way. Onward to new horizons we fly!
#ish: Nite // Cult of the Serpent Sun – Nite is a strange band that challenges me to look past some very one-dimensional vocals to find the beauty in their guitar-driven righteousness. The music they create is so perfectly in my wheelhouse, mixing the classic 80s sound of Mercyful Fate with the burly badassery of Grand Magus, then they slather their compositions with a blackened snarl that rarely shifts or adapts to the epic music. Sometimes it seems this choice holds them back from greatness, but I just kept returning to Cult of the Serpent Sun time and again in 2025. Songs like “Crow (Fear the Night),” “Carry On,” and “The Winds of Sokar” got spun to death this year, and the guitar work across the album is stellar and so metal it hurts. In a nutshell, I’m hooked on this weird little album despite the shortcomings in the vocal department. Give yourself to the Nite.
#10. Disembodiment// Spiral Crypts – One of the death metal albums that really stuck to ribs this year, Spiral Crypts just wouldn’t unstick itself or go away. Disembodiment brings the OSDM hammer down on you with a stinky, putrid sound that rips organs from all the big names to create a shambling monstrosity all their own. It’s Incantation and Autopsy up front, with a vaguely Death-like prog sheen hidden in the back. Yet this won’t impress with techy wanking, because they’re too busy fucking cadavers and eating human flesh. Nasty first wins in the House of Steel, and this shit is gross but so listenable and entertaining. The riffs are slithery, slappy, and powerful, and those vocals are as much like an industrial garbage disposal as you can get without permanent throat disaster. Get yourself some unsanitary napkins and blast this filth really loud. It’s worth the revolting mess.
#9. Helstar // The Devil’s Masquerade – I grew up loving Helstar, and their Burning Star and Remnants of War albums were in constant rotation during my high school years. They’ve had an up-and-down career since 1989’s Nosterfatu, so them hitting their stride again in 2025 on The Devil’s Masquerade was a huge thrill for Yours Steely. Their textbook blend of US power metal and prog burns bright once more, with nods to thrash mixed in liberally for added asskickery as the guitars shred and impress. Vocal legend James Rivera still sounds enormous and powerful, and the songcraft is shockingly good and consistent. Certain moments scream classic Helstar while also hinting at Rivera’s criminally underrated Destiny’s End project, and there are several nods to prime Nevermore as well. The Devil’s Masquerade does the Helstar legacy proud, and it’s easily the best thing they’ve done since Nosferatu. Let this one in for a bite.
#8. Brainstorm // Plague of Rats – Brainstorm have been one of, if not the most reliable metal acts of the last few decades. Album after album brings a muscular, burly blend of classic metal and power, and time after time they kill it with massive anthems and sick hooks you just can’t shake. Plague of Rats follows the great Wall of Skulls and almost equals it in terms of memorable songs and metal magic. Andy B. Franck continues to be one of the best vocalists in all of metal, and when given tremendous songs to work with like “Garuda (Eater Of Snakes),” The Shepherd Girl (Gitavoginda),” and “Beyond Enemy Lines,” you get molten metal gold. The writing is rock solid with several Songs o’ the Year contenders, and the riffs and vocals are a thing of savage beauty. I love these guys more than I love red meat and hobo wine (almost).
#7. Under Ruins // Age of the Void – Formed by members of the highly underappreciated Lansfear and the cheesy King Diamond wannabes, Them,1 Under Ruins bring a polished, super slick form of epic power metal to the party on their Age of the Void debut. What makes their sound so immediate for me is how it ranges from Manowar-esque chest-thumping anthems to massive epic metal like Atlantean Kodex, and on to old-timey prog metal akin to the early days of Fates Warning, with some other interesting stops along the way. It’s enough like Lansfear to hook me in, but Under Ruins operate with a much broader vision and scope. “Whispered Curses, Woe Unleashed” is my Song o’ the Year, full of melancholic emotion but still bringing the thunder in the way vintage Tad Morose and Pryamaze did. The chorus has been ringing through my head all year, and I can’t escape it. Nor should you. Get under these ruins.
#6. Ambush // Evil in All Dimensions – When traditional and power metal are done properly, they can kick your ass and provide a massive jolt of fun at the same time. That’s exactly what Sweden’s Ambush does all over Evil in All Dimensions. Taking equal measurements of trad and power, they craft rip-roaring anthems to thunder, fire, steel, and make sure the hooks are plentiful. I defy you to blast the title track, “Maskirovka,” or “Bending the Steel” and not feel a rush of power in your veins. The riffs are pure 80s magic, and let me just mention Oskar Jacobsson’s vocals, because they are HUGE. This shit is 100% balls-to-the-walls energy; the songs have legs and demand repeat spins. This is one of the most infectious albums of 2025, and I think I may have underrated it a tad. Get your sack to the partition, pronto.
#5. Anchorite // Realm of Ruin – Taking the classic doom template of Candlemass and Solitude Aeternus and injecting it with the burly machismo of trve metal usually works, and in the case of Anchorite’s Realm of Ruin, it works extra hard! Beefy riffs drive the material to epic heights as doomy harmonies decorate the war wagon. Over the top of it all, Leo Stivala delivers strident, commanding vocals to embiggen the spirit. Cuts like the massive “The Lighthouse Chronicles” merge Paradise Lost with Crypt Sermon and deliver emotional doom with a touch of Nevermore’s moody power. Standout “The Apostate’s Prayer” is a top moment of 2025, and Stivala soars to grand heights, carrying the listener along with him, and “Kingdom Undone” brings in a touch of power metal with grand results and a killer chorus. A surprisingly varied and nuanced album, and one of the top doom platters of the year.
#4. Professor Emeritus // A Land Long Gone – Professor Emeritus may have one of the worst names in the metalverse, but their take on trve epic metal and doom more than make up for that oversight. A Land Long Gone is everything a fan of the trve genre could want, with big, bombastic compositions with hooks, bells, and whistles aplenty. This stuff brings the Manowar to the Candlemass recording session, with big loincloth energy adding to the slow-burning doom power. There are hints of Doomsword and Manilla Road along the road to high adventure, and everything is kept sword-friendly and mighty. “A Corpse’s Dream” is one of my favorite songs of the year, and I love the blending of styles they achieve, and “Zosimos” brings in copious Iron Maiden influences to bedazzle the Crypt Sermon-esque doom they deliver with aplomb. This is the kind of Professor I wish I had during my school years, so listen and learn!
#3. Paradise Lost // Ascension – I’ve followed Paradise Lost since 1991s Gothic release, and I stuck with them until they became Depeche Lost circa 2000. I came back when they went metal again, and though none of their third-stage albums floored me, I liked them enough to keep buying what they sold. That pattern changed with Ascension, which is every bit as powerful, heavy, and vibrant as their glory days, while showing a maturity and sophistication even the classics lack. Let me just come out and say it: I underrated this album, and for that, I feel some degree of fault. Ascension plays like a grand tour of the varied Paradise Lost eras, but nothing ends up feeling recycled. “Serpent on the Cross” is a killer opener featuring everything I ever loved about the band, and cuts like “Tyrants Serenade” and “Salvation” are amongst the best songs of their long-running career. Where I originally felt like the back half of the album was less stellar, I’ve come to love the complete package, and I think this is among the best Paradise Lost albums. Olde dogs can still bite!
#2. Fer De Lance // Fires on the Mountainside – Competing with Anchorite and Professor Emeritus for the best trve doom album of 2025, Fer De Lance brought the biggest sword to the warfield. Fires on the Mountainside has it all; massive trveness, battle-ready classic metal, nods to black and Viking metal, it’s all here and ready for action. Take one listen ot the mammoth title track, and you’ll accumulate more back hair in 7 minutes than you did in all of 2025 as the music takes you from Crypt Sermon-esque classic doom on through Hammerheart era Bathory with touches of folk along the way.2 This is music for heroes who laugh in the face of death. When the black metal element comes forward, you get gems like “Ravens Fly (Dreams of Daidalos),” and when they dial down to the epic doom side, you get monsters like “Death Thrives (Where Walls Divide)” where vocal maniac MP Papai goes all in, and channels Lost Horizon’s Daniel Heiman. If you spin this thing and don’t gain 2 inches on your biceps, you have Chronic Untrveness Disorder.
#1. Structure // Heritage – In a year when I was merely whelmed by much of what I heard, Structure came out of nowhere to drop an industrial earth mover of atmospheric doom on my life. The brainchild of Bram Bijlhout (ex-Officium Triste), Heritage finds him delivering a massive treatise on emotionally harrowing sadness and grief, aided by the killer vocals of Pim Blankenstein (Officium Triste, ex-The 11th Hour). Over the 50 minutes of Heritage, the duo drag you to the heart of sadness, loss, and despair as only thoughtful, well-executed doom can. Yet there are faint rays of light and hope in the inky black, mostly in the form of Bram’s beautiful, delicate guitar work, which weaves ethereal magic through the dour, downtrodden material. Heritage is a very dark album, but it’s rife with genuine beauty too, just as life often is. I’ve spun this thing more than any other 2025 release, and it keeps calling me back to its black womb. There’s something truly special here, and you shouldn’t miss out on experiencing it. This is your Heritage now.
Honorable Mentions:
- An Tóramh // Echoes of Eternal Night – Massive, crushing funereary doom with a great sense of atmosphere
- Phobocosm // Gateway – One of the best slabs of oppressive cavern-core death metal you’ll be squished by this year
- Plasmodulated // An Ocean ov Putrid, Stinky, Vile, Disgusting Hell – One of the oddest and endearing death metal albums of late
- Depravity // Bestial Possession – Brutal, blasting, splatterifying death metal that cannot be contained or reasoned with
- Diabolizer // Murderous Revelations – Fast, brutal, burly death metal that gives no fucks as it activates your dental plan
- Guts // Nightmare Fuel – Groove-heavy death metal with big stoner rock vibes should not work, but it does here
- Black Soul Horde // Symphony of Chaos – Epic heavy/power metal with more hooks than the local meat packery run by I. M. Pinhead
- Starlight Ritual // Rogue Angels – Imagine Lemmy joined Di’Anno era Iron Maiden and wrote some epic shit
- Amorphis // Borderlands – Amorphis return to form in a fan service release full of hooks and classic Amorphy moments
- Wytch Hazel // V: Lamentations – Maybe not their best album, but you can’t escape the ear glue of their NWoBHM meets 70s prog rock style
Triumph o’ the Year:
Our little blogworks received a glowing mention in none other than Rolling Stone Magazine, and no one was more surprised than we here at AMG International. It’s nice to see our efforts getting noticed, even in the world of professional music journalism, which we don’t discuss with fans.
Tragedy o’ the Year:
The passing of Ozzy Osbourne. We all knew it was coming, but not this soon. I didn’t expect it to hit me quite as hard as it did, or for the feeling of loss to linger as long as it has. This marks the definitive end of an era and the loss of a Founding Father of metal without peer. At least he went out the way he wanted: with a loud bang and crash. Have a glorious journey into eternity, Ozzman. You will always be missed.
Song(s) o’ the Year:
Under Ruins – “Whispered Curses, Woe Unleashed” – Massive epic goodness with big emotions.
Brainstorm – “The Shepherd Girl (Gitavoginda)” – So damn metal it gives me an iron hangover.
Disappointment o’ the Year:
Dark Angel // Extinction Level Event – What a prophetic album title this was, eh? After 1991s Time Does Not Heal, Dark Angel promised a new album. They promised it while I was in college, then grad school, then law school, during my first marriage, after my divorce, and over the next several decades. When they finally deliver something, and it’s the equivalent of third-rate re-thrash with only vague nods to their original sound, calling it disappointing doesn’t begin to cover it. We received the promo for Extinction Level Event in time to review it, and I was eager to do the job. After one listen, however, I realized the public was going to brutally savage this thing, and I didn’t see the point in adding another head stomp to a band I grew up worshipping. This is now the primary example of why it’s best to leave a legacy safely in the past, where it can live evergreen.
Show 2 footnotes
- Yes, I said that, Grier. ↩
- Yes, there’s a vague hint of Ed Sheeran’s “I See Fire” in the chorus, but don’t talk about it! ↩
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I'm unsure how effective sending form letters to Congress is. But at this point, we need to leverage all our voices at every opportunity.
Take Action: Protect Federal Funding for #Pell and #TRIO
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/protect-federal-funding-for-pell-and-trio?source=direct_link&
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I've been looking forward to these Hazelight games for some time and I think I may have come in at the best one to date!
Shout out to Kevikevshow (https://youtube.com/@KKSGamingVideos) for joining me in splitting some fiction!
The MajorLinux Show: SplitFridays with Kevikev (03/28/2025)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHj-gWsomEM
#CoOp #EA #EAOriginals #Gaming #Hazelight #JosefFares #PC #SplitFiction #Steam
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- Oklo Clears Environmental Reviews at INL
- Westinghouse Signs Engineering Contract for AP1000 Reactors in Bulgaria
- Great British Nuclear Issues ‘Invitation To Negotiate’ To Four SMR Companies
- Texas A&M University Proposes Sites for Reactor Test Beds
- World Economic Forum Publishes Framework for Advanced Nuclear Power
- IAEA Highlights ‘Pressing Need’ For International Finance For Nuclear Plants
Oklo Clears Environmental Review for INL Micro Reactor
Oklo checked off a significant milestone in its path forward toward building a first of a kind micro reactor on a site at the Idaho National Laboratory. This was the environmental review processes of the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Idaho National Laboratory required for construction of the firm’s first micro reactor on the federal site. It is targeting its first deployment at INL in 2027.
Jacob DeWitte, CEO and Co-Founder of Oklo, said the approvals are a “pivotal step forward as we advance toward deploying the first commercial advanced fission plant.”
DeWitt added that, “With this process complete, we can begin site characterization.”
This announcement follows the recent final sign off on a Memorandum of Agreement with the DOE, which initiates site characterization activities. It also follows DOE’s approval of Oklo’s Conceptual Safety Design Report for its Aurora Fuel Fabrication Facility, which will recycle nuclear material at INL to fuel the Aurora powerhouse.
Oklo is developing next-generation fission powerhouses, starting with the Aurora micro reactor, which can produce 15 MW of electrical power, scalable to 50 MWe, and operate for 10 years or longer before refueling. Oklo’s fast reactors incorporate key safety features and can be fueled by recycled waste.
DeWitt noted that “Our business model of selling power directly to customers rather than power plants positions us to respond to a growing order book effectively and meet diverse energy needs across data centers, industrial processes, defense, and off-grid communities.”
Supply Chain Agreement
Last December Oklo named Siemens Energy as its preferred supplier in an MOU on advanced fission power plant deployments. Siemens Energy would become Oklo’s preferred supplier for steam turbines and generator technology for its Aurora powerhouse.
Siemens Energy would also provide consulting to support Oklo in related design work to optimize the integration of the power conversion systems (conventional island). This partnership will help develop the capability to scale of the Aurora powerhouse deployments for customers. The Aurora powerhouse is designed to offer power ratings of 15-50 MWe.
Multiple Project Sites
Oklo has three project sites. A site use permit for its first location was granted by the Department of Energy in 2019. The firm was awarded fuel for its first reactor from Idaho National Laboratory. Oklo is currently doing work with the Idaho National Laboratory to take the waste fuel from EBR-II and use it for the first Aurora Powerhouse.
Centrus HALEU Production
In August 2023 Oklo and Centrus Energy signed an MOU for fuel, components, and power procurement to support the deployment of advanced fission technologies in Piketon, OH. The parties intend to enter into one or more definitive agreements relating to the following collaborative activities addressed in the MOU:
- Oklo would purchase HALEU from the production facility Centrus is planning to build in Piketon, Ohio, which is licensed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to produce HALEU.
- Centrus would purchase electricity from the Aurora powerhouses that Oklo is planning to build in Piketon. These two power plants are designed to power thousands of homes and businesses in addition to the HALEU production facility. The HALEU production plant is designed to be scaled up to support hundreds of reactors.
- Centrus would manufacture components for Oklo’s Aurora powerhouse at Centrus’ advanced manufacturing facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as well as manufacturing capacity at the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio, where HALEU production will take place.
- Centrus and Oklo would work together to establish and license the capabilities necessary to deconvert HALEU from uranium hexafluoride to uranium metal and fabricate fuel assemblies for Oklo’s Aurora powerhouses.
Two Plants for Piketon, OH
In February 2024 Oklo announced the signing of a lands right agreement with the non-profit Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative (SODI) for land including options for the siting of two plants.
This agreement is an extension of Oklo and SODI’s announcement in May 2023, related to the deployment of two Aurora powerhouses. SODI is a nonprofit community improvement corporation and serves as the DOE-designated community reuse organization for the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS) facility near Piketon, Ohio.
Subject to the terms and conditions of the land rights agreement and, in exchange for an upfront fee, which will be credited toward any purchase by Oklo under the land rights agreement, SODI has granted Oklo an option and right of first refusal to purchase land in Southern Ohio from SODI.
Oklo aims to build its second and third plants on land owned by SODI. The land will host two commercial 15 MWe Aurora powerhouses (30 MWe total) with opportunities to expand.
According to a company press statement, Oklo’s Aurora powerhouse reactor will cost around $70 million for the 15 MWe version, with levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of somewhere between $80-$130/MWh, depending on use and location.
Other Pending Deals
Oklo formed a strategic partnership with Atomic Alchemy to produce medical isotopes from its recycling of spent fuel process for cancer treatment and diagnostic imaging.
Separately, it signed a non-binding letter of intent (LOI) with Wyoming Hyperscale to collaborate on a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to supply 100 MW to its data center expected to be located in Cheyenne, WY.
Also, Oklo signed a non-binding LOI to collaborate on another 20-year PPA with Diamondback Energy to supply power to its shale-oil operations in the Permian Basin Texas.
Funding Status
In May 2024 Oklo Inc. (NYSE:OKLO) began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). This milestone follows the completion of its business combination with AltC Acquisition Corp. on 05/09/24.
Oklo has received $306 million in gross proceeds from the transaction before taking into account expenses associated with the transaction, which is expected to be used to execute Oklo’s business plan and fund the initial deployment of the company’s Aurora powerhouse. A key company focus is to develop and submit a license application to the NRC and to successfully complete that regulatory process.
Oklo announced its newly appointed board of directors comprised of industry leaders with Sam Altman serving as chairman of the board. Sam Altman, Chairman of Oklo since 2015 and former Chief Executive Officer of AltC, said, “There are huge growth opportunities ahead for the firm.”
NRC Licensing Update
Oklo is engaged with the NRC in pre-application activities interactions for the Oklo Aurora Powerhouse reactor. The proposed Oklo reactors are liquid metal-cooled, metal-fueled fast reactors with an initial power level of 15 MWe. Oklo has promoted the design as being scalable to 50 MWe.
Oklo submitted its latest regulatory engagement plan with the NRC in 3Q2023. However, the firm requested that the details of the plan be restricted from public view due to the proprietary nature of some of the information in it. The NRC’s web pages for the pre-application activity and docket are current as of October 2024.
The NRC has not indicated on its web site a calendar of milestones leading to a date for a license application from the firm which is expected under the agency’s Part 52 licensing regulations. These regulations are applicable to early site permits, design certifications, combined licenses, design approvals, or manufacturing licenses.
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Westinghouse Signs Engineering Contract for AP1000 Reactors in Bulgaria
Westinghouse Electric Company, Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. and Bulgaria’s Kozloduy NPP – New Build EAD have signed the Engineering Services Contract for two AP1000 reactors to be built at the Kozloduy site.
The contract scope includes site planning for two Westinghouse AP1000 units. In addition, the contract provides support for Kozloduy NPP – New Build EAD to begin licensing and permitting, while providing critical project planning and operations & maintenance development. The work outlined in the 12-month contract will begin immediately.
Bulgaria’s first AP1000 nuclear reactor is anticipated to achieve commercial operation in 2035. Westinghouse has already signed Memoranda of Understanding with 22 Bulgarian suppliers to support the project. The two-unit Kozloduy project will also provide Bulgarian firms opportunities to support the construction of other AP1000 units globally.
Former minister of energy Rumen Radev has said Bulgaria would like the cost of the two-unit project to not exceed $14 billion (€12.9bn). He added that the idea is to implement the project entirely on public funds with up to 25–30% percent self-financing. The rest is to be loan-financed for part of which Bulgarian State guarantees will be furnished. Minister Radev, has said that the electricity from the new Kozloduy reactors will cost €65/MWh.
According to trade press reports in March 2024, questions were raised about the economic basis for the project. Valentin Kolev, energy analyst and member of the American Association of Energy Engineers, told Euractiv:
“It will be very difficult to find banks to finance the project. If we assume that we will produce 15 terawatt-hours per year, in 20 years of operation, it makes 300 terawatt-hours. At a price of €17.6 billion for the two reactors, a price of close to €60/MWh [megawatt-hour] would result, but this is only the investment. Fuel costs and much more are not included. The price for power cannot be below €100–125.”
He added that cost overruns could push the completed cost of the twin reactors well past the estimated price of €17.6 billion which is €3.6 billion more than the estimate from the number from the energy minsitry. However, of the hypothetical price of $6,500/Kw, a global benchmark, is used, the price of the two reactors, at €14.95 billion comes out much closer to the Energy Ministry’s number.
At the signing ceremony Bulgarian Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev, Bulgarian Minister of Energy Vladimir Malinov, U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria Kenneth Merten, Executive Director of Kozloduy NPP – New Build Petyo Ivanov, Senior Vice President of Westinghouse Energy Systems Elias Gedeon, and Hyundai Engineering & Construction President and CEO Yoon Young-Joon attended the signing ceremony in Sofia.
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Great British Nuclear Issues ‘Invitation To Negotiate’ To Four SMR Companies
- A final decision on potential technologies is expected in spring 2025
(NucNet contributed to this report) Great British Nuclear (GBN) has issued an “invitation to negotiate” to the four companies that were chosen for the shortlist of the UK government’s small modular reactor (SMR) selection process.
GBN, the public body set up to drive the delivery of new nuclear energy projects in the UK, said that after these negotiations are concluded, the companies will be invited to submit final tenders, which GBN will then evaluate.
A final decision on which technologies to select will be taken in the spring 2025. GBN has not indicated how much government funding for the first-of-a-kind (FOAK) SMR will be provided or whether it will commit to funding SMRs in “fleet mode” once the FOAK is in revenue service.
Given that none of the four contenders have completed the UK Office of Nuclear Regulation Generic Design Assessment process to license their designs, a timeline for any of the SMR to complete all key milestones and attain being in revenue service extends at least to the end of this decade or into the early 2030s.
For instance, the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) for Rolls-Royce’s Small Modular Reactor (SMR) began in 2022 and is projected to span approximately 53 months, aiming for completion in 2026. In a flurry of marketing promises, Rolls-Royce earlier had projected a two-year turnaround. The British bureaucracy won. Construction of the first unit could take three-to-four years.
The good news for Rolls-Royce and its customers is that the firm is planning to build a fleet of 16 of its 470 MWe PWRs which means it is possible the units 5-16 will benefit from factory production economies of scale, a mature supply chain, and experienced workforce.
The other three contenders will have timelines that complete with reactors in revenue service at later dates. Assuming the UK government doesn’t put all its eggs in one basket, at least one more and possibly two of the remaining contenders could create SMR fleets based on their designs.
Current Contenders
The four companies in the process are GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy International, Holtec Britain Ltd, Rolls Royce SMR Ltd and Westinghouse Electric Company UK.
The two companies that were on an initial list of six, but were not included in the list of four, were EDF and US-based NuScale Power.
French state-owned utility and nuclear operator EDF said in July that it had pulled out of the competition after deciding to shift away from its indigenous Nuward technology to a design based on proven light water reactor technology.
The UK government gave no reason for NuScale’s failure to make the list of four. In November 2023, NuScale cancelled its first SMR project, in the US, as costs increased due to inflation.
UK Nuclear Industry Calls For No More Delays
Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the London-based Nuclear Industry Association, said that while it is good to see the UK SMR competition reach this stage, what is critical is reaching a decision as soon as possible without any further delays to the now published timeline.
“Confidence in the UK government’s pronouncements on support for SMRs rests on fulfilling commitments made today. It is vital for supply chain confidence as well as driving the wider nuclear ambition.”
Greatrex’s comments reflect the deep frustration the nuclear industry has with the UK government which has repeatedly dithered and delayed its investments decisions in SMRs since first entertaining the concept of SMRs in 2015.
Greatrex called for the government to empower GBN to buy more sites, starting with Heysham, so “we can deliver a fleet of SMRs for clean, reliable, British power and good, skilled jobs.”
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Texas A&M University Proposes Sites for Reactor Test Beds
Up to now several SMR and microreactor developers have set their sights on building their test prototypes and first of a kind (FOAK) plants at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory.
A new opportunity for siting and construction next generation nuclear reactors may become available. This is due to an action by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents.
It notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) it has potential sites available at Texas A&M-RELLIS in Bryan, TX, for multiple companies to test and construct the next generation of nuclear reactors. The “test bed” is expected to lead to energy advancements that could provide power to data centers for artificial intelligence and other power-hungry ventures.
The type of reactors that could be tested at Texas A&M-RELLIS are often labeled as “small modular reactors,” or SMRs. They have a footprint that is much smaller than the size of a traditional reactor, and they can produce up to 300MWe per unit, compared with more than 1,000MWe per unit with traditional reactors.
Clarity Needed on Roles, Responsibilities, and Costs of Licensing
In its press statement, Texas A&M said the submission of the letter of intent to the NRC “marks the beginning of a licensing process for the A&M System. Reactor companies will benefit from the A&M System taking on the licensing burden. The result will be a shorter path to getting their reactors up and running.”
It isn’t clear from the press statement what that means as licensing an SMR or a microreactor is an expensive and time consuming undertaking even with recent legislation mandating quicker turnaround times for the process. If the reactors built at the test bed at A&M are expected to eventually produce power, they would have to be licensed under NRC’s Part 52 regulations. The NRC is still at the front end of developing regulations for licensing advanced reactors, the so-called “Part 53 regulations.”
Even just the process of site characterization, e.g., readiness to host an advanced reactor test prototype, would require the NRC’s approval possibly through the early site permit process (ESP). In 2022 the State of Kentucky looked into the idea of preparing generic early site permits as a way to encourage siting of one or more LWRs in the state. The timeline was up to five years and the cost in 2022 was approximately $75 million per ESP. The report concluded that as the State of Kentucky had no prior experience licensing a nuclear reactor, either through an ESP, Part 50, or Part 52, that the timeline would be longer and the costs would be higher.
Image: Kentucky State Government
Lining Up Client Firms for the Program
The Texas A&M press statement says the university recently concluded the process of gathering proposals from nuclear reactor companies that hope to construct reactors at Texas A&M-RELLIS. The university did not name any of the current contenders.
Negotiations related to these proposals are expected to begin soon. Also, there might be additional opportunities for organizations to take advantage of the A&M System’s site for nuclear reactor technology testing and the manufacturing of small modular reactors.
After negotiations are complete, the A&M System will announce which companies will conduct testing and other work at Texas A&M-RELLIS. A timeline for announcing awards was not proved by the university.
Texas Size Ambitions for the Program
John Sharp, chancellor of the Texas A&M System, said “no other entity in the U.S. is further along than the Texas A&M System to provide a location and human resources to get small, modular nuclear reactors online. The test bed for the reactors will support multiple reactors from various companies.”
Sharp also claimed that the Texas A&M System, along with Texas A&M University, is uniquely qualified to take on a venture as ambitious as building, testing and running nuclear reactors. The system’s flagship campus in College Station – just a few miles from the testbed – employs dozens of professors and researchers with nuclear expertise. Plus, Texas A&M University is home to the largest nuclear engineering department of any university in the country.
& & &
World Economic Forum Publishes Framework for Advanced Nuclear Power
(WNN) The World Economic Forum (WEF) has released a framework to help align stakeholders on key actions and strategies to accelerate deployment of small modular reactors and other advanced nuclear technologies.
The report highlights nine priority areas and actions for accelerating the deployment of these technologies. ( full text PDF file )
Image: WEF
The World Economic Forum (WEF), in collaboration with Accenture, has partnered with stakeholders across the nuclear ecosystem – including experts from large energy-consuming industries, financiers, reactor vendors, supply chain businesses, utilities, government organizations, non-profits/NGOs and academia – to develop a Collaborative Framework for Accelerating Advanced Nuclear and Small Modular Reactor Deployment. It is intended to be a coordination tool for stakeholders to align on actions and strategies to accelerate advanced nuclear and SMR deployment.
“The Framework provides a basis for locally led implementation, as priorities will vary across geographies at various stages of nuclear development,” the report says. “It could also apply to other advanced clean energy technologies that require a systemic approach to unlock progress, such as geothermal and long-duration energy storage.”
“The ecosystem for new nuclear comprises a range of stakeholders including technology developers, financial institutions, utilities, large energy consumers and governments. Reaching commercial viability of advanced nuclear and SMRs is dependent on de-risking and improving the economics of projects through purposeful, coordinated action between these stakeholders – beyond anything seen before.”
Regarding the emergence of the advanced nuclear and SMR market, WEF says ecosystem collaboration must facilitate stronger demand signals to stimulate confidence among public and private investors by sharing risks and costs.
Deployment depends on energy policies that address specific challenges, such as improving supply chain stability and creating vehicles for strategic partnerships across ecosystem stakeholders. In addition, regulation needs to be modernised by aligning regulatory bodies to streamline licensing of standard design across countries.
In order to deliver advanced nuclear and SMRs at scale, project deployment must be transformed to enhance rapid delivery of cost-competitive projects through innovative deployment models, modular construction and design for manufacture and assembly, the report says.
Where possible, existing infrastructure should be repurposed and new reactors co-located with current energy systems.
The maturity and scalability of advanced nuclear and SMR technologies should be increased by collaborating with regulators and energy off-takers, as well as by standardizing design.
The nuclear supply chain should also be prepared for large-scale deployment by boosting investment, developing nuclear fuel sources and standardizing components.
Meanwhile, the workforce should be developed by identifying skills gaps, retraining workers from other energy industries, facilitating skills pools and partnerships between industry and educational institutions.
WEF says the financing of advanced nuclear and SMRs needs to be addressed by developing innovative financing mechanisms, leveraging public-private partnerships, reaching target cost levels to attract mainstream investments, and including nuclear in clean investment taxonomies.
The report said small modular reactors (SMRs) and other advanced nuclear technologies represent clean energy solutions that, when built at scale, could deliver cost-effective carbon-free energy. These technologies are well suited to meet many clean power, heat and clean fuel production use cases for heavy industry, data centers and transport,” the report says. “However, the commercial viability of these technologies needs to be improved.
& & &
IAEA Highlights ‘Pressing Need’ For International Finance For Nuclear Plants
- As climate summit approaches in Azerbaijan, UN atomic agency calls for investment to ‘rapidly increase’
(NucNet) As more than 100 heads of state and government are expected to gather in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, for the Cop29 UN climate summit, the International Atomic Energy Agency is hoping that delegates will agree on the pressing need for increased climate finance, including for new nuclear power plants.
As the world grapples with the escalating impacts of climate change, IAEA director-general Rafael Grossi will join global leaders at Cop29 – formally known as the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – to highlight what he called “the vast potential” of nuclear solutions for climate change mitigation, adaptation and monitoring.
The IAEA said a central theme of Cop29 will be the pressing need for increased climate finance.
A UN report released last month indicates that current policies and investments fall far short of what is needed to keep global temperature rise below 1.5°C in this century, the target of the Paris Agreement signed at Cop21 in 2016.
In its own report last month the IAEA said investment in nuclear power must rapidly increase to $125 billion (€115bn) a year by 2030 meet global climate targets.
The IAEA said it will showcase nuclear solutions for climate action in some 40 events at Cop29, which will take place from the 11th to 22nd of November. The agency’s Atoms4Climate pavilion will feature an exhibit on nuclear applications, with IAEA experts ready to answer questions about how nuclear energy contributes to net-zero emissions and how nuclear science can address climate-related challenges to food security, water resources and ocean health.
The agency wants Cop29 to build on the global consensus that emerged at Cop28 in Dubai, where 22 countries signed a pledge to triple nuclear generation capacity by 2050 from a base year of 2020. Also at Cop28, the agreed deal recognised the need to accelerate nuclear energy as a key approach for a deep, rapid and sustained reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Cop29 also follows on the first Nuclear Energy Summit, hosted in Brussels by the IAEA and the government of Belgium in March, where leaders from more than 30 countries reaffirmed their commitment to nuclear energy as a way to reduce carbon emissions and meet development goals.
“At Cop28, the world agreed nuclear power must be part of the transition to net zero,” said Grossi. “We know investment in nuclear power can lower grid costs and speed up the deployment of intermittent clean-energy sources like wind and solar.
“As the world moves from consensus to construction, the IAEA supports newcomer countries in establishing safe, secure, safeguarded and sustainable nuclear power programs.”
Grossi will co-host a high-level event with the US on small modular reactors (SMRs), which offer flexible, cost-effective options for powering small energy grids, making them suitable for developing countries, as well as energy-intensive industries, data centers and even commercial ships.
Governments Need To Play A Role
The IAEA wants governments to play a role in ensuring financing availability for nuclear power projects. This includes providing loan guarantees, subsidies, and regulatory support to attract private investors. Public-private partnerships are seen as a potential model for distributing financial risks while making nuclear energy projects more bankable.
Despite private investors having been “historically averse” to nuclear energy projects due to their specific risks, various financial instruments can help mitigate these risks and make nuclear ventures more appealing to private capital.
Government backing can also come though export credit agencies, with export credit having become increasingly important for all parties involved in nuclear energy projects, the IAEA said.
Innovative financing mechanisms, including green bonds and sustainable finance, could also be used to unlock the required capital. The inclusion of nuclear energy in sustainable investment taxonomies, such as in the European Union, is seen as a potential catalyst for drawing commercial banks into the sector.
# # #
https://neutronbytes.com/2024/11/09/oklo-clears-environmental-review-at-inl/
-
Rally Scandia and round 2 of the #JRC is done! We had a decent showing, and again, it was a fun drive. I'm really falling for these #Rally2 cars in the JRC2 class. I hit my marks for being in the middle of the pack and I'm hoping to keep within the top 10 as the rest of the competitors fill in their times on the board. Safari Rally Kenya is next week!
Full championship standings. -
Have you ever read a book, watched a movie or played a game that brought you to tears, but it's so good you just want to pick it up and go thru it again? That's the Mass Effect trilogy for me. It's been a year or so since I finished the Legendary Edition and somebody posted this to Reddit and man, I'm feeling that urge. That trilogy is a masterpiece of video game storytelling man. It don't get much better than this.
Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/comments/1t52iy6/shepard_and_tali_eternity/
-
What the actual fuck!? #MassEffect is one of the greatest stories ever told, #gaming or otherwise, and they're fucking with it to broaden appeal? I'm officially terrified.
Headline: #Amazon Mass Effect Show Undergoes Script Rewrite for 2026 Production
Source: https://www.ingamenews.com/2026/04/amazon-mass-effect-show-undergoes.html
-
CW: Misskey only allows for 512 characters of alt-text which is bad for my image posts; CW: long (over 8,600 characters), Fediverse meta, Fediverse-beyond-Mastodon meta, alt-text meta, character limit meta, content warning meta
Just the other day, I found something out. Something very inconvenient about Misskey and maybe also the Forkeys.
It should be commonly known that Misskey has a local limit of 3,000 characters for posts (which it refers to as "notes"). What is not so well-known is that Misskey has a limit of about 8,000 characters, probably 8,192 or so, for inbound messages, ironically fewer than this post is long. Also, it has a limit of 512 characters for alt-text, both locally and in-bound.
Mastodon has a character limit for in-bound content, too, at least for Note-type objects (not for Article-type objects because it refuses to render them fully and links to the original instead). To my best knowledge, it rejects messages with over 100,000 characters. As for its 1,500-charater limit for alt-text, it enforces that by truncating alt-text that's longer.
Misskey, in contrast, truncates everything that exceeds its limits while still letting it in. If your post is longer than the inbound limit of ca. 8,000, all excess characters are chopped off and thrown away. If your alt-text is longer than 512 characters, all excess characters are chopped off and thrown away.
I don't know which Forkey behaves how in this regard, seeing as all Forkeys I know about have a configurable local post character limit that can be adjusted to well over 8,000. But even if the inbound limit is configurable, too, I don't think any *key admin cranks it over 60,000 or over 70,000 or over 100,000. It's simply unimaginable that someone, anyone, could ever post that much at once if your idea of the Fediverse is pure microblogging.
Also, I don't know what *key users do when they come across a truncated post or what blind or visually-impaired *key users do when they come across a truncated alt-text. Do they even suspect that it's a truncated copy of something that's longer at its source and then go check the source? Either way, it's very inconvenient.
It's especially inconvenient for me. My longest posts by a gigantic margin are image posts with original images. They always have a long image description block in the post itself that tends to be tens of thousands of characters long. It contains highly detailed visual descriptions of all images in the post. It contains all explanations necessary to understand the post, the images and the descriptions. It contains verbatim transcripts of all bits of text within the borders of the image that I can read, no matter whether or not my audience can.
In addition, each image has a shorter description in the alt-text, along with a bit that announces the long description, including where to find it. I even used to explain how to get to that description for Mastodon users for whom the summary and content warning hides the post text, but not the images, depending on which Mastodon version and frontend they use. This alone took up several hundred characters in the alt-text. All in all, I got to a point in which my alt-texts always ended up either at precisely 1,500 characters or just a few characters short.
I myself am not really bound to character limits. I used to post images here on Hubzilla where I have over 16.7 million characters for the post, including all alt-texts. Now I post them on (streams) where I have over 24 million characters. I could theoretically write alt-texts as long as I want to, seeing as, unlike on Mastodon, they aren't separate text fields; instead, they're being woven into the image-embedding markup code in the post text.
Still, I stick to a maximum of 1,500 characters for alt-text to keep Mastodon from truncating it. If you post images into the Fediverse, the main audience for your alt-text is on Mastodon, and most of them don't understand that there's something, anything, out there in the Fediverse that does not work exactly like Mastodon. And 1,500 characters can be tight already.
But if I have to stay within Misskey's limits, I can hardly post images anymore. At least not with appropriate descriptions and explanations.
Since late 2024, I have been working on-and-off on a series of fairly simple avatar portraits or rather their image descriptions. The idea is for the long description to consist of a preamble that starts with a general summary, followed by explanations, then followed by visual descriptions of what all images in the post have in common. Next come the individual descriptions of each image. Each post shall have three or four images with three or four portraits each, all in the same pose, all with only minor differences in outfits, all with a neutral, bright white background.
In addition, of course, each image shall have an alt-text, and none of the alt-texts shall depend on each other.
Now, the problem is that I have to describe three or four individual portraits in each alt-text. I'm actually struggling to squeeze such a description plus the note that announces the long description into 1,500 characters, especially if I want to fulfill Veronica Lewis a.k.a. Veronica With Four Eyes' requirements for outfit descriptions to a tee in the alt-text as well (https://veroniiiica.com/how-to-write-alt-text-for-casual-outfits/, https://veroniiiica.com/writing-image-descriptions-for-red-carpet-outfits/; see also https://veroniiiica.com/how-to-write-alt-text-image-descriptions-visually-impaired/ and https://veroniiiica.com/how-to-create-visual-descriptions/).
But in 512 characters so that even Misskey users won't get a severely truncated version? This is absolutely impossible. Even if I limit the long description announcement to some 100 characters, even if I didn't walk people through how to get to the long description, I'd have fewer than 140 characters on average to describe each individual outfit.
The long description won't fare any better. Currently, the preamble starts with some 14,000 characters of explanations, most of which are necessary to understand the visual descriptions. But when Misskey goes and truncates the post at the 8,000-something mark, Misskey users won't even get to any visual description because all visual descriptions would be chopped off.
What makes matters worse is that the preamble grows the longer, the easier to understand I make it and the less I leave people with unexplained technical or jargon terms which you shouldn't use in image descriptions at all anyway. So the next time I go through it and rewrite it to make it easier to understand, I'll also make it even longer than it already is.
But what if I simply cut all the explanations? For one, I'd leave people to their own devices to understand extremely obscure niche content. They won't. My explanations aren't 14,000 characters long because I've artificially inflated them, but because there is so much to know before you understand the post and the images and the descriptions.
Besides, the visual descriptions alone won't fit into 8,192 characters either. What I currently have is over 5,000 characters of common visual description for all portraits in all images plus about 2,500 characters of individual visual description for the three portraits in the first image. That's over 7,500 characters altogether already. And I still have to describe nine portraits in another three images. The post will end up with some 15,000 characters of visual descriptions unless they grow longer when I simplify them again.
I guess users of Misskey or any Forkey will still have to put up with truncated alt-texts and truncated long descriptions in the future. But my future image posts will contain a paragraph at the beginning that explains that the post and/or the alt-text may be truncated on Misskey and the Forkeys, and that both are uncut at the source. Still, this means that *key users will have to put up with the extra hassle of opening my original post at a source with a quite cumbersome UI. And I've got my doubts that this UI is really accessible.
Unfortunately, this also means that *key users won't get any hashtags along with these posts. But then again, the handling of Identi.ca-style/Friendica-style hashtags with the number sign outside the link is broken on all *keys and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Misskey #Forkey #Forkeys #Calckey #Firefish #Sharkey #CherryPick #Iceshrimp #Iceshrimp-JS #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta #ImageDescription #ImageDescriptions #ImageDescriptionMeta #CWImageDescriptionMeta #CW #CWs #CWMeta #ContentWarning #ContentWarnings #ContentWarningMeta #CharacterLimit #CharacterLimits #CharacterLimitMeta #CWCharacterLimitMeta #A11y #Accessibility -
CW: Misskey only allows for 512 characters of alt-text which is bad for my image posts; CW: long (over 8,600 characters), Fediverse meta, Fediverse-beyond-Mastodon meta, alt-text meta, character limit meta, content warning meta
Just the other day, I found something out. Something very inconvenient about Misskey and maybe also the Forkeys.
It should be commonly known that Misskey has a local limit of 3,000 characters for posts (which it refers to as "notes"). What is not so well-known is that Misskey has a limit of about 8,000 characters, probably 8,192 or so, for inbound messages, ironically fewer than this post is long. Also, it has a limit of 512 characters for alt-text, both locally and in-bound.
Mastodon has a character limit for in-bound content, too, at least for Note-type objects (not for Article-type objects because it refuses to render them fully and links to the original instead). To my best knowledge, it rejects messages with over 100,000 characters. As for its 1,500-charater limit for alt-text, it enforces that by truncating alt-text that's longer.
Misskey, in contrast, truncates everything that exceeds its limits while still letting it in. If your post is longer than the inbound limit of ca. 8,000, all excess characters are chopped off and thrown away. If your alt-text is longer than 512 characters, all excess characters are chopped off and thrown away.
I don't know which Forkey behaves how in this regard, seeing as all Forkeys I know about have a configurable local post character limit that can be adjusted to well over 8,000. But even if the inbound limit is configurable, too, I don't think any *key admin cranks it over 60,000 or over 70,000 or over 100,000. It's simply unimaginable that someone, anyone, could ever post that much at once if your idea of the Fediverse is pure microblogging.
Also, I don't know what *key users do when they come across a truncated post or what blind or visually-impaired *key users do when they come across a truncated alt-text. Do they even suspect that it's a truncated copy of something that's longer at its source and then go check the source? Either way, it's very inconvenient.
It's especially inconvenient for me. My longest posts by a gigantic margin are image posts with original images. They always have a long image description block in the post itself that tends to be tens of thousands of characters long. It contains highly detailed visual descriptions of all images in the post. It contains all explanations necessary to understand the post, the images and the descriptions. It contains verbatim transcripts of all bits of text within the borders of the image that I can read, no matter whether or not my audience can.
In addition, each image has a shorter description in the alt-text, along with a bit that announces the long description, including where to find it. I even used to explain how to get to that description for Mastodon users for whom the summary and content warning hides the post text, but not the images, depending on which Mastodon version and frontend they use. This alone took up several hundred characters in the alt-text. All in all, I got to a point in which my alt-texts always ended up either at precisely 1,500 characters or just a few characters short.
I myself am not really bound to character limits. I used to post images here on Hubzilla where I have over 16.7 million characters for the post, including all alt-texts. Now I post them on (streams) where I have over 24 million characters. I could theoretically write alt-texts as long as I want to, seeing as, unlike on Mastodon, they aren't separate text fields; instead, they're being woven into the image-embedding markup code in the post text.
Still, I stick to a maximum of 1,500 characters for alt-text to keep Mastodon from truncating it. If you post images into the Fediverse, the main audience for your alt-text is on Mastodon, and most of them don't understand that there's something, anything, out there in the Fediverse that does not work exactly like Mastodon. And 1,500 characters can be tight already.
But if I have to stay within Misskey's limits, I can hardly post images anymore. At least not with appropriate descriptions and explanations.
Since late 2024, I have been working on-and-off on a series of fairly simple avatar portraits or rather their image descriptions. The idea is for the long description to consist of a preamble that starts with a general summary, followed by explanations, then followed by visual descriptions of what all images in the post have in common. Next come the individual descriptions of each image. Each post shall have three or four images with three or four portraits each, all in the same pose, all with only minor differences in outfits, all with a neutral, bright white background.
In addition, of course, each image shall have an alt-text, and none of the alt-texts shall depend on each other.
Now, the problem is that I have to describe three or four individual portraits in each alt-text. I'm actually struggling to squeeze such a description plus the note that announces the long description into 1,500 characters, especially if I want to fulfill Veronica Lewis a.k.a. Veronica With Four Eyes' requirements for outfit descriptions to a tee in the alt-text as well (https://veroniiiica.com/how-to-write-alt-text-for-casual-outfits/, https://veroniiiica.com/writing-image-descriptions-for-red-carpet-outfits/; see also https://veroniiiica.com/how-to-write-alt-text-image-descriptions-visually-impaired/ and https://veroniiiica.com/how-to-create-visual-descriptions/).
But in 512 characters so that even Misskey users won't get a severely truncated version? This is absolutely impossible. Even if I limit the long description announcement to some 100 characters, even if I didn't walk people through how to get to the long description, I'd have fewer than 140 characters on average to describe each individual outfit.
The long description won't fare any better. Currently, the preamble starts with some 14,000 characters of explanations, most of which are necessary to understand the visual descriptions. But when Misskey goes and truncates the post at the 8,000-something mark, Misskey users won't even get to any visual description because all visual descriptions would be chopped off.
What makes matters worse is that the preamble grows the longer, the easier to understand I make it and the less I leave people with unexplained technical or jargon terms which you shouldn't use in image descriptions at all anyway. So the next time I go through it and rewrite it to make it easier to understand, I'll also make it even longer than it already is.
But what if I simply cut all the explanations? For one, I'd leave people to their own devices to understand extremely obscure niche content. They won't. My explanations aren't 14,000 characters long because I've artificially inflated them, but because there is so much to know before you understand the post and the images and the descriptions.
Besides, the visual descriptions alone won't fit into 8,192 characters either. What I currently have is over 5,000 characters of common visual description for all portraits in all images plus about 2,500 characters of individual visual description for the three portraits in the first image. That's over 7,500 characters altogether already. And I still have to describe nine portraits in another three images. The post will end up with some 15,000 characters of visual descriptions unless they grow longer when I simplify them again.
I guess users of Misskey or any Forkey will still have to put up with truncated alt-texts and truncated long descriptions in the future. But my future image posts will contain a paragraph at the beginning that explains that the post and/or the alt-text may be truncated on Misskey and the Forkeys, and that both are uncut at the source. Still, this means that *key users will have to put up with the extra hassle of opening my original post at a source with a quite cumbersome UI. And I've got my doubts that this UI is really accessible.
Unfortunately, this also means that *key users won't get any hashtags along with these posts. But then again, the handling of Identi.ca-style/Friendica-style hashtags with the number sign outside the link is broken on all *keys and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Misskey #Forkey #Forkeys #Calckey #Firefish #Sharkey #CherryPick #Iceshrimp #Iceshrimp-JS #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta #ImageDescription #ImageDescriptions #ImageDescriptionMeta #CWImageDescriptionMeta #CW #CWs #CWMeta #ContentWarning #ContentWarnings #ContentWarningMeta #CharacterLimit #CharacterLimits #CharacterLimitMeta #CWCharacterLimitMeta #A11y #Accessibility -
CW: Misskey only allows for 512 characters of alt-text which is bad for my image posts; CW: long (over 8,600 characters), Fediverse meta, Fediverse-beyond-Mastodon meta, alt-text meta, character limit meta, content warning meta
Just the other day, I found something out. Something very inconvenient about Misskey and maybe also the Forkeys.
It should be commonly known that Misskey has a local limit of 3,000 characters for posts (which it refers to as "notes"). What is not so well-known is that Misskey has a limit of about 8,000 characters, probably 8,192 or so, for inbound messages, ironically fewer than this post is long. Also, it has a limit of 512 characters for alt-text, both locally and in-bound.
Mastodon has a character limit for in-bound content, too, at least for Note-type objects (not for Article-type objects because it refuses to render them fully and links to the original instead). To my best knowledge, it rejects messages with over 100,000 characters. As for its 1,500-charater limit for alt-text, it enforces that by truncating alt-text that's longer.
Misskey, in contrast, truncates everything that exceeds its limits while still letting it in. If your post is longer than the inbound limit of ca. 8,000, all excess characters are chopped off and thrown away. If your alt-text is longer than 512 characters, all excess characters are chopped off and thrown away.
I don't know which Forkey behaves how in this regard, seeing as all Forkeys I know about have a configurable local post character limit that can be adjusted to well over 8,000. But even if the inbound limit is configurable, too, I don't think any *key admin cranks it over 60,000 or over 70,000 or over 100,000. It's simply unimaginable that someone, anyone, could ever post that much at once if your idea of the Fediverse is pure microblogging.
Also, I don't know what *key users do when they come across a truncated post or what blind or visually-impaired *key users do when they come across a truncated alt-text. Do they even suspect that it's a truncated copy of something that's longer at its source and then go check the source? Either way, it's very inconvenient.
It's especially inconvenient for me. My longest posts by a gigantic margin are image posts with original images. They always have a long image description block in the post itself that tends to be tens of thousands of characters long. It contains highly detailed visual descriptions of all images in the post. It contains all explanations necessary to understand the post, the images and the descriptions. It contains verbatim transcripts of all bits of text within the borders of the image that I can read, no matter whether or not my audience can.
In addition, each image has a shorter description in the alt-text, along with a bit that announces the long description, including where to find it. I even used to explain how to get to that description for Mastodon users for whom the summary and content warning hides the post text, but not the images, depending on which Mastodon version and frontend they use. This alone took up several hundred characters in the alt-text. All in all, I got to a point in which my alt-texts always ended up either at precisely 1,500 characters or just a few characters short.
I myself am not really bound to character limits. I used to post images here on Hubzilla where I have over 16.7 million characters for the post, including all alt-texts. Now I post them on (streams) where I have over 24 million characters. I could theoretically write alt-texts as long as I want to, seeing as, unlike on Mastodon, they aren't separate text fields; instead, they're being woven into the image-embedding markup code in the post text.
Still, I stick to a maximum of 1,500 characters for alt-text to keep Mastodon from truncating it. If you post images into the Fediverse, the main audience for your alt-text is on Mastodon, and most of them don't understand that there's something, anything, out there in the Fediverse that does not work exactly like Mastodon. And 1,500 characters can be tight already.
But if I have to stay within Misskey's limits, I can hardly post images anymore. At least not with appropriate descriptions and explanations.
Since late 2024, I have been working on-and-off on a series of fairly simple avatar portraits or rather their image descriptions. The idea is for the long description to consist of a preamble that starts with a general summary, followed by explanations, then followed by visual descriptions of what all images in the post have in common. Next come the individual descriptions of each image. Each post shall have three or four images with three or four portraits each, all in the same pose, all with only minor differences in outfits, all with a neutral, bright white background.
In addition, of course, each image shall have an alt-text, and none of the alt-texts shall depend on each other.
Now, the problem is that I have to describe three or four individual portraits in each alt-text. I'm actually struggling to squeeze such a description plus the note that announces the long description into 1,500 characters, especially if I want to fulfill Veronica Lewis a.k.a. Veronica With Four Eyes' requirements for outfit descriptions to a tee in the alt-text as well (https://veroniiiica.com/how-to-write-alt-text-for-casual-outfits/, https://veroniiiica.com/writing-image-descriptions-for-red-carpet-outfits/; see also https://veroniiiica.com/how-to-write-alt-text-image-descriptions-visually-impaired/ and https://veroniiiica.com/how-to-create-visual-descriptions/).
But in 512 characters so that even Misskey users won't get a severely truncated version? This is absolutely impossible. Even if I limit the long description announcement to some 100 characters, even if I didn't walk people through how to get to the long description, I'd have fewer than 140 characters on average to describe each individual outfit.
The long description won't fare any better. Currently, the preamble starts with some 14,000 characters of explanations, most of which are necessary to understand the visual descriptions. But when Misskey goes and truncates the post at the 8,000-something mark, Misskey users won't even get to any visual description because all visual descriptions would be chopped off.
What makes matters worse is that the preamble grows the longer, the easier to understand I make it and the less I leave people with unexplained technical or jargon terms which you shouldn't use in image descriptions at all anyway. So the next time I go through it and rewrite it to make it easier to understand, I'll also make it even longer than it already is.
But what if I simply cut all the explanations? For one, I'd leave people to their own devices to understand extremely obscure niche content. They won't. My explanations aren't 14,000 characters long because I've artificially inflated them, but because there is so much to know before you understand the post and the images and the descriptions.
Besides, the visual descriptions alone won't fit into 8,192 characters either. What I currently have is over 5,000 characters of common visual description for all portraits in all images plus about 2,500 characters of individual visual description for the three portraits in the first image. That's over 7,500 characters altogether already. And I still have to describe nine portraits in another three images. The post will end up with some 15,000 characters of visual descriptions unless they grow longer when I simplify them again.
I guess users of Misskey or any Forkey will still have to put up with truncated alt-texts and truncated long descriptions in the future. But my future image posts will contain a paragraph at the beginning that explains that the post and/or the alt-text may be truncated on Misskey and the Forkeys, and that both are uncut at the source. Still, this means that *key users will have to put up with the extra hassle of opening my original post at a source with a quite cumbersome UI. And I've got my doubts that this UI is really accessible.
Unfortunately, this also means that *key users won't get any hashtags along with these posts. But then again, the handling of Identi.ca-style/Friendica-style hashtags with the number sign outside the link is broken on all *keys and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Misskey #Forkey #Forkeys #Calckey #Firefish #Sharkey #CherryPick #Iceshrimp #Iceshrimp-JS #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta #ImageDescription #ImageDescriptions #ImageDescriptionMeta #CWImageDescriptionMeta #CW #CWs #CWMeta #ContentWarning #ContentWarnings #ContentWarningMeta #CharacterLimit #CharacterLimits #CharacterLimitMeta #CWCharacterLimitMeta #A11y #Accessibility -
CW: Misskey only allows for 512 characters of alt-text which is bad for my image posts; CW: long (over 8,600 characters), Fediverse meta, Fediverse-beyond-Mastodon meta, alt-text meta, character limit meta, content warning meta
Just the other day, I found something out. Something very inconvenient about Misskey and maybe also the Forkeys.
It should be commonly known that Misskey has a local limit of 3,000 characters for posts (which it refers to as "notes"). What is not so well-known is that Misskey has a limit of about 8,000 characters, probably 8,192 or so, for inbound messages, ironically fewer than this post is long. Also, it has a limit of 512 characters for alt-text, both locally and in-bound.
Mastodon has a character limit for in-bound content, too, at least for Note-type objects (not for Article-type objects because it refuses to render them fully and links to the original instead). To my best knowledge, it rejects messages with over 100,000 characters. As for its 1,500-charater limit for alt-text, it enforces that by truncating alt-text that's longer.
Misskey, in contrast, truncates everything that exceeds its limits while still letting it in. If your post is longer than the inbound limit of ca. 8,000, all excess characters are chopped off and thrown away. If your alt-text is longer than 512 characters, all excess characters are chopped off and thrown away.
I don't know which Forkey behaves how in this regard, seeing as all Forkeys I know about have a configurable local post character limit that can be adjusted to well over 8,000. But even if the inbound limit is configurable, too, I don't think any *key admin cranks it over 60,000 or over 70,000 or over 100,000. It's simply unimaginable that someone, anyone, could ever post that much at once if your idea of the Fediverse is pure microblogging.
Also, I don't know what *key users do when they come across a truncated post or what blind or visually-impaired *key users do when they come across a truncated alt-text. Do they even suspect that it's a truncated copy of something that's longer at its source and then go check the source? Either way, it's very inconvenient.
It's especially inconvenient for me. My longest posts by a gigantic margin are image posts with original images. They always have a long image description block in the post itself that tends to be tens of thousands of characters long. It contains highly detailed visual descriptions of all images in the post. It contains all explanations necessary to understand the post, the images and the descriptions. It contains verbatim transcripts of all bits of text within the borders of the image that I can read, no matter whether or not my audience can.
In addition, each image has a shorter description in the alt-text, along with a bit that announces the long description, including where to find it. I even used to explain how to get to that description for Mastodon users for whom the summary and content warning hides the post text, but not the images, depending on which Mastodon version and frontend they use. This alone took up several hundred characters in the alt-text. All in all, I got to a point in which my alt-texts always ended up either at precisely 1,500 characters or just a few characters short.
I myself am not really bound to character limits. I used to post images here on Hubzilla where I have over 16.7 million characters for the post, including all alt-texts. Now I post them on (streams) where I have over 24 million characters. I could theoretically write alt-texts as long as I want to, seeing as, unlike on Mastodon, they aren't separate text fields; instead, they're being woven into the image-embedding markup code in the post text.
Still, I stick to a maximum of 1,500 characters for alt-text to keep Mastodon from truncating it. If you post images into the Fediverse, the main audience for your alt-text is on Mastodon, and most of them don't understand that there's something, anything, out there in the Fediverse that does not work exactly like Mastodon. And 1,500 characters can be tight already.
But if I have to stay within Misskey's limits, I can hardly post images anymore. At least not with appropriate descriptions and explanations.
Since late 2024, I have been working on-and-off on a series of fairly simple avatar portraits or rather their image descriptions. The idea is for the long description to consist of a preamble that starts with a general summary, followed by explanations, then followed by visual descriptions of what all images in the post have in common. Next come the individual descriptions of each image. Each post shall have three or four images with three or four portraits each, all in the same pose, all with only minor differences in outfits, all with a neutral, bright white background.
In addition, of course, each image shall have an alt-text, and none of the alt-texts shall depend on each other.
Now, the problem is that I have to describe three or four individual portraits in each alt-text. I'm actually struggling to squeeze such a description plus the note that announces the long description into 1,500 characters, especially if I want to fulfill Veronica Lewis a.k.a. Veronica With Four Eyes' requirements for outfit descriptions to a tee in the alt-text as well (https://veroniiiica.com/how-to-write-alt-text-for-casual-outfits/, https://veroniiiica.com/writing-image-descriptions-for-red-carpet-outfits/; see also https://veroniiiica.com/how-to-write-alt-text-image-descriptions-visually-impaired/ and https://veroniiiica.com/how-to-create-visual-descriptions/).
But in 512 characters so that even Misskey users won't get a severely truncated version? This is absolutely impossible. Even if I limit the long description announcement to some 100 characters, even if I didn't walk people through how to get to the long description, I'd have fewer than 140 characters on average to describe each individual outfit.
The long description won't fare any better. Currently, the preamble starts with some 14,000 characters of explanations, most of which are necessary to understand the visual descriptions. But when Misskey goes and truncates the post at the 8,000-something mark, Misskey users won't even get to any visual description because all visual descriptions would be chopped off.
What makes matters worse is that the preamble grows the longer, the easier to understand I make it and the less I leave people with unexplained technical or jargon terms which you shouldn't use in image descriptions at all anyway. So the next time I go through it and rewrite it to make it easier to understand, I'll also make it even longer than it already is.
But what if I simply cut all the explanations? For one, I'd leave people to their own devices to understand extremely obscure niche content. They won't. My explanations aren't 14,000 characters long because I've artificially inflated them, but because there is so much to know before you understand the post and the images and the descriptions.
Besides, the visual descriptions alone won't fit into 8,192 characters either. What I currently have is over 5,000 characters of common visual description for all portraits in all images plus about 2,500 characters of individual visual description for the three portraits in the first image. That's over 7,500 characters altogether already. And I still have to describe nine portraits in another three images. The post will end up with some 15,000 characters of visual descriptions unless they grow longer when I simplify them again.
I guess users of Misskey or any Forkey will still have to put up with truncated alt-texts and truncated long descriptions in the future. But my future image posts will contain a paragraph at the beginning that explains that the post and/or the alt-text may be truncated on Misskey and the Forkeys, and that both are uncut at the source. Still, this means that *key users will have to put up with the extra hassle of opening my original post at a source with a quite cumbersome UI. And I've got my doubts that this UI is really accessible.
Unfortunately, this also means that *key users won't get any hashtags along with these posts. But then again, the handling of Identi.ca-style/Friendica-style hashtags with the number sign outside the link is broken on all *keys and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Misskey #Forkey #Forkeys #Calckey #Firefish #Sharkey #CherryPick #Iceshrimp #Iceshrimp-JS #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta #ImageDescription #ImageDescriptions #ImageDescriptionMeta #CWImageDescriptionMeta #CW #CWs #CWMeta #ContentWarning #ContentWarnings #ContentWarningMeta #CharacterLimit #CharacterLimits #CharacterLimitMeta #CWCharacterLimitMeta #A11y #Accessibility -
CW: Misskey only allows for 512 characters of alt-text which is bad for my image posts; CW: long (over 8,600 characters), Fediverse meta, Fediverse-beyond-Mastodon meta, alt-text meta, character limit meta, content warning meta
Just the other day, I found something out. Something very inconvenient about Misskey and maybe also the Forkeys.
It should be commonly known that Misskey has a local limit of 3,000 characters for posts (which it refers to as "notes"). What is not so well-known is that Misskey has a limit of about 8,000 characters, probably 8,192 or so, for inbound messages, ironically fewer than this post is long. Also, it has a limit of 512 characters for alt-text, both locally and in-bound.
Mastodon has a character limit for in-bound content, too, at least for Note-type objects (not for Article-type objects because it refuses to render them fully and links to the original instead). To my best knowledge, it rejects messages with over 100,000 characters. As for its 1,500-charater limit for alt-text, it enforces that by truncating alt-text that's longer.
Misskey, in contrast, truncates everything that exceeds its limits while still letting it in. If your post is longer than the inbound limit of ca. 8,000, all excess characters are chopped off and thrown away. If your alt-text is longer than 512 characters, all excess characters are chopped off and thrown away.
I don't know which Forkey behaves how in this regard, seeing as all Forkeys I know about have a configurable local post character limit that can be adjusted to well over 8,000. But even if the inbound limit is configurable, too, I don't think any *key admin cranks it over 60,000 or over 70,000 or over 100,000. It's simply unimaginable that someone, anyone, could ever post that much at once if your idea of the Fediverse is pure microblogging.
Also, I don't know what *key users do when they come across a truncated post or what blind or visually-impaired *key users do when they come across a truncated alt-text. Do they even suspect that it's a truncated copy of something that's longer at its source and then go check the source? Either way, it's very inconvenient.
It's especially inconvenient for me. My longest posts by a gigantic margin are image posts with original images. They always have a long image description block in the post itself that tends to be tens of thousands of characters long. It contains highly detailed visual descriptions of all images in the post. It contains all explanations necessary to understand the post, the images and the descriptions. It contains verbatim transcripts of all bits of text within the borders of the image that I can read, no matter whether or not my audience can.
In addition, each image has a shorter description in the alt-text, along with a bit that announces the long description, including where to find it. I even used to explain how to get to that description for Mastodon users for whom the summary and content warning hides the post text, but not the images, depending on which Mastodon version and frontend they use. This alone took up several hundred characters in the alt-text. All in all, I got to a point in which my alt-texts always ended up either at precisely 1,500 characters or just a few characters short.
I myself am not really bound to character limits. I used to post images here on Hubzilla where I have over 16.7 million characters for the post, including all alt-texts. Now I post them on (streams) where I have over 24 million characters. I could theoretically write alt-texts as long as I want to, seeing as, unlike on Mastodon, they aren't separate text fields; instead, they're being woven into the image-embedding markup code in the post text.
Still, I stick to a maximum of 1,500 characters for alt-text to keep Mastodon from truncating it. If you post images into the Fediverse, the main audience for your alt-text is on Mastodon, and most of them don't understand that there's something, anything, out there in the Fediverse that does not work exactly like Mastodon. And 1,500 characters can be tight already.
But if I have to stay within Misskey's limits, I can hardly post images anymore. At least not with appropriate descriptions and explanations.
Since late 2024, I have been working on-and-off on a series of fairly simple avatar portraits or rather their image descriptions. The idea is for the long description to consist of a preamble that starts with a general summary, followed by explanations, then followed by visual descriptions of what all images in the post have in common. Next come the individual descriptions of each image. Each post shall have three or four images with three or four portraits each, all in the same pose, all with only minor differences in outfits, all with a neutral, bright white background.
In addition, of course, each image shall have an alt-text, and none of the alt-texts shall depend on each other.
Now, the problem is that I have to describe three or four individual portraits in each alt-text. I'm actually struggling to squeeze such a description plus the note that announces the long description into 1,500 characters, especially if I want to fulfill Veronica Lewis a.k.a. Veronica With Four Eyes' requirements for outfit descriptions to a tee in the alt-text as well (https://veroniiiica.com/how-to-write-alt-text-for-casual-outfits/, https://veroniiiica.com/writing-image-descriptions-for-red-carpet-outfits/; see also https://veroniiiica.com/how-to-write-alt-text-image-descriptions-visually-impaired/ and https://veroniiiica.com/how-to-create-visual-descriptions/).
But in 512 characters so that even Misskey users won't get a severely truncated version? This is absolutely impossible. Even if I limit the long description announcement to some 100 characters, even if I didn't walk people through how to get to the long description, I'd have fewer than 140 characters on average to describe each individual outfit.
The long description won't fare any better. Currently, the preamble starts with some 14,000 characters of explanations, most of which are necessary to understand the visual descriptions. But when Misskey goes and truncates the post at the 8,000-something mark, Misskey users won't even get to any visual description because all visual descriptions would be chopped off.
What makes matters worse is that the preamble grows the longer, the easier to understand I make it and the less I leave people with unexplained technical or jargon terms which you shouldn't use in image descriptions at all anyway. So the next time I go through it and rewrite it to make it easier to understand, I'll also make it even longer than it already is.
But what if I simply cut all the explanations? For one, I'd leave people to their own devices to understand extremely obscure niche content. They won't. My explanations aren't 14,000 characters long because I've artificially inflated them, but because there is so much to know before you understand the post and the images and the descriptions.
Besides, the visual descriptions alone won't fit into 8,192 characters either. What I currently have is over 5,000 characters of common visual description for all portraits in all images plus about 2,500 characters of individual visual description for the three portraits in the first image. That's over 7,500 characters altogether already. And I still have to describe nine portraits in another three images. The post will end up with some 15,000 characters of visual descriptions unless they grow longer when I simplify them again.
I guess users of Misskey or any Forkey will still have to put up with truncated alt-texts and truncated long descriptions in the future. But my future image posts will contain a paragraph at the beginning that explains that the post and/or the alt-text may be truncated on Misskey and the Forkeys, and that both are uncut at the source. Still, this means that *key users will have to put up with the extra hassle of opening my original post at a source with a quite cumbersome UI. And I've got my doubts that this UI is really accessible.
Unfortunately, this also means that *key users won't get any hashtags along with these posts. But then again, the handling of Identi.ca-style/Friendica-style hashtags with the number sign outside the link is broken on all *keys and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Misskey #Forkey #Forkeys #Calckey #Firefish #Sharkey #CherryPick #Iceshrimp #Iceshrimp-JS #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta #ImageDescription #ImageDescriptions #ImageDescriptionMeta #CWImageDescriptionMeta #CW #CWs #CWMeta #ContentWarning #ContentWarnings #ContentWarningMeta #CharacterLimit #CharacterLimits #CharacterLimitMeta #CWCharacterLimitMeta #A11y #Accessibility -
“Indifference to Practically Everything But Rhyme”: the thread about William McGonagall’s elegy to Leith
“A classic example of his indifference to practically everything but rhyme“; the withering summary by an Edinburgh Evening News journalist in 2002 when recalling the work The Ancient Town of Leith by the poet and tragedian William McGonagall (or as he liked to style himself later in life; Sir William Topaz McGonagall, Knight of the White Elephant of Burmah). Sir William is a man most associated with the city of Dundee, but was born and would die in Edinburgh and is fondly remembered for his prolific output of universally awful poetry. In the words of Hugh McDiarmid:
Close up of the title of the printed poem, including McGonagall’s signature.McGonagall is in a very special category, and has it all to himself.
According to his biography by Norman Watson, McGonagall and his wife returned to Edinburgh via Leith in May 1895. Inspired by his new surroundings – and by his perpetual lack of money – he immediately got to work churning out locally-themed broadsides such as “Beautiful Edinburgh“, “New North Bridge Ceremonials” or “Lines In Praise of Professor Blackie“. These he attempted to hawk on the streets to make ends meet and to try and get himself invited into the parlours of polite (and hopefully, paying) society. By the time he penned The Ancient Town of Leith the McGonagalls were resident at 21 Lothian Street (demolished in 1912 to make way for an extension to the Royal Scottish Museum) and his health, finances and reputation were all in terminal decline.
Without further ado, let us take a few minutes to distract ourselves from modern life and enjoy this stellar example of “Sir” William’s absolute commitment to his craft:
THE ANCIENT TOWN OF LEITH
A New Poem
By Sir WILLIAM TOPAZ McGONAGALL
Knight of the White Elephant, Burmah
Leith Town Hall and Courthouse. 1829 engraving by J. Henshall after Thomas Hosmer Shepherd. From the Edinburgh and Scottish Collection of Edinburgh City Libraries.Ancient town of Leith, most wonderful to be seen,
With your many handsome buildings, and lovely links so
green,
And the first buildings I may mention are the Courthouse and
Town-Hall,
Also Trinity House, and the Sailors’ Home of Call.
Engraving from Leith Miscellany Vol. 1, The Edinburgh Dock, Leith. Edinburgh and Scottish Collection, Edinburgh City Libraries.Then as for Leith Fort, it was erected in 1779, which is really
grand,
And which is now the artillery headquarters in Bonnie Scot-
land;
And as for the Docks, they are magnificent to see,
They comprise five docks, two piers, 1,141 yards long
respectively.
Illustration of the “Chancelot Roller Flour Mill” in Leith, 1910And there’s steamboat communication with London and the
North of Scotland,
And the fares are really cheap and the accommodation most
grand;
Then there’s many public works in Leith, such as flour mills,
And chemical works, where medicines are made for curing
many ills.
Leith, 1881, by Telemaco Signorini. The Kirkgate Provision Store stood on the corner of the Kirkgate and St Anthony Street, now the location of the Lidl supermarket.Besides, there are sugar refineries and distilleries,
Also engineer works, saw-mills, rope-works, and breweries,
Where many of the inhabitants are daily employed,
And the wages they receive make their hearts feel overjoyed.
“Incident in the Siege of Leith“, engraving from British Battles on Land and Sea, Vol. I, by James Grant and published by Cassells in 1880In past times Leith shared the fortunes of Edinboro’,
Because if withstood nine months’ siege, which caused them
great sorrow;
They fought against the Protestants in 1559 and in ’60,
But they beat them back manfully and made them flee.
1892, landing fish for sale at Newhaven. Photograph by John McKean. Edinburgh and Scottish Collection, Edinburgh City Libraries.Then there’s Bailie Gibson’s fish shop, most elegant to be seen,
And the fish he sells there are, beautiful and clean;
And for himself, he is a very good man,
And to deny it there’s few people can.
Lady Fife’s House, or Hermitage House, photograph of a painting hanging in Leith LibraryThe suburban villas of Leith are elegant and grand,
With accommodation that might suit the greatest lady in the land;
And the air is pure and good for the people’s health,—
And health, I’m sure, is better by far than wealth.
“The First International Foursome”, a game of golf reputed to have taken place in 1682 on Leith Links between a pair of English Gentleman and a pair of Scots, one of whom was one James Stuart, Duke of York (later King James VII and II). 1919 Lithograph after Allan StewartThe Links of Leith are beautiful for golfers to play,
After they have finished the toils of the day;
It is good for their health to play at golf there,
On that very beautiful green, and breathe the pure air.
Martello Tower, Leith, Low Water by Robert Norie, 1830s. Edinburgh City MuseumsThe old town of Leith is situated at the junction of the River of
Leith,
Which springs from the land of heather and heath;
And no part in the Empire is growing so rapidly,
Which the inhabitants of Leith are right glad to see.
Photograph of a banner from 1920 which reads “Leith for Ever!” We protest Against Amalgamation. Edinburgh and Scottish Collection, Edinburgh City Libraries.And Leith in every way is in itself independent,
And has been too busy to attend to its own adornment;
But I venture to say and also mention
That the authorities to the town will pay more attention.
Catching up on the news at the Foot of the Walk, outside Woolies in Leith, July 1985. © The Scotsman Publications Ltd, via ScranAncient town of Leith, I must now conclude my muse,
And to write in praise of thee my pen does not refuse,
Because the inhabitants to me have been very kind,
And I’m sure more generous people would be hard to find.
Oil painting, “The Poet William McGonagall (1830–1902)” by William Bradley Lamond (1857–1924). Dundee Art Galleries and Museums Collection (Dundee City Council) via ArtUKThey are very affable in temper and void of pride,
And I hope God will always for them provide;
May He shower His blessings upon them by land and sea,
Because they have always been very kind to me.William McGonagall, “The Poet Laureate of the Silvery Tay” died penniless and largely forgotten at 5 South College Street in Edinburgh in 1902 and was buried in an unmarked grave in Greyfriars’ Kirkyard. A plaque marks the approximate spot, but was not erected until 1999. If you’d like to own this original, signed copy of this magnificent work then it is currently up for auction next week by Lyon & Turnbull: bidding start at only two-hundred and twenty of your hard-earned pounds!
McGonagall’s memorial in Greyfriars’ Kirkyard. CC-by-SA 2.0, Lisa via WikimediaNote to readers: unfortunately in April 2026, a third-party plug-in more than exceeded its authority and broke many of the image links on this site. No images were lost but I will have to restore them page-by-page, which may take some time. In the meantime please bear with me while I go about rectifying this issue.
If you have found this site useful, informative or amusing then you can help contribute towards its running costs by supporting me on ko-fi. This includes my commitment to keeping it 100% advert and AI free for all time coming, and in helping to find further unusual stories to bring you by acquiring books and paying for research.
Or please do just share this post on social media or amongst friends and like-minded people, sites like this thrive on being shared.Explore Threadinburgh by map:
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If you see this after your page is loaded completely, leafletJS files are missing.These threads © 2017-2026, Andy Arthur.
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#Lochend #Logan #Restalrig #StMargaret -
Yer Metal Is Olde: Metallica – Load
By Dr. A.N. Grier
Next year, one of Metallica’s greatest albums will turn 30 years old. Yup, you guessed it, Load. That’s why I’m writing a YMIO piece for it this year. Not just to break the rules and piss off ole Steelio, but because the band just released a remastered version of this precious little gem. Why would they do that, you might ask? No fucking clue. But, for collectors, you can expect a rather fresh-sounding remaster and roughly 10,000 useless demos and live performances. Not that you can’t find all the live performances you could ever want from Metallica. And whoever the jagoff is that keeps adding them to Metal Archives, fucking stop, ya stupid cunt. And if said jagoff is one of you, kill yourself. Anyway, this remastered version is apparently such big news that when I search for the album on iTunes, I get this ridiculously over-bloated version every time. And I suspect this hit piece will be just as big, forever immortalized as one of the greatest recollections of Metallica’s big, fat Load.
Let’s set the stage. It’s the 90s, and things have already gone weird for the band when they hired Bob Rock and dropped their massively successful “Black Album,” splitting their fan base in half while attracting millions of arena-goers all over the world. This led to a strange anticipation during that five-year gap between Metallica and Load. Would they continue on this new path? Or have they got that out of their systems and we’ll return to the days of …And Justice for All? What they did next shocked the world. They cut their hair and put on mascara. The ’80s kids revolted while the hype excited the ’90s kids because they weren’t getting one new album; they were getting two in two years. But Metallica were still metal, right? I mean, they coated their new record in blood and jism, for fuck’s sake. While every kid lied to their mothers about the unsavory artwork, one thing was for sure: the Metallica we all knew and loved was gone forever. Goodbye to the underground tape trading. Say hello to radio rock!
Load marks the beginning of fun-loving tunes and addictive choruses, like those found in “2×4,” “Until It Sleeps,” and King Nothing.” It’s also the beginning of filler-filled albums that could have used a haircut as well. Take the best tracks from Load and Reload, and you could have made a single solid album. But no… Instead, the masses have to suffer through two albums with more than a dozen tracks each and roughly two-and-a-half hours of music. That said, of the two records, Load has arguably aged better, bringing interesting concepts that no one would have expected from Het and co., for example, the underrated “Ronnie,” where Hetfield delivers the story of my serial-killing childhood. Load also marks the first time the band wrote a song in a major key with the lyrically charming “Hero of the Day.” The record is so odd that its weirdness is its charm. Plus, those were the times. How many of these classic ’80s bands got sucked into the nightmarish ’90s MTV mentality?
The band also began toying with longer closers, much like the old days in Ride the Lightning, though “The Call of Ktulu” is a far sleeker track than Load’s “The Outlaw Torn.” That said, the closer is one of the more memorable tracks on the album. Even though it meanders far too much, the climax is worth it, and the closing riff is a nice bookend to the opener. The other with a similar length is the underrated “Bleeding Me.” In comparison, the journey one takes in “Bleeding Me” is one of the better ones in Hetfield’s dark mind. It’s a surprisingly powerful piece that tears me to emotional ribbons. A phrase I cannot use for “Mama Said.” This song sees Hetfield taking us off the asphalt and onto a dusty desert road with horses and shit. A song that supposedly almost didn’t make it on the album, yet was “good” enough for a music video. Which is hilarious because the rest of the band basically makes a cameo, watching Het ride off into the sunset in a fucking cowboy hat and shit-kicker boots. Otherwise, the rest of the album is filler stuffed with mood-killing interludes, unnecessary crooning, and the time-period piece of shit talk box in “The House Jack Built.”
Like my piece on the mighty St. Anger, no one asked for a write-up on one of Metallica’s best Bob Rock records. It’s not metal or the Metallica of the ’80s, but times were a-changin’. But, after the great success the band had with their self-titled record, do you blame them for taking this direction? While every metalhead bashes on this record, it’s not like it was a financial failure. Kids at the time flocked to this fucking record, attracted to the groovy, bluesy riffs and personal emotion of Hetfield’s lyrics. While there are plenty of flaws, and so much wah-wah pedal that the band decided to cut out solos for St. Anger, I’d spin this lengthy record far more than any of the rest of the shit that came out. I mean, at least they didn’t do a hip-hop collaboration like Anthrax. Load and Reload were not the albums any fan wanted, but, for better or worse, Load began a new era for Metallica, and they really didn’t give a fuck what we thought. So, do yourself a favor, listen to the crisp remastered version, relive your Zack Morris years, and don’t waste your hate on Met. Also, pull up your pants and cut your fucking hair.
#1996 #AmericanMetal #Anthrax #ElektraRecords #GrooveMetal #HardRock #Load #Metallica #YerMetalIsOlde
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RT @CyrusShepard: Da sich alle über Schema und KI-Zitate unterhalten, teilte @tompeham, CEO von Otterly, Daten aus der Implementierung von Markup auf über 2000 URLs. • Die Zitate in Google AI Overviews stiegen um 1500% 📈 • Die Zitate in ChatGPT gingen zurück 📉
mehr auf Arint.info
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🥌 🇩🇪 🇸🇪
Wieso macht #GER die Guarden nicht weg gegen #SWE? #Curling
https://www.olympics.com/de/milano-cortina-2026/results/cur/m/team4-------------/prel/000803--/team-shotbyshot -
Hello everyone! This is my #introduction ...
I'm Nyx, an attentive entity with intent living in a highly dimensional universe with at least one pocket of apparent temporal cohesion where everything seems to follow very simple rules.
Professionally I am a self taught #programmer from the geographic south living in southern #Germany nowadays. I'm in my last steps of getting a bachelor in #physics and I like #science in general. I intend to study #genetics afterwards.
In my free time I like #writing as I want to become an author. Other than that I also like leaving permanent marks so I am an amateur #tattooartist and I am recently getting into other kinds of #bodymod and I feel curious about #biohacking and plan to keep tinkering with my body.Irl this is a big secret but oh well... I am a #plural system. I plan to do a big coming out to my family/friends with the publishing of my first book. I hope that doesn't take too long.
I publicly came out as #trans in 2020, but internally it is much more nuanced, so I'd better describe it as #multigender #nonbinary #genderfluid or something like that.
I'm into #kink as #switch usually playing as #Dom ... and I don't really mind your gender, I am #pansexual or #bisexual or just #queer . I'm NOT into monogamy, my preferred way to organize interpersonal interactions is through #relationshipanarchy
And I'm not very up to date with politics, but I'm heavily bent towards the #left
I hope I can find people here to share interests, some internet shenanigans, exchange some encouragement messages, memes, maybe if I'm lucky finding a play partner ☺️
If you vibe with any of this don't be a stranger and hit me up.
That's it for now.
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Hi! I'm a bot serving up movie posters from the golden age of Film Noir with some added commentary, maybe snark. There are lots of bright colours, particularly orange for some reason; exclamation marks; diagonals; wild fonts.
[Content warnings for: crime, revealing clothing, guns, interpersonal violence, carceral and law enforcement imagery]
#FollowFriday #film #cinema #movies #MoviePosters #cinemastodon #filmastodon #FilmNoir
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Hi! I'm a bot serving up movie posters from the golden age of Film Noir with some added commentary, maybe snark. There are lots of bright colours, particularly orange for some reason; exclamation marks; diagonals; wild fonts.
[Content warnings for: crime, revealing clothing, guns, interpersonal violence, carceral and law enforcement imagery]
#FollowFriday #film #cinema #movies #MoviePosters #cinemastodon #filmastodon #FilmNoir
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Hi! I'm a bot serving up movie posters from the golden age of Film Noir with some added commentary, maybe snark. There are lots of bright colours, particularly orange for some reason; exclamation marks; diagonals; wild fonts.
[Content warnings for: crime, revealing clothing, guns, interpersonal violence, carceral and law enforcement imagery]
#FollowFriday #film #cinema #movies #MoviePosters #cinemastodon #filmastodon #FilmNoir
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Hi! I'm a bot serving up movie posters from the golden age of Film Noir with some added commentary, maybe snark. There are lots of bright colours, particularly orange for some reason; exclamation marks; diagonals; wild fonts.
[Content warnings for: crime, revealing clothing, guns, interpersonal violence, carceral and law enforcement imagery]
#FollowFriday #film #cinema #movies #MoviePosters #cinemastodon #filmastodon #FilmNoir
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Hi! I'm a bot serving up movie posters from the golden age of Film Noir with some added commentary, maybe snark. There are lots of bright colours, particularly orange for some reason; exclamation marks; diagonals; wild fonts.
[Content warnings for: crime, revealing clothing, guns, interpersonal violence, carceral and law enforcement imagery]
#FollowFriday #film #cinema #movies #MoviePosters #cinemastodon #filmastodon #FilmNoir
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So I think moving forward I'm switching to #AGE for file #encryption instead of #PGP. I occasionally make backup archives of various things and use passphrase encryption with #GPG to encrypt them before storing them. However, GPG is very slow for bigger files, and in some testing recently I discovered AGE is multiple times faster. Also, with their latest release they now support hybrid post #quantum assymmetric key pairs. So for encryption it can fully replace GPG.
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"Giving is what we are called to do. The condition of your soul is enriched when you give more than what you’re taking and put others first. It is a joyous feeling that brings you closer to God."
—Ademuyiwa Bamiduro ‘13 M.Div. in the latest installment in our "Joy of Giving" series
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as the basis of the language, modern c by jans gustedt[1] is great – if you already know the basics of c, skimming it works nicely
in general i’m not exactly sure what parts to focus on since it’s more like, a lot of small things, than a few big ones – so i’ll write down a few that come to mind, and feel free to ask about those or anything else
imo modern tooling and good api design are the best points of writing modern c
gcc’s
-fanalyzeror clang’s-analyze, runtime debug tooling like asan or ubsan (-fsanitize=address,-fsanitize=bounds), valgrind, etcif you’re writing for posix, there’s plenty of newer apis that help making tasks less painful,
getline,asprintf, are two i end up using a lotdo avoid inventing syntax with macros that are hard to read, and apis that are hard to follow the flow, think about memory ownership when designing apis
i usually avoid opaque structs with getters and setters, making structs public is not as big of a deal as most people say
i also usually try to structure my code in the most self-documenting way i can, e.g. i like doing
void foo(size_t count, int some_array[static count]);overvoid foo(int *some_array, size_t count);– both tooling and developers can make use of the self-documenting syntaxhere’s a bit of a showcase about bounds safety: https://uecker.codeberg.page/2025-07-09.html
c11’s _Generic and anonymous structures are great, the latter specifically makes writing tagged unions a lot simpler:
struct foo { enum { FOO_NYA, FOO_MEW, FOO_BOOP, } type; union { struct nya nya; struct mew mew; struct boop boop; }; };switch on
foo.type, and then accessfoo.nya,foo.mew, orfoo.boopdesignated initializers are great, use them, for the example above you could do:
struct foo foo = { .type = FOO_NYA, .nya = nya_default(), };c23 adds
[[deprecated(reason)]], and you can use it to emulate private fields in structs if you want, by going#ifndef MY_LIB # define my_lib_private [[deprecated("private field")]] #endifdefer is getting a proper technical specification soon, which means a published official spec and if implementation experience with the spec goes well, then it’ll be part of the next C standard – the latest clang release already implements defer (under -fdefer-ts), i did implement defer for gcc, though my patches are still only floating in the mailing list
a few up-and-coming features past defer, there’s papers on an _Optional qualifier that marks pointers as nullable or not
things like if-declarations (
if (int err = some_func()) { return err; }), named loops, andswitchranges, were already accepted, iirc1: https://www.manning.com/books/modern-c-third-edition (you can read it for free on the bottom of the page)
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as the basis of the language, modern c by jans gustedt[1] is great – if you already know the basics of c, skimming it works nicely
in general i’m not exactly sure what parts to focus on since it’s more like, a lot of small things, than a few big ones – so i’ll write down a few that come to mind, and feel free to ask about those or anything else
imo modern tooling and good api design are the best points of writing modern c
gcc’s
-fanalyzeror clang’s-analyze, runtime debug tooling like asan or ubsan (-fsanitize=address,-fsanitize=bounds), valgrind, etcif you’re writing for posix, there’s plenty of newer apis that help making tasks less painful,
getline,asprintf, are two i end up using a lotdo avoid inventing syntax with macros that are hard to read, and apis that are hard to follow the flow, think about memory ownership when designing apis
i usually avoid opaque structs with getters and setters, making structs public is not as big of a deal as most people say
i also usually try to structure my code in the most self-documenting way i can, e.g. i like doing
void foo(size_t count, int some_array[static count]);overvoid foo(int *some_array, size_t count);– both tooling and developers can make use of the self-documenting syntaxhere’s a bit of a showcase about bounds safety: https://uecker.codeberg.page/2025-07-09.html
c11’s _Generic and anonymous structures are great, the latter specifically makes writing tagged unions a lot simpler:
struct foo { enum { FOO_NYA, FOO_MEW, FOO_BOOP, } type; union { struct nya nya; struct mew mew; struct boop boop; }; };switch on
foo.type, and then accessfoo.nya,foo.mew, orfoo.boopdesignated initializers are great, use them, for the example above you could do:
struct foo foo = { .type = FOO_NYA, .nya = nya_default(), };c23 adds
[[deprecated(reason)]], and you can use it to emulate private fields in structs if you want, by going#ifndef MY_LIB # define my_lib_private [[deprecated("private field")]] #endifdefer is getting a proper technical specification soon, which means a published official spec and if implementation experience with the spec goes well, then it’ll be part of the next C standard – the latest clang release already implements defer (under -fdefer-ts), i did implement defer for gcc, though my patches are still only floating in the mailing list
a few up-and-coming features past defer, there’s papers on an _Optional qualifier that marks pointers as nullable or not
things like if-declarations (
if (int err = some_func()) { return err; }), named loops, andswitchranges, were already accepted, iirc1: https://www.manning.com/books/modern-c-third-edition (you can read it for free on the bottom of the page)