#Cocktail - Perfect Martini 60ml Gin, 15ml Dry Vermouth, 15ml Red Vermouth, Lemon twist. Optional : dash angostura, dash orange Still no sure where the sweet spot is. This can be anything from 1:1:1 to 4:1:1 as here. Or maybe even 6:1:1. And with or without the bitters.

To sit upon a hill as I do now, To carve out dials quaintly, point by point, Thereby to see the minutes how they run: How many makes the hour full complete, How many hours brings about the day, How many days will finish up the year, How many years a mortal man may live.

Supersizing El Nino Can I get a Big Gulp of cooling water and a Mega portion of NVidia chips with my Big-Double McNino? https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/03/el-nino-supersizing-before-our-eyes-united-nations

‘Supersizing before our eyes’: UN warns of record El Niño approaching

Event is likely to be largest in at least 1,000 years and will pile extra heat into a world already in a climate crisis

theguardian.com

Reform UK is a Long Con from a bunch of fascist, racist, treasonous grifters. Don't fall for it. The con is unravelling. Will Robert Redford, Paul Newman or Robert Vaughan, Marc Warren get away with the money? Or in a surprising twist, is it Robert Shaw that makes out like bandits.

#Cocktail - Brooklyn Sour 60ml Cognac (Remy Martin), 15ml lemon juice, 10ml dbl syrup, 10ml red wine float. Shake, small rocks glass, maraschino cherry One of those East Coast sours with a float. Tricky to get it to look just right.

From the Hyperbole Desk : If the coming El Nino is a "Godzilla-Level event", what's the next size up? https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/what-is-godzilla-el-nino There must be something between Godzilla and Xyston-class Star Destroyer.

Landfill waste in Broxbourne There were 10,238 reports of suspected waste crime in England in 2025. In Broxbourne we get our fair share of fly-tipping, but with all the landfill sites, you might be surprised to find we also have the unlicensed burying of industrial quantities of domestic waste.

Latest fly-tip spotted just off the road in Broxbourne Woods. A pallet load of ~3,500 white eggs. 4*4 boxes, each containing 6 trays of 6*6 eggs. It does make you wonder. Food for foxes, hedgehogs and magpies?

For a couple of months now MS Windows 10 has been failing updates. Despite endless yak shaving, I couldn't fix it. Today it decided to redo Windows 10, version 22H2. I took a long time but did complete. Fingers crossed, it's sorted itself out.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/31/why-are-prisons-overcrowded-because-no-government-will-stand-up-to-the-tabloids To deal with the prison crisis you have to reduce sentences. To cut the court backlog you have to move more crimes to the magistrates court.

Why are prisons overcrowded? Because no government will stand up to the tabloids | Zoe Williams

Whatever happens to the early release scheme, Andy Burnham needs to consider the possibility that sentences are just too high, writes Zoe Williams

theguardian.com

The Climate Crisis walked into a bar, turned to the barman and said, "Nice little bar you've got here. Shame if anything happened to it."

> Hungary is currently 99% covered by severe or extreme drought, and that strain has already killed off nearly 280 metric tons of farmed fish across 20 sites, with similar die-offs now showing up in Serbia, Bosnia, Czechia, Romania, and Slovenia.

On Climate Change. Go North, young man! "WANTED: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred." But Canada, N Europe and Russia may not want you or your attitude.

#Climate . Looks like August broke all the weather records (except Arctic Ice Extent). Official confirmation due early next week. Especially, global daily average 2m Air temp, 60S-60N Sea Surface temp, Nino3.4 SST. https://pulse.climate.copernicus.eu/

Climate Pulse - Near real-time updates of global climate variables

Interactive global climate monitoring with interactive visualisations of air temperature and sea surface temperature from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).

pulse.climate.copernicus.eu

This month and next is the fastest change in daylight each day as we get close to the Equinox. "The Dark Times are coming!"

Let's build a bigger telescope So that we can see things more up close Farther away from where we really are https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/aug/29/nasa-telescope-launch-nancy-grace-roman Water pistol man full of ammunition Squirting at fires on a worldwide mission

Nasa space telescope launches after surviving Trump budget cuts

Searching for exoplanets and clues on planet formation, the Roman telescope begins million-mile journey from Florida launchpad

theguardian.com

Judging by the bites on my legs, Harvest Mite season has begun in the woods. Usually it's late July, but I guess the drought kept them dormant. A little bit of rain and they've all come out to play.

I have to admit, I didn't have "rabid baby goats at petting zoo" on my collapse bingo card. https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/29/us/nc-petting-zoo-rabies-exposure

Baby goats with rabies at North Carolina mobile petting zoo prompt calls across multiple counties to contact health officials | CNN

Several baby goats at a mobile petting zoo in North Carolina were infected with rabies, and authorities are asking anyone who had contact with the animals to reach out to health officials about potential exposure to the rare but deadly virus.

edition.cnn.com

#Cocktail - Andalusia: 15ml Light Rum, 15ml Cognac, 60ml Amontillado, Angostura Basically, just enhanced sherry. Ok as far as it goes.

6 months, start of 27th week, of the Israel-US-Iran war. A timeline https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2026/aug/28/how-the-iran-war-unfolded-every-attack-and-oil-price-change-visualised Get Your War On!

How the Iran war unfolded: every attack and oil price change – visualised

From the first US and Israeli strikes six months ago to the battle for Hormuz, this timeline plots how Trump’s war on Iran quickly became a regional conflict with global economic consequences

theguardian.com

My latest on Substack (free). How one incredibly stupid Excel error broke Britain. russincheshire.substack.com/p/the-spread...

The Spreadsheet That Broke Britain

The absurd error behind austerity, stagnation and the rise of populist rage.

russincheshire.substack.com

It's that Teenage Geese Time of the Year. Each day all the geese fly down the valley between the lakes and feeding areas and then back in the evening. But all the young geese haven't worked out who's in charge or where anyone's going. Or how to for a neat line.

The Spreadsheet That Broke Britain A simple spreadsheet mistake resulted in 14 years of austerity. Because it appeared to disprove Keynes, but actually didn't. So instead of recovering from the 2008 crash, only the rich did well and inequality got worse.

I took me 5 days to go from, "the festival was great, not sure if I'll go again" to "Huzzah! I got one super-early-bird ticket for next year"

Happy Lunar Eclipse day. I missed the maximum by 5mins or so. But it was a good display before the moon faded into the morning twilight and rising mist.

Six months today since the start of the current Israel-US-Iran war. > Hostilities broke out after US–Israeli airstrikes killed several Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Iran_war

I'm now eligible for the Shingles vaccine. I had chickenpox (and measles and mumps) as a kid so it definitely would be a good idea. But there's no way for me to just send an email or fill in a form to tell the GP Surgery I want one.

Stop Reform. Tactical Voting FTW! https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/27/does-nigel-farage-know-what-people-really-think-of-him-i-do-and-he-wont-like-it https://stopreformuk.vote/

Does Nigel Farage know what people really think of him? I do – and he won’t like it | Aditya Chakrabortty

An anti-Farage army of voters is there to be galvanised, as exclusive data shows. But getting them out will be tricky, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

theguardian.com

The AfD in Germany is going after BauHaus https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/27/the-nazis-drove-bauhaus-out-of-town-now-the-far-right-is-waging-another-war-against-the-movement

The Nazis drove Bauhaus out of town. Now the far right is waging another war against the movement

Poll to take place in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, where Bauhaus blossomed a century ago – and where AfD is promising ‘patriotic culture policy’ if it wins

theguardian.com

Official announcements of Aug temps around 8-9 Sept. https://climate.copernicus.eu/press-releases