A juvenile magpie just tried to land on the clothesline. It kept seesawing, so it gave up and moved to a more solid part of the Hills Hoist where it would have a better grip.

Just saw a report of snow on the Snowy Mountains. In November. Glad I’m not down there. It’s cool enough as it is with the wind blowing where I am.

Finally got around to reading this month’s Ansible, only to find that John Leeson passed away. That’s a shame.

Damn lightbulb bit me when I tried to take it out of my old bedside light. It has two sharp pieces sticking up out of the bulb’s plastic base, & I don’t want to cut any other part of my right hand. So I’ve reluctantly parted with it. Reluctantly, because my last remaining grandparent gave it to me

Damn, I just failed to kill mega-cockroach by stomping. If it raises its ugly self again where I can see it, it won’t be so lucky next time.

If cold callers want me to listen to them at all, then they need to stop calling from very long numbers beginning with 00. That’s a clue that they’re involved in a waste of time at best, or a scam at worst.

Shout out to @georgepenney.bsky.social: splendid AI disclaimer at the front of More Tiny Moments of Joy, the print copy of which I have received today. I wouldn’t invite AI to tea either.

Godalbloodymighty. Take your hours of coverage of the US midterm elections and compress them into an episode of Foreign Correspondent, or possibly Four Corners, ABC. I’m changing channels.

Bailey is trying to con some leftover pork ribs from Mum. His reasoning seems to be that he might get some today, that he didn’t get last night, if he just stares hard enough at the desired foodstuff. It isn’t working.

Reddit showed this to me and I wish it hadn’t.

Looked in the Junk Mail folder. There was one that deserved to stay there. It’s nearly 20 degrees C & they wanted to sell me a stylish thermal vest. We’re not all living in the Northern Hemisphere, spammers.

« Une grue menace des habitations à Rouen » And some of the France 2 footage was shot at night, so you can imagine what was going through the head of someone who has played one of the Zork games. Thank you, SBS, for providing an image that wasn’t intended.

County wide Halloween event this evening, much warmer than last year, turnout much higher. This Baba Yaga's Hut was THE Best costume of the evening. The sheer detail of the work! Very impressive. I hope the won the costume contest.

Rillettes du poulet au agrume: interesting, but not quite right. You expect some tanginess with the citrus element, but it’s not as orange as the website selling it might be trying to suggest. Crusty bread & a smear of butter certainly helps, but I’m not likely to buy this again after I eat

Bailey was barking at ground squirrels somewhere in Europe. Isn’t television wonderful? It brings you such interesting things to bark at. Things you never see at home.

Note to self: when the next book in @genevievecogman.bsky.social’s new book series comes out, don’t start reading it late at night, no matter how delightfully ominous it is. Go to sleep now. Read more tomorrow.

Have now tasted rillettes du canard. The best way to describe them is ‘unctuous’. Haven’t eaten a lot of duck, & what I have eaten has been barbecued as part of Asian cookery from takeaways. So this has been a different experience.

Have just spent a good ten minutes I’ll never get back again in trying to confirm that the name of the island of Niue means “behold the coconut”. Serious webpages, like Niue’s official website, or that for Australia’s Dept of Foreign Affairs & Trade, say zilch about the coconut.

RT if you've never had a tab of ChatGPT open, period.

Michael Broussard@michaelbroussard.myatproto.social · 4w ago

RT if you've never had a tab of ChatGPT open, period.

@tanaudel.bsky.social I’m seriously impressed. I’ve just noticed that there are certificates of authenticity on the backs of my skellies that I bought from you. And so there should be, under the circumstances.

Now reading Simon Winchester on the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Have just had to stop & check on the reality of a name. Bernadette Devlin, the young politician, faced court at one point, & her QC was named Sir Dingle Foot. He has a Wikipedia entry. But what were his parents thinking?

We finally get some decent rain and, of course, Bailey doesn’t want to go out in it. He’s now lying on his back, tummy uppermost, against my leg. Might get more sleep tonight if he’s happy to stay on the bed. Last night was somewhat disrupted.

Rain, damn you, rain. And bring some cooler temperatures with it. Not just for me, but for my furry friend too, who can’t make up his mind if he wants to be on the bed with me or on the floor where he might be slightly cooler.

Bailey had his vaccinations today, and the vet looked him over. He’s a healthy boy, for the most part. They were a little worried about his weight: from over 10 kilos to just over 7 kilos since February, which is a fair bit in a short time for a smallish dog.

Both Bailey & myself seem to be waiting for big flydy to reappear. I checked the lampshade straight off, & flydy wasn’t there. That doesn’t mean that flydy isn’t in hiding somewhere else in the room. We will see.

Oh good, the big flydy is not in my bedroom. It was in here last night, & Bailey wanted to chase it. I won’t have to do so much rolling over to the side & putting him back on the bed again when flydy wasn’t visible.

First day of daylight saving, & the light at 6.30 pm looked too early to eat. It’s now getting on for 7.30 pm & the light outside looks more like it, but clearly I need to get used to eating in the evening while the sun is still up.

Bailey could smell something delicious, & was refusing to take his Nexguard through sheer distraction. I gave up, & dropped it on top of his dinner. He ate around it and, when he was finished, took it very delicately over to the lounge to eat. At least he did eat it without needing encouragement.

Bailey is barky this morning. The local NRL team has just left team headquarters to go down to Sydney for the Grand Final match tomorrow. People are encouraged to line the route out to the M1, and the road at the bottom of our street is part of the route. People are walking on his road!

Something called the Feudalism Bot liked a post about Newcastle’s NRL team. I think you need a better search facility, little bot. Just because they’re called the Knights doesn’t mean they’re really in your sphere of interest.