Tolkien's middle earth is, in fact, South America. Evidence, you ask?
Closeup of the punchcards that make it possible to weave elaborate designs…
It's glorious. On one hand the paintings of glorious victories over the British go strangely silent after the 17th century, on the other...
Dreadnought Holiday@dreadships.bsky.social · 2y agoOverheard somebody saying they prefer the Rijksmuseum to the British Museum as "you don't have to worry about everything being stolen". Well...
I have now "done" the Rijksmuseum, at speed which is my usual MO. I find crowds stressful and am unconvinced by how they've chosen to display the Night Watch.
First, you tell me to get a hobby; now it's an “appropriate hobby”.
Today has started in a typical manner. I confidently approached the very obvious tour guide with the big red umbrella at my designated meeting point and said "hello, I'm here for the tour". She was not my guide. I need a different company, not here yet, who also have a big red umbrella.
You can/should read Emily Wilson's latest take on the Odyssey, but I'm logging on to convey my hairdresser's reaction. She was AGHAST that Nolan, with his million $ budget, gave Matt Damon ONLY 6 hair extensions. As a result, his hair did not blow around properly, & that ruined the film for her.
It Has A Solo Mode! Finally I can justify buying into this. Thank you!
The Arthur C. Clarke Award@clarkeaward.bsky.social · yesterdayCHILDREN OF TIME ttrpg Kickstarter just unlocked Solo Mode! Final week of fundraising 👉 www.kickstarter.com/projects/gsh... Virtual high-fives from HAL to @aptshadow.bsky.social & @rowanrookanddecard.bsky.social and everyone with the good taste to support this!
CHILDREN OF TIME ttrpg Kickstarter just unlocked Solo Mode! Final week of fundraising 👉 www.kickstarter.com/projects/gsh... Virtual high-fives from HAL to @aptshadow.bsky.social & @rowanrookanddecard.bsky.social and everyone with the good taste to support this!
if any of you know anyone who still thinks that the flagshaggers are 'just proud of their country', i want you to sit down with them and read these court documents together
Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · yesterdayLeaders of flag-raising group Raise the Colours Oxfordshire placed trackers on highway workers’ cars to find out their home addresses, the High Court has heard. RTC then attempted to intimidate the highway staff into no longer removing flags by repeating their addresses to them.
the Holy Lunching Friars of Voondon (who claimed that just as lunch was at the centre of a man's temporal day, and man's temporal day could be seen as an analogy for his spiritual life, so lunch should (a) be seen as the centre of a man's spiritual life, and (b) be held in jolly nice restaurants)
Not speaking ill of the dead is how Jimmy Saville got something approaching a state funeral.
Once again for those at the back: ‘Don’t speak ill of the dead’ is about your great aunt Elsie, who liked a long gin with a short tonic at elevenses, and blew your inheritance money betting on the horses. Speaking ill of absolute monsters is a moral obligation, actually.
The Russian economy is rapidly transitioning to the cloud.
I await my thank you email from Jeremy Clarkson since, as a taxpayer, I have been subsidising his Diddly Squat farm. www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/2353306...
Diddly Squat Farm earns subsidies worth £250K, reports say
Jeremy Clarkson has owned Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire since 2008.
oxfordmail.co.uk
Early COVID mitigations showed us the power of collective action. The environment began to heal. People with disabilities were accommodated. An entire flu strain was eradicated. Folks reconnected with their local communities. We worked together & saved lives.
And now we have the joy that is the Eurostar waiting area, which is unpleasantly rammed as usual.
Recently, someone asked online if Pinky and the Brain were still trying to take over the world… because they thought that they could do a better job than a certain orange felon. That prompted me to share this cartoon that I drew years ago.
The journey has begun in 27 degrees heat. The non air-conditioned bus, as always, is lingering at Longstanton.
Steve is busy contemplating his shenanigans for the day.
This is well worth the read - and the repost. It explains so many of the principles on which a working society is based - things which the right-wing are constantly trying to undermine. Progressives of all hues need to reassert them just as constantly.
Nettlecake@nettlecake.bsky.social · 2d agoBrilliant letter from Stuart Thompson to Jeremy Clarkson about his comments that benefit claimants should write weekly thank you letters to tax payers detailing how they spend their benefits each week.
When I first went to University, I picked the one with an interesting course that was the furthest distance from my parents my A-Level grades could take me. Whenever I saw the tower at Forton I knew I was almost there, 3.5 hours from the family home. The sight of it still cheers me when I go past.
Brian Groom@groomb.bsky.social · 2d agoPublicity drawing for Forton services on the M6 near Lancaster, 1963.
Virgin Media are doing the switch to digital on my landline today. I have inserted the adaptor provided, relocated my phone to a less convenient location & connected it all. Have also rebooted the superhub, twice. My handset now shows "line error" and of course it is not working. FFS.
I am off on my hols later. Last week I dug out the bag of spare euro coins and thought I had put them in my bag. Can I find them in there today? Not a chance. Are they still where I usually keep them? Nope. Looks like tomorrow morning's tour guide may not get a tip unless I can break a 100€ note.
I would love it if these statements were connected, and the true function of narwhal tusks is *actually* 5G
Rusty Foster@rusty.todayintabs.com · 2d agoI’ve been in Greenland more than two weeks and I finally found the wifi. Here’s the finest two-toothed narwhal skull in the world.
