Today's artist without a (known) birthday: Jacob van Hulsdonck, still-life painter of Antwerp. Here, from around 1620, wild strawberries in a wan-li bowl. And a carnation.
Eleanor G
@zaichishka.bsky.social
Welsh-Kiwi Japanese translator, chanoyu practitioner & host to a timeshare cat. Memorial Device ANT
I remember when Gemini replaced google assistant. I said "Okay google, set a timer for five minutes", and instead of setting a timer like it used to, it said "I can't do that. Would you like to hear some things I can do?" so I cannot WAIT for this change to make my phone significantly less useful.
The Verge@theverge.com · 7h agoIt’ll be Gemini or nothing on Android from September 4th. www.theverge.com/tech/975516/...
Unemployment at its highest level for 11 years, did I see? And THAT INCLUDES THE COVID AND LOCKDOWN TIMES. Thanks to the Ardern government that protected jobs and businesses at the time.
It takes some doing to screw up a successful and longstanding comedy festival this badly. It’s long been the big event where comedians test out their fringe shows - with huge support and visibility in Leicester, and excellent knowledgeable audiences. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Leicester Comedy Festival under threat as operator ceases trading
Leicester Comedy Festival has been held for more than 30 years but its operator has ceased trading.
bbc.co.uk
The BBC has never managed to steer out of the conceptual tailspin of the iPlayer turning up as a (worldbeating groundbreaking) catch-up service for linear broadcasting, just as streaming was introduced. Catch-up and streaming are totally different. But they look the same to the public.
Pete Fraser@petefrasermusic.bsky.social · 8h agoThere’s more and more BBC radio stuff that you can’t listen back to internationally and I must say, I don’t love it. I’m, of course, as a non-resident Brit, not going to (indeed can’t) pay a TV licence, but being able to get the radio has always been a lifeline for native Brits living abroad.
3) THE CAMPHOR CEILING🌳 The 3rd floor of Kinkaku-ji was famed for its ceiling, made from a single, huge piece of camphor wood. A wonder of the age, the 'Ichimai Tenjō' (一枚天井/楠の一枚板) was crafted from an immense tree shipped from Shimotoba, south east of the city. #金閣寺
Someone's been reading beauty magazines and misunderstood the term 'bee-stung lips'.
Danielle, Petty Hate Machine@dimsie.bsky.social · 14h agoOh no someone's lip has swollen
Wherein Doocey insists on reporting of wait times for mental health services against his targets, but not reporting of: - Number of declined referrals - Number of clinical vacancies in mental health - Wait times for community services (that declined referrals are supposedly sent to)
RNZ News Feeds@rnzrss.bsky.social · 13h agoFears young people slipping through gaps in mental health data
Now the English is an official language of New Zealand I expect all posts to use your, you're, there, their and they're correctly.
the national one in NZ had a data breach serious enough that it's got its own wiki page 🤡
ManageMyHealth data breach - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Most aren't accessible for blind & low vision parents either 😑 Also. Omg. WHHYYYYY are there so many?!! One for the classroom, one for the sports team, one for the travel fundraiser - and there's no guarantee that even if you children are AT THE SAME SCHOOL that the teacher will use the same app 🤯😫
samuel mehr@mehr.nz · 13h agowhat is the most jankily developed type of mobile app and why is it the kind that schools pay for, with public money, to share identifiable data involving children
The nerd in me would argue it's 1986, which brought into force a land border between the UK and France. Treaty of Canterbury (1986) - Wikipedia share.google/Cko2FtcsYrRe...
Treaty of Canterbury (1986) - Wikipedia
share.google
In my dad’s lifetime around 70,000 people died because of bombs dropped on the UK in 1939-45. In my lifetime 3,000 died as a result of civil conflict over the borders of the UK. I think a few boats of impoverished and desperate people who want a better life isn’t quite in the same league.
Worth noting that these guys getting into power with an effective majority would be a generational disaster.
Lewis Baston@lewisbaston.bsky.social · 23h agoThe borders of the U.K. have been in place since 1922.
🪙THE GOLDEN PAVILION🔥 True beauty is something that attacks, overpowers, robs, and finally destroys. -Mishima Yukio (三島由紀夫). In 1950, almost bald of gold, and having survived the Ōnin War, Kinkaku-ji was burnt to the ground by Hayashi Yōken, one of its own novice monks.
You refer to eating an entire bag of crisps in one sitting as “mildly concerning”. I refer to it as “seeing things through” and “not being a quitter”. Everything is all about perspective.
Both of my sister’s family’s elder cats passed away earlier this year. While it took a bit longer than I expected, this weekend they adopted a new one. Sharing it here even though Bluesky notoriously doesn’t care much for cats.
Folks, come hear me talk about the big bang, how long it took us to get from then to now - and what happened along the way, Tues, 25 Aug 2026, 7:30pm – 8:30pm @ the Oakroom; free tickets via Eventbrite. (And if you don't like my korero you can always have a pint) www.rtbevent.com/richard-east...
New idea just dropped: a cat library. Like a cat cafe, but with books. Read your library book with a cat in your lap.
“If not friend, why fiend-shaped?” “You mean friend-shaped?” “Oh? Ohhhh! Well that explains a lot.”
“If you don’t stop playing with that, you’ll go blind”
ABC News Australia@news.abc.net.au · 18h agoErectile dysfunction drug tadalafil may heighten 'risk' of eye disease
