Photo cross-post
Sun, Jun. 15th, 2025 05:15![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrewducker
It was about ten seconds later that we realised how terrible Crocs are
for climbing.
Original
is here on Pixelfed.scot.
andrewducker(no subject)
Sat, Jun. 14th, 2025 16:04conulyMinnesota House DFL leader Hortman, husband killed in apparent ‘politically motivated’ shooting; Sen. Hoffman, wife wounded
Authorities still searching for suspect in shooting of 2 Minnesota state lawmakers
Apparently he dressed up like a cop, because of course he did, and residents are advised not to open the door to police unless there are multiple officers present. I'd go one step further and say that you should never open the door to an unexpected official until you've confirmed that they're supposed to be there. If they are legit, they have an ID, and you have a phone number you can call - your local precinct, if they're cops, your gas company, whoever it is. (Uh. Maybe step out the back door to call if they say they're from the gas company. I mean, use your best judgment.)
Authorities still searching for suspect in shooting of 2 Minnesota state lawmakers
Apparently he dressed up like a cop, because of course he did, and residents are advised not to open the door to police unless there are multiple officers present. I'd go one step further and say that you should never open the door to an unexpected official until you've confirmed that they're supposed to be there. If they are legit, they have an ID, and you have a phone number you can call - your local precinct, if they're cops, your gas company, whoever it is. (Uh. Maybe step out the back door to call if they say they're from the gas company. I mean, use your best judgment.)
Weirdly specific firefox question
Sat, Jun. 14th, 2025 16:01conulyIf I'm typing a URL and I then use the scroll wheel to middle-click it in the address window it will open in a new tab rather than on the same tab I'm on.
Now, when I open a new tab by clicking a link to open a new tab it opens right next to the tab I'm on. If I do it via the address window or the new tab button then it opens all the way at the end of my tabs, which is annoying and disorienting if I'm not already all the way at the end.
Is there a setting, perhaps in about:config, that I can adjust to change this behavior so it always opens new tabs next to the one I'm on?
Now, when I open a new tab by clicking a link to open a new tab it opens right next to the tab I'm on. If I do it via the address window or the new tab button then it opens all the way at the end of my tabs, which is annoying and disorienting if I'm not already all the way at the end.
Is there a setting, perhaps in about:config, that I can adjust to change this behavior so it always opens new tabs next to the one I'm on?
OMGOMGOMG!!!!
Tue, Jun. 17th, 2025 11:25conulyThe last season of The Strange Case of the Starship Iris is finally here.
Okay, only the first episode so far (and two pre-season teasers) but... omg.
I've summed this one up for you all before as "Everybody is gay while fighting fascism in space" and "Turns out, fascism is both racist and inefficient", so yes, that does make it the perfect thing to listen to while heading out to protest. (Speaking of....)
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( Read more... )
Okay, only the first episode so far (and two pre-season teasers) but... omg.
I've summed this one up for you all before as "Everybody is gay while fighting fascism in space" and "Turns out, fascism is both racist and inefficient", so yes, that does make it the perfect thing to listen to while heading out to protest. (Speaking of....)
( Read more... )
Where would I even begin?
Sat, Jun. 14th, 2025 17:28oursin(And didn't we have something similar, like, maybe 20 years ago on LiveJournal?)
Thing going round on bluesky recently-
'Ten authors you've read five books by'.
*Looks around just one room and its bookshelves*
Me: Maybe I could break this down into groups, I dunno, perhaps?
Thrillers? Sff? Litfic? (might break this down further into Obscure Victorian/Edwardian Novelists, Middlebrow Women Writers of the 20s/30s, the 60s Generation???) Bloke writers for whom I have a weakness? Beloved childhood faves?
And then I think, nah, this is too much effort.
I was a bit took aback by suggestions that people might be curating their 10 to look Cool or SRS or at least, not given to ingesting The Wrong Sort of Book, perish the thort.
Confused by Disney ineptitude
Sat, Jun. 14th, 2025 12:03andrewduckerTwo weeks after seeing the CGI Lilo and Stitch at the cinema I'm watching the original with the kids. And it's so much better. The direction, the writing, the acting are all just much higher quality.
The remake felt much clumsier. And I don't really understand why.
Edit: Just realised that they entirely cut the Ugly Duckling part from the remake. Why would you do that? It's key to Stitch's arc!
And all of the bits where Lilo how to be like Elvis.
In fact, nearly all of the bits where Lilo talked to Stitch and built a relationship with him.
The remake felt much clumsier. And I don't really understand why.
Edit: Just realised that they entirely cut the Ugly Duckling part from the remake. Why would you do that? It's key to Stitch's arc!
And all of the bits where Lilo how to be like Elvis.
In fact, nearly all of the bits where Lilo talked to Stitch and built a relationship with him.
Various & misc
Fri, Jun. 13th, 2025 16:54oursinDon't think I've previously either come across this or posted it, but who knows: Out on the Town: Magnus Hirschfeld and Berlin’s Third Sex: 'Years before the Weimar Republic’s well-chronicled freedoms, the 1904 non-fiction study Berlin’s Third Sex depicted an astonishingly diverse subculture of sexual outlaws in the German capital'.
***
Something else suitable for Pride Month: Rachel Carson and the Power of Queer Love (review):
provides an original and stirring account of a non-commodifying queer love between two women and nonhuman nature—a love that was the defining relationship of Carson’s life and yet has been downplayed in heteronormative tellings of her story. So, too, is Maxwell’s work a convincing argument for this queer love’s formative role in the writing of Silent Spring, as well as an empowering message about how embracing queer feelings might function as a catalyst for “political and personal power” in contemporary environmental politics.
***
I think I have some copies of The Pioneer journal associated with this club, but they are somewhere in the maelstrom (I am gearing up to Doing Something About this, having acquired intelligence of a body that will collect books for charity): The Pioneer Club (1892-1939): A ladies' club at the forefront of late Victorian social reform, which suffered a long, slow decline in the early 20th century.
***
Peter McLagan (1823-1900): Scotland’s first Black MP:
[S]ources suggest that McLagan’s mother was probably of Black Caribbean or Black African descent.... McLagan’s father, Peter McLagan (1774-1860)... enslaved over 400 people on his plantations and personal estate in Demerara.
In fact there is strong evidence as mentioned in that article that he was by no means the first Black MP. Issues of class and family connections clearly played a significant role up to the mid-C19th.
***
An ancient writing system confounding myths about Africa:
'How come a country that did not have a colonial past in Zambia had so many artefacts from Zambia in its collection?'"
In the 19th and early 20th Centuries Swedish explorers, ethnographers and botanists would pay to travel on British ships to Cape Town and then make their way inland by rail and foot.
....
The Swedish museum had not done any research on the cloaks - and the National Museums Board of Zambia was not even aware they existed.
***
Artist's work to restore damaged shell grotto (I put this in a short story once.) (My own theory is that it was originally A Folly. Doing things with shells was as I recall quite A Thing in the C18th and Mrs Delany and her mate the Duchess of Portland had a rather less concealed shell grotto?)
"Is there anything you'd like to tell us about yourself?"
Wed, Jun. 18th, 2025 00:52conulyNo, but I'd like to tell you that you urgently need a proofreader. Are you aware that you just made me answer the same question about my desired salary three different ways? Once was plenty enough! Also, why are you asking what currency I want it in, and since you are asking, why is one time US dollar at the top of the drop down and the other two times it's alphabetical under "United States"? Did you even look at this before posting, and once again afterwards?
(These people really urgently need help with this, but unless this is a Secret Test I guess telling them wouldn't help me much.)
Alternative answer to the question: "Yes, I'd like to tell you that I really need money, please give me some, with or without hiring me first."
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( Read more... )
(These people really urgently need help with this, but unless this is a Secret Test I guess telling them wouldn't help me much.)
Alternative answer to the question: "Yes, I'd like to tell you that I really need money, please give me some, with or without hiring me first."
( Read more... )
In which there is a priceless collection of embarrassing splurging
Fri, Jun. 13th, 2025 16:10spiralsheep1. What item would you be embarrassed for people to know you own?
Why would I own anything I'd be embarrassed about? I mean, I have some things on display in my house that other people might find disconcerting but if fossil horse teeth or whatever bother you then don't come to my house. XD
2. What is something you splurged on just for you?
Everything I own, lol, but I'm willing to share my preciousess with people provided they play well with Others. I do own one rock sample that I bought rather than collected myself, but it only cost about £10 including cutting and polishing and delivery from India. To be honest my taste in material objects, apart from art, is practical and based on performance. I suppose the splurgiest things I own are original paintings but the most "valuable" are all by artists I know so I bought them at mates rates.
Re Q1. I do have an expressionist nude on the living / sitting / drawing room wall, and I did have it up when both the subject and the artist were my neighbours but to be fair a lot of us had naked paintings of those neighbours on display and mine is much less realist than most (ETA: another of my neighbours has some extremely detailed drawings by / of a different artist / model pair whom we know but the owner has them tucked away somewhere, which is probably for the best as we also know the model's mum socially).
3. What is something that you own with no real world value that is priceless to you?
My own time technically has a real world value but is worth infinitely more to me than its market price. I think this would be true for most people? A lot of my rocks / fossils / archaeological artifacts have happy memories attached, and most of those would have minimal resale value (although various museums or educational collections might think they're priceless acquisitions?). My Lego too, obviously, although that probably does have resale value. Mostly memories, especially of showing children (and occasionally adults) a wonder for the first time: wildlife, plants, weather, fossils, rocks, art, whatevs.
4. Do you collect anything?
Dust? Micro-meteorites set in dust? "Weeds" in my garden. Snobby bee: "I'm not visiting those flowers for essential nectar because they're weeds and only tasteless / scentless over-bred flowers count... x-x ". I don't intentionally "collect" anything but I will admit my rocks are carefully curated and labelled (for when I die).
( And y'all? )
Why would I own anything I'd be embarrassed about? I mean, I have some things on display in my house that other people might find disconcerting but if fossil horse teeth or whatever bother you then don't come to my house. XD
2. What is something you splurged on just for you?
Everything I own, lol, but I'm willing to share my preciousess with people provided they play well with Others. I do own one rock sample that I bought rather than collected myself, but it only cost about £10 including cutting and polishing and delivery from India. To be honest my taste in material objects, apart from art, is practical and based on performance. I suppose the splurgiest things I own are original paintings but the most "valuable" are all by artists I know so I bought them at mates rates.
Re Q1. I do have an expressionist nude on the living / sitting / drawing room wall, and I did have it up when both the subject and the artist were my neighbours but to be fair a lot of us had naked paintings of those neighbours on display and mine is much less realist than most (ETA: another of my neighbours has some extremely detailed drawings by / of a different artist / model pair whom we know but the owner has them tucked away somewhere, which is probably for the best as we also know the model's mum socially).
3. What is something that you own with no real world value that is priceless to you?
My own time technically has a real world value but is worth infinitely more to me than its market price. I think this would be true for most people? A lot of my rocks / fossils / archaeological artifacts have happy memories attached, and most of those would have minimal resale value (although various museums or educational collections might think they're priceless acquisitions?). My Lego too, obviously, although that probably does have resale value. Mostly memories, especially of showing children (and occasionally adults) a wonder for the first time: wildlife, plants, weather, fossils, rocks, art, whatevs.
4. Do you collect anything?
Dust? Micro-meteorites set in dust? "Weeds" in my garden. Snobby bee: "I'm not visiting those flowers for essential nectar because they're weeds and only tasteless / scentless over-bred flowers count... x-x ". I don't intentionally "collect" anything but I will admit my rocks are carefully curated and labelled (for when I die).
( And y'all? )
Interesting Links for 13-06-2025
Fri, Jun. 13th, 2025 12:00andrewducker- 1. Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft -- and people are paying anyway
- (tags:taxi automation business )
- 2. How much is golfing at St. Andrews worth to the Scottish economy? (over $400m)
- (tags:golf Scotland business )
- 3. Recording orchestral music for a computer game (Bloodborne, Cleric Beast fight)
- (tags:games music video )
- 4. Why Israel Struck Iran Now
- (tags:Israel Iran nuclearweapons )
"I think the protagonist had hay fever or maybe yellow fever, I'm not sure which"
Mon, Jun. 16th, 2025 16:30conulyWell, that kinda covers the gamut of illness there, so maybe figure it out?
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( Read more... )
( Read more... )
Rani Icons
Thu, Jun. 12th, 2025 20:15purplecatSome icons of The Rani which have been languishing on my hard drive since there was only one of her. I guess I need to make some more...
Snaggin is free. Credit is appreciated. Comments are loved.
Snaggin is free. Credit is appreciated. Comments are loved.
Think the rot set in with spell-check, honestly
Thu, Jun. 12th, 2025 18:04oursinOkay, am v depressed by all the ongoing hoohah around AI and the people using it rather than their own brains, quite aside from Evil Exploitation aspect -
- but on intellectual pollution, having been moaning inwardly, banging the floor with my ebony cane and beating my head on my antimacassar for a considerable while over the awful errors that appear in prose because the word is correctly spelt but it is THE WRONG BLOODY WORD.
That the person who created that text has not picked up on, sigh, groan.
Insert here a lament for the decline in copy-editing and proof-reading, which might have spotted this sort of thing and corrected it.
I am a little worried that we are now have generations who do not know what words actually mean, because spell-check has not said anything .
This is brought to you by having encountered the term 'itinerary' deployed for something that is not, as far as I can see, a journey, but the programme/timetable for a meeting. Perhaps there is some sense of a progression to be made???
(The mermaids signing, each to each: that is why I cannot hear them.)
Interesting Links for 12-06-2025
Thu, Jun. 12th, 2025 12:00andrewducker- 1. EU puts Monaco on money laundering blacklist
- (tags:fraud money Europe )
- 2. Steven Universe Sequel Series Heads to Prime Video
- (tags:TV animation scifi GoodNews )
- 3. Houseplants Do Not Purify the Air
- (tags:air pollution plants )
- 4. Solar Orbiter offers first glimpse of the Sun's poles in breakthrough mission
- (tags:sun astronomy space solarsystem )
- 5. Cthulhu's ABCs: A Heavy Metal Muppet Parody Song about the Alphabet
- (tags:muppets language funny video cthulhu viaKirsty )
- 6. Book burning is a modern free speech test for Labour
- (tags:uk freespeech religion )