…
Can’t talk. Under cat. Using onscreen keyboard. Explain later.
Later: I’m not usually quite that indulgent, but the little cat has been unwell. He was huddled up and miserable looking day before yesterday. Wouldn’t eat, which is most unusual for him. We held off overnight taking him to the vet, and he was a little better in the morning.
He’s been steadily better ever since, but tonight was the first time he’d cuddled up and wanted attention and I wasn’t going to turn him down. Photo courtesy lousy webcam.
I guess he caught a bug or ate a bad mouse or something.
September 16, 2020 — 6:54 pm
Comments: 4
Spooky
Uncle B found this: it’s a tool that lets you explore a few Welsh neolithic tombs in 3D.
I’m still watching videos from the Prehistory Guys. I’m fascinated. Not only are there a thousand stone circles in Britain (that’s right now, still standing, when we know most have been ploughed up or incorporated in other buildings), but apparently there are thousands more in France and Spain.
I had no idea. This makes it sound as though every community had one. Like it was the village church, community hall and sports club. There is evidence of burials in some, there is evidence of feasting in others (notably Stonehenge).
As for the sport idea, that’s just spitballing, but it makes sense. Many of the circles had a raised bank all around them, as if for spectators (most of these have been ploughed away). All sorts of things might have taken place in a henge.
I can’t recommend these guys enough. On the one hand, they laugh at the tendency of professional archaeologists (they aren’t) to see everything they don’t understand as having a religious purpose. On the other, they refuse to entertain any kind of woo-woo at all.
My interest in neolithic archaeology has been dampened for many years by my scorn for larping modern ‘Druids’.
Sorry I’m late. I was under a cat.
September 15, 2020 — 10:16 pm
Comments: 7
It does look a little wuthery…
The house that inspired the house in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights is up for sale. Ponden Hall was built in 1541 in West Yorkshire on the edge of the moors. Spooky old pile.
It’s been a bed and breakfast since 2014.
The real estate listing says they’re entertaining offers over £1,000,000. Either that’s lowball, or prices around here really are inflated – there are small houses near us going for that.
I mean, they’re listed buildings in good locations, but still.
September 14, 2020 — 7:26 pm
Comments: 4
See you Monday
I don’t post on September 11. Don’t care what you talk about in the comments, though.
Have a good weekend, everyone!
September 11, 2020 — 6:30 pm
Comments: 16
As promised, train
The train was a little late. For a moment I thought I’d gotten it wrong again. My friends who struggled to the tracks two days running would NOT have been happy with me.
But, no. It came at last. I must say, it wasn’t a very steamy steam train, which seriously impacted it’s photogeneity. Um. Photogenicness. It wasn’t as purty as it could have been.
Photo by Onkle B.
But so very sad to see the passing of Diana Rigg. I will forever be pissed that I never looked like that in a skin-tight leather cat suit. I thought sure that was a promise made to me by The Avengers.
September 10, 2020 — 8:48 pm
Comments: 8
Yo.
We heard on our local WhatsApp group that a steam train was going to come through our station today, so we motored into town and stood waiting for half an hour.
Turns out, it’s tomorrow.
The box that controls the rail barrier says YO. (It says YO on the other side, too).
Yeah, you think you find that boring, try keeping it company for thirty minutes.
Train pictures tomorrow, maybe.
September 9, 2020 — 7:37 pm
Comments: 11
And then there’s this…
This is a volcano filmed from the ISS. I believe it’s a Russian one from 2009. Unfortunately, I got the shot from the Telegraph, which is behind a hard paywall.
I spent some time doing an Images search of “volcano ISS” after seeing a cool gif on Twitter. There are some fantastic images there, and some videos as well.
This isn’t much of a post, though, so I’ll add a useful browser plugin. I Don’t Care About Cookies will work with any Chrome-based browser (I think there’s a Firefox version, too). It intercepts those annoying messages asking if you will accept cookies. Works a treat.
Wait, you get those too, right? I know it’s the result of an EU ruling, but I assumed websites were lazy and presented them to everyone.
There are still news sites in the US that block me because of Europe’s stupid GDPR rules.
Never send a bureaucrat to fix a technical problem.
September 8, 2020 — 7:34 pm
Comments: 4
Sweet dreams
When I was little – and up into my thirties, I think – I had recurring dreams about a tornado. It was big and scary and powerful and yet strangely attractive. In some dreams, I understood it to be God and I would walk into it.
Years later, from some alt USENET group about dreams, I learned it is a very common one.
Well, maybe not ‘tornado is God’, but tornado dreams generally. I am 99% sure we all caught it off the Wizard of Oz.
Now, enjoy this video of a tornado in Laramie, Wyoming. It’s a Twitter link, if you care.
No, there’s no follow up. The video cuts before we know if the tornado reaches them. Sweet dreams!
September 7, 2020 — 8:10 pm
Comments: 5
All hail the birfday boi
I don’t think I’ve ever had a cat whose exact birthday I knew – except, of course, the ones I saw being born. Wellington’s birthday is today. He is one.
I think he’s got some growing yet to do, so I’m keeping him on the kitten food a little longer. He’s a skinny boy.
He’s also a pretty boy. I done him dirty shooting him with flash, but the without-flash version was just noise.
Have a good weekend, everyone!
September 4, 2020 — 7:48 pm
Comments: 7
Standing with Stones
We were casting around for something to watch the other day and hit upon a really excellent 2-hour documentary about British prehistoric sites. Standing With Stones was self-funded twelve years ago by a pair of non-archaeologists. It took them two years of driving around Britain.
Very well written and presented: no woo or aliens. A little speculation, but sensible. I shan’t spoil it for you, but I had no idea there were a thousand stone circles in Britain.
Their whole channel is worth a look: The Prehistory Guys. Also, their Patreon.
I love British prehistory, but it’s ultimately frustrating because we will never know enough about it. Still, modern techniques like ground-penetrating whotsit are uncovering all sorts of interesting new information. Go watch it!
September 3, 2020 — 7:52 pm
Comments: 9