Come on down to Amazingstoke!

Forgot to buy candles, ended up using white spirit and kitchen roll

Yesterday I had an operation on the bad ankle. The surgeon fished out the free floating bits of bone (seen below) and had a good look at the state of the joint. He didn't end up doing any bone shaving while he was in there, so I don't have to have a full on cast at least

Gate-crashing @jaysonstreet.bsky.social's talk at @SecKC 😂

Our first ticket release is this Monday (1st Sept) at 1337hrs: bit.ly/BSidesLDN202...

Mark those calendars- our next mini-meet will be on Friday 14th November! Meeting from 7pm for a 7:30pm start at The Dice Tower in Basingstoke. No ticket required. Got something you'd like to speak about? Drop us a message

This not so little guy is off to spend time in an aviary learning to fly before he gets released!

Thank you to everyone that came along!

Becoming cannon fodder to avoid your children learning the existence of lesbians

This year, our charity auction will be supporting a local group- Helping Dogs and Cats UK! This group helps pets to find their forever homes, but also looks after pets who are currently unsuitable for rehoming. Come along to the auction and sponsor an animal such as Patch!

I want to ask again: why can't our allies help us shoot down russian drones and missiles? How is it that they could help, but just silently watch?

Sneaky look at one of the items you could potentially get at this year's @bsidesbsk.bsky.social charity auction 👀 Made by yours truly!

No t-shirts this year, instead we're providing patches to upgrade your existing ones! Bring a cotton shirt, bag, jacket, or booty shorts and we'll help you affix your patch on the day

We're doing our annual Ukraine fundraiser a bit differently- we're going to have an entire table full of goodies available for donations! The table will be manned by @kiwijesus.bsky.social, who's happy to chat about his experiences as a volunteer in Ukraine. Proceeds to Murashky in Kyiv 💙💛

Been back to weaving camo nets in Lviv today

Been back to weaving camo nets in Lviv today

Every time I visit Maidan Nezalezhnosti, the number of flags has increased. It's now spread even further into the area, with footpaths forming between lines of flags. Each flag represents a soldier who gave their life to protect Ukraine

It's been a busy week for bird wrangling! I've been looking after a couple of ducklings for the past month who have just gone for a soft release. Had to fish a waterlogged seagull out of a pond. Currently, I have a baby dove who's unfortunately showing signs of pigeon pox

Meet the Mind Behind CtrlAltCTF! We’re proud to welcome @CtrlAltT0m – cyber specialist, ethical hacker, and founder of CtrlAltCyber – as the architect of this year’s official Capture the Flag competition at BSides Basingstoke. Don’t just attend. Compete! Links below: ⬇️

Chris was the best of us. Big up to Valhalla. www.thesun.co.uk/news/3483686...

(My interest is the cultural significance of patch gifting in Ukraine during the war, posting about it here: viclore.com/the-chevrons...)

A little birdie told us that our mailing list subscribers can expect something interesting in their inboxes tomorrow 👀 There's still time to sign up over on our homepage! www.bsidesbasingstoke.com

Guess who got summoned for duck catching duty

4 years ago today I visited Wilford Cum Lake

The Basingstoke 2025 CFP is Officially Open! (Not an April Fools). Our conference is made by amazing speakers (such as yourself?) If you have a talk or even a vague idea for one please submit a CFP we would love to have you! forms.gle/c1JbAAMngRUd...

Whoops

More explosions in Kyiv, ceasefire going expeditiously

Today I've been helping Natural Basingstoke with coppicing, and learned how to make dead hedges :D There's more work planned on the pond to make it better for wildlife

The US was the sole UN member state to vote NO on a resolution declaring an International Day of Hope

3 years ago I was watching evacuees pouring out of Lviv. Today I heard that Trump's trying to force evacuees to return to a country still at war. What a shitshow

They’re learning about Budapest, tiktok is full-on libbing out

me rn

I filed a freedom of information request with HMRC to ask why they have a 28-character limit on company names when filing a tax return. They claim they don't know. Because they deleted it. Because retention policy. I hope this is an FOI officer trying to fob me off. If not: OH MY GOD.

🇺🇦🇺🇸The U.S. demanding Ukraine—victim of a genocidal invasion—to "repay" military aid, even with its rare earth minerals, is obscene. Where’s the talk of Russia paying for its war crimes? Where’s the talk of Russia leaving Ukraine? This hypocrisy is rewarding aggression while punishing the invaded.

Tried to get a pic with friend's cat but she wasn't really having it

I've been back to making camouflage nets in Lviv 💙💛

Forget to get a card for that special someone in your life? Don't worry, we've got you covered 🥰

Unfortunately the pigeon went downhill, and has had to be euthanised :(

Pigeon update: probable sparrow hawk attack, feet aren't working properly. Hard to tell if inflammation or spinal damage. Concerned as it's not pooped, and pidges are poop machines normally. If no improvement in the next couple of days, euthanasia is kindest option unfortunately

How does this keep happening to me

Another Ukrainian fairy-tale translation done

Forever on the lookout for old medical books, they inevitably contain something fun

Been enjoying harassing lots of kererū with my camera! One of New Zealand's beautiful native birds

Save the date! Our next mini meet will be on Friday 7th February at the Dice Tower in Basingstoke. Meet from 7pm for a 7:30pm start. We've got one speaker lined up, fancy filling the second slot? Drop us a line!

Averaged in at about 49 minutes of language studying per day in 2024, not bad!

Taken me more than a few hours, but I've finished my translation of Kotyhoroshko! It's a traditional folk fairy tail which IMO is interesting because it's Ukrainian rather than generically Slavic like a lot of things are.

A case study of the folklore surrounding the church of St Michael atop Brent Tor in Dartmoor

Results from CT scan are in. No debriding as the joint is too badly damaged. One bone never really healed, and apparently there's a big arthritic hole in the middle of the joint. Going to be trying steroid injections to see if they reduce pain, but joint fusion is incoming

When I was in the Odesa catacombs earlier this year I was told the legend of a golden ship modelled after the Titanic being hidden there. I've written up what I was told, and added in other versions of it which can be read online vicsfolklore.com/2024/11/25/t...

I've started a folklore blog to share cool things that I learn about during my studies: vicsfolklore.com