[Sport / World Cup / Scotland] Right then Scotland, the Brazilians can make football look like the most graceful form of dance imaginable, so instead I suggest a different form for us. Bring them the chaos and carnage and sheer overwhelming joyous, barely coordinated power of the last Orcadian […]

For today’s #BigShandySummer tasting, I splashed out on some fancy lemonade from Fever Tree and… …honestly, not worth it! Fizzy enough, but it needs more sugar and more lemon! It’s not actively BAD, but it has a very grownup taste, and I want my shandy for […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

I’ve rather forgotten to post evidence over the last week or so, but I assure you, the #bigshandysummer continues! Tasting notes in alt text. Join us, friends. It’s ever so refreshing.

People line up to shop at Arizona's new gas-station cathedral https://boingboing.net/2026/06/23/people-line-up-to-shop-at-arizonas-new-gas-station-cathedral.html ...Good lord, I can only assume these people would be highly confused by the Gloucester Services on the M4, and possibly even run in […]

Reading about his reflecting pool stupidity and was reminded of this little exercise in the perception of green-blue, from a while back... https://ismy.blue/

Hilary Cass climbed out from under the bridge she calls home to tell the BBC there's no evidence of any harms to trans young people from puberty blockers. Infuriating! Evan Urquhart has more here: assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...

I was in Hong Kong ten years ago, waking up jet-lagged at an ungodly hour to this beautiful pre-dawn view from my window. I'd already voted against #Brexit by post and had been so busy in meetings the day before that I'd really hoped I would sleep, but alas I […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

[games / like Wordle] I solved this JoWordle 1593 with 3/6 attempts in 6.5 seconds. ⬜️🟪⬜️⬜️🟦 ⬜️🟦🟦⬜️⬜️ 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 https://word.rodeo/JoWordle/

Oh blimmin’ eck, it’s Monday, isn’t it!? I’ve only gone and totally missed #theplaylist, live. Baws!

Over the last couple months, my wife and I have both joined the Edinburgh Tool Library and made use of a fair few tools in their inventory, to help us as we rebuild our porch. They're a brilliant organisation, and the kind of thing of which there should be many more, in every town in the world […]

Lesser-known-fact: the summer #solstice is a moment in time that delivers the longest day/shortest night in the North. At 9:24am (BST) the North Pole will be at its most-tilted towards the Sun. Me & the druids will be on #BBCR4 Broadcasting House later on to celebrate 🤗🔭🧪 📷: National Maritime Museum

[World Cup / Scotland] Wow! Ha! Ah well, not unpredicted, I suppose… Don’t be too brutal with us, Morocco! #WorldCup #SCOvMOR #football

⛪ An abandoned church, with an unusual design! A concrete pyramid, set with thousands of blocks of green and purple glass. Somewhere in France. #urbex #France #Photography #church #concrete #abandoned

[advertising / world cup] I genuinely hate to promote an advert, and certainly there are a zillion reasons to avoid FIFA and the World Cup and the USA and probably Adidas, too. ...But did anyone else think their little film was really quite fun? Maybe it's the inclusion of music by the likes […]

RE: https://aus.social/@slevelt/116764159486717492 Wasn't me, but it sounds brilliant! Anyone else know?

Today I actually feel some hope for the world for the first time in a long time: from the office of the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights comes The Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth - and it's ... really good. Is it perfect? No, but the authors stress that it […]

#nowplaying #theplaylist with @DJDarren I want to see everything spick and span, squeaky clean! Yeah baby! 🚙🫧🧽🧼🫧🚗 https://overcast.fm/+ABQzPQ46cAE

There’s much to hate or despair about around the World Cup or football or the US today, I can’t deny it. But glancing through the r/boston subreddit this evening has lifted this crusty old cynic’s spirits, I can’t deny it. Perhaps Ford’s summary of the planet was right after all, and humanity […]

At the kidbots’ primary school summer garden party and, at the bottom of some steps leading up to the concrete schoolyard, I notice a bluetooth speaker playing…

Aaagh, too late for a #theplaylistsuggestion I'm sure, but the sounds of Randy Newman and Mark Knopfler have just leapt unbidden into my brain from somewhere in my past, and the concluding verse of the tale in It's Money That Matters starts off with our young protagonist washing someone's car […]

I so often resort to heavily-played musical favourites to help me through my Fridays. DJ Andy Smith is helping me out, today: https://www.mixcloud.com/DJAndySmith/the-document-vol-1-dj-andy-smith-1998/ #nowplaying

RE: https://fediscience.org/@tksst/116730653214862440 Well this is rather lovely. Makes me think of the street art of the much-missed Elph, or possibly even the architecture of Shigeru Ban or Shuhei Endo.

A lunch and learn... on work-life balance :blobcatthink:

Hospital cat (and hospital pigeon) #dailyvenice #doorsday #CatsOfMastodon #venice

Ceasefire. What a concept.

Right. Back to basics for this evening’s #bigshandysummer, with a classic bitter shandy. Clear. Brown. Good.

RE: https://functional.cafe/@robertpi/116719973119932730 I love this bit: "The oldest person who filled out this survey was born in 1064, but assuming that was an error, the second oldest was born in 1938."

#bigshandysummer had hit a stumbling block… I’ve ran out of lemonade! I might have to just drink this… beer? Is that a thing?

I've really been enjoying relatively recent Arrested Development tracks this spring, for some reason. (Suspected reason: They're great. And often quite sunny.) Here's Easy, for instance, from last year. https://youtu.be/ZfIA8vGiAm8 #hiphop

Some more #bloomscrolling, because the variety show of our garden just keeps moving on to the next act! Photos never quite correctly capture the atmosphere of being out there among them, but I keep trying anyway.

Excellent weather for flying some flags at #PortyPride's dog parade, yesterday. And it never actually rained on us, which was a first for me! A great day, as always, and it's still going today. Get along to an event if you can! https://portypride.com/2026events #Pride #pride2026

Dog parade getting started at #portypride. Bit of a brooding sky, but this crowd is bring plenty of brightness and colour!

RE: https://mastodon.green/@davidallengreen/116697655664789835 Simply because I love measuring any and all public spending in Scottish Parliaments, I think this means the scheme ended up, adjusting for inflation, at about a third of the cost of building a Scottish Parliament. To fly four […]

As #BigShandySummer marches on (despite the weather) I’m trying a couple of ready-made offerings. The grapefruit radler from Stiegl is delicious, and very easy to drink rather quickly. Wish it was a bit cheaper, though. Not convinced by this elderflower […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

One of my friends has a litter of (surprise!) kittens. She also has a 1 year old Maine Coone called Bear and the kittens absolutely love him and the feeling is clearly mutual. So adorable. #cats #catsofmastodon

Enjoying an old episode of #theplaylist with the theme of 'The Rainbow', from two years ago this month: https://djdarren.site/archive/podcast/theplaylist-006-pride/

You may have noticed I'm processing some photos from the bigger camera, today. I'd forgotten I'd taken quite a lot of these! Here's some attempts at shooting the fire in Holyrood Park across the road from us last week, for example. #edinburgh

My favourite flowers in the garden are now in full bloom: these tiny irises always appear so suddenly, and look what a show they put on! #BloomScrolling #flowers #irises

The heavy lifter Les Alizés was back in Leith yesterday, loading up more parts for the new Inch Cape wind farm, up the coast. It really is vast, towering way above the 16-storey blocks of flats on the shore nearby. and completely dwarfing the little lighthouse […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

A very happy little bike ride for World Bicycle Day, in the end! Edinburgh’s really not a bad city for cycling, actually, though it could certainly be better! Still, lovely to get down to the shore and pose my little vehicle next to an absolutely enormous one […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Oooh, looks like the floating megacrane Les Alizes is back in Leith, this afternoon. Might have to celebrate World Bicycle Day by hopping on the old velocipede and going down to the shore for a look, after work.

She seems like a pretty awesome person, but I'd really like to talk to Michelle Obama about being a parent to traumatised children. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/02/michelle-obama-white-men-not-worry-impostor-syndrome

Another foggy number for today’s #BigShandySummer. In the kitchen while I listen to #theplaylist#bigshandysummer Stream.DJDarren.site, folks.

God, reading about UK politics is depressing. There is a massive, coordinated media attack on Net Zero, led by the RW press (& accelerated by Musk's X). It is *wildly* out of sync with public opinion, but it is slowly working, convincing even labour MPs that the public is more right than it is.

Nothing… Nothing… Nothing… Nothing… Nothing… Nothing… Nothing… Nothing… BURNING!!!!🔥 #PineNuts #goodgrief

Brothers, eh? #caturday

"We need a government that treats cycling as normal transport for normal people" speaker from @pedalonparliament.org at #pop26

A Big Vimto is fine, but I’m here to tell that it’s going to be a Big Shandy Summer in 2026. Specifically, cloudy lemonade and hazy IPA. Get in there. 🍻 #drinks #bigshandysummer

For #FensterFreitag this week, I'm sharing a picture of the porch we've been rebuilding. The new glazing arrived yesterday, and I was ENORMOUSLY relieved to see that the panels fit into the spaces we'd created for them like a glove! Perfect! First time! It's […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

I was so excited to hear that Boards Of Canada were releasing a new album! And then because I'm me, I forgot it was going to happen. But it happened last night! Repeat: There's a new Boards Of Canada album! https://boardsofcanada.bandcamp.com/album/inferno