"The fact that many men believe they no longer even have to pretend to respect women in order to participate in public life makes it unlikely that anything will change anytime soon. The fish rots from the head. The pig is in the Oval Office." www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...

Evening conversation with Beefies. The herd (of two) is now called Simply Red, as they can no longer be labled The Beefie Boys.

Another great read from @theradr.bsky.social Rabbj Ruttenberg: Deuteronomy’s Liberation Theology - and its lessons for us on creating a vision of wholeness for our own tomorrow www.lifeisasacredtext.com/p/11dade2c-6...

I like filling in marketing surveys. I like giving curmudgeonly feedback on inane ads. I don't like when you get to the "And now about you" bit, and the option for household is "young couple, no kids" or (after all manner of options with kids) "older couple, no kids at home".

I had the priviledge of watching our local family of paradise ducklings practise a fly-past this morning. Then they landed, and got feedback from their father, who marched up and down in front of the straight line of young'uns.

This? This is my post! I have dug (am digging) the holes by hand because, well, why not? There's no hurry to get the gate in, I get exercise, and somewhat off-set my neighbour's incessant lawn mowing with his noisy ride-on. I'm thinking of taking up a scythe. #slow_living #slow_farming

Spring is springing at Etheldredastowe, and I finally remembered I should post here. Expect a lot of garden talk.

Reposting this because it’s consistently a thing that makes resistance feel like something that can be and in fact already is part of my everyday life.

Two of the Works of Mercy (based on Matthew's Gospel): welcoming the stranger and feeding the hungry, as represented in the medieval frescoes of the Baptistery in Parma. Some of the responsibilities of being born and baptized into, you know, a S-O-C-I-E-T-Y

No government can ever feasibly choose to ignore climate change or pandemics. You can't stop physics or biology by pretending that they don't exist. The only real choice governments make is how badly they and their people will suffer.

Trump’s anti-trans Executive Order is bad BUT it technically defines everyone as female. It states: “'Female' means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell." Since all fetuses "at conception" are female, Trump just defined EVERYONE as female.

So, I found @theradr.bsky.social in my early days here (some time late last year). She has been a great source of knowledge and learning, and this post is a calm, considered call to action. We need more than "thoughts and prayers" right now. www.lifeisasacredtext.com/inauguration/

My letter in today's @theguardian.com on the government's rampant enthusiasm for so-called AI. Many reasons for concern, from embedding our current failed systems to environmental impacts #Discrimination #Inequality #ClimateEmergency

It's a goal of mine to help make this the most famous, well-known and UNDERSTOOD quote about cities in history. Please share it as much as you can. #InducedDemand

There's probably some important life lesson about how much easier it is to plant things than to keep weeding and tidying existing plants. Yet the tended plants are the ones which yield fruit. Sponsored by ice tea, a newly-planted flowerbed, a harvest of peaches, and grass cutting.

My hand-spun yarn got thoroughly tested by the Sisters of Chaos today. Picture the laser lights of a high-tech security system - crisscrossed over the living and dining rooms. I was only outside for half an hour!

I wrote about why Mark Zuckerberg is spectacularly evil in a three-part series here - based in part on my experiences reporting in Myanmar in the early 2010s. little-flying-robots.ghost.io/facebook-des...

This lovely Hellenistic mosaic glass bowl looks so modern, yet it was made over 2,000 years ago! Ancient glassmakers created the tiny flower pattern using a technique now known as ‘millefiori’ (thousand flowers). A timeless design still made by glassmakers today! British Museum 📷 me #Archaeology

I find myself having to use the word "rapscallion" more often than usual these days. Meet Bianca (lighter) and Nyx (tabbier).

Caspian, a.k.a Mr Helpful-pants, left us for a place with no suffering on Wednesday. He is now sleeping in the Roseary, wrapped in his favourite blanket. The world is an empty place.

Wow! This is the most interesting projection of the world which I've seen. Shows just how much land there isn't, compared to the ocean!

80s back in fashion

Good writing, by those who know more than Wiki-warriors.

Finally on top of reports, and starting to look ahead to next year's teaching. Also moved the Beefie Boys.

The Hīkoi is 14 times the size of the 2022 anti-mandate protest, yet there has been only one arrest. Additionally, no one has bought a noose with them, and no one is calling for "Nuremberg trials" of politicians, or comparing David Seymour to Stalin

Today, I discovered that Gus (the Angus), and Lil' Red (the Jersey cross) really like skritches with the broom. #lifestyleblock #BeefieBoys

Widening the broadcast on this. Why is there a Hikoi happening in #NZ at the moment. www.tiktok.com/@rianatengah... #kiwi

Still feeling a bit lost, but getting to read about some great archaeology.

Tusiata Avia captures the moment in Parliament yesterday: (N.B. "The ACT party's poet laureate" is because ACT hate her.)

Support the Hikoi - Kill the Bill!

Anyone else getting a serious LiveJournal-circa-2003 vibe here? Tell me it's not just me! Though I'm seriously proud of the number of web-friends I've had through multiple iterations of communities.

I'm here! Late as usual. I'm one of Caspian (aka Mr Helpful-pants)'s staff. Seriously, how are you supposed to punctuate that previous sentence?