Was playing Trivial Pursuit with family one time, classics question came up. My brother replied “Pericles”. His 10-yo daughter said “Wrong!” He knew he was right & demanded the “correct” answer.

“Testicles.” Pronounced to rhyme with Pericles. It was the answer to another question on the card - What is removed from a horse to make it a gelding?

The poor child. Her face as we all screamed laughing. “What?!?”

I want a spirit pencil. “Writes valuable messages.”

Brian Cox shows ball and feathers falling together in vacuum: https://youtu.be/E43-CfukEgs

I once was a passenger in a clown car squeezed full of people who were all high as kites, including the driver. We were bowling merrily along, when someone said, “How fast are we going? I feel like we’re going really fast.” There was a bit of discussion about how fast we should be going, and whether it felt faster than that, and then the driver thought to check the speedo. 25mph, in a 30mph area. I haven’t laughed so hard since.

So yes, it can impair your judgement when driving.

That really sucks, I hope you’re over it soon.

Shetland is an archipelago, but ok. Historically populations in the Scottish islands moved around a lot more than you would think. Sick of the tiny village you grew up in? Hop in a boat and go to Orkney, or Skye, or Lewis. Travel by land was difficult, by sea was comparatively easier. There was also a lot of incomer traffic, from Ireland, Scandinavia, even the Baltic. So yes, there might have been a tiny fraction of genetic connection, but unlikely to be significant.

Oh my god! I’m sitting here touching myself like a fucking madwoman. Thank you so much! Brilliant, brilliant comment. I had no idea, how have I lived without this knowledge? Ok I’m touching myself again, this is hilarious.

In the National Museum of Scotland there’s a bronze-age skeleton curled up in a recreation of the person’s grave, surrounded by their grave goods. While I was stood looking at it, a woman was explaining to her granddaughter that the skeleton had been found in Shetland, where she herself was from. The girl turned to her and said, “Was he a friend of yours, granny?” We all laughed, but I think we all had the same uncomfortable thought - this wasn’t just dry bones, it was a person. What if it was a friend of granny’s? What amount of time makes it ok?

Looking at this body in the British Museum was even worse: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28589151

The Russian government cracks down really hard on anyone daring to protest against the war. You can be jailed for even calling it a war - it’s a “special military operation”.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-war_protests_in_Russia_(2022–present)

Beekeeping, rowing, swimming, knitting, photography, gardening. I also do quite a bit of tech stuff, and some sewing and baking. None of it is for income, though I have been paid for a few photos.

Beekeeping is far and away the most absorbing and interesting hobby I’ve ever had. Where I live there are very active local associations that support learning and hold social events. The national association organises courses at all levels. A government department sends out bee inspectors to check for disease; great support and another learning opportunity.

If you want to, you can make good money from selling honey. It’s a lot of hard work, but really enjoyable.

Big pass on a one-way ticket. I’d quite like to see a dinosaur though…

I was in West Berlin in 1981, we had a picnic by the wall and rode the metro through the ghost stations. Which were a bit meh to be honest. You had to change a certain amount of currency to visit the east and we couldn’t afford it, so we just stayed in the train and went back again.

We hitched to Berlin, and the freakiest part was driving through the corridor that linked West Berlin to West Germany.

“The proof is in the pudding.” It makes zero sense! The actual adage is, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” It means that a dessert can look perfect and enticing, but if the cook used salt instead of sugar it will taste disgusting.

I don’t know what people even think they’re saying with “the proof is in the pudding”.

Marine Traffic - I live by the sea.

Proton Mail - trying to give up Gmail.

Bitwarden - had to stop using the same password for everything.

My Row Counter - for knitting, it’s a fantastic app.

I once had a passenger criticise me for indicating a turn when there were no others cars around. She said it showed I was driving without thinking, automatically signalling when it wasn’t needed. I think I said something like “fuck you” or maybe “I’ll drop you off here then if you don’t like my driving”. I’m signalling my intentions to the universe! Behold my blinking lights, for I am voyaging leftwards!

Hardly anyone in the UK can say “sixth”. They pronounce it “sick”. Some people can’t even say “six”, that becomes “sick” as well. I judge them for it - lazy!

There was a bit of tech around at the time - telegraph. The flare sparked fires in telegraph offices and shocked some operators. As in electric shock, not a big fright, though no doubt also that. Some operators disconnected their batteries and were able to communicate by the auroral current alone.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Event

The descriptions of the aurora are wild.

Your immune system gives some protection against botulinum, but it doesn’t fully develop until about six months to a year old. This is why you should never ever feed honey to an infant. Bees will occasionally end up on the ground, picking up botulinum. There’s a very small chance of a trace of the bug ending up in honey. It’s not enough to harm an older child or adult, but even thst tiny amount can kill a baby.

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/botulism

Genius.

According to Wikipedia, “the world population … was estimated by the United Nations to have exceeded eight billion in mid-November 2022. It took around 300,000 years of human prehistory and history for the human population to reach a billion and only 218 years more to reach 8 billion.”

There are PLENTY of people in the world. Some of them need to get off my lawn. Grrr.