BeeCycling

I get the feeling this incident at RAF Fairford is going to turn into a great big nothingburger and the "terrorists" (who have now been released on bail, which seems unlikely if the police still think they're terrorists) will be nothing of the sort. (Whatever fantasy Trump is having about "Scotland Yard" at the time.) Lots of speculation on UK Reddit that they were stealing fuel, which is apparently quite common in the area. They probably should have avoided a US airbase though.

Why is it taking so long for them to start Luigi Mangione's trial? Are they having trouble finding twelve people who haven't had awful experiences with the US health insurance system?

The washing machine install guys left me a little tool that's for adjusting the machine's feet. Before I put that away in my tool box I put a sticky label on it noting what it's for, so I don't declutter it in five years after totally forgetting what it is. If I ever think, "I don't need to label this, I'll remember what it's for," I immediately put a label on it, because history shows I absolutely will not remember what it's for.

@setmeravelles@lgbtqia.space You can get them from about $25 dollars, though that wouldn't be any of the big name brands. I also miss the days of netbooks, I had two of those in succession, neither bigger than a hardback novel and did a lot of writing on them! These days I think the nearest thing you could get to that would be a very small Chromebook. I've got a smallish one that I take away for short trips, rather than my main 17" one.

@ZenHeathen@beige.party @sysop408@sfba.social @ColesStreetPothole@weatherishappening.network @Tak It's like the old joke about how every day a woman looks at the front page of the newspaper, then puts it down. Her husband asks why, and she says she's looking for the obituaries. But the obituaries aren't on the front page, he says. The ones I'm waiting for will be, she says. I think the joke comes from Russia, but of course it fits in many times and places. I just never expected the USA to be one of them.

@setmeravelles@lgbtqia.space Can I recommend getting a folding Bluetooth keyboard? If you need to do more typing than just a couple of paragraphs, it can be a good compromise. I've got one that is close to the size of a laptop keyboard when unfolded, and even has a trackpad. It's a lot lighter than a laptop too! I've used one on and off since it was an infrared connection with my Palm Pilot. Written good chunks of novels that way. Can be a game changer for short trips away.

@jschwart@mas.to @broadwaybabyto@zeroes.ca To the point that a doctor who pioneered hand-washing, Ignaz Semmelweis, was eventually driven to a nervous breakdown by the rejection and ridicule of other doctors, all highly offended at his suggestion that they were causing the deaths of patients. He was shipped off to an asylum and died.

@davidtheeviloverlord@mastodon.social @futurebird@sauropods.win This seems to be the case with so many of these non-politicians who go into politics, whether it's to be POTUS or a town councillor. They're completely shocked that it's actual work and people's well-being depends on that work. Most of it not very glamorous work, and somebody is always angry about whatever they do. The triumphant day of the election win quickly fades into the past and a metric fuckton of problems they have no idea how to fix hits their desk.

@jripley@mastodon.social My favourite reply to "it's so hot!" is "At least it's not as hot as next year."

@selzero@syzito.xyz Imagine the conversations in Clacton. "Who you going to vote for then?" "That fox bloke." "What, Laurence?" "God, no! That would be ridiculous. I meant that bloke dressed as a fox."

Horses man. Horses are crazy. Evolved in the Americas, and spread to Eurasia while the continents were joined. Then went extinct in America, about when humans first arrived, so maybe hunted as food or we just out-competed them or messed things up for them in some other way. Got domesticated in Eurasia, for riding and pulling stuff, then got reintroduced to the Americas after Europeans arrived, where some escaped and became the wild (actually feral) horses of America today. What a round trip!

I'm continuing to simplify my life in lots of little ways. Reducing cognitive load and decision fatigue. One example, I used to have like ten types of tea and infusions in kitchen. And then not drink most of them, because I couldn't decide which to have. Now I've got one everyday strong black tea for the constant all-day brews I live on, and one (and only one) non-caffeinated option for evenings. Currently that's redbush and vanilla. I won't buy another type until those run out.

Tell us about a nonfiction book you've enjoyed #ScribesAndMakers I saw mention of an old favourite of mine today, The Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll. An astronomer at Berkley who was working in their computer department in the 1980s, started tracking down a hacker and found himself down a rabbit hole of international espionage. All about computer security before most people even had a PC. It's really entertaining, and fun. And one time he replied to me on Twitter, which made my day. 😁

Ugh, my washing machine has final turned up its toes and joined the choir invisible, after being dodgy for a while. It's really old, so I knew this day was coming. New one is coming on Wednesday and my brain is currently catastophising all the ways this process can go wrong. My logical side says it will almost certainly be fine. I've paid for the installation and, crucially, removal of the old machine, so everything will be done and dusted and I can relax afterwards.

Just nearly jumped out of my skin thinking my washing up sponge was covered in little bugs. Then realised they were chia seeds , which are tiny enough to get stuck in the holes of the sponge.

This is Picasso, who lives at Pet's Corner in Jesmond Dene in Newcastle upon Tyne. Named for the light spot of fur that makes it look like he's been putting his nose in paint. Which is fair enough, since how else would rabbits paint? #Bunny #Rabbit #Bunday

@elmiller0330@disabled.social Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew.

@astronomerritt@hachyderm.io It would be extra hilarious if the Tories and Labour and LibDems get their local activists out posting leaflets and doing other campaign stuff for Binface. Don't let that party machinery go to waste when the country needs it!

OMG it's actually raining. Proper British summer day. 😁❤️

@oldrawgabbit@mastodon.world I wouldn't treat anything he says as a joke. Take it all at face value. He's been showing his total lack of concern for the law for years. If he says something like that I'd assume he's at least going to try it. "Believe in your enemy's willingness to act." (Claire North, Slow Gods)

@stevewfolds@mastodon.world @ChrisMayLA6@mastodon.me.uk There are books I know I've read because it says I have on Goodreads, but I don't recall a thing about them. Then there are books I can try to forget and never will. The Hot Zone is definitely one of the latter. I grew up being sure that if rabies ever got into the UK we'd be dealing with something like the zombie apocalypse, so I think I've always had this fear of scary diseases getting out of control. COVID didn't help much with that fear!

@robpumphrey@mastodonapp.uk Definitely. That advice to make eye contact where possible with drivers at junctions etc is useful I think, though not perfect. It's the only way to be reasonably confident that they know you're there.

He also mentioned that dehydration can make floaters more noticeable and I'm terrible at getting enough water in me, so will make more of an effort there!

@fsinn@mas.to By the time he leaves office he'll have renamed the country The United States of Super Epic Mega America.

@Cassandra@ottawa.place If I do have to get up, it's nearly always very early in the morning, rather than in the wee (hah) small hours. Then getting back to sleep can be an issue. In the summer I'll usually don my sleep mask when I get back into bed, to give me the best chance of getting another hour or so of sleep.

He had a look in my eyes and could see plenty of floaters, but no sign of retina problems. And I don't have any other red flag symptoms, like flashing lights, dark shadows, or sudden "swarms" of round black dots in my vision. He reckons this one has just floated to where it's happening to cast a shadow on the macular. It will likely eventually drift away from there and be less noticeable, apparently. Hope so!

@afewbugs@social.coop And our home fridges and freezers will suffer the same fate too. I'd never even thought about the range of temperatures my fridge freezer is designed to operate in, because, well, you just assume the ones sold in the UK deal with the usual UK temperature range. But the "usual" has changed forever. I just looked at a few fridge freezers on Argos, and their max operating temperatures were 38°C. So if you can't keep your house under that - in the kitchen no less - it could fail

@VeroniqueB99@mastodon.social Being in the press room I can understand. If their job is reporting on the president, that's where your boss will tell you to go, even if the guy is literally calling you names. But to go to the dinner and act like the current situation is in any way normal is baffling.

@MiaMarkTwo@syzito.xyz @oldrawgabbit@mastodon.world Yep, they'll be working on some way. (I don't say Trump himself, because he doesn't like work and he's too stupid anyway.) They might try to do some quasi-legal bullshittery, or they will just straight up install him as dictator for life, if they think they can get the military to fall in line. Anyone who thinks it can't happen and can't happen fast, is kidding themselves. A state of emergency is easy to create.

@RickiTarr@beige.party It makes these idiots sound so backwards. Like colourblind casting has been the normal in the theatre for a long time. In opera basically forever - where if you can sing nobody gives a fuck what colour you are. I grew up with an opera-loving mum, so was quite used to seeing someone who maybe didn't look the way you might expect that character to look playing a part. Nobody minds if they're good, and it's all just a play! Everthing is just a dramatised story in the end.

Okay, it's time to do some editing, after that breakfast time discussion about how we're all DOOMED.

RE: https://wandering.shop/@beecycling/116924669450144672 See! I called it. This bloke is to blame. Thanks, Sean. 🤨

@Tattooed_Mummy@beige.party To me, this kind of stuff is a clear indication that he has no taste. Not bad taste, because at least "bad taste" indicates a genuine preference for some style or other, it indicates thought and choice. He has NO taste. He doesn't care how it looks in an aesthetic sense, he has no such sensibility. He just knows that gold is an indicator of wealth and success. He just cares that gold looks expensive.

Interesting story about why childhood vaccination rates in the UK are lower than they should be, and how it's more about access to them than about anti-vax ideas. It highlights a drop-in vaccination clinic in Keighley, in a disused unit in a shopping centre that has helped bring the area's vaccination rate above the national average. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0qvlw2dd0no

@afewbugs@social.coop My local Waitrose is currently closed for a refurbishment. I wonder if that will include beefier fridges, freezers and chiller cabinets for the new normal of the British summer. All the supermarkets will have to gradually replace their refrigeration - customer facing and behind the scenes - over the next decade or so, for ones that can cope with this heat. And we know who will pay for it.

A YouTube channel I found recently is the channel of Glasdon UK Ltd, a firm that makes street furniture like bins and benches. This does not sound very exciting, I know. And there are plenty of very dull product demos. But the ones to watch are the product test videos - which feature Glasdon employees absolutely whaling on bins with baseball bats to show how tough and vandal proof they are. Most fun job ever. https://youtu.be/Z6Ll9pTjpTw

@theodorable@social.glennfitzpatrick.com Now there's a cat that's got it absolutely made.

@robpumphrey@mastodonapp.uk There's a 'follow the leader' effect too. One time I was riding along and two cars arrived at the stop line at a side road ahead of me. There was plenty of time for the first one to proceed without impeding me. It did. No problem. There wasn't enough time for the second one to do so, so he should have waited. Guess what he did? Good thing I was fast with my brakes. 🤨 Of course it was a taxi, who as we know are exempt from all rules of the road.

@AnnaBaguenaude@tenforward.social And the prolonged drought was a big part of what made it so unprecedented, not just the temperature. It didn't rain for weeks! @NathanMurdock@mastodon.social @timixretroplays@digipres.club

Another day, another chance for a brisk bout of sunstroke. We used to have proper British summers. It rained all the time.

@AnnaBaguenaude@tenforward.social That's the scary part - it's only June! Okay, hot spells don't usually last long in the UK, and the forecast for next week looks more reasonable. And maybe it will then stay they way until Autumn. But who knows whether more waves, hotter still, will come in July or August? @NathanMurdock@mastodon.social @timixretroplays@digipres.club

One thing (of many) I will never forgive today's asshole billionaires for is making people hate space travel and exploration. Landing people on Mars would/will be frigging cool. But not if bloody Elon Musk is involved, since so much that he touches turns to pure cringe.

@LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt I've never done that with a bagel, but I have with a big bread roll. It gives more surface for spreading stuff on, or simply gives you more pieces of bread to enjoy.

@AnnaBaguenaude@tenforward.social It's like a climate version of the Overton Window. Extremes becoming norms. @NathanMurdock@mastodon.social @timixretroplays@digipres.club

Uefa pushes back strongly against FIFA's latest godawful proposal. You could say it's all kicking off... ⚽ BBC News - Fifa World Cup: Uefa to boycott tournament if Gianni Infantino's investment plans go through - BBC Sport https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c5y67zrrdddo

@mandy@cupoftea.social Yikes! Glad it turned out okay.

The rest of the test shows barely any change in my vision from last year, so no change of glasses needed. It was interesting that apparently there are just as many floaters inside my left eye as my right, but I only notice them in my right eye, which is the dominant one.

I see England have reached the stage where they go out on penalties. Or get "robbed" by a bad refereeing decision. I swear, if we actually won a World Cup we wouldn't know what to do with ourselves. We'd be like a dog that actually caught a squirrel. Like... Now what?

@AnnaBaguenaude@tenforward.social Thanks, but my French probably wouldn't cut it. 😁 @NathanMurdock@mastodon.social @timixretroplays@digipres.club