Go on go on go on go on go on
Reading the labels on junk I’m tempted by helps me. That much sugar, really? How many calories?!? Palm oil, ugh. And wtf is pentasodium triphosphate?
Also, when I buy a bag of carrots, I peel them and put them in the fridge, so when I feel snacky I can munch a crispy carrot.
That’s not great, I hope life is treating you well now. Keep up the good work here! I love your history posts especially. ❤️
Words to watch out for are things like “attacked”, “bashed” or “slammed” instead of “criticised”; “forced” instead of “chose”, eg “company forced to cut jobs”; “muzzled” or “gagged” instead of perhaps “censored”. The implied violence charges the story emotionally, it’s the most common form of news manipulation. They’re trying to make you feel - usually fear or anger - rather than think.
Crossing the street is a thoughtful thing to do, and I for one appreciate it.
Exactly. Everyone in Scotland knows what town former prime minister Gordon Brown lives in. Thanks to Google Maps, we know the exact address. It’s the only blurred-out house.
I tripped and fell over one time and the racket I made woke my dog up. He looked across at me lying on the floor, yawned and went back to sleep. “Still alive? Jolly good. Wake me again at dinnertime.”
Oh I’m sorry, did I break your concentration?
Aw man, I shot Marvin in the face.
You know what they call a quarter pounder in Paris?
And you will know that I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.
I touch-type, so yes.
What’s bizarre to me is that in the olden days, ie pre-internet, millions of people happily paid up every single day to read the news in a format that was stuffed with adverts. Newspapers, remember them? The ads helped pay production costs. People sometimes bought newspapers FOR the ads - job search, car sales, accomodation, real estate.
I pay the Guardian £75 a year - slightly up from the £60 it was when I first started the online ad-free subscription like ten years ago or whatever. This is because I hate the intrusive nature of online advertising, and I appreciate most of the Guardian’s journalism. It seems like a good deal to me.
Planning what will probably be my last ever trip to NZ to visit family, with a stopover in Japan on the way back. Happening in Oct/Nov.
I’ve signed up for donation for dissection. One slight caveat is that the institution - in my case a medical school - can decline to take your body if you’ve died of something infectious or if it’s been too damaged, eg in a crash. If all goes well, they collect the body, and when they’re finished with it they have it cremated. Family can have the ashes if they want. There’s a nice memorial garden with the names of donors. It’s all free… I mean, this is the medical school where Burke and Hare sold their murder victims, so they’re quite grateful to get your corpse for nothing.
I don’t know about the States, but in the UK dog-walking can be a lucrative business.
That kind of biscuit is a scone.
Meanwhile in New Zealand, Scotch pancakes are called pikelets. I made pikelets here in Scotland and someone called them drop scones. Shit really is crazy.
18 - I thought I was fat because waifs were in style, but my body was actually banging. I’m 72. I would most of all appreciate being arthritis free, with major organs all working at optimum.
Look after your knees, people.
I used to drag my clothes into bed with me in winter when I was a kid. No central heating, no double glazing, no insulation, no carpets. Might as well have been living in a tent.
UK: I don’t know if it’s produced domestically, but pasta is dirt cheap. Own brand spaghetti can be under 60p a kilo. Tinned tomatoes are also cheap, so there you go - dinner.
Potatoes and brown onions are fairly cheap, ditto carrots.
Eggs, of course. £2.70 ($3.50) a dozen, medium free range.
Same! Passionfruit also. Mmmm.
From the Guardian: "The export figures from Heard Island and McDonald Islands are even more perplexing. The territory does have a fishery but no buildings or human habitation whatsoever.
"Despite this, according to export data from the World Bank, the US imported US$1.4m (A$2.23m) of products from Heard Island and McDonald Islands in 2022, nearly all of which was “machinery and electrical” imports. It was not immediately clear what those goods were.
“In the five years prior, imports from Heard Island and McDonald Islands ranged from US$15,000 (A$24,000) to US$325,000 (A$518,000) per year.”
So my best guess is that someone is running some kind of money laundering scheme involving fictitious imports… I have no idea how this would work, but those figures are insane.
The Norfolk Island tariffs are also barking.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/03/donald-trump-tariffs-antarctica-uninhabited-heard-mcdonald-islands