Zombie

A room with a view a writer’s curse

noun nerds will enjoy knowing that noun is autological a word that describes itself Those who wish to go on medication can read this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grelling–Nelson_paradox

Collective nouns a gaggle of Highland cattle isn’t a herd …or a gaggle it’s a “fold” and the baby ones make lovely cosy slippers

there are other options…

Incredibly, 2Cellos’ version of AC/DC’s Thunderstruck exceed one billion views in October. It’s fun to imagine “Doc” Brown’s early flux capacitor experiments going horribly wrong in the 1970s, propelling the Young brothers back in time to 18th century Europe with no way back. What could they do? They can’t record. But they can still do live gigs…

it’s that weird “Twilight Zone” between Christmas and New Year when the dates and days cease to have meaning as ever YouTube can help found this archive of old-movies-for-free channel with high quality video (and subtitles if needed) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_dcSf5DkDSE_UEKBwLB4uA like this fun 1960s caper movie Charade

Clouds on Mars images sent by NASA’s Perseverance Rover just before Christmas

well it’s Christmas and Christmas means toys

“Men are not women” - sounds kinda quaint in 2021 going on 2022 Interesting that the link is by and references entirely women writers of m/m including Josh Lanyon. Do readers actually notice / avoid / prefer women writers of explicit m/m sex scenes? Also, how important / significant is women readership for m/m explicit sex?

Superman and Lois or is that Lois and Superman? I loved the Superman show with Dean Cain He was hot, Lois was fun - in fact the whole show was just great entertainment This reboot is so… devoid of fun. Lois is always scowling, Clark is miserable and downtrodden and superman junior is a right moaning tiresome pain. And it’s not helped by the picture being dull and washed out, whereas Superman was in bright Technicolor (shot on film?) and just looked so good on the old cathode ray tube TV. New doesn’t always mean better. So does it get better?

no, not right not right at all ☔

Hmm, “woke” is the term bandied around for much of this along with “virtue signalling” to show just how “on message” companies, wannabe “leaders” and the like are as part of “on-message” “group think” - motivated in large part, I suspect, by fear. Fear that if anyone even questions the “ideology” just for a moment then they will be “the enemy”, to be shunned, attacked, brought down. Coupled with the new Holy Commandment - Thou Shalt Cause No Offence To Anyone. It’s a toxic combination and doesn’t augur well for free speech. Or the whole point of education - which surely ought to be about how to think for yourself and make up your own mind. Of course, even Star Trek TOR had its lecturing storylines, although mostly it was about entertainment. But if the Prime Directive is to be not causing offence to anyone then the industry may end up entertaining no-one.

I’ve done some fossicking about this word As fans of Poldark will know, and I’m sure the lingering camera shots of Ross Poldark’s shirtless torso (Aiden Turner) scything the grass had nothing to do with it nor him coming out of the sea dripping wet, trousers / pants clinging lovingly to his tautly muscled thighs… , the main industry in 18th (and 19th) century Cornwall (southwest England) was copper and tin mining (since the Bronze Age) and many Cornish miners emigrated during this period to Australia to make their fortunes there, taking their language with them - including this Cornish dialect word FOSSICK, v. Cor.3 [fosik.] To obtain by asking, ' ferret out.' The above is an extract from vol. II of the 6 volume The English Dialect Dictionary, by Joseph Wright (pub from 1898). Joseph Wright was Diebold Professor of Comparative Philology (historical linguistics) at Oxford University and, interestingly, was a tutor of the student JRR Tolkien. Wright had a significant impact on Tolkien’s life and influenced his fascination with language, which is at the heart of LoTR and The Silmarillion.

we tend to assume that knowledge and technology developments are a continuous, connected process but history shows they're not - da Vinci’s discoveries about human anatomy and circulation, especially the heart, were only rediscovered centuries later (he never published) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-28054468 - concrete was used extensively by Roman engineers including underwater construction of ports and harbours, but this knowledge and technology - which is essential in our modern world - was lost for nearly two thousand years (disruption after the “fall of the Roman Empire”?) http://engineeringrome.org/understanding-roman-concrete/ - the Antikythera mechanism, discovered 1901 in an ancient sunken shipwreck, was considered a prochronism and nothing like it has ever been found since. But it cannot have been the only example of such advanced engineering technology, and the associated knowledge needed to conceive it and to construct it has also been lost (all we have is references to other complex devices in various ancient documents that have survived) https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2019/12/24/no-the-antikythera-mechanism-was-not-unique/

interesting that the head of NASA, former astronaut and politician Bill Nelson (appointed earlier this year) has joined the ranks of the many that have held prominent positions in the US military and politics in “coming out” publicly to say that the military encounters included in the Senate report may well be extra-terrestrial This is a surprising about-turn from his previous statement, as recently as June, when he was asked about the then upcoming Senate report on military encounters with UFAs/UAP and replied he did not consider they provided evidence of extraterrestrial visitations, saying “I think I would know” if that were the case CNN report 4/6/2021 https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/04/tech/ufos-nasa-study-scn/index.html The Hill report 1/11/2021 https://thehill.com/opinion/international/579303-nasa-chief-bill-nelson-latest-official-to-suggest-ufos-have

Sterndale Bennett - talented and competent composer who created some very enjoyable music. Yet that was not enough. He hasn’t endured, like so many other talented artists that just fade from memory. There must be something missing. Emotion? Originality? Musical hooks and tricks that raise the hairs? Maybe all of these things

“ “Many years ago, Norris Church, the sixth (and last) wife of the novelist Norman Mailer, wrote me from their Provincetown home to complain about my misuse of the word “factoid.” She pointed out that her husband had coined the word in his 1973 book about Marilyn Monroe, “Marilyn,” and that it meant not “an odd little fact,” but “facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper, creations which are not so much lies as a product to manipulate emotion in the Silent Majority.”” https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/07/23/opinion/just-factoids-please/ Well tough titty, Norris - or should I say Barbara? (her husband Norman Mailer told her she should change her name from Barbara Jean Davis - Factoid #1 ) - because no-one controls language (despite pitiful efforts by the Académie Française - Factoid #2 ) Anyway, that’s all by the by - here’s the factoid I wanted to post (#3 ), as officially written on the State of Virginia roadside historical marker / commemorative plaque. So it must be true!

Roswell Picked up a complete boxset cheap on eBay of this US TV series from 1999-2002 and just finished s1. It’s an easy, enjoyable, escapist watch and just what I wanted. OK, a high-school teen-love drama with actors well past school age is a tired old trope. But throw in aliens, “identity politics”, evil govt black ops and a killer Dido theme and it holds up pretty well after 22 years. Don’t know how s2 and s3 will pan out but so far I’m happy with my bargain buy

how about Transfusion by Nervous Norvus Zoooommm Tooling down the highway doing seventy-nine I'm a twin pipe papa and I'm feelin fine Hey man dig that was that a red stop sign Transfusion transfusion I'm just a solid mess of contusions Never never never gonna speed again Slip the blood to me Bud I jump in my rod about a quarter to nine I gotta make a date with that chick of mine I cross the center line man you gotta make time Transfusion transfusion Oh man I got the cotton pickin convolutions Never never never gonna speed again Shoot the juice to me Bruce My foot's on the throttle and it's made of lead But I'm a fast ridding daddy with a real cool head I'ma gonna pass a truck on the hill ahead Transfusion transfusion My red corpsickles are in mass confusion Never never never gonna speed again Pass the crimson to me Jimson I took a little drink and I'm feelin right I can fly right over everything everything in sight There's a slow poking cat I'm gonna pass him on the right Transfusion transfusion I'm a real gone paleface and that's no illusion I'ma never never never gonna speed again Pass the claret to me Barrett A rollin down the mountain on a rainy day Oh when you see me coming better start to pray I'ma cuttin up the road and I'm the boss all the way Transfusion transfusion Oh doc pardon me for this crazy intrusion I'm never never never gonna speed again Pump the fluid in me Louie I'm burning up the highway early this morn I'm passing everybody oh nothing but corn Man outta my way I don't drive with my horn Transfusion transfusion Oh nurse I'm gonna make a new resolution I'm never never never gonna speed again Put a gallon in me Alan Oh barnyard drivers are found in two classes Line crowding hogs and speeding jackasses So remember to slow down today Hey daddy-o Make that type O huh Atta-boy

The penguin’s plots to steal the crown Caused murderous mayhem, and many a frown Till vanquished she lay, in complete disarray Outwitted, outsmarted, with nothing to say!

beautifully written

if you Google “male pulchritude” you’ll get some, ah, interesting results…

Good grief, it’s like operating a nuclear submarine …dead easy when you know how!