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Dmitri Gheorgheni

@dmitrigheorgheni.bsky.social

260 followers 250 following 1.1K posts

Editor of the h2g2 Post at h2g2.com. My fiction has been labeled 'poignant and humorous'. https://www.lulu.com/search?contributor=Dmitri+Gheorgheni&page=1&pageSize=10&adult_audience_rating=

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Dmitri Gheorgheni @dmitrigheorgheni.bsky.social · Oct 17

I am happy about the little pictures in my new book. Which you can buy here. www.lulu.com/shop/dmitri-...

Page 179 of the book, which includes a small picture of TJ the cat looking smug while wearing a little Roman helmet.

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Reposted by Dmitri Gheorgheni

Laurel Gale @laurelgale.bsky.social · 8h

My picture book ABSOLUTELY NO WORRIES releases in two weeks!

You can pre-order it wherever books are sold. You can also request it for purchase at your library.

astrapublishinghouse.com/product/abso...

#kidlit #books #picturebooks

Absolutely No Worries: Available November 4. With an emergency parachute in her pocket and zombie self-defense skills under her belt, Emma is prepared for any catastrophe . . . so why does she still feel afraid?

Written for kids with big imaginations and everyday jitters, here is a picture book that shows that with a pinch of courage, you can be ready for absolutely anything.

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Dmitri Gheorgheni @dmitrigheorgheni.bsky.social · 8h

#vss365 #saucer

Grandmother and Granddaddy sitting at the farmhouse dining table - which is huge, massive, and covered with a white cloth and a high-cholesterol breakfast. Fried eggs, three kinds of sausage, bacon, two kinds of gravy, biscuits, grits (for a palate cleanser), fresh milk from the cow and butter from the churn.

'Morning!' Granddaddy greets the latecomer. 'We've got your coffee for you - already blowed and sassered!'

This is, like most of my grandfather's utterances, a joke. They have NOT poured the coffee into a saucer already. Nor have they blown upon it to cool it off. It is a jocular reference to elaborate mountain hospitality.

I grin as I fill my plate and thank my grandmother for filling my coffee cup. My grin grows wider as I watch her pour her own coffee into the shallow bowl under her cup, pick it up daintily with thumb and middle finger of each hand, pinky extended, and blow softly upon the scalding contents.

Thus, children, the manners of our ancestors. And a beloved tableau in my heart: the old woman with her saucer, the old man mashing biscuits in gravy.

Image: Mrs Eva Smuda making breakfast in 1942. Photographed by Howard Liberman for the Farm Security Administration.

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Reposted by Dmitri Gheorgheni

h2g2postoffice.bsky.social @h2g2postoffice.bsky.social · 9h

Paigetheoracle loves to photograph Scottish fungi. It's good to use a coin for scale, right? So he dropped a 10p next to each clump of shrooms. Not to be outdone, the Editor did a composite. Diameter of 10p coin=24.mm (.96") You never know what you'll find in the h2g2 Post. h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/bru...

Composite photo of Scottish mushrooms - don't ask us anything about them, our photographer is totally ignorant of nomenclature, biological significance, or anything remotely scientific about them. But each and every clump of shrooms has a 10p coin next to it. It's the same 10p coin, mind you: he's not rich and like I said, it IS a composite. Enjoy the realisation that northern Scotland abounds in fungal life.

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Reposted by Dmitri Gheorgheni

h2g2postoffice.bsky.social @h2g2postoffice.bsky.social · 1d

Friends: Ignore Grokipedia. If you want to look something up and think Wikipedia is too opinionated for you, go here. Type in our tiny search box.

We're even MORE opinionated than Wikipedia. But we're funnier. h2g2: Our motto is Don't Panic.

h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/bru...

h2g2 - The h2g2 Post 20.10.25

h2g2 is the unconventional guide to life, the universe and everything, a guide that's written by visitors to the website, creating an organic and evolving encyclopedia of life

h2g2.com

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Dmitri Gheorgheni @dmitrigheorgheni.bsky.social · 1d

#vss365 #atom

it's really rather comic
when you think of the word 'atomic'
to realise its meaning, 'indivisible'
means you cannot split it
but that definition bit it
when Rutherford replied, that notion's risible

an atom or a nation
should be wary of temptation
its undivided status to declare:
some fool or instigator
will come along with an accelerator
and take your definition as a dare

Image: Old drawing of a man in a frock coat doing Something Scientifical with some viewing tubes and a quartz prism. Gutenberg Project.

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Reposted by Dmitri Gheorgheni

h2g2postoffice.bsky.social @h2g2postoffice.bsky.social · 1d

Once again this week, the h2g2 Post reports the triumphs and tragedies of human existence. Check out these stories. h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/bru...

Angel went swimming in the Nile - and was NOT eaten by a crocodile. Triumph.

Many people, mostly seniors, protested against the government in Massachusetts near the Tesla dealership in Boston. Their signs are a triumph of sorts, from 'My Cat Sleeps Less Than Trump' to 'Kimmel Got the Last Laugh' and 'Cut Crime in DC: Dump Trump'.

Alas, during a particularly severe storm in northern Scotland, a tree fell upon these wheelie bins, tragically crushing them, as recorded by Paige, our Scotland photographer.

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Dmitri Gheorgheni @dmitrigheorgheni.bsky.social · 2d

What a wonderful idea! Thanks for the tip!

Dmitri Gheorgheni @dmitrigheorgheni.bsky.social · 2d

#vss365 #hover

peaceful summer
bumblebees hover
over the clover
spirits recover

Image: Bee on a flower, DG.

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Reposted by Dmitri Gheorgheni

h2g2postoffice.bsky.social @h2g2postoffice.bsky.social · 2d

Why Are We Like This? Who knows? Researchers make weird art. More snarky birds appear. Egypt continues mysterious. There is news from all over, cinema, and a few reminiscences.

Find it all at h2g2.com/entry/A88074...

This week's title is Why Are We Like This? Clockwise from upper left: Ancient columns with hieroglyphic inscriptions, a modern art installation consisting of a screaming rubber chicken in a glass case apparently being terrified by a small Dalek, a television test pattern from the 1950s US, another art installation, this one at a beach, with fairy houses and a ship's wheel on a bench, a tiny mushroom next to a British 10p piece, an orchestra and choir, artistically rendered, three fine, fat white turkeys behind a fence, a montage of hands holding signs objecting to the US president and his actions, two crushed wheelie bins and the remains of a tree, an elegant painting of a cat rendered on papyrus, and an equally elegant painting of a red cardinal.

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Dmitri Gheorgheni @dmitrigheorgheni.bsky.social · 3d

Reposted by Dmitri Gheorgheni

Jan Karlsson @jangoeswriting.bsky.social · 3d

Just thought of an idea for a short story:

Battle Royale/The Hunger Games, but with politicians.

Too on the nose? 🤔😅

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Dmitri Gheorgheni @dmitrigheorgheni.bsky.social · 3d

They are gorgeous!

Reposted by Dmitri Gheorgheni

SK Winnicki, PhD 🏳️‍⚧️ @skwinnicki.bsky.social · 3d

Look at all those chickens

21 Black Vultures, large black birds with gray bare heads, and two larger brown Turkey Vultures with red heads, in short grass in a cattle pasture.

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Dmitri Gheorgheni @dmitrigheorgheni.bsky.social · 3d

😆

Dmitri Gheorgheni @dmitrigheorgheni.bsky.social · 3d

#vss365 #android #Caturday

1837, Castle Boldogkőváralja, which is a mouthful. I was savouring a particularly rich Tokay, which made Hungarian easier to pronounce: the aperitif of țuică hadn't hurt my linguistic skills any, either.

'I see you enjoy the company of androids,' I remarked to Count Miklós. We were watching a couple of the figurines play chess, being too lazy to undertake the game ourselves. Two others entertained us with fiddle and dance. A robotic butler poured more wine.

The Count laughed. 'I do, indeed. But then, I am an android myself.' He peeled back the skin of his wrist to reveal complex circuitry. It was beyond anything in my experience, and I gasped with surprise. I looked around: the only other organic being in the room appeared to be the smug-looking cat.

It is a well-known fact among roboticists that cats cannot be duplicated. It would be folly to try.

Image: TJ the cat looking ironic. DG.

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Dmitri Gheorgheni @dmitrigheorgheni.bsky.social · 4d

Oh, no! The still pictures were bad enough. It's got so bad that I fact-check nearly every photo I see online if the bird is really unusual. Like those canaries with the Beatle hairdos.

Dmitri Gheorgheni @dmitrigheorgheni.bsky.social · 4d

#vss365 #arid

A childhood in the 1950s could warp the brain. Take television commercials. (Please.) They were aimed at adults but often hit preschoolers, affecting our vocabulary and our perception of life on Planet Earth.

Consider the word 'arid'. It shouldn't have been a word I encountered. I lived in the subtropics, for humidity's sake. But as a name for a deodorant, the word apparently spoke to a primal grownup need. At least enough to buy the stuff. But they misspelled it. And so did we.

But we could spell aluminum sesquichlorohydrate.

Seriously: it was like living in a bad science fiction novel.

Image: 1950s tv set with commercial for Arrid. DG composite.

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Reposted by Dmitri Gheorgheni

h2g2postoffice.bsky.social @h2g2postoffice.bsky.social · 5d

Play Spot the Cormorant in this week's h2g2 Post. And try to make sense of our humour while you're at it. h2g2.com/entry/thepost

In this series of 3 photos, a cormorant is standing on rocks right in front of you. You peek through the branches but it's hard to see because it's the same colour as the rocks...

...and now it's hiding behind the leaves.

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Dmitri Gheorgheni @dmitrigheorgheni.bsky.social · 5d

#vss365 #unearthly

Once upon a midnight hour, while I pondered, jaded, sour
Over many a stale and boring offering on my video screen,
Without thought my cursor landed on a station, right-wing-branded,
Some announcer, less than candid, tried to sell - not news, but lore,
Stories of Antifa mayhem, tales of riots, tales of dread.
'Pull the other one,' I said.

And the sick'ning, cringe, unearthly, simp'ring blonde who said, perversely,
Black is white, and up is down, filled me with fear of doom in store;
But anon my spirits lifted when I to Jimmy Kimmel drifted,
'Have you heard the latest from the DC dinosaurs?
Merely grift, and nothing more.'

Image: Perky Pat with Newsclown by Freewayriding of h2g2.

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Reposted by Dmitri Gheorgheni

h2g2postoffice.bsky.social @h2g2postoffice.bsky.social · 6d

SashaQ says this egret is like the Bugblatter Beast of Traal - it thinks if it can't see you, you can't see it. More playful wildlife at h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/bru...

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Dmitri Gheorgheni @dmitrigheorgheni.bsky.social · 6d

'Who's the most famous band or artist from your hometown?' Er, I was born in Memphis. Take your pick: Wikipedia has a whole INDEX of musicians from Memphis. Do not even THINK about that guy from Tupelo. I'm a musician from Memphis, but I do not have my own Wikipedia page.

youtu.be/U-zC9mZwoS4?...

Lucy in the Sky

YouTube video by Dmitri Gheorgheni

youtu.be

Dmitri Gheorgheni @dmitrigheorgheni.bsky.social · 6d

#vss365 #beetle Thanks to @thedevilstuna for a fun couple of weeks!

Let's see: Amon-Ra rises and blesses the waters of the Nile...more water, more water, smiley-face...can you see a scarab?

What's a scarab?

A kind of beetle. I promised Aunt Juanita I'd find her one for her collection. She lives in Memphis. Tennessee.

Don't they have their own pyramid now?

Yeah. It has one thing in it the ancient Egyptians never thought of.

What's that?

A bowling alley.

Oh, look! I swear that's an otter.

Don't tell Aunt Juanita - she'll decide it's a possum and want to call Billy the exterminator.

Image: Wall of hieroglyphs from Kom Ombo temple by Angel Lia Dan of h2g2.

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Reposted by Dmitri Gheorgheni

Positive Black Content @miiriya.com · 7d

A man named Nicky Crawford transformed a school bus into a mobile laundry service for the homeless called “Flowing with Blessings” He teamed up with Georgia Tech engineering students and created the bus, which provides free laundry, showers, haircuts & meals for the homelessness

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Dmitri Gheorgheni @dmitrigheorgheni.bsky.social · 7d

#vss365 #deluxe

some memories are marked with a taste or scent
some with a song

we whooped into our rooms
that late longago sunday afternoon
took in the ludicrously faded grandeur
of the former deluxe hotel turned
residence for students
che guevara glowered from the poster
at the remnants of a gilded age
us? we dumped our bags and went out
in search of fast food

it started raining
a sudden perfidious downpour
we love you too, pittsburgh
we laughed and ran
into mickey d's

I heard that song for the first time
in the precise moment that I felt
alive
aware
in full charge of my own search
also for the first time
and
it was seared
into my memory

now in the twilight
whenever I hear the first
guitar notes
before james taylor sings the words
'just yesterday'
I'm there
I hear the rain
and feel the fire
all over again

Image: 'Rain' by Felix Bracquemond (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

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Dmitri Gheorgheni @dmitrigheorgheni.bsky.social · 8d

Verse of the day for those who do not go armed with anything but their wit and goodwill.

Let me, O Lord, your cause defend,
A knight without a sword;
No shield I ask, no faithful friend,
No vengeance, no reward;
But only in my heart a flame
And in my soul a dream...
Jan Struther