Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 4m

a man with a surprised look on his face .

ALT: a man with a surprised look on his face .

media.tenor.com

Reposted by Major Clanger

Tammi, yeah, that one. 2.1 @tammi.bsky.social · 15h

I found a 19th century Cat Villain!

A huge chonk of a fluffy cat sitting on a table near an open fire. The cat is cream and grey and appears to be shaped like a barrel in a fur coat. They are scowling fiercely with their moustache and bewhiskered ears apparently flowing back into the cold wind. There's a definite vibe that this villainous cat twirls their moustache as they evict orphans into the aforementioned blizzard and think Scrooge was an easy-going lightweight. They are magnificent.

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 2h

I should probably explain that my intense loathing of FtoNY is because it seems to have completely overshadowed Kirsty MacColl's solo career and left her in the public consciousness only as 'that singer who accompanied The Pogues'.

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 4h

Semolina pudding
Man Bites Dog
Fairytale of New York

Jonathan Edward Durham @thisone0verhere.bsky.social · 1d

Introduce yourself using only one food you refuse to eat, one movie you’ll never watch again, and one song you can’t stand

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 14h

Look, if Patrick O'Brian could make the War of 1812 last about six years from the point of view of Aubrey and Maturin, I think we can cut Goscinny and Uderzo a bit of slack.

Michel Lacombe @michellacombe.bsky.social · 20h

Julius Caesar conquered Gaul in 51 BC and died in 44 BC, therefore all of Asterix's adventures took place over the course of less than seven years, probably much less since Asterix's chieftain was at the battle of Alesia, were it is probable Asterix and Obelix's fathers died. In this essay, I will

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 1d

Whereas my attempt went like this.

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⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 1d

On a visit to Bodnant Gardens in Wales recently I noticed several swallows flying to and from nests in the eaves. I used the rapid shooting burst mode on my Canon R7 to get a dozen or so photos and then stacked and merged them in Adobe Lightroom to get a composite showing the birds' flight paths.

A photograph showing trees on the left and the corner of a stonebuilt house with wooden eaves on the other side. Between them are several streams of birds. The photograph shows swallows flying to and from nests in the eaves of the house, and has been created as a composite of several pictures taken in quick succession so that each bird flight path appears as a trail of bird images.

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 2d

Hey, I check who I'm replying to before I make an arse of myself online, but you do you.

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 2d

But people here do know who he is, because he's a leading expert (as ten seconds with Google would have told you) who is very active here. All we know about you is that you repost a lot of stuff but seem to have no contributions of your own.

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 3d

Also, to be honest, the same problem can affect aging aircraft in service. The inquiry following the loss of an RAF Nimrod in Afghanistan highlighted the problem of maintaining an airframe designed in the early 1950s, e.g. nobody knows if 60 year old insulation is meant to look like that.

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 3d

Indeed. There comes a point when you have to accept that, whatever the old manuals might say, every single part is going to have to be inspected and potentially replaced. So not only are most warbirds ships-of-Theseus, but it's inevitable for safety reasons they'll end up that way.

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 3d

The problem is in part that there will be components with no servicing schedule because they were expected to last the life of the aircraft, but in 1940 nobody expected that to be 85 years.

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 4d

I have watched this short video and I endorse this recommendation. Five minutes well spent.

Kate Gray @hownottodraw.bsky.social · 6d

this got recommended to me by YouTube, and it deserves to have one billion views, so I'm showing it to you in the hopes that you will also watch it and share it, because it is so lovely

youtu.be/bV-2KfJtthE?...

Steve, Socks, and Spleen Surgery - An Animated Story

YouTube video by william snekspeare

youtu.be

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 5d

Jenrick complains that there are immigration judges (presumably he means the part-time ones) who spend the rest of their time representing immigrants.

Wait until someone tells him about Recorders (part-time Crown Court judges) who spend the rest of their time defending the accused.

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 6d

I did not know that there was such a thing as the Inverse Traveling Salesman Problem but here we are.

Ricardo Autobahn @ricardoautobahn.co.uk · 6d

This is the maddest tour I've ever seen in my life. It seems like he's doing more gigs than there are days in the year.

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Reposted by Major Clanger

Rhianna Pratchett @rhi.bsky.social · 7d

GNU Jilly Cooper. Jilly and dad were friends and the only person I’ve known to call him ‘Tel’. Hope they’re both having a big drink somewhere.

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 7d

That would be my even better example, yes. “Hmm, we’ve shot all the pigeons, it can’t be pigeon shit causing the excess noise in our antenna”.

Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 7d

I think the difference is that Fleming wasn’t looking for an an antibiotic (he was studying staphylococcus varieties) and his research came about after a chance fungal infection. Edison was aiming from the outset to develop a lightbulb.

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 8d

I read that to myself in Whiny Anakin Skywalker voice.

a man and a woman are sitting next to each other with the words i do n't like sand

ALT: a man and a woman are sitting next to each other with the words i do n't like sand

media.tenor.com

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 8d

As Isaac Asimov put it, ‘The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka” but “That’s funny...”’

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 8d

Serendipitous would be, for example, Fleming’s discovery of microbial antibiotics by noticing that mould contaminating a Petri dish had inhibited growth of a bacterial culture.

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 8d

For fans of writer Lois McMaster Bujold, 'shunned by Palantir as disreputable' has strong echoes of 'cashiered from the Barrayaran military for brutality'.

Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 8d

Palantir has pulled out of involvement with the UK Digital ID card, according to an interview with their UK CEO on Times Radio. They’re concerned about the reputational damage of being involved with an unpopular Starmer policy.

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 10d

Back in the days of USENET and sci.military.naval we used to have the 'BB Loon', the sort of person who would post a long half-baked screed about how what the US Navy needed was BATTLESHIPS WITH MODERN TECH. I don't think anyone envisaged POTUS being one.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 12d

Trump: "I think we should maybe start thinking about battleships, by the way. We have a Secretary of Navy who came to me, 'cause I look at the Iowa out in California and I look at different ships, the old pictures. I used to watch Victory at Sea. I love Victory at Sea. And I look at those ships... "

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 10d

"Siri, show me a picture of Little Boy and Fat Man."

mariewalsh18.bsky.social @mariewalsh18.bsky.social · 11d

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Major Clanger @majorclanger.bsky.social · 10d

Yes, the Nimrod gave good service, but there were other aircraft that would arguably have made a better basis for ASR.381, and which wouldn't have been shackled by the Comet's design legacy. There's a reason why the RC-135 is still in service 71 years after the 367-80 first flew.