James
@derpjames.bsky.social
210 followers 450 following 870 posts
History, Homebrew, and cHristianity (but clearly not alliteration). Here to learn and explore. I lovingly curate @headlineoftheday.bsky.social
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
derpjames.bsky.social
We have a couple of cute paperback hedgehogs from a National Trust giftshop which sit on our bookcase. One of the volunteers makes them out of millions of Dan Browns they can’t shift. Great bit of recycling & fundraising!
derpjames.bsky.social
Also - I love finding an old second hand book with an inscription and/or marginalia from a past owner. It’s part of the object’s history.
derpjames.bsky.social
He was horrified when another friend gifted me a victorian hardback found in a 2nd hand bookshop with a “To James...” inscription in the front.

I treasure it!
derpjames.bsky.social
This divides opinion amongst my friends - one refuses to so much as write his name in the front, whilst I’m known for sharpening the “pencil of justice” to scribble in the margins.
derpjames.bsky.social
Oh of course! 🤦‍♂️ All these years and I had never made the connection between pippin and apple pips!
derpjames.bsky.social
What is it about the name that indicates they weren't grafted?
derpjames.bsky.social
I love a Monday night challenge 😅
derpjames.bsky.social
AH - the Witchcraft Act 1562 gained Royal Assent in April 1563, coming into force in June 1563.

So it’s dated 1562 in the title and that’s when it was presumably written, but it didn’t become law until the following year.
derpjames.bsky.social
Definitely agree re: missing character; not sure about em-dashes though - the symbol follows ‘Yggdrasil’, ‘underworld’, and ‘divine’, which strike me as the sorts of words which might be hyperlinked or otherwise emphasised as a key word with a definition available somewhere.
derpjames.bsky.social
The Parliament website says 1562 and I’d be inclined to go with them; however, there was also a separate act passed in Scotland in 1563 - and this is before the Julian/Gregorian calendar shift…so plenty of opportunity for date-based confusion!
derpjames.bsky.social
The [x] symbol that follows some of the key terms implies this might’ve been copied and pasted from a webpage which had footnotes or hyperlinks 🧐

But some of those sentences are *very* suspect and I do not trust that webpage
derpjames.bsky.social
That’s not an apple, that’s a rejected character from the Bash Street Kids
derpjames.bsky.social
They are also forms of protest that are very hard to counter.

Footage of armed police wrestling frogs or naked cyclists is never going to sustain a hard-man image, and if you claim your legitimacy from your faith, you can't be seen desecrating a sacrament...
derpjames.bsky.social
I wondered if it could be some sort of exterminator? So someone paid to catch and drown vermin?
derpjames.bsky.social
I think this shows the methodological issue with this kind of data. It looks like someone has gone through the "occupation" column, collated it all and gone "look at all these real victorian jobs!". IIRC one census entry includes the family cat, occupation: Mouser!
derpjames.bsky.social
How big a daily Kendal Mint Cake are we talking?

A bite-sized after dinner mint each day could be quite nice.

A full mint cake per day would hospitalise me.
derpjames.bsky.social
One thing I think ancient scientists got right is the theory of spontaneous generation of flies.

You can't tell me they have a lifecycle, they just spawn into a room to be irritating, and then disappear again afterwards.
Reposted by James
derpjames.bsky.social
I wrote the full essay in about 2hrs and sprinted onto campus to hand it in.

It was not only the highest-marked essay I ever wrote, but got special praise for such an original interpretation.
derpjames.bsky.social
I had a huge crisis of confidence the night before a major essay was due, thinking I’d totally misunderstood the question and done the wrong research.

After a minor breakdown and a very supportive email from my supervisor the following morning… 1/
derpjames.bsky.social
Yeah, pace yourself.

Although…how many bits to eat a kg of haribo on stream?
derpjames.bsky.social
Spent my afternoon doing pumpkin prep - tomorrow I'm going to make a pumpkin winter ale, so today I've chopped and roasted them with some muscavado sugar.

I'm also going to roast the seeds as a tasty snack 😋
Two halves of a pumpkin on a wooden chopping board. The pumpkin has been peeled so you can see the light orange flesh, and the seeds are still packed inside. A baking tray filled with chunks of roasted pumpkin. The flesh is slightly darkened, and there is a slight shine from the dark sugar which has turned to syrup in the oven.