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Stuart Brown

Stuart Brown

@zzztype.bsky.social

46 followers 110 following 31 posts

Publishing (mainly Arabic), politics (mainly socialist), jokes (mainly poor). A Brit transplanted to the Netherlands.

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Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · Sep 3

because—hold your horses before you berate me—the other MS of this bibliography list definitely reads الإرشاد لابن عقيل، شرحه للأنصاريّ. So whoever put it together did think that al-Anṣārī’s text was a sharḥ of Ibn ʿAqīl’s Irshād, rather than al-Juwaynī’s. Not my bad here! But any other suggestions?

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · Sep 3

So a call for aid to any #Arabic #manuscript experts. I have a damaged word, which I think I know what it is, but will happily take advice! It’s the first word on the second line. We have الإرشاد لابن عقيل ؟؟؟؟ شرح الإرشاد للأنصاريّ. I *think* it’s المرجّع, which would certainly make sense . . .

A screenshot of two lines from an Arabic manuscript. Alas, it’s establishing precisely what it says that is the point of this post, so if I could provide the full text, I wouldn’t be posting it.

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · Sep 2

Hmmm, I’m hoping it’s a deliberate nod to Finnegans Wake?

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · Jul 29

A friend gave me an old book of Islamic bookbindings which he’d somehow managed to locate for my birthday. Now in pride of place in the maktab.

A photo of my home office, which is largely Arabic-themed.

A photo of an open book showing Islamic bookbindings on my (rather messy and disorganised) bookshelves.

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · Jul 26

Plus, Ronnie’s *way* too tall.

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · Jul 20

Important lesson learnt at the rather excellent Cotswolds Beer Festival yesterday: should you be somewhat on the short side anyway, with legs that at best can be described as “wretched little stumps”, then do NOT stand in the middle of the shot if your friend is taking a pic with a wide angle lens.

A photo of me and friends at a beer festival. Thee photo is taken with a wide angle lens and I am stood in the centre of the shot, causing my usually diminutive legs to look positively truncated.

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · Jul 10

Having made a note to do my bit to make Bluesky less perennially serious, no jokes as such, but here’s a few snaps of some DNA celebrating its fiftieth in Singapore and Malaysia.

A photo of me and my brother enjoying a glass of wine in the Raffles hotel in Singapore

A photo of an insanely chilli-heavy chicken dish.

A photo of me and my brother enjoying another glass of wine in Kuala Lumpur

A photo of a very fancy lamb dish in a very fancy KL restaurant.

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · Jun 30

There’s a Hythe Bridge in Oxford.

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · Jun 30

Oh, I’d always presumed it to be from Teufel.

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · Jun 13

I invite you to peruse the insanity that is BlueBook citation style. APA is merely a touch quirky in comparison.

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · Jun 13

These are good points. And though I check BlueSky often, I don’t post much, and definitely because I feel the weight of The Seriousness on me. I hereby commit to posting more bad jokes that get well-nigh zero interaction, like I used to on Twitter.

Alex Kirshner @alexkirshner.com · Jun 12

We have read enough bad columns about what's wrong with Bluesky that @nitishpahwa.com decided to write about what's *actually* wrong with Bluesky and how it could be fixed. Hint: More people posting about things that are not that serious slate.com/technology/2...

This Platform Was Supposed to Replace Twitter. It’s Not Going So Well.

The platform has more users than ever. So why does it feel so empty?

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · May 27

More seriously, I wonder about the comments in the article focussing on “art”. I get the points made about symbolising, etc. But that early minds did that I don’t find particularly extraordinary. That it at least hints at *a sense of humour* I find far more interesting.

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · May 27

Utterly splendid. Also, without context, the *rest* of Bluesky is gonna completely misinterpret your “you might want to sit down,” comment.

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · May 27

Tbh, not listening to radio 4 this morning, I have zero context for this. But I think it’s safe to say most cobbles must look like *someone’s* nose from *some* angle.

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · May 27

Ah well, growing up with a Ma doing an OU geology degree meant trips to the beach involved taking along things like this.

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · May 27

Definitely a cobble, then. Maybe even a boulder.

A chart of the Wentworth scale, which is used by geologists to classify the grain size of what we plebs would call “rocks.” Pebbles are 4 to 64 millimeters in diameter; cobbles 64 to 256. Anything above that is a boulder.

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · May 22

Random drop into my feed. Doubtless Bluesky knows I have a broad liking for talented peeps sharing their stuff, and a penchant for the darkly supernatural/folkloric. But I like to think it gave me this for the pun, which is absolutely A++, no notes.

WOLFSKULLJACK @wolfskulljack.bsky.social · May 21

If you like my werewolf art don’t forget to lycan subscribe!
Happy werewolf Wednesday!

Art done in 2020

My art, digital. A werewolf

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · May 8

Somewhere in that book it says “Ait illi Iesus si vis perfectus esse vade vende quae habes et da pauperibus.”

A screenshot from a video of cardinals entering the conclave, showing a plump hand wearing a large gold ring pressed devoutly on an open Bible.

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · Apr 17

I mean, the September massacres were pretty horrific, but it’s a bit late to be coming down hard on the sans-culottes now …

The Guardian @theguardian.com · Apr 17

Ringleaders of attacks on French jails will be punished, Macron says

Ringleaders of attacks on French jails will be punished, Macron says

Wave of assaults ‘declaration of war’ by drug gangs after crackdown on bosses operating from jail, French media say Emmanuel Macron has warned that those behind a wave of apparently coordinated attacks on French prisons and staff will be “found, tried and punished”. The president’s comments came after at least a dozen assaults on French jails in the past three days. In one attack, gunmen using automatic weapons fired at the entrance to Toulon prison in the south of France. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · Mar 28

Stayed *with me*. Sigh.

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · Mar 28

(In honour of that fact, Shuck is definitely on the list of potential names for when I finally submit and get meself a hound of my own.)

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · Mar 28

Oh man, Black Shuck terrified me as a kid. I mean, I was actually scared of all dogs. But when I read about Black Shuck in some 1970s-style “scare kids good a proper” books I well nigh shat my spine out of my arse. It stayed worth a loooong time.

East Anglia Bylines @eastangliabylines.co.uk · Mar 27

The myth & mystery of the terror hound - Black Shuck - from @celinawords.bsky.social

Now making an appearance on Royal Mail stamps.

Black Shuck: the hound of myth and mystery

The Black Shuck myth was born in England in 1127 in Peterborough. More recently the beast was seen in Bungay in 1577.

eastangliabylines.co.uk

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · Mar 19

Chuckle to myself a bit then realise the converse is probably not far from how I speak Dutch, at least unless I’m making an effort.

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · Mar 19

Slightly dotty elderly gent outside the café I’m working in l, telling a rambling story about a lost red rucksack in English. His syntax is excellent, but every lexical word that has a Dutch cognate he pronounces as pure Dutch: “the rood rugzak”. (Note not “rode,” so he’s not parsing it as Dutch.)

Stuart Brown @zzztype.bsky.social · Feb 18

(I wasn’t, btw, trying to catch it out and admit it’s conscious. But I’d had some vague 3-in-the-morning thoughts which I actually find AI tools quite useful to help one clarify and pin down (or reject as vague-3-am thoughts) and was setting parameters.)