Alex G
@alexiterick.bsky.social
Scientist, board gamer, SFF fan, cyclist, lapsed rower, cryptoclassicist, lingthusiast, fiddle player.
There's the famous Agatha Christie line about not being able to imagine being too poor to afford a servant, or wealthy enough to afford a car.
(Then things changed fast enough that she bought a car in the next few years without becoming hugely wealthier)
(Then things changed fast enough that she bought a car in the next few years without becoming hugely wealthier)
December 11, 2025 at 2:04 AM
There's the famous Agatha Christie line about not being able to imagine being too poor to afford a servant, or wealthy enough to afford a car.
(Then things changed fast enough that she bought a car in the next few years without becoming hugely wealthier)
(Then things changed fast enough that she bought a car in the next few years without becoming hugely wealthier)
They've been big in the UK for a while- the BBC had a fantasy football TV show in the 90s.
December 11, 2025 at 1:16 AM
They've been big in the UK for a while- the BBC had a fantasy football TV show in the 90s.
Though the UK is I think also unusual in terms of how much specialisation it allows in high school- AFAIK most European countries require some maths/science and some literature/humanities until the age of 18 for people aiming for university.
December 9, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Though the UK is I think also unusual in terms of how much specialisation it allows in high school- AFAIK most European countries require some maths/science and some literature/humanities until the age of 18 for people aiming for university.
Even the fictional anarchist utopia in *The Dispossessed* has a military, though its purpose is mainly to mount a token resistance to inform everyone else that these newcomers are an invasion to be resisted rather than tourists to be welcomed.
December 9, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Even the fictional anarchist utopia in *The Dispossessed* has a military, though its purpose is mainly to mount a token resistance to inform everyone else that these newcomers are an invasion to be resisted rather than tourists to be welcomed.
I thought it was still sometimes called Mikligarður in Icelandic?
December 9, 2025 at 1:09 PM
I thought it was still sometimes called Mikligarður in Icelandic?
I love that one because of how beautifully sarcastic it is.
(The "army of mercenaries" is the British Expeditionary Force of 1914, whom the Germans called mercenaries because they were professional soldiers rather than conscripts)
(The "army of mercenaries" is the British Expeditionary Force of 1914, whom the Germans called mercenaries because they were professional soldiers rather than conscripts)
December 7, 2025 at 2:38 PM
I love that one because of how beautifully sarcastic it is.
(The "army of mercenaries" is the British Expeditionary Force of 1914, whom the Germans called mercenaries because they were professional soldiers rather than conscripts)
(The "army of mercenaries" is the British Expeditionary Force of 1914, whom the Germans called mercenaries because they were professional soldiers rather than conscripts)
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
December 7, 2025 at 2:18 AM
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year
December 7, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year
"The blow that breaks my brow to-night shall break the dome of heaven.
The skies I saw, the trees I saw after no eyes shall see,
To-night I die the death of God; the stars shall die with me"
The skies I saw, the trees I saw after no eyes shall see,
To-night I die the death of God; the stars shall die with me"
December 7, 2025 at 2:14 AM
"The blow that breaks my brow to-night shall break the dome of heaven.
The skies I saw, the trees I saw after no eyes shall see,
To-night I die the death of God; the stars shall die with me"
The skies I saw, the trees I saw after no eyes shall see,
To-night I die the death of God; the stars shall die with me"
"The King with half the East at heel is marched from lands of morning;
Their fighters drink the rivers up, their shafts benight the air.
And he that stands will die for nought, and home there's no returning.
The Spartans on the sea-wet rock sat down and combed their hair."
Their fighters drink the rivers up, their shafts benight the air.
And he that stands will die for nought, and home there's no returning.
The Spartans on the sea-wet rock sat down and combed their hair."
December 7, 2025 at 2:04 AM
"The King with half the East at heel is marched from lands of morning;
Their fighters drink the rivers up, their shafts benight the air.
And he that stands will die for nought, and home there's no returning.
The Spartans on the sea-wet rock sat down and combed their hair."
Their fighters drink the rivers up, their shafts benight the air.
And he that stands will die for nought, and home there's no returning.
The Spartans on the sea-wet rock sat down and combed their hair."
I think because picking an English saint would be seen as favoring the part of England that saint came from.
The one possible exception is St Thomas Becket, but he's unpopular with royalty for obvious reasons (a huge number of Tudor-era men named Thomas, but the royal family don't use the name)
The one possible exception is St Thomas Becket, but he's unpopular with royalty for obvious reasons (a huge number of Tudor-era men named Thomas, but the royal family don't use the name)
December 7, 2025 at 12:13 AM
I think because picking an English saint would be seen as favoring the part of England that saint came from.
The one possible exception is St Thomas Becket, but he's unpopular with royalty for obvious reasons (a huge number of Tudor-era men named Thomas, but the royal family don't use the name)
The one possible exception is St Thomas Becket, but he's unpopular with royalty for obvious reasons (a huge number of Tudor-era men named Thomas, but the royal family don't use the name)
Women may well be as good at shooting as men (or better) but that doesn't make up for the difference in skiing speed. By my back of the envelope math, the top woman in 2022 would have to miss 4 fewer shots than the top man to make up for her slower skiing- tricky given that he only missed one...
December 6, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Women may well be as good at shooting as men (or better) but that doesn't make up for the difference in skiing speed. By my back of the envelope math, the top woman in 2022 would have to miss 4 fewer shots than the top man to make up for her slower skiing- tricky given that he only missed one...
When and where was this?
I can't find any reference to a mixed-gender international biathlon race. It was originally all male because most competitors were soldiers. Women still race shorter distances than men at the Winter Olympics.
I can't find any reference to a mixed-gender international biathlon race. It was originally all male because most competitors were soldiers. Women still race shorter distances than men at the Winter Olympics.
December 6, 2025 at 1:40 AM
When and where was this?
I can't find any reference to a mixed-gender international biathlon race. It was originally all male because most competitors were soldiers. Women still race shorter distances than men at the Winter Olympics.
I can't find any reference to a mixed-gender international biathlon race. It was originally all male because most competitors were soldiers. Women still race shorter distances than men at the Winter Olympics.
Doesn't explain the increased popularity of compact SUVs in Europe where that loophole doesn't exist.
Higher driving position, and possibly increased average age of new car buyers, does.
Higher driving position, and possibly increased average age of new car buyers, does.
December 4, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Doesn't explain the increased popularity of compact SUVs in Europe where that loophole doesn't exist.
Higher driving position, and possibly increased average age of new car buyers, does.
Higher driving position, and possibly increased average age of new car buyers, does.
I'm not sure they were even the first bike company to make a bike called the Roubaix- I ride a Fuji Roubaix from the early 2000s.
December 4, 2025 at 12:20 PM
I'm not sure they were even the first bike company to make a bike called the Roubaix- I ride a Fuji Roubaix from the early 2000s.
The Bluesky saber rattling is happening AIUI because @charltoncussans.bsky.social posted a photo of the Belgrano to make a point about Venezuela and short victorious wars.
December 3, 2025 at 4:35 PM
The Bluesky saber rattling is happening AIUI because @charltoncussans.bsky.social posted a photo of the Belgrano to make a point about Venezuela and short victorious wars.
This looks delicious, but it really confused me at first because barbounia in Greek means red mullet, and plaki/pilaki is a way of cooking fish as well as beans.
December 3, 2025 at 2:17 PM
This looks delicious, but it really confused me at first because barbounia in Greek means red mullet, and plaki/pilaki is a way of cooking fish as well as beans.
In the US it's legal to sell sheep meat as lamb regardless of the age of the sheep.
December 3, 2025 at 12:08 PM
In the US it's legal to sell sheep meat as lamb regardless of the age of the sheep.
I've seen the claim before that it was an obsolete training ship full of cadets (also not true) but have no idea where the hospital thing comes from.
Maybe reports of sick sailors being transferred from the escorting destroyers to the Belgrano, which presumably had a bigger/better equipped sickbay?
Maybe reports of sick sailors being transferred from the escorting destroyers to the Belgrano, which presumably had a bigger/better equipped sickbay?
December 2, 2025 at 10:50 PM
I've seen the claim before that it was an obsolete training ship full of cadets (also not true) but have no idea where the hospital thing comes from.
Maybe reports of sick sailors being transferred from the escorting destroyers to the Belgrano, which presumably had a bigger/better equipped sickbay?
Maybe reports of sick sailors being transferred from the escorting destroyers to the Belgrano, which presumably had a bigger/better equipped sickbay?
Zuid-Limburg got close, but it still leans more far-right than the rest of the Netherlands politically (and I don't think that's *just* being more rural).
December 2, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Zuid-Limburg got close, but it still leans more far-right than the rest of the Netherlands politically (and I don't think that's *just* being more rural).
Traditional English practice of church bell ringing, which involves ringing a very large number of different sequences of the bells in a tower, without repeating a sequence.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_...
Change ringing - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
December 2, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Traditional English practice of church bell ringing, which involves ringing a very large number of different sequences of the bells in a tower, without repeating a sequence.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_...
That's like a combination of recitation of a text and change-ringing. Now I wonder if there's any link?
December 2, 2025 at 6:09 PM
That's like a combination of recitation of a text and change-ringing. Now I wonder if there's any link?
Do you know if "British Left Waffles On Falkland Islands" was real?
December 2, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Do you know if "British Left Waffles On Falkland Islands" was real?
I thought the issue was that British coal was high quality, but in a way that only matters for coal being used as fuel for trains/ships that need to carry their fuel with them.
December 2, 2025 at 3:30 AM
I thought the issue was that British coal was high quality, but in a way that only matters for coal being used as fuel for trains/ships that need to carry their fuel with them.