Andrew
@generalising.bsky.social
Not another one to try and remember. We'll see.
Librarian. Scholarly communications, historic MPs, Wikipedia, inter alia other things. Misplaced Scot.
Librarian. Scholarly communications, historic MPs, Wikipedia, inter alia other things. Misplaced Scot.
"St Benedict repairs a Broken Colander through Prayer", fresco, 1502, by Giovanni 'Il Sodoma' Bazzi.
Yes, that's the subject.
Yes, that's his name.
Yes, the central figure with a sword, expensive robes, and badgers on a leash is a self portrait.
Yes, that's the subject.
Yes, that's his name.
Yes, the central figure with a sword, expensive robes, and badgers on a leash is a self portrait.
November 23, 2025 at 10:21 AM
"St Benedict repairs a Broken Colander through Prayer", fresco, 1502, by Giovanni 'Il Sodoma' Bazzi.
Yes, that's the subject.
Yes, that's his name.
Yes, the central figure with a sword, expensive robes, and badgers on a leash is a self portrait.
Yes, that's the subject.
Yes, that's his name.
Yes, the central figure with a sword, expensive robes, and badgers on a leash is a self portrait.
Here you go - Owen Garriot with a well-groomed 1973-style moustache on the ground (left) and a ... less so ... one on orbit (right)
November 22, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Here you go - Owen Garriot with a well-groomed 1973-style moustache on the ground (left) and a ... less so ... one on orbit (right)
The future, invariably stupider than we could ever predict
November 22, 2025 at 12:22 PM
The future, invariably stupider than we could ever predict
Oh, *now* they admit it
November 18, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Oh, *now* they admit it
Interesting numbers here on the profit of a Twitter account scam: 130 accounts hacked, gaining around $110k. One in ~800k people who saw it fell for it and paid up, averaging $260 each www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
November 17, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Interesting numbers here on the profit of a Twitter account scam: 130 accounts hacked, gaining around $110k. One in ~800k people who saw it fell for it and paid up, averaging $260 each www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Minor delays due to trespassers on the line
November 16, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Minor delays due to trespassers on the line
those modern London ways of living with their fancy coffee (1955 edition)
November 15, 2025 at 11:14 PM
those modern London ways of living with their fancy coffee (1955 edition)
My phone somehow cached a copy of the BBC News homepage in March and likes to display it when I don't have signal.
If it wasn't for Carney, I'm not sure I'd always realise.
If it wasn't for Carney, I'm not sure I'd always realise.
November 14, 2025 at 9:28 AM
My phone somehow cached a copy of the BBC News homepage in March and likes to display it when I don't have signal.
If it wasn't for Carney, I'm not sure I'd always realise.
If it wasn't for Carney, I'm not sure I'd always realise.
Here we see the rare feral phone, resting after shedding their old cases. Vulnerable after a moult, they only emerge in darkness.
November 4, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Here we see the rare feral phone, resting after shedding their old cases. Vulnerable after a moult, they only emerge in darkness.
Trying today to remember the name of the twitter account that used to do surreal tube announcements - TLF updates, apparently - and some googling turned up this bizarre Reddit snippet.
...no, it's not on the linked page
...no, it's not on the linked page
October 25, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Trying today to remember the name of the twitter account that used to do surreal tube announcements - TLF updates, apparently - and some googling turned up this bizarre Reddit snippet.
...no, it's not on the linked page
...no, it's not on the linked page
What an interesting topic. I wonder what he might have been up to for the last seven years.
October 22, 2025 at 7:00 PM
What an interesting topic. I wonder what he might have been up to for the last seven years.
"exhibitionist delusions" sounds about the right reading of it, to be honest. Probably no maliciousness in him - but he had the bad luck to spin his dreams in an environment very keen to take him seriously, just in case.
October 15, 2025 at 5:41 PM
"exhibitionist delusions" sounds about the right reading of it, to be honest. Probably no maliciousness in him - but he had the bad luck to spin his dreams in an environment very keen to take him seriously, just in case.
There is also a remark which might explain where the claims about him being sentenced to death came from - it was a joke doing the rounds at the time that he *might* have been, in other circumstances.
October 15, 2025 at 5:41 PM
There is also a remark which might explain where the claims about him being sentenced to death came from - it was a joke doing the rounds at the time that he *might* have been, in other circumstances.
The 1906 embezzlement seems to have been vastly more banal and at no point did anyone claim a qualification - he just stole £10 from his employer. The dates line up - he serves his few months, gets some money together (perhaps from family), buys a ticket, and sails off to Canada the next spring.
October 14, 2025 at 9:49 PM
The 1906 embezzlement seems to have been vastly more banal and at no point did anyone claim a qualification - he just stole £10 from his employer. The dates line up - he serves his few months, gets some money together (perhaps from family), buys a ticket, and sails off to Canada the next spring.
The Reading case was wild: he turned up in a nice quiet Berkshire village and claimed to be a jobbing curate looking for a job. He got it, went around collecting money, and disappeared with the takings.
His father, sounding tired, explained he had always wanted to be a priest.
His father, sounding tired, explained he had always wanted to be a priest.
October 14, 2025 at 9:41 PM
The Reading case was wild: he turned up in a nice quiet Berkshire village and claimed to be a jobbing curate looking for a job. He got it, went around collecting money, and disappeared with the takings.
His father, sounding tired, explained he had always wanted to be a priest.
His father, sounding tired, explained he had always wanted to be a priest.
If that identification is correct - I think it was, there were only two James Shearers in the county, and the other one looked eminently respectable - then it reveals he had form. Four months for false pretences at Reading, 1904, and four at Bournemouth for embezzlement, 1906.
October 14, 2025 at 9:35 PM
If that identification is correct - I think it was, there were only two James Shearers in the county, and the other one looked eminently respectable - then it reveals he had form. Four months for false pretences at Reading, 1904, and four at Bournemouth for embezzlement, 1906.
Later that year he (*possibly*, the identification is not quite clear) ended up in court in a lawsuit brought by the chair of the Flat Earth Society - really - who claimed he had defrauded her. At this point I am happy to believe it, but the court dismissed the claim after a brief cross-examination.
October 14, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Later that year he (*possibly*, the identification is not quite clear) ended up in court in a lawsuit brought by the chair of the Flat Earth Society - really - who claimed he had defrauded her. At this point I am happy to believe it, but the court dismissed the claim after a brief cross-examination.
In 1912, he was in the bankruptcy courts in which this stay had become a degree from Georgetown (1906), alongside a very ambitious theory of accreditation - "His degree entitled him to practice among a religious order with whom he was being educated"
October 14, 2025 at 9:20 PM
In 1912, he was in the bankruptcy courts in which this stay had become a degree from Georgetown (1906), alongside a very ambitious theory of accreditation - "His degree entitled him to practice among a religious order with whom he was being educated"
A bit more on Shearer: the story is sadder than I thought, he did not in fact die of the after-effects of gassing, he died from either suicide or an accidental overdose of barbiturates.
October 14, 2025 at 8:53 PM
A bit more on Shearer: the story is sadder than I thought, he did not in fact die of the after-effects of gassing, he died from either suicide or an accidental overdose of barbiturates.
And finally the court-martial. A couple of weeks after this, Clements was transferred from running the hospital to be a divisional staff officer - one wonders if it was connected, and whether it was a promotion, a demotion, or just to sweep all the embarrassment under the carpet.
October 13, 2025 at 10:47 PM
And finally the court-martial. A couple of weeks after this, Clements was transferred from running the hospital to be a divisional staff officer - one wonders if it was connected, and whether it was a promotion, a demotion, or just to sweep all the embarrassment under the carpet.
But maybe the bit about his being promoted was true - he and his patron Col Clements were transferred to another unit in October, and then in November, "Captain Shearer" seems to have had a nervous breakdown and been arrested. Presumably this is the moment it fell apart.
October 13, 2025 at 10:40 PM
But maybe the bit about his being promoted was true - he and his patron Col Clements were transferred to another unit in October, and then in November, "Captain Shearer" seems to have had a nervous breakdown and been arrested. Presumably this is the moment it fell apart.
The detail of it being 21 CCS came from this article in the 'Evening News' in 1956, sources unclear. The unit checked out, but I suspect from about half-way on it's enjoyable fiction (his court-martial does not say anything about a zeppelin or 'death ray' claim, etc)
October 13, 2025 at 10:26 PM
The detail of it being 21 CCS came from this article in the 'Evening News' in 1956, sources unclear. The unit checked out, but I suspect from about half-way on it's enjoyable fiction (his court-martial does not say anything about a zeppelin or 'death ray' claim, etc)
His records survive (under another number), and it seems like he was found guilty at court-martial and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment. In the end I think he served about six months of that sentence before transferring.
October 13, 2025 at 9:51 PM
His records survive (under another number), and it seems like he was found guilty at court-martial and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment. In the end I think he served about six months of that sentence before transferring.
But when the unit was first formed, he did get mentioned - our colonel spotted him, took a shine to him, and bumped him straight up to acting sergeant. And look - an identity number.
October 13, 2025 at 9:32 PM
But when the unit was first formed, he did get mentioned - our colonel spotted him, took a shine to him, and bumped him straight up to acting sergeant. And look - an identity number.
I got very curious about this. You can trace Shearer's unit (21 CCS) and you can see what looks like the echo of his little blaze of fame: in Sept 1916 you get visits from various grandees including ... the editor of the BMJ, who presumably came to see for himself.
October 13, 2025 at 9:26 PM
I got very curious about this. You can trace Shearer's unit (21 CCS) and you can see what looks like the echo of his little blaze of fame: in Sept 1916 you get visits from various grandees including ... the editor of the BMJ, who presumably came to see for himself.