Antiqueight

Yes, at some point he started to be written as a character not a set piece and whoever decided on his direction really went all in. From about the time he shot the tiger I think but I suspect the seeds were planted before that...

I never watched Endeavour til recently - I'm not done with the seasons yet but I have to say, I started out not particularly impressed by Chief superintendent Bright - usual character, put there to be officious and humourless. But he's not. He's wonderful. I think I may be falling for the man.

Another of those background names from my childhood has died. I never really knew him but he had an unusual enough name that it stuck in my head. He also left a more indelible mark on the area (for the good). So here's to him.

I thought you'd stopped playing

Part of the difficulty being that some Americanisms originated in Ireland.... So, are we saying it their way or are they saying it ours....

As for pure americanisms, some I hate (do the math) some I don't (ballpark figure).

But the M1 in the north is a different road....

Poster states: Octocon 2026. Saturday 3rd October – Sunday 4th October. Clayton Hotel Cork City and Online. Guests of Honour: C.E. Murphy and Adrian Tchaikovsky. www.octocon.com. Poster includes images of the guests of honour, the octocon logo and the Octocon mascot, Octo the Octopus.

Genuinely delighted to say I'll be guest of honor, along with the fantastic Adrian Tchaikovsky (@aptshadow.bsky.social), at Octocon (@octocon.bsky.social), the National Irish Science Fiction Convention, in Cork, Ireland over October 3-4, 2026! I hope to see some (many!) of you there!

I like how Zohran Mamdani scandals are like "He called his old cousin his aunt one time" and Andrew Cuomo scandals are like "He sexually assaulted 13 women."

Speaking of second cousins once removed - I just got photos of my newest one.. that would be my mother's mother's brother's daughter's daughter's son, to be precise....He's only gorgeous. I saw his mam this summer for the first time in AGES.

But if you were not family and were to ask me my relationship to my sister in law's sister's son I would probably short hand it to 'my cousin', even though he's not really a relation of mine directly....

That is true. If only because the name wouldn't tell you enough about which generation you were talking about...

dropping the "auntie" or "uncle" from in front of the names of my aunts and uncles has been basically impossible for me. The thought of calling them by their given name is.... wrong... Even with permission.
2/2

Where I do not, would not - nor would I call my father's cousins "auntie" or "uncle". Which is actually weird because I am usually very uncomfortable calling adults by their first names. But these were my cousins (if once removed) and thus not somehow the kind of adults that required it. YET 1/2

I will admit if you* referred to an aunt I would be confused if it then turned out your parents were only children or something.. I am used to "aunt" being a very specific class of person. And not used to it being used as a generic "older relative" title. But I did grow up in a *monocultural world

Yeah there's a degree of learning a person's name as "Auntie Jill" because that's what your granny always called her only to discover when older that she was your GRANNY'S aunt... And I'm auntie to a friend's son for reasons. So it varies hugely even for me. Hell - I gave myself the name Auntie here

Deeply cultural and it's not up to anyone else to tell you (in the generic plural sense of you) how to do it. I would struggle to call an older (non related) woman* "auntie" but it's clearly an appropriate title in other cultures.

(*there are exceptions, of course, because of course there are)

*But* I have many friends with aunts and uncles who are no relation at all and that's FINE. And others who call older cousins uncle or aunt and THAT's fine. The way in which a society names the relationships to people varies but is no less legitimate.

In my world no matter the age gap when they aren't my parents siblings or the spouse of my parents siblings they aren't my aunt or uncle. And if they aren't the child of my siblings they aren't my nibling. They are otherwise my cousin. Removed simply indicates there is a gap. But they are my cousin.

The TV series The West Wing (which never claimed accuracy of room/staff locations) always had the Vice President in a different wing with offices for the VPs staff. Does the VP have a chief of staff and are they in a different building?

But 41% during the 'Wars of the Three Kingdoms', as a friend pointed out they are also known, is just a shocking percentage loss of the population in that time. It's horrifying and blows the Famines out of the water.

I'm still kinda sitting here gobsmacked, days later....

I realised when looking at it that my knowledge of the entire 1600s (actually late 1500s through) is messy. I know 1601 (-1603) battle of Kinsale and end of the nine years war. Then somewhen was civil/confederate/cromwell wars and another somewhen was the williamite stuff and I get completely lost.

No, it outside my area of knowledge too. Certainly one source I was looking up suggested one after another rather than naming both in the same. I really couldn't say for sure

If true this is very cool
www.facebook.com/share/r/17Wc...

Well, while responsible for a number of the deaths for sure, that is separate from the cromwellian conflict which had a massive impact on deaths. But it's true that I don't know how many either way.

One of my current things is to listen to YT videos of history about places I know less about than I should. So Africa, Asia, Russia (east of the Urals esp) and the Americas south of the US border mostly... and so on.. not only those like...

So, like - yeah - not exact and possibly not entirely accurate. But he was good at it and so they aren't likely to be wrong by a factor of 10.
He apparently leaves out people who were deported and died too.

—— (1992). The Experience of the British Civil Wars. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-10391-6
the best estimate provided by William Petty, the father of English demography estimated that 112,000 Protestants and 504,000 Catholics were killed through plague, war and famine.

I am sitting here with mouth agape. I mean. I can't imagine.

I think it could be that proportionatly it is actually higher because the 30 years war killed of up to half the population over 30 years but the English civil war did that in Ireland in 9 years...

I mean - it's wiki numbers so like... subject to verification and all that.. but yeah. I'm currently sitting here wide eyed.