Emily McEwan

My Christmas at the Forum thread from my company account! Haligonians, if you're planning to come do your holiday shopping, check out my advice!

when they said there'd be bread and circuses, they should have specified that the bread would cost 200% more than it did four years ago and the circuses are only available on your least favourite streaming network for $19.99/month

ahh another beautiful day in the glorious age of technology, sure hope my doorbell doesn’t stop working because an online bookstore took over and then broke the entire internet

5pm on November 1: let’s go for a walk, it’s still light out!

5pm on November 2: an early darkness blankets the land. Fallow fields lay bone-bleached by moonlight. The last memories of summer fade into oblivion. The last echoes of hope lapse into baleful silence.

Animated Snow White with her face squished into a window pane

me watching for the first leaf to fall so I can switch to a seasonal diet of hearty soups and rich stews

The Nova Scotia Gaelic flag, the Nova Scotia provincial flag, and the Canadian flag fly from the back of bleachers in the late afternoon sunshine at the Antigonish Highland Games 2025.

Our Nova Scotia #Gaelic flag sales to the USA🇺🇸 and UK🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇧 have reopened for a very short window! All orders must be in by THU 4 SEP 2025. US orders go out Fri Sep 5 by USPS. UK Sep 15 Royal Mail. Due to the unfortunate tariff nonsense, we don't forsee having another chance to ship to the USA in 2025.

Tha sinn a' reic na brataich againn dha na Stàitean Aonaichte agus an Rìoghachd Aonaichte a-rithist fad greiseag! Cuir an òrdugh agad a-steach ro DHIARDAOIN an 4mh dhen t-Sultain, an t-seachdain seo fhèin! Mòran taing! #gàidhlig

My photo shows a blue spherical bead in the form of a hedgehog curled up in a defensive ball displayed on a grey background. It is made of Egyptian faience, a ceramic material with a shiny blue glaze. The hedgehog’s face, ears, feet and tail are shown in relief, and the quills are represented by black dots painted over the surface of the bead. A hole for threading runs through the sphere - it can just be seen on the right hand side of the bead. The hedgehog’s long ears suggest this is a desert hedgehog. Desert hedgehogs may have symbolized rebirth because they reappear after hibernating underground in winter. Dated c.1985 - 1650 BC. On display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Happy weekend!

From c. 3,600 years ago, here’s an ancient Egyptian bead in the form of a curled-up hedgehog! 🦔💙

Blue faience, c. 1985 -1650 BC.

National Museum of Scotland www.nms.ac.uk/search-our-c...

📷 by me

#Archaeology

[optimistic for the future of human life on earth] it's good that we're getting a hurricane soon, it might put out some of the uncontrollable wildfires

me as a kid: wow I can't wait until we have robots and computers for everything

me now: if this toaster makes me download an app I am slipping out into the night to start a new life as a mysterious figure occasionally glimpsed in the fog

Yikes! Also, that shouldn’t actually be too hard to do right now 😬🔥 (Also also, I hope you were able to take the dead tick in to get it tested, and/or get prophylactic antibiotics if needed)

Instagram post from the nsgov Instagram account. Black and red text reads “STAY OUT OF THE WOODS”; the foreground is a black silhouette of trees

obsessed with this vague notice from the government of Nova Scotia. Like it’s definitely about the new fire restrictions, but it also looks like a poster you’d find yellowed and curled on the bulletin board of a diner in a town where locals won’t talk about their missing kids

And to think they could have just recycled this one

Tapadh leat!!

Tormod and every reporter & interviewer I've spoken to since have been the kindest, the most professional, and the absolute best at helping you sound your best while expressing yourself tro mheadhan na Gàidhlig. Feuch e! 6/🧵

I also just want to say that if you're feeling shy to speak on BBC Radio nan Gàidheal as a Gaelic learner, do it anyway! My first time on with Tormod C. some 25 years ago felt terrifying and I still remember it like yesterday... 😅 5/🧵

BBC Radio nan Gàidheal - Naoi gu Deich, le Cathy NicDhòmhnaill Tha Iain Caimbeul agus Iain Stephen Moireastan air aoigheachd aig Cathy.

Èisd fad 30 làithean aig: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m... ('S e am prògram le Iain Caimbeul agus Iain Stephen Moireastan a th'ann) #gàidhlig 4/🧵

Mìle taing do Chathy is Aileen airson seo a chur air dòigh! Tha Cathy na bana-ghaisgeach do leabhraichean Gàidhlig agus is mi a tha taingeil dhi 🥰 #gàidhlig 3/🧵

So much to say and so little time, but I read a few pages aloud from 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗱𝗵 and we had a great chat along with Gillebride MacIlleMhaoil, John Norman from the Gaelic Books Council, and Finlay MacLennan from Western Isles Libraries. 2/🧵

It was lovely to be back on "Naoi du Deich" this morning with Cathy Bhàn NicDhòmhnaill talking about translated Gaelic children's books, including our brand-new 𝗕𝗶𝗱𝗵 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗱𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗻 𝗗𝗲𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗶𝗹, the translation of Teddy Is Ready by Cape Breton author/illustrator Joanne MacDonald! 1/🧵

It's the 5-year anniversary of the ANNA RUADH book launch!

Facebook decided to suspend my account because of a piece (below) I wrote Monday about violence which in no way advocates for it (but does point out who is violent in the current ruckus).

bsky.app/profile/very...

the ability of AI to "understand" satire

Indeed carrying a foreign flag is not illegal. The NYC Tartan Day Parade has entered the chat. (And yeah.)

And someone had included the bogus hallucinated ChatGPT reference in a a Ph.D. dissertation? 😬

OK this actually clears up a lot for me. Also reminds me of what our standard poodles look like when they stand up on 2 legs. We call them “person in a poodle suit”…

Truth

Sometimes I can’t get a receipt for something like a hotdog or a slice of pizza from a food truck at a festival… I take a picture of the food 😂

Focusmate (website not app). It works great for body doubling. I have a referral code for the paid version if anyone ever wants it. But you can get pretty far on the free version and see if you like it.