Andrea Williams

Robert “Ed” Smylie, the NASA official who saved the Apollo 13 crew in 1970, has died at 95. He cobbled together an apparatus made of cardboard, plastic bags and duct tape after an explosion crippled the spacecraft as it sped toward the moon. nyti.ms/3Sbusb3

Things I hate about moving, no.157:

Mysterious Keys

Ooh what does this open? Portal into another dimension?

Alas no, most likely a filing cabinet we abandoned in the house before the house before last

A politics based on empathy is the only way to avoid the abyss Jonathan Edwards The decision of the UK Government to aim an axe at social support for the sick and disabled has inevitably set off a backlash from charities, some Labour backbenchers and its…

The demise of empathy as a virtue in our politics and everyday life goes a long way to explaining the dangerous point we have reached in history.

Past horrors remind us about how carefully we now need to tread. ✍️Jonathan Edwards

Send an email to a writer or leave a comment on something of theirs you've read this week that's touched you in some way or made the weight of your world a little easier to bear. It's always worth doing, and makes both of your day a little better.

#Blakes7 Series A, Episode 10 - Breakdown

BLAKE: Reduce to standard by three, Jenna.
JENNA: Standard by three.
BLAKE: Can we squeeze any more range on the visuals?
VILA: It's at the limit now.
BLAKE: We may have to reverse thrust and run.

https://blake.torpidity.net/m/110/236

Don’t think that gif actually works on here 🤔

Oh myyy

If you see this, post a kiss 😘

The hypocrisy is off the charts.

Sherlockian Author Profile - Margaret Walsh Born, raised, and still lives in the antipodes.   Loves Sherlock Holmes, London, books, theatre, poetry, music, art, history, and life in equal measures.  When not writing I can be found curled up wit...

My books are all available directly from the publisher @mxpublishing.bsky.social #SherlockHolmes mxpublishing.com/collections/...

Here's the courtship display of male common goldeneye ducks, seen this morning in Montrose Harbor. "When females are nearby, males frequently display by stretching the head backward against their back and then popping their head forward," says the AllAboutBirds website.

I too am way better treated and valued (& happier!) now that I’m working for a company — but it’s an actual company, not a company pretending to be a public service 😖

Might be different in the US, but in Oz and the UK the system got infested with “managers” (if only they could actually “manage”, but they made obviously daft executive decisions e.g. becoming reliant on income from international student fees…) 😬🔨🔨🔨
Higher Education can’t be run like a business..

Series B, Episode 01 - Redemption

AVON: It could be done if they knew the vulnerable points.
JENNA: All right, but how could their computers override Zen?

https://blake.torpidity.net/m/201/304

“Overall, the university sector comprises about 206,000 academic and 246,000 non-academic staff, according to the latest data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.” (From Beeb News)

Sums up what’s gone wrong w universities — like most public sectors, higher education has gone “corporate” 😬

It took six weeks to get here

The Onion is within a hair's breadth of reporting real news apnews.com/video/robert...

Lavishly woven in fine wool and silk with silver and gilded threads, the seven wall hangings collectively known as “The Unicorn Tapestries” are certainly amongst the most spectacular surviving artworks of the late Middle Ages: publicdomainreview.org/collection/t...

“Government doesn’t work anymore.
I know this because I broke it.”

This was also in London on inauguration day. Note the location!

ChatGPT4 describes the image as: "The image shows a person standing in a dimly lit environment, which gives off a mysterious or tense atmosphere. The background includes a textured or moss-covered surface, suggesting a natural or possibly futuristic setting. The lighting is low, with a greenish hue casting shadows on the person's face and surroundings. Without further context, it's challenging to determine the specific setting or the individual's identity." Blakes7Bot, version 3.9.16. Upload retries: 0. AWS Lambda version: 1.6

#Blakes7 B12 - The Keeper

[DUNGEONS - Rod enters laughing]
BLAKE: I thought you were never coming.
ROD: My men are already in the tunnel.
BLAKE: You going up alone?
ROD: I have business with my brother.
BLAKE: Who is your brother?

https://blake.torpidity.net/m/212/444

The stars of Avalon. Taken last night here in Glastonbury.

Just re-read EM Forster’s short story “The Machine Stops” for the 1st time in decades (studied it at school). Had completely forgotten he wrote it in…

1909 🤯

It’s so, SO prescient.

(And v easy to find for free on the internet for those interested)

A new, independent Europe is being born – and the UK is at the heart of it This could be one of the most important political developments of our lifetime

For all the horror, something potentially positive is happening. We seem to be witnessing the birth of an independent Europe before our very eyes inews.co.uk/opinion/a-ne...

One of the best Bonds imv!

Early Welsh poems depict Merlin as environmentalist A re-examination of Welsh poems dating back to 10th century have shown Myrddin – Merlin – as a prophet and environmentalist. The mythical mentor to the young King Arthur was previously thought of as a...

A re-examination of Welsh poems dating back to 10th century have shown Myrddin - Merlin - as a prophet and environmentalist

The only correct version of this headline.

Kathleen Kennedy haters are fools and children who genuinely understand nothing about the incredible career she's had.

How the Wayback Machine is preserving outdated government websites The Wayback Machine is helping preserve the record of government websites before they were changed by the Trump administration. CBS News Confirmed's Rhona Tarrant reports.

www.cbsnews.com/video/how-th...

Here's how you do it