Simon Koppel

Well this is depressing. I normally expect Bluesky replies to Anon Opin to be more sensible than those on X. But with this one, they're virtually identical, and every bit as casually (and not so casually) misogynistic.

What is the question if the answer is ham? The prelims Which question in each group should go forward into the final?

What is the question if the answer is ham? The prelims
Which question in each group should go forward into the final?
forms.gle/htAsdo1zMoMu...

What small village in Kent lies two and a half miles south of the town of Sandwich? A signpost pointing to the two places has 109 reviews on Google and its own entry on Atlas Obscura.

You may be getting to this, but do you have male/female/other splits?

On the track listing for the Taylor Swift song "thank you aimee", from her album The Tortured Poets Department, what three letters are capitalised? The song has been widely interpreted as a 'diss track' aimed at a member of the Kardashian family.

A list of courses at the London Business School, showing that "Strategy Implementation for Saudi Leaders" is listed in an alphabetical list between "Executing Strategy for Results - Dubai" and "Financing the Entrepreneurial Business"

You can still what it was by the alphabetising.

In the spirit of correcting sloppy work, I feel obliged to point out that there's no evidence that Napoleon ever said that - it's most likely a variant of Robert Heinlein quoteinvestigator.com/2016/12/30/n...

Oslo is another issue - only renamed that from Christiania in 1925

More likely, surely, that a situation that used to exist would still be on a map (perhaps partly based on an earlier map by a sloppy cartographer) that that it would somehow anticipate something that wouldn't exist until four years later?

But what about Central Australia? As someone else points about, that only existed from 1927 to 1931.

That's a great clue, that nobody else had spotted!

Will she later complain that her hair is ruined?

In Europe, they do. www.euroncap.com/en/car-safet...

They don't look like 4-leaf clovers to me (though I'm no expert), but finding that many wouldn't be remarkable. They can grow in clusters. When I was a kid there was a clover patch near me where perhaps one in twenty was 4-leafed, sometimes more. Once I found a 7-leaf.

The email has found me laminating another strict No Entry sign for the canteen. The sinkholes are back, pouring forth the usual black fire and tortured screaming, and we all know what happened to Derek. Great news from the hospital though, they say he’s stopped shrieking in an unknown tongue!

One of my favourite eldritch accounts has reawakened after an ominous nine months away. I'm not certain that I want to know what's been gestating in that time.

Cecilia = Nimona?

The National Autistic Society has said that studies suggesting a correlation were weak, poorly designed, and ultimately did not provide reliable evidence. Other high-quality, well-controlled studies have instead indicated there is no link between paracetamol in pregnancy and autism.

Screenshot from the Oxford English Dictionary online entry for the word "armscye". Five quotations are listed, from 1858 onwards - the most recent is "I need to remember to raise the armscye a little because it's like 1/2″ too low. @alakazammit.bsky.social‬ 14 March in bsky.app (accessed 14 Mar. 2025)"

@alakazammit.bsky.social Did you know that you're quoted in the Oxford English Dictionary? They've just added the word "armscye" and you're one of the five quotations they list

🚨NEW EPISODE🚨

It's time to find an answer to the most important question the Simpsons ever asked. William Pitt the Elder has made many cameo appearances in the episodes of other #PrimeMinisters, but now it's FINALLY time to take a look at him properly.

#history #politics #geogians

Farage vows to scrap indefinite leave to remain, placing thousands at risk of deportation Reform UK plans to force non-citizens to apply for visas with high salary thresholds and no access to NHS services

Thousands of Londoners have indefinite leave to remain.

They have legal rights and are our friends, neighbours and colleagues, contributing hugely to our city.

Threatening to deport people living and working here legally is unacceptable.

The only pirate documented to have worn an eyepatch was the Arab pirate Rahmah ibn Jabir al-Jalhami, and he had actually lost an eye.

Sadly, there's no actual evidence for that. Per Wikipedia, "This idea was tested in an episode of MythBusters in 2007 and found to be plausible, but this application has never been documented in any historical naval manual."

It's worth finding a copy of Dardanelles Patrol. There's some other great stories, including firing a torpedo which went in a circle and nearly blew themselves up, the time they surfaced to dry their washing, and disguising the sub by tying it to a fishing boat. www.amazon.co.uk/Dardanelles-...

HMS E11 - Wikipedia

At least they defeated the train. There's one instance of a submarine losing a battle (or at least, being driven away from shore) by a cavalry regiment, which just feels like a crazy mismatch of military eras. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_E11...

Ben Folds and Jeremy Irons should get together and start a dry cleaning business.

They could call it Ben and Jerry's.

I'm wondering whether @jessesword.com, who runs the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction (sfdictionary.com) might have any insight?

War and Peace has entered the chat

Always a good morning to wake up and find a new @primetimepod.bsky.social has dropped.

Doesn't giant fish fingers throw out the fish/breadcrumb ratio?