Sian Dodwell

Diaper Diplomacy Negotiations.

It being Halloween, I am too frightened to go to the gym.
Defending myself from the scares with the Shield of Chablis.
#Halloween

At top, a black and white chart labeled "Normal Distribution," showing a curved line that starts low at the left, curves up and peaks in the middle, and returns to the same low position on the right. At bottom, a black and white chart labeled "Paranormal Distribution," showing the curved line transformed into a typical ghost (a floating white sheet draped over an upright body) with two dark dots for eyes.

Here’s something really graphic for Halloween:

assume there are some pretty spindly looking legs flying in the air, with some questions around the sporting of undergarments.

Keep posting. These posts make me happy and remind me that however crazy things are at least we’re not in late C18th France.

Always thought they ran the water too hot in that palace.

Their boat is under-sized and they’ll need to exchange it for something larger.

New Season of Selling Sunsets is without doubt the best comedy on TV right now.

"Congratulations. Have a sticker" is one of my go to phrases. Even an imaginary sticker never fails to delight.

Love this. Do you think they deliver to the UK? In bulk?

When all these Americans decide to cross the ocean to escape their oppressive government I wonder which country they will decide to 'discover' this time?

personally I think the government should send a flag to every single household in Britain to put up. And anyone going to gay pride should get two.
suffocate the bastards in flags.

Mr Linus is in the pool.
IYKYK

Yes please send my floor polishing kit to my sister-in-law two weeks after her birthday. She would really like it to go with the books we sent.

Save Britain’s hedgehogs: make hedgehog highways law! When’s the last time you saw a hedgehog? 🦔 Their numbers are falling, so I just signed a petition to make hedgehog highways - tiny gaps in fences to help them - mandatory in ALL new builds. Add your n...

When’s the last time you saw a hedgehog? 🦔 Their numbers are falling, so I just signed a petition to make hedgehog highways - tiny gaps in fences to help them - mandatory in ALL new builds. Add your name: 38d.gs/72vc?utm_cam...

My 14-year-old self would never have guessed that, in 50 years' time, all the world's music would be available at the click of a button, you'd navigate the globe by carrying a tiny computer around in your pocket, and the US President would post a video of himself shitting over American citizens.

Photo realistic close-up in watercolour of a large slice of cream filled Victoria sponge

The mastery of artist Harry Wingfield.
‘Cake’
(Yes, it is a painting - from Third Picture Book, 1971)

Sometimes you need to take a stroll in other people's shoes.

Chien et chat au balcon.
1960. Paris Dog Cat

that wall is making a bid for freedom, carving it's own way through the concrete jungle like an asphalt ice breaker.

You know who doesn't integrate? People like Robert Jenrick. You think he works out at the local leisure centre? Goes to the Tuesday night pub quiz? You think his golf club lets anyone play? Or his private members' clubs let anyone in? He puts the ick in prick

My friend, your doggo made that. Their force is strong.

and a doppio-scaramucci

Screenshot of Threads thread by gutz156. Concatenated text follows. A French aristocrat wrote: most geniuses remain unknown — and when I learned the reason, I realized nothing has changed since The line came from the memoirs of Marquis de Villeroy, written in 1782. He observed that the brightest men in Paris never rose beyond small circles. “They possessed truth,” he wrote, “but no audience.” He noticed a paradox — intelligence didn’t attract attention; it repelled it, because the mind that questions also threatens. Villeroy described dinners where shallow charmers won applause while real thinkers sat silent. “They spoke with care,” he wrote, “and the room punished them with boredom.” The court didn’t hate genius — it simply had no patience for precision. Attention always flowed to those who could flatter, not clarify. He concluded that talent fails not from lack of effort, but from over-complexity of delivery. The human brain rewards familiarity, not depth. The clever man wants to be understood; the crowd wants to be confirmed. Every era repeats that trade: truth exchanged for attention. Modern research calls it the fluency effect. People trust what’s easy to process. Hard ideas create friction, and friction feels unsafe. That’s why marketers outperform philosophers — they speak in rhythm, not revelation. The mind mistakes simplicity for truth. Villeroy’s final note reads: “Genius needs translation before it needs recognition.” Two centuries later, the stage hasn’t changed — only the spotlight. Most brilliant minds still fade, not because they’re wrong, but because they refuse to sing their wisdom in the language of the crowd.

An 18th century observation on populists and scholars, but startlingly relevant today. Posting also to the 🧪 feed for scicomm folk. From Threads

We flounced out of the EU on the say-so of politicians who lied to us. And what a total shitshow that’s turned out to be. The polar opposite of what they promised. Now the call to flounce out of the ECHR. By the same people. Telling the same lies. Has the country been kicked in the head by a horse?

Trolls get pulped.
Shit posters get squeezed.
Everyone else is pure zest.

I hope the disabling sticks I am standing on reinforce how good I am at my job

Bus driver absolutely pressed the ‘even up the service’ announcement button so he could get out and have a fag.
#london

You find them outside pizza places, they are for delivering the melted cheese which happens at night so you don't get to see it.