Lou Matthews

Exactly so.

Archaeological section through a palaeochannel containing preserved ancient trees

Continuation of a palaeochannel with preserved bog-oaks

Bog-oaks in a palaeochannel #Fenland #FlagFenBasin #Holocene

Something happened recently that made me think of it. I've been reflecting on how every instance of harassment or assault is different in terms of context, and there's no one-rule to successfully intervening. It's useful to have a number of different tools to deal with different situations 2/2

A while back, (possibly in twitter days) I saw a brilliant thread on how to intervene when someone is being harassed in public. It involved tips for standing with the person being harassed and not engaging with the perpetrators. Can anyone point me to a UK-specific resource? 1/2

Oxford Brookes Uni students had a great time recently in #LyeValley #fen learning various coring techniques, studying peat & tufa sediments. They learnt what hard work it was! but some very interesting layers discovered, now for some lab study...
@friendlyevalley.bsky.social @palaeolou.bsky.social

Another one here for never having seen The God Father. Also: Saving Private Ryan
Titanic
Never purposely watched the Eurovision song contest (although I have caught bits now and then).

I once slogged my way through a Tom Wolfe...

Umberto Eco? One of the Amisses? Dying to know then I don't bother.

Last-minute cancellation for Friday 26 Sept #linocut #workshop in #York. Find out more: www.michellehughesdesign.com/lino-printin...

That's going to be tough. The MMR scandal had bad design/ data... The paracetamol nonsense has... None?

Sadly archaeology is heading towards repeating history: the preserve of those with a secondary source of income or generational wealth.
I really don't know if I would have 'made it' if I started my degree/career now from where I was in 1998.

Pollen grain of the Caryophyllaceae family viewed down a microscope.

This was taken down the eyepiece with a mobile phone! If I had a proper camera it would be even better.

I love Brunel. I bought my secondhand microscope from them. It's been really good.
I have both things to hand at home. The glycerine jelly probably came from Brunel as well!

🤯😯 Wow! That's amazing. I wish I'd done something like that. Who's/what prep method did you use? I've been toying with the idea of making up my own reference slides for ages... Maybe 2026 will be the year!

Neolithic blade, mace head and dagger in a museum case

Went to the big smoke. Saw archaeological bling. Interpretation panels at the London museum mudlarking exhibition were very well thought out.

Feeding grass pellets to a black and white pygmy goat at a city farm

If the world is just a bit much, I heartily recommend feeding pygmy goats.

Cate nails it again ♥️

One of my favourite floodplain meadow plants - Pepper Saxifrage Silaum silaus. For it's amazing cinnamony smell of leaves and fruits mostly. And a good insect nectar source, like most Apiaceae.
@floodplainmead.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Visited Somerford Mead, a recreated (from arable) floodplain haymeadow nr Oxford. Looking good, but surprised to see that even here the Rough Hawksbeard Crepis biennis (last photo) is gaining ground as it is in all dry verges & meadows locally
@floodplainmead.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Did I mention how important skilled #volunteers are to maintaining Oxford's special calcareous fens? 3 #scythers get on with the summer cutting, felling reed & avoiding Common Valerian& marsh thistle. 1 vol carefully chops reed in a patch of fleabane, left uncut
@freshwaterhabitats.bsky.social

Footnote: I did actually hang around in the changing room for a bit to see if I could talk to her, because: yikes. They must have gone straight home tho cause I never saw them again.

I stopped going and bought a vertical climber off eBay. The final straw was a man standing over his wife as she stepped on a weighing scale and he demanded 'how much?'. Seriously tested my commitment to non-violence. My hand actually twitched towards a nearby dumbbell.

🤢😷😡

5-panel comic. (1) [teacher with long hair next to whiteboard] TEACHER: I’m supposed to give you the tools to do good science. (2) [teacher addressing students] But what *are* those tools? Methodology is hard and there are so many ways to get incorrect results. What is the magic ingredient that makes for good science? (3) TEACHER: To figure it out, I ran a regression with all the factors people say are important: [embedded list in sub-panel, cut off at end] Outcome variable: correct scientific results. Predictors: collaboration; skepticism of others’ claims; questioning your own beliefs; trying to falsify hypotheses; checking citations; statistical rigor; blinded analysis; financial disclosure; open data (4) TEACHER: The regression says two ingredients are the most crucial: 1) genuine curiosity about the answer to a question, and 2) ammonium hydroxide. (5) STUDENT: Wait, why did *ammonia* score so high? How did it even get on the list? LONG HAIR: ...And now you’re doing good science!

Good Science

xkcd.com/3101/

sunsets are better with you
#landscape #photography #wildflowers #losangeles

4-panel comic. (1) PERSON to two listeners [in inset panel]: When the Greeks departed, they left behind a horse as a gift. [horse faces people in front of a tower] (2) We took it as a gesture of peace, but it carried a secret payload. [horse in between people] (3) One night, from within the horse, *another, smaller horse emerged!* [big horse looks behind at smaller horse] (4) PERSON: Our guards have been unable to determine the inner horse’s objective, but it has begun to show an interest in our oats. PERSON 2 from off-panel: An attack on Troy’s food supply! PERSON 3 from off-panel: How *dare* they!?

Trojan Horse

xkcd.com/3098/

Congratulations NERC on 60 yrs of leadership in environmental science. In celebration NERC published its new 10-year vision, launched at the Royal Society.
The Forward Look for Environment Science www.ukri.org/publications...

It's made you all remember it though right?! 😉

It's scything, scything and & more scything time in #LyeValley #fen. Reed, reed sweet grass & rank grass - late May/June is the time to take them down to reduce vigour & take nutrients away in risings to encourage more biodiversity @friendlyevalley.bsky.social @freshwaterhabitats.bsky.social