Dr Naomi Jacobs

I honestly don't know how to explain it to anybody who isn't fully immersed in Jewish tradition that it's supremely important to know what the Law expects of us, but also there's no divine enforcement mechanism at all. God's not gonna punish you. He's just... gonna be really, really disappointed.

I've been watching a lot of Taskmaster lately (having never engaged with it before) and I read a fascinating article which discussed how it was pitched specifically at bringing some sitcom elements into a panel show - having the same contestants across a series builds investment, there's narrative.

Some variety of chicken tray-bakes: quartered birds roasted with veg/lemon/wine/herbs/spices/potatoes etc etc

Looking to hire anyone with a first aid certificate who can overwatch a hedgelaying course *tomorrow* from 10-4 in Powys (near Knighton).

You don’t need to get involved in the course unless you’d like to learn. You’ll get paid either way.

I’ve got three other corners of the country to be in.

THIS IS NOT A DRILL

YOU CAN GET EVERY DISCWORLD TOME ON EBOOK FOR LESS THAN THE COST OF A SUBWAY FOOTLONG COMBO.

USUALLY GETTING EVERY SINGLE BOOK LEGALLY IS LIKE 400+

NOT.

A.

DRILL.

www.humblebundle.com/books/terry-...

It's been a while since I found out a breaking news story because my students were discussing it as we waited for the last few people to file in to start the class.

Booo I checked the UK version ingredients and they don't have corn syrup but they *do* have maize starch.

And happy pancake day!

dumplings are a side effect of Mongols

I didn't know if @marthawells.com knew about this Easter egg that Alexander Skarsgård snuck into the #murderbot TV series!

in this house we don't celebrate Valentine's Day, we celebrate Captain Cook got Cooked Day

Oh, I'm Ladylark pretty much everywhere, but I wasn't actually expecting you to recognise that, or me - I just try and be slightly circumspect in not directly identifying fics on what is also my work account! (She says, despite currently co-writing a book chapter about a specific fic)

I don't have anything specific to prompt but I just wanted to note that there is a certain joy to catching up years later with something everyone's been into for a while and finding fic of yours there (following your recent kudos will reveal what I've been reading lately...)

"I say! Are you Georgina?" The child in the opposite bed sat up and looked across at Anne. She had very short curly hair, almost as short as a boy's. Her face was burnt a dark-brown with the sun, and “Famous Five 01 - Five On A Treasure Island” By Enid Blyton 7 her very blue eyes looked as bright as forget-me-nots in her face. But her mouth was rather sulky, and she had a frown like her father's. "No," she said. "I'm not Georgina." "Oh!" said Anne, in surprise. "Then who are you?" "I'm George," said the girl. "I shall only answer if you call me George. I hate being a girl. I won't be. I don't like doing the things that girls do. I like doing the things that boys do. I can climb better than any boy, and swim faster too. I can sail a boat as well as any fisher-boy on this coast. You're to call me George. Then I'll speak to you. But I shan't if you don't." "Oh!" said Anne, thinking that her new cousin was most extraordinary. "All right! I don't care what I call you. George is a nice name, I think. I don't much like Georgina. Anyway, you look like a boy."

To give you an idea of how deranged the UK has become about gender stuff, here's Enid Blyton - the absolute avatar of classic English conservatism and a huge fan of racist "gollywogs" - casually describing a gender non-conforming kid in the 1940s and having their friends be totally cool with it.

I saw Pillion last night, what a great film!

Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin

A luxurious bowl of spaghetti bolognese

Worth the wait, though.

Suffering the consequences of my own actions: I forgot how long ragu bolognese needs to simmer, now i'm hungry and it smells good but isn't ready yet.

I am one of the most published academics on the childhood social transition, with 5 peer reviewed articles that relate to the topic.

There is so much evidence of benefit of social transition.

There is no evidence of harm. Not one jot.

This will literally kill trans kids. No exaggeration.

Still time to sign up! THIS FRIDAY.

Olde style map of England & Wales labelled as parts of Yorkshire. Wales is the Pennines, the Humber Estuary is in Hampshire and Devon is the South Yorkshire coalfield. Oh well, at least London doesn’t exist.

Found on Mastodon via @cstross.bsky.social, an LLM-generated map of Yorkshire

Very pleased to share details of a new permanent academic job opportunity in Creative & Cultural Industries at University College Dublin. We are seeking candidates with a PhD whose work engages with the commercial creative industries. Deadline: 6 March 2026 universityvacancies.com/university-c....

I don't right now, but I am likely to be teaching a new-to-me module next year where I probably will.

Pratchett / Gates GQ Interview GQ Magazine (UK edition), July 1995 GQ&A “I’m not sure what the word ‘nerd’ means” Bill Gates talks to Terry Pratchett about the future, the Microsoft revolution and how to become a billionaire WILLI...

Hi, my name's Jack.

Here is the text of Terry Pratchett interviewing Bill Gates in 1995.

Thanks to @rhi.bsky.social for summoning help, and to @20thcenturymarc.marcburrows.co.uk for the source, I have manually transcribed its 3,481 words into a Google doc.

Enjoy.

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Ooh how exciting! I'm looking forward to visiting next time I'm in town.

Super-Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe, à la Levain Bakery Inspired by Levain Bakery, these giant chocolate chip cookies are a dessert of epic proportions.

I can't tell if you're recipe hunting or just musing on chocolate chips, but I made these recently and they were incredible. Though I used hazelnuts instead of walnuts, and scaled them down to 2oz which was... large cookie size, rather than ridiculous. www.seriouseats.com/super-thick-...

Which sadly seems more common!

I feel like Sherlock was the first for the 'there's a secret episode that will be released and fix everything', which is kind of more similar to doomsday predictions than other conspiracies, since it has a defined outcome/end date (that obviously keeps shifting when unrealised)

(Thinking here of a friend of mine whose child is in this category, not the actual name but Timmy's preferred pronoun is tim, as in: Timmy went to the park but tim's friends weren't there so tim came back)

The only time saying 'I don't use pronouns' is ok is when a person is talking about themself and prefers to be referred to just with a name...