Mark Dignam MDANT

I know why you’re saying that - I feel the same way about lots of things but like most other creative endeavours, as you well know, the vast majority of it comes down to work and commitment. In truth, I’m a bit lacking in both departments. Life? 🙄

My profile pic, Stu…
To go back to the original point, not easy, is it?! 😂

Hurry up, then…

You want to know why people don't love the United States? Because the US that people say they love isn't a country. It's a segregated country club built on a graveyard.

And it's not enough for some people to have exclusive entry to and privileges in the country club.

Paint-worthy. There are quite a few paintings of me round the place (not on display, you understand) but only because I painted them myself. 😂 Was thinking I’m due some new ones…

And I know this isn’t what was intended by “events” so:

1. The kidnapping of Tiede Herrema

2. The assassination of Anwar Sadat

3. The Space Shuttle

4. Thatcher becoming PM across the water

5. The death of Gilles Villeneuve

What 5 events defined your childhood:

1. Weather. Always the weather

2. The death of my grandfather. A right bastard. Had my first drink, aged 8, at his wake

3. ESB power-cuts. Watching my mother cook with kerosene

4. Rarely seeing my father who worked away almost all the time

5. Loneliness

You may refer me ad lib, my friend. Some people’s recommendations are more to be recommended than others. 😉

Dark Angels, by Robin Ince and Rachel Taylor-Beales from the album Weirdly Normal

May i refer you to @robinince.bsky.social, who wrote a brilliant poem on this earlier in the year.

normallyweirdassociates.bandcamp.com/track/dark-a...

a woman in bed "i feel amazing!' ---- woman falls out of bed "I've been hit by a truck..."

A bruised-yet-smiling John Candy gives the perfect full-stop to his Oscar-worthy performance as Del Griffith in the final moments of "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" (1987). And I don't use the Oscar mention lightly. I've always believed that, were he still with us, he'd already have won one for an incredible performance in a more serious role.

"He was a consummate actor. He knew what was required & he knew he could deliver it. He stuck acting in his back pocket & behaved like a human being. He was a total actor because he was a total person."
Mel Brooks on John Candy

I cannot conceive of a better tribute than 'John Candy: I Like Me'.

The best post I've seen today, from "Antifa, Republicans, Democrats & Independents United Against Trumpism" on FB.
#ProudBlue

Another mammal species becomes extinct in Australia. The tally of Australian mammals extinct since 1788 (when the first British ships arrived to the island-continent) is now 39 species – far more than for any other country.

I’ve been at it regularly for you!
(And here comes the voice again…)
Not that anyone would take any notice of anything I have to say. 🤦‍♂️

Release the Epstein Files.

rth's annual Lyrid meteor shower peaked before dawn on April 22nd, as our fair planet plowed through dust from the tail of long-period comet Thatcher. Even in the dry and dark Atacama desert along Chile's Pacific coast, light from a last quarter Moon made the night sky bright, washing out fainter meteor streaks. But brighter Lyrid meteors still put on a show. Captured in this composited earth-and-sky view recorded during early morning hours, the meteors stream away from the shower's radiant near Vega, alpha star of the constellation Lyra. The radiant effect is due to perspective as the parallel meteor tracks appear to converge in the distance. Rich starfields and dust clouds of our own Milky Way galaxy stretch across the background.

NASA Astronomy Hourly Picture - 2014-04-24: Lyrids in Southern Skies
#Astronomy #NASA #Space

Unlearning Internalized Ableism: The Lies We Tell Ourselves and How to Break Free Discover the impact of internalized ableism and how it influences our beliefs about ourselves and our abilities.

" #InternalizedAbleism tells us there’s a hierarchy of #disability. But u don’t need to hit some invisible threshold of #suffering before yr allowed to ask for what u need. Fluctuating needs are valid. So is asking early—before it becomes an #emergency.": buff.ly/RepTroc

by @thethrivingspoonie.com

The Realities of Trying to Maintain Employment with a Disability - a Personal Perspective Writer, poet, 2-time heart transplant recipient. Scars are tougher than skin. Trauma survivor. Sharing poetry along with stories of hope and healing. Currently writing a memoir, "Three-Hearted Girl."

"Without #insurance, I was constantly in #medical #debt for doctor visits & tests, & I had to struggle to scrape together enough money each month to purchase my #medication.": buff.ly/eVjr0Cw

by @2heartcore4u.bsky.social
#disability

Tips for healthy living with a chronic health condition - Tom Seaman Advocate for yourself and for others. Learn as much as you can about your health condition so you can make the best choices for your personal well being. Share with others what you learn to help them…

“[ #ChronicIllness ] is always there to remind us that we have to work a lot harder to perform #tasks that were once so easy. This can get downright exhausting..to the point where we might feel much less of a person than we once were.”: buff.ly/J6TLbbH

by @coachtom12.bsky.social
#NEisVoid #disabled

The best accessible fonts Accessibility matters in design - find the best font families and typefaces to make a difference.

" #SansSerif fonts tend to be more #accessible than those with serifs, but there are exceptions..And, just to confuse you, some #fonts specially designed for people with #dyslexia haven’t had great feedback from the #dyslexic community.": buff.ly/usVRYiW

via CreativeBloq

Here's Why Time Feels Like It's Speeding By & How To Slow It - The Best Brain Possible If you want to slow time and find more meaning in the everyday, mindfulness can help calm your mind and expand your experience of time.

"Your #brain craves new #experiences. As research shows, unfamiliar experiences encourage #neuroplasticity and are more #memorable, leading later recall to feel more vivid.": buff.ly/J7O1owo

via thebestbrainpossible
#memories

"Ellie isn’t constantly being asked about her #disability [on Strictly Come Dancing] & there has not been any #InspirationPorn! It has really felt #emotional to see her being treated as an adult & with respect.": buff.ly/w9L98Ra

by @beverleybutterfly.bsky.social
#representation #inclusion

Life Story 😞

Catherine Connolly buys Walkers crisps…

(Joking aside this would actually put me off voting for her)

[Scene is ANCIENT GREECE - where SOCRATES and PLATO and others are sitting round, thinking] 1 SOCRATES: Plato.. PLATO: Yes Socrates? 2 SOCRATES: Can you tell me, are you human? PLATO: Why… yes, Socrates 3 SOCRATES: And would you agree, Plato, that a human knows what a chariot is? PLATO: Um, yep 4 SOCRATES: So you can tell me, then 5 [Socrates produces a papyrus, showing a drawing of the corner of a chariot wheel] SOCRATES: *Is that a chariot*? 6 PLATO: Well that’s more just a bit of wheel 7 SOCRATES: So not a *chariot*. PLATO: No. 8 SOCRATES: [Producing another papyrus with the full drawing of the chariot, chopped into boxes] So if a man were challenged to “tap the boxes containing chariots to prove you’re human” when he was just trying to check his ClubCard points... *where could he tap*? 9 PLATO: Well you can’t tap any of them really 10 SOCRATES: So are we not human? PLATO: ‘Spose not. 11 [Bleak pause] 12 PLATO: I’ll get the hemlock SOCRATES: Yeah [ends]

Makes you wonder if the judge found a kindred spirit in the “victim”

Calling this a gross miscarriage of justice drastically understates how awful it is.

This is a perversion of the very concept of sexual assault by deception.

The UK has somehow become even more hostile to the existence of Trans women. Their very existence is somehow deception.

Fuck this world.

Utterly appalling miscarriage of justice in the UK.

This is now the blueprint for men to control trans women. Have sex with them and then threaten to go to police unless they do what he wants. It's ripe for abuse from men who will weaponize their shame. It also builds their narrative of trans women being sexual predators even when the victim.

Thornaby transgender woman jailed for deception sex assault Ciara Watkin's victim says he would not have agreed to sex had he known she was biologically male.

A man gets a blowjob from a trans woman and his friends make fun of him so he goes to the police to claim she lied about being a woman. She was convicted of sexual assault and sentenced to nearly 2 years in prison because of a man's shame.

www.bbc.com/news/article...