Witcherley Books 📚

Goddamn. What a sobering and poignant piece of conceptual art. What an amazing artist.

A color photograph of Tim Berners-Lee sitting at a computer work station. Image source: Scientific American

On this day in 1991, Tim Berners-Lee created the first website. This was the first time the letters “www” appeared as a publicly available service on the internet.
#History #HistoryOfTheWeb #OTD #BlueSky

Great initiative by Wiley! The publisher has started marking retracted papers in reference lists. When you click on the retraction notice, you can also see the date and reason for the retraction.
All publishers should adopt this practice. But also screen references during submission.

A subway style map on a parchment background. The map's title reads: "Narnia Transit Map: Talking Beasts Ride Free." The map has seven keys, one for each of the seven books in C.S. Lewis's Narinia series. The main movements of characters and action in each book are traced by colored lines, like a subway map. Locations in each book are marked out as stops in the lines. There is a drawing of a lion above the title of the map, and in the lower right corner there is a compass rose.

Recently, I shared a Lord of the Rings subway map, & I had a bunch of people asking me to do a Narnia version. Well...here you go!

It's covers all 7 books, so it's a lot more complicated the the LoTR ones. And if you like it, it's available to buy on my Etsy store:
www.etsy.com/shop/Surpris...

French Revolution document rifle continues! Let’s just not think too much about what these personal papers might be stained with eh 😬😬😬

Some people just won’t like you, but don’t take it personally: what surviving the fringe taught me about life | Natalie Haynes Performing at the Edinburgh festival is hugely stressful, but the things I learned there have been useful offstage too, says comedian Natalie Haynes

It’s that time again…

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Cirencester's rare pieces of Roman military equipment go on display The rare swords are thought to be nearly 2,000 years old.

Two Roman swords found by a metal detectorist in the north Cotswolds in 2023 to go on display at the Corinium Museum, Cirencester. 👇
BBC News - Cirencester's rare pieces of Roman military equipment go on display - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The first picture I was ever sent of Jada.

A street dog terrified of humans. Locals could see her growth expanding by the day.

It’s hard to believe the progress today… (1/8)🧵

A knitted depiction of Ozzy Osbourne sat atop a post box. A knitted gravestone in front of him says "RIP Ozzy".

Been out to Cramlington today to see this knitted Prince of Darkness.

Give the gravestone a squeeze and it plays Paranoid.

Alzheimer’s ‘wonder drug’ slows progression of disease by four years Patients in the earliest stage of the disease saw little to no decline over four years

Alzheimer’s ‘wonder drug’ slows progression of disease by four years - and could even reverse it

Reminder the Perseids are currently active. You might see a few bright meteors before next month's peak. 🔭 🧪

Sylvia Young: Theatre school founder who helped launch careers of Dua Lipa and Amy Winehouse dies aged 86 Her London stage school helped launch the careers of Amy Winehouse, Dua Lipa and Emma Bunton.

Sylvia Young who founded the London theatre school has died age 86. Amy Winehouse, Rita Ora, Billie Piper, Dua Lipa & Tom Fletcher are among those who trained at the school. 👇
BBC News - Theatre school founder Sylvia Young dies aged 86
www.bbc.com/news/article...

UK gets first female Astronomer Royal in 350 years Prof Michele Dougherty is the first woman to be appointed to the influential post.

Professor Michele Dougherty becomes the first female Astronomer Royal. The post which has existed for 350 years had previously been filled by 15 men including John Flamsteed & Edmond Halley. 👇
BBC News - UK gets first female Astronomer Royal in 350 years - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

We are looking at a watercolour of a busy street scene showing an open square and a junction with a street leading off into the distance. On either side of the street are brick built buildings with shop fronts. On one side is a stone church with an unusual lantern tower. In the foreground is a packed stagecoach.

It is 1836.

Charles Darwin has returned to England on HMS Beagle, The Marriage Act has established civil marriage and the plumber, Thomas Crapper is born in Thorne, West Yorkshire.

We are in St Helen's Square in York and we're going to take a turn, do join us!

Ötzi Was Not Alone Discover the Genetic Mysteries of His Ancient Neighbors When Ötzi the Iceman was pulled from the melting ice of the Alps in 1991, he emerged not just as…

Ötzi stood out, but shared the lactose intolerance. #Dna #archaeology

We weren't sure if she'd make it such was the size of her operation. But she did!

Lovely Jada has a future now

One of the great fantasy writers with brilliant points on the un-fantastic, mundane world of media contracts.

And with my media lawyer hat on: never fall for the “standard in the industry” line.

Every clause can be looked at, every clause can be changed.

George talked about the importance of narrative art, the power of shared mythology, and more- I feel like a lot of people in the audience were bummed they didn’t have time for Q&A but I was stoked, I could listen to this guy talk for days

a herd of lions running in a field with the word squad written in white letters ALT: a herd of lions running in a field with the word squad written in white letters

Well done The Lionesses.

Wow

Why an archbishop's severed head is stored in a church in Suffolk The skull of Simon of Sudbury is on display in a church more than 600 years after his savage death.

The head of Simon of Sudbury, kept at St. Gregory's Church, Sudbury, Suffolk. Sudbury who was Archbishop of Canterbury was murdered in the Peasants Revolt in 1381. 👇
BBC News - Why an archbishop's severed head is stored in a church in Suffolk - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Tattered paper with manuscript note "burn this letter as Soon as you have read it."

Well, he didn't. (He didn't do much else his sister advised either.)

80 years ago today Clement Attlee became PM, he founded the NHS and built record numbers of homes.

He was one of the best British PM's, strange that no-one talks about admiring his legacy.

But then there is no profit in Council Houses and Public Healthcare.

Should be a fun one.

I only ever share positive content to help save the street dogs.

1 million meals fed, 100,000 sterilizations funded and 106 dogs re-homed.

Today is the one day of the year I have a small request. You can do a monthly donation here...

www.happydoggo.com/donate

Just 7,000 steps a day cuts risk of health issues - study Everyone targets 10,000 steps - but a lower tally could reduce the risk of serious health issues like cancer, dementia and heart disease, a study suggests.

Just 7,000 steps a day cuts health risks, study says. 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This a cracking article on the background of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath.

Excellent local journalism - please click and read.

‘Long-lived and lucky’ ship wrecked off Orkney was at siege of Quebec, experts find Archaeologists and volunteers identify Sanday timbers as from 18th-century Royal Navy frigate turned whaler

'archaeologists and local volunteers have managed to identify the ship and to piece together the surprising history of a vessel that witnessed some of the most dramatic events of the 18th century before finally being wrecked off Sanday in 1788.' 1/2

Ozzy Osbourne visited my magic shop. He said he'd like to buy some stink bombs. How many? All of them. I had to go through drawers finding every last one. He bought 900 of them. To sign the credit card slip I handed him a shock pen, which he thought was hilarious and bought that too. RIP

That's sad. Amazing he performed in a concert just a couple of weeks ago.