Conan Doyle

People who leave their dog outside barking at night are the worst. For the record, this is where my dog sleeps... she's less bothered by the other barking dog than I am. I hate sleeping with my windows closed in summer, but needs must.

I had a big bowl of pho, and now I think I should pack my suitcase.

So, yeah, I think it's fair to say that I'm not "depressed", I'm burning out. I need so much to feel the sand beneath my feet, and hear the shore-birds clamour as I go to sleep, but it turns out I can't even do that. I can't even go home.

I've co-edited a conference proceeding volume (much more in my field, for publication in 2026)
I've finalised two book chapters to be published in 2026.
I've been in the Czech TV news because of my research.
And I have to work a second job on top of my university job just to pay rent...

What I need to say to my Psychiatrist on Monday:
I'm not depressed, I'm just really fucking tired. Since January:
I've published a monograph and 2 book chapters.
I've spoken at 4 conferences.
I've co-edited a special issue of a journal (completely outside my field)....

SOS! The crew on 'Handala' have been kidnapped by Israeli forces.
Emma Fourreau is a citizen of Sweden.
Tag/E the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs NOW:
Email: ud-ksu@gov.se
X: SweMFA and MariaStenergard
Instagram: swedishmfa and mariastenergard
Facebook: Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Me too, little guy, me too!

I am finding it hard to understand how authoritarian the Labour party have become. This is just one example.

Die CDU hat versprochen ,illegale‘ Migration zu stoppen.
Was sie in Wirklichkeit stoppt, sind die wenigen legalen Fluchtmöglichkeiten für Menschen, deren Fluchtgrund überprüft ist. Sie schickt diese Menschen wieder auf eine traumatisierende Reise, die vielen von ihnen das Leben kosten wird.

We named him Loki... I guess he lived up to the name! 😆

Oddly specific, I know, but it also helped us realise the little bugger was faking his leg injury so he'd keep getting pain meds in duck liver paté (because my parents are suckers!)

You haven't really cat sat until you've lived through a live shorebird decapitation in the kitchen at 3.00 am on December 26... You go to get a glass of water in the kitchen and when you turn on the lights you realise there's mud, blood and guts everywhere, ESPECIALLY all over the cat!

I see grocery/takeout shaming discourse going around again, so this is your periodic historian reminder that cooking from scratch daily while working has never been sustainable, and for millennia everyone either relied on takeout & restaurants or ate in huge households w/ big dorm-like group dining.

Last time I was there, I was apalled that the city seems to have become even more hostile to pedestrians, just walking between the train station and Pembrooke.

Today I discovered the existence of an antelope species called Saiga tatarica, so funky it looks like it should be playing a funky jazz number in the Mos Eisley cantina through its quite porcine nose. Look it up. You can thank me later!

Off to heidleberg for a few days... just as a storm seems to be closing in!

And yet many people don't understand it.

Gender affirming care for cis folks gets celebrated.

I've realised that I take a higher than average number of flights a year and I hate this fact.
but there is no train from Prague to Dublin. There is no train from Prague to Cambridge, there is no train from Prague to Leeds, and a flight to Frankfurt was half the cost of the train!

AI datacentres use FAR more electricity than domestic AC units in the EU (I don't know about the US), so, maybe this isn't the fight we should be fighting, because heat kills!

I'm not THAT Conan Doyle!

Heading to Leeds now for the IMC. I'm steeling myself for it to be 10 degrees cooler when I land.

Wild Faith: How the Christian Right Is Taking Over America How the Christian Right Is Taking Over America

Well, lookie here, @swordsjew.bsky.social 's release last Oct on the bookshop bestseller of the week list, love to see that !

👀

"You really don't come across as straight" is the most affirming thing I've ever heard from a student in this job!

I hold up my hands in disbelief... I once gave a lecture about the fact that Holmes and Watson WENT TO A SOHO BATH-HOUSE TOGETHER, CANONICALLY, and all my essays that semester were still like "so, they were roommates, but I don't think they were gay!"

I really hope it's colder in Leeds next week: right now I'm sweatier that the devil's ballsack!

My panel at @imc-leeds.bsky.social next week. Come for the recipes, stay for an unknown manuscript of the Physica Plinii!

This is why I want to learn how to shoot a rifle!

I don't want to say: "you told us so"... but...

"I asked ChatGPT" "I asked Grok" ok well I asked Gandalf and he said he has not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a witless worm