medievalmvb

Just been on a great date with a woman who works at the Zoo. Think she might be a keeper.

Bilbo looking down at the Ring, labeled "Add AI to it" and says, why can't this be our entire product strategy?

Chief among the Ring's powers is its ability to deceive.

I’ve seen someone(s) else mention this but one fun thing about travel & social media is that people you unconsciously thought of as nocturnal creatures due to time zones suddenly turn out to have daylight existences you were unaware of

iPhone photo: looking through a broad stone archway you see white plastic cafe chairs and tables loaded with wine glasses, two more stone archways open onto a view of the hills and then sky over Malaga, the hilltops painted with a thin orange brush that quickly turns to deep blue

#malaga #sunset from the terrace bar at Paradores de Málaga

Earlier post from same braintrust saying “You can program a Tesla to make it fart”

Photo: in the green lushness of Málaga Park at the end of the day a food delivery person rests on a bench (left), feet on scooter, in silhouette while sunlight shines beyond the tree canopy

Photo: Málaga’s Alcazaba (11-14thC) sits up on a hill overlooking the port city, the photo here is of an interior room with a sepia column topped with scallops in front of a burgundy wall with an top-arched window (also scalloped) through which can be seen the city and hills opposite

#malaga 2x

a woman with blue hair and a blue bow in her hair is making a funny face . Alt: Cardi B with blue hair and a blue bow in her hair leaning in to make a “suspicious” face.

today I was flying with my phone on airplane mode—pls hold your applause—and 11 minutes before we landed Uber pushed a notification asking me if I’d like to get a car from $AIRPORT

Photo: a subadult male lion is lying on his back in brown grass, head thrown back, left paw draped over chest, rear legs splayed, very much as if he passed out after a night of clubbing

how your email finds me #KapamaRiverLodge #SouthAfrica

Don’t forget my sacrifice!

iPhone photo: a pizza on a plate on a round table overlooking a slice of pool dotted with beach umbrellas

couldn’t eat my pizza in time for massage so they walked it over to the spa for me and now I have a new business idea #KapamaRiverLodge #RelaxYourWay

reposting these #bigcats as thanks for not eating me

Online Course Dispelling the "Dark Ages" Get 50% off registration - exclusive to subscribers

so, as some may know, I'll be doing an online course this coming October - 4 sessions on the myth of the dark ages and how we can know a messy medieval world

well, delighted to announce that now you can get 50% OFF your registration!

link below -->

buttondown.com/ModernMediev...

Photo: a lioness is lit by flashlight, cropped from shoulder up, having a lie-down while chewing on the bones and skin of an unlucky kudu, two small trees in foreground cast shadows across her face (in profile) but you can make out bloody whiskers and great eyelashes along with a golden right eye as she stares at her sister (not pictured) who would also like a bite

Photo: a subadult male lion’s head (in profile) illuminated by flashlight as he walks along

#lion hunt achievement unlocked #kapamariverlodge #southafrica

Photo: a golden-furred lar gibbon hanging by its left (very long) arm from a tree branch in the canopy, its feet holding two lower branches, it has a monkey-emoji face with dark eyes, nose, and mouth with a white fur outline and then two fuzzy little ears.

WANNA HANG OUT?

#gibbon #monkeyland #southafrica

Photo: a dark-furred spider monkey sits in a splash of sunlight on a wooden bridge, back to camera, looking curiously over its left shoulder, long legs are splayed in opposite directions with its weight leaned on its right arm

how your email finds me
#monkey #monkeyland #southafrica

Photo: juvenile Capuchin monkey, perched between two adjoining tree trunks, right foot holding forward trunk, left the rear, its flat face is in profile, fur ranges from gold to dark brown

today’s #monkey courtesy of Monkeyland #southafrica where you’re guided through a huge sanctuary and these little guys try to steal things and untie your shoelaces

on my list, thx

iPhone photo: a blue-and-yellow macaw peering out of foliage, beak half open, its crown is actually green then sky blue with a bright yellow-orange breast

this bird emerged from the bushes to offer me a side quest

Photo: 2 African penguins emerging from a swim walking on shiny wet sand so you can see their reflections

🎵 gotta check my hair my clothes my face #africanpenguins

Photo: a young baboon in close-up profile, seated in roadside foliage it is snacking on, light brown coarse fur darker at the paws, as a medievalist I think of the dog-headed men of legend

another roadside #baboon attraction #southafrica

iPhone photo: looking out of a 787’s porthole window, the sky is dark blue at the top, brightening toward the center where a thin orange and yellow band marks sunset, with darkness below—in front of that is the cover of Understanding a Photograph by John Berger

#planereading

#alienearth

iPhone photo: two trees frame a 3-story red brick building with a sign out front that reads “Hamlet Gardens Residences”, there’s also a bicyclist passing in the foreground to add a dash of action

feel like someone else on here has asked if builders have seen the end of “Hamlet”

News to me!

Elizabeth line to Heathrow had 100?! minute delay this morning so I got an Uber and en route BA delayed my flight another 3 hours (to 18 total) AND LABOUR HAS SAID NOTHING 😤

2) I got two texts telling me to expect an update email that never came, the BA app wouldn’t let me look up my booking, and when I called to register my confusion this morning they told me not to worry, this was fine.

I know many of us are still grieving the lost world of pre-pandemic life but THERE IS YET AN UNCHANGING ROCK OF PERMANENCE and it’s the utter disinterest that British Air has in telling you much of anything when they cancel your flight at midnight…

iPhone photo: a light gravel pathway lined with large stone vases on plinths and also tall trees, with long, late afternoon shadows—in the distance partly obscured by branches is Chiswick House

It’s always sunny at Chiswick House and Gardens

Gary Larson’s “how nature says do not touch” comic featuring animals in warning poses and a guy in an inner tube carrying an unidentifiable-to-me weapon

I actually think it’s good when deeply offputting users have horrible AI avatars. its the 2025 version of this

We also make the case that the Turing test, the imitation game (see "Interlude: Can women think?" in https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/jqxb6…) rhetorically helps to form the founding historical example of Pygmalion displacement: when women computers were replaced by digital computers.