Toby Atkin-Wright

Another two parter in this series, and it's a two-part sequel to 2013's "The Day of the Doctor". Going to discuss my thoughts with significant spoilers.

( spoilers )

Finally our postal votes have arrived! We were expecting them from late last week. Finally here. This is for the local Westminster by-election in our constituency. One of two Westminster by-elections currently in northeast Scotland, caused by the sitting MP winning a seat as a MSP in the Scottish parliament, so needing to be replaced at Westminster. Martin has the joy to look forward to of me loudly commentating as I battle with envelope A, envelope B and envelope C!

1. Good to see the Lib Dems on the right side of the EHRC Transgender Awfulness

(tags:bigotry libdem uk politics transgender lgbt )

2. Please stop calling them the 'Farage Riots', demands man behind the Farage Riots

(tags:riots satire UK politics )

3. Phone signal on UK trains not good enough most of the time

(tags:UK phones trains fail )

4. Putin's war on UK streets: The criminal networks sowing mayhem for Russia

(tags:Russia UK sabotage )

5. U.S. to Dismantle System Tracking Atlantic Currents That Are at Risk of Collapse

(tags:usa globalwarming ocean OhForFucksSake research )

Introduced my in laws tonight to the word "wheech", a fantastic Scots word, which I had been using in recent weeks in chats to my Mum, talking about how much surgeons might remove from my tummy re gynaecological cancer. Me: "They can wheech it all out!" For more info see the DSL word of the week page for wheech.

1. 3D zipper technology can create rigid shapes on demand

(tags:Technology design 3dprinting )

2. The 40 Most Rage-Inducing Problems in Tech

(tags:technology AI catholicism funny viaSwampers )

3. The UK Supreme Court is enabling some fascist shit against disabled people

(tags:UK law disability OhForFucksSake )

4. The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling by Ted Chiang

(tags:memory technology writing society relationships short_story scifi )

We enjoyed watching this immensely. It’s prompted by the newly rereleased remastered 1996 TV movie. But the chat with Sylvester covers his whole TV era of Doctor Who and more since then.

Clearing out another huge pile of books and DVDs in the house. Many going to charity, though I'm checking with our local Oxfams that they can take this hefty donation this time, combined with others we have waiting for them! Others now shelved appropriately around the house.

It was nice to rediscover things, including a book of game reviews of 1980s Spectrum text adventure games, lots of manga books (especially Sherlock Holmes themed), and a book collecting old issues of a Blake's 7 fanzine. All those things are staying in the house. But happy to pass most others on.

1. Pigeons literally rely on gut feeling for their homing ability

(tags:magnets birds )

2. Lifelike biochemistry continued to unfold in sterilized soil for six years, pointing to a metabolic theory for how biology began.

(tags:biology chemistry earth nature metabolism )

Quick note that post-by-email and comment-by-email is (sometimes?) failing silently without actually posting right now! I'm pretty sure this is related to last night's shenanigans and will be fixed once Mark can finish the full fix for it, which he's working on, but if you've posted or replied by email in the last 24 hours, fish it out of your sent folder to check if it posted!

EDIT: This should be fixed as of around 7AM EDT! We *believe* everything that was stuck in the plumbing has been sent along to your journal or the comment thread it was meant for; it's definitely not where it was stuck anymore, at least.

I'm newly reading Bluff by Francine Toon, which is set in St Rule, a thinly disguised version of St Andrews. I'm not sure why she bothered making it a fictional place. Not least when I read of the "Isle of Maeyar" ...

So far I'm finding the book frustratingly choppy, with incredibly short chapters, and constantly changing POVs and time periods. But hopefully it will settle down.

Rather amused, browsing the free PDF version (print copy also available to buy) of Micromania: The Whole Truth about Home Computers, originally published in 1984 by Charles Platt, and adapted with extra text for a British context by David Langford. More info available here.

Robby has managed to put in a temporary fix for the site errors and things failing to refresh or not showing up where they should! The permanent fix is going to need Mark's experience, and unfortunately -- seriously, this literally never fails -- Mark has been on an international flight all day, because of course he has. (Never. Fails. He and I are not allowed to both take vacation at once.)

The site will work just fine with the temporary fix in place, things just might be a little slow here and there. We'll keep you updated.

We're aware of site traffic issues and are working to fix them for the people who are having problems! (The tactics the damn bot traffic uses are endlessly shifting, and they're really good at looking like real traffic, sigh.)

Intermittently I would like to bring forward a single instance of a regular payment.

Normally transfer money from A to B on the 17th, but this month you want to do it 2 days early? Tough, you have to make the early payment, wait for the later payment to go through, and then get it transferred back.

Ah, the wonders of nature.
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

Children are having a very loud conversation with each other on the bus about where babies come from.

I'm hiding three rows back.

I finally finished Upon A Star, by PigeonCoop Designs, from the book Cross Stitch In The Forest. It took me a little over a year; I work on many projects at once, so this is pretty fast for me. The confetti stitches were SUCH a pain! I used a sharp embroidery needle so I could weave the tails through the weave of the Aida fabric.

1. Clinicians raise concerns over gender-affirming healthcare evidence reviews in open letter to NHS England

(tags:UK bigotry healthcare LGBT transgender )

2. There are dozens of trees planted across America whose seeds went to the moon

(tags:moon nature trees viaDanielDWilliam )

3. Please Use AI

(tags:ai life poetry )

4. Opposing the EHRC guidance - UNISON needs your voice

(tags:unions LGBT transgender UK )

5. Oscar-winning 'Star Wars' editor Marcia Lucas dies at 80

(tags:StarWars obituary )

6. High Density Living, 2000 Years Ago: Inside the Roman Apartment Building

(tags:history housing rome )

1. EU fines Temu €200m over sale of illegal products

(tags:europe china trade regulation safety )

2. US healthcare still stupidly expensive, with pathetic outcomes

(tags:usa healthcare epicfail )

Still in waiting limbo re the gynae cancer investigations, but generally happy, and my brain has thankfully stopped overthinking relentlessly at 4am/5am every day! Side effects from my Covid vaccine on Monday have largely eased, though I'm still popping painkillers every 6 hours, and am giving Paddington Bear level stares at my frustratingly itchy red and swollen arm. Anti histamines can only do so much! I hope tomorrow to tackle a big pile/clearing out area in the sitting room. Martin might be happier if I left it alone 😜 But we'll see what I can do.