@Henrysbridge@toot.wales
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

Henrysbridge

@Henrysbridge@toot.wales

Reincarnated immigrant to the Land of Hywel Dda west of Offa's Dyke.

Physicist, rationalist and humanist.

Here just for humour and to learn Welsh. No drama please, especially since I'm far from perfect.

Diolch everybody for making me feel at home.

Jam is still always first!

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

dgar, (edited ) to random
@dgar@aus.social avatar

From the book: “Science Abridged Beyond the Point of Usefulness” by @ZachWeinersmith

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@dgar

As a physicist, I can say that is exactly on the money, and we're overdue things being seriously "broken" again.

Along with EInstein, I'd add Planck, Heisenberg, Schroedinger and Bohr (non-exhaustive list)

I'd also submit my own abridged version of physics:

"Stuff Happens"

dgar, to random
@dgar@aus.social avatar

So I’m… not supposed to share this to peasants of England?

https://youtu.be/8sRoYvFTE3c

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@dgar
I love the line
"With a government like this, who needs terrorists?"

fkamiah17, to random
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

in 1958, chemist and crystallographer Rosalind Franklin died aged 37.

Famous Cambridge joke:

Q: What did James Watson and Francis Crick discover?

A: Rosalind Franklin’s notes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Franklin

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@fkamiah17

The tragedy is not only her death at a young age, but that Nobel Prizes aren't awarded posthumously (though this was more a "tradition" rather than a "rule" in 1962)

She was a cautious and thorough scientist, and was not entirely in favour of the modelling of Crick and Watson preferring a rigorous analysis of her data. Of course, the two approaches are complimentary.

A wonderful scientist and a tragic loss.

See also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Franklin_(rover)

Henrysbridge, to random
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

Beware the Ides of March!

(I bet Shakespeare wishes he came up with this line!)

Kenneth Williams as Julius Caesar in "Carry on Cleo". He says "Infamy, infamy! They've all got it in for me" as he's assasinated

fkamiah17, to UKpolitics
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

Planetary-level incompetence 🤦‍♀️ 😡

Independent: "Tory space minister mixes up Mars and the Sun
Andrew Griffith, who has been in charge of the space sector since November, also mistook Jupiter for Saturn."
https://archive.is/CRPVQ

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@fkamiah17 Indeed - "one small step" back to normality is merely restoring something, not a "victory".
UK is, of course, still outside the Galileo GPS project - for security reasons, only EU countries can participate. This led to our satellite industry (to be fair, very good) losing the ability to work on this project. UK (and overseas territories) "base stations" also shut down.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/uk-involvement-in-the-eu-space-programme

fkamiah17, to UKpolitics
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

Because what the Tories need is another faction. Popular Conservatives would be laughable enough, but Lettuce and Mogg?? 🤣

https://nation.cymru/news/liz-truss-to-launch-popular-conservatives-faction-of-tory-mps/

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@fkamiah17
Divide and conquer - themselves?

fkamiah17, to random
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

Yesyesyesyesyesyesyes ✊ :baner:

https://bylinetimes.com/2024/01/29/wales-potential-first-minister-backs-rejoining-eu-single-market-and-calls-for-honest-conversation-on-impact-of-brexit/

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@fkamiah17 @MadeyeTheCarnaptious @Roadwarrior29

I was already pretty "indy" (for Scotland, Wales and the pre-Norman English "kingdoms" ) before moving to Wales. I've only become more so. One of the biggest drivers is the lack of respect for the devolved administrations from HMG. All legitimately elected bodies deserve respect, irrespective of whether you agree with their politics or not. (whether the people in those bodies individually deserve respect is another story)

fkamiah17, to random
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

@JanPV Bookmarked, thanks! I doubt I'll be surprised at the paranoia among the English establishment about ceding control, whether that's to the nations or the regions. You only need to look at the lengths they're going to just to stop Scotland even having a referendum. Basically it would be turning off the grift tap.
I like that there are movements like this gaining ground now. I saw a website for "Free The North" a few weeks ago. Bring back Mercia and Wessex!

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@fkamiah17 @JanPV

As a legacy of when I lived in the East Midlands, I am also a "Citizen of Mercia"
https://independentmercia.org/the-acting-witan/

I'm not usually backward looking, but I've increasingly come to the conclusion that the way forward for the UK is federalisation (at least) to the pre-Norman Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England co-existing (preferably without squabbling) with the Celtic nations of Wales, Scotland and Kernow.

fkamiah17, to random
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

"Evening fell, and everybody said good night and went to bed. Moomintroll climbed down the rope ladder and ran through the garden, where the peonies gleamed white and all the shadows were coal black. The moon was high, far away and impersonal.
He could hear Snufkin's mouth organ playing in the warm night, down by the river. Snufkin didn't play complete tunes, only small shreds of music that resembled questions."
from 'Tales from Moominvalley', by Tove Jansson

Colour gif of Moomintroll climbing down a ladder from his room, waving.

Henrysbridge, (edited )
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@fkamiah17
I didn't realise peonies were native that far north, but a little research shows this is native to the Kola Peninsula and is established in Finland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paeonia_anomala

(Sorry, I don't mean to damage the charm and beauty of these stories with unnecessary rationality - I just pick up on things like this)

fkamiah17, to UKpolitics
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

Are there any harder choices than whether or not the people you're supposed to serve live or die?

Wes Streeting this morning: "I think we’ve got to see the road back to fair pay as a journey, not an event. The public finances are a complete mess. There are, as a result, much harder choices to be made." (GPLB)

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@russellt @fkamiah17

I emigrated from the East Midlands of England (far from my origins in Hampshire) to South West Wales a couple of years back - never been happier, never looked back.

In fact, I now get twitchy when going East over The Bridge to visit relatives, and only relax again once I'm firmly back on the west bank of the Severn.

fkamiah17, to random
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

Morning.

#FreePalestine #IsraeliWarCrimes

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@MadeyeTheCarnaptious @fkamiah17

Have you checked out "Scarfolk" by @Richard_Littler also of this parish?

https://scarfolk.blogspot.com/

fkamiah17, to random
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

WEEK 30: Reykjavik, today

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@fkamiah17 Reykjavik is also home to this, placed outside the Althing as a constant reminder...

Henrysbridge, to random
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

I dare say some are - they'd probably join the Forces in any case, which is absolutely fine. The key problem is that of "compulsion".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cedd44w3xkqo

A very fundamental point - tories seem to have difficulty with the word "voluntary".

Examples:

Their "National Service" could involve volunteering, but it'd be "mandatory"...

The union of nations of the United Kingdom is "voluntary"!

I'm sure there are other examples.

TCMuffin, to random
@TCMuffin@toot.wales avatar

In other news 🤦

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/05/cop29-will-be-led-by-mukhtar-babayev-azerbaijan-ecology-minister-who-is-oil-industry-veteran?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@TCMuffin @fkamiah17 As a physicist, I recognise Marie Curie's contribution as second to none.
It's worth noting she is one of a very select handful of people to win two Nobel Prizes in different disciplines (physics and chemistry).

dgar, to random
@dgar@aus.social avatar

The Hunchback of Notre Dame?

Rings a bell...

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@dgar

Ahh! That reminds me of the shaggy dog story of the HBoND and his apprentice who rings the bells by head-butting them. The apprentice falls from the tower and when asked who he was, the HBoND replies:

"I don't know his name, but his face rings a bell"...

I'm here all week, I'm afraid...

fkamiah17, to cymru
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

Weird Welsh Weather update

https://nation.cymru/culture/watch-the-stunning-optical-illusion-captured-on-a-welsh-mountain/

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@BashStKid @fkamiah17

I was at Etna last summer, and was fortunate to see it puffing away...

fkamiah17, to random
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

No one uses the word "mauve" any more, do they ...

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@rebelrebel62 @fkamiah17 @capnthommo

L-Space incarnate. Ook!!

fkamiah17, to UKpolitics
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

I'm beginning to think we should just build a barracks and make them stay there while Parliament is sitting.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/four-tory-mps-who-made-32793408

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@fkamiah17 @ChrisMayLA6

Indeed!

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@fkamiah17 @ChrisMayLA6

This is a few years old now, but here's some choices as reference points
https://thetab.com/uk/2021/08/05/these-are-the-top-10-unis-with-the-worst-accommodation-according-to-students-218027

There's also this as a model?...

fkamiah17, to UKpolitics
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

Jesus motherfucking christ - it's the fault of ceasefire protesters 🤬
Robert Jenrick: "We have allowed our streets to be dominated by islamist extremists and now we're allowing islamist extremists to intimidate British members of Parliament..."

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@IndyRichard @fkamiah17

When somebody starts throwing appeals to "patriotism" around, you know they've lost the argument on rational grounds.

fkamiah17, to UKpolitics
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

" ... it seems clear – to me, at least – that both Labour and the Conservatives are in the narrative business, as distinct from the business of good governance"

Another excellent piece from Bylines Cymru

https://bylines.cymru/voices-lleisiau/stop-the-boats-narrative/

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@fkamiah17
Here's the rub - in the final line...

"Where are the empirical, rational, truth-telling politics that stand against such populism to come from?"

Answers on a postcard?

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@fkamiah17 That's right - I was hunting round for some similar ideas. The closest I found was some around break ups of and betrayals in relationships (I suppose this has some relevance here if we consider the relationship between citizen and government).

I was hoping to find something like this...

An angry mob of muppets

fkamiah17, to Life
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

I can't deal with the news today - it's all music, poetry and nonsense from now on.

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@BashStKid @fkamiah17 You need to review the work of the 1999 igNobel Prize winner in physics...
https://www.nature.com/articles/17203

junesim63, (edited ) to Cats
@junesim63@mstdn.social avatar

Has anyone had experience of a cat with hay fever?
For a week now, Copper has been intermittently sneezing, with red eyes, runny but dry nose, wheezing and lethargic. He's still eating heartily, doesn't have a temperature, and everything else is normal.
He improves overnight when I keep him in, which makes me think it's an external stimulus.
He loves being outdoors so I don't want to deprive him.

Edit: Muting as thread has been hijacked. Thanks to all who offered genuine advice.

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@TomSwirly @junesim63

To be fair here, we need to put this in a UK and European context.
1, Cats are native to European countries (many examples of, sadly rare species eg Scottish Wild Cats)
2, The stress of forcing cats used to free roaming to stay indoors is huge.
3, In the UK context, my experience is that bird "kills" are relatively rare compared to mice etc (see 1). But then, my cats are quite lazy...

For fairness, here's a similar UK article.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/14/cats-kill-birds-wildlife-keep-indoors

fkamiah17, to Life
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

Some days the post brings lovely things like books and yarn. Today it was a 20kg bag of builders sand and a rent statement 😔

Henrysbridge,
@Henrysbridge@toot.wales avatar

@fkamiah17 There's a joke there somewhere - a bit like this...

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