@huxley@mstdn.social
@huxley@mstdn.social avatar

huxley

@huxley@mstdn.social

🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🇨🇵🇪🇺🇬🇧

Civil Engineer and author of 'Soft Ground Tunnel Design' textbook, Telemark Skier, Runner, Guitarist/Singer, former academic, long covid sufferer, Repair Café co-organiser.

Interested in: #grunge, #folk and #classical music, #art, #history, #geology, #SteamDeck gaming, #MurderMysteries, #books in general, #mountains #skiing #naturephotography #birdwatching.

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ChrisMayLA6, to politics
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

How close might a general election be?

Rishi Sunak has suggested the prospect of a hung Parliament, while others are talking up a Labour landslide.

Paul Whitely (U Essex) suggests Labour might win but with quite a small majority (in his analysis, 10 seats).

For many who have expressed opinions in discussion in my timeline this would seem to be a good result; a majority to get tings done, but small enough to be a brake on (more) dilution of left policy?

https://theconversation.com/rishi-sunak-claims-the-uk-is-heading-for-a-hung-a-parliament-lets-check-his-maths-229452

huxley,
@huxley@mstdn.social avatar

@timrichards @ChrisMayLA6 Maybe not if they go into coalition with either the SNP or Lib Dems. I don't know much about the SNP nowadays but the Lib Dems are to the left of Labour on almost every issue, so could be putting pressure on them to not be timid!

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Okay, this might sound weird, but this is what I'm thinking of today. I'm assuming most of you know the idiom, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." I know it's about looking at the horse's teeth to check it's age and health, but in my heart I have an alternate history where it's about The Trojan Horse, which doesn't really even make much sense, but it's still living there rent free.

So, does anyone else do this, make up alternate histories for words or phrases? If you do, I'd love examples!

huxley,
@huxley@mstdn.social avatar

@RickiTarr
There is phrase about Trojan horses: beware of Greeks bearing gifts.

I think it means, if you're not paying, you're the product!

jimfrost, to Scotland
@jimfrost@mastodon.scot avatar

This female red squirrel has been around a lot lately spending time feeding. It’s the time of year that these reds will have young and her teets are quite pronounced. Hopefully, she has some offspring to look after back at the dray

An image of a red squirrel in Aberdeenshire, Scotland
An image of a red squirrel in Aberdeenshire, Scotland
An image of a red squirrel in Aberdeenshire, Scotland

huxley,
@huxley@mstdn.social avatar

@Catlynn @SparkIT @jimfrost looks like she's at a social event, on the fringe of a group conversation, wondering if she can get involved. Very cute 🥰

StillIRise1963, to random
@StillIRise1963@mastodon.world avatar

I think we can now stop saying “google it” when looking for info. No one will find it there.

huxley,
@huxley@mstdn.social avatar

@StillIRise1963 @vosje62
The save icon is often still a floppy disk, and kids today don't even know what they are.

huxley, to random
@huxley@mstdn.social avatar

#SilentSunday

ElleGray, to random
@ElleGray@mstdn.social avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    huxley,
    @huxley@mstdn.social avatar

    @ElleGray Boygenius?

    ElleGray, to random
    @ElleGray@mstdn.social avatar

    hello if you are a man who has walked 1000 miles to get to my place please do NOT fall down at my front door instead keep going straight into the shower use soap comb your hair see you in 10

    huxley,
    @huxley@mstdn.social avatar

    @ElleGray and if they haver?

    dgar, to random
    @dgar@aus.social avatar
    huxley,
    @huxley@mstdn.social avatar

    @dgar
    Absolutely NOT a children's book.

    Just because the main characters are fluffy bunnies, does not mean it's for kids!

    msquebanh, to random
    @msquebanh@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

    It's dentist appointment day.
    Which means it's also super high covid anxieties day.
    The dentist is one of the very few essential places I have to go to, where my valid fears of possibly getting infected with are increased.
    It's a small office & not well ventilated. The 2 office staff have stopped masking.
    I'm bringing extra masks with me to appointment & asking them to wear them while I'm there.

    huxley,
    @huxley@mstdn.social avatar

    @msquebanh
    Good Luck

    huxley,
    @huxley@mstdn.social avatar

    @msquebanh probably on balance less risk to health overall to go to the dentist

    huxley,
    @huxley@mstdn.social avatar

    @msquebanh
    Sorry I didn't intend to minimise. Your concerns are real and valid. I have had long covid, luckily I have very gradually over the last four years mostly recovered. But every time I get a little cold it triggers a flare up again and I feel awful for at least a few weeks.

    Luckily my dentist always wears a mask and the waiting room is very well ventilated.

    I hope your visit goes well.

    huxley,
    @huxley@mstdn.social avatar

    @msquebanh
    This is why I always wear a mask in shops, hospital, GP surgery, dentist, public transport - because vulnerable people may have to enter those spaces too and it seems the least I can do. But for 99.9% of people they don't give a fuck.

    I have to take the train once a week to the office and there are people coughing and sniffing and sneezing all over the place, it's horrible. Most of the time I'm the only one wearing a mask.

    Even in hospitals no one wears masks, even doctors.

    huxley, to random
    @huxley@mstdn.social avatar

    #SilentSunday

    Gargron, to mastodon
    @Gargron@mastodon.social avatar

    He’s here! The prototype, anyway. He’s big, squishy, and friend-shaped. We’ll try to make him as affordable as possible. You’ll have to wait a couple more months to get one, but we might open pre-orders relatively soon.

    huxley,
    @huxley@mstdn.social avatar

    @grb090423 @unikitty @Gargron
    Me too 😭. It's been 8 years 😞

    huxley,
    @huxley@mstdn.social avatar

    @grb090423 @unikitty @Gargron
    Since the referendum in 2016, nearly 8 years 😭

    🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺❤️❤️❤️❤️

    huxley,
    @huxley@mstdn.social avatar

    @grb090423 @unikitty @Gargron
    Nearly 14 years of Tories 😞 since 2010

    jaztrophysicist, (edited ) to random
    @jaztrophysicist@astrodon.social avatar

    deleted_by_author

    •
    huxley,
    @huxley@mstdn.social avatar

    @jaztrophysicist
    I feel like the options you have given demonstrate what is wrong with academic publishing today.

    Is no one motivated by having something important to communicate that may benefit society?

    huxley,
    @huxley@mstdn.social avatar

    @jaztrophysicist
    Sorry if I was a bit abrupt in my response. Probably many academics would choose one of the four options you set out. But it seems to me to be a big problem: too many papers are being published that are not very impactful because of the facile targets academics have to aim for. This huge surfeit of papers makes research so much harder as one has to go through so much more literature to find anything worthwhile. Academic targets have caused enshittification of the literature.

    huxley, to repair
    @huxley@mstdn.social avatar

    Some pics from our Repair Café yesterday in Coventry Central Library.

    We had more visitors than usual and had to start telling people they might have to wait a long time only 45mins into our 3 hour session as we already had a big queue by then.

    We repaired 30 items including a coffee machine, a china ornament, a jacket zip, 2 radios, an electronic toy, a hedge trimmer, a sewing machine and a pair of boots.

    One of our volunteer repairers fixing a radio. The photo only shows a close-up of her hands as she is reaching inside it. One of her hands is covered in notes to self written in biro. The radio is in a kind of white and pink chintzy case.
    Close-up of repair to a coffee machine. The owner is holding a phone to take a picture of the inside while the volunteer repairers is pointing at a particular part.
    A cute record player. One of those that is in a kind of travelling case. It is a special edition branded 'Virgin' record player, numbered 21 out of only 100 that were made. It was given to the owner for her 21st birthday.

    huxley,
    @huxley@mstdn.social avatar

    @thepoliticalcat
    We were set up before this in a different venue for a few months, which was much less suitable. We can't remember how it happened that we ended up at the library, but we did need to have insurance.

    huxley,
    @huxley@mstdn.social avatar

    @thepoliticalcat the library is great. The staff are very helpful and even set up the tables for us before we arrive. We can store some things in one of their cupboards. They make us feel very welcome.

    petertrek1, to allstartrek

    (watching TNG's "Peak Performance")

    Picard: It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.

    One of my favorite Picard quotes in the entire franchise.

    AllStarTrek #StarTrekTNG #TNG #PeakPerformance @allstartrek

    huxley,
    @huxley@mstdn.social avatar

    @petertrek1 @allstartrek
    That's a great quote!

    Makes me think of entrepreneurship. Business school academics always look at successful people to learn the lessons of their success. But there are loads of people that do everything right but aren't successful, because timing and luck are such big factors. Sometimes the successful ones have made lots of mistakes but because of timing and luck they were successful anyway!

    ianRobinson, to Rugby
    @ianRobinson@mastodon.social avatar

    France vs Ireland Six Nations Rugby Championship highlights.

    When did they introduce referee video reviews into Rugby? Also I’ll never accept lifting at the lineout. That was a penalty when I played wing forward! Also also, when was the last time a scrum half put a ball into the scrum straight and not directly into their second row?

    Get off my lawn!

    https://youtu.be/fF50fhiSxMU?si=UsXg-CF8os8I7kXw

    huxley,
    @huxley@mstdn.social avatar

    @ianRobinson
    I also feel like the rules have changed so many times in the last 30 years. I don't understand why they allow the scrum put-on to be not straight, there seems to be no reason for it?

    lowqualityfacts, to random
    @lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar

    Nicotine withdrawal sounds rough.
    https://patreon.com/lowqualityfacts

    huxley,
    @huxley@mstdn.social avatar

    @lowqualityfacts
    As long as you vent your spleen twice daily, it's ok.

    petersuber, (edited ) to academia
    @petersuber@fediscience.org avatar

    I just declined to take part in the Global Academic Survey. The results "will inform the outcome of THE's World 2025."

    If uni rankings are useful at all, it's not on reputation. We could use rankings on (say) % of students on financial aid; % of faculty tenured or tenure-track; % of tenured faculty who are women, minorities; ratio of teachers to administrators; ratio of avg faculty salary to head football coach salary…


    @academicchatter

    huxley,
    @huxley@mstdn.social avatar

    @petersuber @academicchatter
    Bravo! 👏👏👏

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