It's a Grind(er)
Mar. 21st, 2026 02:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kayla_allenBecause of how Day Jobbe went the previous two days, I went to bed on Friday about 4 PM. Around seven hours later, I woke up and about the time I though I was ready to go back to bed for a little while, I heard an unusual sound from the railroad. Looking out, I saw this.
This is a rail-grinding train. The railroads periodically grind the rails to smooth them out and prevent small cracks from becoming large ones. Of course it certainly makes the sparks fly! The trailing part of the train is the water cars that spray water over the area to prevent fires, and that is why there is a cloud over the train.
At the very start of the video, you'll see Lisa briefly passing through the frame, as she had also come out to have a look at the show. There even was a passing car that stopped to see what was going on.
The Railway Legends, Myths, and Stories channel is very quiet these days, but it serves as a good place to post videos like this.
This is a rail-grinding train. The railroads periodically grind the rails to smooth them out and prevent small cracks from becoming large ones. Of course it certainly makes the sparks fly! The trailing part of the train is the water cars that spray water over the area to prevent fires, and that is why there is a cloud over the train.
At the very start of the video, you'll see Lisa briefly passing through the frame, as she had also come out to have a look at the show. There even was a passing car that stopped to see what was going on.
The Railway Legends, Myths, and Stories channel is very quiet these days, but it serves as a good place to post videos like this.
Interesting Links for 20-03-2026
Mar. 20th, 2026 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. Earth's first mass extinction may have been far worse than believed
- (tags:extinction prehistory paleontology )
- 2. People using AI to give law advice finally reaches Scotland.
- (tags:ai law scotland )
- 3. Denmark was preparing for full-scale war with the US over Greenland in January, with military support from France, Germany, and Nordic nations.
- (tags:war usa norway germany france denmark )
- 4. This perfectly encapsulates why I won't surf the web without an ad-blocker
- (tags:advertising web newspapers )
- 5. How *did* a multi-storey car park get built in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle?
- (tags:edinburgh cars history )
- 6. Waymo self driving cars are 13x safer than humans
- (tags:safety automation driving cars )
- 7. Police Scotland announce they don't want trans people to report any crimes
- (tags:transgender LGBT bigotry OhForFucksSake Scotland )
- 8. The change that made lighthouses work much better - and why it drove the keepers mad. (Lots and lots of mercury)
- (tags:mercury light history safety ships )
- 9. Gen Z is broke, stressed and exhausted - but boomers won't accept it
- (tags:stress society doom )
Interesting Links for 19-03-2026
Mar. 19th, 2026 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. Tech hobbyist makes shoulder-mounted guided missile prototype with $96 in parts and a 3D printer
- (tags:weaponry technology 3dprinting )
- 2. Kagi Translate's AI answers the question "What would horny Margaret Thatcher say?"
- (tags:language translation margaretthatcher wtf )
- 3. Ever wanted to be able to translate from English to LinkedIn? Now you can!
- (tags:language funny translation viaswampers )
- 4. Grok, explain Butlerian Jihad [ai]
- (tags:funny scifi )
- 5. Austin build new housing - rents came down
- (tags:economics housing usa )
Monthly culture, February 2026
Mar. 19th, 2026 08:15 amtamaranth12FEB26: Booksmart (Wilde, 2019) -- Netflix
( Read more... )
13FEB26: Lee Miller -- Tate Britain
( Read more... )
19FEB26: Amsterdam (Russell, 2022) -- Netflix
( Read more... )
21FEB26: Cosi Fan Tutte (Mozart, 1790) -- English National Opera
( Read more... )
26FEB26: Train Dreams (Bentley, 2025) -- Netflix
( Read more... )
27FEB26: Iolanthe (Gilbert and Sullivan, 1882) -- Wilton's Music Hall
( Read more... )
Also a week in Malaga, just in time for Storm Leonardo...
( Read more... )
13FEB26: Lee Miller -- Tate Britain
( Read more... )
19FEB26: Amsterdam (Russell, 2022) -- Netflix
( Read more... )
21FEB26: Cosi Fan Tutte (Mozart, 1790) -- English National Opera
( Read more... )
26FEB26: Train Dreams (Bentley, 2025) -- Netflix
( Read more... )
27FEB26: Iolanthe (Gilbert and Sullivan, 1882) -- Wilton's Music Hall
( Read more... )
Also a week in Malaga, just in time for Storm Leonardo...
Watching TV
Mar. 18th, 2026 04:36 pmlexinFor some reason I’m not sure about I watched “Scarpetta” - the whole series.
I still have no clue what was happening most of the time. I actually prefer “Silent Witness” and that show is beginning to annoy me.
Now, I have read about half of Patricia Cornwell’s books, and I don’t remember any of them being as gloopy as the TV series. Nor do I remember them as being quite so full of horrible characters. Kay’s sister in particular I wanted to die a death. Kay herself was annoying and Lucy nearly as much. The only character I liked was the dead wife.
I also struggled with telling current events from flashbacks. They could at least have given Kay different hairstyles.
All in all, a waste of my time.
I still have no clue what was happening most of the time. I actually prefer “Silent Witness” and that show is beginning to annoy me.
Now, I have read about half of Patricia Cornwell’s books, and I don’t remember any of them being as gloopy as the TV series. Nor do I remember them as being quite so full of horrible characters. Kay’s sister in particular I wanted to die a death. Kay herself was annoying and Lucy nearly as much. The only character I liked was the dead wife.
I also struggled with telling current events from flashbacks. They could at least have given Kay different hairstyles.
All in all, a waste of my time.
Interesting Links for 18-03-2026
Mar. 18th, 2026 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. Coming soon to Netflix... a movie that requires none of your attention!
- (tags:movies netflix attention video satire funny )
- 2. Everyone but Trump Understands What He's Done
- (tags:politics UK USA middle_east Ukraine Russia NATO )
- 3. Scotland's assisted dying bill rejected after emotional debate
- (tags:Scotland euthanasia )
- 4. More reports show that forcing people back to the office hurts productivity
- (tags:productivity office )
2026/039: Piper at the Gates of Dusk — Patrick Ness
Mar. 18th, 2026 07:51 amtamaranth2026/039: Piper at the Gates of Dusk — Patrick Ness
The god comes screaming through the trees, shoving them to each side like matchsticks, breaking and burning them as it thrashes its way out of the woods... [opening paragraph]
In the original Chaos Walking trilogy (The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer and Monsters of Men) Todd was thirteen, dealing with life on an alien planet and the constant phenomenon of Noise -- the constant thoughts and feelings of the men (all the women are dead) in the colony -- and the threat of the alien Spackle. Piper at the Gates of Dusk starts a generation later,( Read more... )
Ncuti Gatwa in 'The Importance of Being Earnest'
Mar. 17th, 2026 12:56 pmwatervole
Go here to watch the performance
I've just watched it and it's great!
Excellent cast all round, great costumes (Gatwa looks amazing in his skin tight suit)
I mean, what could possible fail to delight in a show which starts with Gatwa playing a piano in a ballgown?
Multi-racial cast, loads of laughs, Algernon and Jack definitely have bromance going on, and Oscar Wilde's brilliant script.
I think Wilde would have loved this performance as much as I did.
You've got one more day to watch it before the free view comes to an end!
Interesting Links for 17-03-2026
Mar. 17th, 2026 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. "Gamblers trying to win a bet on Polymarket are vowing to kill me if I don't rewrite an Iran missile story"
- (tags:iran israel journalism gambling ohforfuckssake )
- 2. Subnautica 2 Publisher Followed ChatGPT's Advice On How To Break The Law
- (tags:law ai games OhForFucksSake )
- 3. Nvidia's Next-Gen Photo-Realistic Lighting looks, frankly, amazing
- (tags:games lighting nvidia video )
- 4. Regression, Not Progress: A Response to World Athletics' Return to Sex Testing
- (tags:gender testing OhForFucksSake women LGBT transgender biology )
- 5. Have some simple but inspiring images about growth through making mistakes
- (tags:inspiration visualisation )
- 6. Almost 25 years ago, a war game exercise had an Iran-stand in use asymmetric warfare to obliterate a US military force. So they re-ran it to force a US victory.
- (tags:usa military ohforfuckssake iran games )
Grumpy about overly-simplistic polling
Mar. 17th, 2026 11:27 amandrewduckerI do wish that polls wouldn't ask if people thought that the PM was handling something "Well" or "Badly". Because two people answering "Badly" might mean completely different things by it.
Also, me saying "Immigration is important to me" means the opposite of what a Reform voter would mean by it.
This because of reporting of how many people think that Starmer is handling the Iran situation well or badly. When I can guarantee that some of the "badly" think we should be bombing Iran right now, and some think that we shouldn't be involved even slightly.
2026/038: Broken April — Ismail Kadare (translator: John Hodgson)
Mar. 17th, 2026 09:30 amtamaranth2026/038: Broken April — Ismail Kadare (translator: John Hodgson)
The guest, the bessa, and vengeance are like the machinery of classical tragedy, and once you are caught up in the mechanism, you must face the possibility of tragedy. [Chapter 3]
A tragedy set in Albania. Gjorg Berisha is compelled by the Kanun, the ancient laws of the mountain country, to kill the man who killed his brother. The murder cements his own fate: he'll be killed in turn by one of the men of the Kryeqyqe family, in thirty days' time. ( Read more... )
The Theory of Related-ivity
Mar. 16th, 2026 08:53 amhrjMy essay? book? blog series? Let's call it a "book posted in installments" The Theory of Related-ivity: A History and Analysis of the Best Related Work Hugo Category has begun appearing on my blog at: https://alpennia.com/blog/theory-related-ivity-segment-i.
The series will appear in parallel at File 770. At some point after the whole series has appeared, I'll also release it as a e-book. (I figure it's a nice low-pressure project for learning Vellum.)
This was a really fun geeky research project with some interesting (if not always surprising) conclusions. Best Related Work challenges Hugo voters to think about what "related" means and what constitutes a "work" with few administrative constraints. My study asks: how do Hugo nominators answer those questions?
I hope the study might spark conversations, although that means I'll need to keep on top of approving comments on the blog. (All comments are pre-screened due to spam.)
The series will appear in parallel at File 770. At some point after the whole series has appeared, I'll also release it as a e-book. (I figure it's a nice low-pressure project for learning Vellum.)
This was a really fun geeky research project with some interesting (if not always surprising) conclusions. Best Related Work challenges Hugo voters to think about what "related" means and what constitutes a "work" with few administrative constraints. My study asks: how do Hugo nominators answer those questions?
I hope the study might spark conversations, although that means I'll need to keep on top of approving comments on the blog. (All comments are pre-screened due to spam.)
Interesting Links for 16-03-2026
Mar. 16th, 2026 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. Royal Mail The Lord of the Rings Stamps
- (tags:lotr movies royalmail )
- 2. UK government to launch £1bn plan to tackle youth unemployment
- (tags:unemployment apprentices uk )
- 3. Excel incorrectly assumes that the year 1900 is a leap year (I've been using it for over 35 years and had no idea)
- (tags:excel date history computers )
- 4. Scientists create first-of-its-kind 'hexagonal diamond' harder than real thing
- (tags:diamonds materials )
2026/037: Star Shipped — Cat Sebastian
Mar. 16th, 2026 09:04 amtamaranth2026/037: Star Shipped — Cat Sebastian
Simon’s been trying to keep things friendly, neutral, light, to act like they didn’t spend two days presenting one another with secrets like outdoor cats gently placing mangled rodents at one another’s feet. [p. 205]
Simon Devereaux is thirty-four, prone to migraines and anxiety attacks, and for seven years one of the two stars of Out There, a sci-fi show described as 'Twin Peaks in space, leaning hard into the camp'. Simon's antisocial tendencies are acknowledged and accepted by the rest of the cast, and he has a comfortable enmity going with his co-star Charlie Blake, who's improbably good-looking and highly gregarious. Now Simon's thinking of leaving the show. ( Read more... )
What books did Terry Pratchett find inspirational?
Mar. 15th, 2026 06:54 pmandrewduckerThis is from a post made here on Facebook. I'm copying it here, with the permission of the original author, so that people off Facebook can see it.
I had the pleasure of Terry’s company on a week-long Writer’s Retreat twice, in 1990, as part of a company of eight interesting people in Diss, Suffolk.
Terry later came to my wedding and gave me a proof copy of ‘Lords and Ladies’ as a wedding gift! I had never read his books before I met him, so I began with ‘Wyrd Sisters’ - and have carried on reading them ever since.
When he learned I was meeting up with Terry again, my local Librarian shouted ‘Oook!’ and collected up every book by Terry which he had in the Library, and asked him to sign them. This amused Terry - and shocked other participants! "You shouldn't write in Library Books" etc...
Terry and I were both reading Henry Mayhew’s ‘London labour and the London poor’ at the time.
I asked Terry to make a list of other books which he found inspirational. Here they are:
I had the pleasure of Terry’s company on a week-long Writer’s Retreat twice, in 1990, as part of a company of eight interesting people in Diss, Suffolk.
Terry later came to my wedding and gave me a proof copy of ‘Lords and Ladies’ as a wedding gift! I had never read his books before I met him, so I began with ‘Wyrd Sisters’ - and have carried on reading them ever since.
When he learned I was meeting up with Terry again, my local Librarian shouted ‘Oook!’ and collected up every book by Terry which he had in the Library, and asked him to sign them. This amused Terry - and shocked other participants! "You shouldn't write in Library Books" etc...
Terry and I were both reading Henry Mayhew’s ‘London labour and the London poor’ at the time.
I asked Terry to make a list of other books which he found inspirational. Here they are:
- ‘The Evolution Man’ by Roy Lewis.
- ‘The Specialist’ by Charles Sale.
- ‘The Canterbury Tales’ by Chaucer.
- ‘Fairy Tales’ by Charles Perrault.
- Jacqueline Simpson’s folklore books.
- Everything by J R R Tolkien and C S Lewis.
- ‘The Wind From the Sun’ by Arthur C. Clarke.
- ‘Cold Comfort Farm’ by Stella Gibbons (my favourite book).
- ‘Mistress Masham’s Repose’ and the Arthurian Trilogy by T H White.
- I also add the new series of novels set in St Mary’s by Jodi Taylor, of whom I am a keen fan, and strongly recommend. Terry told Jodi how much he liked her writings. Start with ‘Just One Da*ned Thing After Another’ and carry on enjoying!
- Edit - I forgot 'The Moomins' series!
Life with two children: Gideon updates
Mar. 15th, 2026 08:50 amandrewduckerFollowing yesterday's illness, I was vaguely hoping that he would stay asleep through the night. Alas:
12:05
"I need a wee"
Took him to the toilet.
"Daddy, my tummy hurts"
Gave him some medicine
"Do you want to be in pyjamas or just straight back to bed?"
"Back to bed"
And then he closed his eyes.
12:20
Thundering footsteps "Daddy, I feel sick"
Told him to go to the toilet. Kept him company, got him a bucket.
He wasn't sick.
Persuaded him to take the bucket to bed.
Sat on the floor next to his bed until he closed his eyes.
12:35
More thundering steps
"Daddy, my arm and leg hurt"
By the time I'd found him medicine he was asleep again.
But woke up again and let me give him some Calpol.
03:30
"I'm hungry" (not surprising as he didn't eat yesterday)
We agreed on cream cheese crackers.
He ate ⅘ of the cracker and drank some juice and passed out again.
06:30
"I checked the light coming under the curtain and it's morning time"
I told him to go play games on the Switch downstairs.
Fifteen minutes later I could still hear him wandering about and I hadn't heard any game noises.
Went to check on him and he told him that he'd found various points around the house where the floor isn't flat.
Got him settled with the Switch, and then went back to bed and stared vacantly at my phone for an hour, before getting up to face the day.
12:05
"I need a wee"
Took him to the toilet.
"Daddy, my tummy hurts"
Gave him some medicine
"Do you want to be in pyjamas or just straight back to bed?"
"Back to bed"
And then he closed his eyes.
12:20
Thundering footsteps "Daddy, I feel sick"
Told him to go to the toilet. Kept him company, got him a bucket.
He wasn't sick.
Persuaded him to take the bucket to bed.
Sat on the floor next to his bed until he closed his eyes.
12:35
More thundering steps
"Daddy, my arm and leg hurt"
By the time I'd found him medicine he was asleep again.
But woke up again and let me give him some Calpol.
03:30
"I'm hungry" (not surprising as he didn't eat yesterday)
We agreed on cream cheese crackers.
He ate ⅘ of the cracker and drank some juice and passed out again.
06:30
"I checked the light coming under the curtain and it's morning time"
I told him to go play games on the Switch downstairs.
Fifteen minutes later I could still hear him wandering about and I hadn't heard any game noises.
Went to check on him and he told him that he'd found various points around the house where the floor isn't flat.
Got him settled with the Switch, and then went back to bed and stared vacantly at my phone for an hour, before getting up to face the day.
Photo cross-post
Mar. 14th, 2026 12:33 pmandrewducker
The first time Gideon fell asleep in front of the toilet we moved him
to a comfy chair. From where he woke up still feeling sick and Jane
found him lying on the floor with a bucket he'd found and relocated
him back to the toilet, where he then fell asleep again.
I missed all of this because I had passed out in bed feeling rubbish. I did wake up to various noises, but each time I did I tried to open my eyelids, failed, and fell back to sleep again. Thankfully Jane isn't feeling as bad as me, and Sophia was off having a play date at the other end of the street.
So far nobody has actually thrown up. Fingers crossed that continues.
Original
is here on Pixelfed.scot.