The Off Topic Topic

[grumbler]

I've never read any Ayn Rand - I've tried and then decided that it's not worth my time (general approach to books I'm not enjoying - I don't struggle through books any more ).

*points at his signature*

Quote would have worked if the last word was "hobbits."  So close...

[grumbler]

I greatly enjoyed her Pax Britannica trilogy; as you say I should read more too.

A great author.  I must admit that I was puzzled as to why James Morris let his wife Jan write the third book in the Pax Britannia series...  I think that that was the first time I encountered transexualism as anything other than a sort of abstract concept.

I preferred her history books to her travel books.  I have to get around to her book on the Yamato soon.

[Richard Hakluyt]

April Ashley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Ashley provided the first info for us Brits. I can remember seeing her pictures in the newspapers and wondering about why she did it and what steps she had to take. With Jan Morris I recall being concerned that she might be treated badly, I knew she lived in a Welsh village and feared it might be like a Durham mining village. She later said that the folk in her village were always supportive and pleasant...even if mystified, people knew so little about such things back then.

[Sheilbh]

With Jan Morris I recall being concerned that she might be treated badly, I knew she lived in a Welsh village and feared it might be like a Durham mining village. She later said that the folk in her village were always supportive and pleasant...even if mystified, people knew so little about such things back then.

I love that she had a "library-house" in North Wales (in Pwllheli) and a "dacha" in South Wales.

[Syt]

Posted on reddit as "Austria in a nutshell"



"Find the person with university degree!"

From left to right:
- Chancellor Kurz (Conservatives)
- Herbert Kickl, former minister of the interior in Kurz's first cabinet and current leader of the FPÖ parliamentary faction
- HC Strache, former vice chancellor in Kurz's first cabinet, former head of the FPÖ, and failed contestant in the recent Vienna elections
- Hip hop artist (?) Money Boy (see: https://youtu.be/PQCYjl32_Sk or https://youtu.be/drmXWo8ttrM)

Yes, Money Boy has a master's degree in journalism and communication sciences (his thesis was about Gangsta Rap in Germany).

[Sheilbh]

I found this kind of interesting - the day after St Edmund's Day - a medieval depiction of Danes killing St Edmund:


The reason the Danes are wearing turbans and don't looke at all Viking is that, apparently, "saracen" was used for all non-Christians both as a word and a visual depiction, which I didn't know. There are also multiple texts that refer to the Lithuanians as "saracens"

[Liep]

And just a thousand years later the Danes would draw the ire of the saracens for drawing a turban.

[crazy canuck]

Proof positive the Danes did not have horns on their helmets.

[Tonitrus]

Some of those hats make horns look pretty basic though.

[The Brain]

Carmen Miranda was a Dane?

[Malthus]

I had a very satisfying victory today.

My kittens have tummy troubles, and the vet prescribed a pill for both of them. Only problem: my kittens are very, very resistant to taking any sort of medicine. This pill must taste terrible, because they have made it very clear they will not eat it.

I tried the usual cat pilling techniques - grab a cat, pull its head back, work your fingers in the corners of its mouth ... no luck whatsoever. Cats apparently developed lockjaw. Would not open even a bit.

Okay, then - try the pill pocket technique. Cats way too clever for that. Had no problem at all licking the pill pocket apart and spitting out the pill (and, just to show their contempt, kicking the pill under the fridge!)

In that case - crush the pill up and add it to their food. No luck. Cats decide they would rather starve than eat doctored food. What about adding it to favourite treat? No luck again - won't even look at it. Usually they go crazy for melted ice cream - but not with pill in it. Refuse to go near it. Tried with tuna water: not interested.

I was getting pretty desperate, when the vet suggested one final technique: mix crushed pill with sticky treat, and smear it on the tops of their feet!

This ... actually worked. Cats hate anything on their feet, and their instinct is to lick it off, no matter how gross. Kittens licked off the treat, ingested crushed pill.

Victory!

[The Brain]

I haven't licked food off of feet, but I'm certainly open to it.

[grumbler]

I haven't licked food off of feet, but I'm certainly open to it.

Are you open to licking it off cats' feet?  Asking for a friend.

[Malthus]

Would not put it past these kittens to work out some scheme to get someone else to lick their feet clean, to get out of taking their damned pills! 

[The Brain]

I haven't licked food off of feet, but I'm certainly open to it.

Are you open to licking it off cats' feet?  Asking for a friend.

I am. What's your friend's digits?