GreyShuck

joined 1 year ago
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[–] GreyShuck@feddit.uk 16 points 5 days ago

Aliyev's comments are short-sighted, delusional bollocks but... have you never had a candle as a gift?

[–] GreyShuck@feddit.uk 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It seems that elsewhen, and a lot of other variations - used to be used, but fell out of fashion. There is some discussion here.

[–] GreyShuck@feddit.uk 3 points 1 week ago

From Nov 24th, we progressively decorate the house, one item per day, throughout Brumalia - the old Roman/Byzantine winter festival - in preparation for Saturnalia.

Otherwise, we'll have a pair of candles going for the eight sabbats themselves, regardless of anything else that we do for them, but I don't think that candles alone really count as decorations.

[–] GreyShuck@feddit.uk 138 points 1 week ago (6 children)

Yes, fun idea. No problem with that but... that 'flag' is a sail. They're different things.

[–] GreyShuck@feddit.uk 30 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Improve education for girls worldwide. A very strong link has been established by numerous studies.

[–] GreyShuck@feddit.uk 10 points 1 week ago

Leaving aside points about driving licence numbers being unique or whatever, it would be the silver pentagram that I made back in the '90s and have worn (or occasionally carry in my wallet etc, when the cord breaks) ever since.

[–] GreyShuck@feddit.uk 8 points 2 weeks ago

Facilities manager for a wildlife and heritage charity. I lead a small team looking after health & safety, compliance and building maintenance and repairs.

Ninety percent of my time is spent at the keyboard, but since I am peripatetic and move around the properties that I cover, I have a different, and usually beautiful, view out of the window each day of the week. When I am not sat behind a desk, I will be crawling through an attic or have my head down a sewer or something.

My time is spent arranging contractors for routine servicing or repair projects, reviewing fire risk assessments and dealing with outstanding actions, writing client briefs for renewable energy projects, chasing people to do workplace inspections, advising on risk assessments, updating our compliance tracker, arranging asbestos surveys, ensuring that everyone who needs training has it up to date, proving to utility companies that their meters are wildly inaccurate and need to be replaced, working out why the biomass boiler/sewage treatment plant/water heater/automatic gate/car park machine/phone system/greywater pump/security alarm/whatever isn't working and getting it fixed and so on.

[–] GreyShuck@feddit.uk 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
  • A grass snake seems to have taken up residence under our compost heap. Hopefully it will be a suitable hibernation spot.
  • New seasons of Star Trek: Lower Decks and Shrinking are out.
  • My SO and I went for a good walk in a nearby woodland nature reserve. The autumn colours are really coming though now.
  • I now have some cosy fleece pyjamas. I haven't owned pyjamas for decades, but can see will that they will revolutionise my weekend mornings. I don't know why I didn't get some years ago.
[–] GreyShuck@feddit.uk 30 points 3 weeks ago

Checking the ones that I usually buy the ingredients are:

  • Butter

Or, if I go for salted versions:

  • Butter
  • Salt
[–] GreyShuck@feddit.uk 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Recently went to a screening of the 1922 Nosferatu with a live accompanist creating an improvised soundtrack on violin, piano and waterphone - which was not an instrument that I had not encountered before, but evidently features in the score of The Matrix, Aliens and a range of other films. I can certainly see why - it was extremely atmospheric. I had seen Nosferatu a couple of times before - as well as the 1979 Herzog version, and Shadow of the Vampire (2000) - but this definitely added something new.

[–] GreyShuck@feddit.uk 5 points 1 month ago

My childhood imaginary friend(s) were a flock of flying bunnies of various colours. It is not often that you get to see them represented.

[–] GreyShuck@feddit.uk 6 points 1 month ago

By that age, I was into my third long-term job (> 5 years) and had had upwards of 16 short term ones - multiple part time ones at once, or some just for a few weeks or a couple of months here and there between the long-term ones etc.

48 doesn't seem that unlikely - nor even an indicator that they will not be staying put for any length of time unless your job is a shitty one with a high turnover anyway.

 

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and the Bee Friendly Trust have completed more than twenty ‘homes for nature’ at six Great Northern stations in and around north London and Hertfordshire: Bayford, Cuffley, Grange Park, Hadley Wood, New Barnet and New Southgate.

Great Northern aims to contribute to enhancing biodiversity on the railway by making its stations more nature friendly.

It hopes that its work will help to preserve wildlife, including the one in six species in the UK which are in danger of extinction.

 

The Conservative government slashed the Environment Agency’s funding to tackle sewage pollution and protect the environment before leaving office, i can reveal.

The watchdog’s “environmental protection grant” funds a range of activities, including the enforcement of water companies’ raw sewage discharge permits, monitoring and incident management, as well as green finance, farm inspections, waste reform and chemical regulations.

Figures obtained by i through a Freedom of Information request reveal that the grant decreased from £152m in 2010-11 to £70m in 2018-19.

 

Two captive-bred Wildcats have died after being released into the Cairngorms NP.

The Saving Wildcats project said one of the females, called Midge, was knocked down on a road. It said the second, named Oats, died of starvation four weeks after her release.

The cats could be tracked by their GPS radio collars and were found by park rangers.

 

A wildlife trust has launched an urgent appeal to "save the River Derwent" in Derbyshire.

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's (DWT) Derwent Survival Plan aims to raise £195,000 before winter to restore the river and "create thriving habitats for native species on the brink of extinction".

It said the money would fund projects like planting riverside trees to stabilise riverbanks and provide shade, adding reedbeds to slow water flow, and removing pollutants.

 

A County Down farmer is celebrating the arrival of four new barn owl chicks after 10 years of conservation work on his land to increase numbers.

There are currently fewer than 30 breeding pairs of barn owls in Northern Ireland.

Ulster Wildlife say this is down to agricultural intensification, habitat loss, a lack of nest sites, and increased use of rat poisons.

David Sandford has provided a home for nearly 20 owlets in the past six years after installing wooden nest boxes on his farm in Strangford.

 

Campaigners have warned against "brutal" cuts to Wales' environmental watchdog, saying the plans "put nature at risk".

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is seeking to close 265 posts, and is considering reductions in areas including tackling waste crime, advising on climate change, managing heritage features and running visitor centres.

One trade union claimed the regulator could be left without "enough staff on the ground" to protect the environment.

 

Hossenfeffer - with a very seasonal shot of maple leaves.

Thanks for all the entries. We'll be picking another at the Winter solstice, so have your winter shots ready then.

 

A record-breaking ocean rower and MP has backed a Liberal Democrat proposal for a new Clean Water Authority (CWA) in an attempt to clean up the "disgusting" state of the country's waterways.

South Cotswolds MP Roz Savage urged her party to "go further" on its sewage policy at its autumn conference being held in Brighton.

Dr Savage holds two Guinness World Records for becoming the first woman to row across two and then three oceans solo and for the longest ocean row by a solo female.

She said a proposal to replace Ofwat with the new regulatory body could "lead the transformation of water companies into public benefit companies".

 

"Environmental DNA" is being analysed to help guide ambitious plans for a new wetland wildlife haven in west Norfolk.

Land managers at Albanwise Environment have teamed up with environmental DNA (eDNA) specialists NatureMetrics and law firm Mills & Reeve to transform an area of peatland near Stoke Ferry.

Mike Edwards, director at Albanwise Environment, said the site was identified as the land is prone to flooding and poor drainage, "making it a more difficult area to consistently farm productively,"

 

An £80,000 wetlands project to reduce flood risk and boost wildlife habitat in West Yorkshire has been completed.

As part of the work at Chellow Dene Wetlands, near Bradford, a leaky dam and meanders have been created to help slow the flow of water and allow fish to move freely.

The dam, made of natural materials, allows more flood water to enter the plain and reduces flows downstream before it gradually makes its way back into the beck.

 

CONSERVATIONISTS are working to preserve natural saltmarshes and create new habitat for wildlife and provide protection against climate change.

Essex Wildlife Trust has revealed plans for conservation work at Abbotts Hall nature reserve on the Blackwater Estuary near Colchester.

Environmentalists warn action is needed to protect and restore saltmarshes, as part of efforts to store carbon and tackle the climate and nature crisis.

 

An extremely rare moth discovered during a nature walk at a Dorset farm is a “significant find", according to experts.

Dr Jack Oughton, from Dorset Moth Group, came across two of the moths, known as the Gold-fringed Dot, at Bere Marsh Farm in Shillingstone.

The tiny creatures, which have a wingspan of 6 to 6.8mm, were also inspected by experts who confirmed the finding.

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