Dmitri Gheorgheni

The student lounge had one tv. This was back in the pre-digital Dark Ages, kids: also, it was in deepest, darkest Bavaria. A friend and I sat watching a weighty drama. Another student peeked into the lounge, counted the two of us, went away. Returned in a minute with two guys from the ping-pong room. They wanted to watch football. They outnumbered us so we got up to leave. 'Why not stay and watch the game?' he asked, expansive in victory. I shrugged. 'I don't like ball games.' To those who celebrate so much winning: the chance to dismantle the precious hopes and dreams of those who put their lives into building what you're tearing down, I say: Okay. You manipulated the rules and you get to do what you want. But we won't help you. We'll watch you crash and burn. The only thing you know how to make is messes. We'll wait. We have no choice. Sooner or later, it will all catch up to you. And we, or the kids, will start again. Image: A ramshackle vehicle in a fantasy scenario in front of a full moon. Project Gutenberg

#vss365 #precious

It's a chaffinch. One of our characters would rather watch him than the naked guy in the bramble bush. Believe it or not, this is a theological discussion from the early 6th century. All our stories are weird. You should consider reading them.

This week in h2g2 serials:
A naked guy in a bramble bush
A postapocalyptic liveblog
Confused whales
Weird funeral conversation
A chemical spill
Space colonists in orbit
You know you want to read these.
h2g2.com/entry/A88080...

Presenting…. my first gopher of 2026!

oh the bonny heather but the heather wasnae bonny the ground was too hard to plough and there were worse monsters than Nessie we're looking at you, Armstrongs the king declared a fatwa, it did nae good so we crossed the North Channel and became Denizens with papers to prove it better land neighbours just as mean Armstrongs came, too so we crossed the big ocean hundreds, thousands of us rocking in the boat for weeks stumbled out in Philadelphia bought a wagon, headed South found a mountain, climbed it stayed there noo tha' was bonny a couple of hundred years later an Armstrong went to the moon they can have it Image: Smoky Mountains with low-lying clouds. Carol M Highsmith.

#vss365 #bonny

A beach, an Italian police car. A winged woman holding up a large fish. Suspended in foreground: a brass badge with wings and the words Lex et Ordo.

FWR said DG's serial novel about Roman shapeshifters gave him weird dreams. He wrote this down. DG made a picture. FWR added the badge. DG translated the TV intro into Latin. FWR said, 'I love collaboration.' You get to read this. h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/bru...

'It's really funny,' said the folklorist, 'how urban legends and tall tales eventually become myths and often, finally, religious beliefs. They might even influence the way people make decisions. Even though they're really code or cover-up for something else that happened.' 'Hm,' said the student, not really listening. 'Take Harmonia, the goddess of music. Harmony, get it?' 'What about her?' asked the student, surreptitiously reading Twitter. 'She married a man named Cadmus. Her dad Mars had arranged it as a reward to Cadmus for loyal service. OR it was Jupiter's idea because of Cadmus's persistence in chasing a cow all over the map. Depends on who you talk to. Anyway. . .' 'So mythology's the Fox News version of history?' 'That's pretty much it.' 'The kids are gonna love our story - about a thousand years from now.' 'Word,' said the folklorist. Image: Student with laptop, 500 BCE, from an old Greek vase. Project Gutenberg and yes, that's an old Greek vase and no, I don't know what that's really supposed to be. Looks like a laptop, though.

#vss365 #harmony

Poster for the live show featuring a vast sky and silhouetted figures.

This week's h2g2 Post features Bluebottle's review of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Live, an immersive live show adaptation of Douglas Adams' wholly remarkable story The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He bought merch. h2g2.com/entry/A88083...

The Burgess Bird Book For Children : Thornton W. Burgess : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Thornton W Burgess (1874-1965) wrote a gazillion books for kids. When I was 7 (in the 50s) they were practically the only books in my class library that didn't insult my intelligence. They sparked a lifelong love for the biosphere.

archive.org/details/bwb_...

jellyfish among kelp hide and seek winner

jellyfish
among kelp
hide and seek winner

#completethehaiga 141 #prompt #haiga #haiku

Everybody wants to catch #lightning in a bottle. Why? What are you gonna do with it? What's it good for? Nah, what you want is to catch thunder in a thermos. That's the good stuff. Ain’t nothing like the crack of doom to add a little spice to your homemade Taster's Choice.

#vss365 #microfiction

With the lightning strike
of realisation, I see
how the veil is dropped
from the world
and bit by dreadful bit,
the truth
is unearthed.

#vss365 #lightning #dailywritingprompt #micropoems #tinypoems

I have just seen a Youtube about the etymology of the word 'stock'. And I have come to a conclusion.

The only way to teach history to people nowadays is to reframe every fact as part of a conspiracy theory.

'For 726, years, this stick ruled the world! Then THEY made you forget!' I love it.

'History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.' Karl Marx

I suspect it's the farce that's going to kill us.

The name 'umbrellabird' relates to its long crest of feathers that drape over its head like an umbrella. This crest can be drooped forward to cover its entire bill, or raised to give it a clearer view in front of its face. The long-wattled part is clearly evident! The wattle is an extension of the throat, covered with feathers on the outside. It can actually extend and retract the wattle at will, 'tucking it in' when flying, and letting it droop while displaying. Then the wattle can reach a length of 35 cm, which is almost the length of its entire head, body and tail! It also inflates the wattle with air, which allows it to utter a deep, booming call. At the same time it can raise the feathers covering the wattle, to make it look bigger still.

Willem van der Merwe is a wildlife artist. He lets us show his paintings in the h2g2 Post. He also invents fantasy creatures. So I had to look this one up. Would you believe the Long-Wattled Umbrellabird is real? I love the biosphere. Look at it! h2g2.com/entry/A88083...

Mr Franklin Mr Franklin what were you doing standing out in the rain with your kite and key? Philly's always been full of crazy people First the abolitionist vegan in the cave and now you. I can hear the Rocky theme as the thunder rolls and the lightning strikes it's almost like a Shyamalan film. For an encore you electrocuted some turkeys which made them tender. But you failed to patent the microwave, a serious omission that went unnoticed by both you and the Royal Society, who loved your letters. (You were a science influencer.) We'll give you a pass: you were smart enough to draw the proper conclusions and invent fire insurance. Image: Lightning by FWR of h2g2.

#vss365 #lightning

That's dark.

As I watch footage of explosions in Beirut and dust clouds towering above apartment blocks in Tehran, I keep coming back to something that I witnessed back in the summer of '04, during my first tour in Iraq. But first, let's start with a question:

Have you ever heard someone wail?

1/

Water Birds of h2g2 #h2g2 #birds YouTube video by Dmitri Gheorgheni

Enjoy some water birds by SashaQ.

www.youtube.com/shorts/hLXeI...

Today only lasts
23 hours. This should be
a thing for Mondays.

#spellbound #vss365

the year: 1742 a cool new word to use: spellbound I am spellbound by this new novel, Gervais told Amanda it has altered my outlook I read it andante it has changed my predilection in literature there's such as thing as too trendy, she said slow down with the new vocabulary what's the new book, anyway? it's a libertine novel by a Frenchman of course about an unfortunate young courtier who is condemned to be reincarnated as furniture it's called The Sofa: A Moral Tale he has to stay that way until two virgins show up and have sex on him that is either the coolest thing or the weirdest thing I have ever heard, said Amanda I know replied Gervais pour the coffee, please Image: A sofa. Project Gutenberg

#vss365 #spellbound

This week's title is Excitement, Adventure, and Really Wild Things. Clockwise from upper left: Poster for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Live; a teal duck swimming, from behind; a grand vista of snow-covered plains with the Tatra Mountains in the background; a painting of a Long-Wattled Umbrellabird, an amazing bird with black feathers, a feathered headdress, and a wattle as long as its body; strange inverted footprints in the snow; an ornate organ; an AI-drawn picture of a robot riding a motorcycle and the words 'too good to be true'; a snow-covered tree; a weird illustration of a winged woman on a beach holding up a large fish while an Italian police car parks on the same beach, all superimposed with a fanciful police badge reading Lex et Ordo; and an old engraving to two hands pulling up a rubber sheet to reveal a print of handwriting.

Excitement. Adventure. Really wild things. The Long-Wattled Umbrellabird turns out NOT to be science fiction. Bluebottle's theatre evening IS science fiction. And FWR rewrites Law and Order as science fiction. All this and more.
h2g2.com/entry/A88081...

At Largest ICE Detention Camp, Staff Bet on Detainee Suicides, AP Reports Camp East Montana has received several 911 calls in the span of five months about immigrants trying to harm themselves.

Staff at the nation’s largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility have placed bets on which detainee will be the next to die by suicide, according to new reporting from the Associated Press based on 911 calls and detainee accounts.

Abu Ghraib never ended

doo bee doo bee doo mon bijou a trinket a bauble a bit of jewelry costume but not cheap everything in the world is a toy to play with all you need is the currency bitcoin will do mon bijou a bit of art a song a poem a play a book full of thoughts promote the ones that praise hand out the awards yourself ignore the rest they're trash jealous of you a toy a trinket a bauble a mountain a river a city a hospital a school tokens to trade if they fight back they're toys to knock down counters in an endless fun game of king-of-the-hill nothing matters except the thrill of winning so much winning Image: Magician gesturing at tripod with magic wand. Project Gutenberg

#vss365 #jewelry

those who are not magnanimous when in the catbird's seat will oft be pusillanimous when facing their own defeat Image: Telemachus trying to stop gladiators. He was killed by the crowd, but it was the last gladiatorial contest in Rome. Project Gutenberg

#vss365 #magnanimous

I don’t wear a suit,
Though I see the appeal,
But I dress how I like,
It shows how I feel,
I’m mismatched at times,
Or green like a tree,
If I stood in a forest,
You wouldn’t see me,
I’m not fancy or posh,
I don’t have much moneys,
No Prada for me,
My slippers are bunnies.

#thingstowriteabout suit

Under the Third Reich, interpreting Hitler’s words and taking initiative to implement his remarks was called “working toward the Führer.”

'Bountiful' means 'liberally bestowing gifts.' Our garden yielded a bountiful crop of cucumbers but no tomatoes. The local deer loved the tomatoes, but I guess cucumbers give them gas. They might as well have left a note: next time, plant more tomatoes. The garden giveth, but Bambi taketh away. I know what you're thinking: why not build a fence? My fellow planet-dwellers, do you know how much fencing it takes to keep out deer? No, you don't. But my greatnephew does: he has reckoned that you need one about 12 feet high to deter the be-hoofed darlings. That's why his plan for an apple orchard in the meadow became a dream deferred. Here in town, a block from Main Street? We'd be prisoners in our quarter-acre space. It's better to give up gardening: beg our fresh produce from the farm relatives. The deer around here know they're in charge. They're smug about it. They eat all the petunias in front of the parish office and leave droppings on the sidewalk. Bullies. Image: Deer gleefully leaping over a garden full of cabbages. Project Gutenberg

#vss365 #bountiful

Gadwall Ducks #h2g2 #birds YouTube video by Dmitri Gheorgheni

The h2g2 Post's correspondent for wetland affairs reports in that the Gadwell Ducks are doing their mating displays. I think they've got the moves.

www.youtube.com/shorts/LZMn1...