I definitely do this a lot too. I think (ahaha) it's influence from academia, where I can't necessarily say something's definitively true, but I can say that I think it.

Yeah, and that's always such a great return for all the money that gets spent on it, right? :D

(I'm not a monarchist, but I don't relish the idea of whatever other tawdry shit might get invented to replace it... It's more that we may as well keep this nonsense *because* it's all just nonsense.)

I think the fairy tales may be an issue, yeah - it seems like some people read them and think that's what countries with monarchies think about the king or queen. But you can read Goldilocks without being surprised when real bears don't sleep in beds and eat porridge, right?

*shrugs* How much work do most presidents - the sort where they're a head of state and have a prime minister running the government - actually do? It's a ceremonial role with a bonus diplomatic function. (How much actual *work* does someone like Trump do?)

Parroting stuff without bothering to consider it is kind of the problem, I feel.

I mean, no-one believes in the king because he's not fictional; it's a job title. Do you believe in your 'president'?

I have actually just thought of two women engineers I know through friends networks, who are both older than me! But also, not that much, and I don't know how they'd feel on the 'retirement' angle...

There was a woman engineering manager in the Belgian arm of a company I used to work for, but I don't think I ever met her directly, and also I don't think she's retirement age either. This seems to be the sort of level we're having to reach for...

Genuinely took me a while there to realise this was supposed to be considered a *positive*, not an illustration of the problem.

Oh gods, weird memory unlocked: a colleague wrote some awful military-sci-fi-fantasy, which had a notice claiming that each physical book was only licenced to one person and it couldn't be lent. Probably more people (tried to) read it because of the single copy circulating the company in disbelief.

Reposting because someone might know someone who knows someone, but genuinely, personally, I don't know *any* female engineers in this age bracket. There were zero female lecturers in my uni engineering dept., and I had one female manager once who was maybe 5 years older than me.

The youngest #kakapo alive: Awarua-A3, 17 days old today. Despite appearances, she’s doing well. She won’t be leaving the nest until mid-June. It’s a long breeding season! #kakapo2026 #conservation #birds.

The status-pissing! I'd want to make some sort of record of what each person intended to cook and what actually came out... Might be the main output of the conference :D

Exactly one year ago today:

Where else would you go, though? (The main alternative open to me is the UK, which, uh, has its own issues.)

Sometimes I think part of the problem is how easy it is to forget the long-term here, when the sun is warm and everything's green and growing, plus hard choices push Kiwi boundaries, innit.

Amsterdam absolutely went down the path of car dependency post-war, but put a lot of work into changing direction, after some oil price shocks. (...) You may not be able to imagine change, but others can, and have - so maybe listen to them, instead of making up answers you find comfortable?

Seattle: 47°N, shortest day 8hrs 25min, ~150 rainy days a year

Copenhagen: 52°N, shortest day 7hrs 1min, ~157 rainy days a year

No-one must ever cycle in Copenhagen, right? Right?

Just to check, was the nearest point on the earth at 68E, 27S? Because the antipode of that is 112W, 27N, which is over Western Mexico. (Probably doesn't make any significant difference, but.)

Also here in the Tron - listening to the rain rushing down the roof, rather than earlier when the main noise was it spattering on the windows.

Taking the opportunity to plant rice, in the karmic sense of trying to create the conditions for something to happen. Mainly involves emails :D

As an engineer, this! I'm looking up some part and find the specs for it are in inch-feet per dry pint or whatever, and have to build a translation spreadsheet before I can know if it's any good. (Though if it's made in the US, it won't be. Quality seems to be a dirty word there.)

Oooh, interesting shaping on the t-shirt! How would I find a style like that? (Also, ahaha threading through stopped traffic.)

BBC Radio 4 - The World Tonight, Israel to hold talks with Lebanon but no ceasefire The announcement followed reports of pressure on Israel from President Trump

Ah, thank you, I was wondering what context I was missing with this. I heard a UK news show yesterday and was astonished: this was presented as total sci-fi 'the machines are coming, everyone panic'. (From about 22:30 in, if you have any urge to hear such things: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

I think anyone who's driven a camper van will have an insight into cabin config. Like the whole 'is that rattle just the cutlery drawer or something mechanical, and do I need to pull over to check it out?' but with higher stakes...

Ouch.

'Mishap'. Yes, something 'mis' just 'happed', entirely passively, with no-one's choices contributing, right?

Honestly it makes a massive difference just to slow down a little - there's a threshold where effort starts going massively up for ever-smaller speed gains. But people feel they 'ought' to be thrashing it, even if 22kph is sweaty and 18kph is comfy and only an extra 5 mins.

They must have, yes. I guess the density gives good grid connections, and there's been tax breaks on greener cars for years already, so lots of mobile batteries to put the power in. Plus the Dutch do love a bargain, so probably like not having to buy so much fuel :D

I'm looking at this and wondering how the Netherlands gets in second, though... It's more densely populated than the UK, with very similar amounts / strengths of sun, *and* a long-standing relationship with wind power. Impressive stuff for NL, anyway!

I'm in favour of umbrellas, but they were common in London, like so common that if you left one on the bus, you'd just pick up one that someone else had left on the next bus.

(Plastic clothes get The Stank when they get wet and don't dry quickly, though!)

The school I went to certainly didn't allow students to wear any other outerwear than the blazer.