Author Archives: shirty

Knitted Weather

I promised myself I’d post more of the random creativity that inspires me this year. Here’s a project that wrapped up last night – a knitter recorded a year’s worth of weather in yarn. Well here it is: 2020's weather. 3m, 732 rows (2 rows=1 day), 70,368 stitches, 1kg of wool. My small world and […]

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Bordier Butter

I found out about Bordier butter before my 2014 trip to Paris, and I sought it out as soon as I arrived. It’s not the easiest product to find, and it’s certainly among the more expensive butters on the French market, but it’s worth every minute and every penny it takes to get it on […]

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Obama Playing Pickup Basketball

We were at an event in South Carolina during the campaign in 2007. The President stopped to do a short interview, and then someone tossed him a basketball and we’re live on CNN. And I’m like, “Do not shoot this. Do not shoot this. Do not shoot this.” In the stupid world of politics, the […]

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Astronauts describe what it feels like to be in space

(Not really.) Source: Seven Astronauts describe what it feels like to be in space. | Gyfhub

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Astronauts Describe the Earth From Space

(Not really) http://www.gyfhub.com/2016/10/mncxnm.html

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NORAD’s Santa Tracker Began With A Typo And A Good Sport

This is fantastic. Everyone knows that the service exists, but I had no idea how it got started. Hooray for public servants with senses of humour (and ice in their veins). It all started in 1955 with a misprint in a Colorado newspaper and a call to Col. Harry Shoup’s secret military hotline. Shoup played […]

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Appropriate and Inappropriate Reactions

A club in Britain gave a fantastic response to a racist drunk who was turned away, and in typical Facebook fashion the club’s post – not the racist’s – was deleted. Luckily someone has saved it and posted it to the Indy. Worth a read to see an aggressive bitch get her comeuppance. There hasn’t […]

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Why Are There Dead Birds on Victorian Christmas Cards?

I’m not really a Christmassy person, but if I can send greetings in the historic Victorian way (i.e. with a creepy image and some seriously mystic symbolism) I’m all in. Ho ho ho. One of the more curious recurring images on 19th-century Christmas cards is the dead bird, which may symbolize mortality, or something more […]

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If Secret Path ‘is the last thing I do, I’m happy’: What happens to Gord Downie next

I haven’t had the energy to tackle Gord Downie’s Secret Path, but by all accounts it is astounding. We don’t all get to choose the manner of our death, but it’s heartening to see Gord decide what to do with the time he’s been given. The other name Downie never forgets is Edgar – his […]

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Rob Delaney on Homophobia

I first heard about Rob Delaney around the same time everyone first heard of Rob Delaney – when the guy in the neon budgie smuggler somehow became the darling of Twitter. I admit, I checked out his page, puzzled over who exactly this unknown was who every major comedian was retweeting, but didn’t follow him […]

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