The Unwhinge Thread

[escargot]

You need to tell your bum to get off that sofa

I sent him out for a bike ride!

 

[escargot]

Our newish neighbours, a sweet young couple, spend a lot of time and effort on their house.

I have often told them that we don't mind noise and mess so they needn't worry about that on our behalf. This is a big relief to them as they are always digging up the garden with rotavators or drilling into the granite-hard concrete party walls.

This last week they've been having a woodburning stove put in which involved hacking a hole in the front room wall. This was done with a power chisel so loud it made the whole row of houses vibrate. There was also some noisy work on the chimney.

Anyway... it made Techy's Teams meetings a bit fraught, especially when the other neighbour's dog kindly contributed a personalised bark-track, but it was only a few days.

So tonight Neighbours popped round with chocolates and flowers as a thank-you for our patience. How sweet!

 

[maximus otter]

My mother-in-law has sent me an unexpected prezzie. lt’s almost as if she knows me:

maximus otter

 

[Frideswide]

My mother-in-law has sent me an unexpected prezzie. lt’s almost as if she knows me:

Nice!

I once had a marketing one for tangerines or satsumas or the like - it said Small Ones Are More Juicy. I especially enjoyed that anyone wanting to read the whole slogan would have to walk round three sides of me

edit to add that it was given to me by my study partner after we did a cracking presentation on gendering in the study of mortuary evidence. I gave her a set of postcards of the willendorf venus

 

[maximus otter]

...a cracking presentation on gendering in the study of mortuary evidence.

I bet you two are the life and soul of any party.

maximus otter

 

[Frideswide]

I bet you two are the life and soul of any party.

maximus otter

we certainly were!

we didn't choose topics for these public things, we drew them from a hat. Another pair did race and another nationality. I think there were also vertical and horizontal studies of particular sites or periods or cultures. If you don't study your biases, how can you rely on your interpretations?

This was about 1981/82

 

[pandacracker]

gendering in the study of mortuary evidence

Er... what does that mean? (for I am a pandacracker of very little Brain)

 

[Frideswide]

Er... what does that mean? (for I am a pandacracker of very little Brain)

it was about the biases any archaeologist brings to their work. Mortuary evidence is one of the two largest data sets we have to work on, so that's why it was selected - and it cuts across all cultures. Got to do something with the bodies unless you really do just leave them where they fall.

We examined things like how grave goods were used by excavators to assign a sex and gender to a skeleton. Going through the reports we discovered that the "obvious" to 1980s UK archaeologists categories were not always supported by the skeletal evidence, which was then becoming more available. This is before DNA So you had a skeleton which had gravegoods which the archaeologists said were male - a sword maybe, or some symbols of rank. But the bones expert would say that the bones were female. Think the Viking Shield Maidens that have been in the news?

It all got into a circular argument: this is a sword and scepter/whetstone and so this is a man. Men are high status in this society, and were buried with a sword and scepter/whetstone to indicate this. There is a sword and scepter/whetstone in this grave and so they are a man etc etc etc.

Not sound, not sound at all

Then there were the different ways that our experience as students developed. Across the three years which were available, there was a very strong bias that the men were offered experience by the Department as site supervisors and the women as finds assistants. These are allegedly equal status and of equal importance but the names of the roles don't support that. Further, these roles were the gateways to others - you needed site supervisor experience before you could get directorial experience. So from the first year, half of the cohort was being put in a place where they wouldn't get to be a Director before the course was finished.

There were differences in the interpretations as well - the men tended to emphasise prestige sites - temple, palaces as well as battlefields. The women tended to emphasise the evidence from living places of all sizes and the trade and population movements that connected them.

There was much more! The upshot was that ~

* the Department changed the way it did things and we all had to step outside our comfort zones and do stuff we weren't immediately drawn to.
* our attitudes to the data became very critical of the received wisdom on gender roles and the way that data is used - that was true of all students.

I think the same thing happened with the presentations of the other pairs?

Does that make sense @pandacracker , O wisest and best of all pandacrackers?

 

[pandacracker]

Does that make sense @pandacracker

Oh, yes. Very interesting.

Ta muchly

 

[Iris]

I had taken down a meal to my friend whose husband had the stroke and told her to freeze the rest as there was a large lot.
Anyway her son, who had been in to see his father, came to the door and said she needed to come to the car to get something.
She thought it was just the washing but it was her husband who had improved so much that they sent him home.

 

[maximus otter]

l was trimming some dead, dry skin from the end of my thumb using my Swiss Army Knife when l saw a tiny amount of blood, and realised l’d nicked myself without feeling so much as a twinge.

Unwhinge? Damn, l can sharpen a knife!

(Or l’ve contracted leprosy).

maximus otter

 

[ramonmercado]

l was trimming some dead, dry skin from the end of my thumb using my Swiss Army Knife when l saw a tiny amount of blood, and realised l’d nicked myself without feeling so much as a twinge.

Unwhinge? Damn, l can sharpen a knife!

(Or l’ve contracted leprosy).

maximus otter

I have a tiny SAK with an incredibly sharp blade, I've cut myself with it.

 

[maximus otter]

I have a tiny SAK with an incredibly sharp blade, I've cut myself with it.

View attachment 37580

l fail to see how any civilised creature can survive from day to day without an SAK.

maximus otter

 

[hunck]

Police appeal - have you seen this man? If so, please get in contact - do not approach.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Police appeal - have you seen this man? If so, please get in contact - do not approach.

View attachment 37616

Yeah, he's clearly a knife nut. Probably has a wall rack stuffed with offensive weapons like that.

 

[Frideswide]

l fail to see how any civilised creature can survive from day to day without an SAK.

maximus otter

Me too! Not often I'm called a civilised creature but I'll take it when it's offered.

 

[Kondoru]

That's wonderful Frideswide; I studied archaeology as a BSc but we didn't cover stuff like Field Archaeology.

 

[Frideswide]

That's wonderful Frideswide; I studied archaeology as a BSc but we didn't cover stuff like Field Archaeology.

I was desperate to go to York and study with Philip Rahtz. Well worth it.

 

[maximus otter]

I'm often not a fan of new tech, but I've just been seriously impressed.

I ordered something very unexciting - a belt, thanks for asking - from Amazon. Seeing that postage was - IIRC - £4, or I could have it delivered to an "Amazon locker" close by free of charge, I looked into the locker option.

Long/short, I selected a locker outside a retail premises less than a mile away.

Today, I received email notification that the belt had been placed in the locker awaiting my collection. The email included a bar code and a multi-digit code number for the locker door. I printed off the email, but the first attempt by the printer was rubbish, with the code huge and almost off the A4 page. Accordingly, I printed another which turned out fine.

Off I cycled.

On arrival I chained up my bike and walked to the locker. LED screen; "Cylon's Eye" bar code scanner: Fine.

I took the A4 printed sheet out of my bergen with the second, duff sheet behind it, and began to read the code number, in case I required it.

The locker swung silently open just to my left.

Let me re-state that: the bar code was on Sheet 1, facing me, and there was a second piece of A4 paper behind it, between Sheet 1 and the bar code scanner. I was about two to three feet from the scanner, yet it still detected my unique code and opened the correct locker!

Top marks, Amazon blokes!

maximus otter

 

[Mythopoeika]

There used to be an Amazon locker in town, but it disappeared when the newsagent that housed it went bust.
They're pretty useful.

 

[cycleboy2]

Had a really good week last week.

I was made redundant late last year (not great but not a disaster) and started picking up freelance writing in January - bike tests and reviews for websites and magazines. But for the last two weeks I've been working at home as a sub-editor for my old cycling magazine.

This was two weeks of seven-hour days and I not only really enjoyed it - I'm a very experienced sub with an in-depth knowledge of the subject - but I had very, very positive feedback from the chief sub. In the past she knew me mainly as a writer whose copy would often be in late; my colleague and I had more work than the other people in the division - quantifiably so - and hence struggled with deadlines. She didn't know me as a sub but my work was quick and 'clean', which hopefully will lead to more holiday-cover work etc.

But there was more than that. One day we had 'our' two deer and a fox in the garden at the same time. I tried to take a picture of the fox when it was at eye-level on a wall but the camera wouldn't work – I did get one of its backside 30 metres away! (I will post the very unimpressive pic) And last night I heard owls, foxes and something else, possibly hedgehogs. We haven't seen one here but going by the sounds it may have been the little fellas. I must keep one of my bike lights (1200 lumens) upstairs to have a look next time.

And I also played 7-a-side football for the first time since December - 5-0, 5-4, 2-0 wins; we play first-to-five wins, then start again. No injuries either, which at 58 has to be a win, too.

My parents had their second Covid jabs, so light is slowly appearing at the end of the tunnel. I hope...

And then today, five sales went through on eBay (the clearout continues apace) for a total of nearly £300. Result!

 

[maximus otter]

l submitted my application for my old age pension yesterday!

The government seems to works off actuarial tables which assure them that a man born in 1955 will only make it to 69.89 years, therefore he’ll draw less than four years’ pension. My dad made it to 86 despite being RAF aircrew through WW2, and being an enthusiastic smoker and drinker in his earlier years.

l plan on getting a sheaf of telegrams from the next monarch. Bwahahaha!

maximus otter

 

[Iris]

My shower finally seems to be working properly again.
Last week it suddenly blocked and after using various methods and vigorous pumping with a plunger it finally gurgled free.
It makes you appreciate having a worry free shower again.

 

[Souleater]

Today is the day that England reopens, yay
A little song to celebrate.

 

[maximus otter]

Today is the day that England reopens, yay

Anyway: l have my first gym session of 2021 booked for this affy. lf l’m typing slowly (if at all) around dinner time, that’ll be why...

maximus otter

Edited to add: “Aaaaaaaaarghhhhh!”

That is all.

m.o.

 

[JamesWhitehead]

Immersed in my DIY spasm and needing encouragement, I was sceptical about the One-Coat gloss paint, which I found in my store. If it was any good, why did I not remember it? Taking the lid off was not entirely reassuring. On the bright side, there was plenty of it; had I used it at all?

It had curdled somewhat but the tin gave me gruff advice not to mix it; I was soon, gingerly, pasting its brilliant white phlegm onto my door-frame. See how it goes, eh?

Providing it dries - and it seems to be doing - the answer will be splendidly! Better, by far, than I had anticipated. That little investment of ten years ago may serve to cover the rest of the house, in a season when there is more time than money!

 

[Souleater]

Immersed in my DIY spasm and needing encouragement, I was sceptical about the One-Coat gloss paint, which I found in my store. If it was any good, why did I not remember it? Taking the lid off was not entirely reassuring. On the bright side, there was plenty of it; had I used it at all?

It had curdled somewhat but the tin gave me gruff advice not to mix it; I was soon, gingerly, pasting its brilliant white phlegm onto my door-frame. See how it goes, eh?

Providing it dries - and it seems to be doing - the answer will be splendidly! Better, by far, than I had anticipated. That little investment of ten years ago may serve to cover the rest of the house, in a season when there is more time than money!

If you prepare the surface correctly and use a good under coat it should be good, personally i do like it, but each to his own

 

[JamesWhitehead]

Exactly! It says it can be used without undercoats but I am applying it over several coats of primer and undercoat. The main advantage has been that it does not drip or run. The proof of the pudding will be how long it lasts . . .

 

[cycleboy2]

I was on the phone talking to my wife this morning, while watching 'our' two deer in the garden – mum at the top eating grass; young'un chomping through a bush just outside the window when suddenly the youngster was really spooked. Our new visitor, a fox, had just jumped over from next door and mum was having none of it, chasing the fox all over the garden. Eventually the fox jumped onto the wooden fence and disappeared into the woods and grass beyond it.

About 30 seconds later the fox came back in and was chased around by the mum for another 20 seconds or so - it was like a Tom and Jerry cartoon! I can't imagine the fox is a threat to the fawn, who's nearly fully grown, but mum was having none of it. Go, girl!

It's like having your own wildlife show here sometimes. The deer have been visitors for a decade or so, and we even had to get fire brigade and RSPCA out years ago when the adult male got stuck in our gate – shoulders got through, hips didn't fit. So we had the gate cut apart and the deer ran off more or less unscathed.

The fox is a new visitor but that's five or six visits in the last month, that we've seen, presumably he/she's here more often than that.

(We don't live on a massive country estate – it's a semi-detached former council house but it does have a large garden that backs onto woods/farm/grass.)

 

[Coastaljames]

I just had the most fantastic conversation with a chap which turned out to be laden with synchronicity and blessings...and potential for the future.