I hope this sets off a whole chain of people posting pictures of their truly weird hands.

For what it’s worth my own right hand has bad arthritis, every finger is wonky in its own special way, also the thumb. And I’m old, so it’s all veiny and speckled with liver spots. No, you’re not getting a photo.

Reality check: New Zealanders are leaving New Zealand in record numbers.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/12/new-zealand-cost-of-living-pressures-record-people-leaving-australia

Ok I’m coming round to your place for dinner. That sounds AMAZING.

Huh, I did not know that. Thanks! I was in a discussion over lunch the other day about chemistry - one woman revealed she was a chemistry teacher, which prompted an anti-science member of the group to scoff, “What relevance does chemistry have in daily life?” I gave cooking as a prime example of chemistry - cakes rise, sauces reduce, roasts brown. And now I can emulsifying to the list!

No. Combine the sauce with pasta, put it in an oven proof dish and grate extra cheese on top. Put in the oven until the topping is browned and bubbling. Then serve. (Also, add a bit of mustard to the cheese sauce, it perks up the flavour.)

Hah! In Scotland we dip pizza in batter and deep fry it. With a deep-fried Mars bar for afters.

https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/five-glaswegian-chip-shop-delicacies-11462402

Last year my email address - initialslastname@gmail.com - was added to the group list for a bunch of old ladies in England. First I was advised of my spot on the flower roster for the church, then I got someone’s holiday photos, a reminder that Gerald’s birthday was on the 9th, a lovely eCard congratulating me on my wedding anniversary… on and on.

I tried deleting them but they kept coming, and I worried about all the cool stuff initialslastname was missing out on. I sent an email to the whole group saying stop it & got a heartfelt apology and promises to correct it, but the emails have kept on coming - they all have me in their address books now. If I wasn’t so lazy it would be a good incentive to move fully to my proton address.

Last time I was in the mosh pit was a Pogues gig. Might have been hit by Shane MacGowan’s spit. Totally worth it.

I my (extensive) cookie experience, double chocolate usually means the same amount of chips, but the dough part is also chocolate flavoured. Hard to tell in this instance, but the “double” cookies may be a shade darker.

And that’s a real dagger tucked into his sash. (I learned a bit about fighting Sikhs from reading Neal Stephenson’s Termination Shock, and watching a load of YouTube videos.)

I know a couple of blokes like this. Great stories, but pleeeease I have things to do. I wouldn’t mind so much if it was a conversation but it’s a monologue, with barely room for a “good grief” or “oh gosh”. One of my friends now just says “I’m off, bye” and walks out, in the middle of a story about crocodiles in the Zambezi or whatever.

My experience tells me that if you eat it, you’ll spend the next several hours vomiting. Your friends who also ate it will go out dancing and have a fabulous time.

Lovely weather just about everywhere except my home town lol.

No speed limit? Errr no mate, NZ definitely does have speed limits. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Speed_limits_in_New_Zealand

That looks like an illustration from a 1950s cookbook. Mystery meat, shredded stuff, crinkle-cut discs, quartered boiled eggs, all in Kodachrome. Yummy! (I would eat it.)

My induction hob has much finer heat control than my old gas stove - I especially love the low-low temp simmer. And the fact that I never come down in the morning and wonder why the kitchen is warm, before discovering that a back burner has been left on overnight.

The one eclipse I saw was in cloud, and I was surprised at how intense the experience still was. At the moment of totality, all the light seemed to suck away quite suddenly, even though it had obviously been getting darker gradually. It felt very eerie and a little frightening.

I was in Cornwall in the UK, and the amusing thing was seeing the sparkle of people’s camera flashes going off all along the stretch of coast. I’d love to see those photos. “This might look like a picture of a fence taken at night, but trust me, it was 11am in summer…”

Far-away family are the only reason I use FB too. My sister and some of my nieces use it to a disturbing degree, “checking in” when they’re in restaurants etc, posting “memories”, pictures of their kids. My sister has a special pose for her FB selfies - head tilt, fake smile. I hate it all with a burning fire, even when I’m clicking the heart button on a puppy photo.

AI just seems like another step closer to the abyss, the death of true creativity.

A ship that size takes a loooong time to stop. There are no brakes. It has momentum and will keep moving forward, even without propulsion, even with the engine in full astern mode.

Is this where the dino footprints are? Cool!