Spare room prepped for new foster, for the next few weeks.
(We have to keep her entirely separate from Napoleon, obviously)
Guest spotted!
Very young and small for her age. Managed to survive a pregnancy on the street, before being trapped and now neutered. Cared for lovingly by a fosterer before us. Seems more chill than Napoleon was.
Possibly an expelled kitten or stray, rather than feral.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Depending on how she is with us, we may adopt. Tbh once you've got one cat, you might as well have two.
Depends also on whether we feel she'd be okay with Napoleo (and him with her) based on personality, as obvs. We can't introduce them before deciding.
(Because that's not how fostering works. You have to do it properly or not at all)
Anyway. I have yet to decide what I will read to her at lunchtimes. Need to have a think.
Shame there are no good English language books about Queen Louise of Prussia. 😆
Obviously Napoleon is monitoring this situation intensely.
Because who doesn't love a sock filled with valerian root?
You can get an idea of the size of her from that video btw. Tiny, like Napoleon.
How she survived having kittens so young and small is incredible. Tough little kitty.
Meanwhile downstairs I am being very thoroughly cleaned. I suspect because we saw a kitty cage in the hall earlier and he wishes to make sure I know whose property I am.
Napoleon has gone to bed, and now #notMyCat has turned up and is lecturing me on how I didn't need more cats.
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BERNARD: Good morning Minister
HACKER: Not so loud, Bernard. I have a hangover
BERNARD: Another 'Fizz with Liz'?
HACKER: They're called Cabinet now
BERNARD: Sorry, Minister
HUMPHREY: Good MORNING Minister!
HACKER: Not so loud
BERNARD: He has a hangover
HUMPHREY: Ah. Fizz with Liz
BERNARD: They're not called Fizz with Liz anymore
HUMPHREY: They're not? What are they now then?
BERNARD: Cabinet meetings.
HUMPHREY: Very droll, Bernard
BERNARD: No really, that's what the Minister said.
HUMPHREY: I did wonder why the Cabinet Office were buying more Prosecco.
BERNARD: Haven't the Cabinet Office always had a rather high alcohol budget?
HUMPHREY: Not really. Well, not before the last chap. And certainly not Prosecco.
BERNARD: Why?
HUMPHREY: Oh Bernard. Prosecco has never really been a drink conducive to serious government. Look at Italy
Subscribing to the Telegraph's email newsletter is a fantastic way to get a daily temperature check on what they think their readers care and worry about.
You don't even have to read it. I don't. I just read the subject line then delete.
Here's todays:
Every day you get Telegraphness distilled into its purest form in the subject line. They don't have space to waffle or imply. They have to go straight for the thing that they believe is most likely to tempt their subscribers into opening the email.
Honestly. It's fascinating.
I've not done a batch-delete in a while, so here's a snapshot of the last few months in Telegraph-land.
New team member starting this week, which means I've just put in my 'new team member' book order.
Three books I think every web person should own and read:
- Where Wizards Stay Up Late (Katie Hafner/Matthew Lyon)
- Rebel Code (Glyn Moody)
- Moneyball (Michael Lewis)
First two are because I think it's important to know where the web industry came from. Because so much of the structural weirdness (physical and cultural) comes from its deepest roots. Understand DARPA and Open Source, and you get web.
Moneyball because that book is brilliant for teaching people who can't visualise how data can change the way you look at things how to do it. Without them realising. Beyond that, it triggers lightbulbs in how to ask the RIGHT questions about everything, not the obvious questions.
Right. A FINAL thing about John Hodgson, before I go and play computer games and drink booze all evening:
I mean it when I say he cared about people. One reason his (unfinished) History of Northumberland was so long is because HE TRIED TO COVER POOR PEOPLE IN IT. /1 🧵
What I mean is that is that he didn't believe the history of Northumberland was just about the landowners or major sweep of events. The reason it took 16 years before he even hit the Wall Problem (tm) was because he spent so long trying to research regular villages and families.
Now remember, by the time Hodgson reached Vol II Part 3 - where he had to divert to his epic footnote on Hadrian's Wall - he already knew he was dying. He didn't know how long he had, but he knew he would never finish all six volumes.
So you know Hadrian's Wall? Well for over 1000 years everyone thought it was built by someone else.
Until, in 1840, John Hodgson, an unknown Northumbrian clergyman published the LONGEST footnote in history.
Read on... /1
So let's start with the obvious bit: Just HOW did no one know who built Hadrian's Wall?!
Because it was BORING. Nobody really cared who built it. Hadrian didn't. It was there to do a job (keep soldiers busy and keep angry proto-Scottish people from raiding the south).
This meant that by the time later Romans THEMSELVES started wondering which Emperor built it, nobody was kinda sure. Because a whole bunch of Emperors had done wall-like stuff round there.
So Roman historians pretended they totally definitely knew. And handwaved it as Severus.