MrsDoyle
@MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works
- Comment on Liquid Trees 4 days ago:
The London plane tree is particularly suitable for urban areas, it’s resistant to air pollution.
- Comment on Liquid Trees 4 days ago:
I discovered when I joined a volunteer litter-picking group in my town that some people really hate trees. And I must emphasise HATE. They hate the shade they cast in summer, the way the leaves block the all-important View. They hate the fallen leaves in autumn. They hate the bare branches in winter. They hate the risk of branches falling in storms. They hate the racket the birds make. I was astonished - it never occurred to me that people would feel so strongly.
Turns out I’m a bloody tree-hugging extremist.
- Comment on Sycamore Gap tree destroyed in 'moronic mission', court told 1 week ago:
From an earlier report:
Wright said Carruthers sent Graham a Facebook post from a man called Kevin Hartness saying: “Some weak people that walk this earth … disgusting behaviour.”
Two minutes later Graham replied to Carruthers with a voice note saying: “That Kevin Hartness comment. Weak … fucking weak? Does he realise how heavy shit is?”
Carruthers replied with his own voice note saying: “I’d like to see Kevin Hartness launch an operation like we did last night … I don’t think he’s got the minerals.”
- Comment on [Opinion] Windows isn't an OS, it's a bad habit that wants to become an addiction 1 week ago:
Windows is doing its best to shake me off. It keeps reminding me that it’s ditching Win 10 and I’d better upgrade. Except I won’t, because my (perfectly good) computer isn’t up to spec for 11. So in effect it’s telling me that I’d better hurry up and decide on a Linux distro, tick tock.
- Comment on Why does it seem like everyone is so good looking and beautiful nowadays? 1 week ago:
You’re obviously not from round here… (Gesturing vaguely at shuffling hordes of very plain people in my town. Self included. I fit right in.)
Seriously though, comparing yourself with strangers is a terrible idea. That said, if you do want to smarten up a bit, I’d suggest going to a menswear store and asking an assistant to assist. Explain your dilemma, ask them to help you put together one outfit, “smart casual” would be a good start. Good luck!
- Comment on What is the best take your blood pressure to get the most accurate results? 2 weeks ago:
Extra info you didn’t ask for but might help: the doctor gave me a sheet to record my BP for a week. Two readings in the morning, a few minutes apart, two readings in the afternoon, a few minutes apart. Once I’d done that he added and divided the results to get the average. Too high, so now I’m on meds.
I was a bit blasé about it at first - pfft, I feel fine! But he explained that high BP can cause a stroke. You can recover just fine from a heart attack, but a stroke can be devastating, if you even survive it. You will feel absolutely fine until suddenly you’re on the floor, unable to move one side of your body or speak coherently. Scared me into taking it seriously!
- Comment on Should naming your children stupid names be illegal? 2 weeks ago:
For example Caoimhe, pronounced Keeva.
- Comment on Liz Truss to launch ‘uncensored’ social network to counter mainstream media 3 weeks ago:
Also:
- Comment on Do you use your blinker in a car? 3 weeks ago:
Always always signal your intention. I heard a woman complaining that her new car had lane control, which forced her to indicate when changing lanes. “It’s so annoying, I mean it’s obvious I’m overtaking, I don’t need to indicate!”
Also, as a frequent pedestrian I appreciate when drivers and cyclists indicate and judge heavily when they don’t. So frustrating to be waiting to cross the road and someone turns without indicating.
- Comment on Is this picture idea immature? 4 weeks ago:
The Guardian does an occasional feature called Flashback, where a celebrity recreates a childhood photo. It’s a bit of fun! You have my permission to go right ahead. A sense of humour is very attractive.
- Comment on 6* months away now. If you're on 10, do you plan to upgrade? Make the jump to Linux? 4 weeks ago:
My (perfectly good) PC isn’t Win 11 compatible, so I can’t upgrade from 10. I’ve got Linux running on an old laptop so I’m thinking of installing it on my PC. Buuut a few years back I moved from Google Drive to OneDrive and so now I’m looking at Proton Drive instead. It’s all a big time soak, sigh. But worth it? I guess… The timing isn’t great either - I’ve got an exam in October that I need to study hard for and do practical prep as well, plus I have travel plans. It’s all a bit much. I’m too old to be this busy!
- Comment on Husband needs proof news is censored 5 weeks ago:
Words to watch out for are things like “attacked”, “bashed” or “slammed” instead of “criticised”; “forced” instead of “chose”, eg “company forced to cut jobs”; “muzzled” or “gagged” instead of perhaps “censored”. The implied violence charges the story emotionally, it’s the most common form of news manipulation. They’re trying to make you feel - usually fear or anger - rather than think.
- Comment on Do animals think we're cute? 5 weeks ago:
I tripped and fell over one time and the racket I made woke my dog up. He looked across at me lying on the floor, yawned and went back to sleep. “Still alive? Jolly good. Wake me again at dinnertime.”
- Comment on Which is the cheapest way to manage my body after death ... 1 month ago:
I’ve signed up for donation for dissection. One slight caveat is that the institution - in my case a medical school - can decline to take your body if you’ve died of something infectious or if it’s been too damaged, eg in a crash. If all goes well, they collect the body, and when they’re finished with it they have it cremated. Family can have the ashes if they want. There’s a nice memorial garden with the names of donors. It’s all free… I mean, this is the medical school where Burke and Hare sold their murder victims, so they’re quite grateful to get your corpse for nothing.
- Comment on The gentrified forest near me removed the bins. .. From their café/picnic area 1 month ago:
I fully support the choice to remove the bins. I visited a beauty spot in Scotland recently that has a coffee van in the carpark. The young couple I took there went to add their empty cups to the already overflowing bin, and were baffled when I insisted they take them to the car, which was ten steps away. “But there’s a bin!” Yes you numpties, and the wind is already spreading its contents everywhere. Be part of the solution, not the problem.
- Comment on Trust your training 1 month ago:
Compound interest.
- Comment on How come in most school in the USA (at least mine) they teach Spain Spanish instead of Mexico Spanish? Would not Mexico Spanish be an obvious choice to teach? 1 month ago:
I once stayed in a youth hostel rural Quebec and had a really weirdly hostile reception from people there, despite dredging up my very best schoolgirl French to try and make conversation. Turns out they thought I was from Ontario. When I revealed I was a Kiwi they were all suddenly very friendly. Too late!
- Comment on How do you feel about someone taking the coins people tossed into a fountain or other public waterworks display for "wishes?" 1 month ago:
A long, loooonng time ago I met a woman who was one of the people dressing up as reenactors in an early colonial American settlement. She cosplayed as a weaver in a house that had a pond outside. Every day before she started work she would hoik her skirt up under her armpits and wade into the pond to pick up coins with her feet (she had very articulate toes). Inevitably she turned round one day to find a family of visitors gawping at her non-colonial underwear. She said the coins added up to quite a haul over the week.
- Comment on Did people experience doom scrolling with newspapers and magazines? 2 months ago:
I once moved into a house that had been lived in by a very elderly person. In the kitchen there was a pincushion hanging on the wall that was covered in death notices clipped from the newspaper. Kind of like doom scrolling, just super personal. Watching everyone you knew die, until it was your turn.
I’ve made myself sad all over again. :(
- Comment on The Nightshade Family 2 months ago:
Potatoes have fruits as well - they look like little dark green tomatoes. Toxic of course, because nightshade.
- Comment on I have an entire cabinet currently storing empty jars... 2 months ago:
You know what grinds my gears? I give someone a jar of my homemade jam, or of honey from my bees, in one of my GOOD jars, and I never see that jar again. One “friend” said she had some jars, did I want them? Yes please! Aaaand they were weird tall skinny jars or tiny sample size jars, all with the labels still on. Straight in the recycling bin. I should have kept them and given her a tiny sample jar of honey instead of the normal pound.
Rant over.
- Comment on Please allow ads! JK, you need to subscribe, too! LOL 2 months ago:
I mean back in the olden days I would pay for a newspaper, for example, because the ads were USEFUL. Every week there’d be a motors section where all the dealers would advertise their deals on a full page each, and punters would try and sell their clapped-out cars in the classifieds. Then once a week it was the day for job vacacies, another day was property. Gradually the businesses started getting websites and stopped advertising in papers - which in turn got thinner and less useful. They had their own websites but most never worked out how to make money from them. People could get their news on TV, newspapers were only useful for starting fires with.
Magazines have followed a similar pattern I guess. It’s a bit of a death spiral. Sad, but there you go. The online ads are just garbage, they’re not useful at all. I don’t want them, I don’t want anything they’re trying to sell.
- Comment on Can I still consider myself a “young woman” after I turn 24? I turn 24 in March (next month). 2 months ago:
I’m 72 and yes, you’re spot-on. You’re both young! Seriously, if I hear of someone dying at 62, I think oh how sad, so young! Perspective is everything.
- Comment on cilanto 🌿 2 months ago:
Oh yes, coriander. Yuck. I was so relieved to discover it was a genetic thing that I was scraping this disgusting weed off my food while everyone else was saying how delicious it was.
- Comment on why do people say annoying/rude stuff and then tell you “it was a joke!” 2 months ago:
Ugh, I have a friend whose humour often involves mean-spirited jibes and put-downs. I was in a low mood one day and told him I didn’t like the tone of his “jokes”, that they sometimes stung. He really dialled back after that.
- Comment on Liquid Death Quietly Adds Stevia to Tea Drinks 2 months ago:
The drink on the right is caffeinated, maybe that’s why they added sweetener? The label on the left doesn’t mention caffeine.
- Comment on Which movies are much darker when you rewatch them as an adult? 3 months ago:
Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The first revelation was that the romantic leads were pretty much BOTH prostitutes. And then that horrendous turn by Mickey Rooney as a Japanese man!
…m.wikipedia.org/…/Breakfast_at_Tiffany's_(film)
Also the musical Gigi. More prostitution, this time with a mother grooming her daughter to enter the profession, while her client Maurice Chevalier croons “Thank heavens for little girls.”
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigi_(1958_film)
I saw both these films as a child and had no clue.
- Comment on Anon has a business idea 3 months ago:
- Comment on if you work night shifts, do you have a life? Are you healthy? 3 months ago:
Years ago I had a job where we had a “graveyard” shift. It was a solo gig, started at 11pm and finished at 7am when the morning shift took over. You’d work it for seven days and then have seven days off. We shared the shift, so that everyone did it a few times a year. You’d think with seven days off it would be popular, but no. No-one wanted it.
I hated it. The worst part was the isolation. There were duties to carry out, but it was mainly checking things. Alone. It was difficult to sleep when I got home and it messed with my head, I felt like a zombie. I’d meet up with friends in the evening and struggle to make conversation. It took up to five days to recover. Very, very unhealthy.
More recently I worked mostly 5pm to 2am, and that was much more manageable. We were a team, and we often met up during the day for sports or a movie. It was awkward socialising with other friends though; I’d be working when they weren’t.
- Comment on Boomers with their loud Samsung phone sounds 3 months ago:
Someone told them they’d get brain cancer.
Seriously though, a lot of us olds have our phones Bluetoothed to our hearing aids. So at least with us you only get to hear one side of the conversation. “I’M ON THE BUS!”
