New-Cleckit Dominie
@ncdominie.bsky.social
University maths teacher (failed academic); very amateur local history; slightly worse photography. Uaireannan beagan Gàidhlig cuideachd. Same handle on the elephant site. Web: http://www.dominie.scot.
Typo for "Lars Skull-Eater", of course. I'd need to check my references, but I think he makes a passing appearance in Orkneyinga Saga.
(Also: use human translators. They know a duck from an owl, and will only eat your skull if you suggest they work unpaid "for the exposure".)
(Also: use human translators. They know a duck from an owl, and will only eat your skull if you suggest they work unpaid "for the exposure".)
The translation from Danish is arguably worse. It's named as a Great scaup, great and great crested grebes and "Large skull-eater", which is *almost* a literal translation, but only if you get confused about "skal"(shell). Apparently it should not be confused with a crested martin (not a species)
November 10, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Typo for "Lars Skull-Eater", of course. I'd need to check my references, but I think he makes a passing appearance in Orkneyinga Saga.
(Also: use human translators. They know a duck from an owl, and will only eat your skull if you suggest they work unpaid "for the exposure".)
(Also: use human translators. They know a duck from an owl, and will only eat your skull if you suggest they work unpaid "for the exposure".)
STUDENT VOICE: Give us more feedback! No, more than that! We want better feedback! We need more feedback! Not enough feedback! WE CAN HAZ FEEDBACK NOW.
ME: Could you please show me some work so I can give you feedback on it?
STUDENT VOICE: haha no
ME: Could you please show me some work so I can give you feedback on it?
STUDENT VOICE: haha no
November 10, 2025 at 6:59 PM
STUDENT VOICE: Give us more feedback! No, more than that! We want better feedback! We need more feedback! Not enough feedback! WE CAN HAZ FEEDBACK NOW.
ME: Could you please show me some work so I can give you feedback on it?
STUDENT VOICE: haha no
ME: Could you please show me some work so I can give you feedback on it?
STUDENT VOICE: haha no
The emergency call system in one of the lifts is malfunctioning.
When it switched itself on and started emitting low, breathy whispers, I should probably not have told my fellow passengers it was the ghost of someone who got trapped in there twenty years ago, still trying to call for help.
When it switched itself on and started emitting low, breathy whispers, I should probably not have told my fellow passengers it was the ghost of someone who got trapped in there twenty years ago, still trying to call for help.
November 10, 2025 at 12:04 PM
The emergency call system in one of the lifts is malfunctioning.
When it switched itself on and started emitting low, breathy whispers, I should probably not have told my fellow passengers it was the ghost of someone who got trapped in there twenty years ago, still trying to call for help.
When it switched itself on and started emitting low, breathy whispers, I should probably not have told my fellow passengers it was the ghost of someone who got trapped in there twenty years ago, still trying to call for help.
Status: looking at the size of the crayon a senior colleague has managed to stick up their nose this time, and thinking we should just leave it there and give them some glue to eat while we're at it.
November 10, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Status: looking at the size of the crayon a senior colleague has managed to stick up their nose this time, and thinking we should just leave it there and give them some glue to eat while we're at it.
"There are things it is good for, but the real prize is using it anyway."
NEW on Wonkhe: There are legitimate use-cases for AI that deliver efficiency, but for Nick Jennings and Sam Grogan the real prize is active development of AI learning partnership skills buff.ly/UriccMh
November 10, 2025 at 8:40 AM
"There are things it is good for, but the real prize is using it anyway."
BREAKING: Odo of Bayeux resigns after claims that tapestry was edited to make it appear that William of Normandy incited his army to invade England.
November 9, 2025 at 6:19 PM
BREAKING: Odo of Bayeux resigns after claims that tapestry was edited to make it appear that William of Normandy incited his army to invade England.
This story continues to scale new heights of such perfect Frenchness that you should only be able to read it on Minitel.
Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...
Fedora man unmasked: Meet the teen behind the Louvre mystery photo
Fifteen-year-old Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux has become an internet sensation after an Associated Press photo captured him outside the Louvre on the day of a crown jewels heist.
apnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:52 PM
This story continues to scale new heights of such perfect Frenchness that you should only be able to read it on Minitel.
Annual repost for this: in memory of Ted, of Joe, and of Doris; and for the silence.
new-cleckit.dominie.scot/silks/
new-cleckit.dominie.scot/silks/
November 9, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Annual repost for this: in memory of Ted, of Joe, and of Doris; and for the silence.
new-cleckit.dominie.scot/silks/
new-cleckit.dominie.scot/silks/
One for Southsiders: Snuff Mill Bridge in an anonymous painting from 1836 (artuk.org/discover/art...).
I think the "Auld Hoose" of the title is a venerable pub (oldglasgowpubs.com/tag/the-auld...), later transferred to Old Castle Road, and finally closed when Cathcart went dry in 1921.
I think the "Auld Hoose" of the title is a venerable pub (oldglasgowpubs.com/tag/the-auld...), later transferred to Old Castle Road, and finally closed when Cathcart went dry in 1921.
November 8, 2025 at 8:06 PM
One for Southsiders: Snuff Mill Bridge in an anonymous painting from 1836 (artuk.org/discover/art...).
I think the "Auld Hoose" of the title is a venerable pub (oldglasgowpubs.com/tag/the-auld...), later transferred to Old Castle Road, and finally closed when Cathcart went dry in 1921.
I think the "Auld Hoose" of the title is a venerable pub (oldglasgowpubs.com/tag/the-auld...), later transferred to Old Castle Road, and finally closed when Cathcart went dry in 1921.
With an eye to Photo 51 etc., has anyone written about stolen-discovery narratives as a counterpart to Eureka-moment narratives? It feels like the same underlying model of a discovery as a discrete event, neatly packaged with the credit.
November 8, 2025 at 12:01 PM
With an eye to Photo 51 etc., has anyone written about stolen-discovery narratives as a counterpart to Eureka-moment narratives? It feels like the same underlying model of a discovery as a discrete event, neatly packaged with the credit.
A couple of photies of that spectacular sunset earlier this week.
November 8, 2025 at 9:48 AM
A couple of photies of that spectacular sunset earlier this week.
This is good (and see also the replies).
If you're appalled by Watson's dreadful opinions, it's worth learning how science works so you have some idea how to tackle the injustices. Great Man Did Great Thing is a very bad model of science, but Bad Man Did Bad Thing is not an awful lot better.
If you're appalled by Watson's dreadful opinions, it's worth learning how science works so you have some idea how to tackle the injustices. Great Man Did Great Thing is a very bad model of science, but Bad Man Did Bad Thing is not an awful lot better.
If I see one more stupid Rosalind Franklin take I'm going to lose my mind. Thank god for @matthewcobb.bsky.social and @nccomfort.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure
Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player.
www.nature.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:22 AM
This is good (and see also the replies).
If you're appalled by Watson's dreadful opinions, it's worth learning how science works so you have some idea how to tackle the injustices. Great Man Did Great Thing is a very bad model of science, but Bad Man Did Bad Thing is not an awful lot better.
If you're appalled by Watson's dreadful opinions, it's worth learning how science works so you have some idea how to tackle the injustices. Great Man Did Great Thing is a very bad model of science, but Bad Man Did Bad Thing is not an awful lot better.
Deplore what is to be deplored,
and then find out the rest.
and then find out the rest.
November 7, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Deplore what is to be deplored,
and then find out the rest.
and then find out the rest.
I see Mr George Monbiot is an expert on mediaeval history now.
Thinking of my mediaevalist friends at this difficult time for all of you.
Thinking of my mediaevalist friends at this difficult time for all of you.
November 7, 2025 at 3:51 PM
I see Mr George Monbiot is an expert on mediaeval history now.
Thinking of my mediaevalist friends at this difficult time for all of you.
Thinking of my mediaevalist friends at this difficult time for all of you.
Amazon here, targeting the market consisting of people who for some reason buy books but don't actually like books, or writers, or reading.
(Authors, please have nothing to do with this slop-dispenser, which will mangle your prose and put translators — your allies — out of work.)
(Authors, please have nothing to do with this slop-dispenser, which will mangle your prose and put translators — your allies — out of work.)
Amazon has launched a new AI-driven translation service, Kindle Translate, for Kindle Direct Publishing authors 👇 #BookSky
Amazon launches AI translation service for indie authors
ebx.sh
November 7, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Amazon here, targeting the market consisting of people who for some reason buy books but don't actually like books, or writers, or reading.
(Authors, please have nothing to do with this slop-dispenser, which will mangle your prose and put translators — your allies — out of work.)
(Authors, please have nothing to do with this slop-dispenser, which will mangle your prose and put translators — your allies — out of work.)
Colleagues! As you know we have ambitious strategic transformation objectives. We are therefore taking the following actions:
1. Cheese is now a kind of dog
2. Strategic mandates will be mandatory under the mandate strategy with effect from 31 Nov
3. e.g. Doncaster
I look forward to your support.
1. Cheese is now a kind of dog
2. Strategic mandates will be mandatory under the mandate strategy with effect from 31 Nov
3. e.g. Doncaster
I look forward to your support.
November 7, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Colleagues! As you know we have ambitious strategic transformation objectives. We are therefore taking the following actions:
1. Cheese is now a kind of dog
2. Strategic mandates will be mandatory under the mandate strategy with effect from 31 Nov
3. e.g. Doncaster
I look forward to your support.
1. Cheese is now a kind of dog
2. Strategic mandates will be mandatory under the mandate strategy with effect from 31 Nov
3. e.g. Doncaster
I look forward to your support.
Repeating my occasional plea to the developmental psychologists to come up with an object-permanence test for professors.
November 7, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Repeating my occasional plea to the developmental psychologists to come up with an object-permanence test for professors.
Sometimes my morning commute goes all in on the effects.
November 7, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Sometimes my morning commute goes all in on the effects.
I realised the other day that I'd never retold the story of the barque Levenside for this website.
It is neither important nor edifying, but I'm fond of it.
It is neither important nor edifying, but I'm fond of it.
November 7, 2025 at 7:21 AM
I realised the other day that I'd never retold the story of the barque Levenside for this website.
It is neither important nor edifying, but I'm fond of it.
It is neither important nor edifying, but I'm fond of it.
It's not murder if they're not sentient, and if they were sentient they would have known better than to send me that email.
This is a legally watertight argument, right?
This is a legally watertight argument, right?
November 6, 2025 at 4:29 PM
It's not murder if they're not sentient, and if they were sentient they would have known better than to send me that email.
This is a legally watertight argument, right?
This is a legally watertight argument, right?
This is appalling. Sympathy and solidarity to everyone affected at Nottingham.
'Music and modern foreign languages degrees are among courses being suspended at the University of Nottingham, with the institution saying it “cannot rely on additional income” from the coming tuition fee rises.' 1/3
Nottingham suspends music, language and nursing courses
University says financial uncertainties continue as government’s proposed student levy will ‘wipe out any benefits’ from rising tuition fees
www.timeshighereducation.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:33 PM
This is appalling. Sympathy and solidarity to everyone affected at Nottingham.
Unpopular opinion: if you can only teach competently in your own research specialism then maybe that's a you problem and you shouldn't go off on rants against those of us who are a bit more versatile.
November 6, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Unpopular opinion: if you can only teach competently in your own research specialism then maybe that's a you problem and you shouldn't go off on rants against those of us who are a bit more versatile.
*small voice* the vast majority of successful politicians have a humanities background, so pointing at a few you like and saying "see! studying the humanities makes you more human!" is very bad logic indeed.
November 6, 2025 at 7:23 AM
*small voice* the vast majority of successful politicians have a humanities background, so pointing at a few you like and saying "see! studying the humanities makes you more human!" is very bad logic indeed.
Anyone who claims this is a "nation of animal lovers" can bloody well explain 5 November, then.
November 5, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Anyone who claims this is a "nation of animal lovers" can bloody well explain 5 November, then.