Lauren
@crownedwithlaurels.bsky.social
Tolkien nerd, Irish abroad, simultaneously woke and broke. She/her.
Thóg sé cúig uair an chloig orm an jóc seo a thuiscint 😭
November 20, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Thóg sé cúig uair an chloig orm an jóc seo a thuiscint 😭
What a cute wiggly graph though. The English proficiency millipede.
November 20, 2025 at 2:28 PM
What a cute wiggly graph though. The English proficiency millipede.
Holy shit, red wine and coke and lime juice is an actual drink with a name? I invented this myself from first principles by mixing stuff together that was in the house at Christmas! It slaps!
November 18, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Holy shit, red wine and coke and lime juice is an actual drink with a name? I invented this myself from first principles by mixing stuff together that was in the house at Christmas! It slaps!
Being able to name and point to every single country on a blank map is basically my only party trick, and I'm never going to get to show it off because a party that lame would simply cease to exist immediately like one of those super-heavy elements
November 17, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Being able to name and point to every single country on a blank map is basically my only party trick, and I'm never going to get to show it off because a party that lame would simply cease to exist immediately like one of those super-heavy elements
Oh no! My Furniture and Fruits! Carried off by impious Perfons!
November 13, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Oh no! My Furniture and Fruits! Carried off by impious Perfons!
Tech guys reinventing the humanities from first principles like they keep reinventing buses
November 13, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Tech guys reinventing the humanities from first principles like they keep reinventing buses
The fact that they appear so worried makes it seem like they're actually afraid of being compelled to produce stuff, but like... can't they just... redact the shit out of it and lie? Like what's preventing that from happening? Maybe this is the dumb kind of cynicism on my part but I don't get it!
November 13, 2025 at 11:29 AM
The fact that they appear so worried makes it seem like they're actually afraid of being compelled to produce stuff, but like... can't they just... redact the shit out of it and lie? Like what's preventing that from happening? Maybe this is the dumb kind of cynicism on my part but I don't get it!
Teen pregnancy was more common when I was a teenager myself, and there was a ton of concerned discourse about "teen mums" and if you look actually look at the ages of a lot of the fathers... but nobody was talking about that side of it!
November 13, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Teen pregnancy was more common when I was a teenager myself, and there was a ton of concerned discourse about "teen mums" and if you look actually look at the ages of a lot of the fathers... but nobody was talking about that side of it!
People really don't realise how closely JKR followed a lot of the traditional formulas of English boarding school stories from about the 1910s-40s, because normal people haven't read hundreds of English boarding school stories from about the 1910s-40s. But that's where I come in!
November 13, 2025 at 7:41 AM
People really don't realise how closely JKR followed a lot of the traditional formulas of English boarding school stories from about the 1910s-40s, because normal people haven't read hundreds of English boarding school stories from about the 1910s-40s. But that's where I come in!
The houses would play matches against each other and compete for prizes etc. They'd get reputations over time - like "Smith's are all nerds" or "Murphy's are great at football". Partly based on what the housemaster encouraged, partly just tradition.
November 13, 2025 at 7:40 AM
The houses would play matches against each other and compete for prizes etc. They'd get reputations over time - like "Smith's are all nerds" or "Murphy's are great at football". Partly based on what the housemaster encouraged, partly just tradition.
Pretty much all boarding schools - or the posh ones anyway - had houses. Originally it literally meant a house, in which some of the boys and a teacher (the housemaster) lived. So if the housemaster was Mr. Smith you'd be in Smith.
November 13, 2025 at 7:29 AM
Pretty much all boarding schools - or the posh ones anyway - had houses. Originally it literally meant a house, in which some of the boys and a teacher (the housemaster) lived. So if the housemaster was Mr. Smith you'd be in Smith.
This incident doesn't go quite far enough to prove that the gut feeling that made me unfollow SK nearly ten years ago was correct, but it's certainly something on the scales.
November 13, 2025 at 4:26 AM
This incident doesn't go quite far enough to prove that the gut feeling that made me unfollow SK nearly ten years ago was correct, but it's certainly something on the scales.
Lol I was just about to reply to one of your other posts about this with a comment about how that's why if I had a time machine I'd go back in time and kick the shit out of Freud, but I thought people wouldn't get why and I'd have to explain. Reading my mind!
November 13, 2025 at 4:17 AM
Lol I was just about to reply to one of your other posts about this with a comment about how that's why if I had a time machine I'd go back in time and kick the shit out of Freud, but I thought people wouldn't get why and I'd have to explain. Reading my mind!
There goes my evening
November 12, 2025 at 4:31 PM
There goes my evening
The Home-maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. Novel about family life, domestic labour and gender roles that does NOT go the way you'd expect from how it starts. Literally 100 years old and contains ideas that would be considered progressive today. Free on Gutenberg!
November 12, 2025 at 1:15 PM
The Home-maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. Novel about family life, domestic labour and gender roles that does NOT go the way you'd expect from how it starts. Literally 100 years old and contains ideas that would be considered progressive today. Free on Gutenberg!
Stella Gibbons made fun of pseudo-intellectual sexist dudes a hundred years ago by having a dipshit character in Cold Comfort Farm who was writing a book about how all the novels of the Bronte sisters were secretly written by their brother Branwell. Kind of delightful to see it happen in real life
November 11, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Stella Gibbons made fun of pseudo-intellectual sexist dudes a hundred years ago by having a dipshit character in Cold Comfort Farm who was writing a book about how all the novels of the Bronte sisters were secretly written by their brother Branwell. Kind of delightful to see it happen in real life
"derserves" I need a nap and some juice
November 11, 2025 at 8:57 PM
"derserves" I need a nap and some juice
"Why you go for a shit?" absolutely derserves to be the new standard response to AI posts
November 11, 2025 at 8:48 PM
"Why you go for a shit?" absolutely derserves to be the new standard response to AI posts
I like the Mixed Berries colour theme they've got going on. I must make a crumble this weekend.
November 11, 2025 at 6:54 PM
I like the Mixed Berries colour theme they've got going on. I must make a crumble this weekend.
I was looking forward to listening to this later over Dishes, but now 😒
November 11, 2025 at 6:38 PM
I was looking forward to listening to this later over Dishes, but now 😒
You're correct but I think it's exactly this that makes it difficult for me to be patient with people sometimes (I really do try). Thinking about the scale of the global literacy problem gives the me cold chills! I feel snappish because I'm actually freaked out!
November 11, 2025 at 6:24 PM
You're correct but I think it's exactly this that makes it difficult for me to be patient with people sometimes (I really do try). Thinking about the scale of the global literacy problem gives the me cold chills! I feel snappish because I'm actually freaked out!
Everytime this happens I have to nearly bite through my whole hand to stop myself wading in asking people what Made Them Like This. I know I can't be starting fights with yanks in someone else's mentions, it's not the done thing, but the temptation!! Anyway I blame you for this, and will be suing.
November 11, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Everytime this happens I have to nearly bite through my whole hand to stop myself wading in asking people what Made Them Like This. I know I can't be starting fights with yanks in someone else's mentions, it's not the done thing, but the temptation!! Anyway I blame you for this, and will be suing.
It wasn't any of his children's books - I've blocked the name of it out of my memory but it was one of his adult novels. I presume he's got some talent as a children's author because he seems to have been very successful at that, but (like JKR) he definitely should have stuck to it!
November 11, 2025 at 2:25 PM
It wasn't any of his children's books - I've blocked the name of it out of my memory but it was one of his adult novels. I presume he's got some talent as a children's author because he seems to have been very successful at that, but (like JKR) he definitely should have stuck to it!
I've read exactly one Anthony Horowitz novel - a detective story I picked up in a charity shop - and it was solidly one of the worst books I've ever read in my life, so I'm not particularly surprised he can't see a way to write through this!
November 11, 2025 at 10:24 AM
I've read exactly one Anthony Horowitz novel - a detective story I picked up in a charity shop - and it was solidly one of the worst books I've ever read in my life, so I'm not particularly surprised he can't see a way to write through this!
I don't eat bacon and have no interest in defending its honour but I do want to point out, as it's such a common misconception, that "grade 1 carcinogen" isn't a measure of how severely something impacts cancer risk - it's a measure of the strength of the evidence that it impacts cancer risk at all.
November 11, 2025 at 9:30 AM
I don't eat bacon and have no interest in defending its honour but I do want to point out, as it's such a common misconception, that "grade 1 carcinogen" isn't a measure of how severely something impacts cancer risk - it's a measure of the strength of the evidence that it impacts cancer risk at all.