Alison
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Alison
@finger-post.blog
1.4K followers 350 following 2.7K posts
I write about the Franklin Expedition and other parts of history heavy on the “doomed” and “ill-fated” side of things. I also enjoy petting cats in Victorian cemeteries.

Humanitarian. She/They. #MDANT. #NUJ. #NoTerfs.

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Oh my god, someone brought me mango gummies from Malaysia. Screaming and flailing. And eating mango gummies.
A bag of the most perfect things ever: mango gummies!
November 20, 2025 at 3:09 PM
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This email could have been a search note left in a cairn in 1850, telling me who's looking for me and directing me to the nearest stash of booze and snacks.
Image shows a scrap of paper stained with rust flowers. It reads "Arctic Expedition in search of Sir John Franklin's Expedition" and contains information that HMS Assistance and HMS Intrepid have examined the north shore of Lancaster Sound and the entrance to Wellington Channel and have left provisions at Whaler Point, Port Leopold. Someone (John Barrow Junior) has written "Brought back by Capt. Inglefield 1853" across it in blue ink.
November 19, 2025 at 12:32 PM
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I'm going to ask Satan* for one of these nifty stick-paw-stick remote control-grabbers for christmas.

*not a typo
A vision of hell. A hand of twisted fingers grips a stick that becomes the lower leg and paw of an orange dog, which is in turn gripping another stick.
November 18, 2025 at 11:28 AM
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Without downloading new pics, describe your gender:
Image shows a screenshot of 1980s David Bowie. The subtitles read “I once thought about going Goth for a second. But to be a Goth means denying you’re actually a Goth, and it all got very confusing very quickly.”
November 13, 2025 at 1:20 PM
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There’s nothing like a healthy lunch. And this indeed is nothing like etc etc.
Image shows two macaroni pies in their packaging.
November 13, 2025 at 11:34 AM
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So the poor Bear ran under the shop counter and hid! And then people were able to get some ropes on him, and drag him out. If ever a hug was needed on #HugABearDay...
"Now was the opportunity for those in pursuit, and they quickly took advantage of it. Entering the back shop with a rope, several of them went on to the top of the counter, hanging the noose of the rope over one end, and tempting bruin to emerge from his quarters. The bait succeeded, the noose of the rope was passed over his head and drawn tight, and he was pulled from below the counter a prisoner. He was then carried out of the shop amid the laughter and cheers of the crowd, and safely placed in his cage within Mr. Woods' exhibition."
November 7, 2025 at 1:30 PM
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I'm bearly scratching the surface of my relevant photos here. Here's a couple from Dundee.
Image shows a street sculpture in Dundee, depicting an angry looking Polar Bear attacking a man. The man is understandably running away. He is also carrying a bolt of cloth. Image is of a framed text and image of a Polar Bear in a draper's shop. The text reads: "Polar Bear at large in Dundee! The polar bear sculpture on the pavement references an incident in this shop in 1878. One of two polar bears which had been brought to Dundee for exhibition, from Davis' Straits, on a whaling ship, escaped from its crate when the crate slipped off its barrow and was damaged. Having terrified onlookers in the street the (probably equally terrified) bear bolted into the shop which was at that time owned by a Mr Jamieson, clothier and outfitter. The bear was recaptured in the shop having first demolished a display and having been enraged by his own reflection in a mirror!" That last bit is so relatable.
November 7, 2025 at 11:57 AM
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Luckily I am unbearably busy at work and can't paws to add tons of images to this thread. But the OP was ursine I needed to take a break so here are some more:
"The Greenlander's Supper appropriated by a Bear" - an etching from Leopold McClintock's Voyage of the Fox. Image shows an Inuk in the process of butchering a seal, and being surprised by a very polite Bear who taps him on the back. Image shows a very stoned-looking taxidermy Polar Bear at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa.
November 7, 2025 at 11:45 AM
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Oh boy. Have I got bears for you. #HugABearDay
"Dr Borgen and the Bear", from Murray Smith's book of Arctic Expeditions. Image shows a man and a polar bear enjoying a tender moment - well, the Bear probably thinks the man looks tender. There are other men with rifles approaching, presumably to stop all the hugging. A magic lantern slide titled "11. Nelson's fight with a Bear in the Polar Seas, July 1773". It depicts the future naval hero in the act of swinging a rifle at a shocked and slightly camp looking Bear. I have my suspicions that it is not an accurate depiction of what actually happened.
November 7, 2025 at 11:40 AM
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Do not call them "cokkies"! Please refer to them as "the Officers and men of Her Majesty's Royal Navy".
Image shows an advertising board outside the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. It is advertising "coffee, cardamom and dark chocolate cokkies" and for the life of me I don't understand how such a glaring typo made it out into the wild.
November 6, 2025 at 8:55 AM
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Konferensen (2023) is a lot like AMC’s The Terror. The premise (a team-building retreat with awful colleagues/a Polar expedition) is terrible enough in itself without adding Hubris The Bear/a serial killer. But goodness, this was fun.
A screenshot from the Swedish slasher film Konferensen. It shows a whiteboard where some terrible tryhard has written “Teamwork makes the dream work”, and it’s been sprayed with blood after an outlandish killing.
November 4, 2025 at 10:10 PM
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Remiss of me to not post a dog photo. This is Juno, who lives in Winnipeg. She's the goodest girl and I completely fell in love with her.
Image is of the softest, loveliest Doodle. Her name is Juno and she's perfect: soft wheaten curls, big brown eyes, waggy tail. She is lying on a little mat on a wooden floor, with toys visible behind her.
November 2, 2025 at 6:12 PM
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I had to go into Facebook (I quit in early 2020) to find a specific photo of something and honestly, what the hell is this bullshit:
A screenshot from a Meta hellsite. It shows the profile pic of a white woman with red hair and black specs standing in front of some fairly lights. There's a fecking thought bubble coming out of her head, saying "Today I learned...". Well today I learned not to go into the Meta hellsite, a lesson I should have learned five years ago.
November 2, 2025 at 10:45 AM
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It's really important that you text me ASAFP if you find HMSs Assistance, Pioneer and Intrepid in any of the sweets being handed out over Hallowe'en.

Edward Belcher abandoned these #FranklinSearch ships in the Arctic in 1854 and they haven't been seen since.
An innocent chocolate bar - but inside are three missing ships! The Odious Edward Belcher, removed from our view by RegularMongoose. Image shows an oil painting of a Royal Navy man in dress uniform, covered with medals he should have been stripped of. The head of the man is covered by a large paper bag.
October 30, 2025 at 11:33 AM
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Midweek appreciation post: getting lovely things in the mail from @heykidsshop.bsky.social brings so much joy. Just look at Adam here: everything about him is perfect.
Image shows an Adam Ant (Prince Charming era) hanging decoration from Hey Kids Rock'nRoll, still in its perfect packaging. It is propped up against an overstuffed bookcase. There is a cat postcard and a goofy-looking black cat (sadly not a real one) and some fairylights also in shot.
October 29, 2025 at 3:16 PM
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Women do not like the vehicle.
Image shows a team of running sled dogs pulling a dead polar bear along the ice, like it's a sledge and not a dead polar bear. There's a man sitting on top of the dead polar bear, cracking a whip. In the background, three tall ships appear to be in Winter Quarters.
October 17, 2025 at 9:54 AM
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Screenshot from an NTSB interview with David Lochridge. It reads: “I don't know when it failed. When you do your investigation on the materials that you find on the seabed, it could have been any point. It could be the glue line that I was asking them to do an inspection on. Could have been the titanium. Could have been the viewport. It could have been, as far as I'm made to be aware, it could have been the carbon fibre air tank that they had mounted on the underside of the sub, which allegedly was never tested properly. It could have been anything.” Image shows the Scottish mariner and diving expert David Lochridge in the Netflix doc Titan. Having just referred to Stockton Rush and his OceanGate yes-people as wankers, he has a moment of concern and asks the North American film crew "Is 'wankers' a good word over here?"
October 16, 2025 at 11:28 AM
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Another day, another data breach - this time it's LNER. They seem to have only one (1) data protection officer and he's about to have an extremely bad day. I'm thinking of you, John.
Screenshot of an email from LNER, in which they apologise for something that absolutely was not their fault, and throw their data protection officer to the wolves. Email address is redacted because poor John will be suffering enough.
October 15, 2025 at 9:03 AM
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Someone once read a book about the Franklin Expedition and tried to eat the book.
A screenshot from Abe showing a listing for The Endless Quest: The Life of Sir John Franklin by Ann & Myron Sutton. The book is reasonably priced (a fiver) and the seller is keen to point out that it has a number of bite marks on it.
October 14, 2025 at 7:43 AM
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I wish the media would stop allowing the fascist thug Stephen Yaxley-Lennon to hide behind a nom de prole.
A screen grab from the Guardian showing an image of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, a violent man with a string of convictions who's being bankrolled by the world's richest man in a bid to destabilise the UK and install a far-right government. The headline reads "Tommy Robinson says Elon Musk is paying his legal costs as trial begins".
October 13, 2025 at 7:35 PM
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Finding out 3rd hand that the gazillion people on the steering committee for my current project have made decisions but have not bothered to tell me - the only person doing the actual work - what those decisions are. Happy Monday!
The old meme of some poor sucker digging a hole in the ground while ten people look on from the sidelines.
October 13, 2025 at 9:11 AM
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Three days of power? That's nearly as long as a French prime minister.
A screenshot showing a charging battery icon and some text, which reads: Up to two weeks of battery life And charging for just 10 minutes gives you three days of power.
October 12, 2025 at 1:41 PM
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Unsolicited deck pic.
Image is a screenshot of one of my Franklin Expedition articles. it shows the planking of the deck of a wrecked ship (HMS Erebus). Caption reads "Underside of displaced upper deck of Erebus (starboard side), September 2018. Notice the slot for a glass deck illuminator and the fearnought (at right) between the planking layers (Photo: Ryan Harris, © Parks Canada)."
October 11, 2025 at 7:20 AM
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I, a confirmed Creature of the Night, have just returned from a challenging five days on Spain's Costa Del Sol.
Image shows four separate images of a ginger cat who is looking absolutely outraged, absolutely furious, at being brought to a sunny beach. The cat's name is Pumpkin.
October 10, 2025 at 2:55 PM
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It is my solemn duty to report that a Big Ship is not stuck.
Image shows a blue sea under a deep sky that is many shades of blue. There are two palm trees. Between them is a deceptively small-looking ship that is actually really massive. It is under weigh and therefore not stuck.
October 8, 2025 at 1:24 PM