Richard Carter, FCD
@friendsofdarwin.bsky.social
Writer • #HebdenBridge offcumden • #CharlesDarwin fanboy • European
Interested in where #science, #histsci and #nature intersect. Writing book about looking at the world through #Darwin ’s eyes.
https://richardcarter.com
https://friendsofdarwin.com
Interested in where #science, #histsci and #nature intersect. Writing book about looking at the world through #Darwin ’s eyes.
https://richardcarter.com
https://friendsofdarwin.com
The sanctuary church of San Luca, high in the Bologna hills, which can be reached on foot from the city centre via the world’s longest continuous portico (666 arches, 2.3 miles)… We took a bus masquerading as a train! 🇮🇹
November 23, 2025 at 3:02 PM
The sanctuary church of San Luca, high in the Bologna hills, which can be reached on foot from the city centre via the world’s longest continuous portico (666 arches, 2.3 miles)… We took a bus masquerading as a train! 🇮🇹
Bologna’s Archaeology Museum. My kind of museum: no interactive display boards; no captions encouraging us to ‘imagine how it must have felt…’; just thousands and thousands of exhibits in old-fashioned glass cases.
November 21, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Bologna’s Archaeology Museum. My kind of museum: no interactive display boards; no captions encouraging us to ‘imagine how it must have felt…’; just thousands and thousands of exhibits in old-fashioned glass cases.
#HistSci on display in Bologna: the Anatomical Theatre of the Archiginnasio (1637). The theatre was destroyed in an air-raid in 1944, but reconstructed using all the original pieces recovered from the rubble.
November 21, 2025 at 3:59 PM
#HistSci on display in Bologna: the Anatomical Theatre of the Archiginnasio (1637). The theatre was destroyed in an air-raid in 1944, but reconstructed using all the original pieces recovered from the rubble.
#HistSci on display at the San Petronio Basilica, Bologna… A meridian line designed by Cassini to measure local noon, when sunlight entering through a hole in the church roof crosses the line. Cassini concluded observations made with this instrument were consistent with Kepler’s heliocentric theory.
November 21, 2025 at 3:41 PM
#HistSci on display at the San Petronio Basilica, Bologna… A meridian line designed by Cassini to measure local noon, when sunlight entering through a hole in the church roof crosses the line. Cassini concluded observations made with this instrument were consistent with Kepler’s heliocentric theory.
Kind of wish I’d cashed in my retirement fund investment sooner… But I guess that’s the end of that for the nonce.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
October 31, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Kind of wish I’d cashed in my retirement fund investment sooner… But I guess that’s the end of that for the nonce.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
24-Oct: Out later today, the latest rip-roaring roller-coaster edition of my 100%-free eponymous Rich Text science • history • nature newsletter. Look out for it in your inbox. richardcarter.substack.com/welcome/
October 24, 2025 at 6:48 AM
24-Oct: Out later today, the latest rip-roaring roller-coaster edition of my 100%-free eponymous Rich Text science • history • nature newsletter. Look out for it in your inbox. richardcarter.substack.com/welcome/
Transferring my stuff over to my new toy.
October 22, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Transferring my stuff over to my new toy.
Second-hand bookshop haul. Tiny shop; excellent photography section.
October 20, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Second-hand bookshop haul. Tiny shop; excellent photography section.
Lovely Ludlow.
October 16, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Lovely Ludlow.
@rhiggitt.bsky.social Spotted in Ludlow this morning.
October 16, 2025 at 1:13 PM
@rhiggitt.bsky.social Spotted in Ludlow this morning.
I’m currently visiting Shropshire, the county of Darwin’s birth. There’s a good choice of local beers available, but this one was the natural selection.
October 14, 2025 at 7:17 PM
I’m currently visiting Shropshire, the county of Darwin’s birth. There’s a good choice of local beers available, but this one was the natural selection.
TFW you think, ‘I know, I’ll just bash out a quick blog post!’ and, two hours later, you find yourself deep down the old Research Rabbit Hole, annotating a PDF from Nature journal about the population genomics of post-glacial western Eurasia.
October 9, 2025 at 11:49 AM
TFW you think, ‘I know, I’ll just bash out a quick blog post!’ and, two hours later, you find yourself deep down the old Research Rabbit Hole, annotating a PDF from Nature journal about the population genomics of post-glacial western Eurasia.
After the reading, the obligatory note-making, transcribing and cross-linking from my index-card bookmark.
I find the friction/hassle of making hand-written notes then having to re-type them into my system is a useful way of determining which notes are actually important to me. #Zettelkasten
I find the friction/hassle of making hand-written notes then having to re-type them into my system is a useful way of determining which notes are actually important to me. #Zettelkasten
October 8, 2025 at 8:46 AM
After the reading, the obligatory note-making, transcribing and cross-linking from my index-card bookmark.
I find the friction/hassle of making hand-written notes then having to re-type them into my system is a useful way of determining which notes are actually important to me. #Zettelkasten
I find the friction/hassle of making hand-written notes then having to re-type them into my system is a useful way of determining which notes are actually important to me. #Zettelkasten
The covers of all the books I’ve read (so far) this year. Follow the link below to my website then click the individual covers to read my review:
richardcarter.com/books-2025/
richardcarter.com/books-2025/
October 8, 2025 at 7:20 AM
The covers of all the books I’ve read (so far) this year. Follow the link below to my website then click the individual covers to read my review:
richardcarter.com/books-2025/
richardcarter.com/books-2025/
Very much looking forward to seeing @profaliceroberts.bsky.social strut her stuff in Bradford tomorrow evening: how the Roman Empire evolved into a Christian empire. Right up my street! Bonus points if she manages to sneak in a reference to Darwin!
October 5, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Very much looking forward to seeing @profaliceroberts.bsky.social strut her stuff in Bradford tomorrow evening: how the Roman Empire evolved into a Christian empire. Right up my street! Bonus points if she manages to sneak in a reference to Darwin!
FINALLY finished boxing off our indoors coal-bunker. Power tools, electrical cabling and a lot of swearing were involved. The last time someone spent this long on a wall, Emperor Hadrian was very upset.
October 4, 2025 at 10:16 AM
FINALLY finished boxing off our indoors coal-bunker. Power tools, electrical cabling and a lot of swearing were involved. The last time someone spent this long on a wall, Emperor Hadrian was very upset.
NOOOOO!!! Kelloggs have ruined All-Bran! They’ve reduced the bran content from 86% to 78%, padding it out with flour.
IN WHAT WAY CAN REDUCING THE BRAN CONTENT IN A PRODUCT 86%-ACCURATELY NAMED ‘ALL-BRAN’ POSSIBLY MAKE IT ‘TASTIER THAN EVER’?
I am incandescently irked!
IN WHAT WAY CAN REDUCING THE BRAN CONTENT IN A PRODUCT 86%-ACCURATELY NAMED ‘ALL-BRAN’ POSSIBLY MAKE IT ‘TASTIER THAN EVER’?
I am incandescently irked!
October 1, 2025 at 7:02 AM
NOOOOO!!! Kelloggs have ruined All-Bran! They’ve reduced the bran content from 86% to 78%, padding it out with flour.
IN WHAT WAY CAN REDUCING THE BRAN CONTENT IN A PRODUCT 86%-ACCURATELY NAMED ‘ALL-BRAN’ POSSIBLY MAKE IT ‘TASTIER THAN EVER’?
I am incandescently irked!
IN WHAT WAY CAN REDUCING THE BRAN CONTENT IN A PRODUCT 86%-ACCURATELY NAMED ‘ALL-BRAN’ POSSIBLY MAKE IT ‘TASTIER THAN EVER’?
I am incandescently irked!
Great night out!
September 17, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Great night out!
Very much looking forward to seeing Fran Lebowitz in Manchester this evening.
September 17, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Very much looking forward to seeing Fran Lebowitz in Manchester this evening.
Unscheduled Movie Night.
September 16, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Unscheduled Movie Night.
Finally managed to visit the Ice Age Art exhibition at Cliffe Castle, Keighley (closes Sunday). Shown here, two reindeer swimming, carved on mammoth ivory 16,000 years ago by some unknown genius living in a rock-shelter in modernday France. These people shared their environment with living mammoths!
September 11, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Finally managed to visit the Ice Age Art exhibition at Cliffe Castle, Keighley (closes Sunday). Shown here, two reindeer swimming, carved on mammoth ivory 16,000 years ago by some unknown genius living in a rock-shelter in modernday France. These people shared their environment with living mammoths!
The start of our last day in Anglesey this year ☹️. As always, it’s been fab. This was the pre-breakfast brew-view from my favourite rock earlier.
September 5, 2025 at 9:09 AM
The start of our last day in Anglesey this year ☹️. As always, it’s been fab. This was the pre-breakfast brew-view from my favourite rock earlier.
The covers of all the books I’ve read so far in 2025. For my reviews, see: richardcarter.com/books-2025/
August 29, 2025 at 2:34 PM
The covers of all the books I’ve read so far in 2025. For my reviews, see: richardcarter.com/books-2025/
August 25, 2025 at 10:03 PM