Sam Smith. Not That One.
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scsmith4.bsky.social
Sam Smith. Not That One.
@scsmith4.bsky.social
1.1K followers 860 following 7.9K posts
She/her. DO NOT HUG. Tea, books, baking, bicycles. Chocolate. #OU Astronomy student. #ActuallyAutistic. 🏳️‍🌈
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scsmith4.bsky.social
Didn't make it to the Musée Curie, but did enjoy a more relaxed noodle through the Musee d'Orsay. Met a delightful polar bear called Pompon and listened to Glory holding forth for a minute or two.
Polar bear by François Pompon, stone. A beautiful white stone carving of a male polar bear, from the front. His head is held slightly up as if he's sniffed something interesting, and his huge paws are captured mid-pace. Glory by Albert Batholomé, part of a white plaster monument to Jean Jaques Rousseau. She's a 20-something woman in a long semi-Grecian shift dress just about covering her boobs, and she's standing with one elbow leaning on a post behind her, like you'd lean back against a counter at a bar. Her other hand is held conversationally, and her expression is as if she's mid-sentence.
November 6, 2025 at 6:06 PM
scsmith4.bsky.social
*tuts at Kielder Observatory*
A close-up of an unread email. the sender is Kielder Observatory, the subject is "Comets galore. Could it finally be aliens?"
November 2, 2025 at 9:04 AM
scsmith4.bsky.social
I've got the
A double-panelled ground utility access cover faced in paving stones, to blend in with the grey and brown paving around it, with "POWER!" spray-painted neatly across it
November 2, 2025 at 7:57 AM
scsmith4.bsky.social
Don't miss his alter either:
A Bluskey profile for Massimo :bot: (@rainmaker1973.zpravobot.news.ap.brid.gy) Their bio reads: "Engineer. Selecting and curating pictures and videos trying to add context, source and explanation to science, tech, art and weather topics 🌉 bridged from zpravobot.news/@Rainmaker1973 on the fediverse by fed.brid.gy" Beneath is their top post: "Consider subscribing to this account. The subscription unlocks from 2 to 5 special contents posted every single day."
October 23, 2025 at 9:21 PM
scsmith4.bsky.social
TL serendipity. The wonderful aliens of the Outer Wilds agree.
Two skeets in my TL. The top one from Louise reads: "I'm on to the last season of the last kingdom and spending most of it crying. Why did they have to make this so sad???" The skeet beneath is from the Outer Wilds Bot, which posts dialogue from the game. It reads: "It's something I've been wondering about. We're in thoroughly uncharted territory at this point."
October 19, 2025 at 9:48 AM
scsmith4.bsky.social
It's not a tan. It's Ancient Roman Dust.
My lower right calf looking surprisingly brown, except there's a pale pink patch where I've wiped the muck away). Lower down, around my ankle and down to my trainer sock is nice and pale pink, with a neat line between the two colours.
October 14, 2025 at 3:12 PM
scsmith4.bsky.social
Off to add some Genuine Ancient Ostia Dust to the Genuine Ancient Pompeii Dust on my faithful old chucks.
A pair of feet wearing a well-worn pair of grey Converse-like sneakers with scuffed toes and very dusty laces.
October 14, 2025 at 8:45 AM
scsmith4.bsky.social
Things that make me sneeze:
Bright light
Any curry stronger than a korma
The espresso at Pompi, near the Vatican
A tiny espresso cup on a saucer, with an open packet of sugar in front for scale. A mucky swirl of foam betrays where I started stirring the macchiato before remembering to get a picture.
October 13, 2025 at 10:26 AM
scsmith4.bsky.social
Instead, please have this small dog attempting to stare down a horse in the Piazza della Rotonda by the Pantheon.
A brown horse takes up most of the left half of the photo. Its head is slightly lowered and its blinkers are open; it looks pretty relaxed. On the right hand side of the picture is a small dog - a French bulldog - STARING at the horse like the horse has done something to offend them personally.
October 12, 2025 at 5:17 PM
scsmith4.bsky.social
You have to get really close to really appreciate that they're woven as opposed to painted in a blank piece of cloth; if you zoom in you can see how fine and tightly packed the threads are. My favourite bit of the Bryggen Museum.
A close-up of a part of one of the panels, showing the skirt of the hero's tunic. The shading of the tunic makes the direction of the threads clearer, with some bits only a few threads wide. You can also see how tightly packed the threads are to make such a dense, rich, tapestry.
October 8, 2025 at 1:03 PM
scsmith4.bsky.social
Each tapestry is about five feet tall and ten wide; she wove them working from one side to the other as you'd look at them. They feel warmer and richer than paintings, and the detail is amazing.
A full tapestry panel showing the aftermath of a troll dinner in an ornately carved stone hall. The white tablecloth, which reaches the floor, is splattered with blood, there are black snakes slithering around the red candlesticks on the tabletop. To the left is a heavy wooden door, with the words "den adre hallen" (the second hall) seemingly carved above it. Surrounded the main image is a border of different intricate scrollwork patterns.
October 8, 2025 at 12:55 PM
scsmith4.bsky.social
The exhibition is of Breivik's Åsmund Frægdegjæva tapestries (thank you Wikipedia for the reminder and spelling), along with a bit of context and cool natural dye samples:
Three vividly coloured balls of wool on a display board - orangey red, scarlet, and deep teal - each with a dish next to them of the ground-up natural dye used to get that colour. The orangey-red is a result of a cinnamon coloured dye made from madder, the scarlet from grey cochinile, the teal from dark blue woad. Three more samples: an unspun mass of natural yellowish grey wool, a vanilla ice cream-coloured ball of wool, and a yellowish grey spun ball of natural wool.
October 8, 2025 at 12:55 PM
scsmith4.bsky.social
Turned out a bit busier than expected overnight, so apologies for the delay. But! An excellent horse!
A close-up of a illustrated horse with a lovely expression. You can only see it's head, face on, and a tiny part of its neck; its bridle is tethered to a hoop on what looks like a fancily carved stone block. The background is a rich orangey red with beigey border details.
October 8, 2025 at 12:32 PM
scsmith4.bsky.social
The other good thing about nights is you can binge loads of Bluey on them, and cackling afresh when you remember bits from them without getting Looks from the rest of the office. Current cackle fuel:
Still from Bluey, showing two red Heeler puppies in a brightly decorated bedroom (Bluey is wearing hair chalk to look like Bingo). Bingo has sticky-taped her nose up and is wearing joke teeth so she looks (a) terrifying, and (b) ridiculous. Bluey looks alarmed.
October 7, 2025 at 1:05 AM
scsmith4.bsky.social
Yaaaaay! It's Octobotber!
A wire-bound calendar hanging on a cupboard door. The lower panel is a standard block calendar for October, while the upper panel has an illustration of an octopus-like robot and some explanatory text. The robot is shaped a little like an old light bulb, with eight long banded arms coming from the narrow bit, each with a gloved hand on the end. One of the hands is holding a snail. The text beside it reads "October means the eighth month even though it's not, for reasons already discussed. Octopus means 'eight footed' even though it doesn't have eight feet. Like all molluscs, octopuses have one foot, but they do have eight arms. Octopuses are cephalopods like squid and cuttlefish, and all cephalopods are supposed to be very smart. However their intelligence is probably quite different from ours because of their complex, distributed nervous systems that let them control their arms. Octobot bridges this gap in cognition, going into the ocean to have a chat to cephalopods and report back."
October 1, 2025 at 11:29 AM
scsmith4.bsky.social
Petition to name the next London express bus service Tarquin.
"...finally, Tarquinius Superbus, ‘Tarquin the Proud’ or, perhaps better, ‘the Arrogant’." From SPQR by Mary Beard
September 26, 2025 at 11:17 AM
scsmith4.bsky.social
I'm painfully Xennial, worst of both worlds 😉... I'm late 77 (practically 78). The *ahem* official boundary between X and Millennial is 79-80; Wikipedia and Glamour Magazine both say 77-83.
A description of the Xennial micro-generation, from Upworthy (https://www.upworthy.com/nate-bergatze-explains-xennials-ex1): "'[has the] disaffection of Gen X and the blithe optimism of Millennials.' Other unique terms have come to describe this group (roughly figured to have been born between 1977-1983). These include The Star Wars Generation, The Oregon Trail Generation, and Generation Catalano"
September 24, 2025 at 6:55 AM
scsmith4.bsky.social
The more things change etc etc. Cicero, at the polls in 63 BCE, pulling the sort of stunt we wouldn't be wholly surprised to see in certain elections these days (from @wmarybeard.bsky.social's SPQR):
"...he turned up at the poll with an armed guard and wearing a military breastplate clearly visible under his toga. It was a histrionic display, and the combination of civilian and military kit was alarmingly incongruous, rather as if a modern politician were to enter the legislature in a business suit with a machine gun slung over his shoulder. But it worked. These scare tactics..."
September 23, 2025 at 4:49 PM
scsmith4.bsky.social
Once again I thank @tomroyal.com's Make America Kittens Again extension for making my workday that much more bearable:
A screengrab from the BBC News webpage, focusing on "Trump's State Visit". Instead of stills featuring that man, there are many pictures of cute fluffy kittens being cute and fluffy. And one of the Red Arrows.
September 18, 2025 at 10:50 AM
scsmith4.bsky.social
Tiny Bi Frog and Tiny Goth Frog! Debating whether Tiny Goth Frog should stay here or go to Kawaii Nibling.
Two little enamel frog pins on their backing boards. The lower one is pink and blue with a purple tummy, for Bi Pride. The upper one is on a dark backing board and is v dark grey and forest green.
September 16, 2025 at 11:42 AM
scsmith4.bsky.social
It's a good thing it takes three weeks (supposedly) to form a habit. The airport bar is generous with its measures.
A very large wine glass filled with what could be mistaken for lucozade but is actually an Aperol spritz, standing on pristine white table linen in a small restaurant, with the beer list just getting into shot on the right. A slightly more bulbous large wine glass, again fulled with an Aperol Spritz and ice cubes. A bit more orange, whether because of the lighting or more Aperol who knows?
September 15, 2025 at 5:21 PM
scsmith4.bsky.social
The archaeological museum in Naples has multiple mosaics of gorgons from the House of the Faun in Pompeii. I fear one of them was over-enthusiastically cleaned.
A somewhat wonky looking mosaic of a woman's face, supposedly a gorgons (Medusa?) with wings sprouting from her head. It looks like it was done when drunk.
September 15, 2025 at 10:43 AM
scsmith4.bsky.social
...around 20 minutes later...
An almost empty plate with a knife resting on it. A fork is aiming for the lone square of pizza in the middle of the plate.
September 14, 2025 at 6:42 PM
scsmith4.bsky.social
Me, eyes widening at the size of the pizza being delivered to my table: "I don't know if I'm going to manage this."
Almost side-on view of a ~14" Neapolitan Margherita pizza, with fluffy slightly caught crusts, a few leaves of basil, and dough showing in places through the tomato and mozzarella.
September 14, 2025 at 6:42 PM
scsmith4.bsky.social
Couple next to me were staying in Sorrento but don't like it so keep coming up to Naples. Me and she talked about Pompeii and Ercolano and liking ruined cities perhaps a bit too much while he bravely worked his way through a Vesuvius.
A cone-shaped pastry dusted in icing sugar with a rosette of whipped cream topped by another rosette of strawberry cream. There is a small desert fork next to it, which kind of helps with scale.
September 14, 2025 at 1:39 PM