Varina
@varinajr.bsky.social
Librarian and open knowledge advocate at UofAberdeen. Lover of cats, yarn, tea, and liberation for all. All views my own. 🍵💙💜💗✡️🫒🍉
Second section of the yoke finished! These are jelly doughnuts, a modern Hannukah tradition, not as my partner suspected cupcakes, which have nothing to do with Hanukkah. The cat remains neutral
fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/varinas...
fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/varinas...
November 27, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Second section of the yoke finished! These are jelly doughnuts, a modern Hannukah tradition, not as my partner suspected cupcakes, which have nothing to do with Hanukkah. The cat remains neutral
fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/varinas...
fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/varinas...
Tag yourself. I'm the 0.93 Autism Bike
November 27, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Tag yourself. I'm the 0.93 Autism Bike
I know this is shooting fish in a barrel, but read another book for goodness sake. Most English novels are about class. Among the main contenders for earliest English novel is Oroonoko, about a captured slave. Then there's Dickens who I think wrote about poor people once or twice, the list goes on
November 27, 2025 at 7:37 AM
I know this is shooting fish in a barrel, but read another book for goodness sake. Most English novels are about class. Among the main contenders for earliest English novel is Oroonoko, about a captured slave. Then there's Dickens who I think wrote about poor people once or twice, the list goes on
This creature just zoomed across the back of the sofa and headbutted me at all speed.
I was not holding a cheez-it at the time
I was not holding a cheez-it at the time
November 24, 2025 at 7:29 PM
This creature just zoomed across the back of the sofa and headbutted me at all speed.
I was not holding a cheez-it at the time
I was not holding a cheez-it at the time
The Running Man is a fun action movie, but it feels like it wants to say something about the present moment, but isn't totally sure what so ends up sort a vaguely fuck the system
November 23, 2025 at 6:07 PM
The Running Man is a fun action movie, but it feels like it wants to say something about the present moment, but isn't totally sure what so ends up sort a vaguely fuck the system
I'm watching the new Frankenstein. The chiffon budget must have been incredible
November 22, 2025 at 8:04 PM
I'm watching the new Frankenstein. The chiffon budget must have been incredible
I bought this Moomin tea simply because it was cute, but it turns out it's really nice tea?
November 22, 2025 at 4:05 PM
I bought this Moomin tea simply because it was cute, but it turns out it's really nice tea?
I had a slightly zany idea to knit myself a kitschy Hannukah cardigan, that may not have gone anywhere except I saw Cancer Research UK are holding a fundraiser where people "sponsor" you knitting a holiday jumper. Please consider donating
fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/varinas...
fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/varinas...
Varina's Giving Page
Thanks for visiting my fundraising page. I'm challenging myself to complete a full-sized self-drafted Hanukkah cardigan in December to raise money for Cancer Research UK. Once completed, I'll also pos...
fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org
November 20, 2025 at 4:57 PM
I had a slightly zany idea to knit myself a kitschy Hannukah cardigan, that may not have gone anywhere except I saw Cancer Research UK are holding a fundraiser where people "sponsor" you knitting a holiday jumper. Please consider donating
fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/varinas...
fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/varinas...
My partner and I are both working from home, in different rooms so we're texting each other pictures of the cat sitting near us.
November 20, 2025 at 2:37 PM
My partner and I are both working from home, in different rooms so we're texting each other pictures of the cat sitting near us.
The penguin walk is so shockingly effective. You'll look like a twat, but you won't have to go to A&E
Also you can get snow cleats to make any shoes snow shoes for about £10 on Amazon
Also you can get snow cleats to make any shoes snow shoes for about £10 on Amazon
If you must go out:
• dress warmly
• wear shoes with good grip
• take extra care on icy surfaces
🐧 Walk like a penguin to reduce your risk of falling:
🔹 arms out for balance
🔹 loose knees
🔹 feet slightly turned out
• dress warmly
• wear shoes with good grip
• take extra care on icy surfaces
🐧 Walk like a penguin to reduce your risk of falling:
🔹 arms out for balance
🔹 loose knees
🔹 feet slightly turned out
a penguin is standing on top of a snow covered surface .
ALT: a penguin is standing on top of a snow covered surface .
media.tenor.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:25 AM
The penguin walk is so shockingly effective. You'll look like a twat, but you won't have to go to A&E
Also you can get snow cleats to make any shoes snow shoes for about £10 on Amazon
Also you can get snow cleats to make any shoes snow shoes for about £10 on Amazon
This is so charming to me. AI could never
Best Friends on a Night Out, painting by Lucy Manfredi (b. 1974).
November 20, 2025 at 8:50 AM
This is so charming to me. AI could never
You've heard of Doggy Bark Mitzvahs, get ready for....
November 18, 2025 at 5:18 PM
You've heard of Doggy Bark Mitzvahs, get ready for....
What should have been a 15 minute ride home took 40 minutes because of Christmas traffic and I arrived soaked to the skin in sleet. Only a warm cat and a huge mug of very fancy hot chocolate can fix what ails me
November 18, 2025 at 5:09 PM
What should have been a 15 minute ride home took 40 minutes because of Christmas traffic and I arrived soaked to the skin in sleet. Only a warm cat and a huge mug of very fancy hot chocolate can fix what ails me
I keep thinking about the Objects every American Jewish family I know has. The ring a grandmother managed to hide knotted up in her hair from Nazi deportation officers when the family left, the menorah a great grandmother wrapped in dirty laundry and threw in the cart as they fled two steps ahead...
November 17, 2025 at 7:16 PM
I keep thinking about the Objects every American Jewish family I know has. The ring a grandmother managed to hide knotted up in her hair from Nazi deportation officers when the family left, the menorah a great grandmother wrapped in dirty laundry and threw in the cart as they fled two steps ahead...
In the past 25 years, the Booker prize has been won by a woman 8 times (counting a shared win by two female writers once), and only half of the female authored winners had female protagonists, so I'm not sure the Booker Prize is deeply concerned with the inner lives of women, actually
November 17, 2025 at 10:45 AM
In the past 25 years, the Booker prize has been won by a woman 8 times (counting a shared win by two female writers once), and only half of the female authored winners had female protagonists, so I'm not sure the Booker Prize is deeply concerned with the inner lives of women, actually
Reposted by Varina
🌍 42.5m refugees
Over 70% of them are hosted by low- and middle-income countries.
🇬🇧 548k refugees
= 0.78% of the UK population.
It is not refugees who tear our country apart, it is the mainstreaming of far right policies. And that’s a risk to all of us.
My letter to my MP.
#asylum #Mahmood
🧵
Over 70% of them are hosted by low- and middle-income countries.
🇬🇧 548k refugees
= 0.78% of the UK population.
It is not refugees who tear our country apart, it is the mainstreaming of far right policies. And that’s a risk to all of us.
My letter to my MP.
#asylum #Mahmood
🧵
![Dear [my MP’s name],
As the Home Secretary prepares to announce sweeping changes to the UK’s asylum system, I see it as both my duty as a citizen and responsibility as a migration expert to do all I can to urge policymakers to oppose the proposals—not only for what they will do to refugees, though that is the first concern, but also for what they will mean for all of us and the future society we live in.
That is why I am writing to you as my MP. This letter explains why I consider the need to oppose the Home Secretary’s proposals urgent and, at the most fundamental level, in the national and your constituents’ interest.
I was born in Germany, a country whose history taught me how quickly societies can go down dark paths; how quickly our leaders can fail in the choices they make. But the history of the displacement of people that the Nazi regime was responsible for also shaped my understanding of why refugee movements occur—and why our response to any of them can never compromise what are, and must always be, universal human rights.
Which is why what is happening in the UK now is so deeply alarming.
A manufactured crisis
As of June 2025, there were 42.5 million refugees globally. Over 70% of them are hosted by low- and middle-income countries; most of them immediate neighbours. Overall, five countries—Colombia, Germany, Türkiye, Iran and Uganda—host a third of the total number of refugees; Germany is the main host in the EU, hosting 2.7 million.
The UK hosts 548,000 refugees; that is 0.78% of the UK population. About 110,000 people are in receipt of asylum support; that is 0.15% of the UK population.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bru4h6s37w4hfmwhetu7veye/bafkreidmewc5timbx7nh57qyq7lm7gmhvclzidmloqhwgckpnegnddoicq@jpeg)
November 16, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Making gingerbread Pokémon (as one does) and I have to wonder, why must we still live like this? Molasses technology have moved on. You could just put in in a jar! Even a can without that horrible treacle collection lip would be an improvement
November 15, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Making gingerbread Pokémon (as one does) and I have to wonder, why must we still live like this? Molasses technology have moved on. You could just put in in a jar! Even a can without that horrible treacle collection lip would be an improvement
"Since the Second World War", you mean when Western democracies refused to take more than a handful of Jewish refugees and so a third of the Jewish population of the entire planet, six million people, were murdered? That war? You want to roll back the protections given to refugees following THAT war
Home Office claims changes proposed on Monday are "the most significant shift in the treatment of refugees since the second world war"
These changes are unlikely to significantly shift flows or deliver control.
The language used is questionable in principle - and v likely to be untrue in practice
These changes are unlikely to significantly shift flows or deliver control.
The language used is questionable in principle - and v likely to be untrue in practice
November 15, 2025 at 8:52 AM
"Since the Second World War", you mean when Western democracies refused to take more than a handful of Jewish refugees and so a third of the Jewish population of the entire planet, six million people, were murdered? That war? You want to roll back the protections given to refugees following THAT war
I had an urgent question listening to this episode and that is, can you guys buy Kinder Eggs yet? Like does the US let you sell swill milk because Freedom, but the chocolate eggs are still too dangerous?
So thrilled that Maintenance Phase pod covered "swill milik!"
Nothing I drink should be able to give me tuberculosis.
Thanks @yrfatfriend.bsky.social & @michaelhobbes.bsky.social !
www.maintenancephase.com
Nothing I drink should be able to give me tuberculosis.
Thanks @yrfatfriend.bsky.social & @michaelhobbes.bsky.social !
www.maintenancephase.com
Maintenance Phase
www.maintenancephase.com
November 14, 2025 at 10:02 AM
I had an urgent question listening to this episode and that is, can you guys buy Kinder Eggs yet? Like does the US let you sell swill milk because Freedom, but the chocolate eggs are still too dangerous?
I just realised my entire bucket list is just train journeys I want to go on.
Truly I have neve been read for filth as much as in this @princesmweekes.bsky.social video about Dracula (I can't tell if my attempt to add alt text worked. Phone being wonky. Let me know)
Truly I have neve been read for filth as much as in this @princesmweekes.bsky.social video about Dracula (I can't tell if my attempt to add alt text worked. Phone being wonky. Let me know)
November 13, 2025 at 4:48 PM
I just realised my entire bucket list is just train journeys I want to go on.
Truly I have neve been read for filth as much as in this @princesmweekes.bsky.social video about Dracula (I can't tell if my attempt to add alt text worked. Phone being wonky. Let me know)
Truly I have neve been read for filth as much as in this @princesmweekes.bsky.social video about Dracula (I can't tell if my attempt to add alt text worked. Phone being wonky. Let me know)
At some point when I have time (ha!) a research thread I'd like to tug on is the parallels in how Jews and Quakers were treated under the law in Early Modern to Enlightenment England because it feels like there's something there....
November 13, 2025 at 8:38 AM
At some point when I have time (ha!) a research thread I'd like to tug on is the parallels in how Jews and Quakers were treated under the law in Early Modern to Enlightenment England because it feels like there's something there....
People are always surprised when I tell them that the Netherlands is consistently rated one of the best countries to drive in, but it turns out when you eliminate all the abled people making under 3km trips/not hauling large stuff from traffic the streets are mostly empty and it's nicer to drive.
Driving in traffic is a dull and unpleasant chore and the only way Americans can escape having to do it all the time is by moving to one of three very expensive cities. This is bad and we should fix it.
appropos of going outside daily, I have to note that drivers have just absolutely and completely lost their minds. I'm amazed that it has, somehow, gotten continually worse
why do drivers do this to themselves. just in full psychopathic rage all the time, everywhere
why do drivers do this to themselves. just in full psychopathic rage all the time, everywhere
November 13, 2025 at 7:03 AM
People are always surprised when I tell them that the Netherlands is consistently rated one of the best countries to drive in, but it turns out when you eliminate all the abled people making under 3km trips/not hauling large stuff from traffic the streets are mostly empty and it's nicer to drive.
After looking at the piss-poor offering online I've come to a conclusion: If I want a properly camp Hanukkah jumper (ideally cardigan) that isn't actual garbage I'm just going to have to make it myself.
November 12, 2025 at 12:08 PM
After looking at the piss-poor offering online I've come to a conclusion: If I want a properly camp Hanukkah jumper (ideally cardigan) that isn't actual garbage I'm just going to have to make it myself.
Do you think they use special agencies for cater waiters for eyes wide shut parties, or is it just one day you're doing a wedding, the next night it's a bar mitzvah, then you're laying out sashimi on a naked lady surrounded wealthy perverts in masks
November 11, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Do you think they use special agencies for cater waiters for eyes wide shut parties, or is it just one day you're doing a wedding, the next night it's a bar mitzvah, then you're laying out sashimi on a naked lady surrounded wealthy perverts in masks