Staring into 2026 which hideous monsters stare back? Will things continue along the lines of this year… War, starvation, animosity, selfishness…
Do we even have the capa to change. Why are we signing over our lives to tech and billionaire masters. Why is it OK for AI to make up facts and misrepresent and tell us “unfacts” (lies).
We need old fashioned education, knowledge and hard work to improve the situation. Caring for and guarding the information we have hard won over the years. Trying to explain and explore, not fight.
I keep getting a message when I try and like people’s posts….
“there is a problem with your request, please try again later”…
It’s annoying because I like to go through peoples posts on the reader section of WordPress and mark the ones I like. I’ve tried twice today but it still doesn’t seem to be working?
So for all of you who I would have liked here’s a thumbs up to you! 👍👍🏻👍🏼👍🏽👍🏾👍🏿
One of the most fun things we did when we went round carol singing on Monday night was to pile into the local fish and chip shop was to sing a couple of songs to the staff and customers!
About 20 of us squeezed into a small space, singing “Welcome all, good friends here, a very merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!” we sang it as a round of three. The place was full of jollity and hilarity. I’m glad we did it, it’s one place we have never sung in before.
Just started cooking at midnight, so Christmas day is over. Felt a bit weepy. The sweet potato and sprouts are on. I’ve got some pigs in blankets, a few stuffing balls and some potato fritters in the airfryer. I’m going to do a chicken thigh that’s already cooked in the microwave along with some swede mash. And gravy. It sounds like a lot but I’m only doing small portions.
Being on my own today I only have to cook for myself so when I finally go to bed I don’t need to worry about it. I’m doomscrolling on my phone because it’s cold in the bedroom but I can’t stand a hot bedroom. The cats are huddled around the oil filled radiator. I’ll try and find mushy old films and finish making my trifle with port not sherry. Oh and I’ve got a bit of salmon in for the cats x
Not the best card I’ve ever drawn but I’m limited in what I can do because my computer needs setting up so I did a finger painting in Artrage and they edited it in something called Sketcher app.
I’ve donated to Parkinsons UK this year so I’ve not sent any cards.
I hope you all have a lovely time wherever you are and no matter what you celebrate or don’t.
Let’s hope for more peace and less war and conflict in the coming year. Try and do at least one kind or generous thing for someone in 2026. You don’t have to be boastful about it. Just try and care.
What happens if we see a supernova on Christmas eve? It could happen, the star Betelguse in the constellation Orion is a Red Giant and fluctuates in brightness as if it is flinging off layers of matter. The variability and it’s massive size means astronomers think it might be due to explode in 1000 to 1,000,000 years.
But Betelguse is 642 light years away from us, so it might already have exploded. We wouldn’t know until the light reaches us. Then for a glorious couple of weeks the light would outshine the brightest stars and possibly be visible in daylight.
Supernovas fade after a few weeks, the star stuff is all burnt up or exploding out in a cooling cloud that will eventually stabilise into a nebulous cloud. Examples include the Crab Nebula.
Meanwhile back on Earth because of the date of its imagined eruption, I wonder what the reaction of the population would be? Secular or religious, it would be interesting.
Keep your phone charged, waiting for a call. Going out, I might need a taxi. Waiting for a call… Is she going tonight or tomorrow? Waiting for a call.. You passed the test, welcome on board.
We’ll meet at 6pm… But that’s gone, maybe there’s a problem. Waiting for a call. The same four words repeated.
Will they ever call me? Is there a reason they haven’t? Information required. I hope they call soon….
Pondering questions passes the time. Phones are too important these days. What else could we do? Relax, read a book. Switch the phone off!
Oh my goodness! My vaccum cleaner stopped working/ wouldn’t switch on and I guessed it was full of dust, so I put in a new bag, but it still wouldn’t work. So my good friend L said she would try and fix it, she’s good at that kind of thing.
She looked at several YouTube videos and found out how to take the top cover off. Then you had to unscrew another cover to get to the switch….
The problem was the cover was held in place by Allen key. Hers would not fit. So she looked at more videos. Turned out you could gently prise the switch out of its hole to get under it. Dust and debris of rust was discovered. She was very good and brave because my cats have used the machine as A perch for years! I’m embarrassed to reveal how bad it was.
Anyway she gently cleaned it out and put it back together. Lo and behold it works!
So happy, doesn’t make up for the car but it’s saved me paying out a lot to repair it. X
I love this phrase, standard candles, it’s a way of looking at the universe to work out distances in light years.
But I keep getting conspiracy theories about the universe from people on the Internet. I decided to try and explain my point of view.
I explained I’m not a physicist or optical expert. But I’ve read a lot over the years so this is my take on measuring the universe’s size.
This is what I wrote. Please accept my apologies if this is totally wrong. I only have a scant understanding.
I’m no
t an expert in optics but I think they have found the universe is over 13 billion years old based on the time light takes to arrive at earth. The science uses standard candles (globular clusters of stars that have the same light production so they can be used to judge distance because of light intensity). John Gribben explains this well in his popular science books. Parallax can also be used to measure distance. If you look out of one eye at your thumb at arms length, then at it from your other eye you will see it apparently move. The same can be done from earth observatories. Look at a star at one end of Earth’s orbit around the sun then 6 months later at the other end… Effectively creating a very long thin triangle. The star will move a tiny fraction against the background of other stars. Using simple geometry you can measure the distance. These methods helped to work out how far other galaxies are outside the milky way. I read all of this from books by authors like Issac Asimov, Sir Patrick Moore, Carl Sagan, Brian Cox, and John Gribben among others. Not by watching Fox news.
(the last bit because I was accused of believing things that are on TV)
Mallaband-Brown 