Ming's Pearls of Wisdom

I'm Mark. Older than you imagine, vegetarian, husband, father & pedant. This used to be a place for an eclectic collection of trivia, observation, cynicism, wit and the occasional rant. Tumblr changed hands and then beyond recognition. Now it regulates what I can post and repeatedly flags pictures of my dog, so I stick mostly to photos of where I live in the Scottish Highlands. Oh. A nod to my daughter, who told me off because my bio was out of date. Now it isn't.

[mings]

MS Society: Lucas's page

Lucas's page

My girlfriend hates running. She also has MS. I once asked her if she would run if she didn’t have MS. She said no. I recently ran a maratho

My future son-in-law is running the 2024 London Marathon in aid of the MS Society.

This explains why. I can't read it without disintegrating into a mess. It's eloquent and passionate.

Please take the time to read it and donate if you can. I know that's tough in today's economic climate, so even if you can't donate, please share far and wide.

Let's see if we can help him smash that target.

[mings]

MS Society: Lucas's page

Lucas's page

My girlfriend hates running. She also has MS. I once asked her if she would run if she didn’t have MS. She said no. I recently ran a maratho

My future son-in-law is running the 2024 London Marathon in aid of the MS Society.

This explains why. I can't read it without disintegrating into a mess. It's eloquent and passionate.

Please take the time to read it and donate if you can. I know that's tough in today's economic climate, so even if you can't donate, please share far and wide.

Let's see if we can help him smash that target.

[mings]

I've decided to step away from tumblr. I changed my password, yet now there are more out of sorts messages and posts. I don't know if it's something to do with the swarms of blank blogs, but this doesn't feel like my space any longer.

It's been a pleasure. Take care. I may look in again at some point if tumblr ever gets on top of the bots.

Sayonara.

[mings]

Yesterday saw 40 years of marriage. This was actually taken four years ago in Glen Affric, but it sums up how I feel about the wonderful woman better than I can express in words.

[mings]

Will Elon Musk really put X behind a paywall?

Will Elon Musk really put X behind a paywall? https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2023/9/20/will-elon-musk-really-put-x-behind-a

Will Elon Musk really put X behind a paywall?

The move is meant to help ‘combat vast armies of bots’, Musk said, but it’s unclear if it will work.

I deactivated my Twitter account when Musk took the reins. Lots of others did the same, and reports suggest the exodus continues as he readmits pariahs and purveyors of hate.

Rebranding is always fraught with risk, and now X, the platform known as Twitter, appears willing to risk plunging into oblivion by erecting a pay wall. I can't wait...

[mings]

Is it just me, or are these blank blogs reaching plague proportions? Every day, I'm block, block, blockity block, but it's like a zombie horde. No matter how many you cut down, there are always more behind them.

I'm not that tech savvy. I believe they're bots, but can anyone explain what their point is?What do they hope to achieve?

[mings]

I haven't logged into this in a loooong time and your post is the first that came up! I hope you are well friend I still remember you and your posts, take good care of yourself :)

It's certainly been a while, my young friend. Although our paths are very different, I sense we're kindred spirits in many ways. It's really good to hear from you, and I hope life is treating you well.

[mings]

We've seen far more water on our land this past two years. Despite efforts and considerable expense, we've been unable to beat it. Now we know why.

This is a screenshot of the latest Google Earth image taken in July. Our so considerate neighbour, who (you may recall) chose to build a cabin between us & the forest, has deviated significantly from the approved plans.

Far from a small settlement pond, lined with an impermeable membrane, that should be connected to an existing drainage ditch, she's created a 300m2 lake containing a conservatively estimated 250,000 litres of water. There's no evidence of a membrane, and it's held back by a bund that was thrown up by dumping soil from the excavation on the downhill side.

That means the water, which includes allegedly treated grey water from her site, is percolating through the soil into the ground water course that runs directly down to us.

Our home is built on a site that was dug into the terrain, so we're surrounded by an embankment that's now beginning to slump. We're in the process of constructing new poultry pens on the highest part of our ground because their existing location is now underwater when it rains.

Not only that, but our drainage contractor discovered the source of the water that was washing out our drive. You guessed it. She had a field drain installed to drain the site before her build started. That pumps out water directly to another groundwater course that empties onto our land by the main gate. No wonder we had 6" thick ice there last winter.

Whilst I'm all in favour of sustainable farming, I won't support her activities when they render our land effectively unusable.

There's no relationship to damage after we had the audacity to object to her plans. She just submitted them to the authority without discussing them or giving us a chance to have any input. She even twisted the narrative to portray herself as the victim and posted that all over social media. Now she's moved in, we find her presence more & more intrusive. She runs farm tours right along our boundary several times a week. We've found our access track blocked by a coach whose surly driver almost came to blows with my son.

So now this goes back to the authorities with a detailed summary of how it doesn't comply with the approved plans, of the damage she's doing to our property, and to our mental and financial health. I don't care how much it costs to put right, nor whether it means she has to raise finance to do it. She either fixes it, or I'll sue her into the ground even if it means remortgaging to do it.

[myownjadedpieceofmind]

Try this again.

Except, without all the fluff, since tumblr wants to eat my words as I post them.

My website: www.jadedinkdesigns.com

Go, please. Shop. Buy something, or get on my holiday commission list before it closes.

I'm in need of some groceries, and supplies for an upcoming vendor event, and in a week and a half, I'm having dental work done. The only way I know how to do it is by reminding people of the things I do.

I have afterpay on my site now, to make affording my work a little easier as well.

If you can share this, I would appreciate it. If you want to help a disabled artist with some living expenses, even just a little gas money or something-cashapp $6od3ss;venmo: jaded-ink or even Amazon gift card money- I'm not kidding when I tell you I would be grateful for any sort of support.

[mings]

Scenes from the trail - new episode

I haven't been here much recently because reasons. Yesterday was an opportunity for me & the Bean to stretch our legs and clear our heads.

I was recently appointed to the board of directors of the local Forest Trust, which is on the threshold of a huge, once in a generation opportunity. Over 1100 acres (450ha) of land neighbouring the forest is on the market, and the owners are willing to consider a community purchase. We're forming a joint venture with another local organisation and hope to raise the funds to buy it.

That's no small endeavour - we'll need to raise more than £1 million - and at any stage, an external buyer could step in and beat us to it.

Anyway, as it's for the community, what better way to put a plan together than to ask the community for their views, ideas, and aspirations? So we're holding drop-in sessions here and in the neighbouring village. I thought it might be useful to have some images of a wilderness that many folks may never have seen.

Although this used to be the drover's route from Fort William to Inverness, there's little evidence of it today. Apart from the prolific heather, much of the ground is peat bog, giving us a clue that this was once a very different wooded landscape. It's ripe for rewilding, and the presence of well-established willow and juniper suggests that either the deer are few enough to be manageable (unlikely) or they stay out of sight in the forested areas. We'll also have to be aware of the wild boar that are regular inhabitants of Glenurquhart because this land adjoins the Glen, and its inevitable that they'll continue their eastward migration.

Peatland restoration holds massive potential for carbon capture and the opportunities for healthy pursuits are endless. Meall na h-Eilrig at 465 metres (1526 feet) sits above Loch Glanaig and provides spectacular 360° views. It's a grind getting there, but restoring and extending the old peat cutting tracks would make it much more accessible for both foot and cycle traffic.

So many things to think about. Now, where to find a spare million or so...

[kaijubluu]

poll time!!

have you ever fired a gun?

yes

no

Voting ended onAug 22, 2023

please reblog with your answer and country!!

i, for example, have fired a gun, and am from canada.

enjoy!!

[0ingenting0]

I live in Europe and never owned a gun.

You need a hunting license here to own one and hunting license is evening school over a long time with a lot of content and exam in the end. It's expensive to take.

I shot a gun when meeting someone who has a hunting license and he illegally allowed me to shoot on tins far away from settlement.

That one short afternoon was all I ever shot. I wished for ear plugs and a pillow on my shoulder. It was a rifle and my shoulder was blue the next day.

[mings]

As a youngster, I had the use of an Anschütz .22 rifle on an indoor range, where we used to shoot the harp out of Guiness bottle tops at 25m. It was a lovely rifle that seemed to fit me perfectly.

Here in the UK, firearms laws are strict and carefully regulated, which is why kids in British schools don't have to live in fear or practise active shooter drills. That means that acquiring a license is difficult unless you can demonstrate reasonable justification and prove to the police that you're a safe person to hold a firearms licence. To be clear, "I like guns" doesn't qualify. Now, some fifty-odd years later, I finally have sound justification because I live in a remote rural location and keep poultry, which qualifies as a valid need for predator control.

Who knows? I may yet apply...

[mings]

Caution!

It looks as though my account was hacked. Thank you to the kind folks that drew my attention to an out of sorts post and weird messages and apologies for any offence they may have caused.

I've changed my password and I'm hoping that will fix it. If not, I may have to deactivate my account, which would be frustrating after all these years. Please let me know if you spot any more oddities.

[mings]

Pretty sure I have (yet another) new favourite hen. She hatched nine weeks ago from a cross with a Black Copper Marans rooster and a Cuckoo Marans hen. Looks like the rooster provided the dominant genes in this one. Isn't she gorgeous?

[mings]

Awoken by cramp at 4am yesterday, this was the view from my kitchen as I drew a glass of water.

[mings]

Sunset yesterday was spectacular after a biblical deluge earlier.

[coldalbion]

Terry Pratchett estate backs Jack Monroe’s idea for ‘Vimes Boots’ poverty index

Campaigner has used the idea drawn from Discworld novels to register the disproportionate effect price rises have on the lower paid

""The index, Monroe said, is named in honour of Pratchett’s creation Sam Vimes, who in the Discworld novel Men at Arms lays out the “Sam Vimes ‘Boots’ theory of socio-economic unfairness”.

“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money,” wrote Pratchett. “Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of okay for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.”

The Pratchett estate has authorised the use of the name, tweeting its own Pratchett quote in support of Monroe’s campaign. “Sometimes it’s better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness,” wrote the late Discworld author in Men at Arms.

Rhianna Pratchett said: “My father used his anger about inequality, classism, xenophobia and bigotry to help power the moral core of his work. One of his most famous lightning-rods for this was Commander Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch - a cynical, but likable, man who attempts to better himself whilst railing against the injustices around him. Some of which he’s had a hand in perpetrating in the past.

“Vimes’s musing on how expensive it is to be poor via the cost of boots was a razor-sharp evaluation of socio-economic unfairness. And one that’s all too pertinent today, where our most vulnerable so often bear the brunt of austerity measures and are cast adrift from protection and empathy. Whilst we don’t have Vimes any more, we do have Jack and Dad would be proud to see his work used in such a way.”

[llywela13]

This campaign came about because the current poverty index tends to look at mid-range luxury items, the price of which is often less affected by inflation, rather than the bottom-of-the-range necessities that the poorest in society actually rely on, and which have been massively hit by inflation.

[soberscientistlife]

But do keep mocking the autistic Swedish girl who has warning us about Global Warming for years.