Mark Papp

@markppp

I overuse semicolons; typos are a given.

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Mark Papp@markppp· 4d

I bought everybody glasses so we had the best view of this magisterial natural coincidence. We’re all enjoying the spectacle in this picture I’ve found in a draw full of old fashioned hard copies (that were all the rage back then.) Here’s the evidence of our shared wonder.

Half a dozen or so divers, most in their undersuits, on a dive boat. The divers are towards the bow. All are wearing yellow eclipse viewing glasses and all are pointing in different directions.

The background is sea, which is a slightly darker grey than the sky it meets above a strip of dark greeny-grey land at the horizon.

Mark Papp@markppp· 14d

I first met one of these back in (checks notes) July '97 when coming up from a wreck in Scapa. I had no idea what it was, but was astonished by its beauty. A few days later I met more unknowns: bsky.app/profile/mark... Who needs photos when I can draw this well, or wrecks when there's such life?

Picture of part of diving logbook that talks about a "jelly" where I wax lyrical about its beauty.

The text reads: "Oh yes, there was a bit more to this dive... The most beautiful jelly fish, about 2cm Ø & 6cm long & millions of tiny iridescent hairs on it were gently undulating in the torchlight.. AAH"

There's an arrow pointing to my spectacularly scientifically accurate drawn from memory version of what I was describing. I am neither artist nor illustrator.)

Rather more prosaic note saying "15% O2 exposure" is below all the above.

Mark Papp@markppp· 29d

As @diamondforyes.bsky.social says in this thread, it was invented as a critique of the rigged system. The Wikipedia entry is en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopol...

Screen grab from Wikipedia entry for Monopoly. The highlighted text reads "The history of Monopoly can be traced back to 1903,[1][9] when American anti-monopolist Lizzie Magie created a game called The Landlord's Game that she hoped would explain the single-tax theory of Henry George as laid out in his book Progress and Poverty. She devised the key features of the game. It was intended as an educational tool to illustrate the negative aspects of concentrating land in private monopolies."

The rest of the grab reads "She took out a patent in 1904. This shows the game's characteristic features of a square"

Mark Papp@markppp· Jul 5

There can't ever be enough swift appreciation. There are two nests on our eaves this year, one has one chick, the other has two. Here's my limited contribution, from a couple of years ago.

Picture of a a swift chick peeking out from eaves. There is red painted brickwork to the left and white pebble-dash below the slot the chick is in. There is a black beam above and in front of the chick.

The chick has a light grey throat and the rest of its plumage is darker grey. Its eye are large, round and black.

It is, obviously, very cute.

Mark Papp@markppp· May 20

I'm not a memey person, but I did make one once. I didn't save it, otherwise I'd have shared my genius on this thread. *If* I saved it I can't find it now; I recall it being magnificently witty. I did like this one, so saved it in the process of showing the world, so now I *do* have a saved meme.

It's that meme, showing an attractive woman in a red dress walking towards the camera while a man ogles her and his girlfriend(?) looks at him, appalled that he's leering at another woman.

In this case, the woman in red is titled "observed quantum state", the man's labelled "observer" and in this case there are many smaller versions of his appalled girlfriend, labelled "every other possible quantum state".

Mark Papp@markppp· May 19

Haven't touched it for over forty years. I heard it became even worse a few years ago, shortly after Cadbury was bought by Mondelez. All was good until this morning, when I discovered a mouse had found my 90% cocoa chocolate stash. I have now declared war against rodents.

The corner of a chocolate bar, showing chewed foil wrapping and gnawed chocolate.

Mark Papp@markppp· May 4

I’m deeply concerned by the potential misuse of face recognition technology, but it seems the biometrics commissioner for England and Wales is comfortable that the horse and cart are in the conventional order. From today’s Guardian website: www.theguardian.com/technology/n...

Screenshot of linked Guardian piece, with the following text highlighted:

“Prof William Webster, the biometrics commissioner for England and Wales, said the “slow pace of legislation was trying to catch up with the real world” and “the horse had gone before the cart”.”

Mark Papp@markppp· Apr 15

@elizabethbeston.bsky.social Thanks for your Zoom talk, and apologies for all the questions. Re. your ascidian larva in its egg: a while ago I managed to get a nice snap at a Quekett plankton photography weekend at Dale Fort.

Tadpole-like tunicate larva in its perfectly circular egg. What might be an eye spot is visible in its head and its notochord is clearly visible.

There's a long diatom at the left of frame, almost tangential to the egg.

Mark Papp@markppp· Apr 6

If you’re too young, this is a Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy reference. www.earthstar.co.uk/biros.htm

Screenshot of linked webpage.

Text reads:

Biros

Veet Voojagig, was a quiet young student at the University of Maximeglon, who pursued a brilliant academic career studying ancient philology, transformational ethics and the wave harmonic theory of historical perception, and then, after a night of drinking Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters with Zaphod Beeblebrox, became increasingly obsessed with the problem of what had happened to all the biros he'd bought over the past few years.

There followed a long period of painstaking research during which he visited all the major centres of biro loss throughout the galaxy and eventually came up with a quaint little theory which caught the public imagination at the time. Somewhere in the cosmos, he said, along with all the planets inhabited by humanoids, reptiloids, fishoids, walking treeoids and superintelligent shades of the colour blue, there was also a planet entirely given over to biro life forms. And it was to this planet that unattended biros would make thier way, slipping away quietly through wormholes in space to a world where they knew they could enjoy a uniquely biroid lifestyle, responding to highly biro-orientated stimuli, and generally leading the biro equivalent of the good life.

And as theories go this was all very fine and pleasant until Veet Voojagig suddenly claimed to have found this planet, and to have worked there for a while driving a limousine for a family of cheap retractables, whereupon he was taken away, locked up, wrote a book, and was finally sent into tax exile, which is the usual fate reserved for those who are determined to make a fool of themselves in public.

When one day an expedition was sent to the spatial coordinates that Voojagig had claimed for this planet they discovered only a small asteroid inhabited by a solitary old man who claimed repeatedly that nothing was true, though he was later discovered to be lying.

Mark Papp@markppp· Mar 18

I've been shouting into the void for a while:

Screen grab of some of my older BlueSky posts, as follows:

‪Mark Papp‬
‪@markppp.bsky.social‬
· 8d
Replied to
Snigdha
Ofcom has a fine track record of doing absolutely nothing and sees no reason to change course.

Actually, that’s not true. It has a fine track record of saying “We’ll let you off this time, but next time we’ll really mean it when we say the same thing again.”
‪Mark Papp‬
‪@markppp.bsky.social‬
· 7mo
Replied to
somecallmeDC 🐥 🥚 💡 (not that DC)
Ofcom probably recommended GBN as an upstanding organisation.
‪Mark Papp‬
‪@markppp.bsky.social‬
· 28 Jan 2025
Replied to
adriancheltenham.bsky.social
Ofcom does look at GBN seriously, quite often.

It then carefully considers its options and says “Please stop being naughty or we’ll have to take action. We really mean it this time. Really.”

Every single time.
‪Mark Papp‬
‪@markppp.bsky.social‬
· 14 Dec 2024
Replied to
Best for Britain
“What will Ofcom do about it?”

That’s so easy to answer it’s not worth the headline space.

Mark Papp@markppp· Jan 10

They shouldn’t surprise me, but Trump’s constant efforts to plumb new depths still do. A relatively unimportant indicator of his narcissism was the Trump pin badge under the American flag worn at his recent Whitehouse appearance. He demeans the office of POTUS with every breath.

Low quality image of TV screen close up, showing two enamelled pin badges on Trump’s dark suit’s lapel.

The top one is the Stars and Stripes, below it is another of Trump himself, with an oversized head.

Mark Papp@markppp· Nov 9

It might be a burger related problem.

Banner sign outside a Burger King restaurant. It reads
“NOW HIRING

A CAREER TO CRAVE FOR

MANAGEMENT & TEAM MEMBER OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE

ASK IN RESTAURANT”

Mark Papp@markppp· Oct 31

I have a similar happy place. (Old photo, possibly from 2012.) Sock to create darkground effect.

Me, wearing a green sun hat and a yellow and black dry suit, sitting at a lab bench looking down a stereo microscope while manipulating a staining block which hold the specimen I'm looking at.

A shot of a stereo microscope with cold light goosenecks set up to illuminate a staining block that holds the specimen.

A black sock is hanging out of the front of the microscope.

Mark Papp@markppp· Oct 28

Did you ever see the late comedienne Janey Godley's welcome messages to Trump? The first was around 2016 but she didn't let up until she died. She laughed loudest.

Screen shot that shows, in the foreground, a policeman looking at Janey Godley, who's holding a handwritten sign saying "TRUMP IS A CUNT".

There's a bank behind them that's part of a golf course with a fancy building behind it. There's a helicopter in front of the building.

Janey Godley, on left, and a policeman in a high viz tabard, are standing on a sandy beach with the sea in the background.

Godley is holding a handwritten sign saying "TRUMP IS A CUNT". Her right hand is obscuring the sign's "C", making it look like a lower case "r".

Godley and the policeman appear to be high fiving each other.

Mark Papp@markppp· Oct 21

Your vehicle might come off worse.

Screen grab of pictures of sumo wrestlers on the Abbey Road crossing.

The grab was lifted from Reddit r/interestingasfuck

Mark Papp@markppp· Oct 14

I completely agree, but this old post sums up the experiences my partner and I have "enjoyed" when trying to adopt a dog.

Screenshot from @thundershot.bsky.social.

It's a screen grab of a 2021 (Twitter?) post from @nialltg that says:

dog shelters: don't buy puppies, consider adoption instead

also dog shelters: this is pissfingers. she's 19 years old and can't live in a home with children, books or electricity. pissfingers is nervous around hair and need 400 acres of land and an orchard of extinct fruits.

Mark Papp@markppp· Oct 5

It's an amazing building, inspired by the basalt columns found around Iceland (and elsewhere, OK, Finn McCool.) There's an organ inside that's as impressive as its outside. As a bonus we caught a light festival in February.

Dark grey basalt columns fill most of the left of the almost monochrome picture. They lead down to the sea, where a wave is breaking over the lower columns at the centre of the image. There's cloud in the sky, a grey horizon and the foreground is a black sand and pebbly beach.

A picture looking up at the organ at the Northwest end of the church. It is made of light wood an many vertical bright steel pipes of various sizes. Some smaller ones stick out horizontally.

A wide shot of the front of the Hallgrimskirkja at night. It is illuminated by a light projection showing dark orange geometric patters.

Mars (upper left) and Jupiter (top right) are both within the frame, and there's a bit of glow from the moon at the top centre.

Mark Papp@markppp· Sep 10

I recall Russia saying it had no plans to invade Ukraine back in February ‘22. Doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

Screen grab from BBC News app saying “Russia says it had no plans to target Poland as Nato condemns 'reckless' drone incursions”

Mark Papp@markppp· Aug 30

My Saturday afternoon has just been ruined, as my heart bleeds for these poor unfortunates. Won't somebody think of the second home owners?

Screen grab of a Daily Telegraph Reddit advertisement.

The banner headline, across a picture of lovely houses in beautiful countryside is ‘My perfect second home in Cornwall won’t sell’

The advertisement’s title is “Cornwall’s property market is reeling from tax hikes and oversupply. Find out why second home owners could be hit hardest.”

Mark Papp@markppp· Jul 25

A health line I never thought I’d see.

Screen grab from BBC app saying “Tour de France route changed because of diseased cows.

Mark Papp@markppp· Jul 24

This evening’s Wembley Lime bike.

Mark Papp@markppp· Jul 23

This morning’s perfectly parked #LimeBike. I love the concept, but wish there were a way to educate users. At least it’s not blocking the pavement.

A street with a tree in the foreground. A couple of metres away, in the middle of the road, is a parked Lime bike.

Mark Papp@markppp· Jun 6

How close is inappropriately close?

An underwater shot with the head and neck of a juvenile sea lion suggesting from the left.

To the right is the head, left arm and a bit of torso a diver (me), wearing a yellow dry suit and a black hood. My arms are in front of me and my gloves hands are in the sea lion’s mouth.

You can see that the sea lion is looking straight at my eyes.

Mark Papp@markppp· May 26

Swifts are in decline. Barry Gardiner MP proposed an amendment which would force developers to incorporate swift bricks in most new buildings. The developers pushed back & the government backed down. Amendment text & link in image ALT. Please sign the petition if you value swifts. 38d.gs/cdpr

Screen grab of Parliament UK website (https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3946/stages/19795/amendments/10021387) showing part of the text of Barry Gardiner MP's swift box amendment. The text reads:

Amendment text
To move the following Clause—
“Swift bricks and boxes
(1) It must be a condition of any grant of planning permission that there must be a minimum of one swift brick or nest box per dwelling or unit greater than 5 metres in height.
(2) Swift bricks integrated into walls are to be installed in preference to external swift nest boxes wherever practicable, following best practice.
(3) A planning authority may grant planning permission with exceptions or modifications to the condition specified in subsection (1) in exceptional circumstances, where possible following best practice.
(4) Where a planning authority grants exceptions or modifications, it must publish the exceptional circumstances in which the exceptions or modifications were granted.
(5) For the purposes of this section—
“swift brick” means an integral nest box integrated into the wall of a building suitable for the nesting of the Common Swift;
“swift nest box” means an external nest box suitable for the nesting of the Common Swift and
“best practice guidance” means the British Standard BS 42021:2022.”
Member's explanatory statement

This new clause would make planning permission for buildings greater than 5 metres high conditional on the provision of a minimum number of swift bricks. Swift bricks and boxes provide nesting habitat for small urban birds reliant on cavity nesting habitat in buildings to breed.

Mark Papp@markppp· May 25

The Telegraph says we do satire best. Oklahoma: “Hold my beer.”

Screen grab off Telegraph article in its “Money” section.

The headline and lede sway “We earn £345k, but soaring private school fees mean we can't go on five holidays'

Labour's VAT raid forces six-figure families to make lifestyle sacrifices”

There is a picture of the downtrodden family of four below the text.

Mark Papp@markppp· Apr 24

#InverteFest I've not taken anything recently, but I have a few oldies that might deserve an(other?) outing. Here's a tunicate larva in its egg. Taken years ago but I like it.

A grey background with a a thin, near perfect circle in the centre, taking up most of the frame. Inside the circle is a tadpole-like organism with a single eye spot visible. The "tail" has sectional detail in which evidence of the notochord is visible. There are multiple small granules in the circular egg.

To the left of the egg is a penate diatom.

There's a brightness gradient from the bottom right of the image, which is darker in the top left. This is an artefact of the crude oblique lighting setup.

The picture was taken through a 1960s Wild M20 microscope.

Mark Papp@markppp· Mar 28

@londongeology.bsky.social The walls of 20 Old Bailey are fascinating. There are some weird things I don’t recognise and I wonder if you can help. Photo 1 shows what seems to be a cross section of… something… with voids filled with a transparent mineral. Photo 2 is contextual.

Grey stone with various inclusions. At its centre is the oddity in which I’m interested. I can’t describe it!

Grey stone with various inclusions. There’s a small spiral near its centre and several other fossil sections.

Mark Papp@markppp· Mar 27

I can’t reply so have toto quote post. 1) That’s an excellent stipe-o. 2) Toiletries sometimes offer unsolicited advice.

A pump bottle of pale green hand wash which has “SEA KELP” written on it.

Mark Papp@markppp· Mar 19

@jolyonmaugham.bsky.social You get *two* epithets in the latest ‘Eye: “thin-skinned” from the Eye itself and “politically motivated grifter” from none other than the saintly Michael Gove.

Snap of part of Private Eye article. There’s a caricature of Michael Gove about halfway down on the left side. The text reads:

UNDERCOVER GOVE
THE Spectator surpassed even its own ability to omit mentions of conflicting interests with its coverage of its editor's appearance before the Covid inquiry last week.

Michael Gove (for it was he) was confronted over his role in ventilator procurement and allegations that he'd tried to circumvent regulations to favour fellow old Brexiteer James Dyson. His defence was given a good airing in the Spectator's online diary column, which also noted what it deemed to be "the best moment of the tête-a-tête", when the former cabinet minister attacked the Good Law Project and its thin-skinned founder Jolyon Maugham, who brought (successful) legal cases
against the govemment's pandemic procurement practices. Gove, unbidden, told the inquiry the lawyer was a "politically motivated grifter".

Mark Papp@markppp· Mar 15

PSA: the genius that is / was Chris Turner (@cbturner @bsky.social) seems to have deleted his account, having contributed the post I screen grabbed to the thread. I wonder what name he'll use when he sets up another edifying account.