Marking myself safe
May. 23rd, 2025 08:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm26v7n5y4eo.amp
My dearios will have heard me whinge about the massive point thahr misst of so much spam I get offering deals and collaborations with my entirely non-profit and very niche personal website -
- and that sometimes one can see that they've picked up on a word or even a phrase but have totally missed CONTEXT quite apart from the fact that I am Not In Trade, perish the thort, not to mention that they tend to miss what one might consider obvious links.
But, lo, I am boggling like a boggling thing over this:
[A] vertically integrated manufacturer based in China with over 14 years of experience specializing in high-efficiency equestrian gear and innovative pet products.
Our 22,000m² facility provides in-house manufacturing of a wide range of products including saddle pads, horse rugs, fly masks, halters, pet beds, leashes, harnesses, and other items. We are pleased to offer top-tier European and American brands known for their superior quality, cost-effectiveness, and prompt delivery.
I am boggled but in a different way by the spam from a mirror factory in Hangzhou city which informs me that ' it only takes more than ten minutes to drive from our company. I can show you our factory at any time and give you quick feedback to inform you of the production progress.' Pretty sure it does only take more than 10 mins....
I initially saw this because somebody on Facebook posted the video: Boyfriend proposed during the marathon she trained 6 months for, and in the list of Inappropriate Times and Places to Propose, while she is actually running a marathon is very near the top, right? it's bad enough for bloke to be waiting with ring and maybe flowers at the finish line (for many observers, marathon proposals are about men stealing the spotlight).
Run, girl, run.
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To revert to that discussion about The Right Sort of Jawline and Breathing Properly the other day, TIL that mouth taping is (still) A Thing, and Canadian researchers say there’s no evidence that mouth taping has any health benefits and warn that it could actually be harmful for people with sleep apnea.
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Since I see this is dated 2020, I may have posted it before: but hey, let's hear it for C18th women scholars of Anglo-Saxon Elizabeth Elstob, Old English scholar, and the Harleian Library. I think I want to know more about her years in the household of Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (1715–1785), duchess of Portland, who I know better through her connection with Mrs Delany of the botanically accurate embroidery and collages of flowers.
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I like this report on the 'Discovery of Original Magna Carta' because it's actually attentive to the amount of actual work that goes into 'discovering', from the first, 'aha! that looks like it might be' to the final confirmation.
What I read
Finished The Life Revamp - okay, not mind-blowing?
Having another bout of lower-back misery, re-reads of KJ Charles, Any Old Diamonds (Lilywhite Boys, #1) (2019), Gilded Cage (Lilywhite Boys, #2) (2019) and Masters in This Hall (Lilywhite Boys, #3) (2022). Still querying the understanding of the divorce law at the time.... (there seems to be an assumption at one point that spouse in prison was grounds??).
On the go
Started Upton Sinclair, Dragon's Teeth (Lanny Budd, #3) (1942). This is the one with spiritualism taken in the serious experimental fashion of the times along with New Thought, besides the whole international political situation. Also, spot-on fashions in child-rearing, though I don't think Truby King was actually name-checked over the strict 4-hour feeding regimen!
Set to one side as Vivian Shaw, Strange New World (Dr Greta Helsing, #4) came out yesterday.
Still dipping into Melissa Scott, Scenes from the City.
Still working on the book for review, which is rather dense: excellent work but not exactly light reading.
Up next
Should get to Anthony Powell, Casanova's Chinese Restaurant (1960) in preparation for online discussion group.
Discovered that there is a new work by Gail Godwin, Getting to Know Death: A meditation (2024), a memoir generated by a serious accident at the age of 85.
Still have not got round to latest Literary Review.
Today partner and I did make it through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered (actually, 2 Tubes, 1 Overground, and a walk through Belair Park) to Dulwich Picture Gallery for the Tirzah Garwood exhibition.
Also a certain amount of queuing even if we had timed entry tickets, as due possibly to the way things were laid out there was a certain amount of clumping up around the early parts of the exhibition.
But really rather good - got the impression that Garwood was an artist who was having fun with her art rather than Suffering For It, as well as, like so many female artists of her day, working in a whole range of media and crafts. E.g. her work on marbled paper seems to have been a significant contribution to the family income at certain points. Also did embroidery, quilting, collages, etc and there's a lot of playfulness to her work. Though also I found a number of her 'house' pictures verging on the unheimlich (a certain Shirley Jackson-esque note?)
Did a fairly quick walk round the rest of the gallery after we'd done the exhibition (not our first visit) and then home by a different route - the other Dulwich station, Overground plus Tube. Nostalgia of train passing through vistas of South London.
On day one, she was beautiful, and brave, and ready to cuddle. She was underweight, so her sleek black-and-brown body just fills an oval bed. Staring right at the camera with hope and trepidation, her stuffed alligator rests in front.
( Click for pic )
Today was her last day.