#zenmischief — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #zenmischief, aggregated by home.social.
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Today on my blog, this month's poem:
"Song on a May Morning" by John Milton
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Today on my blog, this month's poem:
"Song on a May Morning" by John Milton
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Today on my blog, this month's poem:
"Song on a May Morning" by John Milton
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Today on my blog, this month's poem:
"Song on a May Morning" by John Milton
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Today on my blog, this month's poem:
"Song on a May Morning" by John Milton
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Today on my Zen Mischief blog, this month's Self-Portrait: "Fat Boy and His Shadow" ...
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This month's collection of links to items you may have missed is now on my blog.
https://zenmischief.com/2026/04/monthly-links-for-april-2/
#biology #history #links #london #medicine #physics #science #sexuality #April #blog #zenmischief
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Monthly Links for April
As usual in this month’s collection of links, we’ll start with the hardest stuff …
Science, Technology, Natural World
Quite a lot of years ago, mathematicians worked out why waiting for a lift (elevator, for those in America) always takes forever. [££££]
How likely are you to be killed by a primordial black hole? [££££]
Whether you believe in astrology or not, your star sign is likely wrong, but you can find the correct one. [££££]
The Chernobyl exclusion zone has become a most unusual ecological experiments on Earth, leading to some unexpected results. [LONG READ]
So why do cats get the Zoomies, especially late at night?
Health, Medicine
If you had cardiac arrest in public, would a stranger give you CPR?
Most men have two balls, but are three balls better?
Sexuality & Relationships
The Kamasutra is more than a sex manual, with consent as an underlying principle.
A 300+ year old sex manual that got pretty much all of it wrong.
Well who would have guessed? Human sperm get lost in space. [££££]
As if boob jobs weren’t enough, labiaplasty is a growing fashion. Why? Just why? [LONG READ]
Environment & Ecology
Jaguar (below) are becoming increasingly rare, so researchers were pleased to see one in a wildlife corridor in the Honduran mountains. [££££]
History, Archaeology, Anthropology
Archaeologists have discovered a variety of 12,000‑year‑old dice, and they illuminate ancient play.
The oldest known recipe for toothpaste comes from … Ancient Egypt.
So how many of the purported priest holes are actually what they’re said to be? [LONG READ]
Samuel Pepys was, in many ways, a very naughty man – even to the extent of concealing letters about being offered an enslaved boy as a bribe.
London
Matt Brown of Londonist has taken a look at the origins of some of the City of London’s street names.
Matt Brown is also creating a coloured version of John Rocque’s 1746 map of London. Here’s the latest section covering Chelsea and the King’s Road (above).
Meanwhile a researcher has been able to unravel the mysterious location of Shakespeare’s house in Blackfriars.
London Historians visits Benjamin Franklin’s London house.
Food, Drink
Here’s a quick look at some of the factors which produce the myriad types of tea.
Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs
Humans have been documenting their appreciation of the nude body for thousands of years, and photography has made it much easier and more accessible.
The New Testament letters of Paul are not what they seem; many weren’t even written by him. [LONG READ]
Shock, Horror, Ha ha ha!
Finally, New Scientist considers the size of a “shedload“. [££££]
#32 #April #biology #blog #history #links #london #medicine #physics #science #sexuality #zenmischief -
We have a ridiculous number of green Ring-neck Parakeets visiting our garden ...
https://zenmischief.com/2026/02/parakeets-2/
#birds #environment #naturalhistory #parakeets #zenmischief #blog
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We have a ridiculous number of green Ring-neck Parakeets visiting our garden ...
https://zenmischief.com/2026/02/parakeets-2/
#birds #environment #naturalhistory #parakeets #zenmischief #blog
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We have a ridiculous number of green Ring-neck Parakeets visiting our garden ...
https://zenmischief.com/2026/02/parakeets-2/
#birds #environment #naturalhistory #parakeets #zenmischief #blog
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We have a ridiculous number of green Ring-neck Parakeets visiting our garden ...
https://zenmischief.com/2026/02/parakeets-2/
#birds #environment #naturalhistory #parakeets #zenmischief #blog
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We have a ridiculous number of green Ring-neck Parakeets visiting our garden ...
https://zenmischief.com/2026/02/parakeets-2/
#birds #environment #naturalhistory #parakeets #zenmischief #blog
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Parakeets
These birds are ridiculous! This morning, about 09:15, we had a garden full of ring-neck parakeets (Psittacula krameri from Northern India): 26 of them sitting about the trees and on the almost empty feeders; in the rain. And that’s the ones I could see! And it wasn’t just parakeets, the full count was at least:
- 26 Ring-neck Parakeets
- 2 Magpies
- 2 Woodpigeons
- at least 1 Squirrel
- and an uncountable number of various species of tit (blue tit, great tit and maybe some coal tit).
Here’s a quick photo of some of them (taken through a dirty window) to prove the point – I can count 22 in this photo! [Click the image for a larger view.]
I know many people don’t like these parakeets: they’re an alien invader, prolific, noisy, and supposedly keep the smaller birds off food supplies. However we love having them around. No, they’re not native. Yes, they’re noisy. But they are comically acrobatic. And judging by our garden observations they certainly don’t deter the smaller birds – if anything is guilty of that it’s the squirrels.
There’s lots more on these parakeets on the Natural History Museum website. Let’s celebrate them as a colourful and fun addition to our environment.
#environment #naturalHistory #parakeets #zenmischief -
The answers to my January quiz questions (on general knowledge) now on my blog.
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January Quiz Answers
Here are the answers to this month’s six quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.
General Knowledge
- The numbers on the opposite sides of a six-sided die always add up to what number? Seven
- What was the name of the world’s first artificial satellite? Sputnik 1
- In what year did cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin reach space? 1961
- Where did backgammon originate? Persia
- What is England’s official national sport? Cricket
- Since the 1970s in which country has it been a tradition to eat fried chicken from KFC on Christmas Day? Japan
Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2025.
#blog #generalknowledge #January #quiz #zenmischief -
Continuing as last year, today's blog post is our regular quiz questions; this month on General Knowledge.
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January Quiz Questions
Each month we’re posing six pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month.
As always, they’re designed to be tricky but not impossible, so it’s unlikely everyone will know all the answers – just have a bit of fun.General Knowledge
- The numbers on the opposite sides of a six-sided die always add up to what number?
- What was the name of the world’s first artificial satellite?
- In what year did cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin reach space?
- Where did backgammon originate?
- What is England’s official national sport?
- Since the 1970s in which country has it been a tradition to eat fried chicken from KFC on Christmas Day?
Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.
#blog #generalknowledge #January #quiz #zenmischief -
Advent Calendar Day 21 ... Stondon Massey churchyard, Essex
Burial place (unknown grave) of composer William Byrd -
Advent Calendar Day 17 ... Water Lily, Kew Gardens
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Advent Calendar Day 13 ... Lady Chapel vaulting, Ely Cathedral
(For a larger view, see the blogpost.)https://zenmischief.com/2025/12/advent-calendar-13-10/
#advent #photography #ely #medievalarchitecture #history #zenmischief
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Advent Calendar Day 11 ... Castle Howard ...
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OK, so new on my blog is one for you all to argue over ... I Blame Harold Wilson. YMMV.
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Today on my blog, answers to this month's quiz questions on World Affairs.
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Yesterday on my log: This month's six quiz questions on World Affairs.
https://zenmischief.com/2025/06/june-quiz-questions-4/
#quiz #generalknowledge #June #WorldAffairs #zenmischief #blog
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Answers to my general knowledge quiz questions are now on my blog.
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Today on my blog, this month's quiz questions, on General Knowledge.
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This evening on my blog, I played around at World Pinhole Photography Day.
https://zenmischief.com/2025/04/world-pinhole-photography-day-2/
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World Pinhole Photography Day
Bah! Humbug! to the London Marathon. Much more interestingly today is World Pinhole Photography Day – always the last Sunday in April.
Before we had lenses for cameras, and indeed before we had photographic film, it was possible to view a scene, and project it onto a wall, using a tiny aperture. This was the camera obscura used by artists since ancient times.
Pinhole Dandelion
(Click all the images for a larger view.)Once cameras and the photographic process were available, it became possible to do this trick with a tiny pinhole instead of a lens. Needless to say the results are not sharp, as they would be with a lens, and because of the tiny aperture exposure times are much longer than we’re used to these days. But the smaller the pinhole, the sharper the image and the longer the exposure needed.
Nevertheless it is a fun, and often instructive, technique to try – and these days it’s very easy with (digital) SLR cameras. All one needs is a pinhole – and you can make that yourself! (If you hunt online there are people who will make a pinhole for your camera; or even sell you a bespoke pinhole camera.)
Pinhole Red DeadnettleThere are a number of “how to” sites on the internet. Basically you need only a spare camera body cap and bits and pieces you will already have lying around, like an empty drinks can.
A couple of years ago I made a pinhole for my Canon dSLR following the instructions on wikiHow. It was a bit tricky for me, with my ten left thumbs, but after three or four attempts at making the actual pinhole (in a piece of drinks can) I made something which works adequately if not brilliantly.
Pinhole Lilac Bush (from below)Setting up and taking pictures is easy enough. Fit the pinhole (body cap) to the camera and mount the camera on a tripod.
Set the camera to manual and ISO 100 (or slower). You can’t adjust the aperture of the pinhole, which will be tiny, so you then have to experiment with exposure times of 10-30 seconds (compared with the normal 1/100th or faster) in good light; longer in poor light or night. Use a remote control (or the camera’s timer delay). Now experiment.So today I found my pinhole, and had a wander round the garden to see what looked likely to make a decent photograph. The images here are the best results (slightly colour enhanced). For comparison the following final two images are of the garden with a pinhole and with a normal lens on the camera – I reckon for a piece of crude homemade old technology the pinhole doesn’t do a bad job.
Pinhole View of Our Hairy Garden
The same view of our garden with a proper camera lens!Of those four pinhole images, I think the first, the dandelion, has worked the best. What does anyone else think?
#April #blog #personal #photography #PinholePhoto #WPPD #zenmischief
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So what's on my blog today? Ah it's "What Happened in 125BC, 25BC, AD25, AD125" the next instalment of things that happened in years ending --25.
https://zenmischief.com/2025/02/what-happened-in-125bc-25bc-ad25-ad125/
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Now on my blog ... a quick snigger.
https://zenmischief.com/2024/10/you-have-to-snigger/
#wtf #amusements #blog #zenmischief -
Now on my blog: Culinary Adventures #110: Duck Schnitzel with Orzo Pseudo-Risotto
https://zenmischief.com/2024/06/culinary-adventures-110-duck-schnitzel-with-orzo-pseudo-risotto/
#food #recipe #duck #risotto #orzo #schnitzel #blog #zenmischief
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Now on my blog: Culinary Adventures #110: Duck Schnitzel with Orzo Pseudo-Risotto
https://zenmischief.com/2024/06/culinary-adventures-110-duck-schnitzel-with-orzo-pseudo-risotto/
#food #recipe #duck #risotto #orzo #schnitzel #blog #zenmischief
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Culinary Adventures #110: Duck Schnitzel with Orzo Pseudo-Risotto
It’s been too long since I did a Culinary Adventures post. So to put that right this is what I concocted for Friday evening. As always it’s based on ideas culled from recipes I see, and adapted à la mode d’ici.
Duck Schnitzel with Orzo Pseudo-Risotto
Serves: 2
Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking: 15 minutes
Ingredients2 duck breasts
100g orzo
2 handfuls frozen peas
2 large salad onions, or one medium-size onion, chopped
enough cloves of garlic, chopped or crushed
a yellow, orange or red pepper, chopped
zest & juice of a lemon
plain flour
an egg, beaten
about 75g Panko Breadcrumbs (or ordinary breadcrumbs)
fresh ground black pepper
leaves from half a packet of fresh tarragon (discard the stems) or other fresh herbs of your choice
splash white wine or dry sherry (optional)What to do
Lay out 3 small plates. […]
#blog #culinaryAdventures #duck #food #orzo #risotto #schnitzel #zenMischief
https://zenmischief.com/?p=33409