I hate the very first sentence, "Far smaller and closer to the Sun than it should be..." Should be? I know it's a just a turn of phrase (a mindless one), but there is subtle messaging behind such innocuous sounding words. Mercury is what it is. The third paragraph starts out much better, "Planetary scientists remain flummoxed by the very existence of the closest planet to our Sun." But that doesn't stop the shoulds and shouldn'ts from reappearing further down. And it get's worse. "Astronomers first realised something was wrong with Mercury ...." Wrong? How about saying it was anomalous to their expectations and current understanding? There is a lot of bad science reporting and it's a peeve of mine. The topic of the article is interesting, though.

I think I've strengthened my "ignore muscle" over the years of internet use.

Thanks for the link to that video, @wtg. I did have that option enabled, but while I was on that page I noticed at the bottom of the screen it said I'd opted to never save passwords for google and earthlink. I don't remember doing that, but I deleted both sites and it appears that might have been responsible because I use my Google account to log into Disqus. Ok then, I'm on Brave for another trial run! eta, it didn't last long. It continues to log me out of Disqus if I so much as refresh the page or open a new tab. Ugh. eta, I might be on another trial run. If I turn off fingerprinting for that specific website, it seems to behave.

Just went out to get wood from the shed. Everything is still covered in ice. Heard the cracking of tree limbs (I image) from the forest. Yes, @wtg, it can be destructive!

@AndyD There are 3 listings, I'm assuming you're referring to the 1st one? Mettingham Castle? I LOVE it! Never seen a green AGA before.

@wtg said in “I’m a very aesthetic person”: it’s just shameless self-promotion. Or a huge branding exercise at the expense of the American public Both.

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On a related note…Hard to believe this is the first baby born in this little Italian town in the last 30 years. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/26/italian-village-first-baby-in-30-years

This is an annual event not far from me, a celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe. https://www.chicagocatholic.com/photos/-/article/2025/12/23/frigid-temps-no-match-for-guadalupe-pilgrims

This must excite so many hi-tech villains and intelligence apparatus.

[image: 1767003209739-20251229_083604-resized.jpg] Hellebore are blooming

Special days. Soup for the next fortnight️

Iran is part of the global nuclear monitoring agency. Israel isn't. Israel refuses to say whether it has nuclear weapons or not when the world has known since the time of the Kennedy administration that it does have them. Fears are not facts. Insinuations are not facts. Accurate, concrete intelligence represents facts. I don't have a reason to think that there isn't fear mongering and war mongering happening now on the part of the powers that be who have openly, publicly been announcing their intent to go to war with Iran for decades now.