Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · 1d

Aaaand we’re back. So Don Leisure didn’t kill my iPod, he just put it in a coma for a couple of days :)

Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · 1d

Three guesses who brought a mouse into the house c.11pm, lost it in the kitchen, then tracked it down at 4am and woke me up with the unmistakable scuffling sounds of a cat chasing a mouse on laminate flooring.

Today’s Gladiator Mouse was incredibly lively, and lives to fight another day.

Close up photo of a naughty tortie, the bastard cat, the scourge of mice, the sleep-disruptor, my feline housemate Orangina, snoozing at the foot of my bed this morning after a busy night bringing mice into the house and waking me up chasing them around the kitchen. She has black and orange fur, and is resting her sleepy head on turquoise bedsheets.

She is quite annoyed that I stole her very lively living toy from under her nose shortly after she found it again at 4am. Just grabbed it. Was far too springy to transfer to a container for garden return, so yep I just had to head out in the dark with a very wiggly mouse in my hand and let it disappear off into the night, ready for another round of Mouse Gladiators!

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Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · 2d

Thought I’d changed it by just continuing to write in English, but no it’s says “omission” really must be “omissioni”

This is the same fucker that reverts to US English the second you blink (yes i have obviously tried setting UK default) and also refuses to be turned off AT ALL.

Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · 2d

I think it’s because I listed a load of monstrous men ending in i in the footnote (Cynocephali, Epiphagi, Astomi) and now it thinks all words should end in i so must be Italian.

Some suggestions:
Only > noli
Differs > differì
This > Thais

THANKS SPELLCHECK THATS REALLY HELPFUL

Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · 2d

My spellchecker is having a crisis in my footnote, and is trying to spellcheck in Italian, I think??

That’s kinda funny, but also WTF and why and please stop, I don’t have time for you being belligerently bilingual today

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Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · 3d

Don Leisure killed my iPod 😹

Bought his WMP-winning album, put it on my iPod and listened during my usual walk in the meadows. Last track ended with Dafydd Iwan and then…nothing. Screen black.

Tried to charge it when I got home, no luck, still Very Off. We’ll see if it EVER turns on again…

Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · 8d

Can’t entirely believe that Adwaith didn’t win with Solas this year, but huge congrats to Don Leisure! That album sounds right up my street so will be buying and listening soon :)

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 8d

I judged this year’s Welsh music prize – and Don Leisure’s winning album sums up the nation’s eclectic spirit

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Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · 4d

Hello Agnes!! She’s incredibly cute, congrats on your new cat!

(I do love calicos, but don’t tell my cat that I’d prefer if she had some white on her…)

My old cat Poppy had the one-pink-bean, that is also very sweet. So happy for you to have such a gorgeous addition to your family! 🐾

Reposted by Cat Crossley

Dr. Jude Seal - 'Unfunded Hobbyist' @judeseal.bsky.social · 5d

#Medievalsky At some point I remember having a handlist of early English / general European medical manuscripts and editions - but I cannot remember for the life of me if I found it somewhere or compiled it myself. (It was c.2022 - so my memory is a bit vague due to PhD stress) Any ideas? #medicine

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Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · 5d

Pretty sure that “Pretty” isn’t her name, but she’s very pretty so I call her Pretty! She seems to walk on tiptoes on tiny pretty paws, and is lovely and friendly when she knows you. I think she may be getting on a bit now, so I’m always happy to see her out and about. Hello Pretty!!

Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · 5d

I had my first contact with Pretty for ages yesterday, the first time in years! We’ve been friends for a while (she’s on my usual daily walk route) but she’s been a bit scared to come out to see me. Had to trespass a bit to stroke her, but totally worth it. Lovely puss.

@thecatreviewer.bsky.social

A photo of my white-pink hand in a teal thumb-loop sleeve petting the head of a black, orange and white (calico) cat whose name I don’t know, but who I call Pretty because she is pretty. She has little white socks with orange bits, and white whiskers. The background is grey tarmac with little hints of green moss

A slightly out of focus picture of Pretty, the calico cat, with a clearer view of her lovely orange and black face markings, pink nose and yellowish eyes. She is stood on the grey-green tarmac, with a cream wall and a grey metal gate in the background. You can see her cute pretty paws quite well, which are white with orange splodges.

Pretty the pretty calico cat striding towards the camera. This is the first time I’ve been able to pet her in some time (I don’t usually go onto peoples’ driveways to pet their cats, but I haven’t had contact with Pretty in YEARS so I made an exception when she was on the drive this time) The low sun is behind her, and she’s walking across grey tarmac with hints of green, a grey metal gate in the background.

A closer look at dem paws, oh they are pretty! White socks with ginger splodges at the end of black legs, with some white whiskers getting on on the action at the top of the image. You can more clearly see the green moss between the grey tarmac stones that she’s standing on.

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Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · 8d

Can’t entirely believe that Adwaith didn’t win with Solas this year, but huge congrats to Don Leisure! That album sounds right up my street so will be buying and listening soon :)

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 8d

I judged this year’s Welsh music prize – and Don Leisure’s winning album sums up the nation’s eclectic spirit

Desert blues, transcendental electronica and a concept album about a mill powered by music – this year’s shortlisted albums were stunningly diverse, none more so than the crate-digging on the triumphant Tyrchu Sain

www.theguardian.com

Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · 12d

Omg it was 1999 I saw them first 😹

Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · 12d

Oh no my tea’s gone cold during the ticket-buying process 😹

Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · 12d

SFA OK!! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Another fun thing for post-PhD life lined up, can’t wait to see them again, back where I saw them play the very first time a lifetime ago 😺

Screenshot of my ticket confirmation, dark and light grey text on a white background reads:

Super Furry Animals
15 May 2026 - 19:30 @ Venue Cymru (opening time 19:00)

ARENA (GA) - GENERAL ADMISSION

TICKET TYPE
Standing General Admission

…so it’s going to be in the hall where I first saw Super Furries back in like, 2002 or something?? Woohoo!!

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Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · 15d

Cooked a few of these various foraged mushrooms up with a tonne of garlic last night, made a delicious meal and didn’t die!

I was pretty sure they were all fully fine to eat, but I nearly never pick and eat edible mushrooms so this was a bit out of my comfort zone. Will do it all again tonight…

A selection of large mushrooms — field, parasol and horse? — with pale flesh and some dark brown gills, sitting upturned on a grey plastic bag on a table. There’s a lot of general kitchen table detritus in the background (including a dried up pot of tippex, a beautiful red crab apple and a blue glass bottle) on the top edge of the frame. A small brown mushroom knife with a brush, used to clean the various mushrooms, sits on the right of the image

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Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · 29d

I’m *still* having to use images borrowed from friends for chunks of my PhD thesis because they *still* aren’t available on the BL site 😿

I’m very glad I left the BL job with a Dropbox full of medieval maps, but anything I didn’t get pre-cyber attack is begged and borrowed. So frustrating…

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Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · Sep 15

(The Honourable Mention that is, not the nursery plague lol!)

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Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · Sep 15

Yay!! Well deserved 😺

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Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · Sep 11

Oh god I hadn’t even thought about AI bullshit being categorised as “digital humanities”. This pains me on so many levels 😩

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Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · Sep 7

Anyway, the rainwater butt is now reattached to the shed’s gutter and downspout, sitting on a raised granite paving slab with a newly flat bottom, and hopefully won’t topple over again.

Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · Sep 7

Apologies to any neighbours who heard me swearing at top volume, but as I was heading off to fetch the small piece of slate I got stung on the foot by a wasp and it fucking hurt, Jesus fuck it hurt so much! I obviously haven’t been stung by a wasp in a while because I forgot how much it hurt…

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Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · Sep 7

Quite enjoyed the bodge-fix garden task with my dad yesterday that involved the weirdest list of tools and materials:

A bucket
A spade
A small bowsaw
A pair of pliers
A short length of wire
Two kettles full of hot water
A granite paving slab
A large wooden beam/plank
And one small piece of slate!

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Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · Sep 2

If you’ve got a bit of cash you can spare for a good cause, SUN food bank could really use some help.

Seems I’m currently one of only two donors so far, which is worryingly low engagement, so boosting in case anyone else can help out.

R @rchlcze.bsky.social · Sep 1

Hey guys! We could really do with some help bumping around our food bank fundraising as we’ve only raised £10 in the GFM for September. We feed kids when the government doesn’t by distributing packs of fresh fruit veg and meal making ingredients as well as gofund.me/4b297c14

Donate to SUN AUTUMN-WINTER FOOD AND BABY BANK, organized by SUN Baby Bank

Each school holidays we aim to curb the deficit left by the Welsh Labour government… SUN Baby Bank needs your support for SUN AUTUMN-WINTER FOOD AND BABY BANK

gofund.me

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Cat Crossley @catscreatechaos.bsky.social · Sep 2

Yes so everything IS awful, but there are Scottish wildcat families thriving in the wild so life on this planet isn’t all bad…

Short video featuring a mother wildcat and two kittens from last month 😻

www.wildcathaven.com/news/and-the...

AND THEN THERE WERE TWO 😻😻 — Wildcat Haven

Hi All Thank you so much for the amazing response to the image of a kitten with Mum at night, on one of our wildlife cameras. We were hopeful that she had more. Well, we are delighted to tell you tha...

www.wildcathaven.com

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