Karis Lou Sirak
@karislousirak.bsky.social
PhD Researcher, amateur photographer, freelance researcher, writer, and ethnographic researcher. Public art, reading, birds, wildlife, the coast, Lego, SciFi TV, folklore (Peg Power 💚), doodler.📍NE Eng, UK.
https://linktr.ee/karislousirak
https://linktr.ee/karislousirak
Nothing surprises me anymore, but the fact that these are all still going makes me apoplectic.
The managing director of Teesside airport is running the publicly owned business while holding a remarkable conflict of interest: he’s also on the books of an investor who tried to buy the airport and has snaffled up a large swathe of adjacent land.
Full story in the new Private Eye, out now.
Full story in the new Private Eye, out now.
December 20, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Nothing surprises me anymore, but the fact that these are all still going makes me apoplectic.
Lady on her mobile in the chocolate shop: I've got a terrible cold. These are £3.95, I don't love him that much, I'll only get one.
Me:
Me:
a cat is sitting on a bed with its paws on a laptop keyboard .
Alt: a cat is sitting on a bed with its paws on a laptop keyboard, giving judgemental side eye
media.tenor.com
December 18, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Lady on her mobile in the chocolate shop: I've got a terrible cold. These are £3.95, I don't love him that much, I'll only get one.
Me:
Me:
Tried writing on an offline word processor program without any input. Whilst I was productive, I realised in editing that I am closer to being illiterate than a wordsmith. It's a good job no one needs to read my handwritten work anymore too. Without technology my writing is illegible to anyone else.
a cartoon character is holding a piece of paper and wearing a hat .
ALT: a cartoon character is holding a piece of paper and wearing a hat .
media.tenor.com
December 17, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Tried writing on an offline word processor program without any input. Whilst I was productive, I realised in editing that I am closer to being illiterate than a wordsmith. It's a good job no one needs to read my handwritten work anymore too. Without technology my writing is illegible to anyone else.
Got this week's target editing done in the manuscript. Now to try and get some semblance of Christmas spirit over the weekend with a Christmas read, and related activities.
December 12, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Got this week's target editing done in the manuscript. Now to try and get some semblance of Christmas spirit over the weekend with a Christmas read, and related activities.
Today is Christmas Jumper day at one of the places I work. Do you think this counts?
December 11, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Today is Christmas Jumper day at one of the places I work. Do you think this counts?
Well this book is an absolute blooming delight, just what's needed in December. "The Dead of Winter: The Demons, Witches and Ghosts of Christmas" - Sarah Clegg. Going to try and source Clegg's previous work "Women's Lore" too. #WhatAreYouReading
December 8, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Well this book is an absolute blooming delight, just what's needed in December. "The Dead of Winter: The Demons, Witches and Ghosts of Christmas" - Sarah Clegg. Going to try and source Clegg's previous work "Women's Lore" too. #WhatAreYouReading
Watched the Sycamore Gap Doc on Channel 4 last night on live TV like the old days. Fictional detectives are all about profiling, lab analysis, and interrogation. Real-life detectives: tip-offs, checking CCTV, and looking at a suspect's phone.
December 4, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Watched the Sycamore Gap Doc on Channel 4 last night on live TV like the old days. Fictional detectives are all about profiling, lab analysis, and interrogation. Real-life detectives: tip-offs, checking CCTV, and looking at a suspect's phone.
Currently feeding my longest held interests by reading Adam Allsuch Boardman's An Illustrated History of Urban Legends. It seems to be the best distraction from the world right now.
December 4, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Currently feeding my longest held interests by reading Adam Allsuch Boardman's An Illustrated History of Urban Legends. It seems to be the best distraction from the world right now.
Stottie fungi (barm, bap, bun, bread) growing alongside a regular route.
November 16, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Stottie fungi (barm, bap, bun, bread) growing alongside a regular route.
Was in an online meeting with terrible sound and no video, thought someone said "I've got two cats today" but they said caps, as in jobs. I would've preferred to be meeting with the cats.
November 12, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Was in an online meeting with terrible sound and no video, thought someone said "I've got two cats today" but they said caps, as in jobs. I would've preferred to be meeting with the cats.
A conversation with teenagers about social media, the fundamental difference is that they see it as entertainment, not as a means to make connections. That's what it's become, a media source, whereas us oldies are still chasing the social bit. This was a revelation to me, and feel slightly unburned.
October 28, 2025 at 10:00 AM
A conversation with teenagers about social media, the fundamental difference is that they see it as entertainment, not as a means to make connections. That's what it's become, a media source, whereas us oldies are still chasing the social bit. This was a revelation to me, and feel slightly unburned.
Day 3 of sitting in very uncomfortable chairs listening to people talk about interesting things. Hoping that today is a revelation...
October 18, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Day 3 of sitting in very uncomfortable chairs listening to people talk about interesting things. Hoping that today is a revelation...
This week I've mostly been collecting material for my game "Corporate or Cult?" and let me tell you it's a difficulty hard rating.
October 16, 2025 at 8:20 AM
This week I've mostly been collecting material for my game "Corporate or Cult?" and let me tell you it's a difficulty hard rating.
Reposted by Karis Lou Sirak
Calling English a 'rip-off degree' is one of the most blatant exhibitions of personal barbarism I've ever seen. You've demonstrated nothing but the poverty of your own mind.
October 8, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Calling English a 'rip-off degree' is one of the most blatant exhibitions of personal barbarism I've ever seen. You've demonstrated nothing but the poverty of your own mind.
But, libraries aren't very well protected either...
October 6, 2025 at 7:45 AM
But, libraries aren't very well protected either...
It was a two walks kind of day yesterday. Today is a yoga kind of day. Distraction is the name of the game right now. It'll all be okay🤞
September 17, 2025 at 7:13 AM
It was a two walks kind of day yesterday. Today is a yoga kind of day. Distraction is the name of the game right now. It'll all be okay🤞
Been for a walk, now making a proper meal from scratch, these are things I heartily recommend doing right now because while the world is going into darkness and there's not a thing you can do about it, you can distract yourself and take moments of joy from the small things.
September 13, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Been for a walk, now making a proper meal from scratch, these are things I heartily recommend doing right now because while the world is going into darkness and there's not a thing you can do about it, you can distract yourself and take moments of joy from the small things.
Well this book hits hard. Tired of reading the same spooky tropes and guessing what was going to happen, I picked up Lafcadio Hearn's Some Japanese Ghosts from the Amnesty Book shop in Newcastle. Needless to say, it's anything but predictable 👻 #ReadingGhostStories 📚
September 12, 2025 at 6:57 AM
Well this book hits hard. Tired of reading the same spooky tropes and guessing what was going to happen, I picked up Lafcadio Hearn's Some Japanese Ghosts from the Amnesty Book shop in Newcastle. Needless to say, it's anything but predictable 👻 #ReadingGhostStories 📚
This reminds me of when someone painted a large phallus on the school field in white paint, and the caretaker just cut out the paint from the grass, so you could still see the shape for ages. Not sure whether both examples are covert support.
They erased the new Banksy mural in London. But the stain remains.
September 10, 2025 at 1:57 PM
This reminds me of when someone painted a large phallus on the school field in white paint, and the caretaker just cut out the paint from the grass, so you could still see the shape for ages. Not sure whether both examples are covert support.
Mini week motivation fellow PhDers
As a PhD-holder myself, I feel obligated to make it abundantly clear that people with PhDs are not necessarily smart. They're experts in a small niche of their incredibly niche field, sure, but sometimes that is all. A PhD is a test of resilience and stubbornness, not cleverness.
September 10, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Mini week motivation fellow PhDers
Brightened up my day this
September 10, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Brightened up my day this
My nearest conker tree has had its lowest branches all lopped off before the conkers had a chance to drop. The kids won't be able to reach them easily now. *Shakes head in a melancholic fashion*
September 8, 2025 at 1:06 PM
My nearest conker tree has had its lowest branches all lopped off before the conkers had a chance to drop. The kids won't be able to reach them easily now. *Shakes head in a melancholic fashion*
Went to a public lecture recently in an old theatre that is now a nightclub. Used to go to the nightclub years ago. It still has the same smell, the same inexplicable heat in the upper floors, the same warren-like structure which meant you lost people regularly. Still the same random eccentricness:
September 5, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Went to a public lecture recently in an old theatre that is now a nightclub. Used to go to the nightclub years ago. It still has the same smell, the same inexplicable heat in the upper floors, the same warren-like structure which meant you lost people regularly. Still the same random eccentricness: