Peter Flynn
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docum3nt.bsky.social
Peter Flynn
@docum3nt.bsky.social
260 followers 190 following 3.7K posts
Documents, markup, typesetting • Writer • Grandfather • Cook • Pronoun: he/him/us’n • Bribable with chocolate • Discord: frisket • Recipes: https://xml.silmaril.ie/recipes/ ☘️ 🇮🇪
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docum3nt.bsky.social
Samuel Pepys reporting in 1666 about a king who did "not live by meat, nor drink, but by having great lyes told him."
Back with Captain Erwin, discoursing about the East Indys, where he hath often been. And among other things he tells me how the King of Syam seldom goes out without thirty or forty thousand people with him, and not a word spoke, nor a hum or cough in the whole company to be heard. He tells me the punishment frequently there for malefactors is cutting off the crowne of their head, which they do very dexterously, leaving their brains bare, which kills them presently. He told me what I remember he hath once done heretofore: that every body is to lie flat down at the coming by of the King, and nobody to look upon him upon pain of death. And that he and his fellows, being strangers, were invited to see the sport of taking of a wild elephant, and they did only kneel, and look toward the King. Their druggerman did desire them to fall down, for otherwise he should suffer for their contempt of the King. The sport being ended, a messenger comes from the King, which the druggerman thought had been to have taken away his life; but it was to enquire how the strangers liked the sport. The druggerman answered that they did cry it up to be the best that ever they saw, and that they never heard of any Prince so great in every thing as this King. The messenger being gone back, Erwin and his company asked their druggerman what he had said, which he told them. “But why,” say they, “would you say that without our leave, it being not true?” — “It is no matter for that,” says he, “I must have said it, or have been hanged, for our King do not live by meat, nor drink, but by having great lyes told him.”
November 26, 2025 at 5:40 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
November 26, 2025 at 2:25 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
Safe to say Folláin's marketing people have never heard of the phrase "cheese-paring"
Pack shot of Folláin's chutney collection "Twelve Days of Cheese Pairings"
November 22, 2025 at 11:09 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
Found this in a local gallery
Cup of hot chocolate with two marshmallows...and a white mouse leaning back enjoying the bath
November 22, 2025 at 10:54 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
As a printer, I came across this word in Caxton's first printed advertisement in English (1476/7) in a plea at the bottom not to tear it down (in Latin, because it was addressed to the priest of the churches where he pinned it up).
If it plese ony man spirituel or temporel to bye ony pye¹ of two and thre comemoraciōs² of salisburi use enpryntid after the forme of this presēt lettre whiche ben wel and truly correct, late hym come to westmo- nester in to the almonesrye at the reed pale³ and he shal haue them good chepe. Supplico stet cedula⁴ Translation If it please any man spiritual or temporal to buy any pie¹ of two and three commemorations² of Salisbury use printed after the form of this letter which is well and truly correct, let him come to Westmin- ster in to the Almonry at the red pole³ and he shall have them good cheap. Please leave this notice⁴ ---------- 1. A ‘pie’ was a religious calendar for priests 📅 (like "pious") not a pastry confection 🥧 2. This pie must have resolved clashes between up to three holy days 3. Caxton had his press at the sign of the Red Pole 💈 4. The last line is in Latin to appeal to the priest not to tear down the advert which was nailed up to church doors
November 15, 2025 at 9:17 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
Right now it's The Secret Barrister's "Fake Law" and the late Michael Twyman's "Reproducing the Bayeux Tapestry".
Copies of The Secret Barrister's "Fake Law" and the Michael Twyman's "Reproducing the Bayeux Tapestry" on my table.
November 14, 2025 at 7:25 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
Tonight is paella marisco con corazones de alcachofas
Dish of paella on a table
November 14, 2025 at 6:05 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
If you see this, quote tweet with a vampire that's not Dracula.
Front cover of Mercedes Lackey's "Children of the Night"
October 31, 2025 at 7:21 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
Guilty as charged, m'lud. But I inherited the job of family tree keeper from my grandmother (as in "I'm nominating you to do this after I'm gone, OK?") And yes, "auntie" and "uncle" are the defaults for anyone older than you who is not your parent or grandparent.
Family tree diagram
October 28, 2025 at 7:05 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
"Well, we've finished the church but we seem to have an altar left over."

"I know, stick it outside and make it into a ping-pong table."

(There are also two chess tables. Ballyroan church, Dublin)
Picture of stone altar-like table-tennis table built outside a modern church
October 18, 2025 at 9:27 AM
docum3nt.bsky.social
Southern states US people: are these seasonings anywhere near what they claim to be? Or just pale UK imitations of the Taste of The South™? (Ingredients in alt text, in descending order of quantity by weight).
Marks & Spencer Cajun Seasoning. Ingredients: Ground Sweet Paprika, Sugar, Ground Smoked Paprika, Ground Yellow Mustard Seed, Dried Garlic, Dried Onions, Sea Salt, Dried Parsley, Cayenne Pepper, Dried Red Peppers, Dried Red Chillies [sic], Dried Oregano, Dried Thyme, Anti-Caking Agent E55, Fennel Seeds. Marks & Spencer Southern Fried Seasoning. Ingredients: Ground Spices (35%) (Sweet Paprika, White Pepper, Black Pepper, Ginger, Fennel Seeds), Dried Yeast Extract, Sea Salt, Dried Garlic, Dried Onions, Ground Yellow Mustard Seed, Dried Thyme, Dried Oregano, Flavouring (contains Celery).
October 16, 2025 at 6:45 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
And the other one from the same source of perversion is a [UK] iced bun (see pic) split sideways and spread thickly with butter and Marmite, then closed as a sandwich.
An "iced bun" in the UK and Ireland is soft bread or brioche roll topped with glacé icing.
October 7, 2025 at 10:03 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
Kids called this "bugs on a log"
Sticks of celery spread with peanut butter in the concave side, then stuck with raisins
October 7, 2025 at 9:54 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
Shakespeare's sonnet 18 "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day" in the original Klingon, as a TEI XML document, typeset with LaTeX (showing the markup).
xml.silmaril.ie/sonnet18/son...
Shakespeare's sonnet 18 "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day" in the original Klingon, as a TEI XML document, typeset with LaTeX (showing the markup).
October 6, 2025 at 7:35 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
Worse, even if you complete it, and the captchas, you get an error message (complete with spelling error).
Error message from the JND claim site: Alert An error occured [sic] during your submission. Please try again. If this problem persists, please contact the settlement administrator at the email below.
October 3, 2025 at 2:30 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
Duckduckgo seems still to answer the question but the sources are questionable.
First three responses to the question "does trump show signs of dementia" typed into the duckduckgo search engine show: 1. There are concerns and discussions among experts suggesting that Donald Trump may exhibit signs of cognitive decline, including symptoms associated with dementia, such as verbal slips and changes in behavior. However, definitive diagnoses cannot be made without clinical assessment. [SearchAssist AI, healthandme.com Wikipedia] 2. Donald Trump exhibting 'four signs' of dementia as expert makes ... During the five-hour tests, Trump reportedly underwent neurological evaluations on his mental status, nerves, motor and sensory function, and reflexes, showing no signs of depression or... [MSN] 3. Does Donald Trump Have Dementia? Expert Insists POTUS Is 'Clearly ... Sep 23, 2025 In an interview, Dr. Gartner shares how Donald Trump is showing signs of dementia. Age is another factor. At nearly 80, small cognitive changes are statistically common. [International Business Times UK]
October 1, 2025 at 4:14 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
Also, that when they get given some source in .docx format, a couple of piped commands can turn it into TEI paras without even having to write any XSLT :-)

$ unzip -p myfile.docx word/document.xml | lxprintf -e w:p "<p rend=\"%s %s\">%s</p>\n" w:pPr/w:pStyle/@w:val w:pPr/w:jc/@w:val . - >myfile.xml
Start of a draft document written in Word [used by kind permission of the late author] Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 101 : 1, 1971 RECTORY, VICARAGE AND PARISH IN THE WESTERN IRISH DIOCESES K. W. Nicholls In most areas of western Europe the parochial system (whose essential feature was that a particular church was entitled to the tithes and the profits arising from spiritual minstration within a given area, the parish) was in general a creation of the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries. In England the system was already fully established by the time of King Edgar (959-63).l In the Celtic countries, Wales, Ireland and Scotland, the introduction of the system […] Text output of converting the adjoined .docx file into TEI paragraphs using the lxprintf utility (part of the LTXML2 toolkit from https://www.ltg.ed.ac.uk/software/ltxml2/). The output is marked with <p> elements and the Word style is reproduces in the @rend attribute.
September 29, 2025 at 2:45 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
Anyone know what this was for? I mean I know the French words "prune" and "piège", and I'm aware of fruit-tree pest traps, but this is in the style and size of a decanter label. A pharmacist's poison label? Online searches return nothing, and I don't have a French thesaurus.
Metal name label in the style of a wine decanter label (even has holes in the top corners for a chain) with the word PRUNEPIEGE hand-engraved on it. Not silver, and not recent.
September 28, 2025 at 9:09 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
Red Cow, Dublin. There used to be a pub in there once.
Aerial photo of large highway interchange at the Red Cow junction, Dublin, Ireland
September 26, 2025 at 11:19 AM
docum3nt.bsky.social
I'm happy to hear ILL still exists and works. I have a recipe written by a friend on the back of a BL Telex Request form 🤣 which probably dates both me and the recipe.
End of a recipe written on a British Library Lending Division Telex Request form ("and mix till smooth. When cake is cook sandwich with some filling and put the rest on top. YUMMY!!"). Recipe (edited) is at https://xml.silmaril.ie/recipes/lornas-chocolate-cake.html
September 24, 2025 at 9:35 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
Or here (the kids called this "bugs on a log")
Picture of sticks of celery with the hollow side filled with peanut butter, and raisins stuck all along them.
September 24, 2025 at 4:26 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
This is a start, but to see what we're up against, we need to look at the whole picture.
Graph of Disney's stock price since 1980, rising slowly to peak at 120 in 2015 and then again to 190 in 2021, then falling to 90 in 2022, and rising again to the 110-120 range today (2025, Sep).
September 21, 2025 at 8:33 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
I saved it to disk and it looks like a JPG (JFIF), so I add it here with alt text. Let's see...
Culture Night at Áras an Uachtaráin
September 20, 2025 at 9:06 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
Yep, stops it dead.
Drawing of a guillotine, raised
September 10, 2025 at 3:16 PM
docum3nt.bsky.social
FFS. This is on a medical appointment letter for an elderly patient from the UK's NHS. Utter dereliction of duty of care because the service has been stripped of funding in preparation for its sell-off to Big Med and Big Pharma, and is being run by misguided administrators.
"The above letter has been created using automated speech recognition software which can result in errors. If any part of the letter does not make sense please contact us for clarification."
September 10, 2025 at 10:17 AM