Hygge at Bag End

Some lesser seen rodents... & non-rodents

Striped grass mice (x3), lowland streaked tenrec, Luzon cloud rat, Paca, Eurasian hamster, European hedgehog

Bugs would be doing Piggy's nails and telling her how good that outfit looks on her.

Archeologists can't tell for sure whether someone was assigned male or female when alive from bone structure, but they can tell whether someone was an archer. Longbow archer, anyway. The way their arms and shoulders were strongly muscled in a very asymmetrical way is pretty much unmistakable, and they were muscled enough that it's visible in their bones. If someone's seen what archers look like, they can tell whether a stranger they've never seen before can shoot a bow or not.

"How is claiming they drowned a Hilux possibly underselling it" GREAT question.

To start with a little disclaimer, Top Gear's Hilux did not start off, as in the video above, in pristine condition. It started off with nigh-on 300k kms (for you yankees, that's about 8.4 million Boeing 737 wingspans) and a condition to match.

And it's only once careless driving around town yielded zilch in given shits...

(look, I found a local newspaper picturing it being driven around!)

...that they decided to drown it. Now, the underselling part: if you told me that they drowned a pickup the first place my mind would go to would be "driving it through a river a bit too deep for it, perhaps as deep as its height, until it stalls and then tugging it back out. You will concede that's rather different from tying it down on the seashore with the second highest tide in the world...

...and leaving it there until it engulfs the whole truck...

...only for the ropes to snap...

...and for the truck to be lost to the tides for FIVE HOURS.

(and for those wondering, yes, just as promised, well within an hour and the mandatory limits of basic tools and no spare parts, up the mechanic made the thing fire and away the presenter drove it - I must imagine doing a number on his clothes in the process.)

Oh also I would have mentioned the caravan.

Or at least the wrecking ball.

But hey, at least the fire was mentioned.

Still, I feel it's criminal to leave out how they celebrated it surviving all it did: by parking it at the top of a 23 story building for all to see! :)

Wait NO-

Well, that was uncalled for. Given what it survived, it deserved to rest in a museum instead of being unceremoniously cleared out with the other chunks of public housing that buried it.

Or at least, given that buried it wasn't...

...to be tumbled down from the rubble utop which it sat...

...and be fueled up.

"be fueled up", pfft, what for?, I hear you say. And you are right.

Look at that thing, you say.

Let's be serious now, however pretty of a story it would be that's not a truck that will do anything remotely in the ballpark of firing up, let alone running.

And again, you are right.

The battery was disconnected.

Sorted that, tho

"You can't be serious." Oh darling I sure can! "Well the presenters can't then" no no, I assure you, it lived. Go see it for yourself! It's at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieau, England!

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

Tesla issues an over-the-air software update recall for 2.2 million vehicles, including the Cybertruck. The font size of the ABS, brake, and park indicators is too small, which could increase the risk of a collision.

FEBRUARY 22, 2024

New Cybertruck owners report rust and corrosion on the allegedly stainless-steel body of the truck, especially in vehicles exposed to rain. This was one of the biggest selling points that Musk touted when he announced the truck.

FEBRUARY 28, 2024

Multiple owners report seeing 25 critical system errors within a few days of using the truck, including warnings from the high-voltage system, “critical steering issue” system malfunctions​, and “loss of system redundancy” that alerted drivers that the “vehicle may suddenly lose electrical power, steering, and propulsion, and may be unable to apply the parking brake.” 

There were also alerts for degraded adaptive drive control plus automatically disabled traction, lane departure avoidance, and stability controls. Some users also report door latches that don’t work.

MARCH 12, 2024

Musk previously announced a futuristic optional camping tent that matched the polygonal shiny looks of the car, but that sleek render of the future turned out to be a sad hodgepodge of flaccid fabric in real life.

MARCH 13, 2024

The Cybertruck Owners Club forum is now flowing with a multitude of reported problems. Owner “cyberstank” reports how they took delivery on March 13, “made it one mile down road, started getting steering error, flashing red screen, pulled off the side of highway. Now the truck is dead and I’m waiting for a tow truck. Dealer couldn’t do anything for me. It was great for 5 minutes. I tried everything, restarting, screen is stuck black and keeps beeping.” The message ends with: “Tesla really rushed these trucks out, what a nightmare.”

MARCH 26, 2024

One owner reports problems with the Cybertruck’s autopilot system: “I encountered a truck on the other side of a two-lane highway. My Cybertruck suddenly made a hard brake stop when we both had a clear wide enough space between us. Luckily there is no vehicle at the back as it would have been a definite collision.” In the same thread, others report similar problems but, to be fair, users report this happens with other Tesla models.

APRIL 1, 2024

Owners all over the internet show the effects of the Cyberguillotine: Tesla didn’t include anti-pinch sensors for the Cybertruck’s trunk, which could cause severe injuries or amputations if fingers get caught. The truck will slice the hell out of your fingers—or any body appendage—that gets too near its closing front hood. (It happens with its doors too.)

APRIL 9, 2024

Apparently, the Cybertruck’s allegedly bulletproof and indestructible, so-called Armor Glass can’t stand hail, as this Redditor shows. The cost for the repair, according to the owner? “Just got an estimate of $2,326.75 via app service request.”

APRIL 15, 2024

Tesla halts all Cybertruck deliveries after owners report a problem with the accelerator pedal, which could become stuck down, due to lubricant residue causing the pedal cover to shift and become lodged in place.

APRIL 19, 2024

Tesla physically recalls all its Cybertrucks.

The recall notice states: “The accelerator pedal can become stuck, sending the truck accelerating beyond control, making it a danger to everyone on the road.”

JUNE 25, 2024

Tesla is forced to recall its Cybertruck for the fourth time in the U.S. because of issues with trim pieces that can come loose and front windshield wipers that can fail. The problems announced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration affect more than 11,000 trucks. 

One issue involves the windshield wiper motor controller receiving too much electrical current. This can cause wipers to fail and reduce visibility, posing a crash risk. Tesla will replace the wiper motor for free and must notify all owners by letter by August 18. 

The other recall concerns a trim piece along the truck bed that may come loose and become a hazard for other drivers. Tesla will fix this issue by replacing or reworking the trim piece and will notify owners on the same date.

MARCH 20, 2025

Tesla issues a new physical recall that covers all 2024 and 2025 models built between November 13, 2023, and February 27, 2025: about 46,000 units, most of the Cybertrucks ever shipped. A stainless steel strip could fall because it doesn’t meet durability testing requirements, causing a risk of injury or collision.

OCTOBER 23, 2025 Tesla recalls 63,619 Cybertrucks—essentially every Cybertruck on the road at that point—because the front parking lights are too bright, exceeding federal safety standards and blinding oncoming drivers. Tesla fixes it with an over-the-air software update.

MAY 7, 2026 Tesla recalls 173 Cybertrucks equipped with 18-inch steel wheels because the brake rotor stud holes can crack under the stress of rough roads and cornering, allowing the wheel stud to separate from the hub. The wheels can fall off. Tesla will replace the front and rear brake rotors, hubs, and lug nuts at no charge. Notification letters go out in early July 2026.

(from this article)

*note, i changed "frunk" to "trunk" even though apparently tesla is actually that word for its "front trunk" :\

*also, not included in the article, but if you take your cybertruck through a carwash without remembering to set it to "carwash mode" it totals the vehicle, bricking the entire electronic system and rendering the car permanently un-drivable

Like I said, the museum was a pretty snotty institution. It’s got a LOT of objects it’s way famous for possessing, but nobody knew about the absolutely massive collection of Moche erotic pottery it had because the curators were totally embarrassed by this stuff.

Some examples:

Pretty hot shit, right? They never, ever put any of this stuff on public view or published it in any catalogues but - we legit had like several hundred pieces of Moche ceramics in the “dirty pots” category. Anyway, I was left alone to just do my job with regard to the database for several years, ok? And I figured, well, these’re accessioned objects in the museum’s collection - better get down to bidness. 

I catalogued every goddamn bestiality, necrophiliac, cocksucking, buttfucking, detached penis, and giant vulva drinking cup in that collection. I’d be like, 

A drinking vessel in form of a standing man wearing a tunic and cap. He holds an oversized erection in his hands and stares into the distance (note I did not say “like he’s hella-constipated”). The vessel has a hole at both the tip of the penis as well as around the rim of the figure’s head, thus forcing the drinker to drink only from the penis or risk spilling wine all over themselves from the top of the vessel. Red and orange slip covers the surface of the piece.

Pretty straightforward, right? Apparently the deep seated fear of these objects that the curators exhibited was meant to spread to me as well, but - no one ever gave me that memo, because I guess Midwesterners reproduce asexually. When the curators understood that I had catalogued all of these objects in addition to the other, non-sexy pieces in the collection, they were apparently livid, but knew they had no legs to stand on in terms of getting pissed at me for it. 

I visited the museum’s online public access database a few years back and - every single description I wrote of these pieces has been totally neutered to say something like Male figural vase. 

You see a post like this? Where OP might hurt/kill themselves? You hit that button that I circled

Hit that.

Click Suicide or Self-harm Concern

Yes.

Fill in the rest of it, and hit submit. The "content you reported" will fill itself in

Tumblr will follow up and help them.

Warning: this is only for mobile. If anyone knows how to do this for desktop, please add it!

This could SAVE SOMEONE'S LIFE.

YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE NOT TO REBLOG THIS.

I DON'T GIVE A FUCK IF IT DOESN'T GO WITH YOUR BLOG'S THEME.

And yes, REBLOG. Liking does no shit at all. This isn't ig.

You reblog, people see it. You don't, people don't see it. This shit's that simple.

This could legitimately do so.

Anyway, she really, really loves it when I tell her stories. She loves stories anyway, and at first this manifested as "stories about Tad-Cu Bryn", aka my father (her grandfather) who died before she was born. This has been a lovely way to keep his memory alive, and she adores every story - she has her favourites, which she will request.

Then it became apparent that she specifically loves me telling her stories. She'll happily ask others for them too, but from me she just wants any anecdote at all; which of course is wonderful and demonstrates that she is a child of impeccable taste and wisdom and brilliance, but also she has ADHD and the energy reserves of a seven year old and so this gets Tiring very quickly

Yesterday, in the car on the way back from the wildlife centre, she asked for one of my longer stories, and I was like hey, how about we try something different?

And she was like, no, tell me a story about Tad-Cu Bryn

And I was like, this will be a brand new story and you get to play it and help me tell it

And she was like, explain

So I gave her three characters to choose from. The first was a warrior with a sword she could name, who was nonetheless dyspraxic. The second was a gymnastic elf who could commune with trees but was afraid of heights. The third was a dyslexic witch whose spells sometimes go wrong when she spells the words wrong.

She picked the witch. I pulled up an online d20 on my phone. I went to start, and she insisted my mother had to play as the elf.

So I told them that the new queen of the kingdom had called for them, because their palace treasury had been robbed - specifically, a single enchanted coin that brings luck and wealth to a ruler's reign had been stolen. And tales of enchanted coins were suddenly emanating from across the land, so each one needed investigating until the right coin was found.

It turns out kids who like stories will absolutely lap this shit up. She was enthralled. It was the simplest story - they had to get into a bank, revive some unconscious gnomes, then enter the vault, find the coin that had been deposited into it, then get back to the queen. Enough to fill a half hour car ride, basically, but she managed to fill it with all the wacky hijinks you get from a ttrpg, particularly when she tried to smash a door down with a hammer but rolled a 1.

We finished with the queen saying it wasn't the right coin, and then my niece demanded we go again, this time with her playing as a sapient reticulated python. That time we made it all the way to the final boss fight, which was a sorcerer who created a big coin monster out of loads of coins; I asked my niece what she wanted to do, and she described graphically how she wanted to constrict and eat the sorcerer and immediately rolled a 19. So, sure! Okay. The sorcerer is now very dead. The coin monster, though, was still there, and as my niece tried to say she would do the same thing, I was like, no, you're a snake and you just ate. You're now immobile.

At this point, my sister advised her to regurgitate the sorcerer.

Great! said my niece. I'm going to do it at the coin monster.

And rolled a 20.

So she projectile vomited a dead sorcerer into the coin monster, and won the day.

Anyway, today she immediately demanded we play "the game with the story where we choose", and my brother in law is now asking me how he can do this with her ("Are you making it all up as you go along??"). But yeah, turns out, this is a fantastic way to entertain a seven year old. Vague ongoing quest, then three steps: get into (place), resolve (minor puzzle), boss fight to finish. Boom. Easy.

The aforementioned snake regurgitation bit. What I didn't mention was that at first, when I said she now needed to lie down and digest, her attempt to resolve it was "Nana, you need to find me a heat lamp" and I had to be like, "Nana has bigger problems right now because she is fighting the coin monster, and also you're both trapped down here." Why were they both trapped? Because rather than finding the stairs down to the basement, they chose to hack a hole in the floor and drop through

When they found their first enchanted coin, Niece picked it up with her bare hand. This made her hand swell up to five times the size and turn blue with orange polka dots. Her response? To immediately pick up the coin with the other hand so they could match

Niece decided very suddenly and randomly that slipping on banana skins was funny, and periodically she would competently enter a new room and she'd interrupt me to say "And then I stand on a banana skin!" This is why I made the banana skin modern art installation. Purely for her to enjoy getting through the room

At one point as the witch they decided to jointly fly on the broom to a new location. "You don't need to roll for that," I said, but Niece was enjoying rolling by then, and so did anyway, and somehow rolled a 20. It was the world's greatest broom ride. They had in-flight entertainment, free snacks each, they napped, and they landed 20 seconds before they took off

She picked the elf, and assigned the witch to her father. Our other co-worker Ian became the clumsy ninja. I sent them to the tavern.

Things I have learned:

No one who isn't already a player of ttrpgs is very good at remembering the quest; they tend to only think as far as the immediate puzzle (get the door open) and not as far as the overall goal (find the coin)

No one who isn't already a player of ttrpgs is very good at asking the NPCs for useful information

Young girls really love the opportunity to beat the shit out of monsters

Kids love a bit of slapstick detail added in

People who are not already players of ttrpgs are astounded when they suddenly realise you're making it all up for them as you go along

While this isn't news to anyone who works in this space, it is useful to have this water-is-wet research to affirm that Indigenous knowledge and land management are extremely effective at storing carbon and protecting biodiversity.

I want to draw special attention to this part of the article:

I get a fair number of asks and comments on my posts expressing sentiments like "human beings are a plague on this Earth", "humans ruin everything, we deserve to be wiped out", "humanity is inherently selfish, evil, and irredeemable".

I don't think the folks saying these things have bad intentions, I know their words come from a place of very understandable pain, fear, and anger. But to act as though humanity's impact on nature is inherently damaging and extractive is to erase thousands of years of Indigenous stewardship of nature. These ecosystems are thriving because there are humans living there.