If at all highly-strung, maybe look away now. || He builds kalimbas. (h/t, Things) || Big cat diary. || Entirely for the benefit of pedestrians. || Today’s word is broken. || Crab treadmill. || Yes, but are they me…? || Riverside living. || Rome’s imperial poisoner. || Pondering canine head-tilting. || Upscale advent calendars. || “It should be really proud of itself for trying on these new pronouns.” || Pies of note. || Parenting of note. || Possible explanation detected. || The thrill of pumping. || The thrill of tea-bagging. || The Nor-277 tapping machine. || Rock, hard place. || It seems health “equity” requires a little contrivance. || An interesting choice of words. || And finally, wings made of water (and a little detergent).

Freshly baked, you see. || Don’t blame me for suddenly punching you in the face. || Bad, a cover version. || Today’s word is inadvisable. || A lively neighbourhood. || Scenes of niche dexterity. || Think happy thoughts, comrade. || A challenging restoration. || Yes, there will be a test on Friday. || Spend your money on “feminist studies.” || It needs to be set on fire, she says. || It seems that only some men are allowed to dress up as women. || Underside. || Whee. (h/t, STG) || Caution, variable gravity. || Lomanstraat, Amsterdam. || Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. || Erratic steel, rather hot. || “They took a look at my crotch and said ‘Wow, that’s amazing!’” || And finally, have you mastered your demon pronouns?

Leaf-blowing drama. || DIY policing. (h/t, Julia) || Needs more dress. || Near miss. || A masterclass in stealth redistribution. || He does this better than you would. || That’s exactly how I would’ve done it. || How deep are the oceans? || “Do you see this?” || Today’s word is oversharing. || An educator speaks. “I’m not anti-white,” says she. || A virtual 1950s electronic music studio. (h/t, Things) || Just tap it, he said. (h/t, STG) || Can pigs jump? || The progressive retail experience (or how to undermine a high-trust society). || “The propped-up people in Victorian ‘post-mortems’ look alive for a much simpler reason.” || A game about a very long baguette. || And finally, because you’d never, ever tire of it.

Update:

I know its creators think it is clever but all I get from it is a sort of prequel to A Clockwork Orange.

Lifted from the comments, where Stephanie is unimpressed by the latest advert for John Lewis home insurance, shared by fellow commenter John. It has to be said, the advert in question does seem to be sending messages that its makers, and executives at John Lewis, don’t quite understand. Presumably, the urge to seem trendy and affirm transgenderism – while coyly hiding behind the fig-leaf excuse that, well, some boys just like to vamp around in their mother’s clothes, so, hey, we’re not really being political – blinded them to other, perhaps more obvious construals. Given the attempt at woke messaging, it does seem odd to associate transgender people with juvenile roleplay, antisocial self-absorption, and gratuitously destructive behaviour. It’s almost funny, in a dark kind of way.

The advert – a theme of which appears to be “I’m fabulous, so fuck you and your possessions!” – isn’t going down terribly well with the department store’s customers, who, it seems, aren’t amused by the thought of their homes being wilfully trashed by an incredibly spoiled child in bad drag. Apparently, we’re meant to find the boy in the advert adorable and affirming. Not, say, selfish and malicious, and old enough to know better. Which is the actual effect.

I’m not sure there’s a name for this kind of thing. (h/t, Noah Carl) || Odd doggo. || Get you. || Good to know. || Access denied. || Hi, Toilet is an (almost) contactless public convenience. || The thrill of public transport, part 2,044. || Athletic ladies, 1940. || Squirrel feeder of note. || The thrill of pencil sharpening. || Possible pet. (h/t, Darleen) || Tiny monsters. || “Get with the times.” || A brief guide to medieval tennis. || “The root of all discrimination that we see in the world.” || The thrill of hair drying. || The thrill of Thames Television. || Today’s words are learning environment. || Scenes. || Bio-absorbable screws. || Hot bee sex. || This does this. || And finally, he’s taking it rather well, all things considered.

You know what to do. I’ll set the ball rolling with some agreeable downwardsness; a state-of-the-art driving simulator circa 1967; hairs hitherto undetected; assorted slime mould; and the thrill of competitive miniature dry stone walling.

Oh, and I think these may be teabags.

A miracle breakthrough in child relocation technology. || “My device will prevent the flapping of the breasts.” || Butterfly repair of note. || Burly chap plus one. || Positive thinking. || Steepness detected. || Related, you may wish to tread carefully. || He does this better than you. || And they do this quite well. || ‘Tis the season. || Tom and Jerry. || At last, a robotic masseur. || Incoming. || Carved avocados. || Thaddeus Cahill’s Teleharmonium. || Across The Multiverse, a game. || Women have weird elbows. || Background noise generator. || The thrill of 1980s dashboards. || Incongruity detected. || Ant farm diversion. (h/t, Things) || And finally, because you clearly need to know, a “fun fact about me.”

“Why is your mouth making that noise?” || 83 metres. || Today’s word is meaty. || The thrill of teapot-making. || Meanwhile, in fairness and inclusivity news. || The fine dining experience. || “The longest fart ever is over two and a half minutes long.” || You’re embarrassing him, you see. || Two-bed flat, Islington: “The underground bunker is very spacious.” (h/t, Things) || Rinse and repeat. || The thrill of tunnels. || How to hypnotise a crab. || And what do you do with your surplus pieces of wood? || Scenes from progressive utopia. || Progressive law enforcement. || A coincidence, I’m sure. || Customer feedback. (h/t, STG) || The wife will love it. || And finally, while it’s hard to be sure, I think fun is being had.

Because it takes practice, a chance to throw together your own pile of links and oddities in the comments. I’ll kick things off with an answer to the age-old question of whether eyeballs bounce; an obliging doggo; a job that’s perhaps not for everyone; an inn of note; scenes of wartime London; and why a non-lethal knockout is harder than you might think.

Entertain me, I dare you. 

Helping hound. (h/t, Darleen) || Major sheddage. || Adventure sheet offers wetness protection. || A guide to the immune system and its tiny, violent dramas. || Upscaled micro-organisms. || New York, 1900. || On the neurotic farce of woke classical music. (h/t, Sue Sims) || Sales may have suffered. || Field lines detected. || Colliding light. || “The toilet… can generate half a kilowatt hour of electricity.” || It ain’t the years, it’s the mileage. || Snack bar of yore. || Bicycles for animals. || London Picture Archive. (h/t, Things) || Leftist parenting. || A pathologically self-involved nightmare on legs. || Racial narcissism. || Lo and behold. || And finally, progressively, “I’m going to try my best to respect that.”

Slow-motion moths. || The most intelligent lifeform on planet Earth. (h/t, Elephants Gerald) || The Museum of Everything Else has an Instagram page. (h/t, Things) || Also, mice farm. || Burly tumbleweed. || The thrill of budgerigars. || Talking Dog. || Cats will do that. || Cat versus cobra. || “Vasily was generously rewarded.” || Viewing dispute. || Pearls detected. || “Completely waterproof.” || The thrill of South Korean candy manufacturing. || They increase in mass. || Just like normal people. || Unhappy conversions. || Highway liveliness. || Illusion of note. (h/t, Julia) || Christopher Lee reads Sherlock Holmes. || Honing skills. || One woman and her bear. || And finally, the thrill of cleaning.