Michael Heaney

An Irishman living by the beach in Aberdeen, Scotland. Making some people happy, occasionally annoying others. No interest in sport or football as a surrogate for bigotry. Not a pet person. I prefer the idea that animals should live independent lives. Ideally this should also apply to the people living in Scotland.

Last Notes

2025-09-14 12:18:12 UTC

The beginner’s kitchen
Todays key learning outcomes:
1. Don’t use desiccated coconut in soup.
2. Desiccated Coconut is not a food stuff. That’s why it’s been lurking next to that little jar of mulled wine spices you were give as a present back in 1988.
3. You can’t even throw it out for the birds. Though experts disagree, the potential danger of it swelling up in their little birdie gullets and killing them is explained.
Uses for desiccated coconut: Still to be determined.
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/202/606/816/891/093/original/5df58c63e1743c79.jpeg

2025-09-10 17:14:54 UTC

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It’s often suggested that people are reluctant to accept change. This is not my experience. The global population went from riding horses to driving cars as the primary means of transport relatively quickly, and adopted smart phones in just a few years. People will adapt to change if it offers an immediate and direct personal advantage to them. Goodbye letters, hello email. Charging for pollution would swing people overnight from Gas to Electric infrastructure.

2025-09-10 15:13:24 UTC

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Billions of consumers, all around the world are opening their wallets every day demanding to purchase hydrocarbon fuels. Their demand is currently 101,800,000 barrels of oil EVERY DAY.
When the consumers decide they can get their energy cheaper convenient, and reliable somewhere else then the oil industry might have something to consider.
But collectively we are keeping them in business.

2025-09-07 15:11:03 UTC

#SilentSunday Shepherd's Purse
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/163/631/572/346/798/original/dd1b39a70039ca47.jpg

2025-08-08 12:12:52 UTC

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this quote is from ‘A murder of quality’, published in 1962

2025-08-08 11:34:42 UTC

Compare and contrast: “The name is Bond, James Bond”, and this description by John le Carré of his spy George Smiley
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2025-08-06 08:34:22 UTC

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The English Language is a massive resource of foreign words. Over 100 thousand words from Hindu, a legacy of the days of empire. There are words adopted into English from all around the world, e.g. Aal, a species of Indian plant used for its red dye, to Zori, a Japanese sandal.
So when we speak in English, we have at our beck and call words from many other languages, true polyglot speakers of a portmanteau œcumenic language.

2024-09-26 09:54:56 UTC

A! fredome is a noble thing!
Fredome mayss man to haiff liking,
Fredome all solace to man giffis:
He levys at ess that frely levys.
A noble hart may haiff nane ess,
Na ellys nocht that may him pless,
Gyff fredome failyhe; for fre liking
Is yharnyt our all other thing.
Na hem that ay hass levyt fre,
May nocht knaw weill the propyrte,
The angyr, na the wrechyt dome,
That is couplyt to foul thyrldome.

2024-09-26 09:54:56 UTC

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Bot gyff he had assayit it,
Than all perquer he suld ot wyt;
And suld think fredome mar to pryss
Than all the gold in warld that is.
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/113/203/237/078/267/316/original/3ab1efb521587360.jpeg

2024-09-23 10:26:54 UTC

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Years of close proximity to patrolling soldiers engendered a blasé attitude to their continued presence. The Soldiers, however were often young, new recruits recently arrived in the location, and more fearful of their exposure to hostile behaviour. That’s when the killings occurred, the planting of weapons, and the official closing of ranks. Silence and Shielding the regimental honour is considered more important than civilian lives.

2024-09-22 22:54:30 UTC

Soldier ‘F’
One look around the country and you can see that we love to celebrate our military heroes, applauding their derring-do, with memorials, statues, medals, movies, memoirs and anniversary parades.
Their names are publicised, and become engraved in our memories.
So every time the names of our brave boys, our military forces are withheld, anonymised or concealed as state secrets, you can be sure that shameful behaviour, dirty deeds, war crimes, and/or illegal activities are afoot.
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/113/183/648/004/361/779/original/55f0bc38b312965c.jpeg

2024-09-15 16:05:55 UTC

#SilentSunday
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/113/142/412/023/088/804/original/2e6bc06927e65e19.jpg

2024-09-11 12:07:10 UTC

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if I remember correctly the public enquiry into MPs expenses cost millions more than any disputed amount of expenses.

2024-09-11 11:45:13 UTC

Our Hereditary Head of State has 53 properties, castles, palaces, farms, and whole villages of houses. We pay millions every year to maintain the golden coaches, the private art collections, the walls, fences and security for someone who was out picking mushrooms when his mum died. Let’s focus on something other than employees expenses.

2024-09-11 11:43:28 UTC

If your job required you to leave your home and travel to be in London for half the week, it’s reasonable to expect that your employer would pay travel and accommodation expenses.
But people think that MPs claiming expenses is a fiddle. We have already spent millions auditing and investigating this and the report shows that the vast majority of MPs expenses are reasonable.

2024-09-10 19:44:44 UTC

The new English Labour government has difficult decisions to make so they are taking away £300 pounds from millions of UK pensioners to hand over a grant of £500,000,000 - half a billion, as a subsidy to the Indian conglomerate who is already the 5th largest steel company and owns Tetley tea, Jaguar cars, and Land Rover, that they bought for cash.
Th Labour Government Takes from the old and poor to give to the fabulously rich.