Still (ha!) being confused by that thing where yet and still are roughly synonyms (massive difference in register notwithstanding) and "not yet" and "not still" are verging on antonyms. ("not begun" vs "already ended"). 

I always have a lot of trouble thinking through yet/still esp when trying to translate stuff. 

I *think* it *might* be  

still X = yet X → "X began at some point in the past and continued to happen until [now]"  (where [now] is either deictic or anaphoric "on wednesday it was still raining")

and then:

not still X → "!(still X)"  [*]    "she is not still learning the guitar"
not yet X → "still !(X)"  [**]   "she is not yet learning the guitar"
still not X → "still !(X)"          "she is still not learning the guitar"
yet not X → "still !(X)"  [***]  "she is yet not learning the guitar"

but my head hurts a bit now. Obv I'm not including non-temporal uses such as "yet" meaning "nevertheless".

I think this is probably same thing as that weird English quirk where "must not" ≈ "may not" but "must" != "may"; the "not" scopes oddly with "must (not X)" vs "(may not) X". But there it's kinda easy to bracket them as above. The "verb not" → !(verb) thing is archaic, but I see how it got there.

But with not-yet the "not" feels like it scopes to an argument it's not adjacent to. I know, idioms gonna idiom non-compositionally, but still. (ha again)

[*]  with implication that X definitely has happened in the past but has now stopped, even if a very literal pedant could pretend that it could include the situation where X has never happened (and hence is continuing not to happen.)

[**] nuance difference ofc; "not yet X" implies very heavily that X is expected to happen at some point; "still not X" doesn't imply it nearly as strongly. But the directionality in time is the same — hasn't happened in the past, might happen in the future.

[***] and sounds dated verging on archaic. "yet not" I think is basically reserved for non-temporal uses ("it was damp yet not raining").

NB: "chiotte" is a distinctly vulgar term for a toilet (cf. "shitter"), and shouldn't be used in polite company. "toilette(s)" is just fine if you're asking for the loo generally.

…apparently "toilette" in the singular is Belgium-specific.. According to that article the Belgians reckon that the French use it in the plural because the state of French toilets is such that one must go to several toilets before one finds one clean enough to use.

Years and years ago now, in the comments to my Yuletide fanfic someone mentioned an electromechanical yule goat. So I drew one. And now finally I've done a bit of scripting and activated it so it shows the number of days until Christmas.



(feel free to embed the image anywhere you like; the numbers will stay up-to-date automatically)

If the UK and EU stop respecting each other as being regimes that automatically have appropriate data protection measures, are there any special-cases that kick in for the NI/ROI case to ensure that companies on one side of the border can continue to process the data of their clients on the other side?

He… was a bioinformatician from the suburbs. She… was a Bavarian lass made good. Together… they fight crime the forces of darkness Brexit.



So. Lisa-Maria — my better half and co-campaigner (whom many of you have met and the rest of you should definitely meet) — and I are expecting a general election sooner rather than later.^*

She will be standing as the Liberal Democrat candidate in Harrow West. I'll be standing in Harrow East. We'll be campaigning to stop Brexit, for better treatment of immigrants^**, for a more humane benefits system^***, and for economic and constitutional reform.

In May the Lib Dems in Harrow came a close second in the European Parliamentary elections, a success we've not seen for a long time in national elections.

We have a short window in which we can consolidate that success. We need the funds to do that, and we need them before a general election is called. Even if we can't win outright this time, getting into second place could be a vital stepping-stone for winning next time.

Please click the button below to donate to the campaign and help us win!

Help Adam and Lisa-Maria fight the 2019 General Election in Harrow

You can get in touch (adam [at] harrowlibdems.org) if you want to know more about our plans.

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^* My guess is that it'll happen shortly after PM Boris Johnson gets back from Brussels for the first time, having been told "non". There are plenty of other options, including that Johnson never even gets enough parliamentary support to be PM.

^**We are co-founders of Lib Dem Immigrants, and were influential in making the party's policy one of the most immigrant-friendly around.

^***I am working with others to move the party towards an unconditional benefit system. We have adopted the policy of abolishing benefit sanctions; further progress is expected… watch this space

for i have a sore throat

(basically an adulterated rum sour)

Juice of half a lemon
Dark rum (same volume a the lemon juice)
sugar syrup (or icing sugar and hot water) to taste
a drop or two of clove oil
a splash of glycerine (a couple of ml)

My new year card this year is based on this charming but hard-to-translate squirrel postcard found by a friend in Germany.

​


My translation attempt:




Here's hoping 2018 is a good year for all of us.

I have been getting into pickling things. Mainly, but not only, cucumbers.

It turns out, it's really easy. Cucumbers are less easy than other veg cos they can go a bit over-soft if you get the proportions wrong, but I love properly fermented cucumbers so much I'll talk about them here.

So, you get a jar. I've been using 2-litre spring-top Mason jars. Needs to be properly clean but doesn't need to be sterile.

If you're doing cucumbers, then some source of tannins is needed to keep things crunchy. I use some vine leaves (the sort that you can get preserved in a jar); other people use blackcurrant leaves, oak leaves, black tea, or horseradish leaves. You also want to top & tail the cucumbers (AIUI this is to halt the ripening process). I can fit about eight small cucumbers into a two-litre jar; I think it's worth getting the straighter mini-cucumbers rather than the curly ones just for efficiency of packing. ETA: I've now tried making pickled cucumbers with tea instead of vine leaves as a tannin source (just add a teabag to the hot brine as it cools before adding to the jar and swish it around until it's the colour of very weak tea), and it seems to work. Plenty crunchy, no obvious tea flavour.

For seasoning (all of which is optional!) I use maybe half-a-bunch of dill weed, several cloves of garlic, peeled and halved, some dried chilis, bay leaves, whole black peppercorns, and mustard seed. I hear dill flowers are the thing to use, but they're something one has to grow oneself.

Salt solution "brine" is 3.5% w/v - this means 35g per litre of boiled-and-cooled water. 35g is about 25ml for standard table salt.

The fermentation relies on bacteria on the skins of your veg, which is why they need to be non-blanched, and why the brine can't be boiling hot. Pack all the veg and flavourings into a jar, and fill the jar with the brine. I sometimes use a slice of plastic bottle to stop stuff from floating above the surface of the brine.

Over the course of a week to ten days, you'll see the brine go cloudier, the cucumbers become a more yellowish green, and the smell and taste of the brine become more delicious. I tend to open the jar briefly daily to check the smell, taste a teaspoonful of the brine, and to vent any pressure build-up (though the jars I use seem not to explode, presumably the sprung lids let the gas out a bit. If you're worried you can use a less-sealed system).

When they're done to your liking, put the jar in the fridge; it'll slow the fermentation to a crawl and the pickles will keep for a good few weeks after that.

1) Pick a cause you care about, and focus on it, get knowledgeable, be prepared to become expert.

2) Approach things in ways that suit you, your temperament, your skills, your contacts, your knowledge. There are lots of strategies.

3) Don't do it alone — either find a group doing it already, or find a friend/partner/teammate so you can encourage each other.

4) Celebrate even small victories, and never beat yourself up when you can't save the world single-handed

5) Take time out if you need it; get enough food and sleep and socialising and alone-time^†. Self-care is a prerequisite to activism, not an optional add-on!


^†and tea!