Yes, I know, that title does not sound too much like the more positive blogpost that I promised you yesterday - and it will not be much of a standalone blogpost, it's more the wrapping for a link.

The guy who told the story behind this link is Chris Brecheen, and he's a writer. And a blogger, obviously. The story itself is about an all-too-common occurrence - woman on public transport getting hit on by a man - but turns all non-common. Go read it, you won't regret it. At least it totally made my day.

Thing I learned in the last weeks: Our little cat seems to have interesting things to do outside, and possibly some territorial/territory time-sharing related issues. At least she spends a lot of time outside, sometimes including the night, and can be too busy to eat even if she declared enormous hunger just minutes ago.

Also, cortisone really (and quite strongly) changes fur colour in cats, giving the fur a reddish tinge. When we adopted her, she had dark fur all over. After getting first a depot shot, and later cortisone pills, the fur on her shoulders and upper back turned really reddish - like a sort of saddle. Now that she's on inhaled meds, it has re-darkened almost completely. Instead, she now has reddish spots at the front paws, where she licks her paws to wash. I had read about this, but it's really fascinating to see for oneself.

I have also found out that it is a bad idea to only have one contact possibility for a given person, at least if it may become crucial to contact that person within a given timespan. This is linked to email etiquette, the very basic level: If the only contact information you hand out to somebody is your email address, you should make sure that a) that person's emails will reach you, b) actually read your email, and c) answer it.

In cases of unpleasantness springing from such problems, even a combination of liberally applied chocolate, coffee and tea (the go-to methods for alleviating life's little itches and pains, at least here)  will not help much. Or, after a certain while, at all.

If you are going for the chocolate therapy, here's a chocolate you might want to try out: Die Gute Schokolade. This is chocolate which has been produced under fair trade standards, and trees were planted to make its production, packaging and transport carbon neutral. Behind this thing is a children's initiative called Plant-for-the-Planet. It's a light milk chocolate, and I really like it. Plus it's absolutely affordable for a fair trade chocolate, and comes without the bad conscience that much of the other choc has attached to it. If you are in Germany, give it a try!

Yesterday's post was the 945th post in this blog, can you believe it? I am already waiting for the day I totally miss posting for the one thousandth time, just like I usually miss my blogiversary. (That's on December 8, by the way.)

Today is the day I finally managed to carry my computer, my coffee and myself into the wintergarden for the morning, when it's still nice and cool and I can enjoy lots of fresh air. And fiddle with where I am seated in order to get wlan stable enough to actually do work. Guess what? Today is also the day some company is doing construction-esque work in the neighbourhood... right outside our garden. With noises.

Tomorrow is Wednesday. That's not Friday, by a long while. (Yes, that was really random, and not very informative - you all knew that anyway. But it makes such a nice sequence with the two previous bits.)

And now for something completely different: Here's an article about weird languages. Well, if you had asked me, I'd have said that every language is weird in its own way... but it looks like there's a definition that gets you weird and not-really-weird ones.

Speaking of weird, a while ago I posted about the WEIRD bias in social studies; someone kindly sent me a follow-up graphic that you can find here.

That's today's random bits and bobs!

If you are one of the folks who read German, here's some archaeology stuff for you to check out. If you don't read German, there's pics in the first and third link - don't miss the Playmobil Burial of Hochdorf!

An old tunic has thawed free - how can I have missed the Lendbreen tunic, since this article came out in March already?

On Minuseinsebene, there's a blog entry about Star Trek and Archaeology.

In Konstanz, there's a tradition of having archaeology meet playmobil - the currently running exhibition is "Playmobil and the Celts", running until September 15. If you're too far away for a visit, follow the links. There's pictures that are too cool for words. Click the link already.

And never forget Rainer Schreg's blog Archaeologik, where the latest post is about the destruction of part of a pyramid in Peru (most of the links there are to English texts).

If you are part of a cat's staff (someone needs a can opener, after all), chances are you will have wondered what your furry friend is up to when outside, and what adventures he or she has. Or how far the territory stretches out.

There has been a recent study made with 50 domestic cats, tracked over several 24h-periods, to reveal the secret life of the common house cat. You can get a first impression of the feline roaming and adventures via the BBC and a little bit more about the background here.

Our cat, by the way, is currently sleeping in a cat bed less than a metre away from me - so I know exactly what she's up to: her post-breakfast nap, which usually lasts until about 5 pm. Then she has important cat stuff to do outside before returning at about 7 for dinner. Such a hard life a cat has!

First of all, food: There's a new transcribed recipe on Medieval Cookery, so if you've always wondered how you should cook your Bruet of Almayne - here are several options.

Good food is one of the ingredients for a nice evening of games with friends - if you are looking for a nice medieval-style game board for backgammon and nine men's morris, take a look at Niklas' latest blogpost (in German, but there are pics).

If you're rather looking for a more intellectual pastime, maybe you would prefer to learn the language of the Vikings? There's a new book out there to teach you Old Norse and Runes, with a second volume for deepening your knowledge and reading skills forthcoming soon. (You can also look at samples from the book here.)

Speaking of books and Vikings, Marianne Vedeler has a new book coming out titled "Silk for the Vikings". It's available for pre-order at Oxbow books.

And if this has totally stressed you out now, and you need to relax, the Daleks will help you:

The rain has stopped. Thank goodness! Now I'm hoping we will actually see a bit of sunshine today, that would be really, really nice. Also my little half-drowned tomato plants will probably love to dry off for a change. As will about everything else.

Book-keeping is a nuisance, especially when you have to check how to file things... which can easily take much, much longer than expected. (Yes, I know, that's a TYCO.)

There are several partly-filled spindles lying on my desk, and I have no idea what to do with the stuff. Most of it is just little bits, but some are at least enough to ply them up... so the plied yarn can then hang out with all the other small bits.

My desk, by the way, needs tidying. Again. I wonder who always drops all that stuff onto my desk?

Not only the desk needs attention, though - I will need to clear half the room this week, it's getting a new window. Yay! (I think. I'm not yet sure I will like the clearing part, nor the cleaning-up part, nor the putting-stuff-back-into-the-window-end-of-the-room part. Also? There's a bookshelf rather close to the window. I will have to ask the window guys how much space they need.)