The Bluestocking - Invoking Split Pea Annexe B

[Magpiecomplex]

Welcome all, pull up a gerbil and make yourself comfortable!

Just had a quick scan as busy on something else but I do think that is the one.

And obviously Android it is all a sign from the universe that you are meant to read that story!

The photo of Alice Sheldon got lost. Here she is.

Good grief:
'Alice Sheldon was a major in the United States Army during World War II, an ex-spy for the CIA, a doctorate of Experimental Psychology, and an open bisexual towards the end of her life.'

And all those years ago, I thought she was a he who just wrote short stories.

Totes, Beetle.

It also seems to have been made into a BBC play starring Yvonne Mitchell.

After I graduated as a mature student I considered a career change, and went on a short “this is what a tax inspector does” recruitment visit.

Someone on the visit asked the presenter how she usually answered when people ask what her job is. ‘I work for the government,’ she replied.

One of the case studies we were about to be shown was a company DH had worked for. I still kick myself that I mentioned that, so we missed it out. I was younger then, obviously. I don’t think we’d signed the Official Secrets Act but we had been told everything was confidential.

Having seen a TV prog about a dominatrix who had blokes dressed as maids paying her to be allowed to clean her home - & as I detest housework - I was discussing with a friend the idea of getting guys like that in to do it for me. "But what if they don't do it very well?" I wondered, to which she had the solution: punish them, charge them more & make them do it again.😂Win-win.

But it is a real map, Android, you just have to tilt your head .... oh wait, not the dreaded head tilt😧 I'll rephrase that - tilt the map, not your head😄

Thank you for telling us about Alice Bradley Sheldon - there seems to be no end to the list of amazing women waiting to be [re]discovered.
Around women's history month there was a thread with posts about lesser-known women, Alice Bradley Sheldon deserves a mention next time!

The attagirls on twitter is where she belongs, I think. It's inspiring.

On the 'describing what you do' front, my husband and I were recently at a university reunion and were trying to work out how to say succinctly what we did as part of the repeated conversations with people we hadn't seen for a hundred years and might never see again.

He went for 'I work for a large IT company that my wife thinks is a cult' (it is).

I really struggled, having had a major career change and now pursuing a very varied 'portfolio career' (aka hotpotch of different things that feed my ADHD's need for variety) and feeling a bit of an inferiority complex around all the mega-high achievers. The best we could come up with - his suggestion - was 'I used to be a peace-maker, but now I bring joy'. But now I really wish I had thought of saying I was a dominatrix. Thank you @Bannedontherun - I will go with that if we make it to the next reunion (except probably everyone will be retired by then - though I guess domatricity is the sort of profession one can continue into retirement).

Did you see the young lad who just swam it?

https://www.rte.ie/news/2025/0708/1522391-oscar-black/

I was once told by a dental hygienist that if she's ever asked what her job is, she says she works for M&S.

One thing I've become very discreet about is having a law degree. Once that knowledge gets out, you become a magnet for people wanting free advice about wills or the power of attorney or similar.

There's a common running gag about this in spy novels, where you find veteran spooks whose neighbours all think they have a really boring job in the Ministry of Transport.

there was a similar thing with taking a different centre point for a map in a documentary about Skara Brae

Re job descriptions I just say I write scientific software, it either sparks interest or a glazed look

Hello @MarieDeGournay and everyone else! 👋🏻 Is it my first post at the Bluestocking? I'm not sure I was paying attention to which thread I was on. But I look forward to meeting the lovely gerbils. I hope they can handle a proper teapot, and leaf tea (preferably Ceylon). 🫖

I paint things rather than pictures. The smear of sludgy green (called "Thyme" or "Willow", I think) on my favourite shirt was from painting planters for a community gardening project. One day I'll learn to wear different clothes for different contexts - work, pub, music, DIY - but maybe not just yet.

Not quite a map thing, but Frank Zappa used to say his dad had a great unrealised dream of writing a history of the world with Sicily as the hub of civilisation.

I bet Sicilian Americans would have loved it, but I can only imagine the reaction of anybody from Rome.

I hereby confirm my welcome - I think this is your first visit to the Bluestocking, Dusty, and I hope you enjoy the ambiance and the excellent Ceylon tea.

Are you familiar with the other Bluestocking fauna? We have capybaras who do a lot of the maintenance and decorating around the place, they might benefit from some tips about painting..

One life, one outfit - now there's a thought! I'm getting a bag of clothes ready to donate, and actually dipped back into to it to rescue a white shirt because although I have er....several others, none of them are quite like that one, so it's now back in the wardrobe🙄

edited to remove those pesky random asterisks that make it look like you're swearing!

And then there's Cork, known to the residents as 'The Real Capital', where having an inferiority complex means you think you're as good as the next fella.. Succinctly expressed in this map😄

Welcome to the Bluestocking, Dusty!

And if you think that's weird, here are some of the rejected images. Good of you to bring a baseball bat, never know when that might come in handy (though we do have bouncers on site).

Some of us here like to play around with AI. I particularly like finding out what it can't do, plus the surrealism it often comes up with. I actually asked for a modern woman with dusters & a feather duster in her pockets...

The Bluestocking has every tea a woman may want, Dusty.
I quite like the idea women may wander in here and join in the chat almost by accident!

I was so pleased that someone else has also asked AI to find Boily's story.

I remembered a book I wanted to read that I had scoured the internet for and it only took two queries for ChatGPT to find it. Its first suggestion was wrong, but sounds good.

The book I'm thinking of was The Afterlife of Walter Augustus by Hannah Lynn

Walter has been dead since the 1800s, lingering in the afterlife until the last person who remembers him passes away. Just as he's on the brink of moving on, a modern-day writer stumbles upon his name, anchoring him once more. This poignant tale explores the unintended consequences of remembrance and the longing for closure.

But it first suggested The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier. This novel presents a unique afterlife concept where the deceased reside in a city-like realm, remaining there as long as someone alive remembers them. Once the last person who remembers them passes away, they vanish from this intermediary world.

The narrative intertwines this metaphysical premise with the story of Laura Byrd, a woman isolated in Antarctica following a global pandemic. As the virus eradicates much of humanity, the population in the City diminishes correspondingly, since fewer people are left to remember the dead. The novel delves into themes of memory, connection, and the impermanence of existence.

While the specific plot point you mentioned—where a man's departure from the City is delayed due to a historian's rediscovery—doesn't occur in this book, the overarching theme of remembrance affecting the afterlife aligns closely with your description.

Talking of being a poet - I am of course a published poet (thanks to BoiledBeetle!).

As of course are many many people here!!

I once wrote a poem on MN and the Daily Tlgah stole it and printed it.
It was a comedic ditty on the subject of wedding lists.

I love the fact that our UTDOD books instantly allowed a shedload of women to be able to say "I'm a published post don't ya know!" Or " Oh yes I've had some of my poetry published"

I may occasionally make use of them myself from time to time

😘