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Karis Lou Sirak

@karislousirak.bsky.social
272 followers 441 following 213 posts

PhD Researcher, amateur photographer, freelance researcher, writer, and ethnographic researcher. Public art, reading, birds, wildlife, the coast, Lego, SciFi TV, folklore (Peg Power 💚), doodler.📍NE Eng, UK. linktr.ee/karislousirak

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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
The fact that it looks like you can play by adapting your Nana's clothes horse/air dryer somehow makes it even more appealing.
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Foxes have a *very* distinctive scent, not sure you'd want to consume food or drink near them...
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Yes, and the children's story Avocado. Baby made me think they were magical. They were well posh, things in prawn cocktail 🍸
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Right UK peeps, it's #BankHolidayChallenge time. This involves doing what you want, where you want, when you want, as long as it makes you happy. This only applies to people who's jobs are not vital. Sorry.
The view from a high Cliffe overlooking the bay between Saltburn and the mouth of the Tees. Blue sky, dotted with clouds close to land, the waves rolling in from right to left.
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Reposted by Karis Lou Sirak
Tits McGee @scientits.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Talking of banger tweets
David Hughes tweet, 2015 

Judas: still on for Friday?
Jesus: Friday?
Judas: yeah, the last supper
Jesus: the what?
Judas: supper. Normal supper with the fellas
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Recommend the latest podcast from Jamie Bartlett: Everything is Fake (and Nobody Cares). It's weirdly reassuring. Like Things Fell Apart, but for where we are now. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
bbc.co.uk
BBC Radio 4 - Everything Is Fake
Fake is the new real. Jamie Bartlett investigates.
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
@marcusagonistes.bsky.social Your IG appears to have been hacked bud btw
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Love Jeanie Finley's work - didn't know about this film, I'm so glad this story is not disappearing from the agenda! Hope there's some local screenings?
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
There was a hedgehog outside my front door last night. I think our patch might be the last stronghold in the sea of concrete and plastic grass for the once common creatures. It made me incredibly happy to see it. It's the little thing keeping me going. 🦔
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
Willingly sits indoors on the weekend for a fascinating set of talks on water folklore, folk horror, and elves and dwarfs.
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
I don't actually know, I've not found a satisfactory answer...maybe there is something supernatural afoot. Maybe the plague village was abandoned for other reasons 🤔
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Is there a ghostly reason the nearby church is green too? (I know there's a scientific reason, but any other offerings?)
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Reading historical fiction, England in the medieval period, which just described a duvet on a four-poster bed. Can't keep reading it. I want my news distractions to be engaging and at least attempt accuracy...
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Just been looking online for a book that was sat next to me on the desk, so, yeah, how's your brain doing right now?
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
I've just had a delivery from the most zen and ethereal postman, I feel like this parcel might unleash the magic of the realm.
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
A spate of double spacing is haunting this document I'm editing, and it's driving me insane. It's like it's been possessed by word processors of yore, ghost written by an old soul to curse my very existence. Why ?
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Archive 81 on the webfilm is superb - like I wanted House of Leaves to be (still a superb book, just not met the full expectations) mixed with a strong dose of Lovecraft and Beyond the Veil podcast (as A81 began life). An absorbing watch.
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Snowy scenes up here on the Yorkshire Teesside Coast. #winter
A woodland covered in snow with a pond iced overA path through stub to woodland covered in crisp white snow.
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
Some Solstice birds from yesterday: heron, robin, long-tailed tit (a fluffball with a tail), and a female blackbird. I love observing these "common" beauties. #birds
A heron hunched on the edge of water in a marshandA robin sat on a branch of a tree bare of leaves A long tailed tit in a bush bare of leaves, but sprinkles with red berriesA female blackbird in a tree, not leaves, but the beaches are green with moss and dotted with red berries
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Reposted by Karis Lou Sirak
Glennyrodge @glennyrodge.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
In these challenging times someone might need one of them: Childline: 0800 1111 Samaritans: 116 123 Domestic Violence Hotline: 0808 2000 247 Mind: 0300 123 3393 Age UK: 0800 169 6565 Alcoholics Anonymous : 0800 9177 650 Cruse Bereavement Care: 0808 808 1677 MH text support: 85258
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
Nothing surprises me anymore, but the fact that these are all still going makes me apoplectic.
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Lady on her mobile in the chocolate shop: I've got a terrible cold. These are £3.95, I don't love him that much, I'll only get one. Me:
media.tenor.com
a cat is sitting on a bed with its paws on a laptop keyboard .
Alt: a cat is sitting on a bed with its paws on a laptop keyboard, giving judgemental side eye
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Tried writing on an offline word processor program without any input. Whilst I was productive, I realised in editing that I am closer to being illiterate than a wordsmith. It's a good job no one needs to read my handwritten work anymore too. Without technology my writing is illegible to anyone else.
media.tenor.com
a cartoon character is holding a piece of paper and wearing a hat .
ALT: a cartoon character is holding a piece of paper and wearing a hat .
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Got this week's target editing done in the manuscript. Now to try and get some semblance of Christmas spirit over the weekend with a Christmas read, and related activities.
Front cover of Val McDermod's Christmas is Murder: A Chilling Short Story Collection. Although a joke, I will be reading this this weekend. The cover features a wood cut style illustration of a snowy countryside, a robin in the foreground, two shadow figures walking towards a cottage in the distance.A lego version of myself in a Dr Who themes Christmas jumper, holding a gingerbread house.
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Today is Christmas Jumper day at one of the places I work. Do you think this counts?
A pixel carton version of Gismo from the Gremlins films peeking over the logo of the Middlesbrough based street artist Xz8bit
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
Well this book is an absolute blooming delight, just what's needed in December. "The Dead of Winter: The Demons, Witches and Ghosts of Christmas" - Sarah Clegg. Going to try and source Clegg's previous work "Women's Lore" too. #WhatAreYouReading
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
Watched the Sycamore Gap Doc on Channel 4 last night on live TV like the old days. Fictional detectives are all about profiling, lab analysis, and interrogation. Real-life detectives: tip-offs, checking CCTV, and looking at a suspect's phone.
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
Agreed. I saw it described as someone interrupting a ritual in the woods "the moon is out..."
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
Currently feeding my longest held interests by reading Adam Allsuch Boardman's An Illustrated History of Urban Legends. It seems to be the best distraction from the world right now.
A silhouette of a bat human or moth human hybrid in front of a yellow moon with pink haze, with the title of the book in yellow and pink, all on a black background.
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
A data centre. Lots of job opportunities there...
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Fungi in the frost for today's walk. Panaeolus foenisecii for the fungi fiends. #Fungi 🍄❄️
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
They taste disgusting and the skins are too chewy. They used to be my go to apple, but now they are just expensive filth.
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
Stottie fungi (barm, bap, bun, bread) growing alongside a regular route.
A brown grey mushroom or fungi growing in a cluster in the grass. One is round like a bread bun.
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
Was in an online meeting with terrible sound and no video, thought someone said "I've got two cats today" but they said caps, as in jobs. I would've preferred to be meeting with the cats.
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Here are some recent photos of moss and fungi which I particularly like, enjoy. #Fungi
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
RIP Steve Wright, the daily offender.
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
A conversation with teenagers about social media, the fundamental difference is that they see it as entertainment, not as a means to make connections. That's what it's become, a media source, whereas us oldies are still chasing the social bit. This was a revelation to me, and feel slightly unburned.
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
Day 3 of sitting in very uncomfortable chairs listening to people talk about interesting things. Hoping that today is a revelation...
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
This week I've mostly been collecting material for my game "Corporate or Cult?" and let me tell you it's a difficulty hard rating.
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
Yes please. Absolutely none of the youngsters currently have any sort of love of the subject, and I cannot blame them. Rote learning passages is ridiculous.
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Reposted by Karis Lou Sirak
Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Calling English a 'rip-off degree' is one of the most blatant exhibitions of personal barbarism I've ever seen. You've demonstrated nothing but the poverty of your own mind.
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Has anyone checked that Rishi Sunak is okay on learning of the passing of the writer of his all time favourite novels?
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Lockwood and Co-op
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
But, libraries aren't very well protected either...
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
It was a two walks kind of day yesterday. Today is a yoga kind of day. Distraction is the name of the game right now. It'll all be okay🤞
Where the sand dunes meet the shore, a sea of grass, blue sea, blue sky peeking through white whisky clouds. A massive washed up tree trunk on the beach.A woodland path in early autumn.
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
Been for a walk, now making a proper meal from scratch, these are things I heartily recommend doing right now because while the world is going into darkness and there's not a thing you can do about it, you can distract yourself and take moments of joy from the small things.
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
I enjoyed this immensely, except for the bit where I could hear a chorus of P&P fans shouting "Netherfeild Park is let at last!" when no one else chipped in with the right name for Bingley's estate.
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
Well this book hits hard. Tired of reading the same spooky tropes and guessing what was going to happen, I picked up Lafcadio Hearn's Some Japanese Ghosts from the Amnesty Book shop in Newcastle. Needless to say, it's anything but predictable 👻 #ReadingGhostStories 📚
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
As this was heavily target advertised to me, I was sceptical, but after seeing this I started listening and I'm very glad I did, so, thanks!
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Karis Lou Sirak @karislousirak.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
This reminds me of when someone painted a large phallus on the school field in white paint, and the caretaker just cut out the paint from the grass, so you could still see the shape for ages. Not sure whether both examples are covert support.
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