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And Another Thing.......

The TV news tonight interviewed various locals who oppose the proposed new runway at Heathrow, some of them in an emotional state. One lady said that she had lived in Harmondsworth for over twenty years - but the airport opened in 1946, since when anyone who cared to elevate their gaze might have deduced that there was an airport across the Bath Road.




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Yarnold secures skeleton bronze

Great Britain's Elizabeth Yarnold wins a bronze medal at the women's skeleton World Championship.




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Yarnold acclaims adaptable Brits

Sevenoaks slider Lizzy Yarnold says the fact Britain has no real purpose built tracks is the main reason behind British success in the sport




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Pizza a Day Diet: Maggiano's Little Italy

Today's Pizza a Day Diet pizza is technically not a pizza.  It's a flatbread. NB: All pizzas are flatbreads but not all flatbreads are pizzas (A flatbread has an unleavened crust).

I happened to be up north during rush hour so I decided to find the closest Italian place and see what they had that resembled a pizza. :-). This happened to be the Maggiano's in the Domain.  The place has sort of a Disney-fied feel of a downtown Italian restaurant, which is not surprising since the first Maggiano's was founded in Chicago by the Lettuce Entertain You chain whose specialty is theme restaurants. 

Anyway, I took a table in the bar and ordered a Caesar salad and the sausage flatbread.  The sausage was removed from the casing but still distributed in large chunks and had that good Italian-sausage flavor.  The cheese was also abundant and flavorful.  And the crust? Nice and crispy at first and then steamed through. 

Here are a couple pics:







  • pizza a day
  • Pizza a Day Diet

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Eureka? Scientists’ first hints of life on other planets may not be so obvious

Knowing that you've found signs of life beyond Earth may not be as clear-cut and simple as one might think.




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Why NASA does space science and not the private sector

With all the advances in private space exploration, why do taxpayers still pay for space science missions?




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Your impact: September equinox 2024

Exploring Europa and defending Earth.




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Why Taylor-Serrano deserves top billing over Tyson-Paul carnival

How the inclusion of Katie Taylor v Amanda Serrano on the bill legitimises the carnival of Mike Tyson v Jake Paul in Texas




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D1 Milano Polychrono Watch




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Quicklisp news: October 2024 Quicklisp dist update now available

 New projects: 

  • adp-github — ADP extension to generate github markdown files. — MIT
  • adp-plain — Add Documentation, Please... using plain text. An extension of ADP to generate files with barely additional features. — MIT
  • allioli — Alliolification — MIT
  • alternate-asdf-system-connections — Allows for ASDF system to be connected so that auto-loading may occur. This is a fork of asdf-system-connections and incorporates a load-system-driven mechanism for loading dependencies and also loads the dependencies of the connections. — MIT
  • cbor — CBOR encoder/decoder — MIT
  • charje.documentation — Documentation is an opinionated yet customizable docstring parsing library. — AGPL V3 or any later version
  • chipi — House automation bus in Common Lisp — Apache-2
  • cl-aseprite — Aseprite file format parser — GPLv3
  • cl-astar — A heavily optimized yet flexible A* pathfinding algorithm implementation — MIT
  • cl-ceigen-lite — A Common Lisp wrapper around CEIGEN-LITE - which is itself a C wrapper around the C++ Eigen library. — MIT
  • cl-cf — Computations using continued fractions — GPL-3
  • cl-concord — CONCORD implementation based on Common Lisp — LGPL
  • cl-duckdb — CFFI wrapper around the DuckDB C API — MIT License
  • cl-fastcgi — FastCGI wrapper for Common Lisp — BSD License
  • cl-flx — Rewrite emacs-flx in Common Lisp — MIT
  • cl-frugal-uuid — Common Lisp UUID library with zero dependencies — MIT License
  • cl-gog-galaxy — A wrapper for the GOG Galaxy SDK — zlib
  • cl-lc — List comprehensions — MIT
  • cl-naive-ptrees — Functions to make it easier to work with plist(s) and plist trees. Works with plist(s) pairs as units and not as individual list items. — MIT
  • cl-qoa — An implementation of the Quite Okay Audio format. — zlib
  • cl-reddit — Reddit client api library — BSD
  • cl-resvg — An up-to-date bindings library for the resvg SVG rendering library — zlib
  • cl-trivial-clock — Common Lisp library to get accurate wall-clock times on multiple platforms — MIT License
  • clack-cors — A Clack middleware to set CORS related HTTP headers. — Unlicense
  • clack-prometheus — Clack middleware to serve stats in Prometheus format. — Unlicense
  • clith — Common Lisp wITH macro. A general WITH macro. — MIT
  • clj-arrows — Implements Clojure-styled threading/transformation macros. — MIT
  • clos-encounters — A collection of OOP patterns benefiting from the CLOS MOP. — Unlicense
  • coalton — An efficient, statically typed functional programming language that supercharges Common Lisp. — MIT
  • cocoas — A toolkit library to help deal with CoreFoundation, Cocoa, and objc — zlib
  • com.danielkeogh.graph — A fast an reliable graph library. — MIT
  • fast-mpsc-queue — Multi-Producer Single-Consumer queue implementation. — MIT
  • file-finder — File finder. Enable rapid file search, inspection and manipulation. — GPL3+
  • golden-utils — A utility library. — MIT
  • hiccl — HTML generator for Common Lisp — MIT
  • hsx — Hypertext S-expression — MIT
  • hunchentoot-stuck-connection-monitor — Monitors hunchentoot connections and logs the connections stuck in the same state for a long time (due to slow or inactive clients and network stream timeouts that hunchentoot tries to utilize not working properly). Offers an option to shutdown the stuck connections sockets manually or automatically, thus unblocking the connection threads and preventing thread and socket leak. See https://github.com/edicl/hunchentoot/issues/189 — BSD-2-Clause
  • incless — A portable and extensible Common Lisp printer implementation (core) — BSD
  • inravina — A portable and extensible Common Lisp pretty printer. — MIT
  • invistra — A portable and extensible Common Lisp FORMAT implementation — BSD
  • knx-conn — KNXnet/IP implementation in Common Lisp — GNU GPL, version 3
  • machine-state — Retrieve machine state information about CPU time, memory usage, etc. — zlib
  • myweb — simple web server written in common lisp for educational reasons — LGPLv3
  • noisy — Perlin noise for arbitrary numbers of dimensions. — MIT
  • nontrivial-gray-streams — A compatibility layer for Gray streams including extensions — MIT
  • open-with — Open a file in a suitable external program — zlib
  • openai-openapi-client — Openai API client — AGPLv3+
  • openrpc — CI for Common Lisp OpenRPC library. — BSD
  • parse-number-range — Parses LOOP's convenient "for-as-arithmetic" syntax into 5 simple values: from, to, limit-kind (:inclusive, :exclusive or nil if unbounded), by (step) and direction (+ or -)). Further related utilities are provided. Intended for easy implementation of analogous functionality in other constructs. — Public Domain
  • precise-time — Precise time measurements — zlib
  • pregexp — Portable regular expressions for Common Lisp — MIT-like
  • progressons — Display a progress bar on one line. — MIT
  • quaviver — A portable and extensible floating point string library — MIT
  • quilc — A CLI front-end for the Quil compiler — Apache License 2.0 (See LICENSE.txt)
  • qvm — An implementation of the Quantum Abstract Machine. — Apache License 2.0 (See LICENSE.txt)
  • random-sampling — Functions to generate random samples with various distributions — zlib
  • rs-dlx — Knuth's Algorithm X with dancing links. — Modified BSD License
  • scrapycl — The web scraping framework for writing crawlers in Common Lisp. — Unlicense
  • smoothers — Statistical methods to create approximating functions that attempt to capture important patterns in the data, while leaving out noise or other fine-scale structures/rapid phenomena. — MS-PL
  • trivial-adjust-simple-array — A tiny utility to change array size ensuring it is simple. — MIT
  • trivial-system-loader — A system installation/loading abstraction for Common Lisp — MIT
  • trivial-toplevel-commands — Trivial Toplevel Commands allows to define toplevel commands available on most implementations in a portable fashion. — BSD-3 Clause
  • trivial-toplevel-prompt — Portability library to customize REPL prompts. — BSD-3 Clause
  • utf8-input-stream — A UTF-8 string input stream over a binary stream for Common Lisp — MIT
  • whereiseveryone.command-line-args — Automatically create a command-line-argument parser for a given Common Lisp function definition. — AGPL v3 or any later version

Updated projects: 3b-bmfont, 3bgl-shader, 3bmd, 3d-math, 3d-spaces, 40ants-asdf-system, 40ants-slynk, access, acclimation, action-list, adhoc, adopt, adp, agnostic-lizard, alexandria, alexandria-plus, anatevka, anypool, april, arc-compat, architecture.builder-protocol, array-utils, arrow-macros, assoc-utils, async-process, atomics, auto-restart, aws-sdk-lisp, babel, bdef, bike, binary-structures, binding-arrows, birch, blackbird, bordeaux-threads, calm, carrier, caveman, ccldoc, cephes.cl, cepl, cerberus, cffi, cffi-object, cffi-ops, chanl, chunga, ci, ci-utils, ciao, cl-6502, cl-algebraic-data-type, cl-all, cl-ansi-term, cl-async, cl-atelier, cl-autowrap, cl-base32, cl-bmas, cl-bmp, cl-bnf, cl-brewer, cl-buchberger, cl-cmark, cl-collider, cl-colors2, cl-confidence, cl-containers, cl-cookie, cl-csv, cl-custom-hash-table, cl-cxx-jit, cl-data-structures, cl-dbi, cl-digraph, cl-dot, cl-enchant, cl-environments, cl-fast-ecs, cl-fbx, cl-fluent-logger, cl-form-types, cl-forms, cl-freetype2, cl-gamepad, cl-github-v3, cl-gltf, cl-gobject-introspection, cl-graph, cl-grip, cl-gserver, cl-hamcrest, cl-hash-util, cl-html-readme, cl-i18n, cl-info, cl-ini, cl-ipfs-api2, cl-kanren, cl-lib-helper, cl-liballegro, cl-liballegro-nuklear, cl-log, cl-markless, cl-marshal, cl-migratum, cl-mixed, cl-modio, cl-mount-info, cl-mpg123, cl-mssql, cl-mustache, cl-mysql, cl-neovim, cl-netpbm, cl-oju, cl-opengl, cl-opensearch-query-builder, cl-opus, cl-patterns, cl-plus-ssl-osx-fix, cl-ppcre, cl-project, cl-protobufs, cl-pslib, cl-pslib-barcode, cl-rashell, cl-readline, cl-sat.minisat, cl-sdl2-image, cl-sdl2-mixer, cl-sdl2-ttf, cl-sendgrid, cl-sentry-client, cl-skkserv, cl-smtp, cl-ssh-keys, cl-steamworks, cl-str, cl-svg, cl-telegram-bot, cl-threadpool, cl-tiled, cl-torrents, cl-tqdm, cl-transducers, cl-transit, cl-unicode, cl-unification, cl-unix-sockets, cl-utils, cl-vectors, cl-vorbis, cl-wavefront, cl-webdriver-client, cl-webkit, cl-webmachine, cl-who, clack, clack-pretend, clad, classimp, clast, clath, clavier, clazy, clerk, clgplot, climacs, clingon, clip, clj-con, clj-re, clobber, clog, clog-ace, clog-collection, clog-plotly, clog-terminal, clohost, closer-mop, clss, cluffer, clunit2, clx, cmd, codata-recommended-values, codex, coleslaw, collectors, colored, com-on, common-lisp-jupyter, commondoc-markdown, compiler-macro-notes, conduit-packages, consfigurator, contextl, croatoan, ctype, cytoscape-clj, damn-fast-priority-queue, dartscluuid, data-frame, data-lens, datafly, dbus, decompress, defenum, definer, definitions, deflate, defmain, deploy, depot, deptree, dexador, dissect, djula, dns-client, doc, docs-builder, dsm, dufy, easter-gauss, easy-audio, easy-macros, easy-routes, eclector, equals, erjoalgo-webutil, erudite, esrap, event-emitter, external-program, external-symbol-not-found, fare-csv, fare-scripts, fast-http, fast-websocket, file-attributes, file-notify, file-select, filesystem-utils, fiveam, fiveam-matchers, flexi-streams, float-features, flow, fn, fset, functional-trees, fuzzy-dates, gadgets, generic-cl, github-api-cl, glfw, glsl-toolkit, harmony, hashtrie, helambdap, http2, hunchentoot, imago, in-nomine, inferior-shell, introspect-environment, ironclad, jose, js, json-mop, jsonrpc, jzon, khazern, lack, lass, lemmy-api, letv, lichat-protocol, lichat-tcp-client, linear-programming, lisp-binary, lisp-chat, lisp-critic, lisp-pay, lisp-stat, lispcord, lla, local-time, log4cl-extras, logging, lru-cache, magicl, maiden, maidenhead, manifolds, math, mcclim, memory-regions, messagebox, method-combination-utilities, mgl-pax, misc-extensions, mito, mk-defsystem, mmap, mnas-package, mnas-string, moira, multiposter, mutility, mutils, named-closure, ndebug, neural-classifier, new-op, nibbles, nibbles-streams, ningle, nodgui, north, numerical-utilities, nytpu.lisp-utils, omglib, ook, open-location-code, openapi-generator, orizuru-orm, overlord, papyrus, parachute, parse-number, pathname-utils, petalisp, phos, picl, plot, plump, plump-sexp, pngload, policy-cond, polymorphic-functions, postmodern, ppath, prometheus-gc, psychiq, purgatory, py4cl, py4cl2, py4cl2-cffi, qlot, qoi, query-fs, quick-patch, quickhull, quri, random-state, reblocks, reblocks-auth, reblocks-file-server, reblocks-lass, reblocks-navigation-widget, reblocks-parenscript, reblocks-prometheus, reblocks-typeahead, reblocks-ui, reblocks-websocket, rove, s-dot2, sandalphon.lambda-list, sb-fastcgi, sc-extensions, sel, select, serapeum, shasht, shop3, si-kanren, sketch, slime, slite, sly, snooze, spinneret, staple, static-vectors, statistics, stepster, stmx, stripe, swank-crew, swank-protocol, sxql, symath, system-locale, taglib, teddy, ten, testiere, tfeb-lisp-hax, tfm, tiny-routes, tooter, trivia, trivial-arguments, trivial-clipboard, trivial-file-size, trivial-gray-streams, trivial-main-thread, trivial-octet-streams, trivial-package-locks, trivial-package-manager, trivial-sanitize, trivial-shell, type-templates, typo, uax-15, uiop, usocket, vellum, vellum-binary, vellum-csv, vellum-postmodern, verbose, vernacular, vom, websocket-driver, winhttp, with-branching, with-contexts, woo, xhtmlambda, xml-emitter, yason, zippy, zpb-ttf.

Removed projects: abstract-arrays, ahungry-fleece, cl-cheshire-cat, cl-darksky, cl-epoch, cl-naive-store, convolution-kernel, dense-arrays, extensible-compound-types, extensible-optimizing-coerce, fast-generic-functions, flac-metadata, freebsd-ffi, listoflist, luckless, one-more-re-nightmare, postmodern-localtime, stumpwm-dynamic-float, stumpwm-sndioctl, unicly.

To get this update, use:

 (ql:update-dist "quicklisp")

Sorry this update took so long. My goal is to resume monthly releases.

Enjoy!




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Halcyon Afternoon and Why I Wrote It

.




This is a particularly pleasant time for me. To begin with, I'm at the World Fantasy Convention, where I'll see a lot of old friends and serve as toastmaster. And I have two new Mongolian Wizard stories coming out (I apologize for the delay), one today and one tomorrow at Reactor Magazine.

Today's story, "Halcyon Afternoon," is atypical for the series. It's not as violent as these stories tend to be. That's because I felt that after undergoing so much suffering and loss, Franz-Karl Ritter deserved at least one afternoon of contentment and bliss. Even his wolf, Freki, got the day off.

Of course... Ritter's luck being what it is, and all of Europe being entangled in a wizard war, the afternoon would not prove entirely blissful.

You can read the story here. Or you can find the entire series of Mongolian Wizard stories--ten so far--here. Or you can simply go to Reactor Magazine and wander about happily. It's full of great stories and terrific non-fiction.

And tomorrow . . .

Ritter's luck takes a downturn--along with everyone else's--in "Dragons of Paris." An old friend pops up, a relationship turns difficult, and a battle where victory seems certain goes sour.

(And now, I'm off to the convention!)


Above: Illustration by Dave Palumbo. It's not only beautiful but true to the story. I'm grateful for both of those.

*




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porno hut

Today on Married To The Sea: porno hut


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!




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knock knock buy house

Today on Married To The Sea: knock knock buy house


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!




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second notice

Today on Married To The Sea: second notice


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!




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no cap butcher

Today on Married To The Sea: no cap butcher


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!




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what do we do now

Today on Married To The Sea: what do we do now


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!




no

no no no no

Today on Married To The Sea: no no no no


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!




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nonrenewable resource

Today on Married To The Sea: nonrenewable resource


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!




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do not curse

Today on Married To The Sea: do not curse


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!




no

i know what youre thinkin

Today on Married To The Sea: i know what youre thinkin


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!




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you cannot perceive

Today on Married To The Sea: you cannot perceive


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!











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Convert Old Junk Bikes Into Race-Ready Fixed Gear Bikes in No Time!

EIGHTINCH shows us how to fix up old bikes using a fairly basic conversion kit. You'll need:

  • Amelia wheels with tires & tubes
  • 16t cog
  • lockring
  • Courier cranks
  • A bottom bracket
  • A KMC chain

More videos for both seasoned and amateur bike enthusiasts here!





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You Seem To Have Picked Up Another Pickup There, Buddy

One is never enough.





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Not A Good Thing To See When Entering a Cab

Buses don't have seat belts. I don't see the problem.

~NSHA






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Christian Pulisic & Tim Weah headline USMNT November roster drop | SOTU

Alexi Lalas and David Mosse reacted to the second United States Men's National Team roster release of the Mauricio Pochettino era, with Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah, and Weston McKennie headlining the squad.




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Joey Logano 1-on-1: Winning Cup Series championship is 'electric'

Joey Logano sat down with FOX Sports to discuss the wild pace-car wreck, the playoff format and the feeling of winning the title at Phoenix.




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Opportunity knocks for USMNT's Ricardo Pepi: 'I'm feeling ready to be the man'

With several U.S. men's national team strikers out with injuries, 21-year-old Ricardo Pepi has a golden opportunity to prove why he deserves to be Mauricio Pochettino top choice up top.




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49ers agree to 5-year, $92 million extension with CB Deommodore Lenoir

San Francisco 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir has agreed to a five-year, $92 million extension to stay with the team instead of testing the free agent market next offseason




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Matthew Nicholson throws down a two-handed slam to help Northwestern lead over UIC going into the half

Matthew Nicholson threw down a two-handed slam to help the Northwestern Wildcats lead over the the UIC Flames going into the half.




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veteran and vet (noun)

More than once, I think, veteran or (the noun vet) has been nominated  for US>UK Word of the Year. Dru, who nominated it for 2022, felt that it was appearing more often in UK contexts:

The word I’d propose is ‘veteran’ in the US sense of a former soldier. Some may dispute this as a word for this year as many of us have long been aware of it as an American expression, but since the summer of this year, I’ve increasingly heard it used on the BBC and elsewhere to meaning a former member of the UK armed services.

In the UK hitherto, it has just meant ‘old’, possibly slightly distinguished and used of cars etc.

The US abbreviation ‘vet’ causes confusion here as ‘vet’ means a doctor for animals, short for veterinary surgeon.

I considered making it the WotY, but it didn't feel 2022-ish enough. (You'll see why below.) But I put it on my to-be-blogged-about-sooner-rather-than-later list, and here we are! If you don't want to see all (BrE) my workings, scroll down to the TL;DR version.

From: "7 things to know about being a military veterinarian"


The ex-soldier sense of veteran wasn't made up by Americans. Since the 1500s, veteran has been an English noun referring first to someone with "long experience in military service or warfare" (Oxford English Dictionary sense 1a) or "an ex-member of the armed forces" (sense 1b). Note the difference there: in the 1a meaning, the person is still probably serving, whereas in the 1b meaning they're retired from service. 

That second (1b) meaning, the OED notes, is 
"now chiefly North American," though there are UK examples peppered through their timeline of quotations. 


 










In BrE it is still used for sense 1a, to refer to old-but-still-going things or people. It's sometimes used like that in AmE too, often in relation to theat{er/re}, as in a veteran of stage and screen. The usage that Dru mentioned, veteran car, is particularly BrE. In AmE, you could call such a thing a vintage car (as in BrE too) or an antique car, as shown here in the GloWbE corpus


It's tricky to investigate whether the ex-soldier meaning of veteran is going up in BrE usage because how much we talk about veterans varies a lot according to what's going on in the world. But to have a little look-see, I searched for the phrase "war veteran(s)" in Hansard, the record of the UK Parliament. There is almost no usage of the phrase before 1990, then a lot more in 2000–2009. 


Now, maybe some of these are in sense 1a, the 'been serving for a long time' sense. But a peek at the data shows that most of the 2000s examples relate to compensation for Gulf War veterans, so it does seem to be more the ex-soldier meaning. Note that [more AmE] WWI/WWII veterans are usually called First/Second World War veterans in BrE, and there was the Falklands War after that, so it's not that there were no "war veterans" before the 1990s. 

A different tool, Hansard at Huddersfield, takes us up to 2021, and there we can see that this use of veteran appears to have stabilized, rather than continuing to increase. But in Covid Times, it's likely that there was just less debate about ex-servicepeople in Parliament—so we can't make too much of that stability. It could be increasing in comparison to other ways of talking about ex-servicepeople. 



What about vet?

I've written about vet before—in fact it was my 2008 UK>US Word of the Year. But in that case it was a verb (as in to vet a candidate). Now I want to just look at the noun—or nouns.

Vet can be short for (more AmE) veterinarian/(BrE) veterinary surgeon. You take your pet to the vet. It rhymes and everything.  Let's call that vet1. The OED has examples going back to 1862, and marks it as "chiefly British", which, as we're going to see, might not be the best way to describe it. 

In AmE since the 1840s, vet has been used as a shortened form of veteran. Let's call that vet2.

In AmE, where both are used, context is usually enough to tell the difference between vet1 and vet2. You take your dog to the vet1. People study at vet1 school. But a Vietnam vet is probably a vet2 and not a Vietnamese vet1. 

Both vets are well-used in AmE. I used english-corpora.org to take a 100-sentence sample of the noun vet from the Corpus of Contemporary American English. Of the 100, 57 definitely referred to the animal doctor, 23 referred to former soldiers, 3 referred stage or other veterans, and 6 were neither of these nouns (1 verb, some acronyms, a typo, and a Dutch word). That leaves 11 where I couldn't tell in the very brief window of text which vet it was; it referred to a person who'd been introduced earlier in the text. Had I had the full text, I assume there would be close to zero ambiguous cases—but even with a very short window of context, it was usually easy to tell. (For some examples, see below. Click to enlarge.) In any case, note that the majority refer to the animal doctor. I had a quick peek in the Corpus of Historical American English, and the phrase "to the vet" (as in I took my dog...) is there since the 1940s, increasing in use each decade. 

While the singular was usually the animal doctor in AmE, in the plural, vets, it's more likely to refer to former soldiers, since they are more often discussed as a class than veterinarians are. 








So, as is often the case for homonyms, context usually tells us which thing we mean.

Is the use of vet2 increasing in BrE? Well, probably some, but it's harder to find good evidence for it. There are scattered uses of war vets in Hansard since the 1960s, but it's probably too new and informal to be used in parliamentary talk. When I was researching it as a possible Word of the Year, I looked at samples from the News on the Web corpus, and found 5 examples (of 100 vet) in 2011 and seven in 2022 (the highest years were 2019 at 11 and 2020 at 20, but there were only 3 in 2021). My small sample size could have skewed things (but it was as much as I could give time for). A lot of the UK examples I looked at were about American vets, in which case the UK news source could have been quoting an American person or possibly publishing text from a wire service, possibly originally written by an AmE speaker. So, as I say, it's not simple to spot the truly BrE usage. 

TL;DR version

The full form veteran (in the ex-soldier sense) is definitely used in the UK these days. Though it is now perceived as an Americanism, it originally came from Britain, and it probably never entirely went away there. 

Vet as an abbreviation of veteran, originates in AmE, and is still used there. Vet as an abbreviation for veterinarian/veterinary surgeon is originally BrE, but has been well used in AmE for a long time (or at least, throughout my lifetime!). The ambiguity this creates hasn't been a huge problem. No one's mistakenly taking their dog to the VFW.  





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OH, I DON'T KNOW....

OH, I DON'T KNOW.... if they take the three actors and pour cement over them it might not be so bad.





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I SEE NO NO-NO Tube

I SEE NO NO-NO Tube but I do see a very interesting mirror that can reflect 0 and 45 degrees at the same time in the same area






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Bill Clinton Cracked a Terrible Dad Joke on Twitter and Nobody Can Handle It

Slick Willy just had to go and crack a dad joke that simultaneously dug on President Trump and kept the pun game strong, didn't he? Naturally, people were highly entertained and vaguely irritated. 




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Kentuckians Are Meme-ing Their Beloved Governor In These Trying Times

In these trying and crazy times, Kentuckians are looking to Governor Andy Beshear for answers. His daily 5pm livestream updates have become popular for their wholesome messages and his amusing call-outs to stubborn bingo halls that just won't close for coronavirus quarantining. He's even earned himself a Facebook meme page, entitled "Andy Beshear Memes for Social Distancing Teens." 

Check some of them out below!  




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Memes Ensue After Judge Barrett Holds Up A Notepad

On day two of the supreme court confirmation hearings, Amy Coney Barrett held up a blank notepad to reveal that she hadn't been referencing any notes during questioning. Many republicans were impressed by this 'epic ownage' of the libs, but memelords of the internet knew exactly what was about to go down. We all know what happens when a public figure holds up a piece of paper: memes, baby. 

We've narrowed it down to some of our favorite ACB notepad memes and even included examples of other times the internet did its thing with a blank canvas. These politicians make it way too easy.