In my day job, I work on improving public benefits. I'm mostly focused on state paid leave programs, which aren't directly funded/coordinated by federal agencies. But my teammates who work on early childhood care + education have had a terrible year, and next year looks even worse with this MN news.

Saw a shooting star during this morning's early dog walk - apparently the Quadrantid meteor shower is happening now! science.nasa.gov/solar-system...

Selling 14 framed pieces in 2 days has never happened before. Need something really special to happen.

Inga Clendinnen on the Aztec "nēmontēmi," or "five unnamed days at the end of the calendar": "A sinister period out of 'time' and thus beyond ritual protection...no fires were lit, no work was done, wrangling and disputing were most earnestly forbidden, as all awaited the return of normal time."

Making a chocolate mug cake with brewed tea instead of water.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season! I hope you all have wonderful things to celebrate at this time of the year. Cheers, Blessings and Peace to You All! 🙏🏼 #botanicalart #merrychristmas #happyholidayseason

A personal favourite and another from my work for Katie Melua's 'In Winter' album, 2016. Illustration for Katie's version of Joni Mitchell's 'River.' Watercolour, ink & gouache, 305 mm square. Incidentally, Natee (นที) means 'river' or a body of water. #ArtAdventCalendar

Festivus grievances about quizbowl jargon: The use of "names" to mean "is the namesake of," instead of "gave a name to." A phrase like "he named his son John" shouldn't be confusing! Using "played" to turn an actor's name into an adjective. "The Matthew McConaughey-played bartender" - aaarrggh.

Telling angry 60 Minutes reporters to film my buddies admitting to abhorrent crimes. "This will work out great," I whisper to myself. "I am CRUSHING this new job."

On the first night of winter, St. Nautilus flies through the air, pelting good children with candy and dousing the naughty ones in ink.

Happy Winter Solstice. Egret on Snowy Branch. Ink, 64 × 89 mm, 2014. Inspired by Ohara Koson.

Everyone should take a couple of minutes and watch this, because it's a perfect illustration of how ICE disappears people by making it almost impossible to communicate with family, friends, and lawyers.

It's so much fun when British Bluesky wakes up.

Based these pitcher plants on photos I took in Newfoundland. Water soluble encaustic on black prepped wood board. 12x12 inch #artadventcalendar #botanicalart #painting

Oregon's Willamette Valley bursts into autumnal color, with rows of yellow grapevines hugging the contours of the foothills and valleys. "Vineyard Pines" Limited Edition Textured Replica - Red Gold Floater Frame Available through the floor sale www.erinhanson.com/floorsale #art #artsale #pnw 🎨

Like the prudent hunters of eld, HEATED RIVALRY uses every part of the Feist song

The reason you defend civil liberties is not because it is popular (it is never popular) but because if the government can deport you to a foreign gulag without trial then it doesn't matter how popular the rest of your policy platform is.

#ArtAdventCalendar Day 13 Mother possums children might be looking a little green these days but that doesn't make her love them any less

Okay, god help me, but . . . I don't think this necessarily looks bad? (It doesn't necessarily look good, either - more like, "huh, those are some big swings, let's see if they connect.") www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8wL...

Deep Green Sea. #art

Now that the scaffolding is gone, you can get a good look at a rare artform — heraldic palaeontology — above the Downing Street door of the @sedgwickmuseum.bsky.social

which one of these is a made-up Jair Bolsanaro biopic -scene? - attacked by bees during a political speech - harasses a humpback whale with a jet ski - goes to the hospital for persistent hiccups - tries to smuggle illegally gifted Saudi jewels back to Brazil in a miltary officer's backpack

Just blocked AI slop of a muscled-up gingerbread man, and am wondering which '90s science fiction author would have included that as a throwaway detail in their Asimov's cover story. Is Connie Willis too obvious? Terry Bisson or Howard Waldrop? Robert Silverberg in one of his louche moods?

Admittedly the fatality rate was like, 9000%, but man, descriptions of flying small planes in the 1930s sound like the most fun thing ever.

important holiday gift alert: HEB now has not just the tortilla throw (my fav, using it now) but also a concha wearable blanket

Some random birbs.

This. Also: 1) it should be easy to move to the US 2) It should be easy to work in the US 3) It should be easy to become a US citizen Welcome to my TED talk.

The way to fight back on stuff like trans rights, immigration, etc. is to create an unrepentant moral argument in their favor. We want people to be their authentic selves. We want people to come here to escape oppression and be able to realize their full potential. These things are morally good.

Thanks to the man who inspired one of our household's most-used Simpsons quotes.

“ah. this isn’t so bad.” (theme ‘snowy owl’)

One of my most favourite glass vessels: A marvellous Roman vessel in the form of a pig, made of blue glass. It was used to hold ointment or perfume. Found in a burial in Cologne. Dating late 2nd/early 3rd century AD 📷 Römisch-Germanisches Museum Köln 🏺 #archaeology

Okay, Anthony Trollope, well-played.

More Kaiparowits #paleoart for #artadventcalendar day 2: this travel poster featuring a pair o' Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus, perched enantornithean, and big ol' turtle. 🐡🎨

Sketched these Polyommatus butterflies at a Barnes & Noble in Ithaca from a reference. Graphgear 1000 (.3 & .5, 2B + 4B), Blu Tack, and a few mins of stillness. Some of their caterpillars team up with ants, who guard them in exchange for sugar. #sciart #pencil #art

I get why most politicians let their comms teams handle social media, but it is really nice to see a congressman who posts like a human being talking to other human beings.

gonna need a bigger Hague

Continuing on the series of drawings of plants growing on whatever object can serv as a pot for some reasons.

Alex Trebek had a studiously neutral expression he used in almost every photo with a Jeopardy contestant, I assume in case the person later turned out to be an axe murderer or something. It's so funny to see Zohran following the exact same strategy with the president of the United States.

Philae on the Nile https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/4853

Sam's book doesn't just have Mexican pyramids and histories of archaeological labor, it has a chapter titled "Vanilla: Violence and Temporality."

I don't know why I painted this.....toe sock squid. #art #strangeart

An oviraptor fencing a pencil from 2016

We’ve been in this global wave of xenophobia since the mid 2000s and it’s getting stale. We gone wrap it up now, or…?

Jesse Tyler Ferguson's tossed-off "bless you, fair shrew" is delicious. www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/t...

Many gift options here for discerning gentlefolk, including a wax Warren G. Harding, a bucket of grimy hairless dolls, the cabbage that John Oliver married in a ceremony officiated by Steve Buscemi, and a signed bidet.

And another

"Surrey with the Fringe on Top" remains undefeated for getting the cat to skedaddle out of a room she shouldn't be in.

New work from my cartographic project - one of a series of migrating animals. Accepted into the Art Gallery of Northumberland 46th Annual Juried Show. American Avocet 12” x 12”, acrylic on vintage map collage, framed #nature #maps #contemporaryart #gallery #cobourg #birdwatching #ornithology

Watching a movie in which an abusive English professor "transfers" to a different college with one day's notice, midway through the fall semester, and wondering whether there's ever been a film or TV show that accurately depicts academia as a workplace.

What is happening at Goddard is absolutely devastating. We are losing history. We are losing an incredible amount of human talent, skill, and knowledge. Rebuilding it will be impossible same for same. Industry can not absorb the people or the equipment. This is undoing space science in the US.