“to persist in caring about books, and to do so in the face of those who tell us not to, is to fight for a world that takes knowledge seriously.”

Norway: Hello yes everything works very nicely indeed and check out our new tram system we just decided to build, it’s fantastic. Germany: Willkommen in fucking Dessau I guess, außerplanmäßig aber was kann man sonst.

This train conductor sounds like he’s going to cry while making the latest announcement apologising “for our poor service.” But it’s absolutely neither his nor the rest of the crew’s fault that there are disruptions both in the north and south and I won’t hear a bad word said about them.

tony blair and tony blair's caricature in TRANSMETROPOLITAN are basically merging into one. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...

The official reason seems to be that use of printed materials is declining - which even if true doesn’t necessarily mean that one should close libraries and fire staff. MIT has amazing humanities programs; shouldn’t an institution this rich be able to support them? libraries.mit.edu/about/vision...

MIT (endowment: $27B) shuttering three of its four main libraries is one of those news items that just knocks you off balance, auguring, as it does, profound and permanent changes to the entire institutional apparatus of higher education in this country.

Yet *another* c19 Boston cross dressing case: 1807, Unice Pearce “appearg on the public streets on Sunday . . . dressed in men’s apparel & rioting about the Street in a disorderly manner & using profane Language to the great uneasyness and disturbance of the neighbors.” 🗃️

Superstar @mike-eagle.bsky.social freestyling at the Jazz Cafe in Camden last night on the hottest day of ever

I love you, my students, who write genuinely awkward, human essays. That’s the whole point. We try.

Very proud of @fruitypy.bsky.social writing for the G on the EHRC Code. Getting a trans voice into those pages - supported by another team of trans people - is no joke, and she hits a good tone between educating the masses and articulating our fears. @transsolidarity.bsky.social

There’s a little satellite dish on the tower of Babel 📡

I'm concerned people think I'm joking about this.

Dead Weight is out TODAY! 🎉🥳 It's translated by the very talented @maryrobinettekowal.com, it got a starred review from Publisher's Weekly and a bunch of very nice blurbs from people I admire a LOT. It's available wherever books are sold*! (*In the US, UK rights are still up for grabs!)

We still remember the London Blitz, which lasted eight months. Ukraine has been under attack for fifty-one months. You can help defend Ukrainians from missiles and drones. u24.gov.ua/news/timothy...

I just want you to take a moment to really read this , because I feel it is truly fascinating. . Ready ? Okay, here we go . So, It’s $361.2 million. What is it , Margo? you probably go in your head right about now . Like ‘what is this even about? Oh I’ll tell you . $361.2 million is

how much Russia spent in one night of May 24 just to bomb my home city . In . Just . One. Single . Night. Imagine how much could’ve done with this amount of money. Just how much would’ve been done with all the money spent on this war if Russia never invaded.

This Day in Labor History: May 26, 1913. Actors unionized in Actors Equity Association. Let's talk about the rise of actors' unionism!

As I have remarked before, the current generation is the only one, in all of recorded history, to make an actual, structured attempt to give all people equal, actionable rights. And THE key question of politics today has become "Which ones do we take away again?"

"Forty-nine votes were cast against the new rules, whilst only one vote was cast in their favour", yet still they went ahead with the ban. Clearly, women's opinions do not count!

this is why I find climate dooming so frustrating there is no point - none - at which throwing up your hands and going “well we’re fucked” is the correct response every tenth of a degree matters and can make a big difference and is worth fighting for

Looks like one of those terrifying 2050 #climate projection graphics, but no, that’s a short-term forecast for France until… May 29th.

...meanwhile in the neighbourhood...

#Photography Pentti Sammallahti (1950), Pyhäjärvi, Finland.

RIP Sonny Rollins, a great jazz talent and the last surviving musician in one of the best photos of men in suits during the 20th century

I love the fact that the English translation features footnotes by Lin King, the translator. And that the plot features a lesbian love story. And that it is the first one from Taiwan to win the International Booker.

Thoughtful reading of this subtle brilliant book

#Sculpture Sophie Favre

Comedia

You would think "this Mosley fellow is here to tell us he should be allowed to privatise the cops" would be a step too far even for the Times. But, no.

yes. ❤️

New — I talked with @katmabu.bsky.social the morning after a judge dismissed all charges against her and her co-defendants thanks to extreme government fuckery about what comes next, the crazy rumor mill and setting a precedent for telling ICE to fuck off. Our convo here:

yes. ❤️

The Al is not just telling you what you want to hear. It is training you to need less friction, expect more agreement, & become less capable of handling a situation where someone pushes back on you... Sycophancy is a safety issue, & like other safety issues, it needs regulation and oversight.

When your best friend texts you “wake up, new encyclical dropped.

Oh god. OH JESUS CHRIST. I work in I.T. I would not get on an AI-piloted aircraft even if you offered me an original Rembrandt sketch.

NEW: Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical apologizes for the Church’s role in legitimizing slavery and warns that the same dehumanization is being coded into AI. He called for AI to be "disarmed" — and stood with Anthropic, the lab Trump blacklisted for defying the Pentagon.

Large parts of some of the most populated bits of the world are already on the edge of not being habitable by humans for some of the year. This should terrify all of us.

Post-American Europe

Japan just entered Ukraine's drone war. Terra Drone's Terra A2 interceptor, built with Ukrainian firm WinnyLab, is now operationally deployed in Ukraine. Not a trial. In the field. Now.

The Al is not just telling you what you want to hear. It is training you to need less friction, expect more agreement, & become less capable of handling a situation where someone pushes back on you... Sycophancy is a safety issue, & like other safety issues, it needs regulation and oversight.

Last night Russia attacked seventy-seven places in Ukraine with more than six hundred drones and missiles. You can help protect Ukrainian life by donating here. u24.gov.ua/news/timothy...

Sunday morning in Kyiv be like

Many people in the West don't know the war is still going on in Ukraine Yes it is ruzzia's nightly mass attack with 90 missiles and 600 drones destroyed the Chornobyl Museum, a garage (with a hypersonic ballistic missile), an emergency services building and 10 emergency vehicles, also damaging: /1

-27 hi-rises -a school -a wastewater treatment plant -the Kyiv Opera Theatre -the National Art Museum -shopping centres -the building where the Albanian ambassador lives -offices -bank outlets 2 civilians were killed and over 80 injured The Chornobyl Museum had reopened only a month ago... /2

...after extensive renovations Casualties and damage would have been much worse without Ukrainian defenders They downed 92% of drones (including 27 by the Bulava drone unit alone using STING interceptors) and 61% of the missiles—a lower portion because of lacking US aid /3

The toll is now 4 killed and 100 injured from ruzzia's massive overnight missile and drone attack, which is continuing right now Rescuers are still digging bodies and survivors out of rubble Help stop terrorist ruzzia—join the fundraiser☝️

Russia struck the Bortnytsya aeration station in Kyiv today, a key facility in the city's water supply system. Looks like Russians are now targeting water infrastructure.

‘Today my mother's store burned down in Kyiv in the shopping mall’ Ukrainian shares .’there were goods costing like 2 apartments, half a lifetime work , sleepless nights and beloved customers, and we woke up and saw (a text):, ‘My sweet daughter , I'm in church, alive, Kvadrat burned down..’ 💔❤️‍🩹