What did you think we meant by the phrase "dead language?"

Another reason to love Canada. Baltimore says "Thank you!"

A propos of nothing, a Terry Pratchett quote. ‘You take a bunch of people who don’t seem any different from you and me, but when you add them all together, you get this sort of huge raving maniac with national borders and an anthem.’ From Monstrous Regiment

It's World Letter Writing Day! What is the famous saying of the postal service of Ankh-Morpork and what should you never ask them about? #DWCon2026 #DWCon #WorldLetterWritingDay #GoingPostal

"The Cat Read the Emails First" (2025) acrylic painting By Ukrainian artist Nataliya Bagatskaya - n.bagatska [IG] #art #painting #illustration #caturday

We’re going to go on a rant for a minute, and yes we’re bringing some history with us. Back in 1755, Benjamin Franklin wrote words that still echo today: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

Somebody somewhere Needs a bison calf in a field of flowers Tonight

The Latin noun speciēs had a great many meanings for the Romans: 'sight', 'look', 'appearance' and also 'type'. It's from the final sense that the biological term 'species' developed. In Late Latin, speciēs also came to mean 'good, wares'. It's from this use that we get the culinary word 'spice'.

and the rug really tied the room together

BALTIMORE MAYOR BRANDON SCOTT: “D.C.’s violent crime is at a 30 year low…. It’s notable every city Trump called out has a Black mayor - most are seeing HISTORIC LOWS in violent crime… he could learn a lot from instead of throwing things at us.”

I can’t do my job totally hidden – every vote I make is public. Most folks can’t do their jobs totally hidden. So why do we let ICE? I'm trying to make sure that ICE is held to the exact same standards as you and I – they must be unmasked and identifiable on the job.

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"You said: The Shining Ones. You said: The Fair Folk. And you spat, and touched iron. But generations later, you forgot about the spitting and the iron, and you forgot why you used those names for them, and you remembered only that they were beautiful" — Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett

Latin to start off your week is always a good thing.

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Makes me proud to be from Bawlmer, Murlan, hon.

The name "Alligator Alcatraz" reminds us that America is currently run by adults who are like malicious, giggling children using magnifying glasses to burn ants.

Here's my new earworm...

If you believe in your actions, you own them. If you refuse to own them with your identify- you're ashamed or afraid because you know it's wrong. It's basic human behavior- not rocket science, folks.

And the biggest theft ever- that power belongs to us, the citizens. So we are literally paying them to take our power away and give it to a conman.

Shouldn’t the percentage of folks — white men included — self censoring at work be 100? It’s called being an adult and staying employed. Welcome.

You know what would truly “make America great again? New management.

"Nac Mac Feegle! The Wee Free Men! Nae king! Nae quin! Nae laird! Nae master! We willna' be fooled again!" Terry Pratchett, The Wee Free Men

Every flashbang could instead be a meal for a poor kid. Every hotel room for a National Guardsman deployed to fire at our neighbors could house a homeless vet. Every "less-than-lethal" bullet pulled from a journalist's eye could be already needed healthcare for anyone else. All of this is a choice.

We’ve given leaders consent to lead, not permission to kidnap and brutalize people, or remove our rights. Remember all of this is by choice. Congress is representing that choice for us in one way. But it is just that, a proxy. The ultimate power of whether we choose to play along or not is ours.

Be Sam Vimes... the book one, not necessarily the Bluesky one- although I'm, sure they are lovely people.

And the question form of tālis is quālis (What kind?) which gives us quality.

"exit" comes is the third-person singular present form of the Latin verb "exire," mean "he/she leaves" and so is widely used as stage direction and so became the familiar English word. "Egress" comes from the Latin egressus, the past participle of egredi, meaning “to step out.”

Law enforcement officers should never cover their faces when making arrests or conceal their identities (unless they are working undercover). They work for us. We have a right to know who they are. These face coverings are frightening & unAmerican, as though they're ashamed of what they're doing.

Sawe mencioun of "The Phoenician Scheme" and Ich was lyke "you mean the alphabet"?

🧵 Ppl often use the terms sex & gender interchangeably. Sex is a biological term & refers to a spectrum [not a binary, as journos insist]. Gender is usually cultural & about traits typically associated with one’s sex. Think 16th C codpieces. If you identified as a posh man you wore one. [1]

Chaucer hath spoken- learn your grammar!

Non mihi prima haec rodeo

Well, yeah-now. But yesterday it was my classroom and I will bet our conversation was more interesting (topic- foods & Dr. Seuss) Lardum was mentioned a lot (bacon)

Wisdom for the ages

This

Autism isn’t an epidemic. It's not a disease. It’s a natural variation in how people think…which, frankly, is a relief in a world where most people don't think at all.

Blue Origin: Ad astra per pecuniam

FWIW sonus also gave us the word, person. Latin sonus plus the prefix per (through) - A Latin persona was an actor's mask with an open mouth that amplified sound. so persona= mask>character>personality>person

lots of catitude going on here

sesquipedalian | long; characterized by the use of long words The Latin ‘sesquipedalis’ = "foot-and-a-half long." Horace advised young poets to use common speech instead of ‘sesquipedalia verba' ("words a-foot-and-a-half long"). It's his version of a ‘20-dollar word.'

"Quintili Vare legiones redde!"- Augustus said, when questioned by the press

Who said that? Not in my classroom!

Palačinky for dinner here, and palačinka 'pancake' is another Czech word with a Latin origin. The word goes back (via Hungarian palacsinta) to Romanian plăcintă 'pie, pastry'. This in turn derives from the Latin for 'cake', placenta.

Every decent American should be embarrassed and ashamed today.

Slava Ukraini! 🇺🇦 ✊

same with "G"- always hard. Nota bene: "C" and "G" were related letters in early Latin- so that names like Gaius (as we know it ) are sometimes spelled Caius and weren't abbreviated with a G, but with a C- ergo C. Iulius Caesar