John Snow’s famous 1854 cholera map didn’t actually stop the outbreak in Soho. By the time the map was produced, the outbreak was fading. What the map did do was far more important: it helped prove that cholera was waterborne, laying the foundations for modern epidemiology. HT @Julian_H0ffmann

When you travel on the 0.028% of tracks in the USA capable of supporting 160 mph, it feels good to see what train travel was like in Japan in 1964.

Monet hated giving titles to paintings: “To see, we must forget the name of the things we are looking at,” he said.

Watching this video I realised that I almost always used the most commonly used browser.

5/16/80: Sam Fuller's Big Red One w/Lee Marvin (look for Stéphane Audran) More: @johnneyred.bsky.social / @cinephiliabeyond.org: cinephiliabeyond.org/the-big-red-... @nschager.bsky.social: www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/the-big-... @furiouscinema.bsky.social: www.furiouscinema.com/blu-releases...

Young people are socialising less often.

Monet’s garden wasn’t just his muse—it was his experiment. He arranged blooms by hue, not species, creating living color studies that changed with the seasons.

In addition to fighting back against GOP gerrymandering, here’s another reason why state-level races so important in 2026: if Dems win trifectas in combo of MI, PA, WI, NV & AZ they can put National Popular Vote Interstate Compact over 270 electoral votes & elect next president with popular vote

David Letterman closes his final appearance on The Late Show: "I have something to say to CBS. In the words of the great Edward Murrow, 'Good night and good luck, motherfuckers!'"

The Red Sox lose, 3-1. They are 18-25. They have scored 22 runs in their last 12 games at Fenway Park, tied for the fewest over a 12-game span in the 115-season history of the venue. The only other time they scored 22 in 12 games was 1917, when there was a dead ball and no Green Monster.

Statistical fallacies that you will want to avoid. Source: buff.ly/2YCJBHK

Updating Schwarber's career numbers at Fenway: .333/.464/.667. The 1.131 OPS at Fenway is 5th highest of all time by a player with 100+ PAs. Names in the top-7: Frank Robinson: 1.188 Johnny Grubb: 1.179 Ted Williams: 1.148 Brandon Lowe: 1.138 Schwarber: 1.131 Jimmie Foxx: 1.099 Lou Gehrig: 1.089

If you have this weird gut feeling that the rich pay little tax in the US, your gut is spot on... Source: buff.ly/47aFkTG

Am really thinking we should have hung every last one of these MFers in 1865 when we had the chance. Am also thinking it’s not too late to start.

Once again, California appears to be targeted solely for political reasons. The Trump Administration is planning to defer over $1 billion in Medicaid funding for vital programs that helps seniors and people with disabilities remain safely in their homes.

The great John Sayles is set to direct his first film in 13 years!

"Katharine Hepburn was one of my earliest classic movie star idols..." - Silver Screen Standards shares her love of Bringing Up Baby starring 'birthday girl' Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant :) https://www.classicmoviehub.com/blog/silver-screen-standards-bringing-up-baby-1938/

BOTD George Carlin!! Key player in liberation of expression; w/Orwell in grasp of the politics of language Great interview w/Jon Stewart - "an artist has an obligation": www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCGG... Rec the Apatow doc - @solzyatthemovies.com rev: solzyatthemovies.com/2022/05/20/g...

Only 3 Countries Have Economies Bigger Than California’s In 2024 brilliantmaps.com/californi...

Lancaster, PA has the fifth most Amtrak riders per capita, and I believe its success is a model for what rail should look like in mid-sized cities everywhere. I talk about it in my latest piece, "What Amish Country Can Teach Us About the Future of Rail." thetransitguy.substack.com/p/what-amish...

A great clip of my Mom’s favorite dancer.

"Here, in the sanitized, over-lit heart of the American culture industry, there is an inescapable horror. But it isn't a monster lurking in the shadows; it is the manic, unblinking insistence that actually, there are no shadows at all."--brilliant stuff here

Based on this chart alone, which country would you want to live in and why? Source: buff.ly/8oNDJPk

On TCM tonight at 9:45 Salvatore Giuliano - admired by Martin Scorcese. Also the great Italian director Francesco Rosi has two fine films available to stream via rental from Prime: The Mattei Affair and Illustrious Corpses, which have been unavailable for ages. www.imdb.com/name/nm07429...

Big tech companies are building massive, energy-guzzling data centers to power their AI models. And rather than paying for the cost of new infrastructure to accommodate those data centers, some of the richest companies are passing those costs onto you. You shouldn't be subsidizing AI data centers.

Tonight was only the third time in franchise history the Red Sox won a nine-inning game when they struck out at least 15 times and had four or fewer hits.

Water Lilies - 1916/1919 https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/11203

We say goodbye to our founder, the visionary Ted Turner. Ted’s love of classic films inspired him to create a channel dedicated to preserving them. He considered TCM one of his greatest accomplishments. His passion continues to inspire us all as we work to fulfill his mission.

I always enjoy these type of size comparison maps…

Taxation of billionaires and their companies would be much better for the public than to hope for charitable crumbs. Source: buff.ly/KpQbBvF

If you want just one chart to help you to evaluate how you should live your life, this one might be it... Enjoy your children while you can; call your friends and family a bit more often; learn how to enjoy your own company.

It's only seven games and a lot of variables, but the Sox averaged 4.14 runs before the firings and 2.57 since. They have hit .175 with a .530 OPS with RISP (10x57) since the change. It was .260 with a .737 OPS before, League average is .253 with a .741 OPS.

The Red Sox trail, 4-0. They have not overcome a deficit of more than one run this year.

The Chapel Notre-Dame de Grace at Honfleur - 1864 https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/6271

In Impression, Sunrise, the orange sun is no brighter than the fog—yet we see it blaze. Monet used color saturation and complements to create the effect. Long before modern optics, he was already bending perception.

Celebrate Willie Nelson's 93rd birthday by listening to last year's Workin' Man: Willie Sings Merle, surely the greatest album released by a 92-year-old musician.

Forget the NY Times consensus survey - here is an individual whose understanding and appreciation of songwriting exceeds the Times survey by far.

Ummm..... the census was held during the felon's first term, and he messed with it by cutting it short. If the census was off, the felon is to blame, not Biden. Here's a source. www.npr.org/2022/01/15/1...

The reassignment thing is a save face nonsense role Breslow et al dreamed up to keep the fans from being pissed the Captain got fired. Varitek knows it and so does everyone else. Except for Breslow et al who think the fans are stupid.

I cannot believe they fired Varitek. Not because he some whiz at game-planning, but because it’s going to piss off a huge number of Sox fans. The sell *could have been* to make him the manager. Now, it’s chaos. (Edit: reassigned, apparently. They knew how it would go over.)

This Dan Shaugnessy column is on target: www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/25/s...

Yes. #Gerrymandering is, by and large, bad. But it's disingenuous to whine that someone threw a rock at you when you've been throwing rocks as well. #VictimMentality #MAGAWhine

New York wants to tax empty second homes Mathias Döpfner is the billionaire CEO of of Axel Springer, parent company to business insider, and proud supporter of JD Vance. His son is chief of staff for Peter Thiel. If he is against it. We should be for it. www.businessinsider.com/nyc-wants-ta...

On Baseball column: Yankees-Red Sox not looking like much of a rivalry as tepid offseason takes it toll on the punchless Sox: www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/22/s...

150 years ago today, MLB played its first game. Boston defeated Philadelphia 6-5, at Philly. ourgame.mlblogs.com/mlbs-first-g...

The Powerful Messages That Woody Guthrie & Pete Seeger Inscribed on Their Guitar & Banjo: “This Machine Kills Fascists” and “This Machine Surrounds Hate and Forces it to Surrender”

Amazon, which saved $4B in taxes under Trump's Big Ugly Bill, has cut 30,000 jobs since last October. Verizon, which saved $2B, plans to cut 15,000 jobs this year. Meta, which saved $3B, plans to lay off 20% or more of its workforce. Trickle-down economics is a cruel joke.

It's been so interesting to watch this unfold. Barnes & Noble and other big book chains shut indies down in the the 1990s (and on) and then Amazon came along and ate up all the book market share. Now people tired of big corporations are creating demand for more indies

As a non-native English speaker I must say Marlene’s list is a great showcase of how tricky English can be at times.

I fear that the general US population still isn’t aware of how much permanent damage Trump 2.0 is doing to the reputation and trade flows of the US. Trump keeps pushing everyone (including traditional allies) in the arms of China.