Two weeks ago, Science in Action raised the danger that NASA's terrific Juno mission to Jupiter, costing small change in terms of the federal science budget, would run out of cash today. With shutdown looming, my fears are for the worst.

"when the judges of a town are fair To foreigner & citizen alike, Their city prospers & her people bloom." Hesiod, Work & Days

Born yesterday in 1618 in Brussels, painter and traveler Michael Sweerts. Here by himself in 1656. We're celebrating his belated birthday today.

I will vote for whichever party bans movies and TV shows from using the word "multiverse"

Ian McEwan’s excellent What We Can Know is set in a UK largely swallowed up by rising seas. Emily H. Wilson explores the story of a scholar hunting a great lost poem – which may have something to with climate change

Wild chimpanzees scoffing fermented fruit consume the equivalent of two glasses of wine per day, factoring in their body size compared to humans.

Dunno who needs to hear this, but someone disagreeing with your opinion is not ‘demonising’ you.

Remember, your nearest exit may be behind you

#Humberto is now a Cat 5! It’s the first time in nearly a century with back to back seasons with Cat 5’s in the Atlantic. We are seeing our warmer future unfold in real-time, IMO. 1/

Trying to figure out what I wanna read #booksky #📚 #books #currentlyreading #tbr #bookshelf #whatsonyourbookshelf

Where is all the new #lablit hiding? Yet another weekend with a blank in the Sunday papers... 😢 I fear this end of year website update will be thinner than the last two years. Eyes open for literature/novels with realistic scientists [not scifi] people!

Flytipped on our lane - bollard on a trolley

"Bollard on a trolley" sounds like a very British insult.

THE WILD ROBOT stomped into theaters 1 year ago! A kid recently told me they flew thru the book in about 90 minutes, less than the runtime of the movie. So if u had time to watch the movie I hope you can find time to read the book that inspired it!

We now know that Venus does have lava tubes - and they're weird.

Archaeology breakthrough as incredible pirate shipwreck discovered after 300 years https://tinyurl.com/4r3y46kv #Neolithic #NeolithicPeriod

I dag har jeg både saga ned trær med motorsag og lagd rosa smørkrem, så jeg lurer på om det ikke er på tide å bli en slags maskulinitetsinfluenser.

Was looking for cooking instructions on a prepared meal (literally: "cook at 350 for 20 min" level instructions). Instead they had QR code on package with "scan for cooking instructions!" It led to a web page with instructions for two dozen prepared meals, none of which was the one I was preparing.

A/ I question this idea of the 'passage of time' as 'progress' B/ Do we experience time in years? Do you not just live in the 'now'? #time

Just had 4 very nice Jehovah's Witness people at the door here in Norwich. They were all Russian/Ukrainian speakers, one from Moldova. I feel sad for them. [dom]

This week's word from the Wordfoolery Archives is a shapesmith, one to ponder. wordfoolery.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/w... #etymology

Lernet-Holenia - "just as someone else rules over us, 'something else' writes our books. Not we ourselves. Recognizing that has to make us very, very humble." "just as someone else rules over us, 'something else' writes our books. Not we ourselves. Recognizing that has to make us very, very humble."

"I suppose there are no real relationships between human beings. How can there be? We are always only pretexts for one another, nothing more. Pretexts for hatred or for love. But love & hatred arise within us; they operate within us & pass away again solely within ourselves."

‪ Read today - Alexander Lernet-Holenia Baron Bagge A wonderful strange dream-like novella [66 pp] by a younger friend of Stefan Zweig (whos I haven't read). Highly recommended - at this says, do NOT read any spoiler by looking at the Wikipedia article! ✒️📚 #booksky www.the-tls.com/literature-b...

Lernet-Holenia!

Sylvia got published! www.rte.ie/culture/2025... @sylvialeatham.bsky.social 👍👍 💙📚

It’s finally here! Publication day! And not, as my phone keeps autocorrecting it, ‘pub location’ day. 😂 ‘Chaos Theory’ has been nurtured for 4.5 years, and now it’s finally out in the world, going on its own adventures. You can get it as paperback, e-book and audiobook. Linktr.ee/SylviaLeatham

A friend visiting from Berlin found this on the Waterford train to Dublin today. How sweet is this! (Unless, of course, it’s cursed!)

🧪 Science thread interrupted by cliff-hanger pause as the author runs off to teach a class 😄 (It’s to be continued later!) 🧵⬇️

🐬 Microplastics in river dolphins A first study of endangered Indus River dolphins found microplastics in every examined individual, averaging 286 pieces per dolphin, posing severe conservation risks. 🔗 doi.org/10.1371/jour... #SciComm #Plastics #Pollution 🧪

Good morning friends and happy Friday! This is part of the strip that comprised my childhood beach. Now, looking at it, I wonder how we managed to swim in such rough waters. I think there's a message tucked in here, somewhere.🤔 #WokeToJoy #IslandTings

The fantastic UK network of science and discovery centres needs your help to survive and thrive! Sign this letter urging the UKGov to stop excluding science from the financial support that is available for other museums, art galleries & theatres 🙏🧪🔭👩‍🔬🎢 👉✉️: www.sciencecentres.org.uk/openletter20...

I had my first full day behind the counter slinging video rentals yesterday! Excited to give people their movie fix! #VideoStoresStillExist #PhysicalMedia #BigMixVideo

The #Lablit I have to start this week is The Great Divide Cristina Henriquez About the Panama Canal... booksthatslay.com/the-great-di... #booksky 💙📚

Elif Shafak's There Are Rivers in the Sky Is about water - on my list of 'TBR' as #lablit & on the actual Lablit list lablit.com/the-lablit-l... If you have read it, tell us what you thought... ✒️📚 #booksky

Happy World Rivers Day #rivers Rivers are so vital to our existence - yet we use them to dispose of sewage & fill them with agricultural & industrial pollutants... worldriversday.com

Happy 200th birthday to the Train! #railways 200 years seems like a long time when you are younger, but the past is very close. When I [dom] sat on my grandfather's knees, & consider his grandfather was about 16 in 1825, presumably already doing his apprenticeship as a blacksmith in Burford...

#39 Audition (Katie Kitamura, 2025) A mother, a son, a father, a husband, a friend. Or are they? Life and theatre overlap and intertwine in this unclassifiable, strange, and beautiful book. Hype (e.g., Booker shortlist) absolutely deserved #booksky 📚🖋️

Steinbeck when I need soothing. One of few authors I read over again. Something like watching The Office on repeat. Do you have a comfort show? What about a comfort read? 💙📚💬📚⏳ #Steinbeck #LitFic #Reading #Books #BookSky #Clouds #Nature #BookRecs #Classic #AmReading Long thoughts in Alt text.

#booksky I am no longer posting to or following this list. There's too many ads, to many authors posting about their WIPs or relating their struggles with writing and publising. Too much fanatic. 1/2

#booksky says right upfront that its main purpose is for readers to discuss books they're reading. And there is #writersky.

New Read: ( almost finished listening to -- "Not My Type by: E . Jean Carroll) #Booksky

All murder mysteries follow a simple set of rules. There must be two or more suspects. One or more victims. Eventually, one of the suspects must be revealed as the killer… In the 1930s,

This is another fantastic recommendation thank you! I’m adding it to my list also. I’m getting some truly great options on this post! I love my fellow bookworms. 🫶

Lots of errors introduced when old editions were scanned to update proofs. It happens often enough. But apparently even good proofreaders miss 5-10% of errors (not ME, obviously), and a q for a g can be hard to spot. It probably wasn't there in the early runs. See also burn-->bum.

@penguinbooksusa.bsky.social was someone asleep at the wheel?!

Yeah, mine says it too. I'd definitely assume languid since he's "locked in mourning up to the hilt". I feel the shame of all proofreaders down in my bones...

There's a blennorhagia/blennorhoea, I see, which sounds ... delightful...😑

I hope you all have a pleasant read this weekend! #booksky