Saw this, blew my mind, thought I'd share. Behold, Lençóis Maranhenses:2025 Oct 28: PBS Terra [pbsterra on YT]: It Looks Like a Desert. But It Has Thousands of LakesWhen I heard in the video how big it was, I turned on satellite view in Google Maps and popped "Lençóis Maranhense … | Continue reading
The Bostoniensis household's last grocery order included some cucumbers but the delivery service mystifyingly substituted for them a head of cabbage. They were very apologetic when Mr B called to complain, and refunded us the price of the cabbage, so now it's a free cabbage. Bu … | Continue reading
Canonical link: https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/1886696.htmlHey, Americans and other people stuck in the American healthcare system. It's open enrollment on the state exchanges, and possibly through your employer, so I wanted to give you a little heads up about preventive care an … | Continue reading
YES YES YES.SciShow did a collab with Tom Lum and ESOTERICA and delivered a deep dive into the history of the relationship of chemistry and alchemy and the politicization of the distinction between the two: "In Defense of Alchemy" (2025 Oct 17).I cannot tell you how much I loved … | Continue reading
I have been dealing with some health stuff. I recently got a somewhat heavy medical diagnosis. It's nothing life-threatening, and of yet I have only had the mildest of symptoms, and seem to be responding well to treatment, but it's a bummer. My new specialist seems to be fanta … | Continue reading
Americans, as I hope you know, on Nov 1st, the Federal government, being shut down, did not transmit the money to the states to pay for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka SNAP, aka "Food Stamps". In many states, SNAP money is supposed to hit recipients' EBT cards … | Continue reading
Canonical link: https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/1885137.html[Previously: The Essequibo (Buddy-ta-na-na, We Are Somebody, Oh): Part 1]Now, when looking at these strikes being carried out in the Caribbean, shockingly, I think there's not been a ton of coverage on this. CNN, for one, … | Continue reading
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Hey, quick temperature check. I've been reading a lot of media I don't expect my readership to read, and now I'm a little disoriented to who knows what.View Poll: Geopolitics awareness check comments | Continue reading
1)Is there a term for the part of a large non-fiction writing project that comes after the research – when you have a huge pile of sources and quotes and whatnot – and before the actual "writing" part, the part that involves making sure you have all the citations correct for the … | Continue reading
Canonical link: https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/1882720.html 0.Hey, Americans! Look sharp, the Trump Administration is trying to play a head game on you about Covid vaccines, and it's apparently working, because I see nobody talking about this in the news or on social media.There … | Continue reading
I don't know who needs to know about this, but:I just discovered the Android app "Periodically". It's described as an "event logger". It's for keeping track of when a recurring thing has happened, and figuring out what the average time is between occurrences. You just keep it up … | Continue reading
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Current rumors engulfing Bluesky have me recalling an old Communist-era Russian joke:Every day, a man walks to a news stand and pays for a copy of Pravda, unfolds it, looks at the front page, and throws it in the trash. Every day he does this, for months, until finally the news … | Continue reading
Yall, the bowed musical instruments have finally made it to the electronica party. This is the coolest damn thing. Audio required, video also extremely worth it if accessible. 3 min 17 sec. 2025 Aug 11: Open Reel Ensemble: "Tape Bowing Ensemble - Open Reel Ensemble": 磁気テープを竹に張って演 … | Continue reading
Whelp, it looks like I'm in the market for a cell phone again. On Saturday night, I noticed something dangling from the corner of my cell phone, which immediately struck me as odd, as there's no aperture in the protective gel case there for something to get stuck. Well, there's n … | Continue reading
Yall. I am so tired. Last thing first. Investigating the other thing, I discovered this. I'll just cut and paste what I submitted as a ticket to Patreon: I took a break of a few months, and when I came back my fees spiked. What gives? I just did a month (July 2025) that extremely … | Continue reading
I finally got around to pursuing a replacement of what we in the Bostoniensis Household refer to as the Lorem Ipsum card, which was itself a fiasco. (Recap: PayPal, an organization full of people who are not as smart as they think they are and blessed with perhaps the deepest mar … | Continue reading
Canonical link: https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/1879923.html Americans, if you are not already onboard with the Epstein files scandal, I suggest you get onboard. Non-Americans, feel free to pitch in. For about nine years now, our side – meaning everyone who thinks fascism is bad a … | Continue reading
I think this is important, and really insightful. Video and slightly excerpted transcript below. Of note, Parkrose Permaculture is a crunchy secular leftist who is, herself, an ex-evangelical, and speaks with some personal authority about the world-view and culture. 2025 July 17: … | Continue reading
I have a question about eye safety, maybe someone here can advise me on. Apropos of the protests going on, I've seen a lot of helpful pointers about preparing for getting tear gassed or pepper sprayed, such as not to wear contacts and to have tight-fitting chemists' goggles. But … | Continue reading
2025 Jun 7 11:40 am: benjalvarez1 on Twitter: WATCH THIS: https://x.com/BenjAlvarez1/status/1931375699786334704 Click through to see the video. You really, really should. Sound is irrelevant. Text: "Tanks, fighting vehicles and howitzers arrive in Washington, D.C. ahead of next w … | Continue reading
2025 May 16: The Washington Examiner: "An American papacy: The Catholic Church didn’t choose Pope Leo XIV to battle Trump" 2025 May 30: AlterNet: "'Divine trolling': Pope schedules Chicago mass on the same day as Trump's military parade" comments | Continue reading
Back in 2013, I winnowed down the entire listings of Boston Early Music Festival events, official and fringe, to a curated concentrate of just concerts and other events featuring music from before 1600 AD. There were about 35 of them. The 2025 BEMF is just nine days out and the F … | Continue reading
Story has it that a thief was captured and hauled before the local ruler. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't have you put to death," the monarch said. The thief replied, "Your majesty, I can teach your finest horse to sing – if you give me a year to do it!" The court burst out … | Continue reading
Okay, so, I've found myself deep, deep down a rabbit hole. There's a fact ("fact") about the history of higher ed in Europe being reported around the internet that appears on the relevant Wikipedia page with a notation I've never seen before: "[failed verification]". The fact ("f … | Continue reading
There's been a lot of really great public addresses of various kinds on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Here's one that is quite worth your time. Historian Heather Cox Richardson gave a talk on the 18th of April in the Old North Chur … | Continue reading
Informal poll: I was just watching an activist's video about media in the US in which she showed a clip of Sen. Elizabeth Warren schooling a news anchor about the relationships of the Presidency, Congress, and the Courts to one another. At one point Warren refers to this as "ConL … | Continue reading
Concord Hymn ("Hymn: Sung at the Completion of the Concord Monument, April 19, 1836") by Ralph Waldo Emerson To the tune of "Old Hundredth" (Louis Bourgeois, 1547) Performed by the Choir of First Parish Church, Concord, Massachusetts. Elizabeth Norton, Director. Uploaded Oct 1, 2 … | Continue reading
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[...] A hurry of hoofs in a village-street, A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, And beneath from the pebbles, in passing, a spark Struck out by a steed that flies fearless and fleet: That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light, The fate of a nation was riding … | Continue reading
Ed Yong headed up The Atlantic's coverage of Covid as it rolled over us, becoming perhaps the most important journalist of the pandemic and arguably the best, for which reason he won the Pulitzer. You may recognize his name; you've seen me quote him (e.g.). Ed Yong gave a talk at … | Continue reading
Thought I'd give you a quick update re Patreon: I'm fine, at least for now. For those of you not aware of what's going on with Patreon, the Apple Tax started. Author Catherynne Valente posted earlier today that "I woke up to my income slashed by 28% despite no change in patrons" … | Continue reading
If you somehow missed it, there's mass anti-Trump protests scheduled around the US for tomorrow, April 5, 2025. There are protests planned in over 900 locations across the US. I hear there's even some in solidarity in other countries. Find your local protest here. comments | Continue reading
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(h/t Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange) 2025 Mar 21: Office of the Attorney General of California: "Attorney General Bonta Urgently Issues Consumer Alert for 23andMe Customers: California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued a consumer alert to customers of 23andMe, a geneti … | Continue reading
Like I was saying: "Red (When the War Gets Here)", by Jesse Welle 2025 Mar 18: Jesse Welles [@hellswelles on YT]: "Red" Lyrics: I got me a red house and a red car Runs on big red batteries It used to be blue 15 minutes ago But it turned red just for me I got me a red horse, and I … | Continue reading
Canonical link: https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/1874120.html Four days ago (2025 Mar 14), NBC News had an article titled "Trump's quest to conquer Canada is confusing everyone". Well, I am most certainly not confused, except by others' confusion. Lots of people on the American lef … | Continue reading
[Content warning: naked transphobia] 2025 Mar 11: PBS News Hour [YT]: "WATCH: GOP chairman confronted over misgendering Rep. Sarah McBride" I'm not embedding this, click through to YT to watch. If you're a local from District 9, maybe give Keating's office a call to show him some … | Continue reading
Heads up: Last night, this was a whole lot of Americans' introduction to the Abundance movement. I kinda don't want to spoil it for you, because it's kind of a great moment. I don't know I've seen an audience shocked in quite that way. I'm not saying this will be hugely relevant … | Continue reading
I recently discovered that Mr. Bostoniensis had been tragically unacquainted with r/LeopardsAteMyFace on Reddit, so I got to bring it to his attention. Perhaps you are also unacquainted with it, so I thought I'd mention. The title comes from a tweet from Twitter user cavalorn (20 … | Continue reading
AMERICANS WITH DEMOCRAT SENATORS, tl;dr: call them TODAY, tell them you absolutely expect them to shut down the government by voting against the CR bill if the GOP doesn't provide massive concessions, and maybe even then. And whatever position they take, take it to social media i … | Continue reading
2025 Mar 6: Jezebel: "MAGA Turns on Amy Coney Barrett for Siding With Starving Children" (by Kylie Cheung): Appealing to the consciences of conservative Supreme Court justices isn’t going to save us in the even more unhinged era of Trump 2.0. But even a broken clock is right twic … | Continue reading
2025 Mar 6: Erin in the Morning [@ErinInTheMorning YT]: "Rep Zephyr’s speech flips 13 Republicans, trans bills die in Montana": comments | Continue reading
2025 Mar 3: WBZ CBS Boston (news) on YT: "Tesla charging stations intentionally set on fire, investigators say" comments | Continue reading
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The Mayor of Boston, a woman of color and the daughter of immigrants, goes before the House Oversight Committee on Ash Wednesday with a Catholic cross on her brow to quote Big Papi and cite both statistics and history to explain Boston's opinion on immigration and decorously conv … | Continue reading
Y'all. I know a lot of people are despairing over whether they can do anything to stop Congress from passing Trumpian bills, but calling them is moving the needle. GOP congress members are getting nervous about cutting Medicaid, and the only reason they would be having a change o … | Continue reading