Inventing the Renaissance by @adapalmer.bsky.social The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America by Marcia Chatelain The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

Oh wow! The Dragon Has Some Complaints made Goodreads's list of Don't Miss summer books!

Summer Encore: Don’t Miss These Very Recent Hit Books

Summer is a season to be savored. It feels so good, and it goes so fast. But take heart, bookworms! Summer’s not over yet! As a kind of in-the-mome...

goodreads.com

Water is returning to the African Sahel. After the catastrophic droughts of the late 20th century, aquifers from Senegal to Ethiopia are refilling, water tables in Niger have risen four metres, and Lake Chad has swollen to ten times its mid-1980s size. Yale E360 buff.ly/SUrDAnL #ShareGoodNewsToo

After Decades of Drought, Water Is Rising in the African Sahel

Warming has brought extreme rain to the parched Sahel, which is seeing aquifers refill as monsoons grow stronger. But heavier downpours alone cannot explain the groundwater revival, say hydrologists,…

buff.ly

A six-metre Moon inside Colchester Castle. At a scale of approximately 1:600,000, every centimetre of Museum of the Moon represents six kilometres of the lunar surface. Come and look closer: colchester.cimuseums.org.uk/events/moon-...

New stack to take with me during this hectic month of changes. The newest Harrison to continue my obsession, and my 3 big "blindspot series" from @annleckie.com @adapalmer.bsky.social & @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social Ready for exciting space operas and funky weird stuff. 🙏 #booksky

Welcome to the CAMBRIAN FECAL REVOLUTION. We didn't name it the Cambrian fecal explosion for obvious reasons. I'm happy to share this paper on fecal matter and its role in Cambrian ecosystems. So if you want to read a really shitty paper (50 days free access): authors.elsevier.com/a/1nYg8cZ3X7...

this should get so much more attention — two states within 3 weeks have made major moves on rights restoration.

Alex Burness@burness.bsky.social · yesterday

A combined 100,000+ people with past felony convictions have either already gained or will soon gain voting rights in Missouri and Virginia, which both have elections today. More: boltsmag.org/gop-run-miss... boltsmag.org/virginia-gov...

Come and see Professor Matthew McCormack at the York Georgian Festival next week! SHOES & THE GEORGIAN MAN Monday 10th August 1.30pm, York Mansion House Book tickets: www.mansionhouseyork.com/york-georgia... @historymatt.bsky.social #18C #18thC @bsecs.bsky.social

BTW, if you're even *remotely* interested in this topic — or think you might be — Jared's @laserwars.net newsletter is an absolute must-read.

Jared Keller@laserwars.net · yesterday

HUGE NEWS: @noahshachtman.bsky.social reports that the US military is poised to finally award a contract for its first-ever directed energy program of record after more than 50 years of laser weapon research and development www.wired.com/story/landma...

"Germany is not poorer than the US. It has just chosen to cash out more of its productivity in the form of free time than the US has. The other Western European countries have made similar decisions." peoplespolicyproject.org/2026/08/04/w...

Western Europe Is Richer Than the US

Let's put an end to the stupid GDP discourse.

peoplespolicyproject.org

I really want to work this example into an LLM demo with my students.

Green Owl@greenowl.bsky.social · yesterday

As we know, "AI" doesn't do facts. It makes up patterns from random bits of data that were digitized & stolen for it, to be wrongity wrong most of the time, even on the same prompt. terribleminds.com/ramble/2025/...

"History involves sorting and organizing hundreds of thousands of facts" I remain astounded by how loud and wrong people are about what history actually is.

It's August and I have 20 days left to do the #InverteFest cover lmao. Taking species suggestions, plug your favorites. The more obscure the better. Previous 5 covers are below. #Art #SciArt

franz@franzanth.bsky.social · 9mo ago

#InverteFest season is almost here, which means it's time to submit your bug & slug art! The form closes at 100 entries. Find more info, download past art book, and submit here: invertefest.com/#artbook

Today, August 4, 2026, is the setting of Ray Bradbury’s short story “There Will Come Soft Rains” about a fully automated house continuing on after the family who lived there and the world around it died in a nuclear blast.

One of the fabulous people I met at #BrixtonFreeBooksFestival was the rapper, thinker and gentle soul Che Lingo who provided music for #anime #JujutsuKaisen season 1. Well worth checking out his stuff. www.youtube.com/@Che_Lingo

Che Lingo

Breaking through with critically acclaimed singles such as “My Block” and “Dark Days”. His debut album The Worst Generation (2020) earned award nominations and national praise for its unflinching exam...

youtube.com

Good morning, California!

Sarah Pinsker@sarahpinsker.bsky.social · yesterday

"In the living room the voice-clock sang, Tick-tock, seven o’clock, time to get up, time to get up, seven o’clock! As if it were afraid that nobody would... ...Today is August 4, 2026, the city of Allendale, California.” Yeah, so happy "There Will Come Soft Rains" day?

youtu.be/5k7O3LzB07k - My new BookTube video is up. Features brief discussions of @adapalmer.bsky.social's Inventing the Renaissance & the knock on effect it had; what else I've read sort of recently, what I'm reading and what I'm going to read.

Well, Fancy Meeting You Here

YouTube video by Lokster Reads

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Again, what right wing Republicans and Democrats call "socialism" is the sort of regulated capitalism that was consensus for much of the 20th century. They pretend it's anti-market when really it's only anti-oligarchy

Helen Kennedy@helenkennedy.com · 2w ago

The wild eyed radical communist continues to destroy capitalism www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Heat pumps are winning Americans over. In the first quarter they outsold fossil-fuel furnaces by 32%, the fourth year running that manufacturers have shipped more heat pumps than furnaces. Nearly half of new US homes built in 2024 came with one. Grist buff.ly/I8XwuLA #ShareGoodNewsToo

The US may be hitting a tipping point for heat pumps

In the first quarter of this year, heat pump sales beat fossil fuel furnaces by 32 percent. Here's what makes the appliance so powerful.

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So… they’re working

LAcon V has published the Worldcon schedule! Here are the panels that I'll be participating in and the link to the more detailed program guide. buff.ly/eHHDt18 buff.ly/0NdRonA

In 2017, Serbia’s Eastern Imperial Eagle was on the edge of extinction. That same year, the eagle became the subject of targeted conservation, and now the country’s monitors have recorded 29 territorial pairs, with 16 pairs successfully fledging 25 young. buff.ly/VQWkymQ #ShareGoodNewsToo

Another study on youth transition that find that about 97% of all youth who says they're trans turn out to be. Only 1.1% who start HRT stopped it for any reason whatsoever. This is, like, the fifth youth transition study that I'm aware of, and all of their results have been identical.

Xtra @xtramagazine.com · 3d ago

Canadian researchers found that 97 percent of youth who seek treatment for gender dysphoria still identify as trans years later.

Went to the boreal transition zone for a hike today. Loads of great late summer stuff, including zillions of mushrooms busting out 🍄🍄‍🟫

In Samuel van Hoogstraten's incredible perspective box you look in from 2 different angles & see 7 rooms & 3 outdoor areas of this house. Such an ingenious feat of painting. Today is Hoogstraten's day.

"Yikes, Odysseus -- you looke prettye roughe aftir your journeye." "Well, you Odyssey the othir guye!"

#ShareGoodNewsToo

NPR@npr.org · 3d ago

NPR asked an aspiring scientist in Philadelphia to interview an adult who is living his dream about his career in conservation science.

I have never wanted to be a different kind of mammal more than I do right now being able to roll myself into an armored sphere would fix me

Michelle says: Be kind. Always. ❤️@snarkysillysad.bsky.social · 3d ago

The Southern Three-Banded Armadillo (Tolypeutes matacus) is one of the only armadillo species capable of rolling into a completely sealed sphere: #AGoodPlace Source: www.reddit.com/r/NatureIsFu...

Two Great Horned Owl siblings hanging out in the trees #birds #owls

UPDATE: uh holy shit we’ve raised over $12k since I posted this. that’s enough to give each of the 9 candidates here over $1K each, a significant fundraising boost that they will feel on the ground in these must-win swing districts

Sam@samd.bsky.social · 3d ago

I love Talarico and hope he wins. But he’s already raised $70M On the flipside, control of critical state legislatures will come down to seats where candidates raise 0.1% of that. I’ve researched the highest leverage swing district candidates you should donate to secure.actblue.com/donate/donat...