The thing about painting projects is that primer has to dry for an hour & wall coats for four. So you either have to drag the whole thing over several days or to sequester yourself carefully so any paint drips on your clothes don't get on your furniture while you sit around & watch paint dry.

Adding GenAI to everything and not telling you in hopes you don't turn it off is for sure a great sign that everyone likes it and it's a totally valid business and not a scam.

Choosing, ordering, procuring the stuff for a DIY project (in this case, a bathroom redo) takes so much energy that it's hard to even start the project till tomorrow.

Why does a dog who has a large, ceramic bowl, constantly replenished with clean water, persist in thinking the toilet is the most desirable thirst-quenching place in the house? A perennial question.

So bee guy came & sprayed the yellow jacket nest inside the roof of my porch, which we discovered existed because a few bees/day were making their way into the house, and now dozens of mad dying bees are buzzing around my staircase landing, which isn't how I thought the intermediate step would go. 😬

“Stranger things have happened” is for UFO sightings, not floating martial law to rig an election.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2d ago

🚨🚨🚨 WAYNE ALLYN ROOT: You have the right to declare a national security emergency for elections. If you do this in the next month, we will get photo ID, proof of citizenship, and a limit to mail ballots TRUMP: Let me just say stranger things have happened. I'll leave it at that

I’m debuting Experiments in Reading this fall, a 1-unit pass/fail course designed to help students develop a habit (and love) of reading. I’m looking forward to it and hope to do it every semester, or at least most. Inspired by an @aktange.bsky.social post on here!

Kermit the Frog shares a park bench with Jim Henson outside the student union building at the University of Maryland, Henson's alma mater.

🎉

Citizen.Coping@propcazhpm.bsky.social · 3d ago

Massachusettes "Millionaires Tax", which was targeted to fund transportation and education, has been a resounding success. It has funded FREE school lunch for ALL students, FREE buses in lowest income communities (people can get to work, etc.), and FREE community college. And "exodus" was minimal.

The thing about having a dog for yr workout partner is that he never clucks sympathetically if you're feeling draggy & says "we can skip today if you want." He just boings right up to you, first thing in the morning, confident in the knowledge that the two of you are about to do something FANTASTIC.

Evidence of the great benefits of AI: it used to take a huge amount of time and effort to make yourself look this stupid; now AI allows you to humiliate yourself almost instantly.

PBS News@pbsnews.org · 2w ago

The State Department said ​it takes "full responsibility" for "hastily" altering and then presenting a map of Africa at a global AIDS conference that mislabeled every single country it highlighted. An analysis by Reuters found a watermark in the map image that suggests it was made with OpenAI.

I was there and can tell you that it was terrifying, all the happy kids and families and supportive community members listening to children's books about acceptance. Oh and there was also singing and silliness. Just terrifying. Thank God the Missouri GOP is here to protect us.

Missouri Independent@missouriindependent.com · 2w ago

After Daniel Boone Regional Library held an LGBTQ+ story time, Missouri Republicans said they would target its funding — and change state law if the reading was legal. #moleg #mogov

My sweet dog likes nothing more than to bring you a bone he's enjoying so you can enjoy it too—by holding it while he chews on it. I'm not sure whether he thinks he's sharing or thinks you like helping him, but in either case, the urgency w/which he wants you to participate in his joy is charming.

Indeed you all are. And, gentle Bluesky readers, check out the news projected behind this team: a British Newspaper Archive discount for RSVP members that saves serious money on that subscription. Negotiated by the inexhaustible Mary. Even more reason for all C19 scholars to join @rs4vp.org!

Clare Clarke@clareclarke.bsky.social · 2w ago

With the wonderful Mary and Priti ahead of the RSVP AGM. What a team! #RSVP2026

[movie trailer voice] They fuck you up... ...your mum and dad *Country scene, dark, tent in foreground collapses* "DAD!"* They may not mean to but they do *Family arguing as they walk on a cliff path* This year, exclusively in IMAX, they'll add some extra just for you... This! Be! The! Film!

Daniel Tunnard@danieltunnard.bsky.social · 2w ago

Are there any other poems that have been made into films? Could Nolan have a crack at "This is just to say"?

spectacular

New-Cleckit Dominie@ncdominie.bsky.social · 2w ago

This is just to say I have OCRed the text thet was in tne arch:ve and whicb yov were prabaldy seamhing for "breahtast" Fargme ms fheg mem debo:w5 sb ?mccf mmb 5c oc1b

I look forward to all the reports & coverage about all of the internal problems & mistakes of all of these other institutions, in the same way that universities are constantly blamed (& blaming themselves) for “declining trust.” “Compared to what?” news.gallup.com/poll/712436/...

Mark Copelovitch@mcopelov.bsky.social · 4w ago

“Compared to what?” is always the essential question when asking about critiques of higher education & universities, whether we’re discussing declining trust, freedom of speech, viewpoint diversity, or any of the other things.

My favorite depiction of the Trojan Horse, and the earliest known version. I love the windows, like an airplane, and that the windows go up the neck too.

Arts and culture contribute $1.2 trillion to the U.S. economy and employ nearly 5.4 million people. You wouldn’t know it from the way the federal government funds them. @leftiecowboy.bsky.social on what it would mean to treat art as a public good.

The Big Idea: Publicly Funded Art

Art is how we make sense of ourselves. But the U.S. government, unlike many other countries, is investing in it less and less.

inthesetimes.com

Just paused during a jog for a butterfly to flitter past my face and thought ‘damn is this what it’s like to be a poet?’

Okay one more odyssey post. Really loved the movie. But I for one am willing to stop rescuing Matt Damon. At some point we’re just going to have to collectively agree that if Matt Damon gets lost again we just have to let him go.

📣 ANNOUNCEMENT 📣 I finally have a draft of this book chapter ready to show brave volunteer readers. It's about literature in Chicago from 1833-1887 (official founding to Haymarket trial). Americanists, Chicago heads, other interested parties: DM if you're interested in giving feedback on this.

Ruin a book by adding a word: The Heart is A Lonely Bargain Hunter

Denver, if you're free on Monday, a mountain of free spuds awaits:

‘We genuinely have too many potatoes, I cannot stress enough’: 42,000 pounds of free taters headed to Denver

Twenty-one tons of potatoes are up for grabs at Potato Palooza on Monday.

denverite.com

Ruin a book by adding a word: The Woman in White Castle

Matthew L Reznicek@drreznicek.bsky.social · 3w ago

Ruin a book by adding a word: The Scarlet Letter of Recommendation

Killing projects for petty revenge, with no care for how much it damages the economy or the American people. Thug, and his henchman, bringing their Project 2025 sabotage to fruition. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/b...

Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him (Gift Article)

Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.

nytimes.com

If you are looking to be amused by family drama that is not your own family drama today, you cannot do better than this thread (though be forewarned that the story is still developing, so you will be engrossed and also have to have patience!)

Shaily Patel@vox-magica.bsky.social · 3w ago

my cousin just got married and told exactly *none* of his aunties. i wish all y'all could be party to the soap opera level drama ensuing in our huge desi fam today. i'm the only one having a hell of a time right now, but i feel like y'all would love this as much as i do.

jesus

FactPost@factpostnews.bsky.social · 3w ago

The FDA has announced that 1.6 million eggs have been contaminated with salmonella, forcing a nationwide recall. Last year, the Trump administration scrapped regulations to limit salmonella and laid off hundreds of food safety inspection workers.

If you're a property manager in a city where it's standard to demand 24hr turnaround for lease signing after gruelling (expensive) app process requiring guarantors, background checks & tax docs, yr form email shld actually explain signing process so tenants don't waste 18hrs trying to figure it out.

the best day for the presidents of every R1 to hold a press conference screaming that higher ed is our second largest export and destroying it is economic sabotage and soft power detonation was Jan 21st 2025. the next best day is tomorrow.

Anna Kornbluh@annakornbluh.bsky.social · 3w ago

a bad thing is running a phd program with brilliant international students who must reckon with a volatile xenophobic saboteur government in fresh ways every day, no thank you, 0/10