You've seen fireworks that look like jellyfish, but what about a jellyfish that looks like fireworks? The E/V Nautilus filmed this rare Halitrephes maasi jellyfish glowing like a firework at a depth of 4,019 feet (1,225 meters) off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. (📷: Ocean Exploration Trust)

NEW: It's that time of year: time to launch my annual guide to November's elections! I guide you through over *650* interesting elections, & why they matter. Judges, AGs, govs, mayors, lawmakers, AGs, county & school boards—plus many (many) ballot measures. Oh, & Congress. Explore & bookmark!

Your Cheat Sheet to the 2026 General Elections - Bolts

Congressional races will take center stage on Nov. 3, but they’re just the tip of what to watch. Prosecutors and governors, attorneys general and sheriffs, school boards and mayors, utility... Read Mo...

boltsmag.org

Great time to read So You Want to be a Wizard.

Diane Duane@diane.dianeduane.com · 4d ago

Over at #Ebooks Direct: our #Autumn #Sale is on! All our #sciencefiction and #fantasy #ebook bundles have had prices cut to make it easier for you to pick up some new-season reading. And you get our free lifetime replacement guarantee! Do stop by and take advantage of us. dduane.link/AutumnEbookS...

The updated COVID/histamine link thread because people keep tagging me in to explain it and I keep intending to update the post from 2023 (synecdochic.dreamwidth.org/805203.html) and just not having the capacity because of my own health shit so here is a thread I can pin

If you worked with Wesleyan University Press on a book, check your Anthropic allocation. In the last few days they went through and assigned themselves 100% of the allocation.

Republicans know that too, but they also know this is something they can make Dems flinch and equivocate about, which makes them look overall weak and indecisive. They did it with immigration last cycle, they did it with gay marriage 20 years ago. The only way to win is to tell them to eat shit

John Cluverius@johncluverius.bsky.social · 2w ago

I have to keep saying this. Trans rights are very unpopular on face but extremely sensitive to persuasion and question wording. In other words very few people care deeply about them, one way or another. Electorally, there is no advantage or penalty for Democrats to take one way or another.

Attn @jamestalarico.bsky.social You're not going to attract Dem voters by throwing trans people under the bus. Realize your error. Confess your error. Apologize for your error. Make restitution to the community for your error. Forsake repeating your error. Hope for forgiveness of your error.

Max Kennerly@maxkennerly.bsky.social · 2w ago

If you're a Dem who thinks you'll gain something by going anti-trans, look at Gallup's "most important problem" and Fox News' "most important issue" polling and see where trans issues rank. Whoever told you going anti-trans is a savvy or necessary move spends too much time on X and should be fired.

Ages ago, my wife worked in a school. One of the teachers would THROW AWAY the milk cartons the day before the sell-by date. No amount of Wife telling this person what the SELL-by date meant stopped the waste. Finally the principal put a stop to it and we went back to buying milk.

Col. Boozy Badger@boozybadger.lawyersandliquor.com · 2w ago

7) The sell by date is the SELL BY date. It is NOT the “gone bad” date. It is a guideline for stores. You almost always have at least a couple extra days. 8) learn to use the shit out of spice. It’ll mask the taste of something just starting to but not yet turning.

Because they are reasonably decent quality (mostly) and cheaper than brands (mostly). See also: Aldi. People are going with the cheapest viable option because inflation. (My rent is going up 8%. I am not getting an 8% raise.)

Scripps News@scrippsnews.bsky.social · 2w ago

A new report says private-label products like Costco's Kirkland, Walmart's Great Value, and Target's Up & Up are grabbing a bigger share of shoppers' wallets.

If that means we have to sit Talarico down and staple printouts of the election margin and queer population of Texas to his forehead until he learns first grade arithmetic, so be it

The time to scream at Democrats to not after Inauguration Day, when they settle in to do some light insider trading and ignore us It's NOW, when they desperately need our votes and are most susceptible to pressure

If you can’t make it to Reading, fear not! Ollie has talked plentifully about our history as a co-host of our podcast, and we recorded two episodes at the start of 2026 that go into our 75th anniversary in detail ('Making the MERL' and 'Rural Britannia). merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...

Absolute Units podcast - The Museum of English Rural Life

Come for the big sheep. Stay for the history of rural England and its people.

merl.reading.ac.uk

Yet there's so much we can learn from these old ways. And as we reevaluate what it means to better care for the land, the planet and each other, the past has so much to tell us about the future.

The Second World War rapidly mechanised and industrialised the English countryside. The new face of farming became machines. Meanwhile, the traditional practices, tools, and knowledge that sustained communities for centuries faced becoming obsolete.

Fun fact: this year we turned 75! It's a fine age. We remain extremely young at heart. But why the heck did people in 1951 think it was a good idea to make The Museum of English Rural Life?

Ok y'all -- I have a GIFT MEMBERSHIP for one year of poetry review awesomeness up for grabs! Want a chance to win it? Comment below. I'll choose a winner on Monday at noon Eastern.

Nico Martinez Nocito 🏳️‍⚧️@nicowritesbooks.bsky.social · 3w ago

✒️✨ Calling all SFF poetry enthusiasts! 🌈💫 Stardust & Verse is a new review site where I read and recommend fantastic free-to-read SFF poems. Here's a sneak peak of what to look forward to in September... #StardustAndVerse www.patreon.com/cw/StardustA...

One of the best customer feedback photos I've ever received! littleconkers.etsy.com/uk/listing/1... #HappyCustomer #EtsyReview #SupportSmall

Giuliani gave Motorola a $14-mil no-bid contract for NYFD radios without field testing. They failed & were recalled then replaced with older radios that had already failed in the the 93 bombing. The radios were too weak & didn't connect with the nypd radios. archive.thinkprogress.org/giuliani-cla...

The REAL Rudy: Radios

YouTube video by Brave New Films

youtube.com

Two of my early career jobs were working for people who were trying to hold Giuliani accountable for his role in needless firefighter deaths. This is an issue I've followed my entire adult life. He has never been held accountable. By now it feels like hidden history. So I need to tell you.

The Media’s Mayor

And Giuliani walks on. He walks from his bunker, up Barclay Street and went on television. Went on and announced his heroism and then came back every hour or so until he became a star, a great figure,...

fair.org

In what universe would a white Mayor be told he could not attend a commemoration in Oklahoma City because "Timothy McVeigh?"

My wife is watching Come From Away and all I can say is-- Fuck Trump and everyone who supports him. And God Bless Canadians.

Wife is watching Come From Away (all the people who ended up in Gander NFL on 9/11) Dialogue: "I look out the window and all I can see is trees and rocks." My Brain: 🎵🎵 "There are Rocks and Trees, and Trees and Rocks, and Rocks and Trees and Trees and Rocks ...In Canada. 🎵🎵

Status report, "Just Mentioning This..." Redux: I note an uptick in recent days in Discourse on alternative YA material about wizardry. So if you're interested, please note: the 9-book package of these are on #sale! 🙂bit.ly/YWNMESET

YW New Millennium 9-Volume Box Set

Our New Millennium Editions box sets are optimized for each of the devices appearing under the price listing. Please click on one to choose the format you prefer.The New Millennium Editions of So You ...

bit.ly

When we get through this, any politician who isn't 100% all-in on prosecuting every last motherfucker involved at any level, needs to go in the bin. I will be a single-issue voter: ARE YOU GOING TO LET ANYONE GET AWAY WITH THIS? Hemming and hawing is a "yes." There is only one correct answer.

Molly Crabapple@mollycrabapple.bsky.social · 4w ago

ICE got permission to cut open a Cuban hunger striker’s stomach and insert a gastric tube to make him easier to forcefeed Nuremberg trials are too merciful for these monsters www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

On pre-order, book 9 in Juliet McKenna's hugely popular Green Man series. This one takes Dan Mackmain to Ireland. wizardstowerpress.co...

Yesterday @artefactual.eurosky.social asked 'Who were the Normans?' particularly with regard to the norsemen myths taught in primary school. So here's a thread to address this question. First off 'Norman' = North man, i.e. man from the North 1/

Leonie V. Hicks@lvhicks.bsky.social · last mo.

Later today I'll hopefully do a thread on 'who were the Normans?' But for now, here is a piece I wrote a few years ago on Norman identy to keep you going normanlandscapes.wordpress.com/2017/08/01/n... #normans #medievalsky #skystorians.

A study of over 4 million kids & young adults concludes that those who receive a Pfizer/Biotech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine have a lower risk of myocarditis, pericarditis, and death than those who do not

CIDRAP@cidrap.bsky.social · last mo.

mRNA COVID vaccine linked to lower risk of myocarditis in teens, young adults Being unvaccinated and getting COVID-19 were associated with a higher risk of heart disease and death than receiving a vaccine. Read more: https://bit.ly/3UhXOJ8

Tim Curry and Dolly Parton have taught us not only that you should be bigger, weirder, gayer, and freakier, but also that those qualities are what people will love about you. The things that make you strange and amazing are the things that will resonate with other strange and amazing people