today is barbara stanwyck day (yay!) on tcm's summer under the stars. they're showing "the mad miss manton" (early role -- a screwball comedy which i think is superior to the better-known "bringing up baby"). TMMM is her first outing with co-star henry fonda (they did three films total together).

Turner Classic Movies@tcmtv.bsky.social · 3d ago

From femme fatales to fast-talking dames and everything in between, Barbara Stanwyck could do it all! See her range today as she steps into our #SummerUndertheStars spotlight. Which of her films are you watching first? 👀

tasha yar -- as holbein's portrait masterpiece, jane small. A-I had difficulty with it, and i still may work on it. tasha and worf are kindred spirits -- orphans, a high degree of martial expertise. they sublimate their losses into their duty. would love to have seen their relationship develop more.

worf as holbein's sketch of james butler (kin to anne boleyn). A-I didn't want to render the baldric pins properly, so gave up trying (since they change over time). also tried to add gold shine to his pips, but A-I gave him so many he wound up looking like a fleet admiral with smallpox.

ro laren as holbein's sketch of anna cresacre. when ro came aboard the enterprise, geordi was pretty insistent that he would never trust her. that changed, and their perilous experience being out of phase gave them an even tighter bond. would have loved to see their friendship develop further.

geordi laforge as holbein's sketch of sir elyott. holbein used colored chalks on paper. starting around 1532, he primed his sketch papers with pink pigment, which enhanced the aliveness of his sketches. he also used yellow to highlight clothing and jewels, which worked well with geordi's visor.

one of a pair of wise TNG characters (i'm also referring to guinan, but spot's no slouch). A-I did pretty well with data, but was erratic with spot. this was the best of many, many iterations. the original holbein portrait has the sitter paired with a falcon (which was a very expensive pastime).

today the pairing of two of TNG's wisest characters -- who are wise in different ways. guinan's typical headdresses lent themselves pretty well to renaissance italianate headgear. this took forever, and i'm still not satisfied, but i grew weary of fighting with A-I (which kept undoing changes).

Plan the perfect week with us as our annual #SummerUnderTheStars celebration begins! Which festivity and who's filmography are you most excited for? ☀️

ensign robin lefler as holbein's anne of cleves. holbein usually did 3/4 views, so this is slightly unusual -- but it seems to suit lefler terrifically. lefler's complexion is enhanced by the warm gold and red tones of the renaissance clothing.

wesley crusher as holbein's portrait of gregory cromwell, first baron cromwell. the holbein portrait looks quite youthful, so it fits wesley well. wesley would have been a perfect model for holbein. his face is very expressive, even at rest.

riker seems made for holbein. the semi-rakish goatee. the crisp features. the crackling energy ready to spring into action at the first red alert claxon call.

bronzino is another artist who had the ability to capture incredible detail in both attire and sitter. velvet, brocade, silk, precious metal-threaded fabrics are not distractions nor superfluous. they speak to the sitter's status, refinement. here, commander troi as bronzino's eleanor of toledo.

dr. beverly crusher as holbein's lady jane seymour, henry viii's third wife (who died soon after giving birth to his only legitimate son).

captain picard as holbein's sir thomas more. holbein's gifts were many: accurate portrayals that also aligned with the required flattery for wealthy commissions. also did not stint on recording sartorial detail. enlightening for many flavors of historians.

Angelo Carusone Media Matters @goangelo.bsky.social just said on MSNBC Nicole Wallace that one of the elements of Project 2025 is a plan to kill all the wild horses in the USA. I had to go look this up and this is what I found. They plan a horrific future for wild horses and burros. Call Congress.

What does Project 2025 say about wild horses? - Return to Freedom

The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 drafted a plan to overhaul the federal government, “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,” in order to “to lay the groundwork for a White House more ...

returntofreedom.org

7 things to practice, according to the daily stoic. bsky.app/profile/dail...

Daily Stoic@daily-stoic.bsky.social · 4w ago

bonnie tyler needs a gyro -- for best experience, listen w the sound on (watch the subtitles). powerful voice. delightful video. wales has produced some fine singers (you may have also heard of tom jones -- he's crooned a few). the great and prolific jim steinman co-wrote it w dean pitchford.

These hero dogs chased off a man who tried to sexually assault two female dog walkers. They were able to push him away, and then their pack of 11 rescue dogs ran him off into a tunnel and ripped off a piece of his pants. The dogs are all getting our highest honor, a 15/10

Going to just pick one part here to take up which is the Rousseauian notion that agriculture leads to land ownership which leads to warfare. If that were true, we'd expect non-agricultural societies (hunter gatherers especially) to be relatively peaceful. Instead, they're hyper-militarized. 1/

@rprobbins.bsky.social · 2mo ago

A different take on that statement from an archaeologist 💯💯💯🎯

. a phenomenal actor who just happened to be a movie star as well. RIP, sam neill. reilly, ace of spies. in the mouth of madness. my brilliant career. the piano. the tudors. in the mouth of madness. event horizon. jurassic park. and -- of course -- the hunt for red october.

did you know there are creatures that are not plant, nor animal, nor fungi? they are the radiolarians. microscopic aquatic protists that absorb minerals from the sea and transform them into exquisite exoskeletons. www.amnh.org/explore/news...

Radiolarians: Microscopic Marine Mysteries | AMNH

Radiolarians, single-celled marine organisms with intricate silica skeletons, have existed for at least 550 million years and are found in all the world’s oceans.

amnh.org

I have a linguistics joke but it gets lost in translation.

“Science describes accurately from outside, poetry describes accurately from inside. Both celebrate what they describe. We need the languages of both science & poetry to save us from merely stockpiling endless ‘information’ that fails to inform our ignorance or irresponsibility.” Ursula Le Guin 2014

many folks know about neanderthals. not as many folks know about the denisovans (represented in the fossil record by a much smaller pool of specimens). years ago, natgeo offered an ancestral DNA kit. it IDed how much neanderthal DNA you had. but it also IDed how much denisovan DNA you had.

Simon Fisher@profsimonfisher.bsky.social · 2mo ago

“Introgression from Neanderthals & Denisovans shaped modern human genomes. We integrated high-quality assemblies of 4 Papua New Guinea genomes with 94 of diverse ancestry to infer an introgressed structural variant map. Results underscore introgression as a major force in human adaptive evolution.”🧪

i haven't yet seen "disclosure day," but anytime a scientist discusses my old friend, FOXP2, i'm all ears. here's a great thread from simon fisher, the director of language and genetics at the max planck institute for psycholinguistics. bsky.app/profile/prof...

Simon Fisher@profsimonfisher.bsky.social · last mo.

25 years ago, we implicated rare variants of the FOXP2 gene in a severe speech disorder. I’ve spent much time stressing that FOXP2, while interesting, is not the mythical “gene for language”. Weirdly, on occasion I also need to explain why it’s not “proof of aliens”. Full disclosure in this 🧵. 1/n 🧪

Here it is! 4.2 billion years in the making - Evolution. I had the privilege to be part of an incredible team who brought these stories to life. And of course, I got to look after a whole new host of delightful creatures - can't wait for you to meet them. www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG8s...

Evolution: Official Trailer | BBC Earth Science

YouTube video by BBC Earth Science

youtube.com

. for all our fathers, who have gone before us. www.youtube.com/watch?v=55xF...

Star Trek II:The Wrath of Khan Battle in the Mutara Nebula:Epilogue 8/8

YouTube video by Prometheus of Videos

youtube.com

(slightly edited from my earlier version -- no edit function makes for a sometimes wonky scansion...) whomever the democrats pick will make the other-crats sick until this october when oppo drops over and told-ya!!-crats bray with a kick