“The Great Synagogue was built in the early 1600s in Renaissance-Baroque style. It became the center of Jewish life in Vilnius… It was ransacked and torched by the Nazis in World War II; in 1955-57 the postwar Soviet regime tore down the ruins”

Lithuania: This summer's excavations at the site of the destroyed Great Synagogue of Vilna fully exposed the huge Bimah and yielded other exciting discoveries - Jewish Heritage Europe

Archaeological excavations conducted over the past month at the site of the destroyed Great Synagogue of Vilna (Vilnius)  have fully exposed the huge central Bimah of the synagogue, decorated with a c...

jewish-heritage-europe.eu

At least Ken Paxton doesn't pretend to be anything other than a craven piece of shit.

Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · yesterday

"We have no alternative but to believe the promises of a man who has brazenly lied to us time and time again. You see, I am but a simple United States senator, bereft of any power and beholden to the whims of the pedophile president's consigliere."

When people were building right on top of rock so your unit pegs won't stay securely in the ground, you improvise by using branches for setting up your unit strings 🏺

I worked for New York’s largest medical center at the start of the pandemic. There were morgue trucks on the streets. They set up emergency medical tents in Central Park. Healthcare worker colleagues died. It is horrific that RFK Jr is on national TV lying that ICUs were empty.

This is the tragic yet logical result of a decades-long project—undertaken by rightwing politicians and “business-minded” administrators alike—to distort the meaning of higher education, to deny the intrinsic value of the pursuit of knowledge, to deprive us all of richer, more purposeful lives.

The New Republic@newrepublic.com · 2d ago

President Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. trib.al/aaAEu6v

Republican religious freedom doesn't include Catholics. Or anyone not evangelical. share.google/hjMLipLUqST8...

Florida AG threatens to pull funding from Catholic schools over vaccine issue

He wants a reply by Aug. 7

share.google

One of my favorite local Houston breweries has a memorial wall for the dogs of brewery regulars.

Anyone who has worked with domestic violence victims know the answer to this is too often yes.

🔥Austin Summer 2026 Meme🔥

Of course right as the administration tries to gut the entire concept, the GAO releases a report detailing how valuable early and comprehensive government/tribal/public coordination is. 🏺 www.gao.gov/products/gao...

U.S. GAO - Federal Land and Water Management: Lessons Learned from Implementing Federal-Tribal Shared Decision-Making Agreements

Federal agencies manage public lands and waters, including national forests and parks, that are tribal ancestral territories. These places have...

gao.gov

Of course right as the administration tries to gut the entire concept, the GAO releases a report detailing how valuable early and comprehensive government/tribal/public coordination is. 🏺 www.gao.gov/products/gao...

U.S. GAO - Federal Land and Water Management: Lessons Learned from Implementing Federal-Tribal Shared Decision-Making Agreements

Federal agencies manage public lands and waters, including national forests and parks, that are tribal ancestral territories. These places have...

gao.gov

Only the Dodgers could trade two Tommy John pitchers and an all-power, no-contact hitter. It's inherently unfair for them to have and to trade such elite talent. We must have a salary cap.

My mom's on quite a bit of pain meds after back surgery this week and she couldn't remember the name of America's Test Kitchen so she called it "Authority food people"

"...digitizing something is not the same as preserving it." 🏺

Cambridge University Press - Archaeology@cambup-archaeology.cambridge.org · last wk.

🆕 New #openaccess research in the #SAA journal @saa-aap.bsky.social highlights a growing digital curation crisis in #archaeology. Read the blog and associated article! 🔗 https://cup.org/4uRYbGY #digitalhumanities #datapreservation

For the record, the Texas Rangers never responded to my email requesting a more detailed explanation for why they essentially stole money from me by switching mid-contract to a subpar service that I can't actually watch on my TV.

Q@gameovermike.bsky.social · 3w ago

Do MLB owners actually want people to watch games? The Texas Rangers have screwed up their broadcast rights so badly they're switching mid season to a second rate Twitch. share.google/KR8aCil4q3dE...

This was one of the more unique things Marvel has done in recent years. Very disappointing to see it shelved. gizmodo.com/wonder-man-s...

'Wonder Man' Is No Longer Returning for Season 2

The previously renewed Marvel Disney+ series has been cancelled, despite that recent Emmy nomination for star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.

gizmodo.com

Okay, let it

The Irish Times@irishtimes.com · 7mo ago

AI boom could falter without wider adoption, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella warns

Are you saying the DOJ withdrew that pool vandalism indictment… upon reflection?

NC town votes to give Cherokee a site tied to Trail of Tears | Charlotte Observer share.google/z5bEC5pxlSf6...

Starting point for notorious Trail of Tears being given to Cherokee, NC town says

Site of Army fort that served as a starting point for notorious Trail of Tears in North Carolina being transferred to Eastern Band of Cherokee, town says.

share.google

Honestly, since it's something actually useful, I'm surprised Google hadn't discontinued the desktop version of GoogleEarth ages ago. Also, the online version is shit. I use the GE desktop constantly for tasks that don't require firing up a full blown GIS program.

Shit. Glen Hansard, Oscar-winning Irish singer-songwriter, dies aged 56 in motorcycle crash | Music | The Guardian share.google/Oo9v5rrF4afx...

Glen Hansard, Oscar-winning Irish singer-songwriter, dies aged 56 in motorcycle crash

Frontman of chart-topping band the Frames had huge success as the star of 2007 romantic drama Once

share.google

A reminder that huge events which politicians and local boosters talk up as boons for local economies do nothing of the sort. They cannibalize other economic activity and cause locals to avoid the places where events are held. It's a big lie, it's always been a big lie, and the boosters know it.

J.C. Bradbury@jcbradbury.com · last wk.

"Of the 39 participants — representing 119 restaurant locations across the metro — 51.3% reported a decrease in both foot traffic and revenue. Meanwhile, 38.5% reported no significant change in customer traffic, and 10.3% reported an increase."

Weird way to spell "People are going hungry"

Chicago Tribune@chicagotribune.com · last wk.

Living through the biggest jump in grocery prices in a half-century has many Americans changing their eating and food shopping habits.

There is never any reason to instigate a police chase. But it's especially egregious over a pair of $8.99 shorts.

Alison Cook@alisoncook.bsky.social · 2w ago

So bleak and unnecessary: 15- and 16-year-old girls killed crossing U.S. 59 during Houston police chase over Old Navy shoplifting call www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Conservatives in 2016: TRIGGERED LIB???? Conservatives in 2026: We are installing trigger warnings in the Smithsonian

RFK Jr is in the top five of this administration that needs to be put on trial, stripped of all their assets, and do prison time.

Paul Bleicher@pbleic.bsky.social · 2w ago

Astonishing. RFK Jr. adds 8 members to a 6 member FDA advisory panel. 6 of them were sellers of peptides, and the 7th a compounding pharmacist. In an 8-6 vote with all 8 votes coming from these new panel members, the panel approved 4 peptides against the objections of FDA scientists.

100% No notes!

number one, i am glad that if anyone on earth is rich enough to turn down some blood money, it's Weird Al, and number two, I'm glad the guy who is rich enough to be loud as fuck about turning down some blood money is Weird Al

‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Turned Down Million-Dollar Offer to Perform in Saudi Arabia: ‘I Don’t Need to Take Any Money if It Makes Me Feel Icky’

'Weird Al' Yankovic revealed he turned down a seven-figure offer to perform at the state-sponsored Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia.

variety.com

Kool-aid Man and Green Giant for muscle, The Noid for that bit of special crazy (also they're a recurring character in our DnD campaign), and finally Mr. Peanut as the brains of my defense. He's like former Mi6, right?

Discontinued Foods!@discontinuedfoods.bsky.social · 2w ago

Things aren't great, let's have some fun

I am shocked, shocked I say. Big sporting events are great, but they are not miracle revenue generators for the community.

Houston Public Media@houstonpublicmedia.bsky.social · 2w ago

A World Cup bump? Preliminary data covering six of Houston’s seven matches indicates demand actually fell year over year for hotels, though many visitors were willing to pay a higher rate to stay in Houston.