Andy Hall
@maritimetexas.bsky.social
Maritime, naval, and military history guy, occasional author. Texas Marine Archaeological Steward. Iconoclastic tendencies. Opinions mine, not my employer's.
The perfect photo summing up Douglas MacArthur doesn’t exist. . . oh.
Really Sean Smith@reallyseansmith.bsky.social · last yr.Doing my part!
Sean Duffy's Great American Roadtrip, which was financed through millions in corporate subventions, has suddenly and inexplicably disappeared from the Fox lineup. Probably after Fox lawyers concluded that the whole scheme was likely a corrupt criminal enterprise.
What the Hell Happened to Sean Duffy’s Road-Trip TV Show?
Three months after it was announced, the secretary of transportation’s summer show—funded by companies he regulates—hasn’t aired a single episode.
thebulwark.com
USS TEXAS in a heavy sea. date and location unknown. Texas Parks & Wildlife via the Portal to Texas History.
Max Miller released audio recordings of conversations he has with his ex wife. In one of them, she accuses him of clandestinely recording their conversations. “I have never recorded our conversations” he says, while recording their conversation. This is domestic violence. Ask me how I know.
The Daily Wire continues circling the drain when it comes to hard-hitting journalism. Today it's promoting a deep dive on the celebrity of Ellen DeGeneres, who was most famous thirty years ago.
Film you've watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Marvel, Disney, or Ghibli.
Never Here
ALT: Never Here
static.klipy.com
Allison Gill@muellershewrote.com · 7d agoFilm you've watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Marvel, Disney, or Ghibli.
Well, that’s ONE mystery solved. Via my friend David Woodbury.
Shouty announcer on Big Brother was yelling about how you could text to a certain number to send one contestant into the Big Brother Time Capsule. I already had my phone in hand when my wife explained that no, the Time Capsule is *NOT* airtight. What a ripoff. Got me all worked up for nothing.
Daily Wire, home of hard-hitting, uncompromising journalism. Sorry, I meant “journalism.”
Trump intervened on behalf of the Tate Brothers before, dispatching Rick Grenell to jawbone a Romanian minister to get their travel ban lifted while their charges were pending. MAGA defended them furiously at every step along the way. But now Trump is letting them be extradited. Why?
Greg Sargent@gregsargent.bsky.social · last wk.Great point from @moiradonegan.bsky.social on the pod: Trump's gains with young men are vanishing as they realize Trump/Tate brothers faux masculinity isn't helping them: "They’re not being elevated in their own status." Donegan is just brilliant here all throughout: newrepublic.com/article/2135...
Rob Schneider teases a “formal announcement” about Texas, perhaps that he’s moving here. He included an AI image of a Texas flag that never existed. Maybe he should stick to makin’ copies.
Genuinely amusing that Matt Walsh and the Daily Wire, who once demanded recognition as a source for mature and insightful analysis of current events, is now running paid ads for their hawt taeks on the latest tawdry divorce story about B-List Hollywood celebs.
Great interview by Derek Thompson with Emily Wilson, whose translation of “The Odyssey” was the jumping-off point for Christopher Nolan’s film. You might be surprised. www.derekthompson.org/p/emily-wils...
What Is Lost When We Make 'The Odyssey' Modern
Christopher Nolan's 'Odyssey' is an extraordinary, modern epic. Homer's Odyssey is an even more extraordinarily strange one.
derekthompson.org
BREAKING: SAG-AFTRA, the actors union comes out in opposition to the Paramount-Warners merger. Plenty of actors & SAG members have been a part of our #BlockTheMerger coalition from day 1 but still, this is big. My hometown of Hollywood does not want this misbegotten mashup & neither does democracy
Paramount Skydance - Warner Bros. Transaction Update
sagaftra.org
🇺🇦 News: Ukraine pulls off a wild hoax in occupied Crimea. As we know Russians have to purchase gasoline via QR Codes. What Ukraine did, was fabricate fake codes, that when Russians bought them to purchase petrol… it was actually going to a donation fund to help Ukraine’s war efforts against Russia😂
Volodymyr Zelenskyy володимир: Raised Fist
ALT: Volodymyr Zelenskyy володимир: Raised Fist
static.klipy.com
I follow several “photo restoration” groups on another platform (I know, AI, I know), and the output is sometimes pretty funny. This guy (left) asked if they could “make Andy more lifelike, and by George that’s what he got (right).
As an archaeologist of ancient Greece, I finally saw the Odyssey yesterday All I can say is "Fucking WOW" I could nitpick for hours about the armor and architecture. I could praise with detailed comparanda the jewelry and pottery and a range of interior decoration 1/4
NIH is testing their ability to terminate “unaligned” grants, with at least one new termination documented. Disgustingly, they awarded this grant simply so they could add a termination clause. Then they terminated it. From @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social www.science.org/content/arti...
NIH is again terminating grants that the Trump administration dislikes
With cancellation of health disparities project, agency may be testing new way to legally kill politically sensitive grants
science.org
#OTD in 1944, California Judge Louis Goodman grants a motion to dismiss charges against 26 Japanese American men at the Tule Lake incarceration camp. The men were charged for failing to appear for induction into the Army, which Judge Goodman called a "shocking" action. 🗃 #skystorians
The Gulf is pretty flat this morning ahead of Bertha. Steady breeze from the north.
In the new issue of @harpers.bsky.social, I wrote about the history, and narrowing future, of the restorative arts: that is, the craft of rendering corpses casket-ready. I watched morticians face off in a corpse-head restoration contest, and travelled to DC to watch a restoration up-close.
Harper’s Magazine@harpers.bsky.social · 2w agoJohn Semley (@johnsemley3000.bsky.social) reports from the Restorative Art Technical Showcase on the dying art of the open casket. harpers.org/archive/2026...
McDonalds learning what Whataburger fans have known forever.
1. The new Trump / Kratsios plan for US science appears explicitly designed to destroy US universities. Diverting money to tech donors is probably just a bonus. Gift link.
Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities (Gift Article)
Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.
nytimes.com
I would pay good money for a recreated 1980s mall. Punks smoking outside Waldenbooks. Stoners at the Orange Julius. Weird abstract sculpture fountains. Fake plants hanging from nowhere. A food court that smells like pizza and industrial carpet cleaner.
Niko Stratis@nikostratis.com · 2w agothe nostalgia diner industry should have aged past the 50s. I should be able to go to an era-accurate 90s diner, served a room temp Fruitopia by staff in babydoll dresses, there should be a Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition machine against the wall. They could sell Desert Storm trading cards.
July 20, 1776: On behalf of Congress, Benjamin Franklin responds stingingly to the supposed peace proposals put forward by British Adm. Lord Richard Howe that “contain nothing more than what we had seen in the Act of Parliament, viz. Offers of Pardon upon Submission.” 1/5
I've been teaching my National Security Law students about the "Alien Terrorist Removal Court" for 20 years. Now that the Trump administration is using it for the first time (ever), today's "One First" looks at what it actually *does,* why it exists, and where we should (and shouldn't) be concerned:
239. The Alien Terrorist Removal Court
The Trump administration has activated a secret 30-year-old court that's never been used. Here's what we know, and why we should (and shouldn't) be worried.
stevevladeck.com
"How do I know if I have a Jack Russell terrier?" "Does he get into trouble you never would have imagined?" "Yes." "That's a Jack Russell, all right."
Jeff, formerly of MN and MA, still God of Cookies@diasporaminnesotan.bsky.social · last mo.He can't not be cute.
