Lurig Drama Cushendall

Here’s Dean with a much better thought-out take than the one I’ve offered this morning:

Booking now for this symposium on 25 April, featuring @kevinkosullivan.bsky.social @mwait13.bsky.social @tortietabby.bsky.social @brian-hanley.bsky.social and others working on Ireland in the 1970s beyond. Hoping for some interesting discussion! @iaphistorians.bsky.social @whaireland.bsky.social

Penguin heading towards certain death.

[Werner Herzog voice] Faced with 50% tariffs, the penguin walks off into the interior of the vast continent. With 5,000 kilometers ahead of him, he's heading towards certain death.

My son won one of those nearly impossible to win prizes from a throwing game on Brighton Pier. The fucking thing is massive, ugly, impossible to store anywhere and it scares the shit out of the dog.

GETTING THE FRONT SEAT UPSTAIRS ON A DOUBLE DECKER BUS HIGH EXCITEMENT CHILD AND ADULT

Via No Context Brits

After getting some rest, I am in awe of everyone who continues to lift their voice and speak out. This is a moment for our country, and we must make a choice about the America we want to be.

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 151:
You don't need to describe characters in detail as soon as you introduce them. We don't tend to notice things all at once: we notice one or two main features first, then maybe add details later. Your characters can do the same. Let them learn as they go along.

The richest man in the world spent more money than most of us will see in our lifetimes to lose a state Supreme Court race by 10 points.

And the fact his $25 million was a drop in the bucket compared to what he's spent on other elections is exactly why we must overturn Citizens United.

Corey Booker is right. At some point someone is going to have to do something or we lose it all.

Guardian headline which reads: Israel killed 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers one by one, says UN Workers on a mission to help colleagues were buried in mass grave in southern Gaza, says humanitarian office

Five ambulances, a fire truck and a UN vehicle were struck one by one.

The bodies of the first responders were then ditched in a mass grave.

A war crime. Without anything close to the appropriate level of global outrage.

Readers of Totally Chaotic History: Ancient Egypt Gets Unruly are guided through a number of topics organised chronologically, with a very helpful timeline My eldest was particularly taken with the account of the Battle of Kadesh and the propagandist nature of the surviving evidence, which I have been regularly questioned on since. The range of formats throughout the book, including speeches and conversations, how-to guides, and historian battles, interspersed with brilliant illustrations by Rikin Parekh, keep the reader engaged throughout. The format of each of the Totally Chaotic History series was very popular with both of my children (aged 8 and Il). The expert 'interruptions'—in this case by EES Chair Dr Campbell Price—to the narrative provided by Greg Jenner is a particularly engaging way of addressing some of the popular misconceptions surrounding ancient Egyptian history. This has really helped when discussing the importance of questioning resources and 'fake news* with both of my children. The accuracy alarm was a particular favourite with our Family! The inclusion of discussions relating to the discovery of the Rosetta stone and the tomb of Tutankhamun also provide the young reader with an introduction to the colonial implications of these discoveries, again something often overlooked in children's books. In summary, this book is a brilliant introduction for Key Stage 2 and above. The fast paced informal and well laid out structure manages to cram in a lot of information in a fun and entertaining way. The tone and target age are similar to that of the popular Horrible Histories series, but the addition of the more critical approach to the evidence available has been really useful for my children —as a result, they now bring me any history book they receive to check who the author is and whether it's a reliable source — SAM POWELL, JACK AGED II, AND MAX AGED

Aww!! ☺️ This is such a lovely review of Totally Chaotic History: Ancient Egypt Gets Unruly, which I cowrote with Egyptologist Dr Campbell Price and illustrator @rikinparekh.bsky.social

So nice to see kids & adults reviewing a book together!

Real whiplash watching the Trump message go from “we’ll fix everything on day one” to “suck it up buttercup, this is gonna hurt.”

Credit where it's due, Booker is actually disrupting things the longer this goes.

JD Vance should be forced to resign over this. Just shameful, demonstrable open lying by the vice president right out in the open.

I have a joke about nature writing, but first let me take you down the rutted track, past the bramble hedge, to a place on the edge of something, a liminal locus where, one drab day far gone, I found not just the wren, the brimstone, the cerulean float of forget-me-not, but a version of myself.

18 hours and 45 minutes in, and Cory Booker is still going strong! 🔥

Congratulations Senator Booker!

Almost 19 hours in and he’s still speaking more coherently than any president since 2016

Today in 1924 Hitler was sentenced to a pathetic 5 yrs for trying to overthrow the government.

He served 9 months. There might be a lesson here somewhere about being tough on people who assault democratic governance.

putting a bunch of rich assholes on the boards of every major nonprofit institution was perhaps, with hindsight, a mistake

Fishtopher, a classic brown tabby cat with green eyes. He is sitting on an ottoman and looking out and above the camera. He looks alert and comfortable.

poisson d'avril!! april fools!

Not being allowed to hand water to people in line to vote no matter who they are voting for, while being allowed to hand people million dollar checks to get their vote, is the most American thing ever.

Hwæt! We have hearde of the deedes
Yn dayes gone by of Mrs. Dalloway

Liberté, Egalité, Fuckaroundité and Findoutité.

'Tidal Bore': I wrote about memory, place, and architecture for The Dublin Review @thedublinreview.bsky.social.

How far we've come in 69 days:
-Huge swaths of government illegally shut down
-President is refusing to promise to leave office
-Growing impunity for regime allies, targeted prosecutions at opponents
-Regime using funding and legal threats to subvert universities and law firms
-Corruption endemic

There is absolutely zero advantage to a generalized policy of devolving public services to the private market. Absolutely zero.

It results in shittier, less reliable, less geographically equitable, less democratically accountable, and more expensive services.

I’m so jealous of Tim Walz right now. I can’t imagine how good it must feel to have Elon Musk go on TV and say that you - specifically - hurt his feelings so bad.