Martin Lake

Remembering the late KAREN CARPENTER — born 76yrs ago today.

He NEVER went up his own ass, NEVER.
And for a global superstar out of Hollywood this is a rare rare thing.

From Carpenter to icon.
A credit to my profession.
Love the guy.

A visibly moved HARRISON FORD accepting his AFI Life Achievement Award last night in Los Angeles.

I finished editing my fifth book last night!

INTO THE WORDS is my not-terribly-barbaric yawp about the words English uses to describe the natural world, and all the ways we have invented (and in some cases violently taken) them.

Arriving October 2026.

NASA targeting March 6 to launch astronauts, including Canada's Jeremy Hansen, to the moon | CBC News NASA is ready to go to the moon. The space agency conducted a successful rehearsal of launch events for the upcoming Artemis II moon mission that will include Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Ha...

www.cbc.ca/news/science...

I feel this should be a much bigger deal

Have a listen to BOB DYLAN be unbelievably honest about how you can create ‘magic’ at some point(s) in your life, but not all the time, or even ever again.

Could aliens in another galaxy see dinosaurs on Earth? How big would a telescope need to be to see Earth’s dinosaurs from 66 million light-years away? Think big—and then think bigger

You know what? Sure, I'll say yes. It also explains why aliens don't come here. Either they'd be afraid of the giant lizard monsters, or they're disappointed the dinos are gone.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/coul...

Margaret Bourke-White, takes a photo from one of the eagles on the 61st floor of the CHRYSLER BUILDING - NEW YORK in 1934.

Was Noah the one who sailed on the Arc de Triomphe?

Photo of an Ancient Egyptian artists’s small, naturalistic painting of a standing hippopotamus on a flake of white limestone, dated c. 1479–1425. The hippo is painted in profile with head lowered and to the right. The body is outlined with black paint and painted brown. The belly, eyes, and ears are painted red. Although the ancient Egyptians were well aware of the danger and destructive power of hippos, this painted hippo has rather a friendly face! Dimensions: H. 10.8 cm (4 1/4 in); W. 12 cm (4 3/4 in); Th. 1.7 cm (11/16 in) Egyptian artists made practice sketches on flakes of limestone, sometimes for use as templates when transferring an image to the wall of a tomb or a temple. Limestone flakes were readily available because of the constant construction of temples and rock-cut tombs. A number of such sketches were recovered at Deir el-Bahri during the 1922-23 MMA excavations. This painting was acquired by the museum in the division of finds.

Happy #WorldHippoDay! 🦛❤️

To celebrate here’s a lovely naturalistic painting of a hippo on a small flake of limestone. Painted by an Egyptian artist some 3,500 years ago!

📷 The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

#Archaeology

56 Candles 🎂 today for the hugely talented SIMON PEGG.

YouTube video by MTV News David Bowie Criticizes MTV for Not Playing Videos by Black Artists | MTV News

🍵🫖

Remembering CHARLES M. SCHULZ — who left us 26yrs ago today, aged 77.

An incredible photograph of Dickensian London taken in 1865 - the year Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, Lewis Carroll's Alice made her first trip to Wonderland and a mere 22yrs after “A Christmas Carol” was published.

a meme — the top says “My dog just got a haircut and now he looks like he gave up drinking and got his life together” and underneath are 2 photos of a dog (a schnauzer i think?). on the left, the “before,” he’s scruffy and in need of a haircut and a bath. and on the right, the “after,” he’s clean and clipped and wearing a jaunty red bow tie and looking very dapper indeed.

i don’t know if it’s the jaunty bow tie or what but i cannot stop laughing at this

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue

My wife and I went to one of his talks. It was fascinating.

Singing in the clouds.

Met Museum photo of an Ancient Egyptian artist’s painting of a swallow on a flake of limestone, dated to the New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, c. 1479-1458 BC. The sparrow stands in profile with head to the right. It is delicately painted with a pinkish body. The outline and details are highlighted in a reddish/brown pigment. Its legs, eye, and beak are painted black. Limestone flake dimensions Height 6.6 cm x Width 10.6 cm. This may have been a practice drawing of the sparrow hieroglyph which was used for words meaning ‘small’, ‘poor’, or ‘bad’. Egyptian artisans who decorated tombs and temples made practice sketches on flakes of limestone which are known by egyptologists as ostraca (singular: ostracon). Sometimes the drawings were used as a template when transferring an image to the wall of a tomb or a temple. Limestone flakes were readily available for this purpose as by-products of the construction of temples and rock-cut tombs. A number of ostraca were recovered at Deir el-Bahri during the 1922-23 MMA excavations.

Artists have always loved to sketch!

Sketch of a sparrow from Egypt dated c. 1479–1458 BC.

Some 3,500 years ago in Egypt, artists used flakes of limestone as sketchpads!

MMA excavations 1922-23, Deir el-Bahri. 📷 The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

#Archaeology

I'm not above shaming someone for a 400-year-old typo.
The editor of the English edition of Mercator's first "Atlas" really should have picked this one up.

I know there’s A Lot going on today but I would really appreciate some more visibility on this innocent Black man being assaulted by the fucking gestapo

Something special arrived today!

Useless Etymology will head out into the larger world on October 7th, but in the meantime here’s a little unbox and a reflection on its reason for being.

NEWS: The Trump regime has arrested Don Lemon in its latest crackdown on journalism after he reported from inside a church protest in Minnesota—despite a magistrate judge previously rejecting the case against him as unsupported by evidence.

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE talking in 1929 about what inspired him to write the Sherlock Holmes stories.

YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara: "People have had enough. This is the third shooting in less than 3 weeks. The MPD went the entire year last year recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds of violent offenders, and we didn't shoot anyone ... this is not sustainable."

I'd love to be included.

The great PAUL ROBESON - Singer, Actor, Star, Lawyer, Social Activist, Athlete - died 50yrs ago today, aged 77.

My photo shows a small horse statuette in a museum display case. The horse, viewed in profile, was masterfully carved from mammoth ivory around 15,000 years ago. The sculptor has depicted many realistic details such as the eyes, nostrils, and ears flattened against the head. The coat is represented by finely incised lines and dots. The mane is sculpted in relief, with incised lines on both sides. The four legs and tail are incomplete. The surface of the ivory has a shiny brown patina. Dimensions: Length 7.3 cm x Height 3.5 cm. The statuette is known as ‘The Little Horse of Lourdes’. It was discovered in 1886 in a rock fissure in the Espélugues cave, Lourdes, Haute-Pyrénées, France. Part of the collections at the Musée d'Archéologie Nationale, Domaine national de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

Ice Age art!

A lovely little horse figurine sculpted from mammoth tusk around 15,000 years ago!

Known as ‘The Little Horse of Lourdes’ it was found in 1886 in the cave of Les Espélugues, Lourdes, Haute-Pyrénées, France. 📷 by me.

#Archaeology