Mark Higgins

Two panels commemorating the contribution of Black American soldiers towards the liberation of the Netherlands in World War Two have been quietly removed from a cemetery in Limburg. It follows a complaint by right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission.

Philip Larkin’s this be the verse mangled into Ozymandias, the text reads They Oz you up, your mandyias. They may not mean to, but they do. They give you vast and trunkless legs A sunken shattered visage too. But they were Ozzed up in their turn By Mandyias upon the sand Who half the time had wrinkled lips And half in sneering cold command. Oz hands on mandyias to man. Like mighty works atop a shelf Look on them early as you can Ye mighty and despair yourself

Masterpiece

Oh god! A spider that’s impossible to squish.

Stanhill, Lancashire, 1764. Wear and carpenter James Hargreaves invents the Spinning Jenny, the first practical spinning-frame, to make the tedious task of producing cloth a little bit faster. He doesn't know it yet, but this will destroy the world. Spurred by inventions like his, the industrial revolution will transform everything -- work power, the wealth of nations. Society as we know it began here, and it wasn't great for everyone. But a group of weavers and textile workers saw this future coming. And did their best to prevent it.

"Curse you spinning jenny, you ruined everything!" The standard narrative does that LUDDITES were foolish lunatics who, in fear of technology, decided progress was bad, and started hitting it with sticks. But the truth is entire ways of life were being destroyed. Previously, skilled craftsmen were respected for the time and effort it took to do their work. The entire family usit would form a cottage industry - creating something valuable, and command a decent living. But when a machine can work 10 times faster its owner can charge less for the prodcts- craftsmen couldn't compete and were left out of work almost overnight. And as factories became a fixture of the british landscape, these now unemployed labourers often ended up working the factories that had just destroyed their way of life. Britain was the most prosperous nation in history, factory owners became extremely wealthy and influential. But the people doing the actual work saw almost none of it.

Factory work paid little, since "the machines" did "the real work" human labourers were deemed unimportant and replaceable. FUN FACT!: Factory owners preferred to hire ORPHANS since less people would notice if they were maimed or killed on the job! Now the owners quickly realized the workers might notice they did all the work for almost no pay. If they went on STRIKE or ARGUED FOR HGHER WAGES, this would threaten their tremendous wealth. In 1799, Parliament passed the Combination Act, which made FORMING TRADE UNIONS, COLLECTIVE BARGAINING, AND GOING ON STRIKE ILLEGAL. Organizing against the rich became a crime.

If you were living through it, opposing the industrial revolution wasn't techno-phobia. It was SELF-DEFENSE. The combination act forced unions underground into secret societies. And the greatest secret of all was their leader - Ned Ludd. Ned had been a folk character for years. In one version after being whipped by his master, he smashed two knitting frames in a rage. In more fanciful versions, he then escaped to the Sherwood forest, here he lived among the animals as their king. Some versions specifically call him 'Much Better Than Robin Hood'.

Happy Labor Day!

Today we're bringing you The First Union, as told by HBomberguy (@hbomberguy.bsky.social) and illustrated by Skutch (@skutchdraws.bsky.social) It's the dawn of the industrial revolution, and of the way many of us work...

Have you ever heard of the term "Luddite" from an elder?

Everyone should play Disco Elysium.

New images could change cancer diagnostics, but ICE detained the Harvard scientist who analyzes them Without scientist Kseniia Petrova’s expertise, no one can fully unlock the data’s potential, putting crucial advancements in early cancer detection at risk.

Almost every line of this story would have been simply unbelievable a few months ago:

—Pioneering cancer researcher;
—*Arrested* at airport in Boston;
—Now indefinite ICE detention in Louisiana;
—"Crime": not declaring some frog-embryo samples for research.

Read it.
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

looking back, AOL had it right. 30 hours of internet per month was the right amount.

Oops! Tried to make a joke and ended up saying something terrible. Time to feel embarrassed about it for the rest of my life.

Inside of you are two wolves:

Possession, You’re next… on second thought no. That’s too many horror films.

And there it is…the only funny thing that’s been posted today.

Now this is the kind of knee jerk policy that I can get behind!

I truly think that TV critics just like EVERYTHING they watch.

That’s why every tv show has like an 85% rating on rotten tomatoes

Me looking at the year ahead

“Proudly puts on my Dumb Fucking Loser cone hat”

Justin Herbert runs like a hungry Great Dane that just heard its owners car pull up

[interrupting opponent during rap battle] Are you mad at me

That’s really good advice actually. Now I have to rethink the ending of my latest screenplay.

Resident evil 4 remake is not a scary game, but in VR it’s terrifying lmao

Are you an American? Do you want to have trouble sleeping tonight? Then read this.

Nice

Damn, you move quick!

The only good thing about Algorithms is they sometimes bury accounts like this.

TV shows take SO LONG to make that every reference to outrage culture feels forced and corny.

Does your name change into something like “Jordan, Breaker of Doubt”?

It’s pretty rare seeing a post that’s both mean AND inspiring.

Thanks for sharing this!

I see where you’re coming from but a lot of really good recent horror movies have scary moments where a person is just unexpectedly naked and it’s always terrifying.

If the guy from your mom’s funeral is suddenly naked in your backyard it’s the biggest possible uh oh that you can imagine.