Helen Sonner

Scanning my feed, my brain keeps seeing SOTU as STFU. Freudian dyslexia.

Chad Rye, "an AI assited fantasy author."

Some days the jokes just write themselves.

The Edward Worth Library, Dublin, is offering two short-term research fellowships of between 1 week and 1 month between Jun and Nov 2026 to encourage research relevant to its collection of c. 4,300 books, left to Dr Steevens’ Hospital by Dublin physician Edward Worth (1676-1733).
#histmed

with alt text, because everyone needs to be able to read this 😭

“You'd think the rain would've cooled things down. All it did was make the heat wet.” I quote this line frequently, during our humid summers here in the tidewater.

YOU ARE NOW ENTERING FREE MINNEAPOLIS painted on a wall in the style of the Free Derry Corner.

This rules. I love how delighted they all look!

Petition to make "I have searched the depths of Legal Arguments not yet articulated or vetted on this subject, and will be presenting an irrefutable one in the very near future" the opening paragraph on every legal brief going forward.

Bronze plaque saying "A Letter to the Future. Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it. August 2019. 415ppm CO2"

TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque:
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".

I was on a bus in the 1980s and the guy sitting next to me said "I'm adopting a wait-and-see policy on the melting of the polar caps." I thought it was hysterical, and I got a lot of laughs in the retelling. It haunts me now to think that this is where we'd be, 4 decades later.

He is consistently ratio'd in replies to this kind of messaging, but @kaine.senate.gov continues to push this idea that it will be Springtime for Trump and America if MAGA was more focused on the economy. Tragic lack of leadership.

the bushes were people 😂

"That long legged fella" is now embedded in my mind. 😂

7/ LD Britt MD

- first Black awarded endowed chair in surgery major American medical school
- former President @facs.org
- @aamc.org Glaser Distinguished Teaching Award, highest teaching award in medicine
- @nbmedical.bsky.social Distinguished Service Award
#BlackHistoryMonth  #BHM

Apparently a key difference between human intelligence and AI is that AI isn't prone to imposter syndrome.

Trump Posts Video Portraying Obamas as Apes

Let’s please resist sharing the racist image posted by the current president of the United States.

And let us remember that we are allies in the fight for justice always, or not at all. We must condemn this, loudly and without equivocation.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/u...

Bless you, and bless Doc and the vets.

Every American needs to watch this:

(IMAGE: A drawing by a 5-year-old detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas with her mother Hayam El-Gamal. “I am 5 years old” is written at the top of the page. Lower down, next to stick figures, are the words “let us go.” You don't have to know your Bible to hear echoes of oppressions throughout history, or to know what side the oppressor is. But those other echoes sure do resonate, too.)

1/x 🧵

ICE has booked at least 3,800 children +

(Drawing by a 5-year-old detained in Texas with her mother. “I am 5 years old” is written at the top. Lower down, next to stick figures, are the words “let us go.” You don't have to know your Bible to hear myriad echoes here, but phew, those too.)

Unfinished.
#LiamRamos

We will miss her. She was so talented and funny.

[Scene is a kitchen - a middle aged woman called JANET is boiling peas at the stove. A younger more colourfully dressed woman named LIZ approached her.] JANET: Ugh... LIZ: What's up? JANET: I am so bored of cooking peas! LIZ: Have you tried... AI peas? JANET: AI peas? LIZ: They're peas with AI! [Liz holds up to us a packet of peas labelled: Pea-i AI - Peas with AI]. LIZ: Al-powered peas harness the potential of your peas JANET: What LIZ [Now a voiceover as we cut to a whizzy technology diagram of peas all connected by meaningless dotted lines] Why not take your peas to the next level with Al Peas' new Al tools to power your peas? [Show a techno diagram of a pea with a label reading 'AI' pointing to a random zone in it] LIZ: Each pea has Al in a way we haven't quite worked out yet but it's fine [Show Janet and Liz now in a Matrix-style world of peas] LIZ: With Al peas you can supercharge productivity and make AI work for your peas! JANET: What LIZ: Shut up LIZ: Our game-changing Pea-Al gives you the freedom to unlock the potential of the power of the future of your peas workflow From opening the bag of peas to boiling the peas to eating the peas To spending millions on adding Al to the peas and then having to work out what that even means. JANET: Is it really necessary to- LIZ [Grabbing Janet by the collar]: THE PEAS HAVE GOT AI, JANET [Cut to an advert ending screen, with the bag of peas and the slogan: AI PEAS: Just 'Peas' for god's sake buy the AI peas. [Ends]

Every ad now

Thank you!

The scenes in the library ❤️

The Remarkable Story of Margaret Barry A link to an audio visual radio documentaruy I just made for DundalkFM, my local community radio station. Hope you enjoy;

New discussion: The Remarkable Story of Margaret Barry

Yes: Keep building your messaging on the Democrats' commitment to bipartisanship, as if our Constitution and constitutional rights are not being destroyed by the Republicans you want to pretend are colleagues. Do you really think this will bring voters from the right to your column? Pitiful.

The poem's inherent ambivalence about life and death, love and seduction, humankind and nature resonates so deeply, no matter how often I replay this, and Gaughan's performance is sublime.

YouTube video by 76AMD Dick Gaughan - Now Westlin Winds

My personal #BurnsNight tradition always includes basking in the glory of Dick Gaughan's rendition of Composed in August aka Westlin Winds. youtu.be/vZ7oYCx6tBw?...

Wee, Sleeket The shrinking poetry of the Burns stanza, from Wordsworth to Heaney

For Burns Night, some thoughts on the later uses of his distinctive stanza form — or ‘standard Habbie’ — from Wordsworth to Heaney

Whittier, Minneapolis vibe check

Photos of Alex Pretti with Sara’s caption: On August 16th at approximately 10:00 pm I received a call from the ICU at the VA saying my Dad had sepsis and needed to be intubated to stay alive so Josh and I headed in. We were greeted by the kindest, most calming and warm soul who helped us understand what was happening and showed deep care for us and my Dad. He continued to show utmost patience and kindness over the next few days as my Dad remained in the ICU and we were there continually. It was Alex Pretti, the man shot today by ICE. If you see this video and don't think it's murder, I don't understand your thinking and ask you to question your heart. He was out there trying to help and protect and from the little we knew of him, it doesn't surprise me he was not afraid to be on the front lines of this horrible scene in our Minneapolis. Weeping for his family and all those at the VA who no longer get to work with him or receive his care.

My friend Sara posted this about the superb care her father received from with Alex Pretti

Absolutely heartbreaking