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1. 

   Editor @[email protected] · 2026-03-02 · 12:20 UTC

   Flats, aquarium and lido: Swansea’s Civic Centre plans move closer as cabinet gives green light

   Swansea Council’s cabinet has approved further work to develop the detail of a planning application for the seafront building, which is expected to be submitted later this year.

   The council’s regeneration partners Urban Splash are leading the project. Their proposals — which drew large crowds when they went on public display in January — would see the ground and lower ground floors converted into 15 commercial units including cafes, bars and shops, with around 140 apartments on the upper floors.

   The plans also include a new aquarium and a saltwater lido on the site, which sits on the seafront between the Swansea Arena and the bay.

   Council leader Rob Stewart said the Civic Centre “sits on one of the most spectacular waterfront sites in the UK” and that he wanted to see it become “a vibrant destination with new homes, independent businesses, leisure and community spaces that will benefit local people while attracting more visitors to Swansea.”

   He added that the building’s redevelopment was “the first phase of a bigger vision for the overall Civic Centre site, which — once delivered — will further strengthen Swansea’s reputation as a leading waterfront destination.”

   Artist’s impression of the proposed City Waterfront district, showing the repurposed Civic Centre building and new seafront public spaces.
   (Image: Urban Splash)

   Urban Splash development director David Warburton said the company saw “enormous potential” in the site.

   He said:

   “It’s an extraordinary building in an unrivalled waterfront location, and we see enormous potential to create a place that people will want to live in, visit and spend time in.

   “Our ambition is to sensitively repurpose the building, delivering high-quality homes alongside dynamic spaces for independent businesses, hospitality, leisure and community uses — creating activity throughout the day and into the evening.”

   The building has been largely empty since council services were moved out to the new Y Storfa hub on Oxford Street, which opened in December. The former BHS building now houses the central library, the contact centre, revenues and benefits, and the West Glamorgan Archive Service — all of which had previously been based at the Civic Centre.

   Y Storfa attracted thousands of visitors in its opening weeks, with the council describing the new hub as “busy every day” since its doors opened.

   The Civic Centre redevelopment is the first phase of a wider masterplan for the seafront site. It forms part of the council’s broader ‘Future Swansea’ vision for the city centre and waterfront, a draft document published last month that sets out how the council wants the area to develop over the next eight to ten years.

   Urban Splash is also behind plans for a new riverside neighbourhood in St Thomas, which would include more than 150 homes. The company specialises in the regeneration of historic and complex buildings across the UK.

   A planning application for the Civic Centre is expected to be submitted in the coming months, after which it will be considered by the council’s planning committee.

   #CivicCentre #civicCentreRedevelopment #featured #Swansea #SwanseaCouncil #UrbanSplash

   #civiccentre #civiccentreredevelopment #swansea #swanseacouncil #urbansplash #featured
2. 

   Editor @[email protected] · 2026-02-04 · 09:43 UTC

   Crowds flock for first look at dramatic Civic Centre makeover plans

   Residents packed into the Y Storfa community hub last week as Swansea Council and regeneration firm Urban Splash unveiled early ideas for one of the most high‑profile redevelopment sites in Wales.

   The proposals — still at an early stage — include new cafés and bars overlooking the bay, beach‑sports shops, apartments, workspaces, a dedicated events venue, and even a brand‑new aquarium on the waterfront.

   It’s the boldest vision yet for the huge seafront plot, which the council says could become a “once‑in‑a‑generation” destination for locals and visitors.

   An artist’s impression showing how part of the redeveloped Civic Centre site could look, with new cafés, bars, leisure spaces and a busy seafront promenade.
   (Image: Urban Splash / Swansea Council)

   First Minister drops in for a look

   Among those getting an early peek was First Minister Eluned Morgan, who visited Y Storfa during the two‑day exhibition. The hub itself is part‑funded by the Welsh Government’s Transforming Towns programme.

   For anyone who missed the event, the full proposals — along with a feedback form — are now available online, with more public engagement promised in the months ahead.

   “Shaping something special for Swansea”

   Urban Splash, the award‑winning regeneration specialists appointed to deliver the 20‑year partnership across seven Swansea sites, said the turnout showed just how much appetite there is for change.

   Development director David Warburton said the response had been “fantastic”.

   “We’re at the very start of shaping something special for the Civic Centre site,” he said. “Local insight is invaluable, and there’ll be plenty more opportunities for people to have their say.”

   A visual of the proposed Civic Centre plaza, featuring new public spaces, landscaping and a landmark aquarium building.
   (Image: Urban Splash / Swansea Council)

   Council: “People care deeply about this site”

   Council leader Cllr Rob Stewart said the early reaction proved how important the location is to Swansea residents.

   “This is a landmark site and people care deeply about its future,” he said. “Working with Urban Splash gives us a once‑in‑a‑generation chance to reimagine the Civic Centre as a vibrant destination for residents, businesses and visitors.”

   He added that the council is committed to keeping local people “at the heart of the project”.

   Residents study detailed plans for Swansea’s City Waterfront project during the Civic Centre public engagement event.
   (Image: Swansea Council)

   Part of a wider city shake‑up

   The Civic Centre revamp is just one of several major schemes being brought forward under the Urban Splash partnership.

   Last autumn, the company revealed plans for a seven‑acre riverside neighbourhood in St Thomas, including more than 150 homes — half of them affordable — a landmark six‑storey building, shared gardens, improved river walkways and new space for shops, cafés and leisure.

   The Civic Centre proposals are expected to evolve over the coming months as more public feedback is gathered.

   Related stories from Swansea Bay News

   Public invited to give views on new Civic Centre plans as fresh artist’s impression released
   Early visuals revealed as residents asked to help shape the future of the seafront site.

   New artist’s impression reveals dramatic transformation planned for Swansea’s Civic Centre site
   A bold new vision shows how the waterfront could be turned into a major destination.

   Plans unveiled for 150‑home riverside neighbourhood in St Thomas
   Urban Splash outlines proposals for a new community with homes, green spaces and riverside walkways.

   #Aquarium #CivicCentre #civicCentreRedevelopment #ElunedMorganMS #Swansea #SwanseaCouncil #UrbanSplash #YStorfa

   #aquarium #civiccentre #civiccentreredevelopment #elunedmorganms #swansea #swanseacouncil
3. 

   Marie Belanger @[email protected] · 2023-08-13 · 21:34 UTC

   Today's Thing of Beauty: Talbot Street after a summer rain. #StThomas #Ontario #Canada #ElginCounty This street named after Colonel Thomas Talbot, who in early 19th century "managed" settlement of southwestern Ontario from #Amherstburg to #Delhi. Until he was removed by the #Crown. St. Thomas has a legacy of #railways and in the 19th and early 20th centuries served as a critical commercial hub.

   #railways #crown #delhi #amherstburg #elgincounty #canada
4. 

   Ahimsa @[email protected] · 2024-05-14 · 21:58 UTC

   "Westminster dog show has its first mixed-breed agility winner, and her name is Nimble" 😍

   Gift link
   https://wapo.st/4bvhb4U

   "A mixed-breed dog has won the Westminster Kennel Club dog show’s agility prize for the first time…

   Just about a foot (30.5 cm) tall, Nimble powered through an obstacle course of jumps, tunnels, ramps and other features like a furry, black-and-white, well-targeted torpedo to cheers from the crowd in the agility finals."

   #Dogs #DogShow #Westminster #Agility #GiftArticle

   #dogs #dogshow #westminster #agility #giftarticle
5. 

   Andy Arthur - Threadinburgh @[email protected] · 2023-08-21 · 00:19 UTC

   Lady Dynamos: the thread about Edinburgh’s trailblazing women’s football team denied a sporting chance by the authorities

   In April 1948, when the Edinburgh Lady Dynamos football team requested permission to play a charitable football match against an English select side at the New Meadowbank sports ground, they were denied permission by the City Corporation’s “General Purposes Committee”. When they had been allowed to play there in 1946, 17,000 spectators had turned out to watch a 2-2 draw.

   Edinburgh Lady Dynamos football team, late 1940s. CC-by-SA-NC 0084-003, via Edinburgh Collected.
   Back row L-R is ex-Councillor Esta Henry (Club President), Kitty Russell, Betty Rae, Agnes Whitelaw, Theresa Mulvie, goalkeeper Jessie Baillie, Nan Laurie, Babs McWhinney and Walter Caesar.
   Front row L-R is Eleanor Wilson, Betty Davidson (?), Linda Clements, Mary Leslie, Bet Adamson.

   Councillor for Pilton, Magnus Williamson, gave a lukewarm approval “I am not an advocate of women’s football. I don’t like it, but women apparently want to play football and we have a responsibility to see women get a share of the available facilities“. He told the committee he had consulted a doctor on the matter to see “if football does women any harm.” He was “assured it does not, if indulged in moderately“. Councillor Bruce Turnbull, Morningside, simply dismissed the very idea of women playing football as “pure entertainment“; I mean imagine football being entertaining! In 1939, as chair of the Corporation’s Parks Sub-Committee, the same Councillor Turnbull moved approval of a motion to remove a subsidised rate for women to play tennis (a rate to encourage them into the game and that acknowledged their lesser financial position) saying they “required no encouragement at all” to play and were “rather proud of themselves” when they did. The only woman on the committee, Cllr. Mrs Ross, protested for the record that if “women have to pay the same as men, I would like to see them treated as equals” and excluded herself. The rest of the committee – the men – carried it 5-2, with only Labour Councillors Jack Kane and John Welch against.)

   Back at the vote in 1948 Deputy Superintendent of Parks, Mr A. T. Harrison, explained that Mr George Graham, Scottish Football Association Secretary, had told them “all grounds that allowed women’s football would be banned” from hosting men’s football. The committee voted 8-4 against the Dynamos lest they lose the men’s game from Meadowbank – which Leith Athletic called home – and the income its lease brought in. Instead the women’s side were relegated to the decrepit Woods Park in Portobello, not a ground that could host the tends of thousands of fans they had proved capable of attracting. Esta Henry, the club president, addressed the crowd at Wood’s Park and alleged “there were no sportsmen in Edinburgh Town Council“, that “only three or four members of the Corporation knew anything about sport” and thought it was very unfair that women could not use a ground provided for by the ratepayers.

   The Dynamos were formed in late 1945 by Mary Leslie and Lynda Clements of Leith, who decided to resuscitate a pre-war team, the Edinburgh City Girls, who had been runaway Scottish Champions (winning 19/21 games in 1937) and had toured England in the late 1930s. The City Girls had played to crowds of 30,000 and regularly thumped their opposition 7, 8 or 9 nil. Here they are, in hoops, mixed with their opposition Lothian Girls at Ettrick Park, Selkirk. Unfortunately the names are not recorded, but Leslie and Clements were in the squad.

   Edinburgh City Girls, in the hooped kit, and Lothian Girls at Ettrick Park, Selkirk before a game. Perhaps there was some jersey swapping, as Mary Leslie appears to be in the middle row, 5th from the left, holding the ball in a dark top. Southern Reporter – Thursday 11 May 1939

   On June 17th 1939, at St. Bernard’s Park in Edinburgh, the City Girls won 5-2 infront of a crowd of 10,000 in an “International” charity match against Preston Ladies; Linda Clements scored 2 goals that day. They lost a follow-up return leg 3-0, to tie the account. The following month, the City Girls briefly became “international champions” after a mini-tournament of the 8 other womens League teams in Britain, thrashing Glasgow Ladies 7-0 at Carmuirs in Falkirk on July 6th – Linda Clements scoring a hat trick.

   Mary Leslie, right, shaking hands with the Preston Ladies captain Margaret Thornborough before a friendly Scotland vs. England “international game” at Cleveland Park in Middlesborough in July 1939. This was held as a charitable game to raise funds for the North Riding Infirmary and the North Ormesby Hospital.
   Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough – 12th July 1939

   Leslie and Clements had been inspired by the visit of Dynamo Moscow to the UK in late 1945, where the Russian team played Cardiff (thumping them 1-10), Chelsea (drew 3-3), Rangers (drew 2-2) and Arsenal (won 2-3) and took the name of the visiting side for their own. For their club president they attracted the formidable figure of Esta Henry, a well-known face in the Old Town, an eccentric and determined antiques dealer who had served as Parish and Town Councillor and had an insatiable appetite for getting involved in anything involving women, youth and organised events. Esta put her money where her mouth was too, she probably paid for the club kit and she provided the Esta Henry Trophy for the women’s competition. The Lady Dynamos had much success in the Scottish scene. When a national squad was put together for an international with England in 1948, they contributed 6 of the starting 11. That game, played at a rugby ground, was abandoned in a thunderstorm when Scotland were 5-0 down.

   Edinburgh Lady Dynamos, 1946 at New Meadowbank for the first edition of the “Esta Henry Trophy” against Bolton before a 6-2 defeat. Thank you to Stuart Gibbs for assistance with this caption.
   L-R, Betty Rae, N. Wilson, Eleanor Wilson, Kitty Russell, Jenny Nimmo, Babs McWhinney, Nan Nimmo, Agnes Whitelaw, Betty Davidson (Adamson), Mary Leslie, Linda Clements.
   CC-by-SA-NC 0084-003, via Edinburgh Collected.

   In 1946, the Dynamos played Bolton Ladies at New Meadowbank for the Esta Henry Trophy, slumping to a 6-2 defeat at “home”, although they were able to hold the opposition to a 2-2 draw on the return leg in July 1947 at Bromwich. It was the 1948 return by Bolton to Edinburgh that caused controversy when they hoped to play it again at New Meadowbank. Dynamos manager Peter Farrell told the Dalkeith Advertiser he was determined they would be a match for Bolton Ladies – the best side in England – and if the latter were Arsenal then they would be Rangers. In a warm-up for the banned game with Bolton, the Dynamos played Newtongrange Bluebell – a men’s junior side – in front of a crowd of 1,500 at Victoria Park in Nitten. The rain-soaked match ended 3-3 after goals by Mary Leslie, Eleanor Wilson and a late equalising penalty by Linda Clements. When Wilson was in a position to score, her team mate yelled “Right, Eleanor! In wi’ it, hen!“, which she obligingly did.

   The Dynamos in November 1946, photographed at Salford Rugby Club where they were to play Bolton Women in a charitable match to raise funds for the Salford floor relief.
   Back Row L-R is Esta Henry (President), Betty Rae, Kitty Russell, Nan Nimmo, Babs McWhinney, N. Wilson, Peter Farrell (manager).
   Front Row L-R is Jenny Nimmo, Agnes Whitelaw, Lynda Clements (captain), Betty Davidson, Mary Leslie, Eleanor Wilson.

   “Dynamo are hardy lasses and they love the game as much as most men” declared the Advertiser’s Albert McKay in a frequently patronising and sexist review of the match – which he opened with”for years I have waited to see a girl who could get her hair wet without complaint“. But McKay at least gives us some details of the squad. There was “no brighter star than centre forward Mary Leslie”. 13 year old schoolgirl Betty Davidson “a sturdy little girl with a shock of red hair” was compared with Scotland and Arsenal legend Alec James. Grace Livingston, 16, from Tranent was in goal for Dynamo. Other players included sheet metal workers Nan Wilson from Gorgie and Babs McWhinnie from Prestonpans; Kay Dunoon, a clerk from Granton; Typists Betty Rae and Effy Gray; Factory workers Linda Clements and Mary Leslie. The team was completed by schoolgirl Eleanor Wilson, 14, and Agnes Whitelaw from Dalkeith who worked for the Dobbies nursery. The side were coached by Etta Moffat and her brother Jock.

   Dynamo in a kit which matches a photo taken of them in 1946.
   Back row L-R, Mary Leslie, unknown, Nan Laurie, Kitty Russell, Betty Rae, unknown, unknown, Walter Caesar.
   Front row L-R, Eleanor Wilson, unknown, Linda Clements, Bet Adamson, unknown
   CC-by-SA-NC 0084-003, via Edinburgh Collected.

   The banned match was eventually played in the run-down Woods Park outside Portobello, a game which Bolton won 2-1. The Dynamos played on into the early 1950s but couldn’t persist against the official refusal to recognise them (an official “ban” which lasted in Scotland until 1974), the dwindling lack of interest shown to them and their game, and the ability to access proper facilities, match officials etc.

   The driving force behind and within the Dynamos was the pair of Mary Leslie and Linda Clements. Clements has been described as one half of “two of the best Scottish players of the inter-war period” (Nancy Thomson was the other). Before the Dynamos and WW2, she played alongside Leslie for Edinburgh City Girls. Lydia, as she was Christened, was born in Rutherglen in 1918 to a coal mining family. By age 12 she was playing with a girl’s team in her native Rutherglen (often against men’s teams). Aged just 19, she left behind her family, her boyfriend and job as a curtainmaker to play professionally for the Darlington Quaker Girls, the team of Lillie Galloway. As such she is unique to be the only Scottish women’s player to transfer to England (and back again) pre-war. Clements was in a Quaker Girls team that thumped Edinburgh City Girls before Clements joined the latter.

   Lydia – as she was then known – Clements, aged 19, on signing for Darlington Quaker Girls in 1937

   Her move was short-lived however as in April 1938 the Quaker Girls folded when too many of the team left to get married. Returning to Scotland and starting with the City Girls, Clements instantly improved that team’s fortunes. It was only after her spells with that team, the intervention of the War, and then the re-formed Lady Dynamos that Linda let marriage get in the way of football, marrying in 1968 aged 50. She passed away in Edinburgh in 1996, aged 78. Mary Leslie (neé Millan) was born in 1912 in North Leith, married in Leith in 1934 and passed away in Edinburgh in 1992 aged 80. If you know anything further about either woman, please do contact me.

   The team name was revived in the late 1960s and they were a founder member of the Women’s SFA in 1970. They won the Scottish Women’s Cup in 1972 and again in ’74, ’75, ’78 and the League in ’77. In 1975 the Dynamos earned themselves a place in the Guinness Book of Records by notching up an incredible 42-0 victory of poor Lochend Thistle. This record has never been beaten in Scottish football (men’s or women’s) or in the non-junior English game. Dynamo‘s central defender, Sheila Begbie, would captain the Scottish Women’s national team in its first international against England. She earned 25 international caps, scored against Italy in the San Siro stadium and would spend 14 years with the SFA in management positions, becoming its head of women’s football, before making a switch to the oval ball and becoming head of SRU’s women’s rugby in 2014, later director of rugby development, before retiring in 2021.

   Thank you to Stuart Gibbs for his assistance in correcting the caption on some of the photos and on identifying which game was played at which date, for which purposes!

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   #Lochend #Logan #Restalrig #StMargaret

   #edinburgh #football #leisure #sport #women #womensfootball
6. 

   ♾️🇺🇦 Skykiss will Vote @[email protected] · 2026-05-16 · 01:41 UTC

   So let's get this straight Clarence Thomas went to Russia, in secret, with Harlan Crow. The trip included helicopter ride to a palace in St. Petersburg. This is the first known yacht trip. Let's examine implications

   First, a rich American with a #SCOTUS justice doesn't just show up unannounced, fly a helicopter into St. Petersburg. That shit requires advanced notice and clearance at the HIGHEST LEVEL, so at minimum Putin and the Kremlin spy and kompromat operatives knew about this.

   The Kremlin would also know that Thomas failed to disclose the trip on mandatory reports - so they knew in 2003 that Thomas could be bribed & was willing to lie to the US government. They knew in 2003 they had leverage over Clarence.

   I also find it impossible that US intelligence services did not also know about this in real time. George Bush & George waterboard Tenet CIA DIR must have known Thomas was in Russia on a bribe junket. They kept his secret, too. Russia knew it had leverage there, too.

   https://www.newsweek.com/clarence-thomas-yacht-trip-russia-raises-questions-1923668

   #news

   #scotus #news
7. 

   bok @[email protected] · 2025-12-22 · 23:16 UTC

   #Reading in Week Fifty-One of 2025 | Dec 15–21 | ~2000 words | ~11,400 characters | Tag to mute: #BokBooks |
   ━━━━━━━━━━

   ●●◐○○ Forty Shades of Green - Ted Bun (ss) 2018
   A brief story where Rags, a naturist policeman Bun does a series about, helps friends of his, a newly-retired couple, decide what house they're looking at in Ireland could best be fitted up for nudist activities to host a few couples when weather is nice.

   ●●○○○ The Field Journal of Dr. Franklin Nod - Michael Shotter (ss) 2020
   A scientist makes a discovery vital to national security, gets himself locked up in a Colorado lab. On his monthly outings he falls for a waitress at a nearby diner, and unbeknownst to his warders, gets her pregnant, which gets her installed at a cottage outside the base in the mountain.

   He's not there for his son or wife, and eventually the latter dies in a car accident. The scientist makes another discovery, which accidentally sends him to a parallel timeline, where he meets the analog of the waitress and gets her pregnant. As in another story in this Shotter collection, the scientist ends up allergic to his new timeline and dies. The retired owner of the diner reads his journal and disposes of his body, noting that no one who met the scientist ended up better.

   ●●●●○ Future of Another Timeline - Annalee Newitz (nov) 2019
   In a timeline similar to our own (excepting that Harriet Tubman was a senator), five ancient time machines are known. They date back over 400 million years, and are a property of the bedrock in a handful of places. Despite having been known for thousands of years, this world's history is largely the same as ours, which seems unlikely.

   The main thrust of the story is Tess of the Daughters of Harriet being a time traveler trying to alter history for the better, primarily to give women and non-whites more rights, and to give women reproductive freedom, since abortion is largely illegal in her USA. Tess is mostly focused on fighting Anthony Comstock in 1893 at the Chicago World's Fair and thereafter, when the anti-vice and anti-birth-control zealot got the powers that resulted in the Comstock Act, which made it illegal to ship information about birth control or abortion in the mail.

   Standing against Tess are several Comstockers, men from a divergent future where women have zero rights, and have even been bred for service. They're trying to lock in their future, and are prepared to destroy the time machines when events have been edited more in their favor.

   A secondary focus of the novel is Beth, a teenager in 1992 Irvine, California, who likes punk music, has problems with her parents, and has a couple of dangerous friends. Tess tries several times to alter events so that Beth's life doesn't turn so sour she commits suicide.

   I don't really buy the setting. We're told that most people think changing history is hard. Then we're told that there are rules against it, and that people do it on the QT. We're told there's only one ever-mutable timeline, but we also talk about "strongly divergent" timelines. We're told you can't bring anything beyond your clothing with you, but then are shown people doing so. (And even if it's just clothing, what prevents you from having all kinds of knowledge printed on your clothing?) There are contradictions up and down the scale, but the story makes it clear we're mostly meant to focus on people-level stuff and try to ignore all that.

   ●●●○○ Death in the Dentist's Chair {Dr. Constantine 02} - Molly Thynne (nov) 1932
   Jewel-bedecked Mrs. Miller was left in the dentist's chair while dental surgeon Davenport¹ took her dentures downstairs to the lab for adjustment. When he got back ten minutes later, the door to the consulting room was locked, and Mrs. Miller didn't answer.

   When Davenport's assistant unscrewed the door handle, Dr. Constantine² was with them, having left the waiting room to investigate the noise and the delay in his appointment. He was the first into the consulting room, and the first to see that Mrs. Miller's throat had been slit. It's later revealed that her expensive diamond necklace was stolen, but her almost-as-costly earrings and bracelets and rings were left behind.

   With Dr. Constantine in the waiting room had been Sir Richard (whom Constantine later learns was in deep financial trouble) and the widowed Mrs. Vallon (gossipy Lady Farnborough revealed that Mrs. Miller, previously gold-digging young actress Lottie Belmer, had once been a mistress of Mr. Vallon).

   A jeweler who knew Constantine's family further revealed that Mr. Miller came from South Africa, and was rumored to have stolen a number of diamonds, for which he'd managed to frame his assistant — who'd gotten out of jail a few months ago, and was known to have headed for England.

   There's also the complication that Mrs. Miller was killed with a Chinese knife with some crudely-scratched letters on it, and that a day later, another woman had her throat cut, with an identical knife with the same letters scratched on it found in the vicinity.

   So, two deaths, an amateur detective who is friends with the police inspector assigned the case, and a methodical revealing of clues. A nice example of a vintage mystery, if a bit heavy on coincidence, which even Inspector Arkenwright acknowledges. If Constantine hadn't found a few scraps of info that made a low-level person involved divulge more, the police might never have found their killer.

   ●○○○○ Armando's Virtuous Crime - Najwa Binshatwan (ss) 2021
   This is trying to be a climate change fable, but it just comes across as silly. Armando is the chauffeur of the "global climate president," whom he tries to kill by pushing him into the huge pit he was observing (since the bureaucrat is a tool of the rich and actively prevents action on climate change).

   Armando gets put in an underground dungeon for weeks, which protects him when "a piece of the sun fell to the Earth," causing such extreme global warming that peoples brain were melting. "Bodies catch alight and even explode." Yeah. Things get increasingly psychedelic, lots of people die, but enough good people are left to plant trees and such, and life gets better.

   ●●●●○ I'm Looking for "Jeff" - Fritz Leiber (ss) 1952
   One of those stories, like "Smoke Ghost", where Leiber has a weird entity inserted into a workaday urban setting. In this case, older bartender Pops sees a very pale woman wearing a slinky black dress and having a distinctive scar diagonally across her face. She always sits on the same bar stool, which his boss Sol and patrons perceive as always empty, no matter how crowded the bar gets, since they can't see her.

   Sometimes the woman, Bobby, becomes visible to another patron, and she always mentions to him — it's always a man — that she's looking for Jeff. When the man doesn't know Jeff, events go poorly for the man. One time Bobby points out Jeff to her latest companion: things end in a bloody fashion: a crime is committed, a crime is revealed. Atmospheric.

   ●●○○○ Pest Control - Will Forest (ss) 2020
   A murder in a nudist village on a Caribbean island. The village founder, retired entomologist Dr. Alacantra, has to get a signature for some financial paperwork from her investor/neighbor Ernestine, whose nudity is always highlighted by charms and piercings and other jewelry. Dr. A finds Ernestine dead, clobbered by a small statue.

   Young entomologist Betty and her boyfriend Nate turn up to find Dr. A standing over the body. They investigate the scene rather more than they should, and find a hidden stairwell leading down to a cave with old pirate treasure in it³. Two police officers show up and examine the scene, and the younger one reports that

   “We have a match from forensics, sir,” said the officer, peering into his phone. “There were two sets of fingerprints on the statue, belonging to the deceased herself, and also to one James Ferreira.”

   Instantly. On his phone, from photos taken by his phone. Of course. Jimmy was an exterminator whose van Betty and Nate saw racing from the village as they drove up to it. So, anyway, the mystery and its resolution I dismiss as silly, the cave and the rest sillier still. The naturism part sees the younger officer readily adopt nudism, and encourage his superior to shed his clothes, which he did. So it gets a bit of feel-good on that level, at least.

   ●●●○○ Piety - Margaret St. Clair (ss) 1947
   A small Terran scout ship is visiting an alien world, and its crew has gotten to know a local representative well. They mention how, on the last world they visited, a crew member died in an accident, and that they buried them there, to which the local responded “And you let him die?”

   One of the crewmen thinks that means the locals know how to achieve immortality, and conspires with another to get the local drunk and give him gifts beyond the 1850s level tech of the planet. The local remains in control of himself, and the two crewmen have to leave on schedule. The point of view then follows the local, and we learn how their assumptions were wrong.

   ●●●●○ Interloper - Poul Anderson (ss) 1951
   A cloaked shuttle lands in the ocean just off Long Island, and the humanoid being aboard swims ashore, only to be met by a squat, short-snouted, reptilian biped with coal-black skin, who leads him to another alien. We learn that the taller alien's people secretly control Earth, and that all advanced races are telepathic and have no trouble communicating with each other (and also that they have both public and private bands).

   The pair bring the new alien to the spaceship of the tall aliens, concealed in an apartment building in Brooklyn, constructed by mind-controlled humans, with mind-controlled staff in public-facing positions. The tall aliens have the strongest telepathy, and three of them working together could shatter the newcomer's mind shield, but for now they just hold a council with the half-dozen other races they allow to exploit the planet.

   The newcomer responds to the inquisition, buying time for his people, until eventually we learn who exactly they are and what they need when the tale makes the twist in the end that wasn't unexpected from the clues given.

   ━━━━━━━━━━
   Week Fifty-One's numbers added to year-to-date totals:
   301+7 ss | 30+0 nvt | 12+0 nva | 124+2 nov | #books
   ━━━━━━━━━━

   [1] Always called "Mr. Davenport", not "Dr. Davenport", for some reason.

   [2] The amateur-detective hero in this trilogy is a chess expert, not a medical doctor, but he gets called "Dr. Constantine".

   [3] At which point my suspension of disbelief snapped. Dr. A mentions that, when the nudist village was being built, Ernestine insisted her cottage be built on its current site. I don't see how the builders could not notice the stairwell, given that the stairs are described as reaching up to floor level, which is likely above ground level.

   ━━━━━━━━━━
   Found a bunch more novels by Jack Dearborn (which you have to search for Ellen Dearborn, his wife and editor, to find on Amazon Kindle Unlimited). More mysteries, some thrillers, some westerns. I might try a few, though since his interest in nudism and his wry attitude toward it only seems to have really kicked in in the Miles Grant series around Spring 2019, most of his earlier books likely won't be that interesting to me, if he was turning them into ebooks in the order he wrote them.

   #reading #bokbooks #books
8. 

   bok @[email protected] · 2025-12-01 · 23:47 UTC

   #Books and #stories for #NovemberReads. | Tag to mute: #BokBooks

   Ten novels:
   ●●●●○ The Case of the Nudist Numismatist {Miles Grant 13} - Jack Dearborn
   ●●●○○ The Ninth Artifact {Artifact 09} - David Collins
   ●●●●○ Day Zero {Rust 0.5} - C. Robert Cargill
   ●●●○○ The Encore Lives of Effie Edenson {Middle Falls 15} - Shawn Inmon
   ●●●○○ Flare - Thomas T. Thomas, Roger Zelazny
   ●●●○○ The Case of the Erotic Equestrian {Miles Grant 14} - Jack Dearborn
   ●●○○○ The Colony {Aestus 2} - S. Z. Attwell
   ●●●○○ Hole in the Sky - Daniel H. Wilson
   ●●●○○ Naked Crow {Naked Crow 01} - P.Z. Walker
   ●●●◐○ The Case of the Bawdy Bartender {Miles Grant 15} - Jack Dearborn

   Five novellas:
   ●●●◐○ One Level Down - Mary G. Thompson
   ●●●●○ Youthful Secrets - Martin Brant
   ●●●◐○ A Twelvemonth and a Day - Poul Anderson
   ●●●●○ Special Delivery - Kris Neville
   ●●○○○ Peril of the Starmen - Kris Neville

   Three novelettes:
   ●●●○○ Academic Displacement - Michael Shotter
   ●●●◐○ Inside Earth - Poul Anderson
   ●●●◐○ Bettyann - Kris Neville

   Twenty-three short stories:
   ●●●○○ Lefty Feep Does Time {Lefty Feep 20} - Robert Bloch
   ●●●◐○ The Hero Comes - Margaret St. Clair
   ●●●○○ Satellite Secret - Kris Neville
   ●●◐○○ A Horse on Lefty Feep {Lefty Feep 18} - Robert Bloch
   ●●●◐○ The Mutant's Brother - Fritz Leiber
   ●●●○○ Brightness Falls from the Air - Margaret St. Clair
   ●●○○○ Birthright - Margaret St. Clair
   ●●◐○○ Murder in a Nudist Colony - Ted Bun
   ●●●○○ Follow the Weeds - Margaret St. Clair
   ●●●◐○ Forbidden Fruit - Kris Neville
   ●●◐○○ Asking - Margaret St. Clair
   ●●●○○ The Man Who Made Friends with Electricity - Fritz Leiber
   ●●●◐○ World of Arlesia - Margaret St. Clair
   ●●○○○ Tree's a Crowd {Lefty Feep 22} - Robert Bloch
   ●●●○○ Probate - Margaret St. Clair
   ●●◐○○ Before We Die Unwritten - Innocent Chizaram Ilo
   ●●●●○ To-Do List for the Apocalypse - Jenn Reese
   ●●●◐○ The Perfect Weapon - Poul Anderson
   ●●○○○ Murder in the Nudist Colony - Ana Jurić
   ●●●○○ End of Your Rope {Lefty Feep 23} - Robert Bloch
   ●●○○○ Lucidity - Wayne Smallman
   ●●●◐○ Personal Monster - Margaret St. Clair
   ●●◐○○ Nice Girl with Five Husbands - Fritz Leiber

   ━━━━━━━━━━━
   2025-11: 23 ss | 03 nvt | 05 nva | 10 nov
   2025-10: 30 ss | 00 nvt | 02 nva | 13 nov
   2025-09: 26 ss | 02 nvt | 00 nva | 13 nov
   2025-08: 26 ss | 02 nvt | 02 nva | 11 nov
   ━━━━━━━━━━━

   Fewer novels this month, but the second half of the Aestus duology was both long and plodding, while still not achieving a decent ending. (Oh, wow, Jossey has chosen which of the three men in love with her she'll marry. But we still don't know if her civilization will survive.)

   Finished the Lefty Feep collection, but I still have six other multi-work books that I've epub-split to have stories to fill the last two rows of the calendar: single-author collections by Fritz Leiber, Poul Anderson, Kris Neville, Margaret St. Claire, and Michael Shotter; plus the anthologies Murder in the Nudist Colony (2020: self-explanatory), Disruption (2021: African SF/F/H writers), and Starstuff (2025: hopeful science fiction).

   #books #stories #novemberreads #bokbooks
9. 

   bok @[email protected] · 2025-12-01 · 02:46 UTC

   #Reading in Week Forty-Seven of 2025 | Nov 24–30 | ~2500 words | ~14,000 characters | Tag to mute: #BokBooks |
   ━━━━━━━━━━

   ●●●●○ To-Do List for the Apocalypse - Jenn Reese (ss) 2025
   A probe was on the way to study an asteroid in Jupiter's trailing Trojan group, and discovered a new asteroid on the way. A ten-mile-wide one that will hit Earth in six months. But fourteen-year-old Rover's more immediate problem in that her Dad cheated on her Mom, and now she's driving from New Jersey to California where her mother got a new job.

   Rover's mother is big on "citizen science" and on the way they get a notification that the asteroid has changed course, and will occult Aldebaran, and a call goes out for everyone in the shadow path to try to make an observation, so River's Mom pulls over and digs out her telescope. Things get better from there.

   ●●●○○ Hole in the Sky - Daniel H. Wilson (nov) 2025
   A grad student's techy weekend art project fed a public feed from a space telescope, a seismic network, and his fitness tracker into a chatbot to produce stream-of-consciousness poetry. Which somehow turned out to produce Nostradamus-vague predictions of things which always came true: volcano eruption, terrorist attack, mass whale stranding, whatever. That got the grad student confined to a black site, translating poetry for some secret government bureau.

   The latest prediction said to prepare for first contact. Which turned out to be a huge oval starship that landed in eastern Oklahoma and burst like a water balloon, releasing silver liquid. A nanotech liquid that responded to humans, and made their nightmares real. A point man for the Pentagon and a neuro-divergent NASA programmer, plus a Crow oil worker and his teenage daughter, all became involved in the Event, in the huge tunnel network beneath a Mound Builder mound. Dark scifi with eldritch monsters and cosmic horror.

   ●●○○○ Murder in the Nudist Colony - Ana Jurić (ss) 2020
   A dead man is found on a bench just within the entrance of a nudist resort. It appears he was dressed by someone else, the police officer notices. Soon after arrival, the coroner called in decides – based on zero evidence – that the man died because of some chemical that was applied to the clothing.

   As a mystery, this was crap. Unfounded assumptions, instant conclusions, emotional leap to whom the killer must be. As naturist fiction, it was a bit better, with the residents insisting their mandatory-nudity rule be followed, and the cop and the coroner implausibly going along. And then both the male officer and female coroner expressed interest in coming back to the resort in the future.

   ●●●◐○ The Perfect Weapon - Poul Anderson (ss) 1950
   A weapon should be swift and certain. Inexpensive is also nice. But one that wins wars without harming anyone? Now that's the stuff.

   ●●●○○ Naked Crow {Naked Crow 1} - P.Z. Walker (nov) 2014
   Sheila, a blonde woman who works with Josy at a dental office, learns that her friend had vanished during one of her weekend trips to a nudist camp. Sheila belongs to a coven, and, after bumping her head, has recently acquired aura-seeing powers, which lead to her acquiring a Native American spirit guide (her grandmother was part Crow). Sheila discovers the Five Oaks grove where Josy vanished in magically active, and in her investigations, Sheila ends up where Josy is, the distant past (there are pterodactyls there).

   The two nude women must find food, avoid dangerous animals, and keep warm (which is difficult, since after a week of experiments they still cant make fire). All this while Sheila, injured by a startled herbivore, must manage a meditative connection to her guide, Acaraho, in order for him to tell her when and where another timewarp will open.

   Naturist fiction with an adventure story, part scifi, part fantasy. Nothing super imaginative. The naturist element is constant but too easy. Sheila always refused Josy's invatations to Might Oaks Naturist Retreat, but after a couple of visits looking for Josy she's comfortable getting naked, and considers herself a nudist not long after?

   ●●●○○ End of Your Rope {Lefty Feep 23} - Robert Bloch (ss) 1950
   The final Lefty Feep story in this collection is not about Lefty, but a tale about Arthur Arthur (a newspaper reporter last seen in a story where he became a superhero as a result of a machine that could make subconscious desires reality) that Lefty is relating.

   Sent to a steamship to do a story on a theoretical physicist newly-arrived from India who's come to consult with Albert Einstein, Arthur becomes involved with enemy spies who murdered the man in the neighboring cabin and stole a briefcase containing naval plans. Arthur and Omar Khayyamer the physicist respond to the noise, and in the confusion, the briefcase with the plans becomes switched with Omar's.

   Thence follows the three bad guys following Omar and Arthur to get the naval suitcase back, then the pair following them to get the physicist's case back. The denouement has Arthur climbing a rope woven by holy contemplants of a temple according to Arthur's instructions. The self-supporting rope transcends into another realm, one where Arthur and the crooks have a battle of Imagination.

   The usual stuff, with far less of the wacky wordage that's Lefty's calling card, since he's not the hero of circumstance. There are two final Left Feep tales published decades later that I might track down some day, but for now, this is the end.

   ●●○○○ Lucidity - Wayne Smallman (ss) 2012
   A handful of people work at a sleep research center in Europe. They have the ability to record dreams. The conglomerate that owns them realizes that, with modifications, the tech can be made to work in reverse, implanting ideas.

   Barbara finds out that her boss has gone along with this, and that an assassination is planned. She travels to the US to try to stop it, only to find out that she's been maneuvered into being the patsy for the killing. But she only has to live with that knowledge for a minute before her loose end is cut.

   ●●●◐○ Personal Monster - Margaret St. Clair (ss) 1955
   A little girl finds a blob-like alien in a disused ash pit behind her home. It telepathically instructs Babs to feed it, which she does by buying stew meat with her piggy bank money.

   Separately, Mrs. Hoffmeier warns Babs very intently about strangers, mentioning a little boy who was burned badly. We also see a disreputable man arrive in town who has a can of lye in his pocket. The man tries to grab Babs. She runs and hides near the ash pit, and the man looks over the fence and sees the blob creature. Babs pushes him in. Now she can go to summer camp without the blob getting hungry and causing trouble.

   When Babs returns, the blob is gone, and she supposes it exploded from its big meal, with the narrator parenthetically mentioning the lye. Then the story gets extra weird, when we find out that Babs's parents knew about the blob…

   ●●◐○○ Nice Girl with Five Husbands - Fritz Leiber (ss) 1951
   Time winds are usually irregular, appearing at a random time and place and moving whatever loose objects are there millennia into the past or future. But in a handful of places they come come in pairs. The high desert valley Tom was hiking in was one such, where every decade or so a morning time wind blew objects a century into the future, and an afternoon wind carried what had been moved back to its starting point.

   Tom meets a young woman in strange dress, Lois, and soon finds her complaining about her husbands, of which she has five. Also four co-wives. Lois took him to her group's household, where odd discussions occurred, before a set of children returned from a walk.

   Everyone had lunch inside, with more odd talk, and food, and decor. Tom tells them of the compound at the other end of the valley where he comes from, and they take a copter to return him home, at which point a turn in the conversation reveals to him that it's 2050. They stop by the rock where he'd met Lois, where he'd accidentally left his camera, just in time for Tom to be swept up my the time wind again and brought home.

   ●●●◐○ The Case of the Bawdy Bartender {Miles Grant 15} - Jack Dearborn (nov) 2020
   It's February 1972, and a man comes into the office of private investigator Miles Grant. Bing Hawley owns Bing's Bistro, and for the last several months receipts are down a suspicious amount. Bing's been told that it's likely his oldest, most-trusted employee robbing him, but the man is a friend, so he's prepared to hire Miles to prove that, or find the real thief if that's not the case.

   It's rare that there are red herrings in Miles Grant novels, and this investigation is no different. Miles takes a week the start of the case to let his facial hair grow, while doing some fact checks in newspapers and such. Then he goes undercover at the bar, drinking slowly over a few nights while he observes, quickly picking up one of the waitresses occasionally giving signs to the bartender, which led to him pouring a drink from a cheaper under-counter bottle rather than an on-the-shelf brand-name one for patrons too drunk to know the difference.

   Then it's just a matter of a stakeout to watch a liquor delivery, then confronting the waitress alone getting her to confess in exchange for being fired but not charged with stealing to get solid evidence against the bartender. As always, Miles's cases are straightforward, with him observing, questioning, researching, and plodding through a case. Guns and fistfights are very rare.

   On the home front, fourteen-year-old Stewart lost his best friend (from a family that's nudist, like the Grants) when Willis moved away. Willis's widowed mother Yvette married a man from the French consulate in Seattle, who was reassigned to another city. But after a talk with his grandmother, where MJ said that Stew might find another nudist friend if he noticed whom in his gym class had an all-over tan, Stew finds Marvin, and the Halverson family becomes friends with the Grants.

   This leads to many conversations¹ about nudism and sexuality between Miles and Shirley, Shirley and MJ, Shirley and Tina Halverson, and between the four kids, as people from the two families visit back and fourth, and have dinner together. Marvin also spent the night with Stewart when Miles and Shirley went out to dine (and drive MJ to meet with Bing when the case ended, him being her boyfriend in high school).

   ━━━━━━━━━━
   Week Forty-Seven's totals added to year-to-date:
   280+7 ss | 30+0 nvt | 12+0 nva | 117+3 nov | #books
   ━━━━━━━━━━

   [1] After having read a number of naturist novels, I find I prefer the way the topic is handled in Dearborn's novels to the manner in which most straight naturist fiction handles it. Most of them try too hard to be nonsexual, while Dearborn is not afraid to have flirting or raunchy humor.

   Thirty percent into this novel, after detective Miles handled a minor case, and has just acquired the major case the novel will be about, which he'll begin investigating tomorrow, he arrives home early to where everyone is always naked:

   ⎡ Miles entered the garage from a side door and stopped and started to remove his clothes. He, like the entire family, was a naturist, so it wasn’t out of the ordinary to come in from the garage in the nude. Today, he was feeling horny and thought he’d make his entry with his libido fully on display.

   Assured that this would tell his blonde wife the state of his interest, he opened the door from the garage to the mud room and stepped in. He closed the door quietly and smiled. The house was quiet so he expected Shirley was probably reading. If that was the case, she would be sitting in one of the large leather, overstuffed chairs, where there was a floor lamp that provides reading light, if needed.

   He walked silently through the house and up the hall and into the living room. Sure enough, she was sitting in an overstuffed chair and it was the one faced away from him. He continued to move silently until he was beside her chair and he presented himself in all his masculine glory. “Ta-da. I’m home and in the mood.”

   At that moment, MJ stepped into the room from the kitchen. “In the mood for what? Oh my God, you really are in the mood.”

   It was not the first time [his widowed mother-in-law, who lived in the second floor apartment of the family's new house] had seen him sporting his readiness, but in the past it was always fleeting and unintentional for him to be in that condition. He almost covered himself, but anger set in and he issued a rare oath to show it. “For fuck’s sake, why are you hiding in the kitchen?”

   Shirley spoke up before MJ could reply. “She was fixing us some tea, my love. We didn’t expect you would be home this early, and sporting such a greeting.”

   “Yeah, what she said,” was MJ’s response, said with a big smile. ⎦

   And then nude Miles, deflated, sighs that sex can wait, and has tea with unclothed Shirley and MJ, telling them about his new case.

   People don't have sex on-page in Dearborn's novels, but they think about it and discuss it (always in general terms, no detailed descriptions), and talk before and after doing it. Last novel, thirteen-year-old Stewart discussed masturbation with MJ, wondering if girls also masturbated, and if they did sex things together like he did with his also-nudist best friend Willis.

   One conversation, between Marvin's mother Tina and Stewart's mother Shirley, was about how their fourteen-year-olds would almost certainly masturbate and more together, and did relatively new nudist Tina object? She said no, and that twelve-year-old Kimberly was often a tomboy, and would likely join in when she could. And we do get conversation between Marvin and Stewart at their sleepover.

   Another conversation was about Tina having a girl she engaged in sex play with as a teen, and Shirley having two. Isolated-farm Miles had no regular mates, but Thursdays were men-only days at the YMCA, and he found opportunities then, as well as making money for masturbating older men. I find these gently sexual discussions comforting, somehow.

   #reading #bokbooks #books
10. 

    bok @[email protected] · 2025-11-24 · 23:52 UTC

    #Reading in Week Forty-Seven of 2025 | Nov 17–23 | ~1400 words | ~7800 characters | Tag to mute: #BokBooks |
    ━━━━━━━━━━

    ●●●◐○ Forbidden Fruit - Kris Neville (ss) 1950
    Earth was too civilized to execute anyone, even a serial killer. No, exile was the order of the day. But on which planet? A planet with a religiously nonviolent native species who would do anything the exiled criminal wanted wouldn't seem much of a punishment, would it? Think again.

    ●●◐○○ Asking - Margaret St. Clair (ss) 1955
    Humans had appeared independently on a million worlds. They inevitably advanced, formed a civilization, advanced some more, invented robots, and soon thereafter went extinct. One of the last men has been researching the matter, to figure out why. His robot assistant, burdened by questions, comes in for a checkup with the repair robot, and something odd is discovered about her.

    ●●●○○ The Man Who Made Friends with Electricity - Fritz Leiber (ss) 1962
    Real-estate salesman who hasn't been able to sell a house with a high-voltage power-line just outside its front window finally does so, to an elderly man who finds that the hum and crackle of the transformer is soothing.

    The man is eccentric, and talks to the transformer. Fervently American, he becomes upset when the electricity tells him that it flows everywhere, and has no special allegiance to the US. A deadly argument ensues.

    ●●○○○ Aestus 2 The Colony - S. Z. Attwell (nov) 2020
    This novel is at least twice as long as it should be, due to middle-school romantic problems between nominal adults in their mid-twenties. Jossey has a large facial scar from a childhood accident, and has never believed a man could find her attractive. So when she has three men expressing romantic interest in her, it takes her forever to realize this. Add in the three men eyeing each other, and it's a mess.

    Now, the actual story. Climate change made rich Europeans flee to India, take over extant underground cities, driving out the locals, though some stayed as servants. Others fled to different cave systems, with their children kidnapped as labor for the surface farms. Not that the City folk are aware of that last part.

    Generations later, the situation has come to a boil. A City tyrant wants to wipe out the natives, who occasionally revolt, and expand the solar systems to support underground farms. The leader of the natives is a man that was kidnapped as a boy who was kidnapped from the City and raised by the late native leader: Tark is Jossey's long-lost brother.

    The leader of the faction in the City who wants to change its government is a special forces assassin: Caspar loves Jossey. The leader of the City's security forces, late come to realize the City was in the wrong, is Tark's childhood friend: he also loves Jossey. As does Altan, a leader in the native's military.

    What I want out of the story is to learn what the world is like. We get few glimpses of this. Or how the native society and the City function: ditto. It's like a romance story with a revolution in the background, and we don't get to see who's fighting or why. A tale more frustrating than entertaining.

    ●●●◐○ World of Arlesia - Margaret St. Clair (ss) 1950
    A couple go to an experimental, participatory, avant-garde theater production. The lights, music, and drugged mist make the husband think he's visiting the undersea city of Arlesia. The production doesn't work on the wife, who finds out humans are being transmuted into workers¹ by some aliens for offworld labor. She manages to talk the techs in the conversion facility into releasing her and her husband.

    ●●○○○ Tree's a Crowd {Lefty Feep 22} - Robert Bloch (ss) 1946
    Only one more Left Feep tale in the collection (though two more stories were written decades later). Lefty, being hounded by three ex-wives for alimony, gets involved with a man who's invented some new breakfast cereal, which proves to have the unusual side effect of turning people to wood. (Which means he never taste-tested his on product.) The usual hijinks ensue.

    ●●○○○ Peril of the Starmen - Kris Neville (nva) 1954
    Reality is unstable, and all will be lost unless a planet – the latest in a string of such planets – is destroyed. So sayeth the Oligarchy, and the aliens apparently believed it, stupid as the idea is that changing something as small as a planet would affect everything, that the problem should have arisen just now, and that the Oligarchs are the only ones who could do anything about it.

    Problem: Earth is the next selected planet. The world that must be destroyed, since it has a technological civilization that could one day reveal the charade the Oligarchy is playing on its populace. So the Oligarchs program three men (because their race looks human) to go to Earth and ask permission to conduct the "mineral surveys" that will serve as cover for planting atomic bombs to blow up the planet.

    I'm sorry: I'm reading this novella because the last novel I read was too frustrating to start another right away, and here I am, right from the start, expected to accept four idiocies? ‹sigh›

    Oh, and Herb and his never-named colleagues are also programmed to say all the right "democracy is great" stuff to impress the US Senate (because of course they get to decide for the planet), despite them being from a dictatorship. Like that's not gonna come back and bite the Oligarchs.

    So, our cast of characters: Herb, a tech whose new programming has overridden his old, making him an enemy of the Oligarcy; Oligarch George, who has his own doubts about the idiotic system, but who still goes through the motions; Bud, an anxious junior senator who initially opposes the aliens, until bullied by his idealistic brother to change his vote; Norma, Bud's sister, who gets involved with Herb when she finds out George tricked Bud into killing his brother and agreeing to destroy Earth if George saves her (which George pretends to do). A right jolly old bunch.

    ●●●○○ Probate - Margaret St. Clair (ss) 1947
    New Human mutants have been being born to Old Human parents for half a century. Their difference only manifests later in life, and they were able to hide for some time. When they were discovered, Old Humans turned genocidal. Eventually, though they are pacifists, New Humans were forced to fight for survival, and Old Humans are almost extinct. They treat the few left kindly, giving them anything they want². One has invented a sonic weapon that knocks out any New Humans in range, and will kill at a higher setting. Will he use it?

    ●●◐○○ Before We Die Unwritten - Innocent Chizaram Ilo (ss) 2021
    This starts off as bad scifi, turns into an awkward fable, and ends as a mess. Melifeonwu works in a high-tech "minerals acquisition" firm in a near-future Nigeria that seems nice. A new analyst shows up, saying the firm will start mining for "oledonium", a mineral with astonishing properties, and with which "Right-Leaners" are obsessed with. It's only found at the crust/mantle boundary.

    Melifeonwu says this is crazy talk, and management swats him down and calls him a sexual slur, causing M to resign: bad move, in that his wrongful termination lawsuit stumbles on the fact that he left before the company could fire him. He's also evicted from company housing, where he lives with his husband, his mother, and his brother.

    In any case, the mining happens, and a catastrophe follows. Slippage between crust and mantle causes huge earthquakes, and released water causes huge floods. M's entire family dies, and the story ends with Melifeonwu about to die and civilization seemingly collapsing.

    ━━━━━━━━━━
    Cumulative 2025 totals as of Week Forty-Seven:
    273+7 ss | 30+0 nvt | 11+1 nva | 116+1 nov | #books

    [1] I was reminded of the Tall Man in the Phantasm films compactifying corpses into shrunk-down workers.

    [2] Shades of Plur1bus.

    #reading #bokbooks #books
11. 

    Arun Shourie x @[email protected] · 2020-01-07 · 09:46 UTC

    RT @[email protected]

    Can't say what happened during the attack inside JNU, but I personally heard Jai Shri Ram slogans outside JNU gate around 9 pm on Sunday. And then again on Monday by a large crowd. We reported it too.
    #JNU #JNUattack https://twitter.com/PrakashJavdekar/status/1214468893894307841

    🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/UdaySRana/status/1214472521304567808

    #jnuattack #jnu
12. 

    Nonilex @[email protected] · 2025-05-08 · 16:16 UTC

    Huh, that didn’t take as long as I expected.

    Holy #WhiteSmoke Batman, we have a new #pope!

    The identity of the new pontiff is not yet known. #Vatican officials are expected to announce his name in Latin from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica shortly.

    Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, a 73-year-old Frenchman born in Morocco, is expected to make the announcement — unless he himself is elected pope.

    Then the new pope himself will appear & address the crowd.

    https://www.npr.org/2025/05/08/nx-s1-5385327/vatican-white-smoke-new-pope-conclave

    #whitesmoke #pope #vatican
13. 

    Khürt Williams @[email protected] · 2025-06-21 · 14:15 UTC

    What Counts as Wild? On Doves, Junglefowl, and Birding Semantics in the Grenadines

    While in Bequia, I saw, heard, and photographed African Collared-Doves. In St. Vincent, I encountered Eurasian Collared-Doves, both vocal and visible. In both cases, Merlin ID instantly recognised them—no disclaimers, no qualifiers. Just birds. Wild ones, apparently. What I didn’t see were Red Junglefowl. But I heard them. Their crowing echoed from hillsides and yards, and Merlin ID confidently returned “Red Junglefowl” as the match—no parenthetical warnings, no footnotes. Just Red […]

    https://islandinthenet.com/what-counts-as-wild-on-doves-junglefowl-and-birding-semantics-in-the-grenadines/

    #africancollareddove #bequia #birding #domesticchicken #ebird #eurasiancollareddove
14. 

    RTL Nieuws @[email protected] · 2026-03-04 · 11:18 UTC

    𝗡𝗶𝗲𝘂𝘄 𝗮𝗹𝗯𝘂𝗺 𝗥𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗼 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗿 (85) 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗷𝗻𝘁 𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹

    Ringo Starr brengt eind volgende maand een nieuw album uit. De 85-jarige oud-drummer van The Beatles heeft hiervoor samengewerkt met onder anderen Sheryl Crow, Billy Strings en St. Vincent, deelde hij op Instagram.

    https://www.rtl.nl/boulevard/artikel/5574176/nieuw-album-ringo-starr-85-verschijnt-eind-april

    #RingoStarr #nieuwAlbum #eindApril

    #ringostarr #nieuwalbum #eindapril
15. 

    Dining and Cooking @[email protected] · 2026-03-21 · 15:30 UTC

    15 Easy Appetizers to Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day

    Credit: Jake Sternquist / Food Styling: Lauren McAnelly / Prop Styling: Sue Mitchell Get the party started with these delicious, crowd-pleasing, and totally i…
    #dining #cooking #diet #food #Italianappetizers #absolutelyperfect #appetizers #beercheesedip #guinnessbeer #Irishappetizerrecipes #irishsodabread #Italia #Italian #italianappetizers #italiano #italy
    https://www.diningandcooking.com/2564734/15-easy-appetizers-to-celebrate-st-patricks-day/

    #dining #cooking #diet #food #italianappetizers #absolutelyperfect
16. 

    Panethos @[email protected] · 2025-02-03 · 19:02 UTC

    Standing tall: Celebrating the adaptive reuse of our water towers

    All too often across the United States, when a building or structure becomes old, despite its history and/or iconic appearance, it is till torn down when its ages beyond its intended lifespan or deemed usefulness. This applies to both structures in the public and private realm and far too frequently is due to expediency or just plain dollars and cents.

    Source: letstalkscience.ca

    One type of structure that too often bites the dust, instead being preserved, are water towers. Often, the single most visible amenity in the community due to their height (and design), water towers provide a critical service, particularly for supplying drinking water, maintaining water pressure, and for fire-fighting purposes.

    Through the years, the trend has been to increase the storage capacity and/or height of individual water towers and their numbers as places grow in population. This has left many aging water towers of various shapes and sizes left behind as a charming relic of a former era or possibly fulfilling a minor role related to its original purposes. The most unfortunate situation arises when older water towers are simply felled to the ground like a mighty tree or are being carved up into pieces and sold for scrap.

    Beautiful old “Tin Man” style water tower in Groveport, Ohio being decapitated in 2015 – Source: columbusmessenger.com A felled water tower awaits its fate next to its replacement in Sweetwater, Texas – Source: ktxs.com

    Fortunately, there are a number of places around the country who have discovered unique and re-useful purposes for their aging water towers. This post is dedicated to celebrating and championing the success of those often grassroots efforts by these communities and local citizenry in protecting these wonderful landmarks.

    Source: facebook.com/cannerydistrict

    Here are examples of possible adaptive reuses for water towers (or tanks) identified to date:

    • Convert the tower into a piece of art (static or interactive)
    • Community gathering place
    • Community branding/focal point
    • Observation tower
    • Historic site or landmark
    • Residential dwelling(s) – more common in Europe
    • Library
    • Elevated location for wireless and communications antenna – this author’s least favorite reuse option

    _______

    WATER TOWER INTO A WORK OF ART – MULTIPLE EXAMPLES

    Many of us take functional items like water towers for granted. Just another piece of infrastructure we pass by on a regular basis. Despite the unique architectural attributes and flair associated with each generation of water towers, seeing them as a work of art may be a stretch for some. But, there is beauty in functionality. Andy Warhol was famous for making art out of the mundane…the common…the functional. So why not a water tower? or even a shorter water tank?

    Well, Las Cruces, New Mexico; Brooklyn, New York, and Yelm, Washington all present fine examples of turning water towers into an art form. For Las Cruces, it’s water tanks have become iconic murals. In Brooklyn, a stained-glass rooftop masterpiece. While in Yelm, Washington…an evolving light show.

    Beautiful water tank mural in Las Cruces, New Mexico – Source: lcnews-sun.com

    “The 32-foot tall water tanks could easily be eyesores that disrupt otherwise panoramic views of the southern New Mexico town. But in Las Cruces, local artists have turned the curved canvasses into works of art. Using a color palette inspired by Mother Nature to share the rich history of the area, the water tank murals share the stories of the Native Americans who originated in the area and the settlers who followed.”

    Source: everdaywanderer.com

    Another mural water tank in Las Cruxes, New Mexico – Source: lascrucesbulletin.com

    As seen in Las Cruces, water towers (or tanks) can become a living embodiment of the community’s combined personality–reflecting the history, pride, culture, and overall sense of the specific place they exist. It may not be hung on a wall in an art museum, but an iconic water tower (or tank) can be the perfect canvas from which to work, while definitely making its presence known and standing out from the crowd much like a fine work of art.

    Stained-glass water tower in the Dumbo Neighborhood of Brooklyn – Photo source: reddit.com

    One of the most beautiful water towers in the nation isn’t even a real water tower, but a rooftop work of art on a building in the Dumbo Neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. The artist who created this magnificent stain-glassed work certainly found the simple water tower to indeed be a work of art!

    And when a water tower is paired with active or static lighting, their personality really does begin to shine. Yelm, Washington has successful done this with its historic “Tin Man” styled water tower.

    “Through two new projects funded by the Washington State Legislature, the City of Yelm is simultaneously preserving the past while looking to the future. The iconic 125-foot water tower that has loomed over the town since the 1940s is being converted into an art piece, while a new building, to be constructed almost directly under the tower will house a satellite branch of South Puget Sound Community College and a business incubator space.”

    Source: thurstontalk.com

    Yelm’s historic water tower lights up the night with the local high school’s team colors – Source: yelmonline.com

    _______

    WATER TOWER TO A GATHERING PLACE – GILBERT, ARIZONA

    While certainly not the only example, Gilbert, Arizona has gone above and beyond in making its historic “Tin Man” style water tower into a gathering place within the city. Similar to being a branding/focal point of the community as discussed below, an historic/iconic water tower gives instant credibility to a third place with its size and panache often being the hallmark of the site. Just refer to the earlier photo of the water tower in Bozeman, Montana’s Cannery District earlier in this post for a perfect example.

    Source: discovergilbert.com

    https://www.instagram.com/gilbertyourtown/reel/Cz4p-UiPoZh/

    Furthermore, at last two cities hold annual Water Tower Festivals – Pipestone, Minnesota and Hernando, Mississippi. In 2025, Pipestone will be holding its 36th annual event and in Hernando this year will be the 51st festival.

    Source: hernandoms.org

    _______

    WATER TOWER FOR BRANDING/FOCAL POINT – MULTIPLE EXAMPLES

    Utilizing a water tower for branding your community is pretty much a no-brainer use of an existing water tower and reuse of an historic/iconic one. Often, the historic/iconic water towers are located close to downtown, in historic districts, or is located in an activity-centered location the community would like to promote (see the gathering place examples above). This makes reuse of the historic/iconic water a win-win situation, as it can be both a giant elevated promotional sign and also a focal point for the attraction(s). Two excellent examples are provided below from Santa Ana, California and Dallas, Texas.

    In the Dallas case, as with some others around the country, the wording added to the water tower can help promote a cause or event that is important to the community.

    Many more examples of such reuse efforts can be found from across the country.

    Santa Ana, California brands itself as “Downtown Orange County on its iconic water tower – Source: instagram.com/cityofsantaana “Creating Harmony” themed water tower in Dallas’ Deep Vellum neighborhood – Source: obeygiant.com

    _______

    WATER TOWER TO AN OBSERVATION TOWER – MULTIPLE EXAMPLES

    Converting an existing water tower can be an option for communities to preserve iconic structures. In some cases, such as the Giant City State Park and Peoria Heights Water Towers, both in Illinois, the observation infrastructure were built into the structure from the start. The Peoria Heights tower even has a quaint built-in ticket booth at the base of the tower.

    Peoria Height Water/Observation Tower – Photo by author: 2021Ticket booth at the base of the Peoria Heights Water Tower – Source: martin-wombacher.squarespace.com

    In other cases, the water tower is opened up a few times a year for visitors to see the interior and climb to the top (e.g. Highland Park Water Tower in St. Paul – see photo below).

    And then there are cases ware an historic water tower is refurbished/reused as an observation tower, as is taking place in North Park just outside of Pittsburgh. All are excellent ways to adapt an existing structure (when it still contains water for not) for and alternative and useful purpose.

    Giant City State Park Water/Observation Tower, Illinois – Source: pinterest.com/brandigivens Highland Park Water/Observation Tower – St. Paul, Minnesota – Source: historictwincities.com North Park Water/Observation Tower – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – Source: uncoveringpa.com

    _______

    WATER TOWER AS AN HISTORIC SITE – MULTIPLE EXAMPLES

    Provided a water tower survives many years of use, care, and potential neglect without being removed or felled in favor of a newer or larger structure, it can become eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, as well as local and state historic lists. As a largely ceremonial designation, this honor does not necessarily provide water towers with guaranteed protection from being replaced or torn down.

    Meanwhile, there are many historic/iconic water towers that have been and are protected because of their architectural significance or importance to local/regional/state or national history. Here are just a few of them in the United States.

    • Chicago Water Tower (1869) – this handsome Gothic Revival architectural water standpipe survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
    • Fall River Waterworks Standpipe Water Tower (ca 1870s), Massachusetts
    • Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad Water Tower: Lusk, Wyoming (1919)
    • Louisville Water Tower (1860) – the world’s oldest ornamental water tower.
    • Remington Water Tower (1897), Indiana

    Chicago Water Tower – Source: britannica.com Railroad Water Tower in Lusk, Wyoming – Source: pinterest.com Louisville Water Tower – Source: shutterstock.com Remington, Indiana Water Tower: Source: indanalandmarks.org Fall River Standpipe Tower – Source: heraldnews.com

    WATER TOWER TO A RESIDENTIAL DWELLING – SEAL (SUNSET) BEACH, CALIFORNIA

    The option of converting an older water tower to a residential dwelling (or dwellings) would be considered unique and very site-specific based on a variety of factors from condition of the water tower, to its location to local zoning/building codes, to community acceptanc and other factors. Obviously, a water tower house is not for everyone. But, in case of the Seal (Sunset) Beach, California home shown below, not only is is an historic attraction that offers tours, but the dwelling can be rented.

    Source: sunsetbeachwatertower.com

    _______

    WATER TOWER TO A LIBRARY – TOA BAJA, PUERTO RICO

    Probably the most unique reuse of a water tower anywhere in the nation is the old Levittown Water Tower in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico. Beneath the superstructure of the tower, the city built its library and incorporated aspects of the tower into the building.

    Perhaps, more utility departments should consider locating their offices in a similar manner? Another option might be to locate a locate historical society offices below the tower? Despite my criticism of the digital gadgets located on the water tower in Los Lunas, New Mexico (see below), the city’s historical society museum is located directly adjacent and the off-street parking is around the base of the tower.

    The point is–thinking outside the box (literally), can help save historic/iconic water towers!

    _______

    OLDER WATER TOWER FOR WIRELESS/COMMUNICATIONS ANTENNA – COMMON

    The reason I dislike this option is because the communications antenna and equipment detract from the historic/iconic integrity and appearance of the water tower. Though…if the equipment helps to preserve an older water tower that would otherwise be destroyed, then such an option becomes a necessary evil to save the tower.

    A water tower in Los Lunas, New Mexico where too much digital gadgetry detracts from the historic integrity the water tower – Photo by author: 2025

    Preferably, the antenna and equipment are designed in such a manner that the blend in or are camouflaged to limit their intrusion into the original design and appearance of the water tower. Otherwise, the water tower begins to look like an elevated pin cushion.

    _______

    As is clearly evident throughout this post, the protection and preservation of historic/iconic water towers can be and has been successfully accomplished across the country. Water towers (and tanks) come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, are constructed of a variety of materials, and are designed in numerous forms and styles. Whether they be a standpipe, a “Tin Man,” a spheroid, or just a low-rise tank; water towers (and tanks) often become symbolic of their community. As such, they play an important role in the history, culture, and dynamics that shape each place. If for no other reason, this is factor alone is why they should be preserved and protected whenever possible.

    Source: cdn.shopify.com

    Hopefully, this post will enlighten those across the country who ultimately decide the fate of these iconic structures, while also embolden those who are fighting for the preservation and protection of these landmark water towers in their community. As but one example of establishing and maintaining the context of “place,” historic/iconic water towers are perhaps the most recognizable and identifiable aspect of a community. Let’s work together to make sure their important role is not forgotten with time and is celebrated in a manner that enhances both the water tower and overall sense of “community.” Peace!

    Belen, New Mexico formally designated its beautiful “Tin Man” style water tower an Historic Landmark in 2020 – Source: Photo by author: 2025

    SOURCES:

    • https://recyclenation.com/2011/03/water-towers-recycle-houses/
    • personal knowledge and observations
    • https://sunsetbeachwatertower.com/
    • https://www.columbusmessenger.com/old-groveport-water-tower-taken-down.html
    • https://ktxs.com/news/local/video-sweetwater-water-tower-demolished
    • https://www.instagram.com/cityofsantaana/p/CdEJuhthv3h/
    • https://www.discovergilbert.com/soundbites/
    • https://www.facebook.com/cannerydistrict
    • https://www.thurstontalk.com/2019/07/30/yelm-preserves-the-past-while-looking-to-the-future/
    • https://obeygiant.com/cultivate-harmony-water-tower-mural-in-deep-ellum/
    • https://yelmonline.com/stories/yelms-historic-water-tower-lights-up-the-night-sky,277804
    • https://www.pinterest.com/pin/763712049330521675/
    • http://www.historictwincities.com/2019/04/03/highland-park-water-tower/
    • https://uncoveringpa.com/north-park-water-tower
    • https://martin-wombacher.squarespace.com/blog/2014/10/23/shivering-heightsa-trip-to-tower-park-in-where-else-the-heights
    • https://everydaywanderer.com/las-cruces-water-tank-murals
    • https://www.lcsun-news.com/story/life/sunlife/2016/09/11/artist-week-tony-pennock/89771150/
    • https://www.lascrucesbulletin.com/stories/artist-tony-pennock-water-tank-murals-and-much-more,5868
    • https://www.tomfruin.com/watertower.html
    • https://www.architecture.org/online-resources/buildings-of-chicago/chicago-water-tower
    • https://pttg.com/blogs/historic-water-towers.php
    • https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2018/07/historic-water-towers-withstand-the-pressure-of-time/
    • https://www.heraldnews.com/story/news/2024/04/24/fall-river-19th-century-water-dept-buildings-open-to-public-for-tours/73420418007/
    • https://www.news-bulletin.com/news/belen-water-tower-designated-as-historic-landmark/article_fbf3423e-a703-58e0-b8a3-69a8daa78cb3.html
    • https://www.hernandoms.org/watertowerfestival
    • https://business.pipestoneminnesota.com/events/details/water-tower-festival-2025-2391

    #adaptiveReuse #art #brandding #cities #community #culture #design #dwellings #festivals #fun #historic #historicSites #history #iconic #infrastructure #landUse #landmark #libraries #placemaking #places #planning #preservation #protection #signs #standpipes #tanks #TinMan #tourism #travel #water

    #adaptivereuse #art #brandding #cities #community #culture
17. 

    DoomsdaysCW @[email protected] · 2025-05-12 · 22:56 UTC

    [2/3] #PineTreeActivism Calendar
    Events for May 12th - 17th, 2025

    Details confirmed as of May 12th

    Share/Repost so Mainers know where to #RESIST!
    Submit events to: [email protected]

    MAY 14, Wed 12-12:30PM (& every Wed) – #BangorME
    6 State St, “near the crosswalk & the 6 State St. Building”
    PEACE & CEASEFIRE In #Gaza - Weekly vigil hosted by Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine: https://www.peacectr.org/

    MAY 14, Wed 1-2:30PM – #AugustaME
    Burton M Cross Office Bldg, Rm 220, 111 Sewall St
    TESTIFY TO SUPPORT UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE: the All Maine Health Act – You can testify in person, via Zoom, or submit online. Any testimony highlighting the many problems with our current system will be welcome. Especially looking for personal stories that illustrate why we need publicly funded, universal health care. Hosted by Maine ALLCare. FMI and a guide to writing testimony: http://bit.ly/453DDBT

    MAY 14, Wed 4-6:00PM – #ConwayNH
    4 Corners @ Intersection of Route 113 & 153
    Walk Out Wednesday – weekly visibility events with goal of covering New Hampshire with pop-up protests! Crowd size does not matter. Hit every overpass, shopping plaza and town square - every Wednesday!

    MAY 14, Wed 6-7PM – Virtual Event – Join from anywhere
    Team ENOUGH (for young people under 26) a youth-led program whose mission is to educate young voices about gun violence and mobilize them to take meaningful action against it. Supported by Brady United: https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/751813/

    MAY 14, Wed 6:30-8:00PM – #WaldoboroME
    Bug Tussle Annex, 251 Jefferson St
    Waldoboro Democrats Meeting – All Democratic or unenrolled progressive voters are welcome to attend! Pre-registration not required but appreciated. More info: [email protected]

    MAY 15, Thur 12-1:00PM – Zoom Meeting
    Presenter will share zoom link with attendees 1 hour prior to the event.
    SAVE MAINE ABSENTEE VOTING – Join campaign leaders to hear about the Save #MaineAbsenteeVoting Campaign. Come hear about the bad actors attacking our secure voting systems and learn how you can be involved. Register: http://bit.ly/3F314Rg

    MAY 15, Thur 12-1:00PM (& every Thur) - #BrunswickME
    143 Main St, in front of Tontine Mall
    Maine Vigil for Peace – weekly stand-out to call for permanent ceasefire in #Gaza. #PeaceWorks of Greater Brunswick https://www.nenjp.org/calendar

    @AIF_Massachusetts

    #MaineResists #MaineEvents #NewHampshireResists
    #FreePalestine #BadDOGE #ResistAuthoritarianism
    #ResistFascism #USPol

    #pinetreeactivism #resist #bangorme #gaza #augustame #conwaynh
18. 

    DoomsdaysCW @[email protected] · 2025-05-12 · 22:56 UTC

    [2/3] #PineTreeActivism Calendar
    Events for May 12th - 17th, 2025

    Details confirmed as of May 12th

    Share/Repost so Mainers know where to #RESIST!
    Submit events to: [email protected]

    MAY 14, Wed 12-12:30PM (& every Wed) – #BangorME
    6 State St, “near the crosswalk & the 6 State St. Building”
    PEACE & CEASEFIRE In #Gaza - Weekly vigil hosted by Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine: https://www.peacectr.org/

    MAY 14, Wed 1-2:30PM – #AugustaME
    Burton M Cross Office Bldg, Rm 220, 111 Sewall St
    TESTIFY TO SUPPORT UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE: the All Maine Health Act – You can testify in person, via Zoom, or submit online. Any testimony highlighting the many problems with our current system will be welcome. Especially looking for personal stories that illustrate why we need publicly funded, universal health care. Hosted by Maine ALLCare. FMI and a guide to writing testimony: http://bit.ly/453DDBT

    MAY 14, Wed 4-6:00PM – #ConwayNH
    4 Corners @ Intersection of Route 113 & 153
    Walk Out Wednesday – weekly visibility events with goal of covering New Hampshire with pop-up protests! Crowd size does not matter. Hit every overpass, shopping plaza and town square - every Wednesday!

    MAY 14, Wed 6-7PM – Virtual Event – Join from anywhere
    Team ENOUGH (for young people under 26) a youth-led program whose mission is to educate young voices about gun violence and mobilize them to take meaningful action against it. Supported by Brady United: https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/751813/

    MAY 14, Wed 6:30-8:00PM – #WaldoboroME
    Bug Tussle Annex, 251 Jefferson St
    Waldoboro Democrats Meeting – All Democratic or unenrolled progressive voters are welcome to attend! Pre-registration not required but appreciated. More info: [email protected]

    MAY 15, Thur 12-1:00PM – Zoom Meeting
    Presenter will share zoom link with attendees 1 hour prior to the event.
    SAVE MAINE ABSENTEE VOTING – Join campaign leaders to hear about the Save #MaineAbsenteeVoting Campaign. Come hear about the bad actors attacking our secure voting systems and learn how you can be involved. Register: http://bit.ly/3F314Rg

    MAY 15, Thur 12-1:00PM (& every Thur) - #BrunswickME
    143 Main St, in front of Tontine Mall
    Maine Vigil for Peace – weekly stand-out to call for permanent ceasefire in #Gaza. #PeaceWorks of Greater Brunswick https://www.nenjp.org/calendar

    @AIF_Massachusetts

    #MaineResists #MaineEvents #NewHampshireResists
    #FreePalestine #BadDOGE #ResistAuthoritarianism
    #ResistFascism #USPol

    #pinetreeactivism #resist #bangorme #gaza #augustame #conwaynh
19. 

    DoomsdaysCW @[email protected] · 2025-05-12 · 22:56 UTC

    [2/3] #PineTreeActivism Calendar
    Events for May 12th - 17th, 2025

    Details confirmed as of May 12th

    Share/Repost so Mainers know where to #RESIST!
    Submit events to: [email protected]

    MAY 14, Wed 12-12:30PM (& every Wed) – #BangorME
    6 State St, “near the crosswalk & the 6 State St. Building”
    PEACE & CEASEFIRE In #Gaza - Weekly vigil hosted by Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine: https://www.peacectr.org/

    MAY 14, Wed 1-2:30PM – #AugustaME
    Burton M Cross Office Bldg, Rm 220, 111 Sewall St
    TESTIFY TO SUPPORT UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE: the All Maine Health Act – You can testify in person, via Zoom, or submit online. Any testimony highlighting the many problems with our current system will be welcome. Especially looking for personal stories that illustrate why we need publicly funded, universal health care. Hosted by Maine ALLCare. FMI and a guide to writing testimony: http://bit.ly/453DDBT

    MAY 14, Wed 4-6:00PM – #ConwayNH
    4 Corners @ Intersection of Route 113 & 153
    Walk Out Wednesday – weekly visibility events with goal of covering New Hampshire with pop-up protests! Crowd size does not matter. Hit every overpass, shopping plaza and town square - every Wednesday!

    MAY 14, Wed 6-7PM – Virtual Event – Join from anywhere
    Team ENOUGH (for young people under 26) a youth-led program whose mission is to educate young voices about gun violence and mobilize them to take meaningful action against it. Supported by Brady United: https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/751813/

    MAY 14, Wed 6:30-8:00PM – #WaldoboroME
    Bug Tussle Annex, 251 Jefferson St
    Waldoboro Democrats Meeting – All Democratic or unenrolled progressive voters are welcome to attend! Pre-registration not required but appreciated. More info: [email protected]

    MAY 15, Thur 12-1:00PM – Zoom Meeting
    Presenter will share zoom link with attendees 1 hour prior to the event.
    SAVE MAINE ABSENTEE VOTING – Join campaign leaders to hear about the Save #MaineAbsenteeVoting Campaign. Come hear about the bad actors attacking our secure voting systems and learn how you can be involved. Register: http://bit.ly/3F314Rg

    MAY 15, Thur 12-1:00PM (& every Thur) - #BrunswickME
    143 Main St, in front of Tontine Mall
    Maine Vigil for Peace – weekly stand-out to call for permanent ceasefire in #Gaza. #PeaceWorks of Greater Brunswick https://www.nenjp.org/calendar

    @AIF_Massachusetts

    #MaineResists #MaineEvents #NewHampshireResists
    #FreePalestine #BadDOGE #ResistAuthoritarianism
    #ResistFascism #USPol

    #uspol #resistfascism #resistauthoritarianism #baddoge #freepalestine #newhampshireresists
20. 

    DoomsdaysCW @[email protected] · 2025-05-12 · 22:56 UTC

    [2/3] #PineTreeActivism Calendar
    Events for May 12th - 17th, 2025

    Details confirmed as of May 12th

    Share/Repost so Mainers know where to #RESIST!
    Submit events to: [email protected]

    MAY 14, Wed 12-12:30PM (& every Wed) – #BangorME
    6 State St, “near the crosswalk & the 6 State St. Building”
    PEACE & CEASEFIRE In #Gaza - Weekly vigil hosted by Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine: https://www.peacectr.org/

    MAY 14, Wed 1-2:30PM – #AugustaME
    Burton M Cross Office Bldg, Rm 220, 111 Sewall St
    TESTIFY TO SUPPORT UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE: the All Maine Health Act – You can testify in person, via Zoom, or submit online. Any testimony highlighting the many problems with our current system will be welcome. Especially looking for personal stories that illustrate why we need publicly funded, universal health care. Hosted by Maine ALLCare. FMI and a guide to writing testimony: http://bit.ly/453DDBT

    MAY 14, Wed 4-6:00PM – #ConwayNH
    4 Corners @ Intersection of Route 113 & 153
    Walk Out Wednesday – weekly visibility events with goal of covering New Hampshire with pop-up protests! Crowd size does not matter. Hit every overpass, shopping plaza and town square - every Wednesday!

    MAY 14, Wed 6-7PM – Virtual Event – Join from anywhere
    Team ENOUGH (for young people under 26) a youth-led program whose mission is to educate young voices about gun violence and mobilize them to take meaningful action against it. Supported by Brady United: https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/751813/

    MAY 14, Wed 6:30-8:00PM – #WaldoboroME
    Bug Tussle Annex, 251 Jefferson St
    Waldoboro Democrats Meeting – All Democratic or unenrolled progressive voters are welcome to attend! Pre-registration not required but appreciated. More info: [email protected]

    MAY 15, Thur 12-1:00PM – Zoom Meeting
    Presenter will share zoom link with attendees 1 hour prior to the event.
    SAVE MAINE ABSENTEE VOTING – Join campaign leaders to hear about the Save #MaineAbsenteeVoting Campaign. Come hear about the bad actors attacking our secure voting systems and learn how you can be involved. Register: http://bit.ly/3F314Rg

    MAY 15, Thur 12-1:00PM (& every Thur) - #BrunswickME
    143 Main St, in front of Tontine Mall
    Maine Vigil for Peace – weekly stand-out to call for permanent ceasefire in #Gaza. #PeaceWorks of Greater Brunswick https://www.nenjp.org/calendar

    @AIF_Massachusetts

    #MaineResists #MaineEvents #NewHampshireResists
    #FreePalestine #BadDOGE #ResistAuthoritarianism
    #ResistFascism #USPol

    #pinetreeactivism #resist #bangorme #gaza #augustame #conwaynh
21. 

    broodcoffee @[email protected] · 2026-04-24 · 05:50 UTC

    RE: https://mastodon.social/@broodcoffee/116454754564011275

    Still at $7/$60... need to pay off internet bill this Apr 24 ASAP. Pls help💸💕

    @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @mutual_aid @MutualAidNet

    #MutualAidRequest #crowdfund #FediAid #HelpFolksLive2026 #mutualaid #Emergency #FediHelp #fediverse #BIPOCMA

    #crowdfund #fediaid #helpfolkslive2026 #mutualaid #emergency #fedihelp
22. 

    broodcoffee @[email protected] · 2026-04-23 · 15:35 UTC

    $60 GOAL MET - APRIL INTERNET BILL PAID

    Will pause my fundraiser until the 29th to give way for other Emergency/Urgent MA posts by others at the moment

    Thank you for the boosts & shared amounts💸💕

    Paylink: https://ko-fi.com/broodcoffee/goal

    @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @mutual_aid @MutualAidNet

    #MutualAidRequest #crowdfund #FediAid #HelpFolksLive2026 #mutualaid #Emergency #FediHelp #fediverse #BIPOCMA

    #mutualaidrequest #crowdfund #fediaid #helpfolkslive2026 #mutualaid #emergency
23. 

    broodcoffee @[email protected] · 2026-04-23 · 15:35 UTC

    $60 GOAL MET - APRIL INTERNET BILL PAID

    Will pause my fundraiser until the 29th to give way for other Emergency/Urgent MA posts by others at the moment

    Thank you for the boosts & shared amounts💸💕

    Paylink: https://ko-fi.com/broodcoffee/goal

    @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @mutual_aid @MutualAidNet

    #MutualAidRequest #crowdfund #FediAid #HelpFolksLive2026 #mutualaid #Emergency #FediHelp #fediverse #BIPOCMA

    #mutualaidrequest #crowdfund #fediaid #helpfolkslive2026 #mutualaid #emergency
24. 

    broodcoffee @[email protected] · 2026-04-23 · 15:35 UTC

    $60 GOAL MET - APRIL INTERNET BILL PAID

    Will pause my fundraiser until the 29th to give way for other Emergency/Urgent MA posts by others at the moment

    Thank you for the boosts & shared amounts💸💕

    Paylink: https://ko-fi.com/broodcoffee/goal

    @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @mutual_aid @MutualAidNet

    #MutualAidRequest #crowdfund #FediAid #HelpFolksLive2026 #mutualaid #Emergency #FediHelp #fediverse #BIPOCMA

    #bipocma #fediverse #fedihelp #emergency #mutualaid #helpfolkslive2026
25. 

    broodcoffee @[email protected] · 2026-04-23 · 15:35 UTC

    $60 GOAL MET - APRIL INTERNET BILL PAID

    Will pause my fundraiser until the 29th to give way for other Emergency/Urgent MA posts by others at the moment

    Thank you for the boosts & shared amounts💸💕

    Paylink: https://ko-fi.com/broodcoffee/goal

    @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @mutual_aid @MutualAidNet

    #MutualAidRequest #crowdfund #FediAid #HelpFolksLive2026 #mutualaid #Emergency #FediHelp #fediverse #BIPOCMA

    #mutualaidrequest #crowdfund #fediaid #helpfolkslive2026 #mutualaid #emergency
26. 

    Peter Riley @[email protected] · 2023-12-30 · 23:42 UTC

    At 8.00am on Tuesday 20th January 1842, over 5,000 people, a quarter of #Victoria’s white population, gathered at the outskirts of #Melbourne crowding round the gallows erected on a small rise east of Swanston St, north of La Trobe St.
    The crowd, in a carnival mood, had come to see the public execution of Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner – the first two people executed in Victoria.
    This is their story.

    http://tunnermaulcommemoration.000webhostapp.com/pdf/LEST-WE-FORGET-The-Tunnerminnerwait-and-Maulboyheenner-Saga.pdf

    #Tunnerminnerwait #Maulboyheener

    #victoria #melbourne #tunnerminnerwait #maulboyheener
27. 

    Democracy Matters :verified: @DemocracyMattersALot · 2024-06-03 · 13:54 UTC

    #FourYearsAgoToday #AreYouBetterOff

    June 3, 2020 – Trump’s press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, denied that tear gas and rubber bullets were used to clear out protesters so that Trump could have his picture taken at St. John’s church. The Park Police, however, acknowledged firing “pepper ball” projectiles and “smoke canisters” into the crowd.

    #NeverAgainTrump #TrumpMustLose2024 #VoteBlue #GOPIncompetence #NoRepublicansEverAgain

    #fouryearsagotoday #areyoubetteroff #neveragaintrump #trumpmustlose2024 #voteblue #gopincompetence
28. 

    Democracy Matters :verified: @[email protected] · 2024-06-03 · 13:54 UTC

    #FourYearsAgoToday #AreYouBetterOff

    June 3, 2020 – Trump’s press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, denied that tear gas and rubber bullets were used to clear out protesters so that Trump could have his picture taken at St. John’s church. The Park Police, however, acknowledged firing “pepper ball” projectiles and “smoke canisters” into the crowd.

    #NeverAgainTrump #TrumpMustLose2024 #VoteBlue #GOPIncompetence #NoRepublicansEverAgain

    #fouryearsagotoday #areyoubetteroff #neveragaintrump #trumpmustlose2024 #voteblue #gopincompetence
29. 

    Democracy Matters :verified: @[email protected] · 2024-06-03 · 13:54 UTC

    #FourYearsAgoToday #AreYouBetterOff

    June 3, 2020 – Trump’s press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, denied that tear gas and rubber bullets were used to clear out protesters so that Trump could have his picture taken at St. John’s church. The Park Police, however, acknowledged firing “pepper ball” projectiles and “smoke canisters” into the crowd.

    #NeverAgainTrump #TrumpMustLose2024 #VoteBlue #GOPIncompetence #NoRepublicansEverAgain

    #fouryearsagotoday #areyoubetteroff #neveragaintrump #trumpmustlose2024 #voteblue #gopincompetence
30. 

    Democracy Matters :verified: @[email protected] · 2024-06-03 · 13:54 UTC

    #FourYearsAgoToday #AreYouBetterOff

    June 3, 2020 – Trump’s press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, denied that tear gas and rubber bullets were used to clear out protesters so that Trump could have his picture taken at St. John’s church. The Park Police, however, acknowledged firing “pepper ball” projectiles and “smoke canisters” into the crowd.

    #NeverAgainTrump #TrumpMustLose2024 #VoteBlue #GOPIncompetence #NoRepublicansEverAgain

    #norepublicanseveragain #gopincompetence #voteblue #trumpmustlose2024 #neveragaintrump #areyoubetteroff