#365ways2026 — Public Fediverse posts

Boldly Go!

This week marked the 60th anniversary of Star Trek (it was Tuesday, actually, but alas! I was distracted by the whole “return to work” thing). And the show almost didn’t make it at all.

How ‘Star Trek’ almost failed to launch

“The Cage” – a complicated story about alien mind-control – was an ambitious pilot. When Roddenberry presented it to NBC, the programming executives were blown away. But the sales and marketing department wasn’t convinced. Not enough action, they thought. It would be hard to promote. Pass.

“Star Trek,” it seemed, was dead.

Fortunately, there’s more to that story, and the show not only got off the ground but became the entertainment juggernaut it is today.

I wasn’t a Trek fan growing up, in large part, I think, because my parents had made the conscious decision not to have a television. Now that I’m all grown up and have a TV of my own, though, I appreciate the ideals and more behind the sometimes campy but always fun franchise. So inspiring, and not just for everyday fans. 

‘Star Trek’ and NASA have intertwined legacies – the show championed diversity and inspired generations of real space scientists

When it premiered in 1966, no one could have predicted that it would lead to more than a dozen spinoff shows, more than a dozen movies and one of the most enduring fandoms in popular culture.

“Star Trek” is also unusual for its close connections to NASA, both in its storylines and in the real world. Decades of “Star Trek” adventures have ignited a love of spaceflight across generations, inspiring many who now work as space professionals.

Let’s hear it for the real-world powers of fiction. And now, in life and the imagination, go boldly!

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Bayeux Mania!

Books are just one of the many ways to interpret and record history. The 11th-century Bayeux tapestry, is going on display to the public today in the UK. The tapestry has more than 220 feet of embroidery detailing the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England in 1066. And the public is loving it.

British Museum Opens Bayeux Tapestry Exhibition

Inside the exhibition on Thursday morning, the first visitors made their way along the tapestry, snapping photos as they went. They were all quiet until one — Cheryl Prax, 71, a retired property manager — spotted some of the nude figures in the tapestry’s borders and laughed loudly. “I love quirky historical things like that,” Prax said afterward.

(And what would this type of storytelling look like with more modern topics? Artist Edith Pritchett drew a modern-day version depicting “today’s battles with online trolls, social media addiction, the manosphere, AI agents” and more: The trollers v the scrollers: Edith Pritchett’s Bayeux tapestry for the modern age)

Want to see the tapestry in person but can’t get tickets to see the original? You still have options!

Where to See the World’s Bayeux Tapestry Replicas

Here are links to just some of the animals, people, and other items depicted (the astronomical object included, and some less safe for work items) in the tapestry. And if you can’t make it in person, check out this high-res digital version from the Bayeux Museum: Explore the Bayeux Tapestry online.

Fair warning, though, many of the main websites linked to the tapestry are slooooow today. Because history is cool, and Bayeux Mania is real!

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A Book in the Library of Life

Why write? It’s a question writers get asked a lot. There are a lot of challenges to writing, both internal and external, and overcoming them can take persistence and focus and a good handle on what and why. So I periodically ask myself just that: why write? 

Here’s one author talking about her history with writing: Patricia Cornwell, novelist: Imagination saved me

Jamie Coomarasamy speaks to Patricia Cornwell, one of the world’s best-selling crime writers, whose books have sold more than 120 million copies worldwide… Her imagination became a refuge during difficult years, shaping the stories and characters she would later create.

Ann Patchett’s The Getaway Car is another interesting look into the author’s development as a writer, but everyone’s answer is different.

My version of why tends to revolve around an essential truth: I want to be part of the worlds I’ve loved since I was a child. I want to be a book in the library of life.

* * *

A Book in the Library of Life

Why write? It’s a question writers get asked a lot. There are a lot of challenges to writing, both internal and external, and overcoming them can take persistence and focus and a good handle on what and why. So I periodically ask myself just that: why write? 

Here’s one author talking about her history with writing: Patricia Cornwell, novelist: Imagination saved me

Jamie Coomarasamy speaks to Patricia Cornwell, one of the world’s best-selling crime writers, whose books have sold more than 120 million copies worldwide… Her imagination became a refuge during difficult years, shaping the stories and characters she would later create.

Ann Patchett’s The Getaway Car is another interesting look into the author’s development as a writer, but everyone’s answer is different.

My version of why tends to revolve around an essential truth: I want to be part of the worlds I’ve loved since I was a child. I want to be a book in the library of life.

* * *

A Book in the Library of Life

Why write? It’s a question writers get asked a lot. There are a lot of challenges to writing, both internal and external, and overcoming them can take persistence and focus and a good handle on what and why. So I periodically ask myself just that: why write? 

Here’s one author talking about her history with writing: Patricia Cornwell, novelist: Imagination saved me

Jamie Coomarasamy speaks to Patricia Cornwell, one of the world’s best-selling crime writers, whose books have sold more than 120 million copies worldwide… Her imagination became a refuge during difficult years, shaping the stories and characters she would later create.

Ann Patchett’s The Getaway Car is another interesting look into the author’s development as a writer, but everyone’s answer is different.

My version of why tends to revolve around an essential truth: I want to be part of the worlds I’ve loved since I was a child. I want to be a book in the library of life.

* * *

A Book in the Library of Life

Why write? It’s a question writers get asked a lot. There are a lot of challenges to writing, both internal and external, and overcoming them can take persistence and focus and a good handle on what and why. So I periodically ask myself just that: why write? 

Here’s one author talking about her history with writing: Patricia Cornwell, novelist: Imagination saved me

Jamie Coomarasamy speaks to Patricia Cornwell, one of the world’s best-selling crime writers, whose books have sold more than 120 million copies worldwide… Her imagination became a refuge during difficult years, shaping the stories and characters she would later create.

Ann Patchett’s The Getaway Car is another interesting look into the author’s development as a writer, but everyone’s answer is different.

My version of why tends to revolve around an essential truth: I want to be part of the worlds I’ve loved since I was a child. I want to be a book in the library of life.

* * *

A Book in the Library of Life

Why write? It’s a question writers get asked a lot. There are a lot of challenges to writing, both internal and external, and overcoming them can take persistence and focus and a good handle on what and why. So I periodically ask myself just that: why write? 

Here’s one author talking about her history with writing: Patricia Cornwell, novelist: Imagination saved me

Jamie Coomarasamy speaks to Patricia Cornwell, one of the world’s best-selling crime writers, whose books have sold more than 120 million copies worldwide… Her imagination became a refuge during difficult years, shaping the stories and characters she would later create.

Ann Patchett’s The Getaway Car is another interesting look into the author’s development as a writer, but everyone’s answer is different.

My version of why tends to revolve around an essential truth: I want to be part of the worlds I’ve loved since I was a child. I want to be a book in the library of life.

* * *

Remember to Keep Laughing

I’m watching holes being punched in democracy, and I don’t like it. At the same time, my father is sending nature notes from the beach.

/headline

Pigeons, house finches

/headline

Black-backed gulls

The headlines are important. 

/headline

Willets

The headlines mark a world changing in ways that will hurt the people and things I care about. That’s… not great.

/headline

Sanderlings

/headline

Osprey

But there is more to the world than just headlines.

Pelicans, herring gulls, terns, mockingbird, starlings, boat-tailed grackles, house sparrows, swallows, dolphins!

Laughing gulls.

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