Lucia Nixon

Photo of a cuneiform tablet fragment shaped a bit like an irregular diamond. It preserves nearly 20 incomplete lines of text separated by a horizontal ruling

There's a broken cuneiform tablet from the Old Babylonian period, nearly 4,000 years ago, which preserves a tiny portion of a dialogue between two friends.

It feels a bit like the conversations I've been having for the past week, so I wanted to share it.

Japonica buds and blossom. Flowers are blush pink to white

Japonica coming out! #tinyjoys @lizgloyn.bsky.social

A woman dressed in black

Qatar Minster of education Lolwah bint Rashid Al Khater to the US: “…we just need you to leave us alone. To stop igniting wars so that weapons’ companies can make more money. We need you to Stop Bombing Schools, to stop trafficking and raping little kids.”

US aid cuts: $45bn
UK aid cuts: $8.2bn
EU aid cuts: $2.5bn
France aid cuts: $2bn
German aid cuts: $2bn
Canada aid cuts: $675m

Aid has dropped by over 50% in the last two years. So it’s a good job the world is a lot safer now and there are definitely no major humanitarian crises brewing!

'An Iranian missile landed on him': Sky News speaks to son of expat who died in United Arab Emirates Saleh Ahmed, 55, was delivering drinking water when he was fatally struck by debris after a missile attack on the first day of the war. His son tells Sky News he does not believe his father knew the c...

Victims in our countries seldom get profiled and humanised in Western media. This is a portrait of a life cut short. What a tragedy.

"Saleh Ahmed (55) lived in the UAE as an expat for 25 years, sending under £500 per month in earnings to Bangladesh for his wife and four children."

Ruben Ray Martinez: Footage shows US citizen shot by ICE agent in Texas traffic stop The Department of Homeland Security did not disclose Martinez was shot by one of its agents until almost a year later.

Newly released footage shows an ICE agent killing Rubin Ray Martinez, 23, in his car in Texas.

"He was shot at point-blank range through his side window by an ICE agent who was in no danger."
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Seems troubling.

More troubling would be the idea that the Administration might have bombed Iran without expecting this.

Dear Shabana, I notice today that you referred to me in your speech on immigration at the IPPR think tank. You said: “A party leader should not be on the beaches of France encouraging people to make a perilous crossing on small boats.” I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised especially after the hateful Labour campaign in Gorton and Denton, but this is just the latest in a string of lies peddled by a discredited Government who intentionally fan the flames of racism and division. When I went to Calais, I was not there to encourage people to travel to the UK. I was there to see at first hand the suffering your Government and successive Governments have done in demonising migrants in a pathetic bid to pander to the base instincts of Reform and the flawed strategy of Morgan McSweeney. As you will know, if you even bothered to research my visit instead of taking Reform talking points, I was there to witness the brutality of families living in tents in freezing temperatures. I filled water tanks and picked up litter. What that visit did do is confirm my belief that if we are to smash the boat gangs and stop the boats, we need to offer safer and managed routes for migrants to come to this country. Showing compassion as a politician is not a crime. In fact, we need to see much more of it. It reminded me of a young MP who in October 2015 spent three days in Lesbos helping migrants fleeing war-torn Syria. She posted videos on X, talked about handing out water and croissants to refugees and food parcels. When she returned to the UK, she wrote a very moving piece in the New Statesman. She said “we have to work with our European partners and create new, safe, and legal routes for refugees to get to Europe. We cannot abandon them to their fate, left as prey for smugglers whilst risking death on the seas.” She said “maybe we can make ourselves feel better by saying no-one is making them get on the boats. And again, the Home Secretary is not entirely wrong when …

Dear Shabana,

Let's clear some things up around migration and remember we're talking about people's lives.

Home on the range: Examining a late Roman villa estate at Milton, Cambridgeshire | The Past The discovery of an extensive and long-lived late Roman agricultural landscape near Cambridge has added illuminating details to our understanding of a regio ...

Home on the range: Examining a late Roman villa estate at Milton, Cambridgeshire – The Past
the-past.com/feature/home...

In this introduction to our new issue, Sarah Kurnick and Samantha Fladd rethink gender inequality in #archaeology. Moving beyond the “leaky pipeline”, they argue that exclusion is an active, structural process shaping who remains visible and cited in the field. 🏺
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

GOOD MORNING
TEXAS !!
PRIMARY DAY
You have GREAT DEMOCRATS RUNNING PLEASE VOTE

James Doohan as Scotty sits at a control console aboard the USS Enterprise, wearing a red Starfleet uniform with a black collar and a delta insignia on his chest. He leans slightly forward with one hand resting on the console, his dark hair neatly combed to the side. Behind him are colorful control panels and futuristic set walls characteristic of the original Star Trek series bridge.

James Doohan wasn’t just Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, he was also a Canadian who served his country and landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. Then he turned to acting, was trained by Lorne Greene and even helped develop the Klingon language.
This is his story.

🧵 1/12

"The Peace President."

😂😂😂

lot of love for the guy who thinks it's in Dorset

Sign the Petition Keep the Classical Languages Major at the University of Iowa

shortsighted decision to cut classical languages at UIowa Petition here c.org/ZVhdNSckD8

If you spend time in the bad place, you’re hearing this claim a lot:

Alberta sends $23B more to Ottawa than it gets back. If we separated, we’d erase the $9B deficit and have a $14B surplus.

It sounds simple. It’s wrong. Here's why. 🧵

I have cerebral palsy, speak with a device and use a ♿️ for mobility.

I was an @EasterSealsON kid and now I’m raising money to send kids like me to a fully accessible camp this summer.

Please sponsor me to skate with the #Leafs using my secure link. ➡️ secure.e2rm.com/p2p/fundrais...

Black-and-white photograph of Montreal’s Griffintown neighbourhood and waterfront viewed from an elevated position. In the foreground are tightly packed industrial buildings, warehouses, and smokestacks clustered along curving railway tracks and roads. A canal basin with docks and moored ships runs through the centre. In the distance, a long bridge spans the water beneath a cloudy sky.

Griffintown was a thriving neighbourhood in Montreal that existed for over 150 years.
Home to many Irish immigrants who helped build the city, the neighbourhood was demolished in the leadup to Expo 67 in 1967.
This is the story.

🧵 1/7

Coffee bags, one is Tom of Finland with a Tom of Finland image on it. The other is Moomin with a Moomin leaning on a blueberry. More details: in the photograph of two "Art Roast" coffee bags on the shelf of a store with prices in euros. One of the bags is large and black and says HEAVY DUTY dark roast coffee beans, exclusive blend by Robert [I can't read it, it's in script]. The other is blue and says Blueberry coffee.

ah yes, the two genders

Kalo Mina, everyone! Have a good month, in spite of Everything!

Trump's War The costs could be catastrophic

open.substack.com/pub/robertre...

Photo of the ruins of ancient Assur with a ziggurat rising in the distance and low remains of walls in the foreground. It looks like sunset or sunrise with the soft, orange lighting. Photo by Mahmoud Fakhri

How to make perfume in 1230 BCE in the heartland of ancient Assyria.

First, you need to mix cane with cleansed water from the palace well of the city of Aššur (pronounced Ashur).

Second, you need to pour this mixture into a special vessel before adding...

Reform’s Danny Kruger criticises UK’s ‘totally unregulated sexual economy’ Former Conservative laments divorce changes and says Reform UK will pursue policies to boost birthrate

Reform: There's too much state interference.

Also Reform: We will force you to marry, stop you getting divorced, make you have babies, dictate your religious beliefs, control your sexuality, penalise you if you are disabled and deport you if you don't look right.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

So Epstein buddies Andrew and Mandelson have been arrested in the UK. And in the US? Zero, zip, nada | Marina Hyde At least the British gave us the perp-walk shots. But I fear that any Americans seeking real justice will have to wait, and wait, and wait, says Guardian columnist Marina Hyde

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Open your ears
Drop your shoulders
Bend your knees
Raise the roof
Keep breathing
Be trustworthy
Take care of yourself
Believe in goodness
Head for the light

- Tilda Swinton

Aliya Rahman, woman who was dragged out of car by ICE in Minneapolis: "I've spent the last month learning the names of the tendons in my shoulder, because both of my shoulders are torn -- cartilage and tendons. But what I haven't learned is the names of the people who did this to me."

I am a 15-year-old girl. Let me show you the vile misogyny that confronts me on social media every day | Anonymous Objectification, hate, rape threats: the politicians debating online abuse mean well, but to truly understand, they need to see what I see

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

🧵This is the story of an UNSUNG HERO who helped expose Prince Andrew:

Emily Maitlis has gotten all sorts of accolades and awards for her 2019 Newsnight interview in which Andrew showed the world he was guilty AF and Sam McAlister, the BBC Newsnight producer and booker

Decades of feminism paved the road to Andrew’s arrest | Rebecca Solnit The outcry and activism of the 2010s – itself enabled by earlier generations of feminists – brought us to this moment. But if the Trump administration has its way, opposing forces will prevail

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...