The obverse of the Great Seal of the United States in my 1798 copy of the first encyclopedia published in the newly founded nation. Largely designed by Charles Thomson & William Barton, two people who lived through the Revolution, the head was purposely directed towards the olive branch.

Thank you, I was lucky to find it and the plates are more spectacular than I anticipated.

Another plate from my copy of John O. Westwood's Facsimiles of Anglo-Saxon & Irish Manuscripts. This a decorative page that Westwood painted by hand and then was lithographed for this book. 📚💙 #medieval #medievalsky #booksky 🖼️

A page from the Lindisfarne Gospels “considered one of the finest works in the unique style of Hiberno-Saxon or Insular art, combining Mediterranean, Anglo-Saxon and Celtic elements.” It was made 715–720 in the post-Roman era of Great Britain & Ireland.
The endless, woven knots are magnificent.

During the Silurian Period, 430 million years ago, equatorial reef systems developed in the seas. The reefs were home to all kinds of invertebrates and among the most plentiful were brachiopods, bryozoans, and gastropods, seen in this specimen in our collection.

During the Silurian Period, 430 million years ago, equatorial reef systems developed in the seas. The reefs were home to all kinds of invertebrates and among the most plentiful were brachiopods, bryozoans, and gastropods, seen in this specimen in our collection.

Join us for our fundraising event on Saturday! Please share! 💫

The article highlights Dogger Bank's value for birds and mammals, which are unlikely to be much affected by bottom trawling, but never mentions benthic fauna. In my experience sampling there, much of the benthos is naturally poor due to high wave disturbance in these shallow waters.

For me that was Mona Lisa

I’ve seen this one (actually, two side by side) 👇

Ooh it's our Gutenberg Bible, fully digitised: cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-INC-...

A ginormous book opened up with a blank page on the left and a colored illustration after an illuminated manuscript on the right. A pencil lying between the two pages to provide scale. #booksky #medievalsky

I’ve shared from my 1868 copy of John O. Westwood's
Facsimiles of Anglo-Saxon & Irish Manuscripts. This gives you an idea of its size, one of the largest books in my personal library. This page is from the Latin Gospels, Trinity College, Cambridge. Westwood painted the manuscripts from sight. 📚💙

A closer view of the knots. Follow a single strand, they don’t stop.

‘Thought to be made’

Another plate from my copy of John O. Westwood's Facsimiles of Anglo-Saxon & Irish Manuscripts. This a decorative page that Westwood painted by hand and then was lithographed for this book. 📚💙 #medieval #medievalsky #booksky 🖼️

A page from the Lindisfarne Gospels “considered one of the finest works in the unique style of Hiberno-Saxon or Insular art, combining Mediterranean, Anglo-Saxon and Celtic elements.” It was made 715–720 in the post-Roman era of Great Britain & Ireland.
The endless, woven knots are magnificent.

Photo by Charles J. Sharp: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hummingbird_hawk_moth_(Macroglossum_stellatarum)_in_flight.jpg#mw-jump-to-license

Photo by Terry Sohl: https://www.sdakotabirds.com/species/ruby_throated_hummingbird_info.htm

Underrated example of convergent evolution I feel. The hummingbird hawk-moth can feed on nectar using its proboscis while hovering in the air, just like a hummingbird.

March 10, 1775 – Rooks are very much engaged in the business of nidification: but they do not roost on the their nest-trees ’til some eggs are lain. Rooks are continually fighting & pulling each other’s nests to pieces: these proceedings are inconsistent with living in such close community.

A map published in 1866 centers in the Persian gulf and Persia, colored yellow. Afghanistan and “Baloochistan,” part of present day Afghanistan are also visible colored blue and pink respectively.

A larger view with all of Persia visible.

Detail of a map with part of the Persian Gulf on the left and the Gulf of Oman on the right separated of course by the Strait of Hormuz, labeled Ormus on the map. #maps #mapsky #cartography

‘Strait of Ormus’ (Hormuz) depicted on a map from my copy of an atlas published in 1866. Dubai, a city today of 4 million people, doesn’t even appear on the map.

Cup fungus. Peziza mosera ( id confirmed by GF et al)

Stalked Bonfire Cup, Geopyxis carbonaria (id confirmed by GF)

Common Liverwort, Marchantia polymorphia

After the devastating wildfire on Fylingdales, it's interesting to see the appearance of some fungi specialising in fire sites, and a liverwort growing on bare damp soil.
@fylingdalesed.bsky.social @northyorkmoors.org.uk

A small, bright yellow five petal flower growing out of a mossy, stick covered soil. #flowers #nature

First native wildflower spotted on the trail. Makes sense that it’s sagebrush buttercup (Ranunculus glaberrimus), it’s usually one of the first flowers to bloom after the snow melts.
My 📷

Hey. Make a cup of tea, stretch, be around a kid or an old person, get your hands in dough or soil.

Be stubbornly human.

And don't let lying become a habit.

Practice speaking what's real.

Samuel Putnam Avery Bookplate with a Lilly quote saying "far more seemly were it for thee to have thy Study full of Bookes than they purses full of money."

Sarah Scribbles cartoon about spending money carefully, until making it rain for books!

Erasmus Bookbuying Vibe

#OnThisDay in 1818, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was 1st published. It's not been out of print since. Read Sharon Ruston on the scientific background to the novel incl. contemporary investigations into the possibility of states between life and death: publicdomainreview.org/essay/t... #otd

A pale, tan praying mantis on a clump of vegetation. #entomology #bugsky 🐞

'Überlebenskünstler' #FotoVorschlag

I saw this mantis where it shouldn’t be, on a helibase by a wildfire. It asked me why I looked so large and strange and I said, “I dunno, I guess I just evolved that way.”
“I see. it replied. “I understand.”
My 📷

A large red poppy close up with additional poppies in the background. Conifer tree trunks scared black from fire are also visible

'Überlebenskünstler' #FotoVorschlag

Poppies reclaiming a forest burned in a massive wildfire the year before.
My 📷

We had some #Aurora show up last night. #astronomy

A photo of chains wrapped around a rubber surface.

‘Technik' #FotoVorschlag
My 📷

In this issue of the Linguistic Discovery newsletter, you’ll learn what the new study actually found, why it doesn’t push back the earliest writing by tens of thousands of years, and why the findings are actually way cooler, giving us insight into the very nature of what it is to be human. ⬇️

“..there is almost no historical account of the Threatened Plants Committee. Neglecting plants within histories of extinction, is not just puzzling, but also means that histories of extinction often exclude some of the most extraordinary stories of life on earth.”
🌎 🌱

Learning from the Lives of Threatened Plants Whose lives count in the modern history of extinction? Sadiah Qureshi considers what historians can learn by paying attention to the remarkable lives of plants.

“Paying attention to plants challenges historians to radically rethink common divisions of time and place, and assumptions about whose lives are historically interesting or significant.”

@sadiahqureshi.bsky.social on what we can learn from the lives of endangered plants such as the Wollemi pine.

Two pairs of beavers released in Cornwall by wildlife trust Wildlife experts say the release is a "landmark" for nature recovering in Cornwall and nationally.

Enjoy a full minute of beavers being released into the wild in Cornwall. These little fluffbutts are the first to swim in these waters in a very, very long time - the last official records of beavers in the wild in England are from the 1300s. BBC buff.ly/BnMwCOx
#ShareGoodNewsToo