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With this new year the 21st century is now 25 percent completed.

Peaks In The Arc. Oil on canvas. 1927. 🎨 Wassily Kandinsky.

📸 Eugène Atget. Pont Neuf 1925. Paris Seine

Never judge a book by its cover…almost didn’t stop at Christ Church in Appleton-le-Moor, North York, because I’m often not as bothered about Victorian churches, but was intrigued anyway…I opened the door and was so glad I did! A masterpiece of design, by Pearson. A 📸 thread…

Toxic PFAS Levels Cut in Half in NJ’s Drinking Water, Researchers Find: Levels of toxic PFAS 'Forever Chemicals' in New Jersey drinking water have been cut in half, according to a study from Rutgers University health researchers who analyzed years of data from dozens of systems across the state. They credit a 2018 rule in New Jersey that regulates PFAS and sets an enforceable standard. Some of the many health risks linked to PFAS are: Reduced ability of the body’s immune system to fight infections; hormone disruption; developmental effects or delays in children, including low birth weight, accelerated puberty, bone variations, or behavioral changes; reproductive effects such as decreased fertility or increased high blood pressure and higher risk of pre-eclampsia in pregnant women; increased risk of Type 2 diabetes in women; and increased risk of some cancers, including prostate, kidney, and testicular cancers. The previous EPA established the 2024 National Primary Drinking Water Regulation that would have regulated six PFAS chemicals in every state. But the current EPA rescinded enforceable standards for four of the six PFAS, and delayed compliance deadlines for the remaining two PFAS from 2029 to 2031. ⬇️

"Oggi", nel 1966, usciva Pet Sounds dei Beach Boys. Per alcune classifiche delle varie riviste musicali uno dei migliori album di sempre. La foto di copertina è stata scattata il 15 febbraio 1966 all'area bambini dello Zoo di San Diego, da George Jerman. #uscivaoggi

For me, the only square box worth looking at today.

Happy birthday to Erik Satie, born on this day in 1866!

Sunrise at Stonehenge today (17th May) was at 5.13am, sunset is at 8.53pm 🌤️🦅

Moon Nymph, 1883 Moonlit Beauties, 1875 by Luis Ricardo Falero

📷 "Bright Moon" 1945 by Gen Ōtsuka (1912-1992).

Nigatsudo Temple, by Yoshida Hiroshi, 1926

@LostInSk And here I thought Thurs nite temp of 5°C in my part of NJ was bad. When does 🇨🇦 winter really (not officially) end?

Decent amount of pea size hail coming down in Leader #skstorm at 7:30 p.m

Join me live tomorrow! In the last few weeks we have been discussing spiritual perception, particularly the old atavistic perception of humanity vs. the higher perception that arises through initiation. In Eastern esotericism, the concept of atavism is also present, particularly in teachings concerning the development of the chakra system and the spiritual powers that emerge from its enlivening and attunement. Within these traditions, the spiritual powers and capacities that emerge from the initial stages of awakening are called siddhis. These siddhis are not truly earned, but are latent in the human being and are really vestiges of an earlier period of development. Although these capacities can be awakened, they are not regarded as evidence of true enlightenment or samadhi. Instead, they are often viewed as potential hindrances to spiritual development unless the student learns to align and attune them to God. Only when this inner union is established within the heart can an individual begin to trust their spiritual perceptions. As mentioned last week, this teaching closely parallels Rudolf Steiner’s distinction between atavistic clairvoyance and Imagination consciousness. I will be live tomorrow afternoon with my members discussing these concepts more deeply through the lenses of Theosophy, Eastern spiritual principles, and Anthroposophy. Sign up below to take part!

May the future belong to painters, potters, woodworkers, seamstresses, storytellers, bakers, gardeners, and people who still make things with their hands.

Is it even a country lane if it doesn't have grass growing in the middle, a barn halfway along and hedges full of blackbirds? I could walk for miles on the lanes at this time of year (and frequently do), just ambling and listening and breathing in the calm, still evening air as the sun sets. Please, May, take your sweet time, don't rush by. 📍 Peak District, England

The praying mantis is marketed as a beneficial garden insect, but that's not necessarily true. The Chinese mantis egg cases sold at garden centers are an invasive species actively harming pollinator populations. These mantises eat hummingbirds, butterflies, bees, and even native praying mantises at roughly the same rate they eat pests. Leave the mantis egg case on the garden center shelf.

🦔NV Energy is ending its power supply agreement with Lake Tahoe by May 2027, citing data center demand in northern Nevada. 49,000 California residents who get their electricity through Liberty Utilities, which sources 75% of its power from NV Energy, now have one year to find a new supplier. NV Energy's planning documents show twelve Nevada data center projects could drive 5,900 megawatts of new demand by 2033, and Amazon recently signed a deal with the utility to deploy 700 megawatts of new generation for Reno data center operations. A March 2026 Gallup poll found seven in ten Americans oppose AI data centers in their communities. My Take I have covered Saline Township, Tucson, Fayetteville, Kenya, and Maine, and Lake Tahoe is where the story gets ugly in a new way. A utility company can now cut off 49,000 residents to free up capacity for data centers across the state line, and the regulatory structure offers no clear recourse because no single agency oversees the chain from generation to customer bill. NV Energy claims the timing is unrelated to the AI boom, but signing 700-megawatt contracts with Amazon for Reno data centers in the same window makes that argument hard to take seriously. Lake Tahoe residents pay California rates on a Nevada grid governed by Nevada regulators who answer to Nevada industrial customers first. Nobody designed the 2009 agreement around the possibility that hyperscalers would show up and absorb the entire region's surplus capacity, and the cross-border structure makes it almost impossible for California regulators to intervene now. Liberty has one year to find a new supplier meeting California's renewable requirements, and the Greenlink West transmission project that might help comes online the same month the current contract ends. Bipartisan opposition to data centers has now reached 70% nationally, and Lake Tahoe is exactly why. The political backlash is becoming the binding constraint that the financing pressure and grid limits already implied. Hedgie🤗

Agatha Christie knew poisons so well, her books have been consulted when diagnosing patients. In 1976, a London infant was dying of a rare illness. Her nurses, having read The Pale Horse, realized she had been poisoned with thallium. Murder mysteries saved her life.

Un facteur de campagne a construit un palais. Seul. À la main. Pendant 33 ans. Ferdinand Cheval, facteur rural à Hauterives dans la Drôme. Chaque jour, il parcourt plus de 30 kilomètres à pied pour distribuer le courrier. Un matin d'avril 1879, il trébuche sur une pierre. Il la ramasse. Elle est belle. Il la met dans sa poche. Le lendemain, il revient avec une brouette. Puis une charrette. Pendant 33 ans, il ramasse des pierres sur sa tournée et les rapporte chez lui. Le soir, à la lueur d'une lampe à pétrole, il les assemble. Il n'est ni architecte, ni maçon. Il s'inspire de cartes postales, de magazines illustrés, de la Bible. Il sculpte des temples hindous, des mosquées, des grottes, des cascades, des animaux. 26 mètres de long. 12 mètres de large. 12 mètres de haut. 10 000 journées de travail, 93 000 heures. Classé monument historique par André Malraux en 1969. Sur la façade, il a gravé : "Le travail d'un seul."