Cordwainer Smith ⚛️

Bring out the gimp...

We were told we had to let in migrants to pay for our aging populations But it turns out the migrants are net drains on our societies So now we have to raise the retirement age on our aging populations to pay for the migrants 🤡

We know. We literally want you to burn it all down, but you won’t. So shut up.

Imagine being able to make marble look like water. In 1858, an Italian sculptor did exactly that. And no one has done it since... He was commissioned to carve a naiad — a water nymph — for the baths of a palazzo in Brescia, Italy. In Greek mythology, Naiads were the living souls of rivers and springs. So Lombardi didn't carve the figure standing beside water. He carved the water itself: flowing over her skin, until the boundary between nymph and element became impossible to find. The sculpture caused an immediate sensation. The Brescian newspaper L’Alba responded with an elaborate ekphrasis — a piece of writing so overcome by what it was describing that it produced lines like this: “Her beautiful nudity, the kind which, rather than the senses, inebriates the soul with soothing ideas.” Humans are truly capable of the most extraordinary things... Someone took a block of stone and made it look wet. Made it look cold, and made the skin underneath look alive. As Alexander Pope once wrote: “Then marble, soften'd into life, grew warm.”

View of Villafranca - Carl Morgenstern, 1849

Royal Palace of Aigai, also known as the "Basileion" of Aigai, in Vergina, Greece 🇬🇷 The Palace of Aigai was the ceremonial center of the Macedonian dynasty and the site where Alexander the Great was crowned king in 336 BC. Built primarily by Philip II, Alexander's father, in 4th Century BC, as a royal residence but as a powerful symbol of the wealth and ambition of the ancient Macedonian kingdom under Philip II. It is considered one of the largest and most impressive structures of Classical Greece. The palace features lavish decorations, including mosaic floors and painted stuccoes, and its courtyard alone could accommodate 4000 people. The palace's grandeur, was a deliberate statement of power. It was one of the largest and most complex structures of its kind in the ancient world, often compared in scale and sophistication to the Parthenon in Athens. Its design was a synthesis of different architectural traditions, blending Greek and Eastern influences to create a style that was uniquely Macedonian and befitting of a rising imperial power. Beyond its physical splendor, the palace holds a truly pivotal place in history. It was at this very site, in the theater connected to the palace complex, that Philip II was assassinated in 336 BC, an event that thrust his young son, Alexander the Great, onto the throne. It was within these very courtyards that Alexander was proclaimed king and began the preparations for the military campaigns that would change the face of the ancient world. The palace was not just a stage for history; it was where one of history's most consequential moments unfolded. Today, thanks to decades of meticulous archaeological work and a recent, comprehensive restoration, the palace is being brought back to life. The palace reopened to visitors in January 2024, allowing them to explore its historical significance and grandeur. Its impressive ruins, now protected as part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, continue to reveal new secrets, reminding us of the formidable civilization that once reigned from its hallowed halls. #archaeohistories

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Ben Franklin.

“A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life, because it is there that a civilization stores its memory and teaches the next generation how to think.” — Henry Ward Beecher

Zinnias, 1920 Gertrude Fiske (USA, 1879 - 1961)

@atrupar Trump on Jesus: x.com/fan_fintwit/st…

John McKinstry Oil on canvas Contemporary British artist.

They find this offensive. Will you repost it?

"Landscape with Ochre Land” By Philippe Janin, French Painter Oil on Canvas - 100 x 65 cm

Jarek Puczel (Polish, b.1965) "Girl in Red Top," 2024 Oil on canvas 50 x 40 cm

Janet Fish (American, 1938-2025) "Kara," 1983 Oil on canvas 70 x 60 in Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

@_Captaincooks_ @MelonieMac Both can be true at the same time...

@MelonieMac I cannot tell if she’s just really really fucking stupid or if this is a grift itself to rage bait for engagement and to absorb the heat from jerr

What in the meltdown?!

@MelonieMac Grifter.

@MelonieMac Not gonna work, Melanie. Directing the drama at random other people won't stop the fact that your boss can't stop drinking and oversharing while you sit quietly and watch it happen.