LophiusPat 🇨🇦

Ottawa-based, transplanted Haligonian, gardener, Irish/Celtic music lover. Tweets are my opinion; retweets might not necessarily so. 🇨🇦 💉x8

[LophiusPat 🇨🇦 @LophiusPat]

With profound sadness I learn of the passing of Dr C. T. Taggart (1951-2024); he was a fantastic mentor. He leaves a throve of pubs (I was a very proud co-author in a couple), and legion of students from his Biological Oceanography lab at @DalScience Long ride your bike Chris!

[𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞s 🇨🇦Vive le Canada!🇨🇦 @portagebaygirl1]

Ford will privatize the LCBO. Sell to a rich 🇺🇸 buddy. He’s gonna tell us “I had no choice folks, there’s no money left. I spent all taxpayer money on my pet projects, I gave $10M to a strip club, I had to pay back wealthy developer friends. Sorry folks.”😡

[BFBS Forces News @ForcesNews]

🛏️Top or bottom bunk?
🌬️Getting used to noise
💤No room for starfishing!

Ever wondered what it's really like to sleep on a submarine? The latest episode of Sub Life has the answers

[Stonehenge U.K @ST0NEHENGE]

Sunrise at Stonehenge today (6th August) was at 5.39am, sunset is at 8.45pm 🌤️

[Isaac Stone Fish @isaacstonefish]

The FBI is reportedly strengthening its partnership with the Chinese Communist Party, and with the Kremlin. This should get a lot more attention.

[The Intellectualist @highbrow_nobrow]

Book bans aren’t just rising. They are being engineered. The same titles and tactics are spreading across states. What’s changing is not the number. It is the system behind it.
https://t.co/hL2YvyfUg4

[Dr Helen Fry | WWII Historian @DrHelenFry]

Many of you have reached out to me about a relative’s wartime secret work.

If they served in uniform it is possible to request their personal army, Navy, Air Force record. This will give you details of exactly where they worked and which unit.
Download the relevant application form on the British government website and it can take up to to a year for a release.

Once you have their record, you can visit the National Archives in London to see what information is available about that unit, including official war diaries.

If they served a civilian capacity or with MI5 & MI6, it’s almost impossible to trace what they did.

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

A visual metaphor of the healing power of time

[David__Osland @David__Osland]

A bus-sized chunk of a SpaceX rocket is due to crash into the Moon today. Not content with causing runaway climate change on Earth, late capitalism has started polluting neighbouring celestial bodies.

[English Grammar @GrammarUpdates]

How mesmerize came from Franz Mesmer

[Peter Mansbridge @petermansbridge]

A great friend. A great journalist. A great loss.

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Why eggs are washed and refrigerated in America

[Stonehenge U.K @ST0NEHENGE]

Sunrise at Stonehenge today (5th August) was at 5.38am, sunset is at 8.47pm ☀️

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Baby goats finding somewhere to play.

[Kate from Kharkiv @BohuslavskaKate]

Rick Wilson: Trump is still on Russian side. Trump is on the side of Putin. Even now, as Trump shifts back to Zelenskyy a little bit.

That’s only because Zelenskyy is essentially winning, and Trump doesn’t want to be stuck with a loser. He still ideologically believes in Putin.

[Dr. M.F. Khan @Dr_TheHistories]

This harrowing photograph from 1865 shows an unidentified Union soldier who miraculously survived captivity during the American Civil War....

The image was captured at a military hospital in Annapolis shortly after his release. While many today mistake this as a photo from the infamous Andersonville prison, historical records show this soldier actually endured the brutal conditions of Belle Isle, a lesser-known but equally deadly camp in Richmond, Virginia.

Why did conditions become so extreme?

Early in the war, both sides routinely traded prisoners through a structured exchange system based on rank. However, in 1863, the system collapsed. The Union began enlisting African American soldiers—and the Confederacy flatly refused to treat black captives as prisoners of war, threatening them with execution or slavery instead. Union General Ulysses S. Grant halted all exchanges unless black soldiers were included. As a result, prison camps on both sides swelled into overcrowded death traps plagued by starvation, scurvy, and dysentery.

The cruelty was not one-sided:
While the North had far superior resources, conditions in Union camps like Elmira Prison ("Hellmira") in New York were catastrophic. Nearly 25% of the Confederate prisoners there died from the freezing climate and lack of fuel—partially due to a deliberate retaliation policy enacted by the Union War Department after photos of emaciated Union survivors began circulating.

Today, the photographs like this one shocked the public and served as crucial evidence in post-war war crimes trials, directly leading to the execution of Andersonville's commandant, Henry Wirz. Yet, out of these medical catastrophes came innovations we still rely on today, including the creation of the first organized battlefield ambulance corps and the modern system of medical triage.

This photograph remains a haunting reminder of the true face of war and the immense human suffering hidden behind the dry numbers of history books.

#drthehistories

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Elephants show an ability to manufacture and use tools with their trunk and feet. They use branches to swat flies or scratch themselves.

This is one scratching its ear.

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

He waited for the sun to set but the tree got there first.

[📸 孫士傑 eric66699999]

[LophiusPat 🇨🇦 @LophiusPat]

“Lloyd Robertson, who delivered the news to Canadians in an authoritative and unflappable manner for more than 40 years as anchor for the flagship news programs of CTV and CBC, has died. He was 92.” https://t.co/2vmCwxgnsR

[LophiusPat 🇨🇦 @LophiusPat]

“Plans to close the U.S. Consulate in Winnipeg mean the United States will "lose touch with a broad swath of Canada," a former employee says.” https://t.co/z3UpjgEFYG

[Ottawa Weather Records🌤 @YOW_Weather]

🥉With a mean wind of 20km/h, yesterday was #Ottawa's windiest Aug 3rd in 60 years, since 1966. #YowWx #OttWeather #YOW #OttNews #ONWx