Walking distance of 1 lifetime

General good stuff, grind , goes, and giphys

[Andrew McCarthy @AJamesMcCarthy]

This is how it looked before editing. Just boosted shadows- since it was captured in RAW all the information before compression was still there. You can download any of these photos and do this here: https://t.co/22jnUc9AqL

[Bexxy @Bexxy__19]

UPDATE ON GERALD AND THE CROW SITUATION:

Things have escalated.

I repeat.

THINGS HAVE FUCKING ESCALATED.

For those of you just joining us, yesterday I accidentally entered into diplomatic relations with a gang of crows after Gerald stole my good spoon.

Well.

This morning I walked outside and Gerald was waiting for me.

Alone.

Standing directly in the middle of my driveway.

No screaming.

No hopping around.

Just staring at me like a tiny feathered loan shark who had come to collect.

I said, “Morning, Gerald.”

He tilted his head.

I gave him a walnut.

He did not eat it.

Instead, this motherfucker picked it up, walked three steps to the left, PUT IT DOWN, and stared at me again.

Message received.

The offering was insufficient.

So I went back inside and got more walnuts.

When I returned…

THERE WERE NINE CROWS.

Nine.

Yesterday there were seven.

Gerald is fucking recruiting.

And they were arranged in a SEMICIRCLE.

This isn’t a bird friendship anymore.

I’m funding organized crime.

I distributed the walnuts because apparently I pay protection money now.

Everything seemed fine until one of the smaller crows tried taking two.

Gerald immediately screamed at him.

The little one dropped the second walnut.

I have accidentally created an economy.

Gerald controls distribution.

There’s a hierarchy.

There are consequences.

I’m pretty sure I witnessed a disciplinary hearing before breakfast.

Then Gerald flew away.

I thought we were done.

WE WERE NOT DONE.

Twenty minutes later I looked outside and there was something sitting where Gerald had been standing.

A bottle cap.

A shiny rock.

And…

MY FUCKING SPOON.

HE RETURNED THE SPOON.

Ladies and gentlemen.

I believe we have successfully negotiated a trade agreement.

Unfortunately, there is now a crow sitting on my mailbox.

So I still cannot get my fucking mail.

I tried approaching.

He puffed up.

I backed away.

That mailbox belongs to the organization now.

At this point I’m just a tenant.

Anyway, Gerald has officially been promoted to General Gerald, Commander of the Driveway, First of His Name, Keeper of the Good Spoon, Lord of the Power Line, Collector of Walnuts, and Regional Manager of Whatever The Fuck Is Happening Here.

I’ll keep everyone updated.

But if I suddenly stop posting…

Gerald found out I told you.

[Hugh Riminton @hughriminton]

Polish prodigy Marcin Patrzalek has been accused of faking his playing. His response is worth a couple of minutes of your day.

[Don Pettit @astro_Pettit]

Many have asked how this photo was made. This is my explanation.

The ISS rotates about its pitch axis as it orbits Earth at 17,000mph to keep its nadir view constant. Because of this long exposure photography turns stars into arced lines.

Sidereal clock drives on Earth match the planet's rotation to see stars clearly. I knew one designed for space could do this too.

So a camera mount was custom built at @RITtigers to rotate once every 90 minutes using a 60 to 90 toothed gear system, cancelling out the orbital motion of ISS and allowing the capture of distant stars as fixed points!

In essence, it is a a rotational coil spring powered analog star tracker. It was machined out of aluminum and is entirely mechanical to bypass NASA's strict electrical requirements for cargo. We had to get creative!

After Expedition 72 it was safely returned to Earth and is to be displayed at RIT. Which I am pleased to say because a similar barn door tracker I made from spare parts on Expedition 6 for nighttime city photography was destroyed in an atmospheric trash disposal!

Photography is an important part of sharing the journey to new frontiers for all people of Earth!

[Hugh Riminton @hughriminton]

In Pauline Hanson’s first go-around, four former prime ministers signed this warning.

[Josh Butler @JoshButler]

Barnaby Joyce pausing mid-interview on ABC 7.30 to bellow SIT DOWN at his dog (off camera) is going to be hard to beat for TV blooper of the year

[Jim Beattie @JimBeattie18]

Afternoon Pause ⏸️
~
It's a perfect time
to take a break and
be thankful 🥰☕🎶🌻📚
~
Artist unknown 🙏

[Dr. M.F. Khan @Dr_TheHistories]

“The Girls in the Windows,” photographed by Ormond Gigli in 1960. Possibly the most profitable photograph ever, it's made $12 million so far...

In the spring of 1960, fashion photographer Ormond Gigli learned that a brownstone across from his Manhattan studio was scheduled for demolition. Rather than let the opportunity pass, he organized one of the most ambitious fashion photographs ever attempted. He recruited 43 professional models, dressed each in a different colorful gown, positioned them in the building's windows, and coordinated the entire shoot with assistants, stylists, and neighbors. A Rolls-Royce and two models were placed at street level to complete the composition.

The photograph was taken in just a few minutes as the afternoon light reached the building. Although it appeared effortless, weeks of planning went into arranging every pose, dress, and window. The image became one of the defining photographs of 20th century fashion and has been reproduced in books, magazines, galleries, and fine art prints around the world.

The original building at 327 East 58th Street was demolished shortly after the photograph was taken, making the image the last visual record of the structure in its iconic form.

In 2013, Ormond Gigli reunited many of the surviving models, more than 50 years after the photograph was made, recreating the gathering to celebrate one of photography's most enduring images.

#drthehistories

[David Fishman @pretentiouswhat]

Qinghai Province may be the most restricted region in China for foreign travelers.

In contrast to Tibet (which is mostly accessible with the Tibet Travel Permit besides a few border counties), large parts of Qinghai are functionally closed to foreigners. 🧵

[Ansh Bhatnagar @iansh04_]

🚨Anthropic just showed a 24-minute workshop on how to actually do prompts for Claude.

Taught by the people who built it.

Free. No registration.
No paywall.

I've seen $300 courses that don't cover what they teach in the first 8 minutes.

Watch it and bookmark it now.

[tim ritchie @timritchie]

I’m standing on the Sydney Harbour Bridge looking into empty rooms in the famous brutalist apartment building, the Sirius. Built as social housing, those people booted out and now between $1.6 and $35m per apartment. The ghosts of the dispossessed will haunt those rich bastards.

[AYI @ayi_sanchez]

Few weeks ago, I found something mislabeled in a second hand shop. Turned out to be a box full of slides from Vietnam war (1968-1970). I managed to scan around 300. Here its a small selection of somebody's memories I bought for 5,99 🧵

[Ben Pennings @BenPennings]

This is why Pauline Hanson will never be PM. Last week I gifted a barn door to an elderly Chinese woman upstairs. Today she bought me a lovely orchid, a bottle of Shiraz, a lovely card to Mr Ben, and still warm Chinese dessert my that teenager devoured. Care and community is more powerful and memorable than division and hate 💚

[Minaduchi @minaduchi_jp]

[Japan] My partner and I raised our girl for seven years.
Two men, one daughter.

She calls me "Papa."
Lunches, bedtimes, the sick nights.
All me.

But the law won't call me her father.

In Japan, same-sex couples can't both be legal parents.
Only he is. If he dies first,
I have no right to keep our own child.

At school: "Which one's the dad?"
And I go quiet.

Still, I braid her hair and take her hand.

On paper, I'm a stranger to her.
To her, I'm Papa — whatever the law says.

[Mr PitBull Stories @MrPitbull07]

In 1997, actor John C. McGinley’s son, Max, was born with Down syndrome. Shortly after, John's talent agent pulled him aside to deliver what was framed as practical advice: Do not talk about this publicly. Keep it quiet. People will stop hiring you.

For some, that might have sounded like reasonable career preservation. Protect the livelihood, avoid the spotlight, and pretend nothing had changed.

John’s response was immediate. He fired the agent.

Then, he did the exact opposite of what he had been told. He brought Max everywhere. Red carpets, talk shows, film sets, and public events. Wherever John went, Max was right beside him. At a time when society still largely preferred to keep individuals with developmental disabilities out of sight, John made a different choice. He made his son visible. Openly, proudly, and entirely without apology.

What began as a father's protective instinct grew into decades of fierce advocacy. John became one of the country's most recognizable voices for Down syndrome awareness. He spoke at global conferences, testified before Congress, and fought hard for employment law reforms that created real opportunities for people with disabilities to work, earn, and live independently.

During this journey, a reporter asked John a question that revealed far more about society's biases than it did about Max. The reporter asked if John ever wished his son were normal.

John didn't hesitate. He replied that Max was normal. The question wasn't. It was a blunt rejection of the idea that a person’s worth is measured by how well they fit into a narrow, conventional box.

Decades have passed since that conversation. Max is now 27 years old. He works, navigates his community, and lives an independent life filled with possibilities that the critics in 1997 never could have imagined for him.

Reflecting on their journey, John often says that Max never limited his life. He expanded it. Through his son, he learned what love, patience, and true commitment require.

The world signaled early on that it would have preferred Max to remain hidden in the shadows. John spent nearly three decades ensuring that the world looked Max right in the eye. Some fathers protect their children by shielding them from the world. Others protect them by refusing to let the world look away.

True inclusion begins when we stop treating differences as deficits. Max didn't need to change to fit into the world.

The world needed to change to make room for Max.

[Johnny Midnight ⚡️ @its_The_Dr]

This kids funny! 🤣😂

[marqix ☆ @fwmarqix]

My grandmother had the biggest crush on Keanu Reeves.

She always said he reminded her of my grandfather when he was young, that same quiet kindness mixed with a little bit of mischief.
After she had a stroke in her early 70s, she became mostly housebound. Movies became her best friends, She watched everything Keanu was in, from *Bill & Ted* to *The Matrix*. She’d light up every single time he came on screen.

One day, my uncle was in Los Angeles for business, He was eating dinner at a nice restaurant when Keanu Reeves walked in with a woman and sat at a nearby table.

My uncle sat there debating with himself for a while before finally getting up the nerve, He walked over to their table and said:

Uncle: Excuse me, I’m really sorry to bother you… I don’t usually do this, But my 80-year-old mother is a huge fan of yours.
She’s watched every single one of your movies. You actually remind her a lot of my dad when he was young.

Keanu looked up, genuinely surprised but warm.

Keanu: Really? That’s very sweet, How’s she doing?”

Uncle: She had a stroke a few years ago. She doesn’t get out much anymore, so movies mean everything to her, Especially yours.

Keanu didn’t just smile and say thanks, He leaned forward and asked:

Keanu: Do you have your cell phone on you?

Uncle: Yeah, I do.

Keanu: Give her a call, I want to talk to her.

My uncle was stunned, He dialed my grandmother right there in the restaurant and handed the phone over.

Keanu (on the phone, gentle and kind): Hi… is this the lovely lady who’s a fan of my movies?

Grandma (completely shocked): Oh my goodness… is this really you?

Keanu: It is, Your son told me I remind you of your husband. That might be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me, How are you doing? Tell me about yourself.

They talked for several minutes, My grandmother was in tears, laughing and telling him stories about my grandfather, how much she loved *Speed*, and how *The Matrix* blew her mind. Keanu listened like he had all the time in the world.

When she handed the phone back to my uncle, she was glowing.

Grandma: He sounds just like your grandfather… so kind.

That one phone call made her entire year. She talked about it constantly for the rest of her life. In her isolation, a complete stranger halfway across the world took time to make her feel seen and special.

Keanu Reeves didn’t have to do that. But he did. And it showed exactly what kind of man he is.

I’ll always be grateful for that moment of kindness he gave my grandmother when she needed it most.

[Ken James @openshutter21]

I saw this composition but didn't really have a long zoom lens, so I zoomed as far as I could, then cropped it. Thankfully, the image held together.