J.B. Bird

AVP for Media Relations and News at America’s First Research University @JohnsHopkins.

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

The World Cup begins tomorrow, and many will watch the matches. Soccer reminds us of something we must not forget: life is not a race to show off on our own, but a path we learn to walk together. Anyone who does not know how to pass the ball, even if they have talent, has not yet understood the game. Anyone who does not know how to live with and for others has not yet understood life. #ApostolicJourney

[Chris Walker @WalkerATX]

It's 1982 in Austin and you're at the City Coliseum to see The Clash perform "Rock The Casbah" (44 years ago today)📽️🎸

AUSTIN, TX June 8 & 9, 1982 (@fox7austin) -- On this day in Austin history, British punk legends The Clash rolled into town—not just to play two sets over consecutive nights at the old City Coliseum, but to spend those same two days filming the music video for what would become their biggest commercial hit, "Rock the Casbah." Directed by punk icon Don Letts, the video makes a commentary on Middle Eastern oil politics, censorship, and rebellion right onto a distinct, sun-baked 1980s Austin landscape across June 8th and 9th.
The storyline features shots of the downtown skyline, cooling off by a local hotel pool, grabbing a drink at a dive bar, and tracking down a scurrying armadillo near Congress and Oltorf.
If you look closely at the footage, you can spot local landmarks hidden in plain sight. The pool scenes were shot at the old Villa Capri Hotel, the characters grab food at a former Burger King on Guadalupe, and the convenience store stop was filmed at the old Rio Mart at 29th and Rio Grande.
This edited version has isolated all of those classic Austin backdrops from the original 1982 music video.

[Hunter Biden @HunterBiden]

I don’t really think it’s about me Karoline. I think it’s about the idea that we all have fallen down and that we all wish we could be a little kinder to each other. And we all hope for a little grace and understanding when we get honest with ourselves and the world. And we all have that friend or brother or parent or son that has fucked up but fought to get back on their feet. Or that may be you. Or it may be the one that lost the battle and we are mourning them every day- and asking why couldn’t he fight for himself. Whatever it is- it’s not about me. It’s about all of us. So I genuinely ask you to forget about me- and reach out to someone you love who is struggling and tell them you’ll fight alongside them if they will fight for themselves.

[J.B. Bird @austinjbbird]

@EvilMopacATX @MoseBuchele G&S Lounge, duh

[O’Shea Jackson Jr @OsheaJacksonJr]

I saw it. Now you have to see it. His name is Samuel. And he…is a king.

[J.B. Bird @austinjbbird]

@ClistonBrown Why so low for Jackson - the Indian Removal Act? That, the Second Seminole War, demagogic finance policies and polarizing power grabs are good reasons for dinging him, yet he was also one of the most influential presidents – and he stared down nullification.

[J.B. Bird @austinjbbird]

“We’re asking agencies to honor what Congress appropriated and President Trump affirmed: that federally funded research is the foundation of American competitiveness. Release the funds, restore normal grant timelines, and let the science proceed.”

https://t.co/a85ywEHffi

[Johns Hopkins University @JohnsHopkins]

Tune in tonight: @NBCNews' Common Ground, live from the @JHUBloombergCtr
https://t.co/VFD3VbbHQx

[J.B. Bird @austinjbbird]

@agmacor It’s a pretty good movie — enjoyably cheesy, like the best OG Syfy.

[Johns Hopkins University @JohnsHopkins]

A new clinical trial from Johns Hopkins University is using “digital twin” hearts to guide treatment for life-threatening arrhythmias before a procedure even begins. https://t.co/WXuovyZmt8

[🎸 Rock History 🎸 @historyrock_]

The oldest known image of Keith Richards, published around 1140 AD 😂

[J.B. Bird @austinjbbird]

You had me at @JohnsHopkins

[Anish Moonka @anishmoonka]

Christina Koch was a firefighter at the South Pole at -111°F before she ever applied to be an astronaut. That was maybe the fourth most interesting line on her resume. She grew up in North Carolina, got three degrees from NC State, and her first real job was building deep-space instruments at NASA.

Then she left for Antarctica. Spent three and a half years bouncing between the Arctic and Antarctic as a research scientist, including a full winter at the South Pole base. That means going months without sunlight or fresh food, with a crew of about 50 people and no way out until flights resume. While she was down there, she also joined the glacier search-and-rescue team.

After coming back, she went to Johns Hopkins and built instruments for two NASA missions (one of them is still orbiting Jupiter right now). She figured out how to start a tiny vacuum pump that NASA designed for a future Mars rover. Johns Hopkins nominated it for their Invention of the Year in 2009. Then she went back to the field. More time in Antarctica and a stretch up in Greenland. A government research station in northern Alaska, near the top of the world. Then she ran another one in American Samoa, near the equator.

In 2013, NASA selected her from 6,300 applicants. Eight people got in. Her first space mission was supposed to be a normal rotation on the International Space Station, but NASA extended it. She ended up staying 328 straight days and orbiting Earth 5,248 times, covering about 139 million miles (roughly 291 round trips to the Moon). Up there, she ran over 210 experiments, including tests of cancer drugs in zero gravity and 3D printers that can build structures close to human tissue. Six spacewalks, 42 hours floating outside the station. She learned Russian for the training. She flies supersonic jets.

Right now, Koch is on Artemis II, heading for a flyby behind the far side of the Moon. The crew launched on April 1 and is on track to travel about 252,000 miles from Earth, which would break the all-time human distance record of 248,655 miles set by Apollo 13 in 1970. That record has stood for 56 years, and it was set during a disaster that nearly killed the crew. Fred Haise, one of the Apollo 13 astronauts, is 92 now. He told Koch: "I heard you're going to break our record."

Nobody had left Earth's neighborhood since December 1972. Koch and her three crewmates are the first in 53 years, and they are coming home at about 25,000 mph. That is faster than any crewed spacecraft has ever come back through the atmosphere.

[J.B. Bird @austinjbbird]

@ThatEricAlper https://t.co/Eg1fkdwnc7

[J.B. Bird @austinjbbird]

@senatorbabet Consider the source.

[J.B. Bird @austinjbbird]

@ThatEricAlper Oh, and Chicken Run too.

[J.B. Bird @austinjbbird]

@ThatEricAlper The Seven Samurai, Lawrence of Arabia, and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

[Historic Hub @HistoricHub]

A remarkable 19th-century tunnel book that brings the Rhine Valley to life, masterfully creating an illusion of three-dimensional depth and vast spatial distance

[J.B. Bird @austinjbbird]

@ThatEricAlper Outside of Delacroix

[Tom Ruby @bgcts]

This morning @scratchyjohnson tweeted an important factoid. Squanto, the Indian who spoke English and helped the pilgrims survive, was sold by John Smith to a Spaniards and the deed exists in the city we're in for Excursion.

Rather than rolling our eyes, Alan, Gavin & I went to the state archives in Málaga to see if we can find said recorded deed of 20 Indians sold by John Smith to Juan Bautista Reales.

We get to the Archives (see Alan's picture below), and a small genial white lab coat wearing gentleman who speaks no English says this is impossible to find. His new boss, the head archivist, Carmen, comes in and says it certainly exists but may be difficult to find. If you only had the year. We tell her it was 1614. She pulls up a list of the books from 29 notaries whose work they have from 1614. She asks who the notary was. We have no idea. They say they can't go through 29 archives to look for it. Also it's all in old Spanish which nobody speaks and it'll be hard to locate even if they know the Notary.

So Alan and Gavin get to work. Gavin finds an article in the internet archive that seems to have a partial picture of the document. Carmen and the other archivist decipher the name after 15 min. They find that name in their cross reference. Carmen goes to the vault to look while the lab coat gentleman asks for my life history, driver's licence number and a lien on my grandchildren. Totally worth it.

Carmen comes back to say she found the volume. It is tremendously delicate. Opening it may break some pages. Does it have to be today because if so the answer will be no. We ask her if this is interesting to them. Both very seriously nod their heads. We tell them this is very important to the United States and many of our friends. Carmen tells us she will find it but that it takes time. White linen gloves and patience. We tell her to take her time. She says she will take a picture and email it to me.

So here's why all this is important: after Squanto was sold by an Englishman to a Spaniard names Reales, said Spaniard brought Squanto and 19 other "inios" to Málaga. He recorded the deed in the state archives. Then a Franciscan priest ransomed Squanto. Squanto became Catholic. Was baptized and confirmed in Málaga. He then made his way to England where he worked and learned English. He paid his passage back across the ocean and found his Wampanoag tribesmen. Then when the Pilgrims landed they found a Catholic English-speaking native who helped them survive their first winter.

It is entirely possible that but for a Franciscan priest who ransomed Squanto, the Pilgrims may not have survived their first winter in New England. That's history. American history. And the record of it is in Málaga. In a book. One of 29 books kept by notaries in Málaga in 1614. That are still searchable.

This image, when it comes, belongs in the US National Archive.

This is Cultural Debris.

https://t.co/THgVYIAgcK

cc: @alancornett @gwbled @Gonnassaurius_ @wrathofgnon

[The Figen @TheFigen_]

Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada spoke about the contradictions of human nature:

“Some people dream of having a swimming pool at home, while those who have one hardly ever use it. Those who have lost a loved one feel a profound sense of loss, while others often complain about their living relatives. Those without a partner long for one, while those who have one often don't appreciate it. The hungry would give anything for a meal, while the satiated complain about the taste of their food. Those without a car dream of owning one, while those who have a car are always looking for a better one.”

The key to happiness is gratitude: truly seeing and appreciating what we already have, and understanding that somewhere, someone would give anything for what we take for granted.