Stephen Edward McMillin

Evidence-based health and wellbeing across the life course

[Gateway Arch @GatewayArchSTL]

My visitors are so talented!

Great shot by Wendee G. 📸

[Gateway Arch @GatewayArchSTL]

I know, I know. I’m hard to miss. But don’t overlook the beauty and history sitting right beside me.

Add the revitalized Old Courthouse to your next @gatewayarchnps visit for another iconic view.

[Emmanuel Macron @EmmanuelMacron]

The Patrouille de France flying over the Statue of Liberty today. What a symbol. 250 years of shared history.

[Yorkshire Eden @SamanthaMay64]

The wobbly head brigade 🤣 Young Barn Owls in our barn today. @BBCSpringwatch

[Emmanuel Macron @EmmanuelMacron]

J’ai remis les insignes de la Légion d’honneur au Patriarche latin de Jérusalem, le cardinal Pizzaballa.

Alors que les populations civiles et, parmi elles, les chrétiens de Terre Sainte, sont pris dans la tourmente de la guerre, j’ai tenu à honorer par ce geste cet apôtre infatigable du dialogue interreligieux, de la justice et de la paix, et à exprimer la reconnaissance de la République pour son courage et son humanité.

Conformément à ses responsabilités historiques, la France demeure engagée auprès des chrétiens de Terre Sainte, et de tous les peuples du Proche et Moyen-Orient. J’ai redit à ce titre au cardinal Pizzaballa notre attachement indéfectible au respect du statu quo sur les lieux saints de Jérusalem.

Seules la tolérance et la diversité religieuse rendent possible la paix dont cette région du monde a tant besoin.

[James Lucas @JamesLucasIT]

There is a rule in Florence that has not been broken in over five hundred years: nothing in the city may be built taller than a dome finished in 1436.

The dome belongs to the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, and it is the work of Filippo Brunelleschi.

When you look at a photograph of Florence and notice that its skyline seems strangely, impossibly intact, you are not imagining it...

The city has protected that view, by custom and by law, since the Renaissance. To this day, no building in Florence is permitted to rise higher than the cupola.

What it guards is one of the most astonishing structures ever built. When Brunelleschi began in 1420, no one in Europe knew how to raise a dome that wide. The technology had been lost with the Romans. The cathedral had stood for decades with a hole in its roof, because the span was considered impossible to cover, and the city had essentially gambled that someone would one day work out how.

Brunelleschi built it without the wooden scaffolding everyone assumed was necessary, laying over four million bricks in a self-supporting double shell, one dome inside another, in a herringbone pattern that let each ring hold itself up as it rose.

Six centuries later, it remains the largest masonry dome in the world. Nothing built since, in brick and stone, has surpassed it.

The Italian director Franco Zeffirelli, who was born in Florence, once explained what that means to him. "When I feel depression creeping in," he said, "I return to Florence to gaze at Brunelleschi's dome. If human genius was able to achieve something so great, then I too can and must try to create, to act, to live."

That is what a skyline can be when a city decides that beauty is worth protecting...

I write a weekly newsletter for over 50,000 people who love rediscovering the beauty of the past. You can join us for free at the link below, and if you'd like to support my work, a paid subscription is what makes it possible:

https://t.co/hgJUdR0jlx

Thanks for reading.

[helen warlow @HWarlow]

Good Morning ( again)
I have no details about this but it’s heart meltingly beautiful . Wish I was there
Oh ! here we go
Ancient Dovecote at Snowshill Manor Gloucestershire Grade II listed building
National Trust

[Today in History @TodayinHistory]

The Allies gained full control over Rome today in 1944, one day after entering the city!

[helen warlow @HWarlow]

Hello again
I fell asleep after lunch and have just woken up
Melissa Scott-Miller
Her amazing paintings of Suburban life are a pleasure to post

[Westminster Abbey @wabbey]

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend and Right Honourable Dame Sarah Mullally, made her first formal visit to Westminster Abbey when she attended Sung Eucharist on the feast of Corpus Christi yesterday (Thursday 4th June).

The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle, welcomed the Archbishop to the Abbey, saying: ‘We rejoiced at the news of your appointment. We have heard you call us to be a church for the whole nation and the world and to have the audacity to believe in the promises of God. It is a privilege to share that ministry with you. We offer you our thanks for all that you have done and our support and our prayers in the great task you have before you. You will always be welcome here as our Archbishop and as our friend in Christ.’

You can find out more at: https://t.co/jml2X7mLA6

[Jonathan Haidt @JonHaidt]

We don't know whether it was smartphones/social-media or edtech that was the bigger contributor to the decline in education outcomes that began in the 2010s. But new revelations show the tricks Meta, Snap, and Tiktok used to lure students during the school day.

Still more reasons to be technoskeptical

https://t.co/m9TrbNWm1N

[U.S. Air Force @usairforce]

Some gave all in service to something greater than themselves.

On this #MemorialDay, we honor their courage, sacrifice and enduring legacy.

[National Memorial Day Concert @MemorialDayPBS]

Acclaimed actor Jonathan Banks shares the story of World War II veteran and Pearl Harbor survivor Earl J. “Chuck” Kohler.

#MemDayPBS #MemorialDay #JonathanBanks

[Stephen Edward McMillin @SEMcMillin]

I'm not crying, YOU'RE crying! https://t.co/pdEREh58Xt

[Stephen Edward McMillin @SEMcMillin]

May Barney Frank's memory be a blessing. It is hard to put into words how much it meant as a kid in the 1980s knowing that there was an out gay Congressman.
https://t.co/4wv7ofch9j

[Jacob Barker @jacobbarker]

Downtown curb 'bump-out' removal sparks outrage in St. Louis. 'It was a mess,' mayor says https://t.co/cgiXrSlbIa via @stltoday @ahuguelet

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Charles Schultz and the original Snoopy, 1950s

[Architecture Hub @archpng]

Piazza Navona is Rome’s ancient stadium hiding in plain sight.

Its long, curved shape still follows the footprint of the Stadium of Domitian, built in the 1st century AD for athletic contests and large enough to hold around 30,000 spectators. The arena disappeared over time, but the outline survived—quietly shaping one of Rome’s most famous Baroque squares.

What looks today like a postcard of fountains, churches, and cafés is still controlled by an ancient stadium beneath the city.

📍Piazza Navona, Rome

[Citizens for a Greater Downtown St. Louis @Citizens4STL]

LINK: “Last month, a city committee advanced a $50 million capital spending plan for the government's next fiscal year, which begins July 1. The package, which must be approved by aldermen, included money for bridge work, ward-based funding, courts projects, fire department investments and City Hall roof repair, among other things.
But officials made clear that needs far outpace available funding, which was down year-over-year as surplus dollars declined.
Earlier this year, officials identified roughly $461 million in total capital needs, including about $226 million considered critical – or at the point of failure. Each year, new categories of infrastructure enter the critical category, making it difficult to make a dent in the overall need, officials have said.” https://t.co/PLis2ipFUN

[Citizens for a Greater Downtown St. Louis @Citizens4STL]

LINK & PHOTO: Former Alderman James Page & Citizens’ Chair Les Sterman, both longtime downtown St. Louis residents, weigh in—Opinion: Restoring Wash Ave needs a vision beyond the late-night chaos
https://t.co/ltAfhzBzBw

#Citizens4STL

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