Writing our Destiny aka Andrew
@planecrazy.bsky.social
530 followers 1.4K following 3.1K posts
A strange assortment of knowledge, caprice, and whims. Throw in steel pens and DnD, shake, strain and serve. He/Him/Hey You https://thesteelpen.com/ https://theesterbrookproject.com/
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planecrazy.bsky.social
I'll make this a table of contents post for my steel pen posts. They seem to be reasonably popular, but I only post them periodically, so they may get buried. Here are the ones I've posted so far. I'll keep adding as I go.

Also, more info in my alt text.

The original.
bsky.app/profile/plan...
planecrazy.bsky.social
Thought I'd try something, see if anyone is interested.

Let's look at a single object, humble and everyday for it's time, and unpack some of its context and importance.

This is a "steel pen" from Gillott. They were sold by the gross in small paper boxes.
1/
A photo of a shiny steel dip pen nib. It is laid out on a millimeter scale and is approximately 3.1 centimeters long. The imprint on the pen says, "Double Elastic. 604F. Joseph Gillott's" and "England" along the heel of the pen. It is a straight shaped pen with a strong grind, two shoulder slits and long tapered point which help with it's elasticity.
Reposted by Writing our Destiny aka Andrew
Reposted by Writing our Destiny aka Andrew
Reposted by Writing our Destiny aka Andrew
anarkass.bsky.social
If you have a library you can run for the board of, do it!

Otherwise you end up with a list of corporate interests being represented like we have in Philly.

(Ours are either voted in by the board or appointed by the mayor so they're all representatives of local power)
dylanflesch.bsky.social
LIBRARY BOARDS
Pursue a seat on your local public library board. Your board may be elected, or it may be appointed. Need help finding details about your local board? For the People: A Leftist Library Project has you covered: data.librariesforthepeople.org
For The People
data.librariesforthepeople.org
Reposted by Writing our Destiny aka Andrew
uhiarchaeology.bsky.social
'Animating the Dead: An #Archaeology of Bronze Age Burial Practices in #Orkney' by Professors Jane Downes and Colin Richards follows decades of research and incorporates new excavation results and radiocarbon dates from sites across the county. Available to pre-order now.
#BronzeAge #Prehistory
October release for institute director’s book on Bronze Age burial practice
'Animating the Dead: An Archaeology of Bronze Age Burial Practices in Orkney' by Professors Jane Downes and Colin Richards follows decades of research and incorporates new excavation results and radiocarbon dates from sites across the county.
archaeologyorkney.com
Reposted by Writing our Destiny aka Andrew
oldenoughtosay.com
when i was being examined for my senior coxing licence in Oxford, she asked if I'd ever been in a boat crash, I said yes, she asked what I happened, I said "a manatee tried to mate with the shell and it capsized then broke in half" and she did not know how to respond to that
Reposted by Writing our Destiny aka Andrew
kupac1.bsky.social
Saw this strange harrier hovering low over an open field. Then I realized.. that ain't no harrier! It's an adult Eurasian Goshawk (Astur gentilis)! 😳😳😳 An uncommon species in Hungary, so it was nice to see. #BirdingHungary #BirdsOfPrey #raptors #hawks #goshawks
Reposted by Writing our Destiny aka Andrew
planecrazy.bsky.social
Someday. I have a lifetime membership at the Pen Museum in B'ham but have never been there. One of these days I'll do my pen tour of the island, from Cornwall (Esterbrook) to Edinburgh (MacNiven).
Reposted by Writing our Destiny aka Andrew
skiles.blue
The whole government is un-adapted to this change, and we are firing all the people who could help us adapt. CISA leads the CVE program, which is a worldwide picture of computer security vulnerabilities. We will be blind without it. Not just the US, the world.
planecrazy.bsky.social
Between this and CDC, I can't read it as anything but treason, a great weakening of our ability to defend the United States from attack and destruction.
skiles.blue
I don't know if there's such a thing as a "world cyberwar" but I think we are in one? and the US is determined to lose it. 🧵

Today the admin is mass-firing the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the nation's cybersecurity protection across all levels of government.
Reposted by Writing our Destiny aka Andrew
dbellingradt.bsky.social
Learning #Hebrew with wild hats. These images of how to pronounce and use your tongue when learning Hebrew were published in 1667 Germany.

Access a digital copy of "Kurtzer Entwurff des Eigentlichen Natur-Alphabets der Heiligen Sprache" here: diglib.hab.de/drucke/xb-44...

#bookhistory #earlymodern
Page of "Kurtzer Entwurff des Eigentlichen Natur-Alphabets der Heiligen Sprache" here: http://diglib.hab.de/drucke/xb-4496/start.htm Page of "Kurtzer Entwurff des Eigentlichen Natur-Alphabets der Heiligen Sprache" here: http://diglib.hab.de/drucke/xb-4496/start.htm Page of "Kurtzer Entwurff des Eigentlichen Natur-Alphabets der Heiligen Sprache" here: http://diglib.hab.de/drucke/xb-4496/start.htm Page of "Kurtzer Entwurff des Eigentlichen Natur-Alphabets der Heiligen Sprache" here: http://diglib.hab.de/drucke/xb-4496/start.htm
planecrazy.bsky.social
Instead of Mao's Destruction of the Four Olds, we have Trump's Destruction of the Four Goods: Health, Wealth, Multiculturalism, and Democracy.
Trump's Gang of Four: Vought, Miller, Bondi, Leavitt
Unfortunately, to defeat them required a lot of suffering first. And the death of Mao.
Photo of a large group of young Chinese students from the late 60s. 
"What type of revolution is this? * Cultural Revolution, * In 1966, Mao encouraged youth in China to purge the "Four Olds" - ideas, customs, culture and habits." 

What this resulted in was the mass destruction of anything from China's past, including untold numbers of books, art, buildings, even cave sculptures. Young people took over schools and "reeducated" the teachers and staff. Millions of teachers, doctors, and other professionals were sent to toil in the countryside to be reeducated on importance of the proletarian revolution and purge them of "capitalistic tendencies."  We also have no idea how many were imprisoned and killed for their ties, or imagined ties to organizations and individuals outside of China. After Mao died, and the Gang of Four took over, it was easier, eventually, to overturn these outrages and take power back so that reforms could begin. At least one generation of students had their education disrupted and often witnessed extremes of behavior and rabid, unthinking loyalty to one man. People who lived through this as the students in this photo, or the millions of others mobilized by Mao, are now in charge of this country.
Reposted by Writing our Destiny aka Andrew
dbellingradt.bsky.social
As the legend goes, the German Prof. Dr. Eduard Müller is still fighting Death over a giant book. This ex libris is pure excellence and of #bookhistory and #booksky fame. Go, Ede!
"Ex libris Professor Dr. Eduard Müller". This ex libris - showing a Man fighting Death on a giant book - is glued into a medical book from 1793. Source: http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?PPN1804462381
Reposted by Writing our Destiny aka Andrew
sarahmackattack.bsky.social
Here I am. Once again. I'm out of archaeologists.

We matched 576 groups w/archaeologists, leaving 13 groups unmatched. This brings me pain! We've never run out of scientists like this before. 598 requests for one category is A LOT. But still.

Archaeologists 🥺
www.skypeascientist.com/sign-up.html
Sign Up
Skype a Scientist gives you the opportunity to connect with students and the public around the world. ​
www.skypeascientist.com
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christenrexing.bsky.social
The CDC was destroyed last night. Our federal public health infrastructure will no longer exist. It has major & long-lasting repercussions that will impact the health of everyday people in the U.S. &beyond💔

Trump administration lays off thousands of federal workers during government shutdown - CNN
planecrazy.bsky.social
Poetry
bbolander.bsky.social
"what if the janky tilt-a-whirl in a bossier city winn-dixie parking lot carnival wished upon a meth pipe to become an ostensibly human being" is gonna catch on any day though, mark my words
planecrazy.bsky.social
I'm here for symbolic gestures as well as real effort. Sometimes they can drive home a message harder than a 40 page white paper.
jbendery.bsky.social
Activists are planning to install a 3,000-pound ice sculpture of the word “DEMOCRACY” on the National Mall next week, something tourists will be able to watch slowly melt away in a statement about the weakened state of democracy under Trump. www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
Activists To Install 3,000-Pound ‘DEMOCRACY’ Ice Sculpture On National Mall
www.huffpost.com
Reposted by Writing our Destiny aka Andrew
artefactual.bsky.social
Oh, wow!
darrellwakelam.bsky.social
Still making, still learning, still experimenting, still chasing.
www.darrellwakelam.com
#edusky #sculpture #artwork #recycle
A model of a T-Rex made entirely from recycled toilet roll tubes. Pictures show a simple head, made from one tube, and a complete 3D sculpture, something a little more complex, and made from many tubes.
planecrazy.bsky.social
Their descendants moved to Chicago and invented Malort, because mead wasn't nasty enough for the New World.
Picture of a bottle of Malort A screen shot from Wikipedia: "Jeppson's Malört is named after Carl Jeppson, a Swedish immigrant who first distilled and popularized the liquor in Chicago. Malört (literally moth herb) is the Swedish word for wormwood, which is the key ingredient in bäsk."
planecrazy.bsky.social
Or go the other direction, put a headless doll on one side, and their head on the other and have the sign read, "This machine cures Billionaires." or "This machine cures totalitarianism," depending on your flavor of spicy for the day. Yeah, it's been a week. I think I'll make myself a drink instead.
Reposted by Writing our Destiny aka Andrew
adroitlyabsurd.bsky.social
Dis heah ting is wicked pissah - well woith a peep
mcsweeneys.net
"When they fought, the Vikings fought hahd! N’ some’ah the ones that got the most famous fahr fightin’ the fuckin’ hahdest were the Varangians who fought in Constantinople befoh r’it turned intah a Turkish caliphate ah whatevah." #LeifEriksonDay
A Short History of the Varangian Guard for Bostonians
Art by Matt Smith - - -Now, evuhryone knows that the Vikings were some sehriously hahdco’ah fuckin’ fightahs. ’Cept most’ah ’em actually didn’t go...
buff.ly