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gerritb.bsky.social
The Centre for Useless Splendour
@gerritb.bsky.social
6.2K followers 770 following 14K posts
I'm Gerrit. Retired, hurt: hence the useless splendour. 😁
"We are all just walking each other home." Ram Das
Focus: #wisdom #climate #beauty #dem-soc #Cdapoli.
Me: 👨🏻‍🦳🇨🇦🇿🇦🪖♿️🏺🥗 [Ally: 💙🇺🇦🇵🇸🖤🤎🌍]
Dad & FIL of 🏳️‍🌈 & 🏳️‍⚧️
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gerritb.bsky.social
The Centre for Useless Splendour @gerritb.bsky.social · 19h
🇺🇸 The Liberty Bell was cast with the lettering:
"Proclaim LIBERTY Throughout all the Land
unto all the Inhabitants Thereof."
The legend is that it was rung
at the revolutionary victory in 1776.

Perhaps the resistance whistles of the blue cities
could then rightly also be called Liberty Whistles.
Photo: The Liberty Bell. Source: William Zhang, Wikimedia
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
streetartutopia.com
Simply Breathtaking (8 Photos)

Get ready for a visual treat! These incredible new murals turn boring buildings into giant storybooks filled with animals and beautiful faces. It is amazing how much life a little bit of paint and a lot of talent can bring to our streets. All from 2025 and 2026!…
Simply Breathtaking (8 Photos)
Get ready for a visual treat! These incredible new murals turn boring buildings into giant storybooks filled with animals and beautiful faces. It is amazing how much life a little bit of paint and a lot of talent can bring to our streets. All from 2025 and 2026! More: Walls Full of Life (8 Photos) 👵 1. Alma Mater — Porta della Lucania — By Antonino Perrotta in Vietri di Potenza, Italy…
streetartutopia.com
January 30, 2026 at 9:33 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
robertsnickc.bsky.social
“The heart of a wise man should resemble a mirror, which reflects every object without being sullied by any.”

~ Confucius (c. 551 – c. 479 BC)

#Painting by Firmin Baes, 1874-1943.
January 30, 2026 at 9:33 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
branacos.bsky.social
Hareshaw Linn in January

#nature #naturephotography #winter #woodland #ForestFriday #northumberland
Woodland scene in winter
January 30, 2026 at 9:27 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
branacos.bsky.social
Watercolour Poem

#art #watercolour #watercolourart #watercolourpainting #watercolourabstract #abstractart #abstractpainting
January 30, 2026 at 9:28 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
ashis.bsky.social
“Yet, like all systems, it has its hidden chapters.”

Historian @brookenewman.bsky.social in her book The Crown’s Silence:The Hidden History of Slavery and the British Monarchy,digs into one of the monarchy’s most persistent blind spots. @afuathescot.bsky.social

www.ctvnews.ca/world/articl...
‘The Crown’s Silence’ and why the monarchy can no longer look away
Historian Brooke Newman, in her book The Crown’s Silence: The Hidden History of Slavery and the British Monarchy, digs into one of the monarchy’s most persistent blind spots, writes Royal Commentator ...
www.ctvnews.ca
January 30, 2026 at 9:32 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
robertsnickc.bsky.social
‘El silencio de la rebeldía.’ #Photography by Hans Silvester (1960)

From ‘Marvellous Ecuador: an unprecedented vision of its spirit, its lands, its people, its past and its present’ by Edgar Bustamante.
January 30, 2026 at 8:53 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
robertsnickc.bsky.social
#Sculpture, a Han dynasty terracotta goose (c. 202 BC - AD 220) #art #China
January 30, 2026 at 9:13 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
leoauteur.bsky.social
La #curiosité est de paire avec le #chat.
January 30, 2026 at 9:23 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
robertsnickc.bsky.social
If only I were more like my dark horses,
I wouldn’t have to worry all the time
that I was running too little and resting too much.

~ Jodie Hollander, from ‘My Dark Horses.’

#Painting by Georgia Houston.
January 30, 2026 at 9:23 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
catblack69.bsky.social
I was going to trim Oliver’s talons last night.
I grabbed the clippers from the usual spot and he must have noticed because I then couldn’t find the cat.
Later:
January 30, 2026 at 3:59 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
apnews.com
Scientists on a research vessel off the California coast are marveling at a rare find — a waved albatross was spotted soaring over the Pacific. It's only the second time the species has been recorded north of Central America.
Scientists marvel at a Galapagos seabird that wandered 3,000 miles to California
Scientists on a research vessel off the California coast are marveling at a rare find — a waved albatross was spotted soaring over the Pacific.
bit.ly
January 30, 2026 at 4:00 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
hubbubbub.bsky.social
"I don't know if we have a destiny, or if we're all just floating around accidental —like on a breeze, but I think maybe it's both.”

“Some people don’t think miracles happen; well, they do.”

" I am not a smart man, but I know what love is."

~ Forrest Gump ~
(1994) 🎬

#FilmSky
Forrest Gump Silhouette of Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump (1994), directed by Robert Zemeckis. Forrest Gump is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis. An adaptation of the 1986 novel by Winston Groom, the film's screenplay was written by Eric Roth. It stars Tom Hanks in the title role, alongside Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, and Sally Field in lead roles. The film follows the life of an Alabama man named Forrest Gump (Hanks) and his experiences in the 20th-century United States. (Wikipedia)
January 30, 2026 at 4:10 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
skriley.bsky.social
#StreetArt #IHaveADream #KingStreet #Newtown #Sydney #UrbanArt #Mural #Australia
The iconic ‘I Have A Dream’ mural, familiar to all who drive down King St, Newtown in Sydney, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart Painted in August 1991 by guerrilla artists Juilee Pryor and Andrew Aiken, part of a clandestine collective of mural painters operating under the name Unmitigated Audacity Productions (UAP) 1991-1995. The mural was NSW-heritage-listed in 2014. Coldplay, the British rock quartet, chose to film their June 2014 music video “A Sky Full of Stars” guerrilla-style on King Street beneath the ‘I Have A Dream’ mural. Then, carrying their instruments like busking troubadours, they led a crowd south down to the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre for a confetti-strewn singalong.
January 30, 2026 at 4:13 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
sandyhorne.bsky.social
Although I saw many red-tailed black cockatoos flying around when I was at Menindee, I didn't get any stellar photos of them in flight. This is probably the best one, and it needed a lot of work. Anyway, regardless, beautiful creatures and thrilling to see (and hear) IRL.
January 30, 2026 at 4:14 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
glendunlap.bsky.social
The Moon tonight at 90% full.
#MoonPhotography #MoonPhotos #MoonShots #Photography

Settings:
Canon T5i
Sigma 150-600mm
Focal length: 600mm
F-stop: f/9
Exposure time: 1/500
ISO: 200
#Moon phase: Waxing 90%
Close us photo of the Moon at 90% full
January 30, 2026 at 4:27 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
roberttropper.bsky.social
Moin, Bluesky 🦋.
Draußen nichts neues vom Wetter: Nebel und leichtes Nieseln🌧. Drinnen: kuschelig warm und heißer Kaffee ☕️.
Schönen Freutag und der Countdown fürs Wochenende läuft 🇦🇹👍.
*träumt vom Sommer
January 30, 2026 at 4:29 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
blackpandacult.bsky.social
😑
January 30, 2026 at 4:40 AM
gerritb.bsky.social
"A pub in Tokyo has made headlines for imposing a ‘soft ban’ on older customers."

🤣🤣🤣

Patron: "Get off my lawn!"
Publican: "But this is my pub!"

www.euronews.com/travel/2026/...
Photo of a Japanese pub at night. Source: HANVIN CHEONG
January 30, 2026 at 4:43 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
secondnaturemb.bsky.social
Who needs street lights when you’ve got a moon like this? Made for a lovely walk this evening.
Looking down a forested road covered in snow. The incredibly bright moon shines down through the clear sky and lights everything up as though it is daylight.
January 30, 2026 at 2:26 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
robinreed.bsky.social
Good night, fellow travelers. 🙏🏻
January 30, 2026 at 2:53 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
breeze420.bsky.social
“The sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire.” — Pamela Hansford Johnson
a sunset over a barn with trees and rooftops.
January 30, 2026 at 2:54 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
paulwelsh89.bsky.social
Emily Carr
Above the Gravel Pit
January 30, 2026 at 2:57 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
dreamcatcher01.bsky.social
Male Mallard Duck

Classically beautiful...
A male Mallard Duck is grey, brown, purple, black, white, and green. He is in shallow river water. 📷 Dreamcatcher
January 30, 2026 at 3:16 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
charlespiroth.bsky.social
Tsutaya Bookstore, Nagoya, Japan
January 30, 2026 at 3:26 AM
Reposted by The Centre for Useless Splendour
mongabay.com
Five people were detained after alleged illegal hunting in Gunung Sanggabuana conservation forest.

Camera traps showing an injured Javan leopard have exposed deeper gaps in how Indonesia protects its last big cats.
Five detained over alleged hunting in Javan leopard habitat
Indonesian authorities have detained five people in connection with the alleged illegal hunting and shooting of an endangered Javan leopard in the Gunung Sanggabuana conservation forest in West Java,…
news.mongabay.com
January 30, 2026 at 3:30 AM