The Centre for Useless Splendour
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gerritb.bsky.social
The Centre for Useless Splendour
@gerritb.bsky.social
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 🏳️‍🌈 & 🏳️‍⚧️
Pinned
🇺🇸 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.
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The cooperation between species is called symbiosis and while there are other types of symbiosis its the mutually beneficial type I'd like to focus on today. These two were spotted in Finland hunting and eating together.

Photo credits
Lassi Rautiainen
February 1, 2026 at 7:36 PM
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James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902- May 22, 1967)

Let America be America again

"Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love -
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme -
That any man be crushed by one above."
#BlackHistoryMonth
February 1, 2026 at 6:45 PM
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an #OrangeSun #banksia #bloom at the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum for #ColorADay
🌱

#JBCFlowers
February 1, 2026 at 6:55 PM
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From the icefields down in #Patagonia, #Argentina near El Calafate, the bergs on the edge of the water have that cold look of #frost for #FebruArty2026.

#Stunday #EastCoastKin #landscapephotography #landscape #glaciers
February 1, 2026 at 6:56 PM
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🪄🔵 Liam safe at home 🪄💙
We all love u, little man. As we fight for more, kiddos release 🧸🍭🛝🦄💙🔵💙🦄🛝🍭🧸
February 1, 2026 at 6:56 PM
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February 1, 2026 at 6:58 PM
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A performer during a traditional "Tezutsu Hanabi" (hand-held cannon fireworks) festival in Japan.
Performers hold large bamboo cylinders filled with gunpowder, which erupt in a spectacular shower of sparks.
The event is a traditional ritual. Photo by 35587039@N04 on Flickr
February 1, 2026 at 7:06 PM
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Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #GullsInWater the Alt theme is #ShortLeggedBirds.

Gull in the middle of Piazza San Marco 😄, crimson finch
#photography #birds #nature #urban #wildlife #seagull #finch #humour #gift #EastCoastKin
February 1, 2026 at 7:20 PM
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View of Paris from Montmartre - 1886
https://botfrens.com/collections/46/contents/14036
February 1, 2026 at 7:31 PM
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The Blue Bridge, St. James's Park, London.
February 1, 2026 at 6:15 PM
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Beauty can take many forms...
February 1, 2026 at 6:22 PM
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whenever I feel helpless
in this overwhelming world

I become a helper

on the days
when it feels like
I have no power

I serve others

you see,
whenever I wash
the world’s feet

my hands
immediately
stop shaking

🖊️ john roedel

📷 Stone on Nalagiri elephant, Sankar - Myanmar
February 1, 2026 at 1:53 PM
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"There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment." 🖊️ Robert Frank

📷 #WalkforPeace
February 1, 2026 at 2:03 PM
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Good morning! Lots of art as meditation going on right now! Watercolor and ink....
#mixedmedia52 #mm52w5 #Floral #ArtAsMeditation #watercolor
January 29, 2026 at 11:14 AM
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“It takes a long time to sound like yourself.”

— Miles Davis
January 31, 2026 at 11:08 PM
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"New Year's morning:
the ducks on the pond
quack and quack." Issa Kobayashi

(images: Koson Ohara)
January 1, 2026 at 1:56 AM
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“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.”

— Buddha, 563–483 BCE

From Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Vienna Philharmonic perform Adagio, Samuel Barber, String Quartet in B minor, Op. 11, composed in 1936.

🙏🏼🌍🕊️
January 30, 2026 at 11:29 PM
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Black History Month is a time to recognize the lived, shared experience of all Black folks who have fundamentally shaped, challenged, and ultimately strengthened America. It’s about taking an unvarnished look at the past so that we can create a better future.
February 1, 2026 at 5:09 PM
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Alarm bells are ringing in the Horn of Africa. Farms are no longer yielding, pests are spreading, and tropical diseases are emerging. Climate change is real, and it’s destroying lives. #ClimateCrisis #GlobalAction
January 31, 2026 at 6:44 PM
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‼️💛🍭 Liam is home ‼️💜🧸
Here with Ilhan Omar
& Joaquin Castro

Now let's get the other
children out 🛝❤️💙💛💚🎠
February 1, 2026 at 5:14 PM
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New in Seattle!

Blame
Billionaires
Not
Immigrants

Abolish
ICE
February 1, 2026 at 5:14 PM
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Or anything on my phone.
February 1, 2026 at 5:15 PM
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February 1, 2026 at 5:18 PM
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He is home ❤️
February 1, 2026 at 5:18 PM