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memsomerville.bsky.social @memsomerville.bsky.social · 1h

I found the official pumpkin when I was looking for our event about the next 250 years of #Boston.

Inspired by the talk of #Rev250, we wondered what the next 250 might be like. We have a panel, including the archivist for #SomervilleMA who is my friend.

www.thebostoncalendar.com/events/bosto...

Boston’s Next 250 Years: from Revolution to Resilience [10/14/25]

A panel discussion celebrating the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, and looking forward to the next 250 years.++++++++++++++++++++What will the next 250 years of Boston’s history look lik...

www.thebostoncalendar.com

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memsomerville.bsky.social @memsomerville.bsky.social · 1h

I did not know there was an official pumpkin of #Boston.

www.thebostoncalendar.com/events/offic...

Official Pumpkin of Boston arrives at Boston Public Market [10/14/25]

Boston’s Annual Official Pumpkins Arrive! On Tuesday, October 14 at 12:00 PM, the Boston Public Market (BPM) will launch its 10th anniversary year in grand style with the arrival of the Official Pumpk...

www.thebostoncalendar.com

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memsomerville.bsky.social @memsomerville.bsky.social · 3h

Hey @311somerville.bsky.social : at the ward meeting last night it said this account was active. But I'm not seeing that.

Are you really here yet?

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memsomerville.bsky.social @memsomerville.bsky.social · 4h

I am kind of surprised that this hasn't bubbled up more yet. The veneer of normalcy still seems to be holding, while underneath so much is crumbling.

When does it all catch up?

#Agriculture

David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 4h

So this is funny.
The administration just issued a rule slashing foreign agricultural worker wages. And to justify it, in a public filing, Trump's Labor Department alleges that Trump's immigration enforcement has devastated the Ag workforce and caused a "risk of supply shock-induced food shortages."

Trump Labor Department Says His Immigration Raids Are Causing a Food Crisis

In a filing in the Federal Register, the Labor Department argues there are “immediate dangers to the American food supply” due to a lack of migrant agricultural workers.

prospect.org

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memsomerville.bsky.social @memsomerville.bsky.social · 20h

Wow. First new fire station in 50 years?

#SomervilleMA

City of Somerville @cityofsomerville.bsky.social · 20h

Mayor Ballantyne and Fire Chief Breen invite community members to celebrate the grand opening of the Assembly Square Fire Station (45 Middlesex Ave.) on Saturday, October 18, at 10 a.m.

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Pat Bagley @bagleycartoons.bsky.social · 1d

Thugs

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Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 1d

yoooooooo go get books from @bookshop.org

the ebook of mine & @lollardfish.bsky.social's THE BRIGHT AGES is $1.99!!!!!!

bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

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memsomerville.bsky.social @memsomerville.bsky.social · 1d

Is there any oversight of what this guy is investing our money in? Or telling his friends so they can cash in before it's done?

While destroying wildlife habitat.

finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-o...

Trilogy Metals stock soars as US takes stake and opens up Alaska minerals push

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he had signed an executive order directing his administration to permit an access road to the Ambler mining district in Alaska to unloc...

finance.yahoo.com

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memsomerville.bsky.social @memsomerville.bsky.social · 1d

Trump take minerals. Trump take wildlife habitat.

And a stake in the company.

finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-o...

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Ed Markey @edmarkey.bsky.social · 1d

Massachusetts Health Connector?

That's what we call the Affordable Care Act.

MassHealth?

That's Medicaid and CHIP.

Trump and Republicans are attacking the millions of Massachusetts residents who rely on these programs to survive.

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 1d

Friends, with the world on fire, it feels useless to be here selling my services. But I do need to keep the lights on, and the #maps pay the bills.

So...if you need a map(s) for a book project, let me know! I have space for new commissions.

Here are a few of my favorite maps I've done lately:
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Grayscale map of the Atlantic showing most of the Americas, Europe, and Africa. There are arrows showing the direction of trade, and each arrow has at least one number attached to it. The numbers match a key on the side that lists the products being traded and their place of origin. There are 15 different sets of commodities listed:
1:Midlands & Birmingham: Guns, Gunpowder, Metalware, Silks
2: Liverpool & Lancashire: Cotton-linens
3: Lancashire: Linens, Cottons, Cotton-linens
4: India: Cottons Cowries
5: Midlands & London: Metalware, Silks, Ceramics, Glassware, Guns
6: London & Glasgow: Credit, Shipping Insurance
7: New England: Beef & Pork, Fish, Rum, Wood, Whale products
8: Mid-Atlantic: Grain
9: Chesapeake Colonies: Tobacco
10: Carolinas, Rice, Indigo
11: Caribbean: Sugar, Molasses
12: Brazil: Coffee
13: Brazil: Gold
14: Mexico / Peru: Silver
15: Britain: Grain, Manufactures

The map has a set of grey arrows going from West Africa to the Americas showing the number of enslaved workers transported. The arrows are sized relative to the numbers. The largest arrow shows 6 million enslaved workers going to the Caribbean. 3.5 million went to Africa, 650,000 to the Spanish colonies in Central and South America, and 400,000 to North America.

A key in the bottom right lists a set of African kingdoms that participated in the selling of enslaved workers, including Benin, the Oyo Empire, Dahomey, the Ashanti Confederacy, the Kingdom of Allada, the Kingdom of Whydah, and the Nupe people. These kingdoms are outlined on the map.

Greyscale drawing of a floor plan of what looks like the first floor of a house, with ten rooms and a flight of stairs. The title at the bottom reads: "The Magic Bookshop." There are two exterior doors: a front door and a back door. The floor plan is on a tattered piece of paper that looks as if it is being unrolled from the top, so there is a curl of paper, or a scroll, at the bottom. Around the floor plan are four animals. A cat, labeled Angel, is resting on top of floor plan, dangling a paw down. To her left is a huntsman spider named Drusilla. At the bottom of the page on the left is a golden retriever named Willow, sitting behind the scroll like a good boy. On the right side is a cat named Spike, who is sitting on top of the scroll and crushing it like an jerk. Typical dog and cat stuff. There are four piles of books around the outside of the floor plan: two large, and two small

From top left down in a switchback pattern, the rooms are labeled:
Yellow: Books with gold covers
Possibility: Mystery, Crime (where they do the spell)
Exeunt Omnes: Older books (where Kennedy finds the magic book)
The Office (where hazel makes tea)
Bathroom
Gurgler: Sci-fi, Fantasy (where Hazel goes to hide out)
The Scriptorium: More modern books (where Hazel sends Luke to find a book for his niece)
Taboo
The Fishbowl: Romance (where Luke makes a pink and purple bookcase)
Pooh Corner: Children, Young adult (where Bob has his armchair and the silent book club happens)

A label in the central hallway reads: "(where they put a bookcase for Today's Donations). Another label on the stairs reads "Hazel's loft apartment" and there is an arrow pointing up the stairs.

Art. A greyscale map of southern Africa showing different biomes. The map map key indicates 7 different biomes: Succulent Karoo; Fynbos; Albany Thicket; India Ocean Coastal Belt; Mixed Woodland; Grassland; Nama-Karoo; and Kalahari Savanna. Each is represented on the may by a different shade of grey, with areas of more rainfall being darker, and areas of less rainfall being lighter. Several of the rivers are labeled, as is the Indian Ocean.

Art. Colored map showing the locations of Alderely Edge, done in a fantasy style. The map is drawn to look like an old map done on parchment, with torn edges curling up. Two bars with ribbons wrapped around them form a frame at the top and right sides of the map. The ribbon on top is blue, the one on the right is a dusty red. On the right side of the map, between the frame and the edge, the map is colored turquoise and does not show any land forms. Written in large vertical letters in this space is the maps' title: "The Edge".

The main part of the map is cut with forests and cliffs, and has 13 locations noted. Each location name is in a small frame that looks like a torn piece of parchment. Two roads cut across the map, one labeled Macclesfield Road and the other labeled Artists Lane. They meet in the bottom 3rd of the map by a location called "The Wizard Tearoom." An arrow at the top left points up one of the roads and has a label reading "to Alderely Edge (village). An arrow a the other end of the road, at the bottom of th emap, reads: "To Macclesfield."

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memsomerville.bsky.social @memsomerville.bsky.social · 1d

Care for some good news? Adventure kitty gets home.

#Catsky

www.wtvr.com/news/local-n...

Francine returns! Beloved Lowe's cat back in Richmond after accidental truck ride out of state

Beloved Lowe's cat Francine is back in Richmond after a week-long search, according to updates shared by Lowe's and Richmond Animal Care and Control on Monday.

www.wtvr.com

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Gravel Influencer @gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · 1d

"Show me your papers."

One of the observers followed a car she suspected contained federal agents. She recorded a video that showed an officer turning his attention to her, telling her it's dangerous to follow agents at work.

“I'm free to drive around and record in the country,” the woman protested.

“And we are free to find out who you are,” the agent said. “May I see your passport?”

The woman — a U.S. citizen originally from Brazil who we’re identifying by her first initial, A. — presented her passport. The agent ran her name, then told her she could leave.

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memsomerville.bsky.social @memsomerville.bsky.social · 2d

I totally want to win large numbers of eels.

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memsomerville.bsky.social @memsomerville.bsky.social · 2d

I was just reading about map games. Have you ever done a game version?

www.leventhalmap.org/articles/pla...

Playing and Learning World Geography in the Seventeenth Century - Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library

What card games can tell us about the geographical imagination

www.leventhalmap.org

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memsomerville.bsky.social @memsomerville.bsky.social · 2d

Yeah, it takes some sleuthing for me sometimes. But so far I have found everything that I otherwise would have just clicked on when I had Prime.

I found myself walking around a local hardware store the other day that I wouldn't have otherwise been in. But I found the huge zip bags I needed!

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memsomerville.bsky.social @memsomerville.bsky.social · 2d

Trump take books.

www.404media.co/libraries-ca...

Libraries Can’t Get Their Loaned Books Back Because of Trump’s Tariffs

Libraries have shared their collections internationally for decades. Trump’s tariffs are throwing that system into chaos and can ‘hinder academic progress.’

www.404media.co

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Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 2d

Pretty clear Stephen Miller, Noem, Hegseth and Trump are trying to provoke a Civil War at this point. What's interesting is they want to do it now, because even though they're unpopular, they seem to believe this is the most popular they'll be ever again. We can't let them win.

Governor Gavin Newsom @governor.ca.gov · 2d

This is a breathtaking abuse of the law and power by the President of the United States.

America is on the brink of martial law.

Do not be silent.

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 2d

This evening, President Trump is ordering 400 members of the Texas National Guard for deployments to Illinois, Oregon, and other locations within the United States. No officials from the federal government called me directly to discuss or coordinate.

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memsomerville.bsky.social @memsomerville.bsky.social · 2d

I'm watching the #CyndiLauper Salute show, and AARP is advertising.

I feel old.

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memsomerville.bsky.social @memsomerville.bsky.social · 3d

I was wondering how long we'll keep Kanopy too. As we all seek to have streaming that isn't the corporate media juggernaut...

Books it is, I guess.

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memsomerville.bsky.social @memsomerville.bsky.social · 3d

"The author and activist behind the term ‘#enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and what we can do about it"

I thought it would be harder to dump #Amazon. It wasn't. I haven't missed it.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term ‘enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and ...

www.theguardian.com

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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 3d

Judge IMMERGUT, a Trump appointee to the bench, ruled that Trump's call-up was based on false claims about unrest in Portland and that Trump's own statements were "simply untethered to the facts." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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memsomerville.bsky.social @memsomerville.bsky.social · 3d

For me it was Rocky & Bullwinkle. Fractured Fairy Tales. Peabody's Improbable History.

I'm surprised I don't remember that Gilligan's Island. I must have seen it.

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Daniel Connerton @lordnad.bsky.social · 3d

@govpritzker.illinois.gov

37 and Kedzie, East Garfield, Illinois.

This is assault.

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memsomerville.bsky.social @memsomerville.bsky.social · 4d

I went to see the "Fashion Police" installation at #Harvard the other day. These pamphlets from 1620 are...something.

But I also was enchanted by the books in the library room. I may have looped more than once just enjoying the spines.

library.harvard.edu/exhibits/fas...

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