a logo for america online with three icons Alt: The daily up connecting animated graphic for america online showing a human figure moving to the right and eventually connecting with people online.

Had a 2004 Web 2.0 kind of experience today on a site: You don’t sign in and sign out. You sign on and sign off. 📞 💾

Photo of a plaster proof of a sculpture sitting a two-story library of the Boston Athenæum with many stacks of books. The 1858 sculpture by Thomas Ball is of Continental army general and commander-in-chief George Washington astride a horse looking off to the far distance. He carries a spyglass for all the surveying he did. It looks quite contemplative (the final version of this swapped the spyglass for a sword; as to why is left as an exercise for the reader). Washington had time to do all this extensive surveying due to the number of enslaved people he had working his plantation Mount Vernon.

Photo of a high relief memorial in cast bronze surrounded by marble. It is the Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Memorial (1897) by Augustus Saint-Gaudens located on Boston Common, about 500ft away from the Athenæum. It depicts Colonel Shaw (from a wealthy family of abolitionists) astride his horse marching with untold numbers of black troops in the regiment he led. Shaw and his troops lead the assault on Fort Wagner where many died in battle. Sergeant William H. Carney while severely injured in the battle saved the regiment's flag for which he became the first African American recipient of the Medal of Honor. If you’ve seen the movie Glory, you know the tale and the honor this regiment held. This memorial and the statue of slave-holding Washington stand in contrast to each other as individuals who fought for their version of freedom.

A horse of a different juxtaposition

Wrought iron gate entrance and/or exit to the Downtown Crossing T station. Cut out of a building like a portal to another time. Stairs leading down to somewhere. Old time pattern in the floor. Concrete sidewalk in disrepair.

Wooden stairs leading up with a brick wall above the landing. The stairs have names of beers on them such as “KOROVA, OLD BELFRY, MOON RABBIT, CELLAR DOOR, SUFFRAGETTE, BOSTON BRAWLER, and AN DIE FREUDE”.

An old vintage wooden door that probably weighs a quarter ton. A metal sign on the door reads “Boston Bar Association 1876” with three crown on it. No keys or bees.

A wall with a periodic series of brass handles and labels on small drawers of some sort. The labels appear to say things like “Tracts, Former Owners, Shelf Lists” with ranges of alphabet letters. The entire piece is made of wood. There appear to be pull-out boards of some sort. As if you could pull the shelves out and sit them on the boards. Maybe the hold things like cards. And one could look through them to discern the locations of items on a cataloged kind of way. A catalog of cards if you will…

For a day nominally about books and paper, there was certainly a lot of wood and metal around

I feel like we need to go back and ask why the creepy doll is crying blood

Thanks for the inspiration! We’re members but it’s been forever since we went. Hope you had a wonderful time

Oh are you going to the Peabody Essex up in Salem?

In a room aboard the starship Enterprise, we see Captain James Kirk standing at a monitor. He is sweaty and shirtless, holding a towel which is slung across the back of his neck. To the right, a very sultry-looking Miss Piggy looks over at Kirk with seduction in her eyes. She's wearing a sleeveless/strapless dress and a jacket which is falling down her arms and back.

Day 176 of inserting a Muppet into a Star Trek screenshot

#StarTrek #StarTrekTOS
#TheMuppets

In the Enterprise (NX-01) sick bay, Dr. Phlox is using a handheld scanner to look at Gonzo (of the Muppets). Gonzo sits there patiently with his hand on the side of his face.

Day 175 of inserting a Muppet into a Star Trek screenshot

#StarTrek #StarTrekEnterprise
#TheMuppets

An unreal pink and purple clouded sky behind silhouetted evergreen trees at sunrise.

Caught a glimpse of pink-purple glow out of the windows this morning. Went out for a pic and wasn’t disappointed at all

Sonic ones. Absolutely the best!

Photo of a dinner plate with breaded chicken thighs on buns and some tater tots the thighs we brined in pickle juice all day. Highly recommended.

Finished off a jar of pickles recently so we brined up some boneless chicken thighs. Breaded them and had some pickle chicken sammies. Choice of boom boom sauce or mayo & hot honey

a group of people sitting in a room with a canadian flag and an american flag hanging from the ceiling Alt: The Artemis 2 astronauts doing a “team” hand gesture together.

They’re playing Under Pressure in the grocery store, and I miss space wake-up’s so much 😭

I love that historical artifact drinking vessel

Screenshot of iPhone wallpaper choices showing the Earth Set photo from Integrity.

I mean 🤷🏻‍♂️😉

Great job!

All four out

Photograph of a pair of shoes and socks sitting on the floor. The socks have the classic NASA meatball logo from the 60s. The shoes are high top vans sneakers styled to look like NASA equipment. They have a ribbed white oversole and black uppers with an additional NASA meatball in view. On the far side of one of the sneakers is the Apollo 11 Mission patch. On the tongues are classic red removed before flight ribbons. A few years ago, I got to stand in the presence of the Apollo 11 Columbia capsule while wearing these shoes. Core memory moment.

Properly kitted out for Artemis reentry, splashdown, and recovery today

Still from the movie, Star Trek: first contact where the Borg are outside of the enterprise, trying to reconfigure the deflector dish.

Mysterious thunking sound coming from outside the Artemis pressure hull…

Iconic photo of Freddie Mercury on stage at Wembley Stadium in front of like 100,000 people. He is wearing his signature, yellow military style jacket and white pants with red and yellow piping down the side. He is holding a microphone with a short stand stick attached to it so that he can carry it around and gesture with it similar to a cane. His back is arched and he is leaning backwards with his head thrown back in a pose that would be the dictionary entry for “rockstar“.

Artemis being woken up with “Under Pressure” like the rockstars they are

Monochrome photo of the moon between waning gibbous and last quarter in the sky with empty cherry tree limbs in the foreground. It looks small and far away. But it is a place. And so are those around us. https://thisissporkpress.com/1_2/pieces/Serpse.htm RABO SERPSÉ The Moon is a Place Full text at the link.

The moon is a place, is a place, a place where men have been, left their awkward footprints and that lonely flag that at first refused to stand. I forget this sometimes.

- Excerpt from “The Moon is a Place” by Rabo Serpsé (link to the full piece in the alt)

Earthset captured through the Orion spacecraft window at 6:41 p.m. EDT, April 6, 2026, during the Artemis II crew’s flyby of the Moon. A muted blue Earth with bright white clouds sets behind the cratered lunar surface. The dark portion of Earth is experiencing nighttime. On Earth’s day side, swirling clouds are visible over the Australia and Oceania region. In the foreground, Ohm crater has terraced edges and a flat floor interrupted by central peaks. Central peaks form in complex craters when the lunar surface, liquefied on impact, splashes upwards during the crater’s formation. [alt text from NASA]

#Artemis II lunar flyby images are showing up! 😍

A crescent Earth setting behind the Moon.

Captured by the Artemis II crew during their lunar flyby on April 6, 2026, this image shows the Moon fully eclipsing the Sun. From the crew’s perspective, the Moon appears large enough to completely block the Sun, creating nearly 54 minutes of totality and extending the view far beyond what is possible from Earth. The corona forms a glowing halo around the dark lunar disk, revealing details of the Sun’s outer atmosphere typically hidden by its brightness. Also visible are stars, typically too faint to see when imaging the Moon, but with the Moon in darkness stars are readily imaged. This unique vantage point provides both a striking visual and a valuable opportunity for astronauts to document and describe the corona during humanity’s return to deep space. The faint glow of the nearside of the Moon is visible in this image, having been illuminated by light reflected off the Earth. [alt text from NASA]

The #Artemis II astronauts said they needed more superlatives to describe their view of the eclipse, when the Sun was behind the Moon and its near surface was faintly illuminated by Earthshine

Star Trek The Next Generation scene. Deanna Troi is floating in space in a swirl of green dreamy clouds or maybe a nebular. She's looking up and we're looking down at her. Her arms are open and she looks shooketh or worried or entranced otherwise. Closed caption reads, "One moon..."

#Artemis II update: Unfortunately, the toilet is once again no-go 🫠

a man in a star trek uniform is standing in an elevator and saying i am in control of my emotions . Alt: Spock is standing in a doorway on the enterprise and saying “i am in control of my emotions” while he most certainly is not.

“We can see both the earth and the moon in the same view” #Artemis

Screenshot: Key lunar flyby times, milestones All times Eastern, subject to change based on real-time operations 1 p.m. NASA+ coverage of lunar flyby begins 1:56 p.m. Crew passes distance from Earth record set by Apollo 13 in 1970 2:45 p.m. Lunar flyby begins 7:02 p.m. Orion closest approach to the Moon (4,070 miles) 7:07 p.m. Orion reaches maximum distance from Earth (252,760 miles) 8:35 p.m. Orion enters solar eclipse

NASA #Artemis II flyby coverage schedule; all times in Eastern. You can follow along live on NASA+ (plus.nasa.gov) or on the NASA YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/@NASA).

It should be amazing to watch!

Photo of a cast iron pan filled with a chocolate brioche bread pudding soufflé in an oven. Recipe: • 5 (1 inch) thick slices brioche bread • 2 tablespoons butter, melted • ¼ cup chopped pecans • 1 ¼ cups milk • ¼ cup white sugar • 2 eggs, beaten • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Directions Step 1 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F Step 2 Tear bread into 1-inch pieces and place in a small cast iron pan. Drizzle with melted butter and sprinkle with pecans. Step 3 Whisk milk, sugar, eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla extract together in a medium bowl until combined and pour over bread mixture in the baking dish. Press gently on the bread until saturated. Let sit for a few minutes. Step 4 Bake, uncovered, in the preheated oven until top is puffed but set, about 40 minutes. Pudding will settle back down as it cools.

Photo of a scoop of bread pudding in a bowl. It has been topped with butter, coffee salt, and vanilla bean syrup.

Whoops the double chocolate brioche was a week old so only one option remained

Into the Black was such an insightful and informative read