St. Catherine's Monastery Library in Egypt is the oldest library in the world that's been continuously running. It was built back in the 500s under Emperor Justinian, right at the foot of Mount Sinai, a remote location that's really not easily accessible. That isolation is exactly what saved it. While wars, fires, and invasions wiped out pretty much every other big ancient library, this one survived. The monks were just trying to keep their community going, so they copied books for daily prayers, for teaching the younger monks, and for keeping records. Year after year, those practical copies piled up. What started as everyday stuff slowly turned into this incredible collection: early Christian writings, ancient Greek texts, medical books, and languages almost nobody speaks anymore. One of the craziest moments came in the 1970s when the monks were doing some repairs and found a hidden room stuffed with forgotten manuscripts. They call them the New Finds. A bunch of them were palimpsests, where someone had scraped off the original writing and reused the pages. Thanks to modern imaging tech, we've been able to read what was underneath: lost texts in Syriac, Arabic, Greek, even some early Christian hymns nobody knew still existed. It really felt like cracking open a time capsule inside another time capsule. The place is also home to the Codex Sinaiticus, one of the oldest complete Bibles we have, from the 4th century. Not a copy. The real thing. Finding it basically changed how scholars understood early Christianity. Think about it: this library has kept going through the rise and fall of empires, through Crusaders marching by, Ottoman rule, world wars, and modern politics. Just a handful of monks stubbornly keeping the lights on for nearly 1,500 years. That's why it's special. (Photo of the Saint Catherine's Monastery, looking down from Mount Sinai by Berthold Werner - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/inde…)

🇧🇷 Brazilian fans wave Palestine flag during Brazil Vs Morocco Match in the FIFA World Cup

South Korea has no dog in the fight; its concern is humanity.

Woodpigeon in my Somerset garden recently. 😍 I posted the cropped version of this photo a few weeks ago, but I think this wider view is lovely too, how about you? 😀🐦

Monday's Guardian cartoon on #DavidHockney

RT @lucky_budd: Here is a #levidrome cryptic clue 😄 The answer is a #levidrome pair (i.e.; tip-pit)! Here’s the clue: Buddy Holly’s tasty…

Strat - Tarts #levidrome

Leonardo da Vinci invented the self supporting bridge in the 1400s. Here’s how it works:

🍁 🍁🍁🍁🍁 Monsanto wanted its growth hormone in every glass of Canadian milk. One government scientist stood in the way and his own bosses spent 14 years trying to destroy him for it. His name was Dr. Shiv Chopra. Born in India, 1934. Came to Canada in the 1960s. PhD in microbiology. Senior scientist at Health Canada's Bureau of Veterinary Drugs. 35 years reviewing drug applications. Approve the safe ones. Reject the unsafe ones. Protect the public. For 20 years he did it quietly. Then Monsanto came knocking. A new drug. Bovine growth hormone. Brand name Posilac. Inject it into dairy cows, get 10-15% more milk. Bigger profits for the industry. Far bigger profits for Monsanto. The FDA had rubber-stamped it in 1993. Monsanto expected Canada to follow. The file landed on Chopra's desk. He started reading the science. He started finding holes. The data was thin. Long-term safety studies were missing. The cow studies that did exist showed lameness, mastitis, reproductive failure, shortened lifespans. If it was doing that to the cow, what was it doing to the milk? His recommendation: reject it. Demand real safety data. His managers had a different idea. Approve it. The Americans approved it. Why are you holding it up? Just sign off. He refused. So the pressure started. Closed-door meetings. Attempts to pull the file and hand it to someone friendlier. Gag orders don't talk to the media, don't talk to anyone. Suspensions. Reprimands. Demotions. Dead-end reassignments. He kept refusing. Two other scientists refused with him. Dr. Margaret Haydon. Dr. Gérard Lambert. Same data. Same alarm. Same answer. In 1998 the Canadian Senate launched an investigation into what was happening inside Health Canada. Chopra and his colleagues did something almost nobody does. They walked into the Senate and testified under oath. Said managers were pressuring them to approve unsafe drugs. Said industry was running the regulator. Said the system was broken. It made headlines around the world. In 1999, Health Canada rejected Monsanto's application. rBGH would not be approved. Europe banned it next. Then most of the developed world. Sit with that. One immigrant scientist in Ottawa beat one of the largest chemical corporations on Earth — and won. Then his own government fired him for winning. July 14, 2004. After 35 years of service, Health Canada fired Chopra, Haydon, and Lambert on the same day. Official reason: insubordination. Real reason: he embarrassed them in front of the country. The same year, the Prime Minister mailed him a gold watch for "illustrious service." While they were firing him. He called it comedy. He sued to clear his name. The fight took 13 years. He lost appeal after appeal. The final ruling came down in 2017. Three months later, in January 2018, he died. 83 years old. Never reinstated. Never given his pension back. Never owed an apology by anyone. But here is what they could never take back. rBGH is still banned in Canada today. Every glass of Canadian milk is still hormone-free — because one man refused to sign. And the United States? Never banned it. It's still legal there. Right now. He kept it out of Canada and they fired him. The system he fought is still pouring it into glasses across the border. So tell me below was Shiv Chopra a hero, or just a troublemaker who got what was coming to him? Pick a side. Because someone in those meetings is still telling scientists to "just sign off."

WHY are we letting Israeli soldiers destroy every inch of Palestine? Is it ''a war''? Would you accept others do this to you and your home? Let's stop this genocide together. Diplomats Politicians Judges Police officers Journalists Citizens Anyone can and must take action.

X has blocked my account. Please help me by commenting three dots (…) to break the algorithm.

€5,000 REWARD FOR INFORMATION ON Eleanor 💔💔💔💔💔 💔💔💔💔PLEASE BRING ELEANOR HOME 💔💔💔💔 Someone has Eleanor. Someone knows where she is. We are begging anyone with information to come forward and do the right thing. We just want Eleanor home safe. If this was done because of anger or resentment towards us, please don't take that out on her. Eleanor is innocent. She doesn't deserve to be caught up in any grievance. 💔💔💔💔💔 We are offering a reward of €5,000 for information that leads to Eleanor's safe return. If you have Eleanor, or if you know who does, please show compassion. Please make sure she is safe and cared for, and please help bring her home.💔💔💔💔 She is not just a pony to us. She is loved, she is missed, and she is part of our MLHR family. Every day without her is heartbreaking.💔💔💔💔 Please, if you know anything at all, come forward. No questions, no judgment. We simply want our little pony back. Please help bring Eleanor home.💔💔💔💔💔 Please share, keep a look out, take pics…donate towards our fight for animals in desperate need 💔💔💔 donate.mylovelyhorserescue.c… ❤️❤️❤️💔💔💔💔

“Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible God and destroys a visible Nature.” — Hubert Reeves

If you have a Gmail account, you need to read this. Google's AI now scans your emails and attachments, bank statements, tax files, medical letters, all of it. It turned on by default, and there's a class-action lawsuit over how. Here are 5 moves to shut it off, the switch is hidden in two places:

Shocked to hear David Hockney has died. His huge achievement was to make serious painting look effortless. He carried forward one of the most sustained investigations into vision, space and representation by any post-war artist. British art has lost a giant.

"Do remember they can't cancel spring" RIP David Hockney.

This World Cup, everyone with Norway 🇳🇴 The joy Norway experienced at the end of the match after defeating Israel 5-0: Norway donated all the match's proceeds to Palestine.

#ThoughtForTheDay Pigeons get called sky rats. But birds like these once carried messages through gunfire when every radio failed. And the part most people miss is this. For thousands of years humans relied on pigeons to move information faster than any technology available at the time. Their homing instinct is so precise that a trained bird released hundreds of miles away can still navigate straight back to its loft. That simple biological skill made them invaluable in war. During World War I and World War II, armies deployed hundreds of thousands of pigeons. When telephone wires were cut and radio signals failed, commanders often had only one reliable way to send a message through chaos. In 1918 a Pigeon named Cher Ami carried a desperate note from trapped American troops in the Argonne Forest. The bird was shot through the chest and lost part of a leg during the flight but still delivered the message, helping stop friendly artillery fire and saving nearly two hundred soldiers. Today their descendants wander city sidewalks, pecking quietly for crumbs. Most people see a nuisance. History once saw a lifeline with wings.

"Je préfère vivre en couleur" disait David Hockney

❤️