Today's Wikipedia page of the day is Anactoria, a lesbian romantic subject in Sappho poems! What a wonderful topic to have a loving Wikipedia page!

Anactoria - Wikipedia

Roman concrete's 2,000-year durability secret finally decoded The exceptional strength comes from 'hot mixing' quicklime directly with volcanic ash at high temperatures. This creates distinctive lime clasts that grant remarkable self-healing properties - when cracks form, water reacts with these clasts to form calcium carbonate that naturally repairs damage. Science Alert https://buff.ly/3EQOcxi #ShareGoodNewsToo

BOOK BURNING! Challenge: you will NEVER guess what book this woodcut illustration of a book burning is from, *or* why it's there! 1/? (A little thread for the countdown to the release of Inventing the Renaissance)

California’s connecting MPAs, and fish populations are rebounding Fish biomass has surged throughout California's 25-year-old marine protected area network, with the greatest gains in older reserves containing diverse habitats. The statewide MPA network, the first of its kind in the United States, shows the benefit of connecting smaller protected areas rather than single large reserve. Baird Maritime https://buff.ly/4hMwBoR #ShareGoodNewsToo

Washington Post is reporting that the US Gov't program to send free COVID tests to households will be shut down tonight, and the remaining tests destroyed. If you haven't already ordered yours in the latest batch (autumn 2024's) it's super quick & easy just takes putting in your address, price $0.00

The White House

Lab Leak: The True Origins of Covid-19

Covid 19 Origins - Lab Leak THE ORIGIN “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2” publication — which was used repeatedly by public health officials...

No more 40 hours: Spanish government reduces workweek The Spanish government has taken the first legislative steps towards reducing the working week from 40 to 37.5 hours, without loss of pay. The reduction, agreed after more than a year of political wrangling, would affect around 12 million workers, and would make Spain one of the world's first major economies to implement such a policy. Euractive https://buff.ly/3EAIfUS #ShareGoodNewsToo

Scientists have achieved two major advances in sustainable rice farming: an innovative cultivation method by Chilean researchers that cuts water use in half, and a new strain from a Chinese-Swedish team that reduces methane emissions by 70%. The potential for impact here is enormous - rice produces 12% of global methane emissions, and uses around a third of the world's freshwater resources. https://buff.ly/3Qj9Yft https://buff.ly/3Qk8jq3 #ShareGoodNewsToo

From late winter to early summer last year, renewables met 100% of California’s electricity demand for up to ten hours on 98 days. Not only were there no blackouts during this period—thanks in part to backup battery power—but at their peak, renewables provided up to 162% of the grid’s needs. This story challenges one of the key arguments against clean energy: that renewables are unreliable and intermittent. Grist https://buff.ly/3WNti8n #ShareGoodNewsToo

Clothing recycling takes a giant leap forward in Sweden A Swedish company has developed technology to produce a material from old textiles that can be used to manufacture brand new clothing - as compared to simple products such as upholstery fillings - and can help reduce the huge amounts of water and other resources used by the fashion industry, which also generates 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. RTBC https://buff.ly/3CKxHSB #ShareGoodNewsToo

"Rags to Riches" and "Self-Made Man" stories have long been self-fashioning tools for the ambitious. Historical examples of Rags-to-Riches stories real and fake show us how to cut through the propaganda. Especially by using one of the best tools for detecting history's lies: LOOK UP EVERYBODY's MOM! New blog post up on ExUrbe (another preview of "Inventing the Renaissance")

Rags to Riches Stories Fake & Real, or Always Look Up Everybody’s Mom! – Ex Urbe