Data Talks

America’s 15 year old boys actually went up in math on the PISA while girls scores dropped again. The gender gap is now 24 points. Wow. pic.twitter.com/PlZpREWSuJ

— Marc Porter Magee 🎓 (@marcportermagee) September 8, 2026

 

On the Alster in Hamburg, 1910 by Max Lieberman

On the Alster in Hamburg, 1910 by Max Lieberman (Germany, 1847-1935) 

Click to enlarge.

History

E.F. Benson on the remarkable fact that, for hundreds of years, if you could win a King's Scholarship to Eton as a teenager, you could spend the rest of your life as a Bachelor Fellow of King's, Cambridge, devoted to either scholarship or "the gentle art of doing nothing at all". pic.twitter.com/ZhlhrZVvUB

— Antigone Journal (@AntigoneJournal) September 3, 2026

 

An Insight

Bede (in A.D. ~730) and the Beowulf poet both include a story of young men racing their horses. Bede clearly considered it a vanity, but in Beowulf it’s only described in a positive light.

If we grant that Beowulf was an early 8th century Mercian composition, Bede and the… pic.twitter.com/rIh2MH4W81

— Grǣġhama (@grahamscheper) September 3, 2026

 

I see wonderful things

In 1989, a pelican named Katta-kun began going to a kindergarten in Japan where it played and interacted with the children as if it were one of them. pic.twitter.com/h6eqRIYQa0

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) September 3, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

Anybody remember this? Still one of the funniest clips.

“Who are you?”

Not just Jeremy Corbyn here, look who’s sat right next to him…. it’s his left hand man Andy Burnham. pic.twitter.com/DmWIWv9cjK

— Kevin Edger (@KEdge23) September 3, 2026

 

Data Talks

My friend made this graph he wanted me to share because he's afraid of posting it.

It depicts the population of Detroit over time.

It has utterly collapsed. pic.twitter.com/qm33x822xr

— Crémieux (@cremieuxrecueil) September 3, 2026

 

Data Talks

State of the Union by European Commission President @vonderleyen:

„We will“ - 56 times
„We need to“ - 18 times
„We must“ - 10 times
„We should“ - 4 times

Implementing - Zero times
Doing - 4 times
Achieved - Zero times

Two summits & a new European security strategy announced.

— Velina Tchakarova (@vtchakarova) September 16, 2026

 

Summer Day by Arnold Böcklin

Summer Day by Arnold Böcklin (Switzerland, 1827-1901)

Click to enlarge.

History

The actual quote, which I just retrieved, is actually more brilliant than that:

"Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own… https://t.co/3XHr3c7X0y

— Gad Saad (@GadSaad) August 14, 2026