Discord's disturbing ties to the build-out of global surveillance and facial recognition: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhxs...

Just watched The Death of Stalin. Excellent farce about awful people. Steve Buscemi brilliant as Khrushchev and Jason Isaacs just wonderfully over the top as Zhukov.

"Battle Hymn of the Republic" is not a song to be taken on lightly ... but in light of this New Year Trumpian news onslaught, we're sharing this adaptation, called "Battle Hymn of the Empire" - as Trump goes marching on, and dragging us all back to the nineteenth century.

youtu.be/8saU0WeocP0

uh holy SHIT?

It’s the “season of love and giving”…but this year, doesn’t it seem more like a “season of fear and taking”? Like many of you, I’ve been saddened by the human impact of draconian government budget cuts and how angry many housed Americans are at unhoused Americans.

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‘Booty’ and ‘butt’ are synonyms.

‘Call’ and ‘dial’ are synonyms.

But, a ‘booty call’ and a ‘butt dial’ are VERY different things.

A man on the streets of the UK is asked about the “problem of immigration” and dismantles talking points with ease.

Re-reading/reading the #WheelofTime and of all the stupid bits in the books the thing that I chose to let annoy me seems to be the size of the armies. Compared to the faux late medieval/early modern Europe population density and agriculture types they are stupidly large.

Genius!

#wotskies
#wheeloftime
Ceara Coveney killing it
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWki...

Rosamund Pike is such a good actress. Amazing shifts and displays of emotion in S03E05 of the Wheel of Time. #wheeloftime #wotskies

Just finished The History of Rome Podcast by @mikeduncan.bsky.social Phenomenal stuff. Highly recommended political history of Rome from its founding to the end of the Western Empire. About time I started on the Martian Revolution.

I know it is not absolutely a crisis but it is very bad let me tell you what has happened

New @restispoliticsus.bsky.social LEADING with UN humanitarian chief @tomfletcherun.bsky.social on his time with 3 UK PMs, why humanitarian work is harder than ever, hopes and fears for Gaza and Ukraine, and more. Frank, funny and full of ideas alastaircampbell.org/2025/01/117-...

Word of the Day is one I keep posting at the end of the year, hoping its time will come.

‘Respair’, from the 16th century, is fresh hope, and a recovery from despair.

Here’s to a few drops of respair in 2025.

This is amazing
www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-qg...

Just found out @markokloos.bsky.social has a new book out in the Palladium Wars series. Bought immediately. If Descent is anywhere close to the quality of Citadel then I'm in for a treat. Citadel was the best thing he has written and I absolutely loved it.

An excellent tale.