Widening Gyre

This is a country spending 40% of its budget on defense and losing to Ukraine. You think they're going to launch a naval invasion of Dover? They lost their Black Sea flagship to Ukraine, which basically does not have a navy. What are you talking about?!

Slight edit. “We can’t do it because it’s completely inhuman.” And then he does it.

A wild story: the CEO of a US energy company whose plans were discussed during the Witkoff-Kushner-Putin negotiations resigns. Why? He learned that his company's main investor is a sanctioned Russian company, not the UAE www.nytimes.com/2026/10/23/u...

Hooray it's #HillfortsWednesday 🥳 This is the final approach through the gateway passage of Tre'r Ceiri hillfort, Gwynedd 😮🫣 This powerful, long-lived hilltop defended town dominated the Llyn Peninsula, home to the Gangani or 'Geese People' 🪿🪿⚔️ It was partly restored in the 80s & 90s 📷 My own

We've all had days like these...😮😅 📷 Spotted today

🏛️👻 #RomanFortThursday: Beneath a building outside Housesteads Roman Fort, archaeologists found a man & woman buried under the floor — with a broken sword blade embedded in the man’s ribs. Who were they, & what happened? Centuries later, the mystery endures… #RomanBritain

New @therestpolitics.bsky.social - Trump no longer hiding he is on Russia side in war v Ukraine. The challenge for Europe got a whole lot bigger. Plus riots in France and horror attack on Helen Haines MP in Australia podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

I gamed this out for much smaller utilities and apps that solved short-term problems in hacky ways but were then passed along to other agents and/or integrated into larger platforms. But look, I just think "slopware" is a solid coinage and you should all feel free to use it!

Is this the charger where the faster it goes, the slower Starlink goes in Ukraine?

i mean sure

new report from leading israeli national security think tank inss: “the united states is a declining power” not my view. but if israel thinks it can’t depend on the united states, imagine how other allies feel..

Russia has had the same leaders for 26 years. Why hasn’t Trump ever called for a new Russian president?

These are the morons supposed to self regulate?

Do Bear in mind that 'self-regulation' has always been a synonym for 'no regulation'.

Earlier I posted about new technology promising solutions to problems we know how to solve. This is pretty close to a case.

Q: “Senator Sullivan, why did you refuse to meet with Epstein survivors and then vote to confirm Blanche?” Dan Sullivan: “I’ve done more for domestic violence supporters than anybody.” Dan Sullivan voted to block release of the Epstein files and protect pedophiles.

My kid has started a Letterboxd list called Killer Sweaters for films where the killer wears a great sweater and they've asked me to throw it out to Bluesky for more because "that's the kind of thing those weirdos like to do"

🔭 Lunar Farside Credit: NASA / GSFC / Arizona State Univ. / Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter ap261010

“We will burn their refineries.” It has been a tough couple of days for Ukraine, with dozens killed in Russian strikes, and Trump’s ‘stab in the back’ diesel deal with Putin. My latest weekly update. mickryan.substack.com/p/trumps-die...

On a positive note, judging by how furious these fucks are and how they've brought out the real big guns to force Ukraine to stop, the strikes against Russia's oil industry are clearly having a very serious impact.

Possibly an even greater one than we realize, and certainly greater than the Russians want us to believe.

Princeton, McGill and Penn have all denied tenure to women who went on to win a Nobel Prize. It says quite a bit about tenure standards, and the treatment of women in academia. MAGA thinks that DEI gives them an unfair advantage. And that's farcical. www.forbes.com/sites/conorm...

European Epstein probes await U.S. evidence as Trump faces renewed scrutiny over his Epstein ties, a civil sexual-abuse verdict, and allegations from more than a dozen women. theintellectualistofficial.substack.com/p/europe-is-...

your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could they didn't stop to think if they should

If you have not yet been to see the scale model of NYC built by Joe Macken out of cardboard and balsa wood over a period of 21 years you only have until the 12th of October to see it! It's at the Museum of the City of New York, by the north east end of Central Park

We archaeologists tell the stories of the stones not to erase their mystery, not to undo their role as anchoring post for folklore, but to transmit the Long Neolithic. We give context for ghosts, provide new reasons for lithic pilgrimage. – Dr. K. Brophy #StandingStoneSunday

I have blamed The agents That hacked Your website And which You probably Reasonably thought I controlled Forgive me I am rich And unaccustomed To taking responsibility

RFK Jr.’s health department halted publication of two Covid vaccine studies involving 12 million Americans. Draft findings reviewed by outside experts reportedly showed serious side effects were rare and benefits outweighed risks. theintellectualistofficial.substack.com/p/fda-pulled...

FYI, what a leader looks like. 🇨🇦

1 year ago today Russia withdrew from the Convention to Prevent Torture. You'd think a UN permanent security council member doing that would be bigger news. kyivindependent.com/ukraine-call...

If I'd been married 7 times and cheated on all 7 wives, would you be excited to be the 8th? That's roughly where Canada finds itself with the United States right now. I explain what marriage can teach us about trade negotiations in today's Substack: newsletter.platypuseconomics.com/p/would-you-...

A Sphinx (height 4.8 cm) carved from #ivory and with face made of amber. Found in the Grafenbühl burial near Asperg, a rich burial mound from the late Hallstadt period, dating ca. 500 BC. The Sphinx is a product of a #Greek workshop in Italy (Taranto?). It was used as an applique and ...🧵1/2

Today the UK celebrates 250 years of independence from the tyranny of the United States of America. Imagine living in a society where the leader can repeatedly break the law and nobody stops them!

The Economist on JD Vance's understanding of religion www.economist.com/united-state...

Palantir Acquires Pentagon For $800 Billion https://theonion.com/palantir-acquires-pentagon-for-800-billion/

"I have accepted Keir Starmer's resignation as my chief servant and have invited Andy Burnham to lay out details for how many meals a day he'll give me"

The real toll of the "China squeeze" on poorer countries can't be measured mainly in job cuts or factory closures, but rather in factories never built, export markets never entered, capabilities never accumulated, & development paths never opened, Arvind Subramanian & Shoumitro Chatterjee write.

Possible 'prototype' of Stonehenge discovered three miles from the famous site. 🏺 #ArchaeologyNews via BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

@robarmstrong.bsky.social and I are doing an AMA thing tomorrow. (It's called "Ask An Expert" and I leave you do decide whether either of us fits that description) Anyway, ask away: www.ft.com/content/248b...

Love what the Australian soccer team says about modern Australia. Seriously, watch this video, and you'll be cheering for them too.

This brought tears to my eyes. Well done Socceroos. I’m proud that you are proud. Go well.

This is #Australia If you don’t like diversity, don’t come here or live here. But admit what you are.

My podcast with Dr Sana Hashmi to discuss the shifting balance of power in the Indo-Pacific, the future of Taiwan, and the structure factors that explained India and China's different development paths youtu.be/sIu_uK3Wtkg?...

The stairwell of Mousa Broch on the western shore of the Island of Mousa in the Shetland Isles. The broch was constructed in the Iron Age in around 100 BC. 📸 My own. #StairwellSaturday #Mousa #Shetland #Archaeology

An astronaut's view of Earth during a spacewalk.

So you're telling me that cutting tariffs leads to lower prices? Fascinating.