CHOTINER: So I want to come back to something you said earlier. You described yourself as "a healthcare provider." MAJOR LIO PARTAGAZ: That's right. CHOTINER: Do you think "healthcare" is the right metaphor for what happened to Ghorman? PARTAGAZ: Look, that's... that's a different situation.

This was a really interesting conversation - thanks so much to @icds-tallinn.bsky.social for putting it together!

God help me I did not realize that there were *six* separate NCIS series. How much boat crime can there be??

So on a scale where 1 is "everything is fine, normal" and 10 is "Swan Lake on every channel," where does the Spotify Calming Classical playlist in the Brixton McDonald's land?

Heaven knows we need something cheering, and this story is utterly delightful:

Today was a Good Day in the office.

This is somehow incredibly Miyazaki codes; it's simultaneously a huge mechanical war machine while also being reminiscent of the boar god from Princess Mononoke.

I think the thing that will stick with me, leaving Kyiv early on a warm summer morning immediately after the largest drone strike yet in the war, is the sensation of a vibrant city wrapped in a pall of smoke and the smell of cordite.

Hear Jacob Parakilas on @theobserveruk.bsky.social's Sensemaker podcast unpacking the recent US strikes on Iran’s underground nuclear sites: strategy, regional implications, and what comes next. Tune in here: open.spotify.com/episode/4Ov2...

I spoke to The Observer's Sensemaker about the airstrikes on Iran and what might happen next: open.spotify.com/episode/4Ov2...

My dad insisted that I watch the Battle of Algiers as a teenager. Took a few years for me to appreciate how good it is (and why he insisted).

Got a new car (an electric SUV for EcoDadMaxxing). Wipers are useless. "I'll replace them, and I'll save the installation money on Serious Wipers and do it myself!" Two failed attempts. Finally figure out the correct adapter was at the bottom of the box, at which point: done in thirty seconds.

A few years ago, walking through Soho, saw a crowd gawping at a parallel-parking Audi R8. Thought, "that's a nice car but it's not THAT nic... oh it's Michael Gambon driving it." Then turned the corner and walked into Ben Whishaw.

Struggling to remember a Friday the 13th that felt quite so Friday the 13thy.

Enjoyed Mission: Impossible: This Is The Last One Seriously We Promise, but if you - like me - suffer from a mild-to-moderate fear of encountering submerged submarines while underwater and/or having to escape tight spaces at risk of drowning you may find it a tiny bit stressful. Fair warning.

Broke my arm playing Ultimate Frisbee, notably a non-contact sport.

Pretty sure the stagehand they're interviewing for this interstitial about the event crew for Eurovision is actually Agent 47.

This except for me it's Trent from Never Have I Ever

I'm an unashamed car guy, and I've got a WhatsApp chat of other car guys (all in London). Yesterday our chat was (1) My friend got a new electric Renault 5 and we're all stoked for him (2) Me getting views on replacing my ICE car with an EV (3) How much more time we spend on our bikes than driving

Not for nothing but if you're doing strategic competition with China you probably need a diplomatic presence in Africa. Trump Administration Draft Order Calls for Drastic Overhaul of State Department www.nytimes.com/2025/04/20/u...

On the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, we thought we'd answer a question that's often asked, "If they raised the Mary Rose, why not raise the Titanic?" Allow our scaled diagram to explain...

My (slightly skeptical) overview of AI's impact on geopolitics, originally written for the Danish foreign policy magazine Udenrigs and helpfully republished by RAND in English and without paywall here: www.rand.org/pubs/comment...

I think Zero Day might be the first TV show I've ever seen with a centrist extremist as the villain. Which is also ironic because (in common with most modern political thrillers) it's terrified of letting you believe it might have its own politics.

My three year old daughter grabbed a pair of trousers I was trying to put on her out of my hands and ran away, yelling LET ME COOK!

Canonically, Luke - born at the end of the Clone Wars - is 18 when Obi Wan hands him a lightsaber and tells him it's "a more elegant weapon from a more civilized age." Which is the equivalent, today, of being handed an iPod Touch.

Me, every single February: beware the False Spring, there is always a False Spring. Me, every single early March: it's spring! The sun is out! I can stand outside without a coat! Winter is over forever and I shall never again experience cold!

Steve Earle?! In Star Wars?!! (Watches trailer twice) I'll allow it.

I'm just back from a week in Kyiv, and for all the things I learned and saw I don't think anything will stick with me more than this brief stop we made to the memorial to those lost in the war that's grown organically at the outskirts of Maidan Square.

Goddamn it. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/u...

Shout out to the woman sitting next to me at a screening of Conclave who, halfway through during a scene where Ralph Fiennes is struggling with his duties, faith and conscience, turned to her partner and loudly hissed, "I don't get it, is he GOOD or BAD?!"

... I've just realized that the next Presidential state car is going to be a CyberTruck, isn't it.

Honestly I think this model needs to be more broadly adopted. Fire trucks. Taxis. Throw some of those bad boys on attack submarines.

The other obvious thing to say about this is that behind the veil of ignorance you really really really want the former, because your odds of being in the group of people who can afford a private concierge-type life in a country with no public services are very, very low.

Some quotes from me here about the ongoing scourge of Russian glide bombs for Ukraine: kyivindependent.com/russias-prim...

If you went to college 1. What was your career goal when you started? 2. Your initial major? 3. If you changed majors, what to? 4. What do you do now professionally? 1. Film director, screenwriter or editor 2. Film studies 3. International relations 4. Defense/strategic analysis

Half listening to my kids' TV shows, I hear a character exclaim "I know the quickest shortcut to the crevasse!" And brother... Same.

Exhibiting heretofore unimaginable levels of Dad Energy by putting on the main theme from The Hunt for Red October before driving my Volvo station wagon into Rotherhithe Tunnel.

I posted this as a stupid joke but now I'm thinking about Car Talk as this very gentle, very kind-hearted, and yet very popular cultural artifact and... what's today's equivalent?

The USS Franklin Delano Roosevelt was right there, c'mon!

I mean the most obvious answer for me is probably a manual transmission, but it really depends on the car. My first was a 5MT Toyota Camry, which was a good car for a 19 year old college student living in rural MA, but the shifter/clutch feel was just garbage.

$500 pcm inclusive for an in-retrospect-obviously not up to code basement room in Amherst, MA, with a landlord living upstairs who seemed nice at first but then started talking about chemtrails and the Illuminati...

🌍🛡️ The Future of Defence 🛡️🌍 Nine essays on critical strategic topics, including: -The evolving roles of the UK and NATO in global defence. - The strategic implications of China's rising influence. - Ongoing tensions with Russia, North Korea, and Iran. rand.org/pubs/perspec... #UKDefence #RAND

Parenting really needs achievements. It's not like the hundredth time I repeated the phrase "it's time to brush your teeth" in the last half hour had any more practical impact than the ninety-ninth but it would be nice to have some kind of recognition, you know?

Ok so the total body count for one season of this show is roughly 50% of London's annual murder rate and I feel like it wears it very, very lightly.

Woah. Not every day a new tactical jet breaks cover...

Watching Black Doves. Highly entertaining, but holy shit Ben Whishaw's character's parking ticket and congestion charge bill must be insane.

A non-LOTR character who could resist the One Ring

Never thought l needed a makeover until my six year old referred to a hoodie as my "signature look" and now I very much do.

I've been a boringly married dude since before The Apps so 0 perspective on the dating side, but I've got a little experience with AI job application "wingmen" and they are nowhere close to being up to the job.