Morning walk

Agentura.ru is back online — huge thanks to the fantastic team at Deflect! And yes, we have a backup domain, agentura.co.uk. We’re fully aware that Russian authorities could take the .ru domain away — but we’re not giving up without a fight.

Russia's Matryoshka disinformation campaign is now creating new content formats for Bellingcat. This is both the worst and best thing they've done, imo.

the orb can scan your iris, but until it can also sense your deepest hopes and fears, please continue entering those into the chatbot manually thanks,

ah yes, argentina. love 'em. best known for tango, football and repaying international creditors in full and on time

While you were becoming one of the 1000 most engaging users on bluesky, I studied the blade

somewhere in Moscow, in the basement of the Kremlin’s secret mind-control branch, the entire staff is being shot

[Viewing police lineup] Me: 'Can you have them say "Looking good, man. Have you lost weight?"' Cop: 'That wasn't in your witness report' Me: 'My what?"'

Personally, I have always disliked stuff that sucks. And yet, they keep making it

Feels like I have the flu but like emotionally

[writing in my journal by candlelight] Bought a box of Oops! All Berries cereal today, but they weren’t all berries. I fear I am no match for life’s challenges

Three days before today’s incursion into Estonian airspace by Russian fighter jets…

‘Britain’s foreign intelligence service, MI6, is launching a new online portal called Silent Courier, aimed at using the dark web to entice potential spies to send it secrets, particularly targeting Russia.’ www.cnn.com/2025/09/18/e...

hours later: *S&P 500, NASDAQ 100, DOW AND RUSSELL 2000 ALL CLOSE AT RECORDS I've seen this movie before and I can tell you how it ends

Missed this when it came out a few days ago. An excellent piece of reporting from RFE/RL to put all of these guys' mugs in the public record through open sources, including their own propaganda. They probably also won't be thrilled that their office is now on the map www.svoboda.org/a/tayna-rubi...

was feeling sad that there's no fide grand swiss to watch tonight but then I remembered there's probably 400 hours of amazing chessbase india coverage to catch up on

are they buying return tickets

if you have infinite monkeys typing on infinite typewriters one of them will eventually produce the entire works of shakespeare. but you don't have that kind of start up capital. start with 10 monkeys writing steven king's Christine. soon you'll be turning a profit and can start scaling your monkeys

When ChatGPT first took off this was the use case that confused me the most. People said they “only” used it to write “first drafts.” That’s the most important draft! That’s the thinking part!

I told my landlord that I am the airlord and he started crying

Jan Marsalek, the fugitive billionaire fraudster, has resurfaced in Moscow— recruited by the FSB and now reportedly taking part in Russian special operations in Ukraine: theins.ru/inv/284979 @christogrozev.bsky.social @dobrokhotov.bsky.social

Pro tip: if you're trying to hide the location of your latest far-right 'fight night' all the blurring and and tight shots won't help you if you host it in a place with bright orange walls (and also lie to the owner about why you're renting the place) www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/09...

if qa4 the absolute best play appears to be an amazing king march to safety - via f6! the king is going to be very snug on g7, leaving black to enjoy the bishop pair and better structure

300-point underdog and bottom seed at the FIDE Grand Swiss takes a half point off GM Baadur Jobava, who apparently had a plane to catch www.chess.com/events/2025-...

i don't think i've ever seen anything like the first line solution to this. timing suggests amin knew, but richie seems to have worked it out over the board, and correctly chose qc4 instead of qa4. curiously, amin spent an hour after qc4 - i guess he only checked the most natural move at home.

Vladimir Kramnik has moved on to posting about Ch*rlie K*rk so he might not have noticed that GM Matthias Bluebaum, whom he's been casting aspersions on for many months, is tired for first in one of the strongest classical chess tournaments of the year. 2829 performance updating his priors I'm sure

Final round pairings for the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss, via @chess24com.bsky.social. Particularly excited for Giri-Niemann given all the matches they've played. Five players on 7/10 (Bluebaum 🇩🇪, Firouzja 🇫🇷, Giri 🇳🇱, Niemann 🇺🇸, Keymer 🇩🇪). Mishra on 6.5 with the top performance rating: 2837

Статкевич отказался уезжать из Беларуси, хотя Лукашенко освободил его в числе 52 политзаключенных. Ему 69 лет Жаль это фото вряд ли будет на первых полосах мировых медиа Статкевич на нейтральной полосе Потом он ушел в сторону Беларуси

reposting this from @dgriffinchess.bsky.social in the sincere belief that if there's a home and an audience for cover-boy-era boris gelfand content, it's on bluesky now

My parents took me out of a country where this was the norm and where it led to the execution and imprisonment of millions of innocent people. They brought me here, to America, believing that it would not happen here. And yet here we are.

ME: if an apple a day keeps the doctor away then 365 apples in one day should keep them away for a whole year DR: *pumping my stomach* yeah that’s a common misunderstanding

if you have a billion dollars you should be legally designated a dragon and any human can adventure against you

Russia was using drones to destroy a Ukrainian farmer's tractors and fields. So he bought a gun and started shooting them down -- more than 80 by his count. @janelytv.bsky.social & Oksana Grytsenko, on how Russia is again trying to destroy Ukraine by taking its grain www.wsj.com/world/a-ukra...

Some of the complaints we've received are a little hippo critical, which is a shame because she's very sensitive.

An exhibition of North Korean art opened Tuesday at the All-Russian Museum of Decorative Art in Moscow, marking the first time works from the isolated country have been displayed abroad. Read more: www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/09/10/i...

Just my neighbours launching a vegetable garden next to their 16-story residential building in Kyiv. Using compost they are getting from organic waste neighbours produce. Apocalyptic future dictates new waves in urbanisation

Russia’s war is escalating, not ending. We must raise the cost on Moscow, strengthen support for Ukraine, and invest in Europe’s defence. The EU plays a major role and we will support initiatives like the Eastern Border Shield defence line. (2/2)

Last night in Poland we saw the most serious European airspace violation by Russia since the war began, and indications suggest it was intentional, not accidental. I am in contact with NATO Secretary General Rutte and Poland FM Sikorski. The EU stands in full solidarity with Poland. (1/2)

sometimes it's nice to take a break from your phone to remind yourself what in your real life you're using it to avoid in the first place and that you should never, ever let it go again

Warsaw says it shot down Russian drones that entered its airspace during an attack on targets across the border in Ukraine. This appears to be the war's first major spillover into Poland since Nov. 2022, when Ukraine accidentally fired a missile into the village of Przewodów, killing two people.

After the Trump admin sent dozens of Russian asylum seekers to Moscow (including one man wanted for desertion), exile groups are warning people not to seek refuge in the US talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-a...

The right wing in US, Europe don't care about Ukrainian lives unless their deaths can be weaponized to promote racist, xenophobic policies at home. My latest for @kyivindependent.com. kyivindependent.com/how-the-righ...

NEW: Right-wing creators aren't just influencing domestic policy. They're turning to diplomacy. More here: www.wired.com/story/right-...

what a humiliating way for don jr. to find out his dad sends birthday cards.

On the wall of the American Embassy in London is this quote from RFK. The vaccine denier in charge of HHS only has a platform because of his name. The world is very screwed up.

Wait your friends are supposed to make you a birthday book 🥺

It’s hard knowing about all the current stuff that sucks. I wish I only knew about delicious types of pie

(pointing at my bed like sleepy Babe Ruth)