Based on Israel's own data: "Between March and June, Israel allowed just 56,000 tonnes of food to enter... less than a quarter of Gaza’s minimum needs for that period. Even if every bag of UN flour had been... handed out... starvation was inevitable. Palestinians did not have enough to eat."

What a strange delight this has been. Having told the story of a number of real revolutions in ultra-longform podcast format for ten seasons, Mike Duncan synthesizes the elements and style into a new, fictional revolution. It’s tremendously good, and worth your time if you like sci-fi and history.

Man. Last time it took three and a half years to get to mass street protests in standoffs with law enforcement. Really speed-running this one.

Can someone explain why today is Bluesky-is-dying sackcloth-and-ashes day around here?

Sitting here trying to figure out if I have an obligation to avoid purchasing Stellaris expansions because of their AI use, or if their stated use (mood board ideation, deliberately-artificial-sounding voices with compensation for the voice actors) is sufficiently minimal to merely be mad about it.

One of the marks of a good installment in a long-running franchise is that it somehow makes better the things that inspired it. Andor makes Rogue One, and the broader Star Wars saga, better by giving us a glimpse at the struggle beyond the laser swords and space magic.

Wait. Are you telling me that in the last two weeks, anti-Trump backlash has swayed elections in Canada, Australia, and the *Vatican*?

I had been kinda bummed about them burning off 12 episodes of Andor over 4 weeks, but in seeing the first batch it becomes like a tv miniseries— an exciting, limited duration event. I really hope it works; I’d like more genre sci-fi for grown ups.

Trumpcession begins.

Is he going to hit the record of the (fictional) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington?

One down. 1,460 to go.

So, it's the day. And, yeah, it's going to be a tragedy. And I could go on at length about the horror. But instead I want to pay attention to the clock. He's a lame duck. 1,461 days and he's gone. And the sooner more people focus on that, the weaker he'll be and the faster it will go. 1,461.

May the sorrows of this new year be minimal for you.

I like that the Superman trailer shows us coming in to a fully realized superhero setting with all its goofiness instead of having to build it step by step. Even the MCU never quite got to a point where there could just be offhanded Hawkpeople and not make audiences expect it to be ‘homework’.

Well, it’s midnight. Welcome to either the best or worst day of the year.

Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #222,233! Need to get up around the 25 million mark, want that 1% badge.

Rise of the Powers of X #5 is a delightful climax to the Krakoan age that somehow does enough cosmology work that it goes back in time and makes a number of other stories better. #NewComics imgflip.com/i/8s2lma