I would never accuse the Iraqi Army of being well trained or using a lot of restraint. And yet in Mosul I came to expect more discretion from the average Iraqi soldier than U.S. cops who have never taken incoming fire.

If you use Discord and want to tell them how you feel about them adding AI tools, here's a link to the survey. Share it far & wide. Let them know we don't want it. discord.sjc1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

That really can’t be comfortable, Inky… #ProofofCat

One of the podcasts I listen to has a frequent line about “never trust an adult convert” and I’m starting to think they’re right.

Amazon’s Ring doorbell camera system won the “Worst in Show” for privacy at #CES2026 for “doubling down on privacy invasion and supporting the misconception that more surveillance always makes us safer,” EFF’s Cindy Cohn told @apnews.com.

Not enough focus on Sudan with everything going on, but it’s nuts there too

And we laughed, oh how we laughed..,

Rough vibes on this website today, likely because people feel Hopeless and Helpless Because Can't Stop It and No One Who Is Supposed To Is Trying To So Now We're Fighting Each Other™. I recommend activities such as book, or potentially instrument if you like instrument, or even do talk on phone.

Northern Flicker in Vancouver BC Canada looking very grumpy. #BirdsSeenin2026

If you’re not following @diplomatofnight.com in general, I think that’s a miss on your part. Some very astute analysis and perspectives you might not easily see elsewhere in English.

You ever think about how the Roman Senate kept meeting centuries into the reigns of emperors. Hanging out, shooting the shit, giving speeches, and play-acting that their positions of privilege remained positions of power.

Trump is claiming they've captured Maduro. VP is apparently still safe? No idea what to expect if this is all true but certainly this is one of those days where weeks happen

I know I’m not an awesome cook but I get by. I made a really good potato leek soup tonight as leeks were on sale. I read a recipe that noted a really slow/soft sauté of the leeks makes a difference, and after trying it I’m inclined to agree.

Who's responsible for Elon Musk's idiot chatbot producing on-demand child sexual abuse material? defector.com/whos-respons...

Listening while I play around with various Linux distros for the new year.

Tired and sore and didn’t sleep well. But: I have the new year traditional Portzelky (olliebollen to those not of Mennonite extraction) and I will cook up the black eyed peas and cornbread and greens for my wife because 2026 is gonna need all the good luck charms we can muster.

2025: what will be your leftist job after the revolution 2026: how will you renovate your own personal abandoned data centre after the collapse

Happy Public Domain Day, gang! Nancy Drew, The Shadow, Japanese superhero Golden Bat, and Betty Boop (dog version) have all just had their copyrights expire. Go nuts!

Part of me doesn’t want to stay up to midnight. Part of me wants to ensure 2025 is fucking dead.

Happy MALTESE FALCON public domain day to all who celebrate

I spent last night and today helping a friend move. I figured I would be a physical wreck after last night but I’m actually holding up ok. Tomorrow may be another story.

Elon Musk promised a lot of things by 2025 - colonists arriving on Mars - xAI achieving AGI - Tesla robotaxis serving half the U.S. - completely driverless robotaxis - a Tesla Roadster demo - DOGE cutting trillions none of them happened mashable.com/article/elon-mus...

One of my absolute favorite videos ever: Autechre & The Washing Machine www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO9Z...

I am honoured to announce I’ve been appointed as a member to the Order of Canada. Thank you to everyone for the support! I dedicate this to my late Mom who taught me so much about history, local independent media & research. I know that she would be, like me, screaming with joy! #orderofcanada

Cloud adoption models in a nutshell

Ed's on fuckin fire with this one

Svälget 2, the newly discovered medieval cargo ship, had a length of approx. 28 meters, a width of up to 9 meters, a height of 6 meters, and could have carried approx. 300 tons of cargo. Dating from the early 15th century, this ship demonstrates that largescale trade networks operated at this time.

This is a really good explanation about why nefarious actors don't NEED ownership or supply chain attacks to exploit a router, because you probably haven't secured it anyway

Amazing work from @mattfromlondon.bsky.social here about a city I hope to wander again someday.

Dad had a Cortina GT when I was young and /loved/ that car. Even though parts were a bit of a pain.

2025 really has been The Year of the Edge Case

We had a mustard fairy tradition in our house for years after there was fancy mustard in my son's stocking & he said it was a gift from the mustard fairy who we must honor by eating more mustard.

Managed to get some Xmas gifts delivered to a friend that I didn’t think I would be able to do this evening. Did some chores, had a bath, had a couple “enhanced” eggnogs, crawled into bed, and read for a while as the cats and dog cycle through the room to spend some time. As a Xmas eve, it will do.

Watson, the game is afoot! Maybe a shipwreck discharged its cargo. Maybe Dread Cthulhu burped.

Just looked at the design brief for USS Bone Spurs here, and with 30+ knots, the biggest weapons available and absolutely fuck all armour... Is, er, Jackie Fisher in the room with us now?

As my therapist likes to remind me when we discuss things philosophical and especially around ol’ Marky Mark and the Roman Bunch: it’s easy to embrace that kind of stoicism when you’re the emperor.

Still one of my faves but strangely difficult to find commercially made ones that taste “right”

LOOK OUT

I don’t know how anyone can still talk about “the AI revolution” with a straight face. Reuters story about a railroad company that has sunk $300,000 into “developing AI products” and appears to have made…a chatbot that doesn’t work? archive.is/2025.12.17-0...

I'm an "A.i." abolitionist. Here's why. gregpak.net/2025/12/19/i...

this is a Canadian petition to uphold charter rights for transgender and minority communities if youre Canadian, please sign it. if youre not Canadian, please share it. www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...

It wasn’t a dream… Sean Bean and Bernard Cornwell really did join me & Liam Telfer @liamtelfer.bsky.social on the Napoleonic Wars Pod @napwarspod.bsky.social last night. As Sean put it ‘we could have talked all night’. We also discovered which is Bernard’s favourite book from the Sharpe series.

Had to take my car in to Chilliwack for maintenance. Haven’t eaten today so I went to Cookies Grill as they always do breakfast well no matter the time of day.Had the special: eggs Benedict with a cranberry hollandaise sauce, turkey, over stuffing formed into patties. It worked surprisingly well.

Have a hunch that most technology does not in fact stay

Neat idea. Reminds me a bit of the “dollar store tying nights” my dads group would do to see how to adopt and adapt materials that don’t cost an arm and a leg.

This is the past some people wish to return to.

To me, this is the best one:

I love the idea of a newsroom full of folks brandishing fish and stun guns at each other. "I got it out of the vending machine!"

There was something of a tradition in MI6 post-war. If you did some super crazy shit in WW2 that was still classified but not THAT relevant now, then just find a friend or journalist who'll write it up as a thinly-veiled fiction story. 50s spy/war novels are a goldmine of real-world stuff.