Major General Randy Manner, US Army (Ret), "We have a Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth, who has actually stated words in his speeches and in writing that are literally the words of war criminals" "Even if President Trump pardons him for these things, The Hague will eventually come to get him"

Just a blossom appreciation post. 🌸

Played around with the geofiz to orientate it to the aerial image. Here's the 2025 Durotriges dig compared to the geofiz.

Just a deeply unpleasant man.

Any typos spotted in this post were caused by the fact that I don't often stay out to midnight and this second cup of tea this morning isn't cutting it. Maybe some chocolate is in order... chocolate is definitely in order...

Sitting on the curb out the front of his place, under a street light. With a local cat keeping him company. Saying: "Just wanted to enjoy the full moon tonight eh." Quietly playing a guitar as the city lights shone in the valley below. Cicadas clicking, crickets chirping. Cat meowing... (11)

And then later, on the walk home around midnight, We get to our street. It's on a hill in a quiet part of town, overlooking the city. A few doors away from my wee rental with its bonkers overgrown garden, we encountered one of our neighbours, a guy in his 20s... (10)

A song ends and a friend walks up to him laughing, gives him a hug and says, "You're holding a kettle!" He looks down with a bit of an angelic bemused smile as if he's just realised and says, "Yeah, I got side tracked!"... (8)

Including the lovely man who runs the koha (pay what you can) coffee cart. He's walked into the space, intending on making his way to the kitchen to fill up his kettle to make someone a cup of tea... but got side tracked... (5)

The room is primarily full of women of all ages, makes and models and some awesome guys getting their dance on... (4)

🧵People often ask me if where I live in New Zealand is as great as my posts suggest and I always say that we've got all the usual problems (a few more lately with global shenanigans). BUT last night, I saw some things that perfectly sum up how awesome this place is. They're as follows: (1)

American Exceptionalism in motion

There’s something grotesque about using AI to write an obituary, if that is what happened. But even making a human mistake in one would be disrespectful

"From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, 'Look at that, you son of a bitch.'" ― Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 astronaut.

This is so, so well-articulated.

Podcast people - I have fucked the recording and put up last week's. This week's pod is available here iandunt.substack.com/p/i-buggered...

Artemis II is a thing of beauty open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...

This is that same amazing view, but with camera settings set that really show this is a backlit photo of Earth—only a thin sliver of it illuminated by the Sun. Source: www.nasa.gov/image-detail... Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman

This image of home just came down from the Artemis II crew. Taken after their translunar injection burn, there are aurorae at top right and lower left, and zodiacal light at lower right. Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman

Moments of Good Friday. #ireland

This morning was a mess of clouds. There’s ’weather on its way for the Easter weekend. Be well, friends. #ireland

The fact is, if it’s not all right at the start of our walk, there’s usually an answer to making it right by the end. 🙏

Someone asked the other day, “Do you not get bored doing the same walk.” True. It HAS been the same for years. There is an annual rhythm, despite occasional surprises. But that’s external. In my head, I use the time to create solutions -for games, stories & life. Never bored. ☺️ #ireland

I met a little water vole gathering flowers for their Easter table today. They said to say happy Easter! I think am going to have to send their basket with them as well as the acorn when they find their new home!

Caroline Herschel (1750 – 1848) was a German astronomer, whose most significant contributions to astronomy were the discoveries of several comets, including the periodic comet 35P/Herschel–Rigollet, which bears her name. #CelebratingWomen

Goodnight. #PhantomsFriday From The Little Ghost (Das kleine Gespenst) by Otfried Preußler, illustrated by Nika Goltz.

April, Edith Holden.

🖼️ Gennady Spirin #FrogForFriday

Pigeon of the Day: Pheasant Pigeon 📷 Kaspar Delhey

🖼️ Vicki Weight-Short

Deer in Repose, Rosa Bonheur, 1867.

Hello Friday. 🖼️ Edmund Dulac

Dust cover for Brian Wildsmith’s Blue Bird.

Book Cover of the Day:

tbf the President has been doing so much of it that it was high time he let JD have a go.

US fighter jet shot down over Iran, search underway for crew, US official says reut.rs/41JekCf

Today President Trump is announcing his annual budget plan, which makes the American people pay for his Iran War by cutting billions from health care, education, housing and more. Here is my official response: DEAD. ON. ARRIVAL.

President Trump officially requested $1.5 trillion in spending for the Pentagon next fiscal year, which would be the largest defense budget in U.S. history. The White House’s 2027 fiscal year budget proposes a 42 percent increase in defense spending.

Overnight Pakistan raised the price of petrol by 43% and high speed diesel by 55%. The country's petrol minister says the government has “limited resources and there is currently no end in sight to the war”.

The snowpack accounts for ~30% of California's water storage. Reservoirs are full, but water will need to be carefully conserved. Worldwide, if we're to protect the water we need, it's vital better stewardship of water goes hand in hand with fighting climate change. share.google/TXctJhRkSoTU...

Honestly I've let dozens of these go but this endless stream of antisemitism just proves everything I was saying in the post. (For the hard of thinking the ambulances were used for the whole community regardless of religion, and even if they weren't racist arson would still be unacceptable.)

In addition to being highly offensive it's just such an incredibly dimwitted take.

Quietly livid. My school's careers officer never once suggested that 'Swedish Pop Provocateur' was a job opportunity.

Holiday advice: It's pleasant to get a train to Europe. You just have to turn travelling into a core part of the holiday - lunch in Paris, dinner in Bordeaux, trip to Spain, week on beach etc. It's limiting, but very enjoyable & decent alternative to a flight you won't be able to afford by summer.

Good Friday. The things we see. 😍 #ireland

PULL! The Dawn Commute

And this morning the Shed is a luminous image of a shed, projected onto the high wall of a municipal building..,

Any typos spotted in this post are having a rather chill Good Friday wondering if they should tackle the marauding bamboo in their back garden. If typos spotted, they'll be TALKING about trimming the bamboo... but maybe... not quite doing it. (A nap is looking more and more like a better option.)

At a play in a boathouse, a woman in the audience (70s?) is asked to do her best wolf howl. She immediately performs a magnificent WOOOOOOOOOO. At the play's end, another woman (20s?) gives her a huge hug saying: "I KNEW it was you! I'd recognize that werewolf howl anywhere!" (5)