It's not a counterpunch, guys. The pope didn't throw a punch. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/12/u...

Vital context. Moscow and Washington will work even harder to undermine Brussels, throw everything at preventing UK rapprochement and putting Jordan Bardella into the Élysée.

Approaching Woodside I love the overlooked Croydon Tram network. Here's a shot of a Tram arriving at Woodside Tram Stop.

Good morning and goddamn it's a beautiful day iandunt.substack.com/p/orban-defe...

Octavia E. Butler, 1998:

I’ll have what Hungary’s having.

of all the things Starmer did not do, proportional representation is at the top of my list

Strangely, heading out to dinner now at a Hungarian restaurant with a Brazilian colleague. We’ll raise a toast to Bolsonaro, Orban and Trump and the day when they’re all in the rearview mirror or in jail.

The Himalayan vulture showcases its striking “false eyes,” a smart adaptation that makes it look bigger and more intimidating. Original post

This Reform leaflet from three Gateshead candidates looks like a timelapse of the same person

+1

The community note assumes that Taotao meant they were a Roman Catholic, and that is probably fair enough in context, but many many millions of Christians affirm themselves members of "one holy catholic and apostolic church" through the Nicene creed every Sunday without being in obeisance to Rome.

Viewing from Canada it seems like Europe is shaking off old approaches. Suddenly France’s independent approach to developing defence and tech looks prescient and the renewable landscape in others looks dynamic. Perhaps when you’re closer that’s not the perception.

Billions (Apple TV) had a bright pink one to symbolise how terrible a billionaire’s girlfriend was.

Have cybertrucks been seen in m,ovies or tv shows—and if so what has their presence been used to signify?

On the subject of which -- is there an English translation of Sloterdijk's "Falls Europa erwacht"?

This should be a hugely dynamic time for Europe. The democratic world need new energy and leadereship, it needs alternatives, it needs nations with global outlooks that are also resolutely non-imperial. This challenge/opportunity is not being met.

In Turkey, an elderly man who earns his living by shining shoes is visited every morning at the same time by a cat that asks to have its fur brushed. The man never turns down this little friend.😍👍💙

Incredible, yes. Unprecedented most definitely not.

So the chances of AI being incredibly destructive seem non-negligible. At the same time, Gemini can turn a photo of a bookshelf into an alphabetised list of books by author which is not nothing

I am convinced people do not know the plot of the movie black panther.

Buttigieg: "For the leader of this country to make a nakedly genocidal threat against another civilization as if the US was a death star that was going around blowing up civilizations, of course that is a new low ... the whole country is being judged just for tolerating that kind of thing at the WH"

I prefer Albert Speer's

Refreshed gift link www.economist.com/leaders/2026...

Rethinking at the World Bank... From Indermit Gill's forward to a new report on industrial policy for development h/t @dpcressey.bsky.social openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/pub...

I find amazing the deafening silence from US universities on Trump's explicit threats to commit war crimes. It is astounding how he has managed to silence them/us. Is this what we agreed to when we bought into institutional neutrality?

For those who prefer these things on Spotify it's about 11 minutes in open.spotify.com/episode/73s5...

I went on @economist.com's The Intelligence podcast for some more Artemis musings with my friend Jason, somehow rendered coherent by uberproducer @rorygalloway.bsky.social shows.acast.com/theintellige...

I have been writing about EVs at WSJ for a decade and this is the first year that so many readers are fans of them that when I asked for their tips on switching, responses *poured* in. The energy transition isn't gonna happen fast but it IS happening. 🎁🔗 www.wsj.com/business/aut...

cc @robcarlson.bsky.social

I loved that Felix Leiter was black in 1983 and no one shouted shit about woke

Oh this is a fun view. The Orientale basin on the limb of the Moon as seen through an Orion capsule window. You can see, especially at around 7:00, lines of impact craters marking the giant splat of ejecta that was thrown out of the crater during the impact. www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2...

Gently remixed/re-edited the piece from earlier this week about Artemis II to run as a print leader in @economist.com Gift link www.economist.com/leaders/2026...

Cracking subway ad in Tokyo.

I knew it was bad but really didn’t appreciate it was quite this bad as.ft.com/r/db911dd6-f...

"Half of the kingdom’s (Thailand) vast fishing fleet is already docked" “This is worse than the Covid pandemic,” said Trailerk, the fisheries association president. “Then the situation was uncertain but stable. This is volatile in a way I’ve never seen" amp.scmp.com/week-asia/ec...

There is no McTry.

Before Artemis II, there was to have been #dearMoon. A 🧵

i always take a moment to appreciate good book cover design

Iconic Photo

🔌💡

Renaissance Mathematicus recommended thonyc.wordpress.com/2019/08/22/a...

Social media apps as Lord of the Rings characters, a thread: Twitter: Twitter is Gollum. Began as a normal halfling. Overexposure to evil left it thin and stretched and bitter.

Before Artemis II, there was to have been #dearMoon. A 🧵

Look at all that DEI sending astronauts around the moon.

Those old scientists and their lack of social messaging. Propah 'tainment.

British railway stations whose names write cheques they can't cash, an occasional series: Bermuda Park, which serves an industrial estate in Nuneaton

I've known EFF executive director Cindy Cohn for 27 years. I met her when I needed cyberlaw advice for a startup I'd helped found. We got along so well that I quit the startup and went to work at EFF. Now, Cindy's memoir, *Privacy's Defender*, is on the shelves: mitpress.mit.edu/978026205124... 1/