Excellent article, well worth a read.

This is the sort of attitude required to deal with Russia: force, backed up by credible threats of further escalation.

Ramraketting [ram-RAK-et-ting] (n.) Christmas gambols. (v.) Running or jumping about. Dialectical. Horae Subsecivae, 1777 Used in a sentence: “Aunt Mildred tolerated no more than three minutes of ramraketting before threatening the withholding of figgy pudding and Christmas crackers.”

Today is the Feast of Stephen! 'Good King Wenceslas' of the carol was a Bohemian Czech duke who was murdered in the 10th century AD. Emperor Otto I granted him the "regal dignity and title" posthumously, and he was canonized 3 years after his death - he remains one of the patron saints of Bohemia. 🇨🇿

This has nothing to do with faith or observance btw. It’s just about establishing an official hierarchy of citizenship where they are on top. bsky.app/profile/mark...

Getting mighty tired of all these apparent spambot accounts from myatproto.social

If you’re wondering why your friends in academia are a little on edge right now, it’s because an eighteen-year-old who hasn’t done the reading, doesn’t look at the assignment, and has does no critical thinking skills more complex than “because I think it’s in the Bible” can literally end your career

“Pope Leo said in a Christmas Eve sermon on Wednesday that the story of Jesus being born in a stable because there was no room at an inn should remind Christians that refusing to help the poor & strangers today is tantamount to rejecting God himself.” Obvious to any REAL Christian. #MerryChristmas

What a gorgeous object! And Happy Christmas to all those celebrating it today. To those who celebrate it on different days, like us here in 🇨🇿, as well as all who don't celebrate it at all... the very best of the season to you!

A Christmas-box. n.s. [from christmas and box.] A box in which little presents are collected at Christmas. When time comes round, a Christmas-box they bear, And one day makes them rich for all the year. Gay’s Trivia. johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/1755/christm...

Musk has rolled out a feature that allows anyone to use AI to steal any artwork posted to X/Twitter. The only protection at the moment is to make the artwork into non-static GIFs using multiple identical images... Guess we'll get more creatives joining Bluesky as a result.

European intelligence agencies say investigations into Russian interference now consume as much time as terrorist threats.

What a gloriously unexpected headline!

The irony of the US government punishing EU citizens for allegedly censoring American viewpoints while the US president calls a free American press "the enemy of the people" and demands the firing of American journalists and presenters he doesn't like is off the scale.

The US regime has now moved to punish those who oppose the rhetoric of hate. The US government has basically gone on record stating that public expressions of hatred and bigotry are "an American viewpoint". Nuff said.

"And remember this: the Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear." - 'Karis Nemik' (IYKYK)

Well no surprise there.

Once again, look at the numbers. As things currently stand, an attack on this scale would completely overwhelm any European Union state's defences - we need to be moving faster to adapt to this new style of warfare.

Having performatively 'found Jesus' in 2024, Brand is now facing charges relating to SIX different women.

Yet another example of Russia hiring locals to stir up strife within European Union countries.

A new line has been crossed in Georgia. For the first time, Georgian Dream is prosecuting a protester for standing on a sidewalk. 1/4 📷 Aprili Media

Wassail [wah-SEYL] (n.) - A hot potation served in a large bowl during Christmas. - Lively festivities; revelry. (v.) - To drink and enjoy oneself with others. - To go singing carols.

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 80519000: Your work is your own. Your decisions are yours. Whether you use editors, sensitivity readers, beta readers or not, whether you take advice or not, whether the readers like it or not, you call the shots. For good or ill, it stops with you.

If you're an author with Sage Publishing, and recently received a communication from Sage about filing a claim in the Anthropic class action settlement, be aware that Sage's proposed settlement split (90% to Sage, 10% to author) is being contested chatgptiseatingtheworld.com/2025/12/22/t...

Yep, suppression of the free press is in full swing on the western side of the Pond... Apparently the NYT is now "a serious threat to (US) National Security" and "A TRUE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!"(sic).

Michael O'Leary is just another one of those billionaires who thinks the rules shouldn't apply to him.

Not only is this idiot a racist and xenophobe, but apparently he thinks you can't be both vegetarian/vegan and British or Christian.

A recently unearthed limestone sarcophagus in the ancient city of Demre, Antalya, Türkiye, may hold the remains of Saint Nicholas of Myra, the fourth-century bishop who inspired the legend of Santa Claus. Just how they hope to confirm this by C14 dating is a mystery! #TombTuesday

via The New Yorker, Ellis Rosen cartoon

There is so much beauty in the world around us.

*sigh* - Warships should be built for function, not aesthetics. - Battleships fell out of favour because they are just big, not very efficient, sitting duck targets that need a battlegroup to protect them. - Where's the money coming from?

Hemina. n.s. An ancient measure: now used in medicine to signify about ten ounces in measure. Quincy. johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/1773/hemina_ns

A little selection of my favourite words for the season. Some beautiful, others potentially necessary. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. twowords2.page.link/play

Crawmassing [KRAH-mas-ing] (n.) - The act of picking through those delicious Christmas dinner leftovers. - The dubious practice of begging for Christmas goodies from one’s neighbors. Used in a sentence: “Hey! Would you at least wait until I’m finished eating before crawmassing right off my plate?”

If Serbia is giving (or selling) its passports with rights to free movement in the EU to Russian defence industry workers, occupation profiteers, and other enemies of the bloc, then that right should be revoked. What say you, @kajakallas.bsky.social?

“As a writer…you are the freest person that ever was.” Don’t let genAI ever take away this freedom.

Ah, so the US regime is actually seizing oil that has been bought by China now. Well, that's guaranteed to improve the already strained relationship, isn't it? And an economic blockade of this nature is, under international law, an act of war that Congress has not sanctioned.

Absolutely.

So Vlad the Bad is in favour of child sexual abuse too, just like members of the United States regime. No wonder they get along so well. (One of Kadyrov's sons married a 14-year old).

The world should be alarmed. A lunatic is president of the United States and no one is challenging his impulses to make himself an emperor.

36 years ago, on the 22nd of December 1989, Nicolae Ceaușescu was ousted from power in Romania. The dictator and his wife attempted to flee by helicopter but were intercepted. He was tried and convicted of economic sabotage and genocide and executed on December 25th. #otd #history 🗃️

Yule-hole [YOOL hohl] (n.) -The last hole to which one is able to stretch their belt at a Christmas dinner. (Shouldn't there be a Thanksgiving hole?)

Harp Twins & Volfgang Twins playing an instrumental version of the Rolling Stones' 'Paint It Black' on harps and drums. Came across this and liked it. So here you go.

112 years ago, on the 21st of December 1913, the first crossword puzzle is published in the New York World. Made by Arthur Wynne created the puzzle for the 'Fun' section as 'word-cross'. The change to 'Cross-Word' happened because of a typesetting error. #otd #history 🗃️

My seasonal flash science fiction story, ‘Veteran’s Christmas’, is up today at 365tomorrows. A timely reminder that the season isn’t all ho-ho-ho for everyone… 365tomorrows.com/2025/12/21/v...

A large crowd in Tbilisi tonight, on day 388 of nonstop protests in Georgia.

Bluesky's Hailey has been working on an excellent set of labels to help identify the sort of people you're interacting with (and therefore help you to decide whether to block/ignore them). Check it out at @labeler.hailey.at

The remarkably well-preserved York Helmet, dated AD 770-775, is one of only six surviving helmets from Anglo-Saxon Britain. A Latin inscription bears the name ‘Oshere’. Discovered by a digger operator in York in 1982. Iron and copper-alloy. Yorkshire Museum 📷 by me #FindsFriday #Archaeology

In the last few weeks, Ukraine has inked similar production and technology-sharing agreements with, e.g., Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland and Norway. Ukraine is an undisputed world leader in drone development and use, and this is knowhow that Europe urgently needs.

Because it was never about cutting costs, but creating new surveillance infrastructure, and making data available to the oligarch class.