Another near-miss for the Bulls? Sharks to finish top four, Stormers to travel for the quarters, and Lions to miss the playoff cut again? I took a closer look at the SA franchises ahead of the new United Rugby Championship season, for @rugbypass.bsky.social www.rugbypass.com/plus/urc-sea...

No-one says it quite like Poplak! www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025...

Gold

Guys chill, it’s the other one

This is the fundamental question of this turbulent age

If there’s anyone out there who’s traveled here from the future, can you please just tell us now already if the Wallabies are gonna win the rugby championship because of a bonus point from a forward pass? Please man

I walked into the hardware store with my AirPods on listening to a podcast and I must have had a very serious look on my face because the duckie says to me “is meneer ‘n All Black?”

What time does the Breakdown air? I’ll be setting my alarm

All that was missing from this performance was Hugh Bladen yelling UNbelieble!

Tupou Vaa’i is giving serious James Lowe. Both will be reincarnated as scumhalves

Frustrating errors by Boks in 1st half, especially in ABs 22. But an encouraging performance otherwise. Boks playing with more balance than expected. Kicking game working, attack getting round the ABs. Defence a bit ragged, but more linespeed. Very much in with a shout here

Plato prediction: “The people, always thirsting for more liberty, appoint a leader In the beginning he is full of smiles... but in the end he has to shed blood. In the end, democracy is destroyed by the excess of its own freedom... and tyranny arises from no other form of government than democracy.”

Battling it out with Argentina for the wooden spoon is not where we wanted to be at this stage of the competition! Well played to the All Blacks, and this new look Springbok coaching ticket has a lot to prove in the next 3 games. #NZLvRSA

It’s nice for the Boks to be underdogs again… bodes well for

Ndlovu Youth Choir - Bohemian Rhapsody (Official Music Video) isiZulu version youtu.be/gbljPQbxtTQ (This is the most magnificent thing you'll hear – and see – all year. Just glorious. 🇿🇦)

Anyone still in doubt about the commercial potential of women’s rugby just needs to give their TikTok feed a bit of a nudge in that direction and see the absolute GAME these girls have got. Damn!

This is truly a wonderful thing: www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025...

Tonyball just got schooled

Not unique to the states Lea, we’re in the age of the the global village, and the village idiots have started a movement.

I just barely managed to gain the upper hand in this cerebral chess match against GPT-5's PhD-level reasoning.

Superb

A massively calming dose of sanity, thank you!

Generative AI is a virus that feeds on the internet

Age verification? Just dial a pirate.

We see your Du Plessis Kerifi, and we raise you a Taine-Randall Booysen!

The intrinsic bullshit problem on.ft.com/4nWq8v3

I think Trump is missing Murdoch’s classic move here. He lets what they have solidly get published, even if it seems small. Then Trump emotionally sues (see below) and discovery begins and everything is fair game. He’ll be forced to testify & all manner of files will be unveiled and chewed over.

If the Springboks want more scrums, surely all they have to do is form a maul from a received kick and ensure the ball doesn’t come out. That way they get a scrum put-in every time …

Civic duty

Despite being the only white man in his 30's without a Substack, I still wanted to write something long-form about why I think the Trump administration's trade strategy is struggling to extract meaningful ransoms. Hope you find it interesting! www.explaintrade.com/resources/tr...

The fake sincerity of LLMs is something humans are starting to get tired of--deeply, existentially tired of.

First time I've understood some method to the madness in US econ policy. This is a great explainer of where the word stands. "The basic arithmetic is that a rate of nominal growth above the rate of interest on government debt should lower debt/GDP unless the primary fiscal deficit is large."

Lines of Code is not the product. ordep.dev/posts/writin...

As it should - we all need to be asking more questions IMHO and not being sycophants to big tech #GenerativeAI www.wired.com/story/genera...

All this force-feeding AI to staff is starting to whiff a little bit like desperation. The crash is coming…

Lood de Jager is the Andre Joubert of locks.

TikTok knows I’m drunk before I do

Worth a watch: Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.

don jr furiously printing out epstein emails and shredding them at mar-a-lago

Well the good news from Loftus is that someone appears to have hung the DJ #BULvEDI

Thoughtful and informed thread here about Bluesky’s slow decline and whether it’s a problem:

G’day BlueSky!

With AI we can now directly write legacy code, skipping the annoying waiting period for no one who understands it being around anymore.

Dear US Friends & fellow liberals... I sincerely apologise for the Great "Tsek" (meaning "fuck off") of racists disgustingly masquerading as refugees heading to your shores from SA. They are undemocratic scum. I'm white, I'm South African, & I love my country. There's no persecution happening here.

I’m dying 🤣

These 49 Afrikaners that have been airlifted to club trumpicana as refugees… do they get 40 acres and a mule?