To my friends from far and wide, thank you for your friendship and support over the year. You're the best! 🤗

"The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater." 📚💙 The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), J.R.R. Tolkien.

Live loathed and long, Most smiling, smooth, detested parasites, Courteous destroyers, affable wolves, meek bears, You fools of fortune, trencher-friends, time's flies, Cap and knee slaves, vapours, and minute-jacks! Of man and beast the infinite malady Crust you quite o'er!

“Is there anything special you want Santa to bring you?” the man asked. The boy smiled: “I’m Jewish, remember?” “Well, is there any one thing you wish for, or do you want a lot of things?” “I wish people would stop having wars.”

“There are two different types of people in the world, those who want to know, and those who want to believe.” Friedrich Nietzsche, German, Philosopher, Philologist, Poet & Writer (1844~1900).

This scene from Joyeux Noël (2005) says so much about the insanity of humanity...🕊️ youtu.be/-cSrqRdlFeo?...

The Best Philosophy Books of the Decade - Five Books Expert Recommendations share.google/4MfItGWe938Y... @fivebooks.com #booksky 📚

Richard II (Act II, Scene 1) #ShakespeareSunday

"All my life, I have maintained that the people of the world can learn to live together in peace if they are not brought up in prejudice." 💙 - Josephine Baker (1906-1975) #filmsky

Vaccines have saved more human lives than any other medical invention in history... www.who.int/news-room/sp...

Claude Monet, French painter, 1840-1926. The Seine at Vétheuill, 1879. Oil on canvas. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France | Painting and Fine Arts

Arthur Rothstein, American photographer, 1915-1985. Heavy black clouds of dust rising over the Texas Panhandle, 1936. 🙏🏼🌎🕊️ 📷 Fotograficamente©️

My outfit for the day it happens...

Jay Fei

the things i feel and see aren't imaginary but mostly invisible to others, yet they're the very essence of my being... is it any wonder that my survival depends upon art?

"I have a lot of work to do today; I need to slaughter memory, Turn my living soul to stone Then teach myself to live again. . ." youtu.be/vchOX6LGekI?... Requiem by Anna Akhmatova - Famous poems, famous poets. - All Poetry share.google/TtjftNLMsTz8...

Is there anything like a sunrise to remind you to rise again fail again fail better? ❤️‍🔥

Mildred Dresselhaus: The Unsung Architect of Graphene and the Fight for Women in Science voxmeditantis.com/2025/12/17/m... #WomenInSTEM #STEM #CarbonScience #Nanotechnology #Thermoelectrics

Armin Mueller-Stahl in "Veronika Voss" - BOTD

"In everybody’s life there’s a point of no return. And in a very few cases, a point where you can’t go forward anymore. And when we reach that point, all we can do is quietly accept the fact. That’s how we survive." Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore, (2002) 📚

Tove Jansson ~ 1914 - 2001 Landscape from St Guénolé. 1938 Oil on canvas.

Kirsty's Dad Ewan with Peggy, performing the original "Dirty Old Town" (1949) "I met my love by the gas works wall Dreamed a dream by the old canal I kissed my girl by the factory wall Dirty old town Dirty old town..." youtu.be/Rdj6K3TV1PY?...

"If the house of the world is dark, love will find a way to make windows." 🕊️ ~ Rumi ~

"But I merely wanted to express that anguish I feel every day when faced with the decrease of liberal energies, the prostituting of words, the slandered victims, the smug justification of oppression, the insane admiration of force." Albert Camus, (1913~1960)

"Pickup on South Street" a (1953), film noir, written and directed by Samuel Fuller. It stars Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, and Thelma Ritter. 🎬

Monday...🎬

'Sisyphus'...🕊️

Which movie quote lives rent-free in your head? 🎬 "Your point....their Village." (Yuri Zhivago) #filmsky

A Brilliant six part series by Ken Burns. 'The American Revolution'. "Arbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken." Abigail Adams, 'The Letters of John and Abigail Adams', First published in (1840). www.imdb.com/title/tt3532...

The Venn diagram of classic dystopian books 👇

The US Constitution has the feel of a fine colonial mansion now owned by a slum landlord who now rents it out room by room to wild-eyed misanthropic fanatics each with a messiah complex. Ok, that is a VERY strained figure of speech. But I believe it to be accurate.

"The love of wicked men converts to fear; That fear to hate, and hate turns one or both To worthy danger and deserved death." Richard II, Act 5, Scene 1. #ShakespeareSunday

Top 10 Greatest Film Noir Detectives Ranked by Intelligence share.google/ABP2RCxKeB9y... 🎬

Pastel colours at sunrise this morning on Glastonbury Tor. Ribbons of mist floating across the landscape.

Kraków Małopolska, Polska. Krakow's Main Square. 1945 and Today. #WW11

Follow The White Horse #Dartmoor

We're nearly done with our nonfiction best-of-the-year lists—with just a few more to go over the next couple of weeks. Here's where we've got to so far: fivebooks.com/category/non...

“It’s not this safe and cozy world that popular fiction might portray, it’s a dangerous game to be in” fivebooks.com/best-books/l...

More than machinery, we need humanity 😊 Charlie Chaplin #Machinery #Humanity #Rose #Chaplin

This is really exciting!

Let’s itemize the carnage: Hotels: Empty blocks of rooms in New York, Boston, Chicago, Miami. Restaurants: Tourist-heavy districts posting double-digit revenue drops. Border towns: Ghost malls, dying restaurants, collapsing tax revenue. Jobs: Tens of thousands at risk from the contraction alone.

What are your favourite or least favourite dumb movies about masculinity? Roadhouse (1989) #masculinity #actionmovies

This morning, I was thinking about how one’s perspective on problems depends on what one has already lived through. I know I can’t even imagine what people who have lived through years in war zones have experienced. 💔

"Our civilization is flinging itself to pieces. Stand back from the centrifuge." 📚 Ray Bradbury, (1920~2012) 'Fahrenheit 451' (1953).

'Winter Walk - Regent's Park' by Rebecca Denton rebeccadenton.com

Concerned listeners can of course compensate me by buying Believable Lies, ideal Xmas present for WW2 fans, widely available etc…

Evening lights 😊 Baltic Sea Latvia 🇱🇻 #Latvia #Sea #BalticSea #Sunset

1925 felt like a stable year—Germany recovering, art flourishing, the Grand Ole Opry beginning. But also: Scopes on trial. Mussolini consolidating power. Syria in revolt. This week’s blog post takes a global look at a year that quietly reshaped history. 🗃️ https://www.historyinthemargins.com

Dehumanization: What is it to Dehumanize People? #philsky #ethics