Happy 12-year anniversary to my favourite broadcast subtitle mistake And a happy year of the whores to you all

I know the real issue on Substack are the Nazis but have we also considered all the men writings reviews of things they don‘t seem to have any media literacy for? open.substack.com/pub/ashlande...

Love of Sparta is actually the perfect symptom of where we are, because it was mostly a function of rich Athenians, whose oligarchic coup had been comprehensively rejected, saying “Ugh I hate having to listen to poor people; surely there’s a better way to run a city?”

This is basically how Australia's Bureau of Meteorology explained Celsius to the public at metrication in 1972 too! Its PR officer came up with jingles about frosty fives, tingling tens, temperate twenties, thirsty thirties, and flaming forties (frosty fives was -5 to 5, tingling tens 5–15, etc)

Could this have the unexpected benefit of teaching people to pay attention to prose style? (Speaking as someone with, at best, competent prose style.)

He wasn't initially called to religion, but then he saw the light.

For those of you with your minds in the gutter (i.e. almost everyone) Cheryl Kernot is currently doing an AMA on Reddit and only one question has been about Gareth Evans. She didn’t answer it. #auspol

one of the best things I ever found online

Credit:thejenkinscomic

It would be fascinating to interview recently-retired politicians (more likely to be candid) and get their opinion on what they think are Britain’s assets in the wider world.

don't forget any middle aged person's biggest fantasy: incredible speed of recovery from bodily injuries without any leftover dysfunction or pain

everyone loves a variation on samwise gamgee i would say kind hearted not necessarily nice

Supreme Court, early December: the Government submits that this county (which voted 79% Dem) should not have its votes counted because it didn’t properly enforce this executive order. SC: Agreed, 6-3.

Fully agree! The problem is that the AI-nothing pretending to be something displaces the opportunity for there to ever be anything (which I've gotten in trouble for saying!)

An observation: there is great benefit to the fall of the Roman Republic being such an old problem and one studied by a global discipline. There are many, many takes on it with differing intellectual traditions and preconceptions, which gives us a fantastic view. #Ancientsky

Question: is there any correlation between where ICE is purchasing all these warehouses and where the US administration (or state governments) want to promote manufacturing plants? Because it strikes me that firms are more likely to build plants if they can be guaranteed a slave labour force.

The public stupidity and ignorance continually shown by those educated at the “good schools” is a strong indictment of those schools as educational institutions. (See also: the entire English political and media class.)

Butters remains the champion of starting fights. #AFL

We don’t need a Beveridge Curve. We need a Beveridge Report.

I just realised that Yeats wrote this poem about the players and coaches of the Geelong Football Club, the pale unsatisfied ones:

The Kirby Frame is maybe the only time a meme has improved my thinking

“Yay! Footy’s back!” *hear BT and Brayshaw* *MUTE* #AFL

Levitsky and Way with the win again! What’s their record since 2016? Something like 348-4.

I’m pretty sure I read this in a Roald Dahl book.

Tonight in 1945, British and American bombers begin a series of raids against the German city of Dresden. The bombing and ensuing fires kill more than 20,000 people. This footage of the second British raid was taken from a Lancaster of No.463 Sqn RAAF at 14,500 feet. Film: #IWMcollections OPX 257

This is not actually an accomplishment but it feels like one anyway: I was once in Ireland for an entire week with no rain.

Drop an alien that's not from Star Wars or Star Trek.

I consider myself a pun connoisseur - but is “pun sommelier” a valid career ambition?

Is there a preferred translation of Dante these days? I’m about to quote the Paradiso in print, briefly but prominently, and wouldn’t mind getting it right.

A thought: if they ever make a proper Iliad movie or TV show, and have an aristeia, the musical cue for it will have to be Free Bird. Because of the scene in Kingsman. Just imagine Achilles cutting through the Trojans to that guitar solo.

Juno is hardly an unbiased source here, NASA. “‘Guy Not As Big a Deal As He Claims,’ Says Vengeful Wife Guy Cheated On Constantly”

Fantastic. Great move. Well done Angus.

I, too, wish to have the money and clout for my brain farts to be reported as revealing a vision.

This is unfortunate nominative determinism: the Latin word gratiosi means “influential men”: political wheelers and dealers, the sort of people who inhabit the smoke-filled backrooms. An irrelevant detail from this long article on the Maya: www.theguardian.com/news/2026/fe...

#arsenal There’s been a lot of focus on Gyökeres but for me Eze has been more disappointing. He is so stationary: no drifting out wide to overload, no runs beyond the striker into the channels, no circulating the ball to shift defenders. Just central, motionless, away from the ball.

In honour of the 30th anniversary of Hyperballad being released as a single I am listening to Post #NowPlaying tidal.com/album/341273...

Am I the only one who saw this and went back to the stories about Baghdad c. 2004-5, where armed men would pull over a bus, separate the Shi’ites from the Sunnis, and then murder the group they didn’t like?

If you have a lot of notes in a separate app and want to add them to your Scrivener project, here’s how:

If Arsenal win their next two games (v Brentford & Wolves) they will be 33 points clear of Spurs. The next match would then be the north London derby and a win for Arsenal would see the early celebration of St Totteringham's Day who would be 36 behind with just 11 games to play.

Interestingly, Mr Beast is more human as a robot than he is in real life.

Is it on? More than likely! Remember to please send me any Shakespeare references you see in #libspill commentary and reporting. I'm working on something, probably a short form piece, but maybe a journal article as well. #auspol #shakespeare

What would be darkly funny is future US Olympic teams not being allowed into the host country - because a fear exists they will try to claim asylum.

I find it very funny (as an Australian) that there is a French politician named Jack Lang. He has not provoked the creation of an entire fascist movement in opposition (Aussie winning there), although according to Wikipedia his grandmother died in Ravensbrück.

Yourself, but as a cartoon.

One of the compensations of really hot days like this is that the nutella is all gooey when you eat it out of the jar with a spoon.

Tell your dad I said Happy Valentine's Day