On the hysteria of the week.

“Google is replacing search results with only the AI,” something which seems core to their long-term strategy. pivot-to-ai.com/2026/05/20/g...

Fusion centers (not exactly the most "woke" institution on the planet) are now worried that the Department of Homeland Security's tweets are too racist and attracting the wrong people. theintercept.com/2026/05/21/i...

For pinup mag I wrote about the last 25 years of architecture most of which were underwhelming www.pinupmagazine.org/articles/arc...

My local steam railway runs a service called the Sausage Shuttle

This grief stuff is tricky business. One moment I’m feeling like I’m capable and managing. The next instant I start crying while driving the car. No warning. No obvious trigger.

My latest for @newscientist.com

My latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com

Turns out there’s an Australian importer. Guess where I’ll be spending money until my next visit to France? franceathome.com.au/shop/lu-pail...

One mouthful of raspberry jam on toast and I am drawn back to eating wafer biscuits with a gooey raspberry filling in France as a child.

“and eventually, reality will kick in.” www.ft.com/content/32bf...

Can confirm

Prediction: this is going to lead to non-neurotypical people wearing suspiciously thick-framed glasses being punched in the face and having their specs stomped on. Really glad the new specs I ordered have titanium wire-frames.

I’ve written more about statistics of the Guardian’s 100 best novels list, including: – Books that just missed out – Two errors in the data (Cather and Camus lost out) – Best novelists – Alternative rankings – Weirdest and least-weird ballots mpaldridge.github.io/blog/guardia...

Somehow, 375 years ago, the Quakers developed a religion whose core principles align well with the pillars of modern parenting research. In 2025, Gail Cornwall wrote about what parents of any faith—or none—can learn from them:

Wow, it broke the top 150 😮 I didn’t think niche apps did that anymore. Thanks y’all! No self promotion intended, it’s free. I get paid in ego boosts

I’m sorry but lmao

New Google search announced.

There's a free council-run bus service called the "hop!" in Leicester that runs every ten minutes. It's frog themed. It ribbits really loudly when it pulls up to a bus stop. Also, it's a circular route but only runs anti-clockwise so you have to ride the whole route to get back to your original stop

best thread about this i've seen yet. thank you, small robots

This is the way.

Please my search, he is very sick

Love this.... "...You get up when the world is warm, or at least, when it is not so cold. You are, therefore, able to prolong your Saturday nights, heedless of that moral ‘last train’—the fear of the next morning’s reaction.”

There’s a LOT going on as researchers and public health experts race to respond to the Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak in DRC and Uganda before it grows bigger. Some really important questions still open, but also a few answers coming into view🧪 My overview in @science.org is here (and thread coming):

I am once again begging, praying, weeping for lists of written instructions rather than videos. I do not want to watch your two minute video in the hope of catching the two seconds where you whizz past what goddamn menu the thing is under. Write. It. Down.

New painting by my dad. He's calling it 'What Cats Do When They're Out At Night'.

sorry I’m just catching up after holiday and ngl I love this www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/8...

Part of the process of grief counselling for me has been reviewing my social relationships. Which made me ponder friendship. This essay accurately describes what has happened in my life. The question is how can I open up this space again?

Omg the auto captions for my lecture #medievalsky

Not now unmanned Antarctic submarine mapping strange under-ice structures...

"There was once upon a time when friendship did not require elaborate planning. We spoke for hours... Entire evenings disappeared on hostel terraces & tea stalls and long walks taken for absolutely no reason. Friendship in youth thrived on excess time – loose, unstructured, and gloriously wasteful."

Underground in the literal or figurative sense? Yes. flaminghydra.com/issue-566/

I GET LOGGED OUT. BUT I LOG IN AGAIN

Dune Cat Budget Version

her: agggghhhh this is such a miscarriage of justice! free Dantes! me: omg coincidence, here are my socks that also say free Dantes on them her, charmed: aw you have Count of Monte Cristo socks? me: yep her, horrified: DO THE TALLY MARKS ON THOSE SOCKS REPRESENT ALL HIS DAYS IN PRISON?????

There are TWO books in my Airbnb and they are both fake.

"“It’s possible that we’re starting to see the consequences of severe and sudden cuts to global health programs that have eroded surveillance and allowed deadly viruses to spread undetected...” www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/w...

If we have to have weird people in charge of us, can they be the fun kind of weird, please, instead? :-)

Have some fun with your tagline.

A guy we know pitched a story to a mag about former skateboarders going back to their old haunt in middle age. My BIL(52)went with him as part of the story. BIL is now back home with a broken ankle and the writer is home with a broken vertebrae. The only possible way the story could have gone.

These crisps are superb. So much goat cheese flavour.

Another reason to get vaccinated arstechnica.com/health/2026/...

I have a strong memory of either Big Ted or Little Ted having Wellington boots put on him and being made to ‘do’ These Boots Are Made for Walkin'.

Tremendous obituary for Ian Watson from Lisa Tuttle. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...

A) Sorbo whining about desecrating Greek myth is indeed incredible. B) I remain very proud that he once blocked me for telling him that he seemed tense and watching Xena always cheered ME up.

Wow, this is amazing!

“Oh so some fella with an Irish-sounding name has gone and desecrated The Odyssey, is that it? Homer’s own Odyssey? The absolute cheek. And tis the talk of the town, is that what I understand you to be saying to me? And people very upset altogether? Sure I never heard the like in all my born days.”

My student told me he ran his paper through an AI checker to see if it would get flagged even though he wrote it, and it offered to “humanize” his paper by changing the sentence, “Illicit cocaine use is responsible for many potential adverse cardiovascular events” to “Cocaine is a bad, bad drug”

Cobbler, Cocktail, Fizz, Julep, Punch, Stinger