Recently I had to mainline YouTube videos, allowing me to find some *VERY* worthwhile things. If you like stories with swords, this channel eruditely discusses things like Beowulf, King Arthur, medievalism which gives us Tolkien's LOTR and Martin's GOT, etc. www.youtube.com/@GavintheMed...

A fascination documentary report by The Kyiv Independent on the theft of artistic and historical, archaeological items from the museums of Kherson, just before the city’s liberation by Ukrainian forces.

On International Museum Day, we look back at the largest museum theft in Europe since World War II. Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0r4...

Lots of extra time for random overthinking. m.facebook.com/story.php?st...

We have to beg Ukraine to let us have a victory parade in a war we're losing.

Grim but important new story in @kyivindependent.com The realities of this war is that soldiers, particularly Russian ones, seem to have a declining chance of evacuation if wounded. It means that dying is now the most likely result of getting hit. kyivindependent.com/russian-loss...

Will watch … Ukrainian action thriller billed as Saving Private Ryan for the drone age www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

John Mearsheimer has a huge reputation. Maybe that’s justified in general, but his geopolitical analysis of Russia’s war on Ukraine is full of shit. youtu.be/IUKPBq0xRaA?...

A piece of the Shroud of Turin that was cut from the same section as the 1988 C14 samples (but was never tested) has been microscopically examined & the study was published just last week. www.nature.com/articles/s40...

I laughed, I cried. Vlad Vlexler’s entertainingly intellectual analysis of Viktoria Bonya’s viral complaints (none seemingly due to genicidal invasions) youtu.be/Z2HU9poqo3k?...

In this long, important piece on the “Good Russian”, Sampson uses Talankin’s Oscar winning doc “Mr Nobody Against Putin” as a telling example. I saw the film and I thought it was a good and telling film. But … there’s always a “but” and Sampson examines it well. open.substack.com/pub/thechris...

This is a highly informative interview with an extremely articulate Ukrainian lawyer on aspects of Russian propaganda. youtube.com/watch?v=gDaJ...

Ukraine’s now-famous interceptor drones, explained. 🧵 1/6 ⬇️

After putting up with the bullshit cylinders under the pyramids story last year THIS is exciting. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Vlad Vexler’s very good analysis on Ukrainian and Russian political thought. youtu.be/iVBCuaDHh1E?...

How Ukrainians survived the winter. open.substack.com/pub/oleksand...

Extremely graphic content!! #BBCNews - Russia soldiers tell BBC they saw fellow troops in Ukraine war executed on commanders' orders www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... #UkraineWar

⚔️THE CROWDFUND FOR NEW EDGE SWORD & SORCERY 2026 IS LIVE⚔️ Three issues - our Timeworn Terra special - a New Jirel of Joiry story... The more re-posts this gets, the more bonus content we'll add to this year's issues! Go here to learn more and back the magazine👉 www.backerkit.com/c/projects/b...

Ukraine's Kazakh community decided to build their own "Yurts of Invincibility", starting in Bucha and expanding across the country. They invite their neighbours to share in some coffee along with their culture. Support NV ➡️ patreon.com/nvua

londonlovesbusiness.com/putins-not-s... Putin’s not-so-special ‘3-day operation’ My article for LLB

😂

‘This is business as usual’: boss of bombed Ukrainian vodka maker seeks to expand exports

Pizza 🍕is ubiquitous in western society, right? So, I predict that in the future "pizza" will replace "eat" and "meal". Have you pizza'd yet? What will we have for pizza tonight? The wedding pizza was magnificent! See use of “tea” in Britain if you don’t believe!

Ukraine has produced many remarkable boxers, including reigning heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. The Kyiv Independent’s Daria Shulzhenko explores the influences that has helped make Ukraine a powerhouse in the world of boxing.

'Baffled' archaeologists. An excellent article by Tim Penn, University of Reading, which not only describes the hypotheses and discussions which are part of the archaeological method but also addresses the use of 'baffled' and other clichés used some journalists. theconversation.com/big-roman-sh...

I don’t read about sports so I’m not familiar with the style of such journalism. But I have to say that this report on the Usyk vs Dubois fight is certainly colourful and captivatingly descriptive! www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/j...

The Ukrainian ghost museums on the front line www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

It’s high time the Hugo awards for SFF had a best translated work category. If you agree you can support this initiative. translatedhugo.org

NEWSFLASH: After last night's 12 hour drone attack, Kyiv woke up to the city ablaze, the taste of ash and official warnings to stay inside as remnants of last night's attack waft through Kyiv. The attack follows Trump's call to Putin and the U.S. military aid halt, this week.

I’m somewhat hesitant to share this video by Hilary Layne. She overstates her argument and makes some questionable and annoying claims and interpretations. But, it is great fodder for discussions of the origins and state of Fantasy literature. I found it interesting enough. youtu.be/_BBrDhgGz1k?...

@kyivindependent.com’s Olha Rudenko with an insightful piece on why Ukrainians distrust the Russian anti-Putin opposition. mailchi.mp/kyivindepend... mailchi.mp/kyivindepend...

David R. Hagen just solved a small mystery that I mentioned 13 years ago in the mouseover text of a comic drhagen.com/blog/the-mis...

A very nice keynote address by Peter Pomerantsev a saving our democracies from manipulation. youtube.com/watch?v=b-0b...

My review of Iaroslav Lebedynsky's “Les Cosaques: Une société guerrière entre libertés et pouvoirs, Ukraine 1490-1790” (The Cossacks: A warrior society between liberty and power) mburianyk.wordpress.com/2025/05/28/r...

REQUEST! Ideas, advice or contacts for publishers interested in an English translation of a remarkable history of Ukrainian Cossacks. I translated Iaroslav Lebedynsky's "Les Cosaques" from French to English. It is a remarkable history of Ukrainian Cossacks and has to be available to English readers.

Meet Heer’sc(sort of - but all the better for it) review of Dan Nadel’s bio of Robert Crumb. southwestreview.com/volume-110-n... Cartoon Liberation | Robert Crumb and His Times - Southwest Review

Hi All, I released my weekend update a few hours ago, and the Ukrainians turned around and launched what is arguably the most successful operation of the war--so I updated it with all the information I could get. Russian strategic airpower received a mighty blow. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...

REQUEST! Ideas, advice or contacts for publishers interested in an English translation of a remarkable history of Ukrainian Cossacks. I translated Iaroslav Lebedynsky's "Les Cosaques" from French to English. It is a remarkable history of Ukrainian Cossacks and has to be available to English readers.

A little bit surprised and somewhat concerned about the latest “President’s Page” in the May edition of SEG’s on LLM/AI in geophysics education.

I don’t know either, but I do know that I like this. Note this video is 4 months ago, dating from the sighting of strange flying objects over New Jersey. youtube.com/watch?v=-NI6...

Most of our members give $5 a month — and thanks to their contributions, we are able to fund our operations and reach millions of readers around the world every week. Membership shows just how powerful collective action can be.

Locus Magazine is having their annual fundraiser - lots of great perks and you get to support a great publication! @locusmag.bsky.social igg.me/at/locusmag2...

The Kyiv Independent is launching a campaign for 2000 more subscribers. You can support independent Ukrainian journalism for as little as $5 a month. kyivindependent.com/membership/

Good to see that students and politics still mix - University of Toronto 😉

Very intrigued by the totally nude EUROPEAN style dancers 🤔🧐 - Toronto's Yonge Street

AGO - Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. Not an unimpressive museum at all.