Just had a fantastic interview with Prof Kirsteen McCue in Glasgow about Scottish song culture and folk music and the instrumental role they played in changing the fate (and sound) of Western music, from Beethoven to Bob Dylan. The episode will come out in a few days… 🎼🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🎶

Walker Art Center postpones opening reception of new exhibit due to safety concerns. More: https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-lifestyle/walker-art-center-postpones-opening-reception-for-new-exhibit-due-to-safety-concerns

The Trump Administration’s reckless foreign aid cuts are already undoing decades of progress, leading to surges in HIV/AIDS, malaria and hunger across the developing world. Studies project this massive aid loss could lead to 9.4 million deaths by 2030. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

‘One officer told me that I "had no chance of returning to Minnesota" and that "the best thing for (me] is self-deportation." … She offered me $2600 to self-deport. I refused. I wanted to talk to my attorney. They didn't tell me the judge had already ordered my release and return to Minnesota.’

It was also the property of the American public, and they trashed it.

CIA ends publication of its popular World Factbook reference tool abcnews.go.com/Politics/wir...

The CIA just stopped publishing their World Factbook and took every page, including the archived copies of previous versions! This sucks. It was public domain, so I recovered the 2020 edition (the last one published as a zip file) and shared it to GitHub simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/5/t...

@barrydeutsch.bsky.social @kiplet.myatproto.social thought you would appreciate this thread

Time for some Doctor who art!!! I decided to share them in the order I painted them so lets start with the 13th Doctor.

If you'd like to purchase the digital version now, I have it up on my shop: blackmudpuppy.myshopify.com/products/the...

Happy first WeRateDogs-in-Prague anniversary to all who celebrate. Shine on, good dog

Dive into “Fact versus Fabrication: Popular Depictions of Francis Marion and the Historical Record” to explore how art, storytelling, and national memory reshaped the Swamp Fox into an American hero, sometimes at the expense of accuracy. Read it here 👉 ageofrevolutions.com/2026/02/02/f...

If you guys don’t wash your cups, we’re going to have to have another meeting about it and last time that meeting did NOT have snacks

My books cartoon for this week’s @theguardian.com

I qualify. I'm obviously not going to go work for Grok, but boy, I certainly would like one of the writing jobs that everybody in the comments is being so sarcastic about making more than that, bc I tell you what, I sure as fuck am not making more than that and you guys KNOW how much I write.

Union workers solved the trolley problem, you're welcome

"The idea that trans inclusion at the ponds is somehow imposed against the wishes of users simply does not survive contact with reality. Londoners have looked at the evidence... and overwhelmingly said: this works, this is fair, and this reflects our values." celord.com/2026/01/29/h...

Springtime in NorCal (although it still continues cool and damp) 🌱

has Zverev ever come back from 2 sets down at a major?

Let's hope this positive news gets as much attention as the people who try to convince us that the UK is a murder ravaged hellscape. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

What poisonous pigment was used by artists for centuries thanks to its optical brilliance and relative affordability? -> gty.art/3NK9Fwf

Out of curiosity, I just ran a few paragraphs from The Butchering Art through an AI checker and it got flagged: 88% AI. This book was released in 2017, and AI machines were subsequently trained off it. How many writers are getting flagged for AI because of the literal theft of their work(s)? Insane.

#Iran Uprising: Continued Resistance in Cities While the clerical regime attempts to suffocate the flow of information, its own officials have begun admitting to the organized nature of the resistance &the precariousness of their security apparatus. @chadbourn.bsky.social

Re-upping this article in the Guardian Oz, about my research into the extreme harm being caused by Wes Streeting's puberty-blocker ban. UK mainstream media has collectively ignored my research (as I expected) but not the Guardian Australia. Needless the UK and US Guardian's didn't share it.

The Bills are promoting their own OC Joe Brady to head coach, per The Insiders. It’s a 5-year deal for Joe Brady — who has been a top HC candidate for years. Now, he lands at home.

Today is "Large boulder the size of a small boulder" day!

If you're "dooming" cause you need, for your own mental health reasons, to express despair over the actual and shitty state of things, that's fine. Do that. Just don't do it in the replies to or as a quote of someone else's post unless you know they're OK with that.

@kawulf.bsky.social @questauthority.bsky.social Warhammer and records management

Just wrapping my wool sweater around me and thinking of spring. #thinkspring #springphotography #noAIused

thread worth reading and acting on

I voted against funding for DHS. Congress shouldn't pass funding for this lawless agency without major guardrails. And the House should impeach Kristi Noem. 4/4

Can I just say something...? 🧣

Disco Inferno 🔥🔥🔥 #BurnsNight

You cannot be punished by the state as a criminal without a prosecution. at trial (IF trial), innocence is presumed and guilt needs to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. It does not follow that ordinary citizens can’t make their own judgments about whether a crime was committed.

And now for a deeply unserious moment.

I’m having a difficult time wrapping my head around the Alt Text fail here.

Since July, I've tracked at least 2,300 cases in which federal judges have ruled ICE has illegally detained people without bond or due process. This is one that stands out: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

We all need to brush up on our strengths and practice our moves. It takes a lot of different skill sets to sustain our communities right now

My first indoor daffodil opened this morning. *happy sigh* 🌼 #Gardening #Flowers #Spring #HappyFriday

I talked to Aberdeen obstetrician Andrea Woolner about the power of the HPV vaccine and why patients should “talk to health professionals rather than rely on social media”. Andrea is a very impressive person - and is now working to tackle ectopic pregnancy! www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/lifestyle...

coyote’s chase ended abruptly, having fallen victim to the “culvert painted onto the hillside” charade one too many times.

I wrote up a long analysis of the issue here, for those interested: reason.com/volokh/2026/...

I’ve never watched “Outlander”, but I love this version by Aberdeen’s Annie Lennox of the “Skye Boat Song”. It’s coming up to Burns Supper weekend. Hopefully, we can celebrate the Bard’s qualities and transcend all the evils festering in the mud! youtu.be/T2DFLwnZc6Q

My favorite part of the article is near the end where it explains that this is a nuisance

NASA’s Perseverance Rover drilled into Mars’s Jezero crater and pulled up a piece of mudstone covered in markings that resemble those left behind by metabolizing microbes on Earth. More investigation is needed but still, the finds are incredibly exciting. buff.ly/Rq90dvU #ShareGoodNewsToo

Interesting first round in the Portuguese Presidential election yesterday. The Far Right’s Andre Ventura came second with 23.5% of the vote, well beaten by socialist Antonio Jose Seguro on 31.1%. The runoff is on February 8 which Seguro is expected to win.