We all know

We should be learning from other countries...

Well said… 🙏

I AM PLEASED TO REPORT THAT I AND THE GIANT FAMILY OF CHIPMUNKS DESTROYING MY PATIO HAVE HAD, OVER THE LAST TWO DAYS, VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS REGARDING A COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES. I WILL ALLOW THEM 5 MORE DAYS TO TAUNT ME THROUGH THE SLIDING DOOR!

in case you've never seen it, this is Roger Ebert on The Mummy

Left: President Trump insulting British and NATO troops saying they weren't on the front lines

Right: Aged 21, Liz was the youngest aircrew to deploy to Afghanistan, and the only female member of the crew on the Chinook helicopter for four years. Liz served 10 tours across 17 years.

One of my priors is that things are really bad if I am coming across news related to the bond market.

This is the freedom you have in America, to be shot by 'Police' wearing masks, for no reason at all, and then to have your Government call you a terrorist and block any investigation into your Murder.

Truly one of the worst most unfree countries on the whole planet.

The ‘wild’ writer who told the truth about work in China How a Beijing courier’s story struck a chord and escaped the censors

There was a lovely piece in the weekend FT about Hu Anyan, a warehouse worker & courier in China who has emerged as one of the country's new literary talents. www.ft.com/content/0350...

Orange and white cat with a white bra on its head

Grey and white cat with a white lacy bra on its head

Cats wearing bras on their heads with the soundtrack of the “habemus papam” announcement is a TikTok trend.

The internet will not be defeated.

To end the war, text STOP to VLADIMIR

Table showing cost of items in the 14th C., and the equivalent value in eels. The table has 3 columns: "You want to buy", "It Costs", and "But in eels?" The table shows you that: 2 doz. eggs costs 1d, or 6 eels A gallon of the best ale costs 1.25d or 8 eels 1 sheep costs 1s 5d, or 106 eels 1 cow costs 9s 5d, or 706 eels A 2-story cottage costs £2, or 3,000 eels The d. here means penny, from the latin "denarius." There were 12 d. to a shilling (s), and 20 shillings to a pound (£). As far as I know, no one was buying cottages with eels. This is more to give you a sense of relative costs. But wouldn't it be interesting if you could buy a house with eels? This chart leaves unanswered the question: "What about the next-best ale?" and suggests and entire spectrum of ale gradations. Which makes good sense, of course. But also, you certainly wouldn't want to spend your eels on inferior ale!

You've probably been wondering: "How many eels is a cottage worth in 14th C. England?"

This is a reasonable question. I get it. And happily, I'm here to help! I included a chart showing this kind of equivalence in an article I wrote for HistoryExtra , but here's an excerpt!
🗃️🧪

Kurt Vonnegut tells his wife he's going out to buy an envelope: "Oh, she says, well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And see some great looking babies. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And I'll ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know. The moral of the story is — we're here on Earth to fart around And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And it's like we're not supposed to dance at all anymore."

Kurt Vonnegut man

sure, groceries are getting too expensive and planes are dropping out of the sky every day, but have you considered you now have the Opportunity to invest in DookyCoin, the legal crypto that let’s me steal from you?

PAY YOUR FUCKING TAXES AND STOP BLOCKING AMBULANCES, YOU FUCKING MORONS 🤬🤬🤬

Screenshot from "Letter from our correspondent" in "Papua New Guinea Courier"

The Papua New Guinea Courier is in rare form.

This:

Updating my CV this morning.

Alicia Silverstone from the movie Clueless looking back with an “oops” expression. The caption is “looking back on 2024”

Looking back on 2024 like:

He died as he lived, clicking “Forgot password,” then checking his inbox for a code, then putting in that code, then setting up two-step verification, and then waiting for the text message that doesn’t come, and then calling the 800 number, and then downloading an authenticator app, and dying.

Bluesky is getting so good

Ugh FINE I'll show up to work "sober" to lead the department of defense. YES without "sexually assaulting" everyone, christ anything else?

A cat sits staring at the camera, elbow on a counter, next to a glass of wine and some flowers.

“I don’t know why you don’t just leave him, Elaine.”

Math problem. I have three apples and am traveling towards you at 17mph. It's not really a problem, more of a warning. Apple time, bitches.