I thought he previously claimed his book was non-fiction, 100% factual, definitely not hallucinated by AI? But he now seems to be complaining that it is not displayed with the latest fiction...

He also appears to be inadvertently admitting that his book belongs in the fiction section.

The invisible industry 13 years since my book, and nothing changes

I see @rosegeorge.bsky.social doesn't seem to post on here, but she knows about shipping, and her latest substack gives a more human view of the impact of the gulf crisis: substack.com/home/post/p-...

A meticulously hand-written spreadsheet of shareholdings, with crossings out and additions over several years

A three page handwritten spreadsheet of building society accounts with interest rates and gross/net interest paid

Things you find when house-clearing: my late father refused to go anywhere near a computer, but imagine the things he could have done with an excel spreadsheet...

I think this is a prompt to get the 'this is the future that liberals want' meme out again

Son is 27 - so possibly stretching limits of 'youngster-hood'; keen theatre-goer but I'm not sure how much Chekhov etc he has seen.

I was meant to be going tomorrow, but now can't make it so gave my tickets to my son instead. I am reading reviews (and will await his verdict) with interest, to help me decide whether to try to go another night.

Disappointed, though not surprised, I began to describe various life- saving components of USAID’s global health portfolio, highlighting how we prepare for and respond to emerging pandemic threats; support the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV; and immunize millions of children from the deadliest childhood diseases. I spoke for about five minutes, focusing primarily on our infectious diseases work and hoping to keep the attention of people who seemed to have no experience—or interest—in global health. When I finished, the room was silent, the political appointees looking at one another in what appeared to be disbelief. The silence was broken by Ken Jackson, who chuckled softly and shook his head. “Wow, there really is so much that USAID does that we never knew,” he said. “This is the story that needs to get out there.” Joel, also smiling, chimed in next, echoing Jackson’s amazement. “I had no idea you did all this,” he said. “As a Republican, when I think of what USAID does in global health, I assumed it was just, you know, abortions.”

This is NUTS

www.thehandbasket.co/p/trump-usai...

Can we do the reverse - famous people we have fallen asleep in front of? I dozed off during a Harold Pinter play in Bath (a glass of wine with dinner before a show is a bad move, I now realise) and discovered when I woke up that Dominic West was right behind me.

Yes to every word of this. After three years of Chinese at university I took the easy option and focused mainly on Japanese (not quite as many characters, and some phonetic script to help out), but even now I find it easier to read a novel or magazine in French or German...

The rims on the keys are a bit painful for the fingers, but you are never going to type as much or as fast on one of these as on a modern keyboard anyway. The smell of the ink ribbon and the sound of the carriage return takes me right back to 1982...

Snap! I learnt to type on one of these (my grandfather's, I think) and was horrified to find when I returned to the UK 20 years ago that my parents had got rid of it. So I bought a replacement on ebay. Needs cleaning, new ribbon etc.

You're not in London, I take it. I was in Norfolk last week, and enjoyed swapping curlew and oystercatchers for sparrows and parakeets.

The number of Parker pens I have found while clearing my parents' house is ridiculous. Some are good ones that they clearly bought, but at one point in the 80s Parker pens seemed to become the ubiquitous 'free gift' for signing up for subscriptions, bank accounts etc.

Let me know when there is a date in the calendar!

Thanks for the tip! I just got back to London and was thinking I should check what's on.

The local police in Tokyo actually come out and measure your garage/parking space to make sure it is big enough for the car you are planning to register before you can go ahead. One of many reasons why huge US-made vehicles don't sell over there.

No station can ever be as disappointing in reality vs expectation as Tokyo Teleport

British cities would be very different places if they had the Japanese system of requiring a designated parking space in order to own a car.

Apparently I will still be able to read the 600 or so books I have already downloaded, so it is not going to be ditched quite yet.

(I had an email notifying me today - if you haven't had one, you should be OK)

It depends how old your kindle is! They are stopping support for anything released 2012 or earlier. Mine is a 2012 paperwhite, still going strong (after I killed the previous one by taking it skiing - no one told me that e-ink screens can't handle sub-zero temperatures)

And owned by a Japanese company rather than a Trump-supporting US billionaire, which is a bonus...

E-reader suggestions, anyone? Amazon just told me I won't be able to download new books to my trusty old Paperwhite kindle from next month. Kindle books (mostly for travel reading) were the final thing I still used Amazon for, but this could be the spur to ditch them altogether. Is Kobo any good?

Barry McGuire - Eve Of Destruction YouTube video by The Best Of - Home Of Classic Music

youtu.be/qfZVu0alU0I?...

Whatever happens tonight, or any other night in this war, is now legally defined by the president's statement. In the practical application of the law of genocide, the Genocide Convention of 1948, the difficulty is usually in proving "the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group." Henceforth the intent is on the record, in the published words of the president of the United States and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces about the death of "a whole civilization."

Professor @timothysnyder.bsky.social on point as usual. Measured, academic, legal and moral. #IranWar

snyder.substack.com/p/the-presid...

The Next Coup Attempt And How to Stop It

War crimes are morally and legally wrong. But they also don’t win wars or get us beyond politics. Insofar as there is a logic to this it is to provoke the Iranians and then act shocked and go for a coup domestically.
See my essay "The Next Coup Attempt"
snyder.substack.com/p/the-next-c...

Do you know how EXTREMELY FUCKED UP SHIT HAS TO BE for me to be reposting Tucker Carlson positively???

No. So if the rumours are true about him being in for his monthly alzheimer drug infusion are true, it could be a staffer?

"Mentally unstable President given huge powers by cowardly party threatens to blow up the world" is the headline you're looking for.