Darren Ross

Absinthe: The World’s Most Dangerous Drink? The latest edition of the Gastropod podcast. gastropod.com/absinthe-the... The Hour of Absinthe now available to buy: blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro... #Books #FoodPodcast #Historians #HistoryPodcast #Podcast #TrendingFood #WomenInPodcasting

Since Firefox is trending, I used to love it until they stuck in a load of AI no-one asked for then announced their plan to turn their browser into a glorified AI terminal. I've since switched to @vivaldi.com - European and without pointless AI bloat. vivaldi.com

Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East! Look, there's elections! Unless you're a Palestinian from East Jerusalem, no polling station for you.

⚠️ Tech billionaires are buying the narrative: Elon Musk's $1B Paramount deal has suffocated an independent documentary critical of him First TikTok suspended its account, and now it is almost gone from theatres... it will only get worse unless we take action against them.

Just 8% of Germans think Trump has changed the US for the better. Only 1 in 10 say the US and German govts still "share the same fundamental values," although 1 in 3 said most Americans and Germans do. More than half said a US vacation was "unimaginable" now www.spiegel.de/ausland/us-m...

Netherlands withdraws from Eurovision over Isreal's participation

Kudos to TIME for getting it right time.com/article/2026...

How long does it take your company to carry a change in strategy down to the actual work and the risk log? With XI Suite you pick the modules you need (planning, delivery, knowledge, governance) and they all read from the same data. euroalternative.eu/xisuite

Anthropic has filed for IPO, AI industry’s gigantic debts are making investors increasingly nervous • America's AI-related firms have borrowed around US$850bn this year, or four times the 2023 amount • Together their balance-sheets carry more than US$3trn of debt www.economist.com/business/202...

The Harry Kane who played golf with Donald Trump? That Harry Kane? A model professional should also be a role model, and even my 6 year old understands that hanging out with bullies is an insult to all their victims.

I recommend The Hour of Absinthe: A Cultural History of Frances Most Notorious Drink. #Books #BookSky #Culture #Historians www.mqup.ca/Books/T/The-...

Honoured to attend the commemorations of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution in Budapest. 70 years ago, Hungarians rose up against oppression. They fought for freedom, democracy and justice. The very values at the heart of Europe today. Their courage lives on.

Beyond disgusted by even more rape allegations against the President of the United States. "In total, more than 25 different women...have independently accused Donald Trump of rape, sexual assault, or other sexual misconduct." Report w/ new details: democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-su...

If you’re thinking of buying an Audi, don’t forget that an Audi executive appeared at a Trump rally this weekend to try to boost an American dictatorship. Make your car-buying decision accordingly.

People still talk about the foreign policy of the Trump administration as if (a) it's designed to advance US national interests, rather than private ones and (b) there's a reasonable expectation of competence and coherence. Neither of these things is correct.

Musk just isn't all that bright. He knew congress was about to flip and pulled this nonsense anyway. He should have his grants pulled, his subsidies halted, Space X and Starlink should be nationalized and he should be investigated. They're all criminals And they all know it

I’m not a political journalist, so was gladly surprised at the community I found here last night. To Americans anxious about the upcoming elections, a key thing we learned in Brazil that might help you: DO NOT engage with the far-right online. Don’t share rage bait. Amplify your people. Ignore them.

From Simon Heffer’s review of Liz Truss’ new book:

Telling headline in the WSJ: “clings to power?” He won the election by more than 3% and with more than 50% of the vote - how about just “prevails” or “wins re-election?” @wsj.com

Breaking international law with the collective punishment of innocent Palestinians, in the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu is a war criminal & Israel is a pariah State lacking any morality whatsoever... #Israel 🇮🇱 #Palestine 🇵🇸 #Netanyahu #WestBank #BreakingNews www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...

In his acceptance speech, Lula says he will work to regulate digital platforms in Brazil. “Digital crimes must be dealt with like real-life crimes.” This comes after Meta directly interfered with the Brazilian elections, favouring Flávio Bolsonaro.

If possible, the Trump admin is having a worse year geopolitically than Putin. They've trashed their influence by alienating old allies and failing to keep (Hungary) or gain (Brazil) new ones. But at least the Kremlin and the White House have each other.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cmgelnrd4r3jt

Right back at you, Trump!

"The Israel Defense Forces has forcibly displaced 2,231 Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank city of Hebron since the weekend." The collective punishment of Christian and Muslim Palestinians on display. www.haaretz.com/west-bank/20...

With the defeat of Orban and Vucic, the bipartisan backlash against the Trump administration's alignment with the Kremlin over NATO allies and Ukraine, and the failure of Russia's attempt to advance on the battlefield, Putin's not having his best year. www.rferl.org/a/serbia-vot...

crazy how high speed rail takes 23 years of reviews and planning to not be built but thousands of data centers can be built on top of people and habitat in less than a month

Congratulations to @connordelves.bsky.social and our Director Mark Barford on their @fringetheatreaward.bsky.social nominations for CADEL: Lungs On Legs at @riversidelondon.bsky.social

Our Fall Sale is on! Save 30% on all print books on mqup.ca! Use code FALL30 at checkout. Sale ends 30 October 2026 at 11:59 pm EDT.

Signs ready for tonight's post-show Q&A for @cadeltheplay.bsky.social at @riversidelondon.bsky.social. Any Qs for creator, co-writer & star Connor Delves? 🚴‍♂️ Connor cycles 27k onstage while reliving the remarkable story of Australian Cadel Evans' race to win the Tour de France. 🎟️ Join us at 7.15!

“If your objection is honored…”

Next up in my occasional series: "Can it swim?" BATS!🦇🏊 As video captured by Rob Mackereth (@mack2526 on IG) in the Lake District, England shows, bats can indeed swim. In fact, they're pretty good little swimmers. But there's an asterisk. Also, standard disclaimer: do not handle downed bats!

Obama: "That well-known evil empire Canada. That historical adversary of ours. Canada! *laughs* It's your neighbor. It's a few minutes' drive over the bridge! These are the people who gave us Martin Short and maple syrup. They are the nicest people! And someone we've gotten them so mad."

"Get to know your customers with forms worth filling out." Build interactive forms, surveys and quizzes without writing code, starting from one of thousands of templates. euroalternative.eu/typeform

Hear me out. AI-written articles go to journals for AI-writing edited by AI and get AI-written peer review. Human written articles go to human-edited journals and get human peer review. Let the market decide which journals beings with attention spans and money want to invest in.

Streets flattened with bulldozers, 200,000 residents trapped in Hebron, the relentless grab land, demolish, displace eternal mass punishment carries on. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Could Western news media please STOP calling them "Israeli settlers". Words matter. They're Israeli invaders in illegally occupied Palestinian territory. They're Israeli terrorists committing violence against Palestinian villagers. #WestBank #FreePalestine #journalism

⚠️ Google quietly changes privacy policy so your Gmail and Photos could be used in targeted ads The more valuable your information becomes, the more they will abuse it. We need to stop using their services.

Traditional plastic tape (eg Sellotape) isn't recyclable – and if you put tape-covered wrapping paper in the recycling bin, it can contaminate the paper recycling. Using recyclable paper tape like this is one solution! More: littlegreenspace.org.uk/reviews/casc...

Help protect #hedgehogs this #bonfirenight! 🦔 🍂 🔥 Share our posters on your socials, or print them off & hand them out at local shops & bonfire events. Together we can make more people aware 💛 #rememberhedgehogs 👉 buff.ly/48N4XDQ 👉 buff.ly/3Q9Kemz ✏️ Bransgore

Thanks @bsky.app

Our Fall Sale is on! Save 30% on all print books on mqup.ca! Use code FALL30 at checkout. Sale ends 30 October 2026 at 11:59 pm EDT.

The fact that the president's doctors are giving him the dementia test over and over again -- tracking his decline, most likely -- and that the president keeps bragging about having to take that test should be a five-alarm fire.

Oh well, no harm done, eh?