I see wonderful things

A bench in the library of Alexandria, Egypt.

The pages feature inscriptions of Shakespeare’s poems pic.twitter.com/5NYpko4BxI

— Science girl (@sciencegirl) February 20, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

pic.twitter.com/XbSDPeMA5E

— Orwell & Goode (@OrwellNGoode) February 20, 2026

 

Data Talks

And here are the sex-segregated data on numbers of suicides in the United States from 1970 to 2022. pic.twitter.com/2r3EfzL5z1

— James L. Nuzzo, PhD (@JamesLNuzzo) February 21, 2026

 

At Breakfast, 1914 by Zinaida Serebriakova

At Breakfast, 1914 by Zinaida Serebriakova (Russia, 1884-1967)

Click to enlarge. 

History

For a brief period, all these realms were ruled by the Jagiellonian dynasty.

From 1516-26, Louis II ruled Hungary and Bohemia while his uncle ruled Poland-Lithuania.

Imagine an alternate European history where Jagiellonians forge a massive Eastern European Catholic empire. pic.twitter.com/1MEmET8AJE

— Aristocratic Fury (@LandsknechtPike) February 20, 2026

 

An Insight

One of my profs was just telling me this about 20th c Cambridge texts. It’s amazing what people were learning in school as recently as like 50 years ago https://t.co/sLpM6uUcW8

— Thōmās (@o_Thoma) February 20, 2026

 

I see wonderful things

Just a reminder that thousands of Amish from Pennsylvania spent an ENTIRE YEAR rebuilding Western North Carolina FOR FREE after Hurricane Helene...

...and not a single mainstream media outlet covered it

Their last tiny home was delivered to David Hostetter, a Vietnam veteran. pic.twitter.com/0qbmTB75fw

— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) February 20, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

Possibly the greatest single male athletic performance of all timepic.twitter.com/Lr64l9oStx

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) February 20, 2026

 

Data Talks

For 5 years we were told America was “millions of homes short.”

Here were the estimates:

• NAR: 5.5M (as high as 6.8M)
• Freddie Mac: 3.8M
• Zillow: 4.5M
• NLHC (rentals): 7.1M

Consensus? 5–7 million homes short.

Now JP Morgan: ~1.2M
That’s nearly an 80% revision.

Was it…

— Jon Brooks (@jonbrooks) February 20, 2026

 

Evidence? I am weary of evidence. Only rouse a man and make him feel the truth of his religion.

From Aids to Reflection and the Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.  

And what has been the consequence? An increasing unwillingness to contemplate the Supreme Being in his personal attributes: and thence a distaste to all the peculiar doctrines of the Christian Faith, the Trinity, the Incarnation of the Son of God, and Redemption. The young and ardent, ever too apt to mistake the inward triumph in the detection of error for a positive love of truth, are among the first and most frequent victims to this epidemic fastidium. Alas! even the sincerest seekers after light are not safe from the contagion. Some have I known, constitutionally religious—I speak feelingly; for I {271}speak of that which for a brief period was my own state—who under this unhealthful influence have been so estranged from the heavenly Father, the Living God, as even to shrink from the personal pronouns as applied to the Deity. But many do I know, and yearly meet with, in whom a false and sickly taste co-operates with the prevailing fashion: many, who find the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, far too real, too substantial; who feel it more in harmony with their indefinite sensations

To worship Nature in the hill and valley,

Not knowing what they love:—

and (to use the language, but not the sense or purpose of the great poet of our age) would fain substitute for the Jehovah of their Bible

A sense sublime

Of something far more deeply interfused,

Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,

And the round ocean and the living air;

A motion and a spirit, that impels

All thinking things, all objects of all thought,

And rolls through all things!

Wordsworth.

And this from having been educated to understand the Divine Omnipresence in any sense rather than the alone safe and legitimate one, the presence of all things to God!

Be it, however, that the number of such men is comparatively small! And be it (as in fact it often is) but a brief stage, a transitional state, in the process of intellectual Growth! Yet among a numerous and increasing class of the higher and middle ranks, there is an inward withdrawing from the Life and Personal Being of God, a turning of the thoughts exclusively to the so-called physical attributes, to the Omnipresence in the counterfeit form of ubiquity, to the Immensity, the Infinity, the Immutability;—the attributes of space with a notion of Power as their substratum, a Fate, in short, not a Moral Creator and Governor! Let intelligence be imagined, and wherein does the conception of God differ essentially from that of Gravitation (conceived as the cause of Gravity) in the understanding of those, who represent the Deity not only as a necessary but as a necessitated Being; those, for whom justice is but a scheme {272}of general laws; and holiness, and the divine hatred of sin, yea and sin itself, are words without meaning or accommodations to a rude and barbarous race? Hence, I more than fear, the prevailing taste for books of Natural Theology, Physico-Theology, Demonstrations of God from Nature, Evidences of Christianity, and the like. Evidences of Christianity! I am weary of the word. Make a man feel the want of it; rouse him, if you can, to the self-knowledge of his need only the express declaration of Christ himself: No man cometh to me, unless the Father leadeth him. Whatever more is desirable—I speak now with reference to Christians generally, and not to professed students of theology—may, in my judgment, be far more safely and profitably taught, without controversy or the supposition of infidel antagonists, in the form of Ecclesiastical history.

I often see the concluding thought paraphrased as:

Evidence? I am weary of evidence. Only rouse a man and make him feel the truth of his religion.

Palm Sunday messaging

I was just reading Deuteronomy 2:32-36 yesterday.  

32 Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz.

33 And the Lord our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people.

34 And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain:

35 Only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took.

36 From Aroer, which is by the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that is by the river, even unto Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us: the Lord our God delivered all unto us.

When I am waiting for the service to commence, I will often flip randomly to a passage to consider in addition to whatever the day's readings are.  Deuteronomy 2:32-36 wasn't particularly consonant with the spirit of Palm Sunday and the Lord's Passion but knowing the whole is always more challenging than dealing in the parts.  

Unbeknownst to me, the Pope was simultaneously making a Palm Sunday, Lord's Passion statement.  

Pope Leo XIV on Palm Sunday, forcefully denounces those who use God to justify war: “Brothers and sisters, this is our God, Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them saying… pic.twitter.com/2x6VIGbkOM

— Catholic Sat (@CatholicSat) March 29, 2026

Of course this is in part just the eternal tension between the Old Testament of judgment, war and tragedy and the New Testament of forgiveness, peace and hope.  But it was a striking contrast between what I was reading while waiting for the service to begin and what the Pope was opining.  

And of course, Babylon Bee goes to town.

Pope Leo Explains God Does Not Listen To People Who Wage War So Long As You Don’t Count Moses, David, Joshua, Elijah, Saul, Gideon, Samson, Or Anyone Else In Bible https://t.co/8Hu7kJv7hc pic.twitter.com/q2jBwHjSST

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) March 29, 2026

 

A Cafe Scene, 1934 by Sylvia Gosse

A Cafe Scene, 1934 by Sylvia Gosse (England, 1881–1968)

Click to enlarge.

History

What follows is the heroic tale of the last stand of Mathew of Clermont at the Fall of Acre in 1291!

The glory of those mightiest of Christian warriors who stormed Jerusalem in AD 1099 had long since faded and the power of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was shattered long before 1291… pic.twitter.com/n0zkECI2eT

— 🏛 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 🏛 (@nonregemesse) February 20, 2026

 

An Insight

Why Goldens can’t be guard dogs.. 😂 pic.twitter.com/gHas9V91Gr

— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) February 19, 2026

 

I see wonderful things

Abbey Library of Saint Gall, Switzerland 🇨🇭 - one of the oldest collections in Europe, but also possibly the most beautiful....

According to the Abbey of Saint Gall’s website (Abtei St. Gallen in German), the earliest evidence of a library collection on the site dates back to… pic.twitter.com/GsfUBYEFBc

— Archaeo - Histories (@archeohistories) February 20, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

Schrödinger's dumpster! pic.twitter.com/1eZt6lnOzm

— Physics In History (@PhysInHistory) February 20, 2026

 

Data Talks

The richer a couple becomes, the LESS likely a divorce becomes. pic.twitter.com/QzklxxsZsY

— Simon Kuestenmacher (@simongerman600) February 20, 2026

 

Snow Spruce by A. J. Casson

Snow Spruce by A. J. Casson (Canada, 1898-1992) 

Click to enlarge.

History

La ferme-manoir de Juif (Saône-et-Loire) est un remarquable exemple de l’architecture rurale bressane du XVIIe siècle.
Classée Monument historique depuis 1994, elle comprend l’habitation, les bâtiments agricoles, le colombier, le puits...
Photo : Elizabeth Evelyne Clerc. pic.twitter.com/h1NG18ZhJY

— Patrimoine rural (@PatrimoineRural) February 20, 2026

 

An Insight

NYC employs 364,000 government employees, of which only 31% of are white.

What is the point of the office of racial equity? To reduce that number to zero? https://t.co/SoWVwNwPUZ

— Jason Curtis Anderson (@JCAndersonNYC) February 19, 2026

 

I see wonderful things

A Science Museum in Japan where you can experience gravity on other worlds. pic.twitter.com/I291TgmBid

— Curiosity (@MAstronomers) February 19, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

One of the greatest charts I have ever seen pic.twitter.com/PkmVRjNQq8

— Adam Carlson (@admcrlsn) February 25, 2026

 

Data Talks

Eye-opening chart: despite spending almost $8 trillion globally on renewables since 1995, the percentage of renewables in total energy consumption has stayed flat

Had we spent a fraction of this on nuclear, the climate change issue would be resolved by now. Why don’t we do this? pic.twitter.com/oTyDRjqOJz

— Michael A. Arouet (@MichaelAArouet) February 20, 2026

 

Snowy night at Urayasu by Kawase Hasui

Snowy night at Urayasu by Kawase Hasui (Japan, 1883-1957)

Click to enlarge.

In Love, 1888 by Marcus Stone

In Love, 1888 by Marcus Stone (England, 1840-1921)

Click to enlarge.

History

Amethyst bottle, made in Egypt, c.2675-2130 BC pic.twitter.com/M7MHmo1hlW

— Archaeology & Art (@archaeologyart) February 25, 2026

 

An Insight

The impulse for retribution.

There’s a tone you hear right before a civilization ages out. It isn’t the sound of defeat. It’s the sound of score settling.

When leaders talk about what they’ll do to their enemies once they “come back,” you’re not listening to governance. You’re… https://t.co/hHBBeQ8Ffq

— InfantryDort (@infantrydort) February 20, 2026

 

I see wonderful things

Stunning sea slug

from the family Caliphyllidae
pic.twitter.com/3LmzpSiOtZ

— Science girl (@sciencegirl) February 19, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

🇺🇸 The US State Department is building a portal with a built-in VPN so Europeans can see content their governments banned, including posts on X that got the platform fined 120 million euros.

A foreign government has to step in because Europe censored its own citizens so hard… https://t.co/ZtrSJbEQz6 pic.twitter.com/5CsySLT5jp

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) February 18, 2026

 

Data Talks

Teachers average among the least intelligent university graduates.

In a given year, the lowest-scoring groups on the GRE, SAT, and ACT are usually those pursuing degrees in education. https://t.co/54Sav3E0Sc pic.twitter.com/cL2txh14ak

— Crémieux (@cremieuxrecueil) February 19, 2026

 

Woman with Spanish Shawl, c. 1926 by J.C. Leyendecker

Woman with Spanish Shawl, c. 1926 by J.C. Leyendecker (Germany/America, 1874-1941)

Click to enlarge.

History

25 February is the commemoration of Ethelbert of Kent, the first Anglo-Saxon king to convert to Christianity. Bede gives a famous account of his meeting with Augustine and his death in 616, 'first of the English kings to ascend to the heavenly kingdom': https://t.co/i4xt7esz8D pic.twitter.com/htyyXMEUi2

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) February 25, 2026

 

An Insight

Senator from VT wants a moratorium on data centers. Governor of Mississippi wants to attract them.

The worldviews expressed here are as good a window as any into why the South has been growing a lot more quickly than the Northeast. pic.twitter.com/sMKNJgXKYz

— Gary Winslett 🌐🇺🇸 (@GaryWinslett) February 25, 2026

 

I see wonderful things

My favourite drovers' road, looking so atmospheric in the rain, with the fantastically witchy boughs of horse chestnut above🌳
These are high-hedged, ancient routes for walking cattle between summer and winter pasture💚 pic.twitter.com/WUcJn5oLUh

— Beatrice Groves (@beatricegroves1) February 19, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

.@edokeefe, we brought the receipts ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/LJ1h0QxuhB

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) February 19, 2026

 

Data Talks

"Contrary to the idea that parental socialization is a major contributor to sex differences, several large meta-analyses suggest that, in important ways, modern Western parents don't treat their daughters and sons particularly differently."https://t.co/PBVjQfshjv

— Steve Stewart-Williams (@SteveStuWill) February 19, 2026

 

Spring, the Interior of the artist's studio, 1933 by Leon Jan Wyczółkowski

Spring, the Interior of the artist's studio, 1933 by Leon Jan Wyczółkowski (Poland, 1852-1936)

Click to enlarge.

History

Assistants (**Archaeologists) at the Swedish History Museum, sitting on the 12th-century bench from Kungsåra Church. Stockholm, 1908. (colorized photograph)

Likely originally crafted for a person of high status, this artifact spent years forgotten in the organ loft of Kungsåra… pic.twitter.com/3oi03dt72h

— Archaeology & Art (@archaeologyart) February 19, 2026

 

An Insight

Leftism is the “new intolerance” - Rowan Atkinson pic.twitter.com/lH5expkzHW

— Turning Point UK 🇬🇧 (@TPointUK) February 19, 2026

 

I see wonderful things

15 yr old Australian tumbler becoming World Champion with this insane routine

pic.twitter.com/I317HfAmM7

— Science girl (@sciencegirl) February 19, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

Anti-ICE activist describes roadblocks and checkpoints constructed in Minneapolis:

“We are literally creating a place that we know who's coming and going in and out of our neighborhoods."

You can’t make it up. pic.twitter.com/oWiPJI3PH1

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) February 4, 2026

 

Data Talks

This is CRAZY

American is going to New York for one night, so she needs to book a hotel. She shows the breakdown of the cost for a one night stay

These are all the taxes and hotel fees being charged just to stay one night

Americans are being taxed to death pic.twitter.com/gNtXANOz8U

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) February 19, 2026

 

Interior with Two Glasses, 1923 by Marius Borgeaud

 Interior with Two Glasses, 1923 by Marius Borgeaud (Switzerland, 1861-1924)

Click to enlarge.

History

When Bill Clinton tells young people that Yasser Arafat walked away from a Palestinian state with a capital in East Jerusalem, “they can’t believe it … it’s not even on their radar screen. They can’t even imagine that happened.”

Be informed. Learn some basic history 🙏 https://t.co/04y52VAInd pic.twitter.com/gvfMfmqNM0

— Captain Allen (@CptAllenHistory) February 18, 2026

 

An Insight

He must have missed what his party did to RFK, Tulsi, Charlie, Catholics, school board parents, pro-lifers, white men, conservative blacks, Christians, religious exempt soldiers, women athletes, non-violent J6ers, Asian college applicants, entrepreneurs, ICE agents, Trump’s… https://t.co/LQnbCOCt5b

— Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) February 16, 2026

 

I see wonderful things

It’s time for Sepak Takraw to become an Olympic sport.

pic.twitter.com/dzyL6k0U9Y

— Science girl (@sciencegirl) February 19, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

"Sitting on their vast wealth," could also be phrased "investing their vast wealth in productive enterprises instead of throwing money to activist NGOs that are mostly scams." https://t.co/SDgwmo2dU5

— Charles Murray (@charlesmurray) February 17, 2026

 

Data Talks

In Japan, there are approximately two deaths for every birth—

Forty years ago in Japan, two babies were born for every person who died. Twenty years ago, these numbers were equal. And today, the ratio has reversed: one baby is born for every two people who die.

In the chart,… pic.twitter.com/bJTKGFHYWf

— Our World in Data (@OurWorldInData) February 19, 2026

 

Méditation 2, 2024 by Thomas Bossard

Méditation 2, 2024 by Thomas Bossard (France, 1971 - )

Click to enlarge.

History

The Greek village of Leivissi/Kayaköy in southwest Anatolia – depopulated in the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey and never repopulatedhttps://t.co/9yPDhR3LPZ pic.twitter.com/oELWVYxfNB

— Oren Kessler (@OrenKessler) February 18, 2026

 

An Insight

In 1920s Soviet Union, planners decided Moscow needed more nails. So they ordered factories to produce tons of nails—literally. Clever factory managers made huge, heavy nails to hit their weight targets with minimal effort. When planners caught on and switched to counting nails… pic.twitter.com/B2iL8oYpJS

— Handre van Heerden (@Handrev) February 17, 2026

 

I see wonderful things

Feb 17: Feast of Finán (†661), monk of Iona, bishop of Lindisfarne. Bede says Finán built a church ‘of hewn oak, thatched with reeds after the Irish manner’. He baptised Peada, king of the Middle Angles, and Sigeberht II, king of the East Saxons. Colmán succeeded him. 📸xlibber pic.twitter.com/A9Gc7Crlwd

— North Ages (@NorthAges) February 17, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

If somebody pitched this to me as an idea for a Babylon Bee headline I would reject it for being too ludicrous. https://t.co/OX4cZB7t7x

— Not the Bee (@Not_the_Bee) February 16, 2026

 

Data Talks

Thailand is one of the most important case studies for lower income countries to understand
It got old before it got rich
Others should aim to do better
Section IV & V are worth a read. It's too qualitative and not quantitative in my view, but may be right on industrial strategy https://t.co/OHoIPExnMe

— Charlie Robertson (@CharlieTTEcon) February 19, 2026

 

The Human Condition by René Magritte

The Human Condition by René Magritte (Belgium, 1898-1967)

Click to enlarge.

Chuck Norris facts are the only facts worth remembering.

One of my sons went through a Chuck Norris Facts phase circa 8-12 years old.  It seems fitting to note Norris's passing with some of these from Wikipedia's Chuck Norris facts.  I recognize most of them even these many years later.  Maybe there's a new one - Chuck Norris facts are the only facts worth remembering.  

Chuck Norris was once bitten by a king cobra; after ten excruciating minutes, the cobra died. – Believed to be the first Chuck Norris "fact"

They tried to put Chuck Norris's face on Mount Rushmore, but the granite wasn't tough enough for his beard. – Stated by Norris to be his personal favorite "fact".

When Chuck Norris does push-ups, he doesn't push himself up, he pushes the Earth down.

Chuck Norris has a polar bear rug at home. It's not dead; it's just afraid to move.

Chuck Norris once threw a hand grenade and killed fifty people; then it exploded.

When Chuck Norris goes swimming, he doesn’t get wet – the water gets Chuck Norris.

When Chuck Norris looks in a mirror it shatters. Because not even glass is foolish enough to get between Chuck Norris and Chuck Norris.

There was once a street named after Chuck Norris, but the name was changed as nobody crosses Chuck Norris and lives.

Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.

Chuck Norris doesn't own a stove, oven, or microwave, because revenge is dish best served cold.

Chuck Norris won an arm wrestling tournament, with both hands tied behind his back.

Chuck Norris plays Jenga with Stonehenge.

The Flash discovered how to run at the speed of light when he found out Chuck Norris was looking for him.

Beneath Chuck Norris's beard is another fist.

When the bogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.

The flu gets a Chuck Norris shot every year.

The Swiss Army uses Chuck Norris knives.

Ghosts tell Chuck Norris stories around the campfire.

Chuck Norris's Social Security number is the last nine digits of pi.

There is no such thing as evolution, only a list of species Chuck Norris has allowed to live.

The dinosaurs looked at Chuck Norris the wrong way. You know how that turned out.

In the Beginning, there was nothing. Then Chuck Norris roundhouse kicked nothing and told it to get a job.

Chuck Norris once roundhouse kicked a coal mine and turned it into a diamond mine.

Chuck Norris actually died 20 years ago, but Death hasn't built up the courage to tell him yet.

Death was once badly shaken by a near-Chuck Norris experience.

Chuck Norris can believe it's not butter.

Chuck Norris makes onions cry.

Chuck Norris beat the Sun in a staring contest.

Chuck Norris once played Russian roulette with a fully-loaded gun and won.

Chuck Norris can divide by zero.

Chuck Norris can speak Braille and hear sign language.

Chuck Norris's diary is called the Guinness Book of World Records.

Chuck Norris is the only man that can slam a revolving door.

Chuck Norris can dribble a bowling ball.

If you have $5 and Chuck Norris has $5, Chuck Norris has more money than you.

Chuck Norris once killed 2 stones with one bird.

The Sun wears Chuck Norris glasses.

Astrophysicists have determined that the amount of energy released during the Big Bang was equivalent to 0.8794 CNʳʰK (Chuck Norris Roundhouse Kicks).

The only time Chuck Norris was ever wrong was the one time that he imagined that he was mistaken.

When Chuck Norris walks into a room, he does not turn on the light. He turns off the dark.

Jesus could walk on water. Chuck Norris could swim on land.

History

People were eating full meals and still dying.

In 1912 🇬🇧, it couldn't be explained. You could sit in front of bread, meat, potatoes, butter. A whole table full of food. Your body could waste away.

Nobody knew why.

Until a man from Eastbourne fed milk to rats.

He fed young… pic.twitter.com/PAplE6PeBt

— Proudofus.uk (@ProudofusUK) February 19, 2026

 

An Insight

Her reply is a perfect and winning example of British common sense. https://t.co/ZcxAgDrrnD

— Freddy Gray (@Freddygray31) February 19, 2026

 

I see wonderful things

Lovely. 🥰

People think silence is oppressive.

It is not.

Teaching children how to be silent and respectful is to give them a superpower. https://t.co/bKpalwyfXK

— Katharine Birbalsingh (@Miss_Snuffy) February 17, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

A park ranger catches a hunter in the act of eating a spotted owl...

Feathers and bones surround his campfire.

The ranger says, "The spotted owl is a highly endangered species. Killing one is a federal crime."

The man says, "Yes, I admit that I killed and ate that owl.…

— 🇨🇭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿InLucysHead🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇨🇭© (@InsideLucysHead) February 16, 2026

 

Data Talks

When you measure it well, both the Nordic countries and England have fairly low rates of social mobility.

Moreover, the transition to modernity hasn't changed social mobility, and the Nordics have only modestly higher mobility than England. pic.twitter.com/sQgwCurqQx

— Crémieux (@cremieuxrecueil) February 18, 2026

 

Still Life - Buddleja, 1985 by Lars Swane

Still Life - Buddleja, 1985 by Lars Swane (Denmark, 1913–2002)

Click to enlarge.

Men only want one thing and it’s disgusting.

From Men Only Want One Thing.  The subheading is And it's disgusting. 

Men only want one thing and it’s disgusting: To run away from home at seventeen and offer their services as a deckhand on a ship bound for the New World. To take a drag of a hand-rolled cigarette as they look out over their cattle herd, cowboy hat tipped to shade from the rising sun, tin cup of gritty black coffee in their hand. To build a Roman Castrum while on campaign in Gaul. To feel the sea spray against their beard as they prepare for raiding. To step foot on another celestial body.

Men only want one thing and it’s disgusting: To lead a cavalry charge into enemy ranks. To feed their blood lust with the boiling anger inside of them. To stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their brothers in a shield wall. To defend the ramparts against the storming enemy. To use the violence inherent to them. To find themselves standing victorious on a battlefield scattered with bodies. To make a heroic last stand. To bleed out contentedly in a liminal place, knowing that they’ve successfully protected their family.

Men only want one thing and it’s disgusting: To be left alone. To fish in silence for a couple of hours, nothing but the sound of water lapping to keep them company. To reflect on their mistakes, and to forgive themselves. To remember their father and knowingly nod as they finally understand him. To devote themselves in their entirety to a project, and to finish that project with a feeling of deserved pride. To leave something behind.

History

Herodotus proven right again award https://t.co/CzjMJgk5PI

— Cimmerian Pervert (@cimmerian_v) February 18, 2026

 

History

They were outnumbered six to one. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇫🇷

Starving. Sick. Exhausted.

The French looked across the field and laughed.

They weren't even soldiers. They were farmers.

But those farmers had something nobody else in the world had.

The Welsh longbow.

A weapon so powerful nobody else… pic.twitter.com/14O4h6nb0Y

— Proudofus.uk (@ProudofusUK) March 11, 2026

 

An Insight

Someone once explained to me, "In our society, the buyer hands over the cash and the seller says, 'Thank you.' Then the seller hands over the good and the buyer says, 'Thank you.' This is very rare in history. For millennia, someone has felt screwed." https://t.co/Q4hijW4m2G

— Jay Nordlinger (@jaynordlinger) February 19, 2026

 

I see wonderful things

275 years apart, the 4,500-year-old cypress tree, the oldest in China, on a painting by Emperor Qianglong of Qing Dynasty, and by a modern camera.

[📍 Dengfeng city, Central China's Henan province] pic.twitter.com/JzLxmKz7LJ

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) February 17, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

ICE needs to hire more gays immediately. They are the only ones that can defeat the white Karens. https://t.co/jeQxNLC2S7

— BLAIRE WHITE (@BlaireWhite) February 16, 2026

 

Data Talks

I was today years old when I learned that the UK's numbering system for A and B-Roads is based on zones and is not random.

(Explains why the two major ones near me are the A2 and A20).

Map credit: Roads [dot] org [dot] uk

More about how the zones work:… pic.twitter.com/IOs8K01XVt

— Brilliant Maps (@BrilliantMaps) February 19, 2026

 

The White Room, 1924 by Marius Borgeaud

The White Room, 1924 by Marius Borgeaud (Switzerland, 1861-1924)

Click to enlarge.

History

Stamped roof tile from Roman Chester (Deva) with the stamp of the Twentieth Legion who were based there. The tile is part of the collections at the Grosvenor Museum in Chester. 📸 My own. #TilesOnTuesday #RomanBritain #Chester pic.twitter.com/NlPSC5mUCZ

— Kevin Wilbraham (@KPW1453) February 17, 2026

 

An Insight

As I have argued since 2023, the decline of socialising and rise in singles are the canaries in the coal mine,

Studies which use 'completed fertility' about women in their 40s may have low predictive power for younger generations with totally different lifestyles..... https://t.co/xgKgCdQGFI

— Alice Evans (@_alice_evans) February 18, 2026

 

I see wonderful things

The impossible architecture of these bird nests

pic.twitter.com/12sNPIdowb

— Science girl (@sciencegirl) February 17, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

English can be confusingpic.twitter.com/HYR5KTefKR

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) February 16, 2026

 

Data Talks

Undergrads yesterday were broadly skeptical of evidence which showed US household incomes had increased for all racial groups in recent decades. pic.twitter.com/bnk2u48n5Q

— Tom Wood (@thomasjwood) January 16, 2026

 

The Kass, 1975 by Andrew Wyeth

The Kass, 1975 by Andrew Wyeth (America, 1917–2009) 

Clcik to enlarge.

History

In 1838, only one in seven men could vote. Not women. Not workers. Not the poor.

So ordinary people wrote a charter. Six demands. The right to vote. Secret ballots. Pay for MPs.

They collected 1.2 million signatures. Parliament rejected it.

They collected 3.3 million… pic.twitter.com/1GWtkSbben

— Proudofus.uk (@ProudofusUK) February 16, 2026

 

An Insight

The New Zealand Defence Force spent 2025 training soldiers to take out a fictional Christian terrorist group — on a map of their own country.

None of NZ's 23 listed terrorist orgs are Christian.

They say no offence was intended.

Here's what the documents actually show 🧵 pic.twitter.com/SOCEpPfWTy

— Kurt Mahlburg (@k_mahlburg) February 17, 2026

 

I see wonderful things

«Let me check what's the problem»

[📹 cutecomrade]pic.twitter.com/HL3LDIN5fO

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) February 16, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

Marco Rubio when he realizes he's going to have to tutor AOC in Latin American geography and history pic.twitter.com/gDgWrOW2pg

— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) February 16, 2026

 

Data Talks

Things undergrads are sometimes surprised to learn -- Americans are very symbolically conservative when it comes to economics.

Data from the World Values Survey. pic.twitter.com/rvAfOSrnNJ

— Tom Wood (@thomasjwood) December 4, 2025

 

Kilauea Fire Fountain, 1884 by Jules Tavernier

Kilauea Fire Fountain, 1884 by Jules Tavernier (France/America, 1844-1889)

Click to enlarge.

History

A twelve-year-old girl found a skeleton in a cliff. Two hundred million years old. A creature nobody had ever seen.

The men who came to look at it didn't write down her name.

Her name was Mary Anning. Her father was dead. Her family was in debt. She didn't even have shoes that… pic.twitter.com/8m4WfOJ39T

— Proudofus.uk (@ProudofusUK) February 17, 2026

 

An Insight

🚨 Forget the flight logs. This email is worse.
December 2014 — six years after Epstein's conviction for sex trafficking.

Bill Gates hosts a breakfast with billionaire donors. Afterward, he emails Jeffrey Epstein a detailed readout on each attendee.

Epstein writes back —… https://t.co/vD6IZnBV3i pic.twitter.com/4fna0QvrKs

— Sayer Ji (@sayerjigmi) February 17, 2026

 

Any monoculture in higher education would be bad. It just turns out that the particular monoculture we have is horrible.

Via Culture Links, 3/18/2026 by Arnold Kling

Yascha Mounk writes,

If it looks like a professional, talks like a professional, and earns like a professional, then it is probably a professional—with all the cultural and ideological accoutrements that nowadays come with that status.

…the Brooklynization of the Bourgeoisie. Its ultimate harm stems from the representation gap that has opened up between ordinary citizens and those calling the shots in society—and the counterproductive rebellion it inspired.

all the schools at the top range of prestige have over the past decades come to resemble each other to a remarkable degree. However much their respective college tour guides may wax lyrical to visiting high school seniors about their idiosyncratic local traditions, Harvard and Princeton, Yale and Stanford, Duke and Columbia are all examples of what biologists call “convergent evolution.” It is not just in the substance of their prevailing views that they constantly copy and emulate each other; it is also in the design of their curricula, in the way they finance their institutions, and in the criteria they use to select their undergraduate classes.

If you visit American suburbia, you will see a flattening of the culture. The same shopping malls, the same restaurant and retail chains the same eateries. College has flattened similarly—right down to the eateries. In 1963, the culture at Princeton differed from that at Yale or Harvard or Swarthmore. Now, they have homogenized. Everywhere there are the same upper-middle-class amenities (fitness centers, performing arts centers) and the same administrators hovering over “student life.”

Mounk talks about the need for viewpoint diversity. But I see a broader need for diversity in higher education. Any monoculture in higher education would be bad. It just turns out that the particular monoculture we have is horrible.

I see wonderful things

The guy is an absolute chad for lighting his ciggy pic.twitter.com/plyfOgahm5

— MERICA MEMED (@Mericamemed) February 15, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

pic.twitter.com/BA5Zuh2LRZ

— Papa Woof und Krampus und Bleaken (@woofknight) February 16, 2026

 

Data Talks

Israel:
- was invaded by an army that is larger than most European armies
- fought a war against an enemy that embeds in civilian homes and doesn’t wear uniforms
- issued evacuation notices
- paused the war for vaccinations
- facilitated humanitarian aid
- kept the internet on
-… pic.twitter.com/HVEYDTlwUo

— Max 📟 (@MaxNordau) February 16, 2026

 

Seascape with Reflection, 1907 by Léon Spilliaert

Seascape with Reflection, 1907 by Léon Spilliaert (Belgium, 1881-1946)

Click to enlarge.

History

When the Loeb Classical Library was launched, the greatest language teacher of the age, W.H.D. Rouse, wrote an essay meant to promote the Loebs by extolling the magnificence of Greek literature and Latin literature.

And boy did he. "Your mind cannot live without them. All the… pic.twitter.com/gq5W50xrK3

— Ancient Language Institute (@theancientlang) February 16, 2026

 

An Insight

Some of the grandest and most beautiful of the country homes--Hamilton Palace and Trentham Hall, as just two examples--were destroyed in the years after WWII because the spiteful and envious socialist government taxed into oblivion the families who had held them for centuries… https://t.co/x4cRAgKzB2 pic.twitter.com/X29WL0hDSF

— Will Tanner (@Will_Tanner_1) February 16, 2026

 

Three months resolving three bi-decadal sevens global threats from 67, 47, and 27 years ago.

It just registered with me.

In the first quarter of 2026, President Trump appears to be well on the way to resolving three generational international issues which have defied the capabilities of multiple presidents, Secretaries of State and innumerable foreign policy experts.  Things might still go wrong in any one of these situations but . . . right now each of these problems appear to be on pathways towards success and security achieved at lower risk and cost and in defiance of the institutional establishments of Washington, D.C. 

Communist Cuba - Fidel Castro came to power violently in 1959 during President Eisenhower's administration.  This is perhaps the most significant ideological victory, Cuba being one of the last holdovers of the Cold War.  Trump seems on his way to resolving this international and national security challenge which has defied twelve other administrations for sixty-seven years.

Theocratic Nuclear Iran - The Shah fell in 1979 during President Carter's administration.  There is an ongoing war currently, but Trump seems well on his way to finally resolving the global threat of a nuclear armed messianic theocracy.  This is probably the most significant achievement in terms of the Global War on Terror and national security which has defied six other administrations for forty-seven years.

Failed Narco-Dictatorship Venezuela - Hugo Chavez came to power in 1999 during President Clinton's administration, helping drive the global drug catastrophe and immiserating a whole generation of Venezuelans in the process.  Chavez and his successor Maduro have defied four other administrations for twenty-seven years.  

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.'s infamous phrase from Buck v. Bell can be repurposed.  Three generations of institutional foreign policy imbeciles are enough.  No wonder they are so irate with Trump.  He is well on his way towards having undone three generations of dangerous problems in three months.  

I see wonderful things

God speed Robert Duvall.

What I will always miss about him is that he always made his roles seem effortless.

Case in point, as Boo Radley, without saying a word, sends warmth into your soul. pic.twitter.com/o11ryxhbOX

— Danny Deraney (@DannyDeraney) February 16, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

His day will come. pic.twitter.com/yr2LrnMcIJ

— Steve (@stevet_140) February 16, 2026

 

Data Talks

Teen hangouts dropped off a cliff after 2012. Those teens are now adults in their late 20s and 30s wondering why they have no close friends.

We keep treating the loneliness epidemic like it came out of nowhere. It didn't. We just weren't paying attention when it started.

Chart… pic.twitter.com/5moIowRmxE

— Chris Carey (@chriscareymsp) February 16, 2026

 

Theseus in the Minotaur's labyrinth, 1861 by Edward Burne-Jones

Theseus in the Minotaur's labyrinth, 1861 by Edward Burne-Jones (England, 1833-1898)

Click to enlarge.

History

During World War II, Britain removed millions of iron railings from streets and homes as part of a national scrap-metal drive. Much of this metal was melted down and reused for war production, including weapons, vehicles and medical equipment like stretchers.

Those stretchers… pic.twitter.com/OHiVFHnBsx

— Science girl (@sciencegirl) February 16, 2026

 

An Insight

Views of American industrial sectors remain strikingly non-ideological (save for the publishing, the movie industry, and fossil fuels). pic.twitter.com/GFc6MnDuaz

— Tom Wood (@thomasjwood) February 8, 2026

 

I see wonderful things

Is there a jazz song more recognizable than this? pic.twitter.com/SLeRM7iqNR

— 🌸🎵 Beautiful Melody 🎶💖 (@Ducnghia16) February 15, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

It’s literally impossible for cowboys to have been here before the Spanish because horses weren’t here before the Spanish brought them over https://t.co/SCGSZCW4Hy

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) February 16, 2026

 

Data Talks

Switzerland is home to the richest French metropolis (Geneva), the richest German major city (Zurich), and the richest Italian speaking region (Ticino) pic.twitter.com/tK1YuzJgiC

— bernoulli_defect (@BernoulliDefect) February 16, 2026

 

Fly Me to the Moon, 2022 by Evgeniy Monahov

Fly Me to the Moon, 2022 by Evgeniy Monahov (Russia, 1974 - )

Click to enlarge.

Premature - "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means

I saw this in my feed this morning.

pic.twitter.com/LgYXaogNKF

— Derek T. Muller (@derektmuller) March 15, 2026

Profoundly revealing.

This past week CNN and most the other legacy Mainstream Media have repeatedly beclowned themselves by trying to make Iran and individual terrorists into sympathetic characters.  Trying so hard that they keep having to rewrite headlines multiple times and stealth edit the articles.  It is just a mockery of the profession of journalism.  

The claim that mainstream media writers are enemies of America is patently absurd; but they keep providing evidence to support the claim.

And it seems like half of their errors are entirely unconscious.  They are so steeped in old Gramscian falsehoods that they don't see themselves stating obvious falsehoods.

In this instance, the headline in the tweet was so egregious that I assumed it must be AI generated.  I went to the NYT site and, sure enough, it is legit.

."

Click to enlarge.

The profound but perhaps easily overlooked error is in the subheading.  "But he faced criticism when his predictions proved premature."

His predictions were not criticized because they were premature.  They were criticized because they were wrong.  Ehrlich was a neo-Malthusian.  

Malthus (1766-1834) was an economist who had the misfortune to base his economic theories on the entirety of human history up to his time.  And while they had some use and accuracy in describing that past, his theories were entirely invalidated by the triumvirate of Age of Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and the Scientific Revolution, all of which blossomed in his lifetime.

Humankind prosperity, productivity, longevity, health and growth all inflected into a rocket-like climb between 1750 and 1850.  Theories from the beforetime had not validity in the new reality of the successful world created by the Age of Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and the Scientific Revolution.  Malthus had an excuse - he couldn't see that the new world emerging around was categorically different from the entirety of human history on which he based his theories. 

Paul Ehrlich never had the excuse of not being able to see the evidence emerging around him.  Malthus was wrong from the time he wrote and there has been 150 years of evidence as to how wrong he was by the time Ehrlich, a neo-Malthusian, was writing in the 1960s.  Ehrlich had a flare for dramatic claims of disaster which then never occurred.  He was not even a Cassandra because he was never right.

Systematically and categorically wrong about everything across his entire oeuvre.  But his theories appealed to the anti-Age of Enlightenment, anti-Industrial Revolution, and the anti-Scientific Revolution biases of the clerissy and chattering classes nestled in academia and legacy mainstream media.

Biases which the headline reveal are still strongly rooted in the sterile mind of writers.  Ehrlich was not premature.  He was wrong because he never understood that the world changed between 1750 and 1850.  He was anchored in an antique mindset that one hundred and fifty years of evidence had not budged.  

Hailed as a prophet by the clerissy and chattering class, he was a prophet with no useful prophesies.  He was always wrong for obvious reasons.

We would never describe a weatherman repeatedly forecasting since 1965 balmy weather in the eighties next week in Antartica as having made premature forecasts.  His forecasts were always wrong.  Ehrlich is that weatherman.  His forecasts were always as confident as they were wrong.  

The use of the word "premature" in the headline betrays at best profound ignorance on the part of the editor/journalist.  At worst it is a knowing propaganda for a long overturned ideology.  Trying to change the world by changing the meaning of words is always a red flag.  

The Pyramids of Giza in the Evening Light, 1910 by Ernst Karl Eugen Koerner

The Pyramids of Giza in the Evening Light, 1910 by Ernst Karl Eugen Koerner (Poland/German, 1846-1927)

Click to enlarge.

Unknown Unknowns by Donald Rumsfeld

Unknown Unknowns

by Donald Rumsfeld

As we know, 

There are known knowns. 

There are things we know we know. 

We also know 

There are known unknowns. 

That is to say 

We know there are some things 

We do not know. 

But there are also unknown unknowns, 

The ones we don't know 

We don't know.