Jim Hacker: Humphrey, I'm told there's a situation at Diego Garcia. Sir Humphrey Appleby: Only geographically, Prime Minister. Jim Hacker: Geographically? Sir Humphrey Appleby: Yes. It's still in the Indian Ocean. Jim Hacker: Humphrey, Iran fired missiles at it! Sir

"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever."

I wake up every day and immediately my entire day looks like this, every day, and I've truly never been happier in my life Thank you God

Proud to be launching a new service today that pulls the latest posts from @lesswrong and produces a topical Garfield comic daily https://t.co/0A1OcMHuap

Jim Hacker: Humphrey, we have to do something about Iran. Sir Humphrey Appleby: Prime Minister, the government is already doing a great deal. Jim Hacker: Such as? Sir Humphrey Appleby: Monitoring developments, coordinating with allies, reviewing contingency plans and

Stumbled upon a Soviet political joke from 1982 (Melnichenko #5850). Syrian defense minister Tlass requests Marshal Ustinov to upgrade air defense: — But we supplied Syria with plenty of surface-to-air missiles! — Well, could you please send some surface-to-plane ones instead?

Jim Hacker: “Humphrey, is this what they call a hit tweet?” Sir Humphrey Appleby: “Not yet, Prime Minister. We should need to see a considerably more widespread collapse of public composure before one could responsibly apply that designation.”

"don't use a typewriter" is interesting. I draft my posts by hand in a mix of English and Latin. That explains the janky prose.

Here I am shamelessly plugging Nero Wolfe (created by Rex Stout). As ever, I recommend the books foremost, but the short-lived A&E series starring Maury Chaykin and Timothy Hutton was excellent. The DVD boxset is hard to come by, and as such the full episodes on YouTube are the

The best books which really bring alive the very different rhythms and feels of all of the major battles in the Western Front (Ypres, Loos, the Somme, Passchendaele, the Kaiserschlacht) are the WWI novels in Henry Williamson’s Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight sequence.

The interesting thing that never really gets touched upon was that Passchendaele was unambiguously an absolute British victory (we finally worked out how to sustainably take land through a combination of integrated artillery and advancing a little at a time)

I shouldn't have to bear witness to the things written in my language. Just saw a tweet of a Nepalese man in Thailand rejecting an Israeli man on Grindr for Palestine. Why must this be conducted in English? My beautiful mother tongue. I didn't consent to this.

This is the only way for a British monarch to be religious:

Jim Hacker: “This tweet of mine is a disaster.” Sir Humphrey Appleby: “Only if one insists on calling it that. I prefer ‘an instructive development.’” Jim Hacker: “But people are furious, Humphrey.” Sir Humphrey Appleby: “People are engaged, Prime Minister. It’s really rather

Nero Wolfe: I weigh a seventh of a ton. I stand next to no one. People stand next to me, and the experience is not to their advantage. Archie Goodwin: Yes sir. You would be what they call a ‘gigamogger’. Wolfe: [regards Archie with profound distaste] Archie: [cheerfully] It’s

Jim Hacker: “I believe I’ve been ‘ratioed’, Humphrey.” Sir Humphrey Appleby: “Yes, and if I may say so, with some efficiency.” Jim Hacker: “Whose side are you on?” Sir Humphrey Appleby: “The machinery of government does not take sides, Prime Minister. It merely observes the

Rare Rhino of the Day: Bronze Rhino-shaped Zun (wine vessel) Inlaid with Gold and Silver Cloud Designs, dated to the Western Han (206 BC – AD8)

assigned foid at birth