Oh hell yes @ifbookspod.bsky.social did Three Cups of Tea, where we learned that “don’t be an asshole” was so much better tactical advice than the entire counterinsurgency manual that a conman figured it out before David Petraeus did.

Three Cups of Tea

Podcast Episode · If Books Could Kill · August 5 · 1h 52m

podcasts.apple.com

Artificial intelligence is fueling more than half of cybercrime in Africa, enabling criminals to launch faster, more sophisticated attacks as financial losses continue to mount, a new study found

AI Now Fuels Over Half of Africa’s Cybercrime, Study Finds

Artificial intelligence is fueling more than half of cybercrime in Africa, enabling criminals to launch faster, more sophisticated attacks as financial losses continue to mount, a new study found.

bloom.bg

This should be much bigger news

Gail Waldby ❌👑@gailwaldby.bsky.social · 2d ago

It Appears That the US Military Accidentally Killed Everybody on Board a Civilian Medevac Flight in New Mexico #Hegseth #USMilitary futurism.com/science-ener...

There are 7 PR people for every journalist in the US. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

They didn't "turn" shit. Mass surveillance is, prima facie, stalking. They just didn't do it "for the right reasons". As to "rogue cops"... this is what cops do; it just makes it easier for them to do it. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

How rogue officers turned a nationwide camera network into a tool for stalking

Flock’s array of license-plate cameras was built to fight crime. But at least 50 law enforcement officers were charged with or accused of misusing it and other systems.

washingtonpost.com

AUGUST SOLARPUNK BOOKCLUB Poll up now to vote on day/time in the Discord! discord.com/channels/130... Sign up for recaps and links: www.subscribepage.com/solarpunk_bo...

Today’s the day—join me tonight with the @guws.bsky.social to learn more about the educational design philosophy behind my #ManeuverWarfare #wargame from @thedietzfoundation.bsky.social: www.eventbrite.com/e/future-war...

Future War in Your (Cargo) Pocket)

Ian Brown will discuss how to design PME educational games that fit into your pocket.

eventbrite.com

poets: “I really haven’t been writing” also poets: have two collections in the wings

That's 100% why I created leavesubstack.com -- got tired of re-hashing the points; wanted to make a simple 1-pager.

Super useful. I figure a lot of us here in the Sky know this stuff already, but it might be handy to hand to parents, grandparents and pals who are less technically minded. www.librarian.net/NoToAI/

UNLEASH THE K̶R̶A̶K̶E̶N̶ KRAKHEADS

Dominic@domoffinland.bsky.social · 4d ago

this guy gets it

A classic (i.e., it never stops being true, no matter how long it's been around).

@halltline.bsky.social · 2w ago

I saw an interview with a park ranger who was asked "Why can't they build bear proof dumpsters?" His reply was perfect: "There's a considerable overlap between the smartest bears and the dumbest people."

The NYC Gay Men's Chorus in 1993. The men in white were the only original chorus members to make it out of the AIDS crisis. We lost SO many young people.

ɪᴍᴍᴀɴᴜᴇʟ ᴋᴜɴᴛ@soberthots.blacksky.app · 5d ago

Hearing Jennifer Lewis talk about the losses she experienced during the AIDS crisis really contextualizes how bad it was. She said that every day she would get a phone call saying at least 3-5 people passed away, and this is just within her immediate circle - think about it nationally.

"That's all we have, finally, the words, and they had better be the right ones." Raymond Carver, who died on this day in 1988

Minneapolis banned the construction of new drive-thrus on August 8, 2019, making it the first major U.S. city to enact such a restriction. The policy applies to restaurants, banks, pharmacies, and coffee shops, but grandfathers in all existing drive-thru locations. www.mprnews.org/story/2019/0...

Minneapolis bans new drive-thrus

Proponents of the ban hope it will cut down on vehicle noise and idling, and make sidewalks safer. Opponents say it will make access to businesses and restaurants more difficult for people with physic...

mprnews.org

I somehow missed yesterday’s anniversary of the publication of one of my favorite headlines in St Paul history. (upper right column)

<<cough>> H/t to @ebwood.bsky.social for the NYT story here

Sonja Drimmer@sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · last wk.

“AI has become a blunt instrument in the enterprise to impose precisely this form of sanctioned ignorance about America’s past...Taken together, [Trump’s & Musk’s] plans amount to a one-two punch, history in the hands of the corporate state.” My latest on AI & history: www.salon.com/2026/07/28/t...

“It gently reveals uncomfortable truths that have long been ignored. The prairie was never empty. The Osage were people with families, full of humor and love. A Black doctor is the reason Laura Ingalls Wilder survived to tell her tale.”

I will be giving the keynote at the first Professional Military Education Symposium at the US Army War College - 11-13 August. The conference will focus on #wargaming and #PME. I look forward to engaging with colleagues and friends from across the Joint Force enterprise. See you there! 🎲 📚

It's hard, but it is imperative to strive to be the "good guys" in war. Though officers bear the brunt of this effort ---control chaos and reign in the inevitable brutal human impulses--- in democracies, the people ultimately bear responsibility for what is done on the battlefield in their name.

Zach Weinersmith@zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Do you have any extremely niche, but serious, ethical stances?

Good news everyone, they’ve decided to make this one decisive

Shipwreck@shipwreck75.bsky.social · 5d ago

US Central Command (CENTCOM) has prepared a large-scale operation in the form of a decisive two-week bombing campaign should Trump choose escalation to break the deadlock in the Middle East, two sources confirmed.-NYP

5 years ago, 20 years after I started publishing things, I came the closest I had ever come to saying what I meant to say in this piece. This only existed in print until now, so I thought I'd try to help it find new readers online. ericchandler.wordpress.com/2026/07/31/t...

This Is Not A Map

“I’ve always been fascinated by maps and cartography. A map tells you where you’ve been, where you are, and where you’re going – in a sense it’s three tenses in one. It’s also an amazing ideogram o…

ericchandler.wordpress.com

At the end of Disability Pride Month, I want to reflect on the labor it takes to be a disabled person being one of a handful of people regularly covering disability. I am exhausted. But I'm also proud of what I do at @motherjones.com.

America First.

Help! My symbolism! It's so overt! And very explicit!

Sunken Nazi warships resurface as water levels drop

Scuttled German WW2 warships have reemerged from the Danube in drought-hit Europe.

reuters.com

what could possibly go wrong

Amy Maxmen, PhD@amymaxmen.bsky.social · 6d ago

The US owes the Pan-American Health Organization $135 million in past dues. Trump's budget proposal cuts funding for PAHO entirely, even though our contribution is 0.001% of federal spending. The result will be even weaker defenses agst measles, dengue & more. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/h...

I mean this is fundamentally one of the big reasons why data centers have no local constituency: they don’t actually create a lot of jobs they’ll employ some folks during construction but the actual day to day operation of a data center really doesn’t need many people, especially given its size

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 6d ago

Hassett: "Data centers are very good for towns bc they create so many jobs & bring people in with high incomes that can buy houses & stuff like that. So if you take a sleepy town that hasn't seen much in the last 30 years & put a data center there, there are gonna be a bunch of happy residents."

it’s never a great sign for your society when all the competent people who believe in doing a good job for the sake of it conclude that they’re actively being punished for these qualities, while malignantly stupid criminals are making bank

1. Newer writers, just don't fucking use "AI" for anything, ever 2. How odd that being an established writer with a firm "no 'AI'" stance and ample pre-"AI" IP will become a definite competitive advantage over "new, hot, and possibly copyright compromised" deadline.com/2026/07/ai-q...

AI Questions Spoil Book & Movie Heat On 'Call Me, I'll Hide The Body' Novel

That screeching sound you heard from international publishers and film rights buyers was an abrupt application of the brakes after a fevered pursuit of the unpublished debut novel.

deadline.com

Your monthly reminder that, not only do I occasionally crack wise and write snarky war poems, I also try to help other mil-writers do the same. "Poets and playwrights, scholars and soldiers, essayists and analysts!"

The Aiming Circle@aimingcircle.bsky.social · 6d ago

ICYMI: OUR LATEST MONTHLY SALVO! (Slide 1 of 4) Here’s our latest salvo of RESOURCES, TIPS, and MARKETS for writers of military- and war-themed fiction, non-fiction, poetry, scholarship, and more! Find all these stories here: www.aimingcircle.com/2026/07/a-ro...