Alan Rew
@alanrew.bsky.social
UK-based retired software developer.
Art, Photography, Science, Music, Economics, Politics, Geology, Physics, Chemistry, Earth Science, Architecture, Archaeology
I can't send/receive DMs here.
Signal: alan.285
Art, Photography, Science, Music, Economics, Politics, Geology, Physics, Chemistry, Earth Science, Architecture, Archaeology
I can't send/receive DMs here.
Signal: alan.285
Reposted by Alan Rew
A pair of happy hammerhead sharks
(ca. 1735 Edo period Japan)
(ca. 1735 Edo period Japan)
December 28, 2025 at 5:57 PM
A pair of happy hammerhead sharks
(ca. 1735 Edo period Japan)
(ca. 1735 Edo period Japan)
Reposted by Alan Rew
Attempting to strip someone of citizenship is always a transparent and hopeless effort to avoid responsibility for the underlying problem you claim to object to. Their citizenship is *why* they can be held accountable for the actions you object to.
December 29, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Attempting to strip someone of citizenship is always a transparent and hopeless effort to avoid responsibility for the underlying problem you claim to object to. Their citizenship is *why* they can be held accountable for the actions you object to.
Reposted by Alan Rew
All those farm fields with pro-Brexit banners and the NFU's fucking cowardly neutrality on the Brexit referendum. Remember those things? If you're a farmer and voted remain, and you have social media posts showing that support, let us all know how to buy direct from you.
Farmers’ anger grows as Australian beef floods into Britain after trade deal.
Who saw that coming
bmmagazine.co.uk/news/austral...
Who saw that coming
bmmagazine.co.uk/news/austral...
Farmers’ anger grows as Australian beef floods into Britain after trade deal
British farmers warn they are being undercut as Australian beef and lamb imports surge following the UK-Australia free-trade deal, with volumes rising sharply since 2023.
bmmagazine.co.uk
December 28, 2025 at 10:37 PM
All those farm fields with pro-Brexit banners and the NFU's fucking cowardly neutrality on the Brexit referendum. Remember those things? If you're a farmer and voted remain, and you have social media posts showing that support, let us all know how to buy direct from you.
Reposted by Alan Rew
Sanctions can work — but only at the speed of evasion.
Russia adapts fast because enforcement lags. The 20th package has to hit enablers at scale and close internal EU gaps.
Russia adapts fast because enforcement lags. The 20th package has to hit enablers at scale and close internal EU gaps.
Europe keeps sanctioning Russia. Here’s the part it keeps missing.
Russia adapts faster than Brussels deliberates. The twentieth package is Europe’s last chance to prove otherwise.
euromaidanpress.com
December 29, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Sanctions can work — but only at the speed of evasion.
Russia adapts fast because enforcement lags. The 20th package has to hit enablers at scale and close internal EU gaps.
Russia adapts fast because enforcement lags. The 20th package has to hit enablers at scale and close internal EU gaps.
Reposted by Alan Rew
Adding “…apart from all the racism she did” to today’s gushing tributes.
December 28, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Adding “…apart from all the racism she did” to today’s gushing tributes.
Reposted by Alan Rew
🧵
Ever seen a #rainbow that's just shades of red?
It's about a monochrome or red rainbow—a rare variation of the more commonly seen multicolored one.
An optical & meteorological phenomenon really mesmerizing that happens mostly at sunrise or sunset.
Image by Astronautilus
🔭 🧪 ⚛️ #sciart
1/6
Ever seen a #rainbow that's just shades of red?
It's about a monochrome or red rainbow—a rare variation of the more commonly seen multicolored one.
An optical & meteorological phenomenon really mesmerizing that happens mostly at sunrise or sunset.
Image by Astronautilus
🔭 🧪 ⚛️ #sciart
1/6
December 28, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Reposted by Alan Rew
Ocean heating defies all earlier projections. We are on the worst possible track. Yet this has completely vanished as a topic of conversation in America.
December 28, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Ocean heating defies all earlier projections. We are on the worst possible track. Yet this has completely vanished as a topic of conversation in America.
Reposted by Alan Rew
When we say someone has a lovely voice, we might say it's "MELLIFLUOUS", from Late Latin: mel- (honey) + -fleure (to flow).
They have a voice /that flows like honey/.
Let's talk about the evaporated bee spit that makes breakfast sweeter & especially two enzymes that give it special properties. 🐝🍯🧪
They have a voice /that flows like honey/.
Let's talk about the evaporated bee spit that makes breakfast sweeter & especially two enzymes that give it special properties. 🐝🍯🧪
a close up of a honeycomb with a spoon in it and a bee on it .
Alt: a close up of a honeycomb with a spoon in it and a bee on it .
media.tenor.com
December 28, 2025 at 10:41 PM
When we say someone has a lovely voice, we might say it's "MELLIFLUOUS", from Late Latin: mel- (honey) + -fleure (to flow).
They have a voice /that flows like honey/.
Let's talk about the evaporated bee spit that makes breakfast sweeter & especially two enzymes that give it special properties. 🐝🍯🧪
They have a voice /that flows like honey/.
Let's talk about the evaporated bee spit that makes breakfast sweeter & especially two enzymes that give it special properties. 🐝🍯🧪
Reposted by Alan Rew
Pope Leo XIV: ‘There Couldn’t Be A Better Time To Get The Fuck Out Of America Forever’
December 28, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Pope Leo XIV: ‘There Couldn’t Be A Better Time To Get The Fuck Out Of America Forever’
Reposted by Alan Rew
With all this talk of how to end Russias war against Ukraine, and a cease fire, keep this in mind:
If Ukraine ceases firing, Ukraine will cease to exist.
If Russia ceases firing. the war will cease to exist.
Pretty clear
If Ukraine ceases firing, Ukraine will cease to exist.
If Russia ceases firing. the war will cease to exist.
Pretty clear
December 28, 2025 at 9:23 PM
With all this talk of how to end Russias war against Ukraine, and a cease fire, keep this in mind:
If Ukraine ceases firing, Ukraine will cease to exist.
If Russia ceases firing. the war will cease to exist.
Pretty clear
If Ukraine ceases firing, Ukraine will cease to exist.
If Russia ceases firing. the war will cease to exist.
Pretty clear
Reposted by Alan Rew
A thought for today.
And for so many of our days. Sadly.
“Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back."
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World
And for so many of our days. Sadly.
“Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back."
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World
December 28, 2025 at 8:10 PM
A thought for today.
And for so many of our days. Sadly.
“Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back."
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World
And for so many of our days. Sadly.
“Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back."
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World
Reposted by Alan Rew
40 YEARS AGO TODAY: not to suggest Channel 4 had commissioner's remorse about Emma Thompson's self-penned sketch one-off Up For Grabs, but it went out at midnight. Music by Hans Zimmer!
Emma Thompson UP FOR GRABS
Sketch comedy written and produced by and starring Emma Thompson. With Daniel Massey, Phyllida Law, Stephen Moore, Mark Kingston. 1985.
www.youtube.com
December 28, 2025 at 10:00 PM
40 YEARS AGO TODAY: not to suggest Channel 4 had commissioner's remorse about Emma Thompson's self-penned sketch one-off Up For Grabs, but it went out at midnight. Music by Hans Zimmer!
Reposted by Alan Rew
December 28, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Reposted by Alan Rew
In more cheerful news, the latest addition to the already wonderful Kew Gardens, the "Carbon Garden", is something of a triumph, in no small part thanks to the Mizzi Studios' rather marvellous giant mushroom.
December 28, 2025 at 4:29 PM
In more cheerful news, the latest addition to the already wonderful Kew Gardens, the "Carbon Garden", is something of a triumph, in no small part thanks to the Mizzi Studios' rather marvellous giant mushroom.
Reposted by Alan Rew
That’d be the animal spirits of entrepreneurship and innovation let loose to disrupt a staid, cosseted, complacent sector, right?
December 27, 2025 at 8:38 PM
That’d be the animal spirits of entrepreneurship and innovation let loose to disrupt a staid, cosseted, complacent sector, right?
Reposted by Alan Rew
Reposted by Alan Rew
David Attenborough [whispering]:
“Like a grain of sand in a vast desert, the predator blends seamlessly into its environment, nearly imperceptible to the naked eye.”
“Like a grain of sand in a vast desert, the predator blends seamlessly into its environment, nearly imperceptible to the naked eye.”
December 28, 2025 at 3:38 PM
David Attenborough [whispering]:
“Like a grain of sand in a vast desert, the predator blends seamlessly into its environment, nearly imperceptible to the naked eye.”
“Like a grain of sand in a vast desert, the predator blends seamlessly into its environment, nearly imperceptible to the naked eye.”
Reposted by Alan Rew
Contrast this with every single British newspaper
LeMonde said, not on our watch
December 28, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Contrast this with every single British newspaper
Reposted by Alan Rew
Zelensky lands in Miami. Not a single US official is on hand to greet him. In the language of diplomacy this send an unequivocal message of coldness and hostility. Compare it with the lavish pomp and red carpet shown to Putin when he landed in Alaska a few weeks ago.
December 28, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Zelensky lands in Miami. Not a single US official is on hand to greet him. In the language of diplomacy this send an unequivocal message of coldness and hostility. Compare it with the lavish pomp and red carpet shown to Putin when he landed in Alaska a few weeks ago.
Reposted by Alan Rew
President Zelenskyy:
We discussed all the aspects of the peace framework, which includes the 20-point peace plan - 90% agreed, and U.S.-Ukraine security guarantees - 100% agreed. U.S.-Europe-Ukraine security guarantees, almost agreed. Military dimension - 100% agreed.
We discussed all the aspects of the peace framework, which includes the 20-point peace plan - 90% agreed, and U.S.-Ukraine security guarantees - 100% agreed. U.S.-Europe-Ukraine security guarantees, almost agreed. Military dimension - 100% agreed.
December 28, 2025 at 10:03 PM
President Zelenskyy:
We discussed all the aspects of the peace framework, which includes the 20-point peace plan - 90% agreed, and U.S.-Ukraine security guarantees - 100% agreed. U.S.-Europe-Ukraine security guarantees, almost agreed. Military dimension - 100% agreed.
We discussed all the aspects of the peace framework, which includes the 20-point peace plan - 90% agreed, and U.S.-Ukraine security guarantees - 100% agreed. U.S.-Europe-Ukraine security guarantees, almost agreed. Military dimension - 100% agreed.
Reposted by Alan Rew
Who among us will ever forget where we were and what we were doing when we learned that undocumented migrants to the United States were taking all the atom-splitting jobs
December 28, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Who among us will ever forget where we were and what we were doing when we learned that undocumented migrants to the United States were taking all the atom-splitting jobs
Reposted by Alan Rew
Weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic hit the headlines in 2025 – and patents for these drugs expire in some countries in 2026.
In this edition of #PeriodicGraphics in @cenmag.bsky.social earlier this year, we looked at how these drugs work and their associated risks: cen.acs.org/biological-c...
In this edition of #PeriodicGraphics in @cenmag.bsky.social earlier this year, we looked at how these drugs work and their associated risks: cen.acs.org/biological-c...
December 28, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic hit the headlines in 2025 – and patents for these drugs expire in some countries in 2026.
In this edition of #PeriodicGraphics in @cenmag.bsky.social earlier this year, we looked at how these drugs work and their associated risks: cen.acs.org/biological-c...
In this edition of #PeriodicGraphics in @cenmag.bsky.social earlier this year, we looked at how these drugs work and their associated risks: cen.acs.org/biological-c...
Reposted by Alan Rew
This is *incredibly* charming
this is a beautiful homage by my friend and colleague Claer Barrett to recently-departed FT reader Bruce Dalton, which she read at his funeral last week
December 28, 2025 at 7:39 PM
This is *incredibly* charming
Reposted by Alan Rew
I see the ‘Starmer will be gone by Christmas’ has ramped up to ‘Starmer will be gone by summer’.
There’s no originality in hatred/desperation is there?
There’s no originality in hatred/desperation is there?
December 28, 2025 at 6:26 PM
I see the ‘Starmer will be gone by Christmas’ has ramped up to ‘Starmer will be gone by summer’.
There’s no originality in hatred/desperation is there?
There’s no originality in hatred/desperation is there?