Michael Cruickshank
@cruickshank.bsky.social
Geospatial analyst, OSINT investigator, and journalist. Investigating the intersection of climate resilience and human systems, and sometimes writing fiction. From 🇦🇺, now in 🇪🇺.
📍Berlin, Germany
https://www.michaelcruickshank.me/
📍Berlin, Germany
https://www.michaelcruickshank.me/
One of my favourite dinner party stories is the fact that there is a random temple in Southern India with at least $22bn in gold and precious gems chilling in its vaults. It's technically owned by the state, but no one will touch it because of local superstitions.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...
www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...
November 11, 2025 at 7:16 AM
One of my favourite dinner party stories is the fact that there is a random temple in Southern India with at least $22bn in gold and precious gems chilling in its vaults. It's technically owned by the state, but no one will touch it because of local superstitions.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...
www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...
This is really cool - someone made a historically accurate interactive 3D map of pre-conquest Tenochtitlan.
retratodetenochtitlan.mx
retratodetenochtitlan.mx
November 9, 2025 at 7:01 PM
This is really cool - someone made a historically accurate interactive 3D map of pre-conquest Tenochtitlan.
retratodetenochtitlan.mx
retratodetenochtitlan.mx
Reposted by Michael Cruickshank
Map of radio frequency interference mapped from space (via SMAP) overlaid with GPSJAM data.
November 7, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Map of radio frequency interference mapped from space (via SMAP) overlaid with GPSJAM data.
Had a lot of feedback that it was hard to keep track of all the characters and groups in my novel, so I finally got around to adding a glossary. Also, formalised the grammar of the devolved pseudo-Slavic spoken in the setting.
November 7, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Had a lot of feedback that it was hard to keep track of all the characters and groups in my novel, so I finally got around to adding a glossary. Also, formalised the grammar of the devolved pseudo-Slavic spoken in the setting.
Looks like he has officially killed more people than Von Braun.
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 7, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Looks like he has officially killed more people than Von Braun.
Nothing like making retroactive edits to retroactive edits in a fictional editorial, that make it look like someone isn't editing anything at all.
This metafiction will be the death of me.
This metafiction will be the death of me.
November 6, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Nothing like making retroactive edits to retroactive edits in a fictional editorial, that make it look like someone isn't editing anything at all.
This metafiction will be the death of me.
This metafiction will be the death of me.
Reposted by Michael Cruickshank
A new Bellingcat investigation geolocates the site of a mass killing near Al Fashir, Darfur. More than eighty bodies were found beside destroyed vehicles along an earthen berm built around the city.
www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/11...
www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/11...
Geolocating Darfur Killings of Those Escaping Al Fashir - bellingcat
Warning: Contains written descriptions of extreme violence including murder. All graphic footage has been omitted. A Bellingcat investigation has identified and verified the exact location of a mass k...
www.bellingcat.com
November 5, 2025 at 1:54 PM
A new Bellingcat investigation geolocates the site of a mass killing near Al Fashir, Darfur. More than eighty bodies were found beside destroyed vehicles along an earthen berm built around the city.
www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/11...
www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/11...
If you know, you know.
November 4, 2025 at 7:07 PM
If you know, you know.
Honestly can't think of a more confusingly named feature on Earth aside from Lake Vostok. Vostok (восток) just means 'east' in Russian.
East of what, tovarish? East of what???
East of what, tovarish? East of what???
November 4, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Honestly can't think of a more confusingly named feature on Earth aside from Lake Vostok. Vostok (восток) just means 'east' in Russian.
East of what, tovarish? East of what???
East of what, tovarish? East of what???
The EU needs to treat the United States of America as a hostile enemy in the same way it treats Russia.
November 3, 2025 at 4:24 PM
The EU needs to treat the United States of America as a hostile enemy in the same way it treats Russia.
Both are genocide. Next question?
It's never comfortable to recognize a double-standard, but when the deaths from wanton butchering in Sudan are "mass killing" but deaths in a war with Hamas in Gaza are "genocide," maybe a little dispassionate judiciousness is in order.
What a callous thing to say
November 1, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Both are genocide. Next question?
The Sentinel-2C satellite managed to capture an amazing image looking right down the eye of Hurricane Melissa just before it made landfall earlier today:
October 28, 2025 at 10:16 PM
The Sentinel-2C satellite managed to capture an amazing image looking right down the eye of Hurricane Melissa just before it made landfall earlier today:
Hurricane Melissa could now easily come to be the strongest landfalling Atlantic Hurricane in history. A potent reminder that the climate crisis doesn't care about our feckless politicians' attempts to pretend it doesn't exist.
October 28, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Hurricane Melissa could now easily come to be the strongest landfalling Atlantic Hurricane in history. A potent reminder that the climate crisis doesn't care about our feckless politicians' attempts to pretend it doesn't exist.
To be fair, there is a very strong argument that can be made that military classification delayed the acceptance of Plate Tectonics by several decades.
![Comic. [two connected spacecraft hovering in space above the Earth] Houston, the view is superb. We can see the continents spread out below us, right where they’ve been since the Earth formed. [caption] I still can’t believe we developed spaceflight before we figured out that the continents moved.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreicp2ka5asjgkmgfdfj33vnjb5bbvk3vnyao6ju5kipxcdc23pqasm@jpeg)
October 28, 2025 at 8:20 AM
To be fair, there is a very strong argument that can be made that military classification delayed the acceptance of Plate Tectonics by several decades.
Hurricane Melissa has now reached Cat 5, and rainfall exceeding 1000mm is expected in some areas of Jamaica. This will be truly catastrophic. I hope the US military assets in the region are prepared to render assistance - they'll absolutely need it.
October 27, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Hurricane Melissa has now reached Cat 5, and rainfall exceeding 1000mm is expected in some areas of Jamaica. This will be truly catastrophic. I hope the US military assets in the region are prepared to render assistance - they'll absolutely need it.
Would dressing as the 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 on Ash Tree Lane be too niche a costume for Halloween?
October 27, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Would dressing as the 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 on Ash Tree Lane be too niche a costume for Halloween?
First the Congo, then the Blood Diamonds, and now this blatant greed at the expense of others.
❗️🇧🇪Belgium has abandoned the decision to confiscate 🇷🇺Russian frozen assets, in particular because it receives €1.2 billion in income from them annually — Le Soir
We are talking about taxes paid annually from the income of €140 billion in frozen Russian assets.
We are talking about taxes paid annually from the income of €140 billion in frozen Russian assets.
October 26, 2025 at 1:47 PM
First the Congo, then the Blood Diamonds, and now this blatant greed at the expense of others.
Looks to be a pretty dire situation that will unfold in Jamaica and around its capital, Kingston, over the next 48 hours. In a near-worst-case scenario, the area will take a direct hit from a Category 5 hurricane and experience over half a metre of rainfall.
October 26, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Looks to be a pretty dire situation that will unfold in Jamaica and around its capital, Kingston, over the next 48 hours. In a near-worst-case scenario, the area will take a direct hit from a Category 5 hurricane and experience over half a metre of rainfall.
If any of my followers know more about how Dead Hand/«Периметр» works, can you let me know if this excerpt from my novel describes it correctly?
October 25, 2025 at 8:40 AM
If any of my followers know more about how Dead Hand/«Периметр» works, can you let me know if this excerpt from my novel describes it correctly?
And like clockwork, 24 hours later the US announces it is deploying the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the area. They are absolutely going in.
This hurricane is probably one of the few things stopping the US from attempting to topple Maduro right now.
October 24, 2025 at 5:54 PM
And like clockwork, 24 hours later the US announces it is deploying the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the area. They are absolutely going in.
This hurricane is probably one of the few things stopping the US from attempting to topple Maduro right now.
October 23, 2025 at 5:55 PM
This hurricane is probably one of the few things stopping the US from attempting to topple Maduro right now.
The way they spell 'Ai' with a lower case 'i' makes me immediately assume this Saab Gripen jet is powered by love (爱/Ài)
October 22, 2025 at 5:02 PM
The way they spell 'Ai' with a lower case 'i' makes me immediately assume this Saab Gripen jet is powered by love (爱/Ài)
ARPA: By creating a dense network with decentralised nodes, we can make a resilient communications system.
AWS: What if we used that same system to centralise all the nodes?
AWS: What if we used that same system to centralise all the nodes?
PSA: we're aware that Signal is down for some people. This appears to be related to a major AWS outage. Stand by.
October 20, 2025 at 8:34 AM
ARPA: By creating a dense network with decentralised nodes, we can make a resilient communications system.
AWS: What if we used that same system to centralise all the nodes?
AWS: What if we used that same system to centralise all the nodes?
Made some logos for some of the fictional government departments as well, because, why not?
October 18, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Made some logos for some of the fictional government departments as well, because, why not?
Reposted by Michael Cruickshank
I really should spend less time creating in-universe maps for the sci-fi novel I'm working on and more time finishing writing it, but I digress...
October 14, 2025 at 8:18 AM
I really should spend less time creating in-universe maps for the sci-fi novel I'm working on and more time finishing writing it, but I digress...