Patrick Smith
@drpaddysmith.bsky.social
Astronomical optics, get 'em while they're cold
An expert takedown of a half-baked idea? What else is Friday afternoon for?
My analysis of the Trump-class "battleship" is out!
(TL;DR please just build more destroyers)
www.fpri.org/article/2026...
(TL;DR please just build more destroyers)
www.fpri.org/article/2026...
The Trump-Class Battleship: Spectacle Wins Out Over Combat Power - Foreign Policy Research Institute
After finishing my last article on the inability of the US Navy to build frigates, I was hopeful that I could have a bit of a break before the next crisis in
www.fpri.org
January 9, 2026 at 1:52 PM
An expert takedown of a half-baked idea? What else is Friday afternoon for?
You had to adjust the fuel-air mixture to get a car started
Without revealing your actual age,what's something you remember that if you told a younger person they wouldn't understand?
January 9, 2026 at 11:52 AM
You had to adjust the fuel-air mixture to get a car started
Reposted by Patrick Smith
Nollaig na mBan today. Women's Christmas
January 6, 2026 at 2:38 PM
Nollaig na mBan today. Women's Christmas
Finally saw La Piscine so went back to check the Palk review
It's all moody and brooding, but it's also the 60s so there's a Zany Dancing Scene that comes out of nowhere
It was good of Ralph Fiennes to recreate that bit on his own in A Bigger Splash
It's all moody and brooding, but it's also the 60s so there's a Zany Dancing Scene that comes out of nowhere
It was good of Ralph Fiennes to recreate that bit on his own in A Bigger Splash
A mediocre film made tolerable by the world-historical hotness of three of the cast
January 5, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Finally saw La Piscine so went back to check the Palk review
It's all moody and brooding, but it's also the 60s so there's a Zany Dancing Scene that comes out of nowhere
It was good of Ralph Fiennes to recreate that bit on his own in A Bigger Splash
It's all moody and brooding, but it's also the 60s so there's a Zany Dancing Scene that comes out of nowhere
It was good of Ralph Fiennes to recreate that bit on his own in A Bigger Splash
SO much stuff. Let's go with: the overture from Tannhäuser
What's your favourite thing that's been made by an absolute cunt?
January 5, 2026 at 2:07 PM
SO much stuff. Let's go with: the overture from Tannhäuser
Reposted by Patrick Smith
FOR IDRIS ELBA (Palindrome)
Able sir,
did nobody fit recognise it ties in?
Go, certify — do Bond, Idris Elba!
Able sir,
did nobody fit recognise it ties in?
Go, certify — do Bond, Idris Elba!
January 5, 2026 at 8:17 AM
FOR IDRIS ELBA (Palindrome)
Able sir,
did nobody fit recognise it ties in?
Go, certify — do Bond, Idris Elba!
Able sir,
did nobody fit recognise it ties in?
Go, certify — do Bond, Idris Elba!
Was fearing that this wouldn't be getting another outing. FFS what was I worrying about?
January 5, 2026 at 10:46 AM
Was fearing that this wouldn't be getting another outing. FFS what was I worrying about?
Reposted by Patrick Smith
Jump Into 2026
I love the secret feature at Nine Elms London Underground station that reveals itself during a sunny day.
If you arrive at the perfect moment, the roundel logo is beautifully projected onto the floor.
So I took Dancer Andreya with me to interact with the scene.
I love the secret feature at Nine Elms London Underground station that reveals itself during a sunny day.
If you arrive at the perfect moment, the roundel logo is beautifully projected onto the floor.
So I took Dancer Andreya with me to interact with the scene.
January 2, 2026 at 8:03 AM
Jump Into 2026
I love the secret feature at Nine Elms London Underground station that reveals itself during a sunny day.
If you arrive at the perfect moment, the roundel logo is beautifully projected onto the floor.
So I took Dancer Andreya with me to interact with the scene.
I love the secret feature at Nine Elms London Underground station that reveals itself during a sunny day.
If you arrive at the perfect moment, the roundel logo is beautifully projected onto the floor.
So I took Dancer Andreya with me to interact with the scene.
In between the silly bits Moonraker has some curiously good storytelling. The sequences in the Venetian lab and the Rio carnival are wordless show-don't-tell
Watching Moonraker. Not many people know that Lois Chiles is Adrian's aunt
January 1, 2026 at 7:59 PM
In between the silly bits Moonraker has some curiously good storytelling. The sequences in the Venetian lab and the Rio carnival are wordless show-don't-tell
Watching Moonraker. Not many people know that Lois Chiles is Adrian's aunt
January 1, 2026 at 4:03 PM
Watching Moonraker. Not many people know that Lois Chiles is Adrian's aunt
This is genuinely my favourite, and it doesn't come up much in these sort of things: New Order's "World"
A bitter, beautiful, melancholy little epic
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXzs...
Other videos made at that hotel: Elton John's "I'm Still Standing" and, er, Steps' "Love's Got a Hold On My Heart"
A bitter, beautiful, melancholy little epic
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXzs...
Other videos made at that hotel: Elton John's "I'm Still Standing" and, er, Steps' "Love's Got a Hold On My Heart"
December 31, 2025 at 2:38 PM
This is genuinely my favourite, and it doesn't come up much in these sort of things: New Order's "World"
A bitter, beautiful, melancholy little epic
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXzs...
Other videos made at that hotel: Elton John's "I'm Still Standing" and, er, Steps' "Love's Got a Hold On My Heart"
A bitter, beautiful, melancholy little epic
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXzs...
Other videos made at that hotel: Elton John's "I'm Still Standing" and, er, Steps' "Love's Got a Hold On My Heart"
I think the F1 looks the most like a jet fighter that any jet fighter has ever looked
Flight demonstration of the Mirage F1, filmed here in 1969. It entered service with the French Air Force in 1973.
© Images Defance
© Images Defance
December 29, 2025 at 11:43 AM
I think the F1 looks the most like a jet fighter that any jet fighter has ever looked
Why does this 1988 ad look like 2025 gen AI? Is it because this is the aesthetic the AI is going for?
1988:
smash hits 15 28 june 1988, page 48
Full mag --> https://archive.org/stream/smash-hits-15-28-june-1988#page/n47
smash hits 15 28 june 1988, page 48
Full mag --> https://archive.org/stream/smash-hits-15-28-june-1988#page/n47
December 25, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Why does this 1988 ad look like 2025 gen AI? Is it because this is the aesthetic the AI is going for?
Reposted by Patrick Smith
Reposted by Patrick Smith
SNCF Zoom sur l'AGRIVAP - Parc Livradois - Forez -- Ambert -- avec le mythique autorail Panoramique X 4208 affrêté par l'IFC pour un tour du Cantal vers 1988 agrivap.fr
December 22, 2025 at 11:37 AM
SNCF Zoom sur l'AGRIVAP - Parc Livradois - Forez -- Ambert -- avec le mythique autorail Panoramique X 4208 affrêté par l'IFC pour un tour du Cantal vers 1988 agrivap.fr
Proust had tisane and madeleines. I have to make do with this picture of the Kingdom Centre in Glenrothes
December 22, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Proust had tisane and madeleines. I have to make do with this picture of the Kingdom Centre in Glenrothes
Reposted by Patrick Smith
One long thread I did at the other place was on shopping centre postcards. So, get ready for it again - I’ll try and add one each day. Tragically, they are all filed alphabetically. So, we start in Accrington, and an odd-looking clock outside Dixons in the Arndale Centre:
August 26, 2024 at 8:55 PM
One long thread I did at the other place was on shopping centre postcards. So, get ready for it again - I’ll try and add one each day. Tragically, they are all filed alphabetically. So, we start in Accrington, and an odd-looking clock outside Dixons in the Arndale Centre:
Reposted by Patrick Smith
I put this up every year.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ev0...
Today is the shortest day and I'm proposing that you spend nine and a half of its precious minutes on Matt Berry's chilly folk-prog. You will feel the benefit
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ev0...
Today is the shortest day and I'm proposing that you spend nine and a half of its precious minutes on Matt Berry's chilly folk-prog. You will feel the benefit
Solstice
YouTube video by Matt Berry - Topic
www.youtube.com
December 21, 2024 at 10:35 AM
I put this up every year.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ev0...
Today is the shortest day and I'm proposing that you spend nine and a half of its precious minutes on Matt Berry's chilly folk-prog. You will feel the benefit
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ev0...
Today is the shortest day and I'm proposing that you spend nine and a half of its precious minutes on Matt Berry's chilly folk-prog. You will feel the benefit
Reposted by Patrick Smith
Utterly Bold wishes on this Winter Solstice
December 21, 2024 at 12:46 PM
Utterly Bold wishes on this Winter Solstice
Reposted by Patrick Smith
"Rop all the rocks" - Scooby when Shaggy dies
Imagine Scooby Doo saying "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori". It would be terrible. In fact, I don't think that Scooby Doo should read any war poems out loud. He can respect the fallen in other ways.
December 19, 2025 at 2:45 PM
"Rop all the rocks" - Scooby when Shaggy dies
Margaret Cabourn Smith Feliz Navidad
YouTube video by Dan Tetsell
www.youtube.com
December 19, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Possibly the oddest film Disney ever made. Frankenstein in space, but tonally... by turns a Doug McClure matinee, chilly existential SF and a dash of body horror
Plus a John Barry theme and the best spaceship ever designed
Plus a John Barry theme and the best spaceship ever designed
Delve into the mystery of the long-lost spaceship at the edge of...
🌌 THE BLACK HOLE (1979) 3:20pm #MaximillianSchell #AnthonyPerkins #RobertForster star in Disney's epic sci-fi adventure #TPTVsubtitles
🌌 THE BLACK HOLE (1979) 3:20pm #MaximillianSchell #AnthonyPerkins #RobertForster star in Disney's epic sci-fi adventure #TPTVsubtitles
December 16, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Possibly the oddest film Disney ever made. Frankenstein in space, but tonally... by turns a Doug McClure matinee, chilly existential SF and a dash of body horror
Plus a John Barry theme and the best spaceship ever designed
Plus a John Barry theme and the best spaceship ever designed