Mark Brown
@mark-707.bsky.social
Researcher in the aerospace (mostly ATM) based in Japan. Techie disenchanted with tech. Aeronautics and astronautics, retro computing, history, geopolitics. Equality, anti-imperalism, decolonisation. Virtual pilot, avid reader.
Reposted by Mark Brown
“Huge swathes” of severely disabled people will be hit by Universal Credit cuts, contrary to government claims they will be protected.
My exclusive in today’s Guardian ahead of the vote: www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
My exclusive in today’s Guardian ahead of the vote: www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Benefit cuts will hit severely disabled people despite ministers’ claims, say charities
Exclusive: Charities say planned universal credit changes fail to account for progressive or fluctuating conditions
www.theguardian.com
July 9, 2025 at 8:06 AM
“Huge swathes” of severely disabled people will be hit by Universal Credit cuts, contrary to government claims they will be protected.
My exclusive in today’s Guardian ahead of the vote: www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
My exclusive in today’s Guardian ahead of the vote: www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Reposted by Mark Brown
Welcome to the empire, where peace activists are called terrorists, where hospitals are called military bases, where facts are called blood libel, where people opposing genocide are called hateful Nazis, where genocidal soldiers are a protected group and chanting for their death is a hate crime.
July 4, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Welcome to the empire, where peace activists are called terrorists, where hospitals are called military bases, where facts are called blood libel, where people opposing genocide are called hateful Nazis, where genocidal soldiers are a protected group and chanting for their death is a hate crime.
Reposted by Mark Brown
Israeli strikes kill at least 60 in Gaza, including nine children - https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israeli-strikes-kill-least-60-gaza-including-nine-children
Israeli strikes kill at least 60 in Gaza, including nine children
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<span class="field field-title">Israeli strikes kill at least 60 in Gaza, including nine children</span>
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<div class="field field-field-text"><p data-end="81" data-start="0">Hospitals across Gaza report that Israeli air strikes have killed at least 60 people since the early hours of Saturday, reported Al Jazeera.</p>
<p data-end="500" data-start="310">One of the deadliest attacks took place in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City, where an Israeli strike levelled a residential building, killing at least 20 people—including nine children.</p>
<p data-end="602" data-is-last-node data-is-only-node data-start="502">Medical teams say the death toll could rise further as bodies continue to be pulled from the rubble.</p>
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www.middleeasteye.net
June 28, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Israeli strikes kill at least 60 in Gaza, including nine children - https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israeli-strikes-kill-least-60-gaza-including-nine-children
Reposted by Mark Brown
PLEASE don’t buy into Amazon’s booksale this week.
They are intentionally trying to eat into profits from Indie Bookstore Day this weekend, a really important annual event for our important community institutions.
Check out your local fave or bookshop.org.
They are intentionally trying to eat into profits from Indie Bookstore Day this weekend, a really important annual event for our important community institutions.
Check out your local fave or bookshop.org.
Bookshop: Buy books online. Support local bookstores.
An online bookstore that financially supports local independent bookstores and gives back to the book community.
bookshop.org
April 23, 2025 at 1:36 PM
PLEASE don’t buy into Amazon’s booksale this week.
They are intentionally trying to eat into profits from Indie Bookstore Day this weekend, a really important annual event for our important community institutions.
Check out your local fave or bookshop.org.
They are intentionally trying to eat into profits from Indie Bookstore Day this weekend, a really important annual event for our important community institutions.
Check out your local fave or bookshop.org.
Reposted by Mark Brown
The April 13 crew broadcast just before the explosion is starting now.
Just finished reading Lost Moon (which came to be known as Apollo 13) on the 55th anniversary of the fateful explosion that rocked the mission. It was a fantastic read. Immerse yourself inside Apollo in Realtime (53h GET) going on right now. apolloinrealtime.org/13/
Apollo 13 in Real Time
A real-time interactive journey through the third lunar landing attempt. Relive every moment as it occurred in 1970.
apolloinrealtime.org
April 14, 2025 at 2:28 AM
The April 13 crew broadcast just before the explosion is starting now.
Current read: P. D. James’s The Lighthouse. Typical James thriller. Tight-knit closed community, bleak British coast. Illicit sexual relationships. Class differences. Just setting up the victim as a nasty person hated by everyone, giving plenty of suspects. Nicely paced page-turner.
April 2, 2025 at 4:14 AM
Current read: P. D. James’s The Lighthouse. Typical James thriller. Tight-knit closed community, bleak British coast. Illicit sexual relationships. Class differences. Just setting up the victim as a nasty person hated by everyone, giving plenty of suspects. Nicely paced page-turner.
TV documentary on ‘Big John’ the stegosaurus fossil bought at auction by a private collector. Exploring the ethics of private fossil collection. Glaring omission - who has the rights to fossil-rich places like Badlands and Big John site? Wealthy collectors/middlemen interviewed, no Lakota/Sioux.
April 2, 2025 at 3:06 AM
TV documentary on ‘Big John’ the stegosaurus fossil bought at auction by a private collector. Exploring the ethics of private fossil collection. Glaring omission - who has the rights to fossil-rich places like Badlands and Big John site? Wealthy collectors/middlemen interviewed, no Lakota/Sioux.
At the Singapore botanic garden (UNESCO World Heritage site) having a cup of tea with colleague to recover from the overnight flight. At least tea comes in a (small) pot and they add hot water if you ask, but you do have to ask. Check in not till 3pm - time to kill.
March 24, 2025 at 2:08 AM
At the Singapore botanic garden (UNESCO World Heritage site) having a cup of tea with colleague to recover from the overnight flight. At least tea comes in a (small) pot and they add hot water if you ask, but you do have to ask. Check in not till 3pm - time to kill.
Reposted by Mark Brown
There is no evidence Hamas killed members of the Bibas family. Israel is using their death to manufacture consent for genocide. mondoweiss.net/2025/02/ther...
There is no evidence Hamas killed members of the Bibas family. Israel is using their death to manufacture consent for genocide.
Israel claims Hamas killed two children in the Bibas family but has not offered any evidence. Their death has become another piece of atrocity propaganda Israel is using to justify genocide in Gaza.
mondoweiss.net
February 25, 2025 at 10:34 PM
There is no evidence Hamas killed members of the Bibas family. Israel is using their death to manufacture consent for genocide. mondoweiss.net/2025/02/ther...
Watched Anne of Green Gables (1985) - two "made for TV" movies. Very good (if set in the wrong period - Edwardian rather than Victorian) but to my English-raised ear, Anne just sounds sarcastic when making her apologies. Making a fool of the adults. I'll have to read the novels now...
February 11, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Watched Anne of Green Gables (1985) - two "made for TV" movies. Very good (if set in the wrong period - Edwardian rather than Victorian) but to my English-raised ear, Anne just sounds sarcastic when making her apologies. Making a fool of the adults. I'll have to read the novels now...
Reposted by Mark Brown
Coming across this gem of an old blog post is why I don’t leave social media. The ridiculous use by Gladwell of (Korean) culture to explain plane crashes was brilliantly exposed & added excellent insights to the “DEI as common sense” BS as the racism it is.
February 2, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Coming across this gem of an old blog post is why I don’t leave social media. The ridiculous use by Gladwell of (Korean) culture to explain plane crashes was brilliantly exposed & added excellent insights to the “DEI as common sense” BS as the racism it is.
Looks like it'll be an exciting last few days of the sumo championship. Lead contender is Kinpozan from Kazahkstan with 2 losses, followed by two Mongolians and two Japanese each with 3 losses. I'll be rooting for Kirishima, born in a nomadic community whose granddad was a Mongolian wrestling champ.
January 23, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Looks like it'll be an exciting last few days of the sumo championship. Lead contender is Kinpozan from Kazahkstan with 2 losses, followed by two Mongolians and two Japanese each with 3 losses. I'll be rooting for Kirishima, born in a nomadic community whose granddad was a Mongolian wrestling champ.
Reposted by Mark Brown
Israeli forces block ambulances from entering Jenin and its refugee camp during "Operation Iron Wall," leaving Palestinians "bleeding out in the streets" as at least 10 are killed and dozens wounded.
🔴 LIVE updates:
🔴 LIVE updates:
Israel kills 10 in West Bank raid as 120 bodies found in Gaza over two days
Israeli attacks on occupied West Bank intensify as Trump’s UN pick says Israel has ‘biblical right’ to the territory.
aje.io
January 22, 2025 at 2:45 AM
Israeli forces block ambulances from entering Jenin and its refugee camp during "Operation Iron Wall," leaving Palestinians "bleeding out in the streets" as at least 10 are killed and dozens wounded.
🔴 LIVE updates:
🔴 LIVE updates:
Feel an sudden urge to watch a Peter Cushing film - Hound of the Baskervilles or She.
January 12, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Feel an sudden urge to watch a Peter Cushing film - Hound of the Baskervilles or She.
Reposted by Mark Brown
".. the genocide of Indigenous populations – a direct consequence of the planetary revolt against freedom, in the past 500 years – is naturalised as a perennial absence of people.
@davidwengrow.bsky.social
@davidwengrow.bsky.social
An archeological revolution transforms our image of human freedoms | Aeon Essays
A revolution in archaeology is transforming our picture of past populations and the scope of human freedoms
aeon.co
January 3, 2025 at 9:20 AM
".. the genocide of Indigenous populations – a direct consequence of the planetary revolt against freedom, in the past 500 years – is naturalised as a perennial absence of people.
@davidwengrow.bsky.social
@davidwengrow.bsky.social
Reposted by Mark Brown
M̶e̶r̶r̶y̶ ̶C̶h̶r̶i̶s̶t̶m̶a̶s̶
December 25, 2024 at 10:14 AM
M̶e̶r̶r̶y̶ ̶C̶h̶r̶i̶s̶t̶m̶a̶s̶
Bought a PD James to read over the holidays with a glass of port - Death in Holy Orders. Another wind-swept English coastal location beloved of James. Up the A12 too - familiar old ground, at least as far as Woodbridge. (Never been all the way up to Lowestoft but used to love Suffolk/Norfolk.)
December 25, 2024 at 7:50 AM
Bought a PD James to read over the holidays with a glass of port - Death in Holy Orders. Another wind-swept English coastal location beloved of James. Up the A12 too - familiar old ground, at least as far as Woodbridge. (Never been all the way up to Lowestoft but used to love Suffolk/Norfolk.)
Maybe on a par with the 1928 Banana Massacre of United Fruit Company workers, with death estimates ranging widely from 45-2,000.
#OtD 21 Dec 1907 possibly the worst massacre of striking workers in history took place as the Chilean army killed over 2000 striking nitrate miners, along with their wives and children who were camped at a school in Santa María, Iquique stories.workingclasshistory.c...
December 22, 2024 at 6:19 AM
Maybe on a par with the 1928 Banana Massacre of United Fruit Company workers, with death estimates ranging widely from 45-2,000.
Reposted by Mark Brown
I just want to point out that this is the single best write up of Syria's current military-political landscape that exists anywhere right now. That includes everything published so far by all the fancy D. C. think tanks, policy institutes, universities, newspaper and television explainers, etc.
My general overview of the post-Dec 8th picture. Next post will focus more specifically on SDF/SNA/Turkey developments: Manbij, Deir ez-Zour, civilian casualties, protests, Qamishli airstrikes etc.
akmckeever.substack.com/p/post-asad-...
akmckeever.substack.com/p/post-asad-...
Post-Asad Syria: the actors at play
Remaining questions and the general picture in the northeast
akmckeever.substack.com
December 14, 2024 at 10:29 PM
I just want to point out that this is the single best write up of Syria's current military-political landscape that exists anywhere right now. That includes everything published so far by all the fancy D. C. think tanks, policy institutes, universities, newspaper and television explainers, etc.
On the “Mizuho” service from Hakata to Kobe this morning. Reclining seats are nice and wide, braille seat numbers on the grab handle, stowable cup holder, wooden trim. Nice touches.
December 12, 2024 at 12:09 AM
On the “Mizuho” service from Hakata to Kobe this morning. Reclining seats are nice and wide, braille seat numbers on the grab handle, stowable cup holder, wooden trim. Nice touches.
On the single-track branch between Kashii and Saitozaki, Fukuoka. Only partial electrification but they replaced the old DMU with an EMU that uses battery on the sections without power - smoother and quieter. Each station has a cute mascot. Even branch lines get some love.
December 12, 2024 at 12:02 AM
On the single-track branch between Kashii and Saitozaki, Fukuoka. Only partial electrification but they replaced the old DMU with an EMU that uses battery on the sections without power - smoother and quieter. Each station has a cute mascot. Even branch lines get some love.
Reposted by Mark Brown
“..the truth is that the idea of a British liberal democracy is unravelling before our eyes. When the guardians of the liberal order, of the rule of law and humanitarianism, are unmasked as charlatans - as is the case with both Starmer and Biden - the forces of darkness rush in to fill the void.”
Biden and Starmer are tearing down international law, brick by brick, to protect Israel’s genocide.
My latest article can be read here:
www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/bide...
My latest article can be read here:
www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/bide...
Biden and Starmer are destroying international law to protect Israel’s genocide
When everything is exposed as a lie, the biggest liars triumph. The forces of darkness rush in to fill the void. That is the future awaiting us
www.middleeasteye.net
December 5, 2024 at 7:42 AM
“..the truth is that the idea of a British liberal democracy is unravelling before our eyes. When the guardians of the liberal order, of the rule of law and humanitarianism, are unmasked as charlatans - as is the case with both Starmer and Biden - the forces of darkness rush in to fill the void.”
Early for the meeting near Azabu-Juban so a slower, civilised start to the day. Cup of tea and an apple pie at a local (non-chain) cafe while finishing a chapter of my current read.
December 5, 2024 at 12:28 AM
Early for the meeting near Azabu-Juban so a slower, civilised start to the day. Cup of tea and an apple pie at a local (non-chain) cafe while finishing a chapter of my current read.
Interesting gain from reading more modern histories incorporating recent scholarship is the realisation that many received historical tropes are largely myths created for propaganda and retroactive justifications for e.g. imperialism: “Western Civilisation”, “The Dark Ages”, “The Renaissance”.
December 3, 2024 at 1:30 AM
Interesting gain from reading more modern histories incorporating recent scholarship is the realisation that many received historical tropes are largely myths created for propaganda and retroactive justifications for e.g. imperialism: “Western Civilisation”, “The Dark Ages”, “The Renaissance”.
Reposted by Mark Brown
Speaking of commercial determinants of poor health, Nestle should win the top prize 🏆
Nestlé adds sugar to infant milk sold in poorer countries, but not in western countries
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
Nestlé adds sugar to infant milk sold in poorer countries, but not in western countries
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
Nestlé adds sugar to infant milk sold in poorer countries, report finds
Swiss food firm’s infant formula and cereal sold in global south ignore WHO anti-obesity guidelines for Europe, says Public Eye
www.theguardian.com
November 27, 2024 at 10:51 AM
Speaking of commercial determinants of poor health, Nestle should win the top prize 🏆
Nestlé adds sugar to infant milk sold in poorer countries, but not in western countries
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
Nestlé adds sugar to infant milk sold in poorer countries, but not in western countries
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...