Pete Monks
@petemonks.bsky.social
Boring Australian suburban dad. Recipient of participation awards for Kosovo, East Timor, Afghanistan and a few other things and places.
Mark 8:36
Going by @Pete_Monks back at the old place.
Mark 8:36
Going by @Pete_Monks back at the old place.
How about squalid little wars at the edge/end of empire, but Star Wars?
ZULU, but Star Wars
THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS, but Star Wars
APOCALYPSE NOW, but Star Wars
ZULU, but Star Wars
THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS, but Star Wars
APOCALYPSE NOW, but Star Wars
ironically what makes star wars stuff best is when it is 'something else, but also star wars'
e.g. Andor, a British political thriller but also Star Wars
the Mandalorian, an episode-of-the-week Western but also Star Wars (when it was good)
e.g. Andor, a British political thriller but also Star Wars
the Mandalorian, an episode-of-the-week Western but also Star Wars (when it was good)
November 9, 2025 at 3:31 AM
How about squalid little wars at the edge/end of empire, but Star Wars?
ZULU, but Star Wars
THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS, but Star Wars
APOCALYPSE NOW, but Star Wars
ZULU, but Star Wars
THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS, but Star Wars
APOCALYPSE NOW, but Star Wars
Wordle 1,603 2/6
🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
I don’t think this is ever going to happen again
🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
I don’t think this is ever going to happen again
November 8, 2025 at 5:58 AM
Wordle 1,603 2/6
🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
I don’t think this is ever going to happen again
🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
I don’t think this is ever going to happen again
The security camera system at home had a software update today.
Now, when one of the neighbourhood kids runs onto my driveway I get an alert that implies the PLA are dropping an airborne brigade into Papua New Guinea.
Now, when one of the neighbourhood kids runs onto my driveway I get an alert that implies the PLA are dropping an airborne brigade into Papua New Guinea.
November 7, 2025 at 9:41 AM
The security camera system at home had a software update today.
Now, when one of the neighbourhood kids runs onto my driveway I get an alert that implies the PLA are dropping an airborne brigade into Papua New Guinea.
Now, when one of the neighbourhood kids runs onto my driveway I get an alert that implies the PLA are dropping an airborne brigade into Papua New Guinea.
Back to Albert Camus again for this week’s #histbookchat and #photofriday.
October 31, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Back to Albert Camus again for this week’s #histbookchat and #photofriday.
Not thinking highly of the median US voter was helpful in completing this survey
October 29, 2025 at 5:50 AM
Not thinking highly of the median US voter was helpful in completing this survey
This is a thought-provoking read
October 27, 2025 at 9:48 AM
This is a thought-provoking read
Making slow progress with Eric Tagliacozzo’s “In Asian Waters” for this week’s #histbookchat and #photofriday.
(I’ve had a few other things going on in the last week or so to distract me)
(I’ve had a few other things going on in the last week or so to distract me)
October 24, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Making slow progress with Eric Tagliacozzo’s “In Asian Waters” for this week’s #histbookchat and #photofriday.
(I’ve had a few other things going on in the last week or so to distract me)
(I’ve had a few other things going on in the last week or so to distract me)
I can accept an argument that Gore would have responded to 9/11 more thoughtfully (and would almost certainly not gone into Iraq), but the idea that Gore would have magically prevented 9/11 just be ‘being better’ seems a bit like fanciful thinking to me 1/2
Genuinely the moment in US (and to a significant extent, world) history in my own lifetime where shit went deeply, deeply wrong. If you believe, as I do, that a Gore admin would’ve likely prevented 9/11, then even more so.
[kicks in door, screaming] BUSH V GORE
October 22, 2025 at 11:54 PM
I can accept an argument that Gore would have responded to 9/11 more thoughtfully (and would almost certainly not gone into Iraq), but the idea that Gore would have magically prevented 9/11 just be ‘being better’ seems a bit like fanciful thinking to me 1/2
Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness (if you feel like).
(I do feel a little bit guilty not having Bernard in here as well)
(I do feel a little bit guilty not having Bernard in here as well)
October 22, 2025 at 5:14 AM
Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness (if you feel like).
(I do feel a little bit guilty not having Bernard in here as well)
(I do feel a little bit guilty not having Bernard in here as well)
There’s a great thesis waiting to be written that compares the respective recruiting pools and recruiting methods for ICE and for the Russian army today.
SCOOP: more than a third of new recruits at the ICE training academy have failed the personal fitness test -- so many that the agency has had to start pre-screening new hires to weed out what one official called "athletically allergic candidates" www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
A Third of ICE-Academy Recruits Are Failing Out
Push-ups, sit-ups, and a brisk jog pose a threat to Trump’s deportation campaign.
www.theatlantic.com
October 20, 2025 at 11:14 PM
There’s a great thesis waiting to be written that compares the respective recruiting pools and recruiting methods for ICE and for the Russian army today.
Amongst other things, I used to teach artillery safety procedures at our School of Artillery (a long time ago now) and commanded a couple of artillery batteries.
This is not what you would call a good day at the office or “just a routine cost of doing business” for an artillery unit .
This is not what you would call a good day at the office or “just a routine cost of doing business” for an artillery unit .
An artillery shell fired during 250th anniversary celebration of the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton on Saturday detonated prematurely over Interstate 5, damaging a California Highway Patrol vehicle on JD Vance's security detail www.nytimes.com/2025/10/19/u...
Artillery Shell Detonated Over Interstate 5 During Marines’ Celebration, California Officials Say
www.nytimes.com
October 19, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Amongst other things, I used to teach artillery safety procedures at our School of Artillery (a long time ago now) and commanded a couple of artillery batteries.
This is not what you would call a good day at the office or “just a routine cost of doing business” for an artillery unit .
This is not what you would call a good day at the office or “just a routine cost of doing business” for an artillery unit .
In the space of 72 hours late last week I had all-nighters in two separate hospital emergency departments for two separate family members (one involving some pretty serious surgery).
I’m not exactly full of energy and enthusiasm for the working week this Monday morning.
I’m not exactly full of energy and enthusiasm for the working week this Monday morning.
October 19, 2025 at 9:10 PM
In the space of 72 hours late last week I had all-nighters in two separate hospital emergency departments for two separate family members (one involving some pretty serious surgery).
I’m not exactly full of energy and enthusiasm for the working week this Monday morning.
I’m not exactly full of energy and enthusiasm for the working week this Monday morning.
Big shout out to all those Americans who took part in or supported #NoKings today.
Take your country back from Trump and his assorted tin-pot fascists and thugs.
Take your country back from Trump and his assorted tin-pot fascists and thugs.
October 18, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Big shout out to all those Americans who took part in or supported #NoKings today.
Take your country back from Trump and his assorted tin-pot fascists and thugs.
Take your country back from Trump and his assorted tin-pot fascists and thugs.
If you are following me you probably don’t need to be told what sort of person Trump is, what he values, or the sort of people he likes.
But if you had been living in complete isolation from the news for the last ten years or so, then maybe this could be revealing.
But if you had been living in complete isolation from the news for the last ten years or so, then maybe this could be revealing.
George Santos is the 10th GOP Congressman to get a pardon or clemency from President Trump. The other nine were also all convicted of various criminal charges:
October 17, 2025 at 10:44 PM
If you are following me you probably don’t need to be told what sort of person Trump is, what he values, or the sort of people he likes.
But if you had been living in complete isolation from the news for the last ten years or so, then maybe this could be revealing.
But if you had been living in complete isolation from the news for the last ten years or so, then maybe this could be revealing.
Revisiting Tony Judt’s “The Burden of Responsibility: Blum, Camus, Aron and the French Twentieth Century” for this week’s #histbookchat and #photofriday.
The experience and legacy of centrists who ran real risks and demonstrated courage in the face of authoritarianism seems relevant today, maybe?
The experience and legacy of centrists who ran real risks and demonstrated courage in the face of authoritarianism seems relevant today, maybe?
October 17, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Revisiting Tony Judt’s “The Burden of Responsibility: Blum, Camus, Aron and the French Twentieth Century” for this week’s #histbookchat and #photofriday.
The experience and legacy of centrists who ran real risks and demonstrated courage in the face of authoritarianism seems relevant today, maybe?
The experience and legacy of centrists who ran real risks and demonstrated courage in the face of authoritarianism seems relevant today, maybe?
Everyone assumes that Crouchback is Evelyn Waugh’s surrogate character in Waugh’s “Sword of Honour” trilogy, but it’s really Apthorpe in “Men of Arms”, then Ludovic in “Officers and Gentlemen” and “Unconditional Surrender”
Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat
October 14, 2025 at 5:55 AM
Everyone assumes that Crouchback is Evelyn Waugh’s surrogate character in Waugh’s “Sword of Honour” trilogy, but it’s really Apthorpe in “Men of Arms”, then Ludovic in “Officers and Gentlemen” and “Unconditional Surrender”
I spent some time on planes this week, so I got to read two entries for #histbookchat and #photofriday - “The Dawn of Everything - A New History of Humanity” by David Graeber and David Wengrow, and “British Infantry Battalion Commanders in the First World War” by Peter E Hodgkinson
October 10, 2025 at 10:53 AM
I spent some time on planes this week, so I got to read two entries for #histbookchat and #photofriday - “The Dawn of Everything - A New History of Humanity” by David Graeber and David Wengrow, and “British Infantry Battalion Commanders in the First World War” by Peter E Hodgkinson
Age yourself with a film you saw in the cinema as a kid
September 29, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Age yourself with a film you saw in the cinema as a kid
When people were shooting back and I would have had to go to boot camp first and submit to some actual discipline l? Oh, no, I couldn’t serve THEN.
But now I can *serve* by terrorising unarmed women and kids with funny-sounding names and I get to cosplay as an operator? Count me in!
But now I can *serve* by terrorising unarmed women and kids with funny-sounding names and I get to cosplay as an operator? Count me in!
September 28, 2025 at 3:32 AM
When people were shooting back and I would have had to go to boot camp first and submit to some actual discipline l? Oh, no, I couldn’t serve THEN.
But now I can *serve* by terrorising unarmed women and kids with funny-sounding names and I get to cosplay as an operator? Count me in!
But now I can *serve* by terrorising unarmed women and kids with funny-sounding names and I get to cosplay as an operator? Count me in!
Pretty happy with this Grand Final result, especially that a couple of blokes who missed last year’s Grand Final got to play in a winning Grand Final side.
September 27, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Pretty happy with this Grand Final result, especially that a couple of blokes who missed last year’s Grand Final got to play in a winning Grand Final side.
“As it turns out, you can’t sell your soul to Trump and keep your spine; they’re a package deal.”
September 26, 2025 at 12:06 PM
“As it turns out, you can’t sell your soul to Trump and keep your spine; they’re a package deal.”
This week’s entry for #histbookchat and #photofriday is “Shattered Lands” - quite a readable popular history (by William Dalrymple’s son, Sam) of the winding down of the Raj and subsequent events through to Bangladesh’s independence in 1971 1/2
September 26, 2025 at 9:03 AM
This week’s entry for #histbookchat and #photofriday is “Shattered Lands” - quite a readable popular history (by William Dalrymple’s son, Sam) of the winding down of the Raj and subsequent events through to Bangladesh’s independence in 1971 1/2
Share your favorite black and white movie
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
September 24, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Share your favorite black and white movie
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
technologically advance a band
Midnight Solar
Midnight Solar
technologically advance a band
The B-2s
The B-2s
technologically advance a band.
OK GoPro
OK GoPro
September 22, 2025 at 1:38 AM
technologically advance a band
Midnight Solar
Midnight Solar