The Met has recently changed a few artists in their collection previously labelled as 'Russian' to 'Ukrainian' basing on the fact they used to live or were born on the territory of modern Ukraine, and that has of course produced a lot of discourse: My personal opinion on this move (which is ofc a political statement) is that it's difficult and really depends on the person in question. E.g. the modern political borders rule makes Immanuel Kant a Russian philosopher, but the opposite purism makes James Joyce a British writer.

Far from being the most popular route, but the number of Russians fleeing to the US via Mexico has become big enough to produce a few popular and detailed YouTube reports from people who successfully pulled that off. This is how it apparently works: 1. Fly to Mexico (tickets are often funded by Russian credit cards and loans you don't plan to pay)

2. Buy a cheap car (there are no checks by Mexico if you cross the border on a vehicle)

3. Having reached an American border post, turn yourself in (might require a few attempts)

Recommendation algos boosting hate is not news, but today I have experienced a very clear case of that on what probably is a less than usual subject. So I've liked a random tweet (already mixed into my timeline, not posted by someone I follow) abt a cyclist vs. motorist road rage It was an easy bait for me - I am a cyclist myself, and of course have experienced confrontations with motorists. So, there was an angry like.

Since that, around a dozen of tweets about abused cyclists and aggressive motorists being idiots have been inserted into my timeline!

I registered on Mastodon 2 years ago, and although I've been using it more or less actively only recently, I witnessed the progress and have to say it is simply a better app, technically, than Twitter is. Nearly every difference in features is, at least for me, an improvement. It is completely usable and the only problem for an average user is having to choose a server to register on - but that is a one-off, and everyone would be choosing the same popular server anyway. What it lacks (and will never catch up at) is, of course, the same wide userbase.

I don't entirely agree with every point made there, but this is still a good and consistent thread. The problem of explanation is not an urgent one (too little too late), but it'll become increasingly more important after the war ends.

https://twitter.com/zhenya_oliinyk/status/1515051874927394820

As a side point, how much 'art supplies' does one need to work in this style? Not implying it's bad at all - if anything, I'm a 'less is more' person - but this statement from The New Yorker (newyorker.com/magazine/2022/…) is indeed weird.

I have spent some time last night reading Russian nationalist accounts (the well versed "intellectual" ones, not normie Putin fans), and here is a quick summary of what they think: 1. The war is expected to be over in days, or weeks at most. The main bulk of Ukrainian forces in the East is going to be encircled soon, and the main cities are already under siege. The losses are admitted to be "higher than expected", but it changes nothing.