Time once again for my occasional series "Women with great hair fleeing gothic houses!"

And today all the covers are by Walter Popp...

One slightly warm day and I'm all...

If tomorrow's as slightly warm as today...

And if it's not...

Which book took you the longest time to actually finish reading?

For me: Underworld. 17 years from buying it to actually getting around to reading it, and maybe 19 months on and off to make myself read it until the end.

Still, ticked it off the list ✔

Second place goes to The Charterhouse of Parma, which Stendhal wrote in 52 days. According to the Oxfam Books receipt I used as a bookmark I bought it on 11 April 2009. Finished it last month.

Coming Up For Air was torture. It's nature's punishment for autodidacts.

At it's #NewYearsEve we're going to end the year by playing the Agatha Christie game!

I'll show you the book cover artwork by Tom Adams, and you guess the Fontana edition Agatha Christie novel it's from.

Here's your first one...

A little bit trickier for question 2...

A lot trickier for number 3, but the clues are there if you know your Christie...

And here's your last Agatha Christie cover for this round - quite a famous one.

I'll post the answers in a bit, so get your guesses in now please!

Here are the answers to round 1 of the Agatha Christie game. I hope you got a few right, as round 2 will exercise your little grey cells a little bit more...

Today in pulp I look back at the world of Soviet women's fashion!

It's not all berets, but it mostly is...

Now you may think that fashion and the Soviet Union go together like Groucho Marx and Friedrich Engels. However that is to misunderstand the nature of the Commad Economy: if she commands it, you'd better buy it for her!

So there is a rich history of fashion and fun (along with the tractor factories and endless ballet performances) in the old USSR. Let's take a sashay along it...

At the start of the Soviet years women's fashion, let's face it, tended towards the functional. Red was popular, as were headscarves, hobnail boots and the ability to field strip a 3-line rifle.

But all that was about to change...

...because Russia had a new fashionista in charge: Stalin! He hated the peasant look of War Communism because it made socialism seem synonymous with poverty. He ordered Soviet Woman to spruce herself up.

I'm just gonna say it: life on CB radio was much more glamorous than life on social media. We had owls and satin gowns, pot plants and martini rosso.

Just. Fact.

So hip it Hertz...

All CB conversations were like this.

All. Of. Them.

Well, folks, the reason I haven’t been sharing many short clips from my morning readings lately is that, well, I’m in chapters 11-17 of Ezekiel. They involve complicated visions that don’t lend themselves to Twitter threads. But at the end of my reading today in Ezek 17,

God delivered a word to the prophet depicting a theme that may be uncomfortable but it’s not incomprehensible.

“I bring down the tall tree and make the low tree tall. I cause the green tree to wither and make the withered tree thrive. I, the Lord, have spoken and I will do it.”

God’s got this thing about pride. He does not let it go unchecked. When his people continue in arrogance after multiple warnings, he is going to bring them down. He will turn the tables. That which has been high will be brought low. This is why we are told by both James and Peter

in the NT that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. We need his grace so badly. Repentance is our only real way forward. He also views idolatry as spiritual adultery. This was the case in the judgment that was coming to his people through the Babylonians.

We are caught in a cycle. We keep repeating the same offenses and keep excusing them the exact same ways. Study even just the last century. I beg you to. Face how we evangelicals have bedded down with worldly systems for power. See how every time prophetic voices confronted us

Today in pulp I look at the scandalous history of lady jeans!

Well there's a turn-up...

The denim jean and its predecessor the dungaree have a long history, and were traditionally seen as work wear for men.

But WWII changed all that...

As women headed for the factories and shipyards they found that a sturdy denim bib-n-brace, paired with a stout headscarf, was the way to go!

Coarse heavy 'jeens' were fine for riveting work, but 1940s women didn't take a shine to them as leisure wear. For one thing they were voluminous and shapeless.

Jeans were also seen as clothing for children. No adult wanted to be seen wearing kid's dungarees in public.

Or did they?

How to Read Better and Gain More From It

// A THREAD //

“In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time – none, zero.”

— Charlie Munger

...but maybe you don't and would like to.

That's why I put together this thread.

What will I cover?

1) The biggest myths about reading
2) Why should you read
3) How to find time for reading
4) How to gain the most from your reading

1) The biggest myths about reading

Let's start with briefly debunking some of the biggest myths out there.

"I don't have time for reading."
- We all have the same 24 hours. The reading may not be the priority for you, but that's a choice. The choice you made.

"Reading is boring."
- It doesn't have to be. As @naval puts it: "Read what you love until you love to read".

"Reading is procrastination."
- If you apply what you read, this is non-sense. And if you don't... I still think it's time well spent.

I'm feeling very thankful and slightly sentimental today.

While I take a small break from editing I want to make a thread thanking all the content creators that have inspired me and how they have inspired me.


One of my biggest inspirations in the content creation game.

Lessons Learned:
The sky is the limit, if you set your expectations low then you'll get low results. If you set your expectations at infinite and work towards that you'll reach heights.


The creator I probably resonate the most with emotionally.

Lesson Learned:
There's no stop. If you mess up or something doesn't work out, just take a break then come back stronger.
Content creation is a big thing and lessons learned is better than perfection.


The creator that just feels like he's having the most fun with his content.

Lesson Learned:
Have fun, make your content "you". You might have quirks and things that you might find weird about yourself but it's all good!
Allow yourself to be you! Even a potato!


The creator I feel like is always happy and it makes me also feel happy!

Lesson Learned:
Help me Help you. Content creation isn't a competition and it's actually if anything more a group effort!
If you improve the person next to you also improves. Be inspiring!