Paramount has released the official trailer for the fourth season of Strange New Worlds which will begin streaming on 23rd July 2026.

X, formerly twitter, is not always the most rewarding read, but every so often you get something on X which is so useful, entertaining or fascinating that it rewards putting up with the tnonsense.  I love this crossover between Chekhov's Gun, Schrödinger's Cat, Occam's Razor, and Murphy's law.

A Soldier, a Sailor, an Airman and a Royal Marine got into an argument about which branch of the service was "The Best."  The argument became so heated the four servicemen failed to see an oncoming truck as they crossed the street. They were hit by the truck and killed instantly. ...  Soon, the four servicemen found themselves at the Pearly gates of Heaven. There, they met Saint Peter and decided that only he could be the ultimate source of truth and honesty. So, the four servicemen asked him, "Saint Peter, which branch of the Armed Forces is the best?"    Saint Peter replied, "I can't answer that. However, I will ask God what He thinks the next time I see Him. Meanwhile, thank you for your service on Earth and welcome to Heaven."  Sometime later the four servicemen see Saint Peter and remind him of the question they had asked when first entering Heaven and asked Saint Peter if he was able to ask God for the answer to their question. Suddenly, a spark...

"This war isn't about territory any more. "It's become a war for survival : someone - either the Star Kingdom of Manticore and its' allies, including us, or the People's Republic of Haven - is going down this time, Your Grace. For good." From a report from the High Admiral of Grayson, Wesley Matthews, to Protector Benjamin of Grayson, at the start of this book. This book, " Flag in exile " by David Weber, is the fifth "Honor Harrington" novel and follows on from " Field of Dishonour " so it is set around two thousand years in the future.  (See postscript on chrononology) Following the shattering conclusion of the private war between Honor Harrington and her lifelong enemy Lord Pavel Young as described in the book " Field of Dishonor, " Honor in in disgrace in the eyes of parliament. She has been expelled from the House of Lords, and the admiralty has been forced to take away from her the command of the battlecruise...

The video below tells the story of a battle in terrible weather in the North sea off Lofoten Island, on the first day of the invasion of Norway by the Nazis, 9th April 1940, in which the World War one vintage battlecruiser HMS Renown attacked, and scored a tactical victory over, two modern German capital ships, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Both sides took damage from the terrible weather as well as from each other. There was some debate, then and since, about whether Scharnhorst and Gneisenau should be considered battleships or battlecruisers. At the time the Royal Navy classified them as battlecruisers because they were optimised and used as very heavy commerce raiders, while the German navy called them battleships because their speed did not come at the price of lighter armour protection. What is not in doubt is that they were very powerful ships and together outnumbered HMS Renown two to one. Both sides had an escort of screening units - destroyers and on the German side the heavy cru...

One of our regular contributors drew our attention to this Fantasia on the Yorkshire Anthem ( On Ilkley Moor Bah't 'at ) by Simon Mayor, arranged for two mandolins, a mandola, and a mandocello. He hadn't previously heard of a Mandocello, and neither had we. But we understand that this is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family, larger than the mandolin, and is the baritone instrument of the mandolin family. The term does NOT refer to a type of cello played by Mandalorians as in this picture posted  here on Instagram by the Piano Guys. This is the way ...