Sevastopol

Check out this video of Navy Day celebrations in the Ukraine-owned Russian-controlled port of Sevastopol. As someone who has always loved the old Soviet videos of weapons being put through their paces (usually with a voice over laden with communist-era jargon) it is great to see the Russians getting back into the swing of things. If, however, you are a fan of world peace and freedom, the idea of such displays of nationalism on the soil of another country is probably going to leave you a little cold, especially given that the Russian lease on the port is due to run out in 2017, and 95% of the population of the port want them to stay despite the Ukrainian government's insistence that they leave.

FOARP V. Italy

That's right, the FOARP has now officially declared war on the nation of Italy. For years they have been oppressing me with their beautiful Lollobrigida, their delicious pizza and their boring 0-0 draws, now Antonio Napoli has pushed me too far!

Well, not actually, but for the record:

1) I can't think of any war that Italy has won since Roman times without outside help, if you know better, tell me.

2) Yes, the Italian team does play incredibly overly defensive football in my view, that makes for boring football.

3) The influence that the Mafia has over Italian politics may be exaggerated, but is not imaginary.

History's most 'badassed' history teacher

I have just discovered the history lectures of Yuan Tengfei (袁腾飞), history's most 'badassed' history teacher (h/t to Tang Buxi of Foolsmountain for the translation of '牛') via Danwei. It's well worth taking a look at his archive if you can speak Chinese, if not Danwei has a subtitled version of one of his speeches.