Michael Cruickshank
@cruickshank.bsky.social
Geospatial analyst, OSINT investigator, and journalist. Investigating the intersection of climate resilience and human systems, and sometimes writing fiction. From 🇦🇺, now in 🇪🇺.
📍Berlin, Germany
https://www.michaelcruickshank.me/
📍Berlin, Germany
https://www.michaelcruickshank.me/
I figured it out. It wasn't Atlanteans, or whatever Graham Hancock is on. The Piri Reis map was just in this deranged South Pole Azimuthal coordinate reference system.
December 7, 2025 at 4:37 PM
I figured it out. It wasn't Atlanteans, or whatever Graham Hancock is on. The Piri Reis map was just in this deranged South Pole Azimuthal coordinate reference system.
I'll never be able to unsee the fact that Paul Kagame looks exactly the same as Friedrich Merz with more melanin.
December 7, 2025 at 8:07 AM
I'll never be able to unsee the fact that Paul Kagame looks exactly the same as Friedrich Merz with more melanin.
The most fake thing about this is the Orbanist propagandist thinking Germans have national flags just lying around their apartments to use as blankets.
December 6, 2025 at 9:08 PM
The most fake thing about this is the Orbanist propagandist thinking Germans have national flags just lying around their apartments to use as blankets.
I mean, arguably, FIFA has done more for world peace than Alfred Nobel. Harder to grift from public coffers during wartime.
Also Umbrella Corporation wants its trophy back.
Also Umbrella Corporation wants its trophy back.
December 5, 2025 at 8:34 PM
I mean, arguably, FIFA has done more for world peace than Alfred Nobel. Harder to grift from public coffers during wartime.
Also Umbrella Corporation wants its trophy back.
Also Umbrella Corporation wants its trophy back.
If they were spies, though, I feel bad for them. Someone helpfully put up a bunch of drone photospheres around the area a few months ago, making any reconnaissance they could do rather unnecessary.
December 4, 2025 at 8:01 PM
If they were spies, though, I feel bad for them. Someone helpfully put up a bunch of drone photospheres around the area a few months ago, making any reconnaissance they could do rather unnecessary.
Anyone heard anything about what this could be about?
December 4, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Anyone heard anything about what this could be about?
This is the blurb of the novel - if you're interested in reading it, I can send you the PDF.
November 28, 2025 at 11:19 PM
This is the blurb of the novel - if you're interested in reading it, I can send you the PDF.
Odd question someone might be able to help me with: Does the Soyuz capsule have a whipple shield, and if hypothetically it was shot at, say in a museum, would it stop a bullet?
November 28, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Odd question someone might be able to help me with: Does the Soyuz capsule have a whipple shield, and if hypothetically it was shot at, say in a museum, would it stop a bullet?
Sorry, 'thinks' is the wrong verb. It doesn't think at all, because it is an LLM, a point I try to make clear in the novel. It's more that its config/system prompt contains its name, and everything else is a hallucination from there on out.
November 28, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Sorry, 'thinks' is the wrong verb. It doesn't think at all, because it is an LLM, a point I try to make clear in the novel. It's more that its config/system prompt contains its name, and everything else is a hallucination from there on out.
With the ceasefire in Gaza fraying, I did a quick and dirty land cover classification of the area, showing the areas of complete devastation and refugee tent camps.
November 23, 2025 at 6:59 PM
With the ceasefire in Gaza fraying, I did a quick and dirty land cover classification of the area, showing the areas of complete devastation and refugee tent camps.
Yep, basically, they are the ideological descendants of Deep Ecologists.
November 19, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Yep, basically, they are the ideological descendants of Deep Ecologists.
I intentionally didn’t make nuclear winter (much) of a thing in the background setting of my novel as I still needed climate change to turn Central Europe into a subtropical rainforest and raise the sea levels by 50-odd metres over 5 centuries. I did make UV a huge problem though.
November 18, 2025 at 6:37 AM
I intentionally didn’t make nuclear winter (much) of a thing in the background setting of my novel as I still needed climate change to turn Central Europe into a subtropical rainforest and raise the sea levels by 50-odd metres over 5 centuries. I did make UV a huge problem though.
I'm getting better with the frost effects
November 17, 2025 at 6:55 PM
I'm getting better with the frost effects
Geolocation Challenge (Nightmare Difficulty): Where on Earth is this dam?
If you can find it, I will be legit impressed.
If you can find it, I will be legit impressed.
November 17, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Geolocation Challenge (Nightmare Difficulty): Where on Earth is this dam?
If you can find it, I will be legit impressed.
If you can find it, I will be legit impressed.
One of my favourite dinner party stories is the fact that there is a random temple in Southern India with at least $22bn in gold and precious gems chilling in its vaults. It's technically owned by the state, but no one will touch it because of local superstitions.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...
www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...
November 11, 2025 at 7:16 AM
One of my favourite dinner party stories is the fact that there is a random temple in Southern India with at least $22bn in gold and precious gems chilling in its vaults. It's technically owned by the state, but no one will touch it because of local superstitions.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...
www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...
This is really cool - someone made a historically accurate interactive 3D map of pre-conquest Tenochtitlan.
retratodetenochtitlan.mx
retratodetenochtitlan.mx
November 9, 2025 at 7:01 PM
This is really cool - someone made a historically accurate interactive 3D map of pre-conquest Tenochtitlan.
retratodetenochtitlan.mx
retratodetenochtitlan.mx
Had a lot of feedback that it was hard to keep track of all the characters and groups in my novel, so I finally got around to adding a glossary. Also, formalised the grammar of the devolved pseudo-Slavic spoken in the setting.
November 7, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Had a lot of feedback that it was hard to keep track of all the characters and groups in my novel, so I finally got around to adding a glossary. Also, formalised the grammar of the devolved pseudo-Slavic spoken in the setting.
If you know, you know.
November 4, 2025 at 7:07 PM
If you know, you know.
Honestly can't think of a more confusingly named feature on Earth aside from Lake Vostok. Vostok (восток) just means 'east' in Russian.
East of what, tovarish? East of what???
East of what, tovarish? East of what???
November 4, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Honestly can't think of a more confusingly named feature on Earth aside from Lake Vostok. Vostok (восток) just means 'east' in Russian.
East of what, tovarish? East of what???
East of what, tovarish? East of what???
I try to parody this a bit in the novel I'm working on:
October 29, 2025 at 2:20 PM
I try to parody this a bit in the novel I'm working on:
The Sentinel-2C satellite managed to capture an amazing image looking right down the eye of Hurricane Melissa just before it made landfall earlier today:
October 28, 2025 at 10:16 PM
The Sentinel-2C satellite managed to capture an amazing image looking right down the eye of Hurricane Melissa just before it made landfall earlier today:
Hurricane Melissa could now easily come to be the strongest landfalling Atlantic Hurricane in history. A potent reminder that the climate crisis doesn't care about our feckless politicians' attempts to pretend it doesn't exist.
October 28, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Hurricane Melissa could now easily come to be the strongest landfalling Atlantic Hurricane in history. A potent reminder that the climate crisis doesn't care about our feckless politicians' attempts to pretend it doesn't exist.
Hurricane Melissa has now reached Cat 5, and rainfall exceeding 1000mm is expected in some areas of Jamaica. This will be truly catastrophic. I hope the US military assets in the region are prepared to render assistance - they'll absolutely need it.
October 27, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Hurricane Melissa has now reached Cat 5, and rainfall exceeding 1000mm is expected in some areas of Jamaica. This will be truly catastrophic. I hope the US military assets in the region are prepared to render assistance - they'll absolutely need it.
Would dressing as the 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 on Ash Tree Lane be too niche a costume for Halloween?
October 27, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Would dressing as the 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 on Ash Tree Lane be too niche a costume for Halloween?
