Martin Rayner
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martinrayner.bsky.social
Martin Rayner
@martinrayner.bsky.social
“Si fractus illabatur orbis impavidum ferient ruinae” — Horace
Looks like Trump is slumping about as badly as the ridiculously overvalued stocks and essentially worthless cryptocurrencies that are linked to him. 😉
November 30, 2025 at 6:17 PM
“The Triumph of Christ” (circa 1965) by the visionary Austrian artist Ernst Fuchs. The highly intricate work uses a complex array of personal and traditional Christian symbolism to fantastically depict the union of heaven and earth and Christ’s ultimate victory over death and evil.
#Art
November 30, 2025 at 4:52 PM
This brand of beer from down under has recently surfaced online, much to the displeasure of some Canadians that it’s rubbed the wrong way for being ill-conceived, wrongheaded, inappropriate, tone deaf, etc.

Maybe so, but perhaps it was well-intentioned. Check out some of their other cheeky brews.
November 30, 2025 at 3:12 AM
“Strawberries” (1820) by the German artist Johann Adam Schlesinger. Beautiful alone as a botanical still life, the painting is also rich in symbolism, whether as a “Vanitas” theme or some other religious or philosophical interpretation.
#Art
November 30, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Pretty much sums things up as they are when it comes to Trump’s Kremlin-authored “Peace Deal”.
#cartoons
November 28, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Nothing better than a “Snow Day”!

(Love the gauge at the bottom of the map.) 😆
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Wonder what’s going on inside... 🤔
November 28, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Might explain the blank expression.
November 28, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Of course, here in Canada, this happens a whole month sooner!
November 28, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Dear Media,

Please stop calling this guy a “branding genius”.

Because he’s not.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.
November 28, 2025 at 6:39 AM
Certainly looks considerably different from the robins we get around here on the West Coast of Canada. The species pictured is much cuter... like something out of a story book.
November 27, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Seems even Trump’s handpicked classical-revival architect, James McCrery II, is at odds w/ his megalomaniacal patron over the ballooning scale of his vanity ballroom project that threatens to dwarf the existing White House. 😆
tinyurl.com/2rc3ws59
November 27, 2025 at 7:26 PM
“Battle of Moskova” (aka Borodino), Louis-François Lejeune’s 1822 masterwork, a panoramic depiction of the French attack on the critically important Shevardino Redoubt. It’s an amazing picture full of dramatic narrative vignettes amid the mass conflict.
#art
November 27, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Yet another reason for foreign tourists to avoid travelling to the US. Under a new “America First” scheme, the cost of an annual parks pass has increased from $80 to $250 for foreign visitors. Without one, foreigners entering parks by vehicle will be hit with a new surcharge of $100 per person. 🤨
November 26, 2025 at 4:24 AM
In interviews, 22 independent food creators said that AI-generated “recipe slop” is distorting nearly every way people find cooking advice online, damaging their businesses while causing consumers to waste time and money.
archive.is/ZPBpe
November 26, 2025 at 12:30 AM
The kooky tradition of US presidents “pardoning” turkeys wasn’t always the case. In 1914, two turkeys gifted to Woodrow Wilson were forced to fight on the White House South Lawn with the, um, “winner” being served as Thanksgiving dinner. 🤨
November 25, 2025 at 9:40 PM
The report referenced in the video can be viewed here: tinyurl.com/2tn9zty3
November 25, 2025 at 6:58 PM
The car that’s going to kick Tesla’s Model Y’s ass. 😆

The new 2026 Nissan LEAF has been getting enthusiastic reviews from the automotive press, is a finalist for Vehicle of the Year and w/ a starting MSRP of around $30,000, it undercuts Tesla’s most “affordable” EV by a good $10,000!
#EVs, #Tesla
November 25, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Trump keeps eating the pieces. 😉
#cartoons
November 24, 2025 at 7:24 AM
The Renaissance chess set made by the New York toy company E.S. Lowe from models carved by the Italian wooden figurine maker House of Anri.

Had one when I was a kid and wanted to get it for the memories. Though reasonably priced, the Ebay shipping costs involved were heinously expensive! Oh well.
November 24, 2025 at 4:31 AM
“A Christmas Joke With A Point To It” by Carl Hassmann, published in “Puck” magazine in 1906, alluding to the tense relationship between the Pilgrims and local indigenous tribes, or the concept of land rights and the appropriation of resources (i.e., the “turkey”) by the settlers.
#Thanksgiving
November 24, 2025 at 3:31 AM
An actual good use for AI...

Sortera “uses an AI model that identifies different grades of aluminum based on data from lasers, X-ray fluorescence, and high-speed cameras. The system has to classify each chip... in a fraction of a second.”
tinyurl.com/4hksyheh
November 24, 2025 at 12:12 AM
If you can’t afford real maple syrup (which is most of us these days!), this is a truly excellent substitute. It tastes virtually the same (same consistency too) at a fraction of the cost. 🍁

More about the 156-year-old New Brunswick company that makes it: canadianmaplesyrup.com
November 23, 2025 at 10:33 PM
“Dream Image Rotor” (1927) by the German painter Carl Grossberg, a practitioner of the New Objectivist movement that flourished briefly during the turbulent Weimar period, but was condemned by the Nazis as “degenerate art” and considered an affront to their preferred aesthetic.
#Art
November 23, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Hard to imagine…

Vintage posters encouraging British farmers to come to Canada during the early decades of the last century.
November 23, 2025 at 6:52 PM