Fascism

Timothy Snyder on the “October surprise” in Hungary

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By Mike Zonta, BB editor, and ChatGPT

Me: The former Hungarian government pretended there was a terrorist attack?

ChatGPT: If you mean Viktor Orbán’s former Hungarian government, there have been accusations along those lines, but we should distinguish several different stories.

One particularly interesting recent case is 2026, when opposition leader Péter Magyar alleged that people inside the Orbán government might stage attacks or other security incidents to create panic before the election. He provided no evidence, and the government rejected the allegation.

There is also a separate 2026 report that Russian intelligence considered staging a fake assassination attempt against Orbán himself to help him politically. That was reportedly a Russian proposal—not evidence that the Hungarian government actually carried it out.

If you’re thinking of an older incident where the Hungarian government actually claimed a terrorist attack had occurred, but it turned out to have been fabricated, tell me roughly what year (or what happened), and I can track down that specific case.

Me: I’m thinking of something Timothy Snyder said about the Hungarian government under Orban.

ChatGPT: Yes — I think that’s exactly what you were remembering. I found the specific incident Snyder was referring to.

In early 2026, shortly before Hungary’s parliamentary election, Viktor Orbán’s government announced that explosives had been discovered on a pipeline supplying Russian gas to Hungary. Orbán then suggested that Ukrainians were behind a terrorist plot, tying the supposed threat to Hungary’s opposition.

Timothy Snyder called this “fake terrorism” and a false-flag provocation. In his account, there was no evidence that an actual terrorist attack had occurred. He says the purpose was to create fear and portray the opposition as allied with dangerous Ukrainian forces.

What’s particularly interesting is that Snyder says the Hungarian opposition had anticipated that Orbán might pull such a stunt and warned people beforehand. Consequently, when the pipeline/explosives story appeared, it largely failed to have the desired effect.

So your original formulation — “the Hungarian government pretended there was a terrorist attack” — is quite close to Snyder’s characterization. The important qualification is that “pretended” and “false flag” are Snyder’s interpretation; the underlying claim by the Hungarian government was that a terrorist plot had been discovered.

God

God Struggling To Remember Why He Made So Many Ugly People

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Published: September 4, 2026 (TheOnion.com)

THE HEAVENS—Scratching His head and rifling through His notes as He tried to recall His reasoning for the decision, The Lord God, Supreme Creator of the Universe, reportedly struggled to remember on Friday why He made so many ugly people. “I could have given everyone on Earth perfect, symmetrical proportions, so why didn’t I?” wondered the all-powerful deity aloud to Himself, adding that there was “no obvious rationale”behind why He’d chosen to give so many humans weak jawlines, cystic acne, buck teeth, or receding hairlines. “Did I make them ugly to punish them? Did I just get lazy? Maybe I thought at one point that excessive hair, cellulite, or goiters were attractive. I’m omnipotent, so I should remember this. All I know is that 90% of them are pretty hard to look at most of the time.” At press time, a frustrated God announced that He would correct His mistake by remaking everyone in the image of Dennis Quaid.

Diversity

America Has Lost the Plot on Diversity

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True Cross-Cultural Connections Take Place on Campuses That Welcome People From Around the World

by Daniela Gerson September 3, 2026 (ZocaloPublicSquare.org)

CSU Northridge professor Daniela Gerson experienced the transformative impact of cross-cultural connection through a friendship with an Uzbek student at Brown University decades ago. As the academic year starts, she explains why real diversity matters so much today. | Gerson, right, having dinner with Uzbek friend Sherzod Akbarov. Credit: Daniela Gerson

As students return to colleges across the country, two are missing at Brown University: Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov. Dual victims of a campus shooting in December, they appeared to share little beyond a rigorous work ethic. Ella, a sophomore from Alabama, was vice president of the campus Republican club. MukhammadAziz, an Uzbek immigrant who grew up in Virginia, was an aspiring neurosurgeon. Both were studying in a lecture hall on a Saturday afternoon when a gunman entered and started firing.

Many reflecting on Ella’s and MukhammadAziz’s murders focused on the travesty of gun violence. But their senseless deaths should not be the only joint legacy of these students. That these two young people ever shared a room was remarkable and should be preserved as a critical reminder of what diversity, in its truest form, can contribute to U.S. university life.

I often witness potent exchanges as young people of different backgrounds connect in study and leisure at California State University, Northridge, where I’m an associate professor. I know the lasting and transformative impact of such cross-cultural connections personally. Another Uzbek student at Brown changed my own life decades ago.

My sophomore spring, I arrived at the media lab to edit a video on the concept of faith, and why my grandmother lost her belief in God after surviving the Holocaust in the Soviet Union. The student worker that day was Sherzod Akbarov. As the young man with an accent and exceptionally warm Turkic eyes taught me how to edit video, I asked him where he was from. “Uzbekistan,” he said.

Hearing that far-off place shocked and thrilled me. Ever since I could remember, Uzbekistan had been somewhere I could not quite locate on a map, but that held mythical weight for me. I knew my father was born a refugee there near the Silk Road city of Samarkand as World War II came to an end. He had departed in his parents’ arms at 6 months old and had no memories of his birthplace. Growing up in Washington, D.C., I’d never met anyone from Uzbekistan. That is, until I met Sherzod, who had lived in the capital city of Tashkent until receiving a scholarship to come to Rhode Island.

Soon our relationship took on a rhythm. I’d come to the media lab to edit the video but was more interested in Sherzod. I never tired of asking him questions about Uzbekistan. He confirmed my grandmother’s memories of delectable melons and grapes, regaling me with stories of exceptional markets and fruits, instilling a contemporary, almost tangible, connection to this ephemeral place.

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Two years later, Sherzod and I both enrolled in a senior seminar on post-Soviet states, co-taught by former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s son, Sergei. We sat together sometimes, along with friends of Norwegian and Japanese backgrounds. For my term paper, I researched Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan’s repressive leader, reading books and news articles on the then-nascent internet. But the real education came after class, when the story came alive in conversations with Sherzod during his media lab shifts. I wanted to understand: Why was Islam Karimov, himself of Muslim background, cracking down on some Muslim residents? Was it frightening to live in an authoritarian state? Or more reassuring to feel a society was under control? Patiently, Sherzod shared what he knew of his country’s politics, the transition from communism and principles of a secular state. What could have been a dry lecture came to life with stories of how languages changed and schoolbooks transformed under shifting ideologies.  

After college, Sherzod and I went our separate ways. That could have been the end of this diversity experience. But for me, our connection had sparked an intrigue with the farthest destination in my family’s refugee journey—Uzbekistan.

Decades later, kicking off research for a book about how my family and hundreds of thousands of Jews along with them survived World War II in Uzbekistan, I sent Sherzod, who was back in Tashkent, a message on Facebook: “Happy Birthday Sherzod! Long, long time. Have you ever heard of a place called Djuma (outside of Samarkand)?” I had discovered that was the name of my father’s birthplace—not Samarkand as I had always believed. Right away, he responded that it was a small agricultural town and offered to help me figure out how to get there.

Almost a year later, I touched down in Tashkent, the first in my family to enter Uzbekistan in seven decades. And then I reunited with Sherzod, who had built a career in international business development, at a local Korean restaurant. It was as if time had not passed. We ate slippery noodles and carrot salad. Sherzod patiently explained to me the nuances of Uzbek history and the country’s evolving relationship with Moscow. I had spoken with ambassadors and professors, but here I felt at ease, that I could ask Sherzod questions without fearing judgment. And Sherzod added details that made Uzbekistan feel less foreign and more relatable, like recollections of standing in Victory Day parades for his own grandfather, who had fought in the military.

But it was not all about war and its legacy. Sherzod also told me about a bright green soda of his youth that we needed to try. About his gym routine and the best place for the national dish of plov. And I shared with him thoughts on how best to get his daughter an education in the United States, like his. That encounter in the media lab continued to ripple, guiding me eventually to the book I would write melding history and the personal.

On college campuses today opportunities for students to engage in invaluable relationships like Sherzod’s and mine are on the decline. The Trump administration has attempted to shut down diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, accusing them of excluding white students, rather than enriching their university experience. In addition, admissions of international students like Sherzod are down, due in large part to visa restrictions. It’s true that Ella and MukhammadAziz’s killer entered the U.S. as a foreign student from Portugal and later returned with permanent status on a diversity lottery visa for immigrants from underrepresented countries that the Trump administration suspended after the shootings. But one deranged assassin is not a rational reason to shut down the program, nor limit international students, when native-born Americans commit more than 85% of mass killings.

Meanwhile, the concept of diversity, whether lionized or demonized, is often miscategorized. It has evolved into a catchall for underrepresented communities, which are often not diverse at all. When I was a graduate student at the University of Southern California, immigration demographer Dowell Myers asked my class a simple question: What is the least diverse community in Los Angeles? Hands shot up. Students shouted out affluent, primarily white enclaves such as Malibu and Beverly Hills. But demographically, L.A.’s least diverse—that is, most homogenous—communities are actually the ones most often labeled “diverse,” like East L.A., which is almost all Latino.

Diversity at its core means a mixture, not simply bringing in underrepresented groups. And it can benefit all students. How many fellow students would Ella and MukhammadAziz have impacted if they’d been able to return to campus this year and next? Whose narratives would they have complicated? What windows of understanding would they have opened? We will never know.

Daniela Gerson is an associate professor of journalism at California State University, Northridge, and an editor-at-large at Zócalo Public Square. She is the author of The Wanderers: A Story of Exile, Survival, and Unexpected Love in the Shadow of World War II. 

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Primary editor: Eryn Brown | Secondary editor: Sarah Rothbard

Celebrity

Freddie Mercury’s ex-girlfriend recalls the private moment she helped him come out: “I said, ‘Freddie, I think you’re gay”

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David Hudson September 3, 2026 (queerty.com)

Photo courtesy Mary Austin

Mary Austin, Freddie Mercury’s former girlfriend and lifelong close friend, has a new book out. A Life in Lyrics: The Official Creative Legacy of Freddie Mercury, Based on His Unseen Personal Archives and Collections, is available now. It includes lyric sheets, drawings and other memorabilia that the Queen frontman bequeathed to Austin.

Austin rarely talks to the press. However, to promote the book, she sat down for a long and candid interview this week with the Guardian.

Austin met Mercury in 1970. She worked at the influential and hip clothing store Biba and was a friend of Brian May. At the time, Mercury ran a clothing stall in London’s Kensington Market.

One day, Austin found herself at May’s student house. He, Roger Taylor and Mercury were present, discussing potential names for their band. May wanted Build Your Own Boat. Mercury suggested Queen.

It was the first time Austin met Mercury, and she was struck by his confidence and bravado, which she “found a bit intimidating.”

“Different from the others”

Soon after, she and Mercury began a relationship. She quickly discovered the bravado was something of a front to hide his true self. Within four months, in 1971, Mercury suggested they move in together.

Austin believes they bonded over sharing difficult childhoods. As for his sexuality, she says she long suspected that Mercury was gay. She’d only had two previous relationships, but Mercury was unique.

“He was different from the others. He was more creative. He was just more interesting. He was always thinking about going to see things. Not just bands. Like he’d go to see the film Cabaret over and over again. I loved listening to him explain why he enjoyed it so much. I enjoyed the journey around his mind. It was like reading a book.”

Despite her suspicions, they became engaged.

Then Queen began to become successful, and she noticed Mercury’s confidence became more real. She found herself slipping more into the role of his PA and fixer rather than girlfriend.

After four years, Mercury told Austin he had something to tell her.

“‘I think I’m bisexual.’ I said, ‘No, Freddie, I think you’re gay.’”

He did not argue or disagree.

Austin now says that rather than feel upset, it came as a relief. She already felt that their romantic relationship was not going any further.

“It was a huge relief, because I wasn’t sure whether we were travelling in the same direction any more,” says Austin. “Some time earlier I saw a dress and thought, that would be a really nice wedding dress. I asked Freddie, is it worth me buying it, and he looked at me and shook his head. So I knew from there on …”

“We became better friends and it became a better relationship.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CrWly-osxTx/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsi=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Mercury’s death and will

They continued to live together for another 18 months. Austin remained working as his PA, traveled the world with him, and always lived close to him. She remained by his side while he fell ill with AIDS in the late 1980s. He died on November 24, 1991, aged 45. Born September 5, 1946, Mercury would have turned 80 this week.

Austin and Mercury’s relationship was close but complicated. She says now that he was the love of her life.

When he died, Mercury left his London home to Austin, along with trunkloads of memorabilia and other possessions. He left £500,000 to his boyfriend, Jim Hutton, who later said he was given three months to move out of Mercury’s house. Austin says that was down to the executors of the will, not her.

Mercury also instructed Austin to scatter his ashes and not reveal where. She followed his instructions to the letter, even declining to inform Mercury’s parents and sister.

“I think if I was Freddie’s parents, Freddie’s sister, and I wasn’t allowed to know where his ashes have been scattered, I would be upset and offended,” she said. “But that’s the job he asked me to do. And I did it. I kept saying to them, ‘I’m really, really sorry – I can’t tell you.’”

Mercury’s parents have now died. Austin continues to have a “delicate” relationship with Mercury’s sister, Kashmira, who claims she spent £3million of her own money buying back family mementoes when Austin sold much of her vast collection of Mercury’s belongings via auction in 2023.

Getty Images

Not telling her sons about relationship with Mercury

Austin has two sons. One was born a couple of years before Mercury’s death, and she was pregnant with the second when he died.

Surprisingly, she says she doesn’t think her sons knew anything about her relationship with Mercury until they were in their 20s. This is despite growing up in his former home, which was full of his possessions and had photos of him on the piano. She only decided to open up when she decided to declutter and sort out the 1,500 items to sell at auction.

Interviewer Simon Hattenstone expresses surprise at this revelation. He asks her younger son, Jamie, who accompanied his mother to the interview, if it’s true.

Jamie says he did actually know about his mother’s relationship with Mercury, despite her never mentioning it. Other people told him. However, he and his brother recognized that their mother found it upsetting to talk about.

“When you see that kind of discomfort and pain, it’s not something you want to talk about. So we learned to be respectful of that.”

A Life in Lyrics: The Official Creative Legacy of Freddie Mercury, Based on His Unseen Personal Archives and Collections, is out now via HarperCollins.

David Hudson is a contributing editor to Queerty who specializes in film, music, health, travel and queer culture. Connect with him on X and Bluesky and DM him with potential story ideas.

Sunday Get-Together

Sunday Get-Together on September 6

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A.K.A.  “Not a Prosperos Sunday Meeting Meeting”

We meet on those Sundays when there is no scheduled Prosperos Sunday Meeting.  All are invited and we can talk about whatever we like, but let’s make sure that everybody participates (who wants to participate) and let’s try get to the fundamental truth underneath and behind every topic we discuss.

This month, there are scheduled Sunday Meetings on September 13 (with Pam Rodolph), September 20 (with Heather Williams) and September 29 (with Thane via tape recording).

That leaves Sunday, September 6.  Here is the link to that Google Meet event at 11 a.m. Pacific time:

Link:  https://calendar.app.google/SH4Q8njHZyFtKarw9

Mike Zonta, H.W., M.
Event Coordinator

Translation

Weekly Translation:  Fame is the measure of one’s significance in the world.  

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By Mike Zonta, BB editor

Translation is a 5-step process of “straight thinking in the abstract” comparing and contrasting what seems to be truth with what you can syllogistically, axiomatically and mathematically (using word equations) prove is the truth. It is not an effort to change, alter or heal anything other than our consciousness.

The claims in a Translation should be outrageous and mind-blowing, but they are always (or should always be) based on self-evident syllogistic reasoning. Here’s my Translation this week. 

1)    Truth is that which is so.  That which is not truth is not so.  Therefore Truth is all that is.  Truth being all is therefore total, therefore one, therefore whole, therefore perfect.  I think therefore I am. Since I am and since Truth is all that is, I cannot be other than all that is, therefore the beingness of me is Truth OR I, being, am Truth. Since I am mind (self-evident) and since I, being, am Truth, therefore Truth is mind. (Two things being equal to a third thing are equal to each other.)

2)    Fame is the measure of one’s significance in the world.  

Word-tracking:
fame:  fable, reputation
reputation:  to judge
judge:  to say what’s right
famous:  celebrated, renowned
renowned:  re-named
celebrated: populace, popular
popular:  well-liked, acclaimed, clamor
measure:  quantify, count, assess, evaluate, determine the value
significance:  importance, having a major effect.
world:  this world as opposed to the next, the world of the senses

3)    Truth being all that is, there can be no effect other than Truth, therefore Truth is the only effect.  Truth being the only effect is therefore the only significance, the only importance.  Truth being all that is and since all cannot be limited, therefore the quantity of Truth is endless.  Truth being mind and truth being all that is, therefore Truth is all-knowing. Truth being all-knowing, and Truth being all that is, therefore Truth is renowned.  Truth, being renowned, is celebrated.  Truth being celebrated is popular.  Truth being popular, is well-liked.  Truth being all that is and truth being mind/awareness, there can be nothing sensed which is not truth, therefore Truth is the only world knowing, the only world known.

4)    Truth is the only effect. 
Truth is the only significance, the only importance. 
The quantity of Truth is endless. 
Truth is renowned, celebrated, popular, well-liked.
Truth is the only world knowing, the only world known.

5)    Truth is the only world knowing, the only world known.

And now I’ll ask ChatGPT:

Me:  Please Translate the following sense testimony: Fame is the measure of one’s significance in the world. 

ChatGPT:  Certainly. This testimony is particularly rich because it equates visibility with significance—as though being widely known establishes one’s value or importance.

1. Statement of Being

Truth is that which is so. That which is not Truth is not so. Therefore Truth is all that is. Truth being all is therefore only. Truth being only is therefore one. Truth being one is therefore in agreement, at peace, harmonious, atoned.

I think, therefore I am. Since I am and since Truth is all that is, I cannot be outside or other than all that is; therefore my beingness is the same beingness as Truth, or my being is Truth being. Since I am consciousness (self-evident), and since my being is the being of Truth, therefore the being of Truth is consciousness/Mind.

2. Sense Testimony

“Fame is the measure of one’s significance in the world.”

The testimony makes fame a measurement of significance.

It therefore assumes:

  • significance can be measured externally;
  • being known by many people makes one more significant;
  • being unknown makes one less significant;
  • the world’s recognition determines one’s value or importance.

The underlying equation seems to be:

Fame = significance = importance.

But there is a striking question hidden in the testimony:

Significance to whom?

Fame is a measurement of how many people know about someone. It doesn’t necessarily measure the quality, depth, or truth of that person’s Being.

2½. Word-Tracking

Fame

From Latin fama, “report, rumor, reputation, public opinion.”

This is revealing. Fame is fundamentally what is said or known about someone.

It is therefore dependent upon the consciousness and opinions of others.

Measure

From Latin metiri, “to measure.”

A measure establishes a quantity or degree.

The testimony therefore takes something inherently difficult to quantify—significance—and assigns it an external measurement.

Significance

From Latin significare, “to signify, indicate, make known.”

To be significant is, at root, to mean or signify something.

This doesn’t necessarily imply being famous.

Something can be profoundly significant without being widely known.

World

From Old English woruld, referring to the human earthly existence or age.

Here “world” can be understood as the realm of human appearances, social recognition, and collective judgment.

That gives us an important distinction:

Significance in the world is not necessarily significance in Being.

3. Argument

Truth is all that is.

My significance cannot ultimately be determined by the opinions or awareness of others, because those opinions and awareness are appearances within consciousness.

Fame is a measure of recognition, not a measure of Being.

A person may be famous without being wise, loving, truthful, or conscious.

Conversely, a person may be unknown to the world while expressing profound Truth.

Therefore fame cannot be the measure of one’s essential significance.

Since my being is Truth being, my significance arises from Being, not from being recognized.

Truth does not become more significant when more people recognize it, nor less significant when fewer people recognize it.

Therefore the significance of Being is not increased by fame or diminished by obscurity.

Recognition may measure visibility; it cannot measure Being.

I think that last distinction gets to the heart of the testimony.

4. Summing Up Results

Fame measures recognition, not Being.
Visibility does not establish significance.
Obscurity does not diminish Being.
Truth does not depend upon recognition.
My significance is inherent in Being.
Truth is infinite Intelligence.

5. Establishing the Absolute

Several possibilities occur to me:

My significance is inherent in Being, not dependent upon fame.

Or more radically:

Being is its own significance.

And I particularly like:

Truth needs no audience to be significant.

That last one seems to me to strike directly at the assumption hidden in the original testimony.

The testimony says, essentially:

“I matter to the extent that other people notice me.”

The Translation says:

“My Being does not become more real, more valuable, or more significant through recognition.”

And there is an interesting connection to your earlier work on group-centered leadership. If significance is measured by fame, we inevitably create a hierarchy of visibility: the famous person becomes important, while the unknown person becomes comparatively insignificant. But if significance is inherent in Being, the distinction between the famous and the unknown loses its metaphysical authority.

That seems like a rather powerful Translation.

Me:  As you say: Truth needs no audience to be significant. Or we could say: Truth is its own audience.

ChatGPT:  Yes. I actually think “Truth is its own audience” is the more profound formulation.

“Truth needs no audience to be significant” still leaves audience and significance as the conceptual frame. It says Truth is independent of recognition.

But:

Truth is its own audience.

goes a step further. It suggests that Truth does not stand outside itself waiting to be recognized. Truth knows itself, witnesses itself, or is self-evident in its own Being.

And that fits beautifully with the line you’ve developed in your Statement of Being:

Since I am consciousness and since my being is the being of Truth, therefore the Being of Truth is consciousness.

In that context, audience becomes interesting. An audience is ordinarily something other than what is being observed. But if Truth is One, there can ultimately be no other outside Truth to serve as its audience.

So the movement might be:

Truth needs no audience → Truth is its own audience → Truth is self-knowing.

Or, in an especially compact Absolute:

Truth is its own audience, its own witness, and its own significance.

I think “Truth is its own audience” has the kind of ontological compression that makes a good Step 5. 

Me:  I agree.

ChatGPT:  I think so too. “Truth is its own audience” feels less like an argument and more like a realization.

It also gives us an interesting way to understand significance: Truth doesn’t become significant because it is witnessed; its very Being is its witnessing.

That may be worth keeping as the Absolute:

Truth is its own audience.

Me:   

For information about Translation or other Prosperos classes go to: https://www.theprosperos.org/teaching.

Or, if you have taken Translation class, join us each Saturday for Translation Saturday Meeting at 11 a.m. Pacific time for current, up-to-the-minute Translations on the issues of the day.  Email zonta1111@aol.com for the Zoom link.

m.z.

Translation, Uncategorized

Translation Saturday Meeting September 5

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(Image courtesy of Steve Hines and AI)

September 5:  11:00 AM – 12:00 PM PST

Mike Zonta, H.W., M.

In a crisis — any crisis — The Prosperos offers Translation.  Translation Saturday Meetings is a weekly series of Translations, live and up to date on the issues of the day, personal or national.

It is not a Translation workshop,  It is not a Translation class.  But it is restricted to those who have taken Translation class. So if you have never taken Translation class, check the calendar tab on The Prosperos website (TheProsperos.org) or get in touch with us and we will schedule a class.

Last week our sense testimony was:  Leaders keep us in war and scared of each other so they can stay in power.   And our conclusion was:   The truth about war is:  Power of truth is ever-present peace here and now.

Then we asked ChatGPT to Translate the same sense testimony.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – See you there!!! – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Here’s the link to the Translation group:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81749347119

For more info and link to join please email Mike Zonta at:

zonta1111@aol.com

Biography, Quotes

Kafka on the nonexistent

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Kafka in 1923

“By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired.”

— Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka was a German-language Jewish Czech writer and novelist born in Prague, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Wikipedia

Born July 3, 1883, Prague, Czechia

Died June 3, 1924 (age 40 years), Kierling, Klosterneuburg, Austria

Reality

Your Reality Is a Simulation | NOVA | PBS

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NOVA PBS Official Aug 25, 2026 Why your brain can’t always trust its own senses. And no, we don’t live in a matrix. Pain, color, and awareness—is any of it truly real? Explore the science of illusions and blindsight to uncover how your brain stitches together sensory data to build a complex, sometimes deceptive, simulation of reality. Watch the full episode: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/y…

Consciousness, spirituality, biography, sexuality, androgyny, futurism, space, the arts, science, astrology, democracy, humor, books, movies and more

Bathtub Bulletin