I have to be honest, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to process a new Taylor Swift album this week.

• An oral history of Industrial Light and Magic
• Always Invite Anna
• Don’t cry for millennials or Gen Z. Save your pity for those in their 50s. Why Gen X is the real loser generation.
• Fat Bear Week is here.
• This is now incredibly the 16th consecutive year I’m linking to this: It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers
• The truth is not always beautiful nor beautiful words the truth. – via @swiftonsecurity.com
• I’ve always loved the Jabberwocky.
• For more than a century in the 18th & 19th centuries, an edited version of Romeo & Juliet, with “a 67-line final conversation between Romeo and Juliet“, was more popular than Shakespeare‘s original. – via kottke
• And now for the bad news:
  • A little chat about genAI is well worth your time. Don’t be the kind of person who says, “I hear you. I understand. But also, I don’t care.”
  • He’s Been On Louisiana’s Death Row for Decades. A Judge Just Vacated His Conviction.
  • “A former director of the North Carolina Republican Party – who resigned amid election fraud and corruption scandals – has been appointed to a new role overseeing North Carolina’s state and local election officials…” – via @maddow.msnbc.com
  • Bear shot, killed after wandering into Central Florida home
  • POTUS Fired a U.S. Attorney Who Insisted on Following a Court Order
  • Hollywood Union Files Complaint Against Use of James Earl Jones’ Darth Vader Voice—Which He Sold Before His Death

• Twitch streamer Kai Cenat gifted a home and car to a mother and her son after they were evicted.
• Del Shannon, best known for his 1961 hit Runaway, hired Tom Petty on as his producer for the 1981 album Drop Down and Get Me.
• “Pasta alla Cacio e pepe” is a traditional Italian dish made with pasta, pecorino cheese, and pepper. Despite its simple ingredient list, achieving the perfect texture and creaminess of the sauce can be challenging. – via kottke
• This is not the first time I’m urging you to learn about the paradox of tolerance.
• “I think it’s embarrassing, where they’re at. […] Like, they have no pride. They have no gut. They’re embarrassing. They’re an absolute shame and a dark mark on the University of Florida right now. Billy Napier should be gone. [But he] is not public enemy number one. He is not enemy number one of me, at all. That falls on the spineless, greedy losers that aren’t willing to make the call that needs to be made because they’re padding their own pockets, and because they don’t care about winning.” – via Brandon Olsen, Locked on Gators
• Related: SEC annual opponents revealed. Call me crazy, but I don’t like the new format and miss having divisions.
• Good news for people who love bad news:
  • Confirmed: Fascism is worse than UV rays.
  • This time around is different; things are actually getting materially worse each day, and the human brain is unequipped to notice, let alone process, all of it. – via The Handbasket
  • Here’s a very comprehensive overview of all the many indefensible things the current administration is doing to terrorize… our food.
  • Every year thousands of Americans die on the roads. Individuals take the blame for systemic problems.
  • In the olden days, a kingdom threatened by a strangely-tinted, tiny-handed, fire-breathing beast might opt to attempt to buy it off with a princess or two. Now we offer him a night at Windsor Castle.
  • We Already Know a Way to Save a Bunch of Lives. Thanks to insurance companies, we’re not doing it.

• One of the largest sports collectibles forgery rings in the hobby has been busted in a bizarre fraud and forgery case that has rocked the hobby.
• A professional toy photographer recreated the amazing story of the Shackleton Arctic expedition using LEGO bricks and a Nikon DSLR camera.
• Tragic things are going to happen. Figuring out how and why is the complicated work of serious professionals.
• I really cannot argue with any of the films on this list of The Ten Best Screenplays of All Time, but I dramatically disagree with the order. I also cannot imagine not putting Casablanca first and not including Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, or any of a half dozen other Spielberg movies.
• Spontaneously Exploding Prosecco sounds like it would be a good late-90s Italian punk band name.
• The ‘rising fastball’ was a tantalizing myth. Then teams started teaching Induced Vertical Break.
• I agree with most of the points made in this essay on why Robert Redford as Roy Hobbs in The Natural still resonates with sports fans. (It’s one of my all-time favorite movies.)
• An Amateur’s Guide to Working with the Media in a Hostage Crisis

• Florida surgeon general says state will eliminate all vaccine mandates.
• Consider those loonies who believe that the Apollo moon landing never happened. Now imagine a world in which everybody is like that about everything—because nothing can be proven. – Our Shared Reality Will Self-Destruct in the Next 12 Months
• The current administration’s shortcut rule-making is shortchanging all of us.
• His Book on Charlie Kirk Was About to Come Out. Then His Subject Was Murdered. (See also: Florida Reporter Suspended After Texting MAGA Congressman to Ask If He Still Supports Campus Carry After Kirk Shooting)
• The Department of Education has announced that it will partner with right-wing think tanks and organizations to develop and spread what it claims is patriotic education.
• It’s painful to read the archived story of how Epstein, bolstered by unlimited funds and represented by a powerhouse legal team, was able to manipulate the criminal justice system, and how his accusers, still traumatized by their pasts, believe they were betrayed by the very prosecutors who pledged to protect them.

Hoo boy, I cannot wait to watch Seth tonight. I hope @salgentile.bsky.social didn’t spontaneously combust when he heard about Kimmel and was able to eviscerate the GOP in what I expect will be the best A Closer Look ever. (No pressure!)

• Dave Barry wrote a lovely essay on what it was like to learn from Google’s AI-powered search results that he’d recently passed away. Allison Parrish wrote a bonkers analysis detailing more than you wanted to know about how Game Boy cartridges work. – both via cassidoo
• If you still have any subscriptions on their platform, send the author this detailed piece on how and why to leave Substack. – via kottke
• Related: Substack has once again revealed itself to be a Nazi bar.
• Some notes on the iPhone’s New Satellite Messaging Function – via @sweat_science
• New research reveals that Americans have abandoned a simple daily habit that reduces stress as well as — and, at times, more effectively than — exercise, meditation apps, or massage. Taking just 15 minutes to read for pleasure can reduce your stress levels by 68 percent — but 84 percent of American adults no longer do it daily. – via Arnold’s Pump Club
• Related: More than half of American adults now read below a sixth-grade level. – via Kimchi & Gabagool
• Nobody Knows How to Make a Pencil is a brilliant essay from 1958 which I first read on Jason’s site forever ago. (The original link is gone but I found a copy on the Internet Archive.)
• I Am An AI Hater
• Help save Ned the snail!
• Introduction to AT Protocol – via cassidoo
• Things Can Only Get Better:
  • The United States, just months before its 250^th birthday as the world’s leading democracy, has tipped over the edge into authoritarianism and fascism. – via Laura Olin
  • Scientists say flesh-eating bacteria cases are rising because of climate change.

• Every Frame Is a Goodbye is a lovely little essay on photography – via my dad
• I am relieved to report that Happy Gilmore 2 was fantastic. I was worried it might be terrible, but it was a masterpiece sequel and loaded with incredible cameos and great jokes.
• A Friendly Introduction to SVG and a Priority Compass – both via the always brilliant cassidoo
• Someone has put together a compilation of awesome video game maps. – via hiro.report
• Here’s a handy hack to keep squirrels out of your garden.
• “Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.” I’ve seen that attributed to William Butler Yeats, but Quote Investigator can’t verify it.
• Related: Stop living this way. Make the smallest bit of effort. Be your own person. Research. Take pride in the words you repeat, and … attribute them accurately.
• We truly owe Thomas Jefferson mad, mad props for wonderfully irreverent things like the Season 27 premiere of South Park.
• I’ve been using Markdown for around twenty years now and still often forget what’s what. I love a good cheat sheet.
• Just Give Me Some Normal Damn Dinosaurs
• Mysterious Antimatter Physics Discovered at the Large Hadron Collider
• Military leaders aghast as Meta founder Zuckerberg crashes classified Oval Office meeting
• FEMA response to deadly Texas floods delayed and deficient with Noem in charge