- Okay, I am late to the party on this one, but my heart just grew two sizes when I discovered that Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr managed to surreptitiously, throughout the course of the 2022/23 NBA season, insert all the lyrics from the Taylor Swift song All Too Well into his post-game press conferences.
- The story of the Archimedes Palimpsest is fascinating. I saw someone mention it on Instagram and couldn’t believe it was true, but it appears to be a legitimate tale.
The team at The Athletic put together a compelling argument that not only is Mahomes worth his new half-a-billion-dollar contract, but he might actually be better than Brady.- I doubt you need me to tell you this, but Sally Field is just incredible in Remarkably Bright Creatures on Netflix. The movie is wonderful and we loved it.
- Renewables have surpassed global coal power for the first time in over a century! (The last time coal lost its lead as the world’s largest electricity source, the Treaty of Versailles was in review and Congress had just established a national park in Arizona named for its big hole in the ground.)
- Shohei Ohtani meets 100-year-old Nagasaki survivor
- Sure, they may be trying to jump on the Wordle bandwagon, and it’s a bit tricky to play, but the new Catalogues game from The New Yorker is pretty fun once you get the hang of it. – hat-tip @heidiyounggrasshopper
- You can’t produce a Field Notes edition of The Maltese Falcon and not expect me to automatically purchase it.
- This Smithsonian article explaining The Science Behind Honey’s Eternal Shelf Life was pretty interesting.
- Some good news on the public health front: Florida Republicans Refuse to Take Up DeSantis Bill Loosening Vaccine Mandates
- Need another reason to stop eating meat? A flesh-eating cattle parasite is spreading beyond Texas.
- The Voting Rights Act Was the Nice Version
- Asian jumping worms, an invasive, soil nutrient-gobbling earthworm that can leap a foot in the air, are moving rapidly across the country.
- A second detainee has died at an ICE facility in Louisiana where a recent inspection report found insanitary conditions, problems with medical care, and the use of excessive force.
Posts tagged “climate change”
- Evidence is accumulating that the shingles vaccine also protects against Alzheimer’s disease and can slow biological aging. – via The Progress Network
- Mr. Math Blog is a great tool to keep in your back pocket if you have an elementary school student learning algebra.
- Reasons To Watch The Martian For The 47th Time, Ranked – via Lauren
- I highly recommend Night Thoughts, the new stand-up special from Kumail Nanjiani on Hulu.
- The Wirecutter published a quick and easy overview about keeping your text messages secure.
- Wil Wheaton on losing Rob Reiner
- Oh, man. RIP to one of my favorites: Catherine O’Hara – via TMZ
- For decades, Eve Baer remained convinced that her son, unresponsive after a severe brain injury, was still conscious. Science eventually proved her right.
So Long and Thanks for All the Fish:
- America’s Biggest Oil Field Is Turning Into a Pressure Cooker
- An unidentified man dressed as Batman angrily confronted Santa Clara city officials for allowing ICE to operate at the upcoming Super Bowl in the city. – via What a Day
- He reached to grab a toddler he said he thought was falling. Then he spent weeks in jail before the case was thrown out.
- ICE Agents Arrested Don Lemon. Then the Story Got Even Darker. – via @gregsargent
- Renewable energy was the world’s leading source of electricity in the first half of 2025 for the first time ever, knocking coal off its longtime throne. – via The Progress Network
- Narrative String Theory (NST) is an awesome collection of movies, television shows, and other assorted media that feature detectives (or conspiracy theorists) connecting pictures on a wall or whiteboard with thread.
- Taylor Swift gave her Eras Tour crew jaw-dropping bonuses because of course she did.
- Mississippi State will face Wake Forest in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, which requires head coaches to sign an agreement saying the winner will accept having a bucket of mayonnaise dumped on his head.
- RIP Tom Stoppard
- The Athletic did a great story on the current value of the sports collectibles seen in Home Alone.
Related: Meet the family that pulled the most expensive Shohei Ohtani baseball card to date. - Why do we have two nostrils instead of one big hole in our face? – via Jason
- 51% of the animals in farms across the world are shrimp. – via Tom Whitwell
- I know I’ve linked to this already, but I’m going to once again urge you to read the fascinating backstory of the Duck Tales theme song, history’s catchiest single minute of music.
- I’ve certainly experienced the Abilene Paradox plenty of times. I didn’t know it had a name, though. – via cassidoo
- Can Magnus Carlsen, the best chess player in the world, beat a novice while facing increasingly-difficult disadvantages?
Jingle Bell Rock:
- WTF? White House installs plaques mocking former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden
- WTF? Liam Neeson Narrates Anti-Vax, Pro-RFK Documentary
- WTF? Fake social media accounts attempted to push a ridiculous narrative framing Taylor Swift as a white supremacist.
- Massachusetts Catholic Church Angers Conservatives with Its ICE-Themed Nativity Scene
- Am I the only one thinking that there’s something really sus about this whole insane Venezuela lunacy? They’re not flooding us with drugs. We don’t need their oil. Why all the trumped up aggression? I feel like we’re living in the first few chapters of a 007 novel and we’re soon going to learn 90% of some critical part of cryptocurrency or artificial intelligence computer chips can only be found buried underneath some mountain range there or something like that.
- “It makes my blood boil. It’s so ridiculous, so petty, so small minded,” wrote Maria Shriver, about the latest stupidity out of the current administration.
- When ancient Romans felt wronged, they didn’t ask for revenge from the gods. Instead they scratched their anger into thin lead sheets called defixiones, folded them carefully, and buried them in wells, graves, or temples, trusting that some power beneath the earth would take care of the rest.
- Buckle up, buttercup. This essay is going to be tough to swallow. Collagen Sits on a Throne of Lies: How the supplement industry took meat garbage and turned it into a $9B business
- A single HPV vaccination appears just as effective as two doses at preventing the viral infection that causes cervical cancer.
Finding it impossible to stop thinking about The Chair Company? You can get a Tecca t-shirt or hat, but they’re sold out of chairs.- One of the hardest parts of being a parent is attempting to balance, “Please study! School and your grades are very important,” with, “Don’t be stressed! This one history test isn’t going to matter at all in twenty years.” – via me
- Have you ever wondered how a touch screen knows you are touching it?
- Chindōgu: The Japanese Art of Unuseless Inventions
- How a UF engineer found purpose Below Deck
- Man unexpectedly cured of HIV after stem cell transplant
- “Anyone who was born an American and therefore feels superior to someone who had to work to become an American doesn’t know the first thing about being an American.” – via @harrymccracken.com
- Good News for People Who Like Bad News:
- A 6-year-old boy is missing after ICE arrested him and his dad in NYC last week and shipped them to separate facilities. – via @clauirizarry
- Zillow has removed climate risk scores from over a million real estate listings after realtors complained that information such as how at risk a home is from wildfires was causing them to lose sales. – via @carnage4life
- Crucial is shutting down — because Micron wants to sell its RAM and SSDs to AI companies instead. – via @papapishu
- “You are an abuser of women — that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego.” – Penelope Hegseth to her son, Pete
- The Supreme Court is siding with the current administration 84 percent of the time; it sided with the Biden administration only 53 percent of the time. And of course only one of those administrations is habitually laying waste to the rule of law.
- Lawsuits allege USA Gymnastics, SafeSport failed to prevent sexual abuse by coach
- 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 250th 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.
- I’ve been using the free native Apple Reminders app for over a decade now and at this point I’d be lost without it.
- The Best Black Friday Heist: They Told People It Was a Scam. People Paid Anyway. – via @froggyb.bsky.social
- How to read the entire Dog Man universe in order
- “If you’re going to talk shit about Kamala Harris‘ Bluetooth avoidance, please be aware Taylor Swift also follows a similar threat profile. For paparazzi spying on new music files before release.” – via SwiftOnSecurity
- If you didn’t read this the previous time I posted it, here’s a second chance: AI is a great idea if you think nobody at your company is great at what they do. [See also.]
- Did you hear about the cannibal who was expelled from school? He was buttering up his teacher.
- Olympic Gold Medalist Dominates the 100m at Her Kid’s Sports Day Event – via kottke
- Last year, Pakistan installed an incredible 22 gigawatts of solar power – more than Canada has ever built, and more than the UK has added in the past five years combined.
- I’ve (finally) started watching Andor S2 and am riveted. It’s definitely not as kid-friendly as the usual Star Wars fare, but I think it’s fantastic.
Hand Covers Bruise:
- POTUS signs (technically non-binding and illegal) executive order directing federal funding cuts to PBS and NPR.
- Despite their formal attire, penguins simply aren’t known for conducting commerce with the USA.
- Migrants held in Texas fearing deportation to notorious El Salvador prison work together to form human SOS.
- Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, thousands of high school students in Oklahoma will be required to learn about debunked claims that the 2020 election was tainted by fraud. The lesson will not be part of a course on conspiracy theories, but an official component of the new social studies curriculum created by Republican Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters.
- A third of parents with children aged 0 to 13 reported wishing they had more time to read to their children, and the number of parents saying their children have too much schoolwork to read books has risen significantly. – via kottke
- The official White House account posted an AI-generated picture of the POTUS holding a red lightsaber on Sunday, May 4th – the unofficial Star Wars day – intentionally mocking the point of the entire franchise. – via my dad
- “Stranger, here you will do well to tarry; here our highest good is pleasure.”
- In Praise of The Pitt, the Most Normal Show on Television
- Bluesky has overtaken its flailing rival Twitter in hosting posts related to new academic research. – via eicathomefinn.bsky.social
- How do you get over losing The Masters?
- Rick Steves is now on Bluesky!
- For your enjoyment: Here is Secretary of Education Linda McMahon talking about implementing AI in schools, but pronouncing it “A1” as in “A1 Steak Sauce” – via joshkovensky.bsky.social
- This Is Not Normal:
- Daughter captures the moment masked ICE agents smash the window of her mother’s car in order to take her into custody. – via mims.bsky.social
- America Is Backsliding Toward Its Most Polluted Era
- WITAF? Members of the cabinet, as well as Congresspeople and Senators, are being instructed to wear a golden POTUS bust lapel pin as a tribute to their inglorious, convicted felon leader. – via kwcollins.bsky.social
- Just weeks away from graduation, at least 50 international students at Arizona State University have inexplicably had their visas revoked and have been blocked from completing their degrees.
- The acting head of the Internal Revenue Service resigned after the Treasury Department and Homeland Security reached an agreement to share tax data from some immigrants living in the country without legal status.
- The director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that deportation should operate just like Amazon “But With Human Beings” – via thebasement.nz
- Days after being confirmed in February, FBI Director Kash Patel was apparently removed from his post as the acting chief of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – via girlsreallyrule.bsky.social
- On The (Apocryphal?) Rules of Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote Cartoons – via kottke, natch
- With the possible – possible – exception of Sonny Corleone‘s toll booth scene, I cannot think of anything in the universe that wouldn’t be dramatically improved by adding a college marching band.
- Netflix is developing a reality television series based on the classic board game Monopoly. Fingers crossed that the producers convey that the only realistic way to win the game is to hoard all the money and property, causing everyone else to eventually quit in despair and destitution, and that unfettered capitalism is actually terrible for any species. – via The Dailies
- Good news! AP wins reinstatement to White House events after judge rules government can’t bar its journalists
- A federal judge ruled former Florida QB signee Jaden Rashada can proceed with his lawsuit against Gators football coach Billy Napier over a $13M NIL deal gone wrong.
- There are actually a few cool items in this Wirecutter article: 18 Things You Didn’t Know Your iPhone Could Do
- Instagram users under 16 will no longer be able to livestream or unblur nudity in direct messages without parental approval. This seems like something that should have already been the policy, but I guess I’ll take the win. – via me
- Why don’t we remember being a baby? Infants can encode specific memories, a new Yale study shows, suggesting “infantile amnesia” might be a memory retrieval problem.
When Is This Going to Stop?
- POTUS signs executive orders to… boost coal production.
- China slams Vance for ‘peasants’ slur as tariff war intensifies – via thebasement.nz
- WTF? Administration orders half of national forests open for logging – via moudhy.bsky.social
- 20 Rude Questions the Media Should Ask – via markjacob.bsky.social
- Inside ICE Air: Flight Attendants on Deportation Planes Say Disaster Looms
- In the new documentary Secret Mall Apartment, a group of artists recount how they turned a hidden nook in a Providence shopping center into a living space for four years. – via my dad
- If you’re ever in Los Angeles, check out The Nicolosi Estate. The long-abandoned 8700-square-foot, 4-bedroom, 5-bath home is encircled by an amazing 300-foot-long serpentine swimming pool, complete with rock bridges and grotto-style hot tubs, which is visible from the road. The estate was commissioned by Johnny Weissmuller, who won five gold Olympic medals in swimming (and a bronze in water polo!) and portrayed Tarzan in a dozen films from 1932 to 1948.
- Apple is losing a billion dollars per year on Apple TV+ and that’s just fine. – via @TrungTPhan
- I cannot tell you how many times I’ve used these CSS drop-shadow snippets.
- Technofossils: How humanity’s eternal testament will be plastic bags, cheap clothes, and chicken bones. – via kottke
This Is Exhausting:
- “Under the previous administration, we looked like fools. Not anymore.” – Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, shortly before accidentally texting war plans to a journalist.
- A federal judge temporarily blocked the Environmental Protection Agency‘s attempt to recoup $20 billion in Biden-era climate grants, dealing the latest judicial setback for [the current administration]’s attempt to assert unilateral control over spending.
- There Is No Method to [the President]’s Madness. He’s Simply Insane.
- The corporation behind Roundup herbicide has paid out nearly $11 billion in lawsuits. Now it’s backing an EPA rule that would stop the bleeding.
- An Austin attorney is suing the Department of Education after seeing her student loan payments skyrocket.
- A Coast Guard Commander Miscarried. She Nearly Died After Being Denied Care.
- Researchers in Japan have developed a durable and recyclable plastic that fully dissolves in the sea and doesn’t leave microplastic pollution in the oceans because it breaks down in the water over time. – via @oceanbluestar.bsky.social
- Early entry for the best news of the year? Ted Lasso is returning for a fourth season.
- I recently finished Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. It is easily the best work of fiction I’ve read in the last twenty years. After five pages I was enjoying it so much that I decided to pace myself so I could inhabit its story as long as possible, but ended up devouring it in just a couple of days. My only regret is that I will never get to read it for the first time again. 1
- Happy belated 27th birthday to kottke.org, the website that inspired me to start blogging a quarter-century ago.
Notes from the firehose:
- Conservative former federal Judge J. Michael Luttig issued a stark warning about what he described as [the President’s] escalating attacks on the legal system.
- Former Spiritual Adviser to POTUS Indicted for Sexually Abusing a Child
- Top Democrats Warn “DOGE” Employees of Potential Criminal Exposure from Ethical Misconduct – via @beyer.house.gov
- “Mr. Schumer’s stated approach of waiting for Trump to ‘screw up’ and continue this inexplicable embrace of the slippery slope is wholly inadequate and an astonishing failure of leadership.”
- [The President’s] deportation of Venezuelan migrants may have violated a direct court order, leading to what the former general counsel of the FBI, Andrew Weissmann, has called a potential “doomsday scenario.”
- [The President] has already implemented at least half of Project 2025’s objectives in eight areas.