Posts tagged “France”

• The Philadelphia Eagles have produced yet another awesome and fun Christmas video. – via The Kids Kickoff
• Missing Flamingo Thought to Be Living in France
• Beginning in the 1970s, Alan Rosen – the Indiana Jones of vintage sports cards – professed that there would always be a market for older cards and memorabilia, and history has proven him right.
• The Fascinating History of Tarot Card Decks: From the Renaissance to the Modern Day – via kottke
• It’s tough to argue with anything on this list of 100 small steps you can take to live to 100. And some of them are even pretty fun. – via hurly
• The Food and Drug Administration unveiled a new blueprint for the regulation of bespoke drug therapies, a way for these treatments to quickly get to market if they meet certain standards.
• A cannon, three coins, and a porcelain cup were among the first objects Colombian scientists recovered from the depths of the Caribbean Sea where the mythical galleon San José sank in 1708.
• This Is Fine dot gif:
  • Over 30,000 Charlotte, North Carolina students skipped school in protest of ICE operations in the area.
  • The U.S. is becoming an Nvidia-state: How the AI Crash Happens
  • Sales of AI-enabled teddy bear suspended after it gave advice on BDSM sex and where to find knives
  • I Set A Trap To Catch My Students Cheating With AI. Students chose to actively avoid learning because it’s boring and hard.
  • Paul Bojerski, a 79-year-old who was born to Polish parents in a WWII German refugee camp and who legally emigrated to the U.S. when he was 5, has been abducted by ICE in Florida. – via @oliviamesser
  • Prominently displaying the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom is a clear and obvious violation of the First Amendment. How is this even an issue?
  • Sex Workers & A Secret Charity: The Story Of Cory Mills’ ‘F*cking Bananas’ Afghanistan Mission – via @ronfilipkowski
  • This story is simply heartbreaking. A Teen in Love With a Chatbot Killed Himself. Can the Chatbot Be Held Responsible? – via New York Times Magazine

It’s easier to put your hand in the next guy’s pocket if he’s illiterate.

American society is dominated by wealthy mountebanks and literally demented politicians who are happy to take on all the risks of AI because it promises to create workers who cannot even conceptualize quitting, much less striking.
from We Used to Read Things in This Country, by Noah McCormack

• How Jeffrey Lurie, Jason Kelce, and the Eagles saved the tush push.
• Police in France have found the long-lost graveside bust of Jim Morrison.
• It was never meant to be proprietary. That’s just one of many good points Anil makes in MCP is the coming of Web 2.0 2.0.
• Pope Leo XIV heads the Catholic church from Vatican City, where a secret tennis court awaits.
• Holy smokes. That Preakness win by Journalism was incredible.
• The epic collapse of Florida governor Ron DeSantis is well deserved.
• Stuck in the Middle With You:
  • The current administration is trying to repeal a Biden rule that requires lead water pipes to be replaced. – via kellster.bsky.social
  • U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sold between $1M and $5M worth of shares on April 2, just before the POTUS “Liberation Day” press conference that sent the stock market tumbling. – via darthbluesky.bsky.social
  • I strongly agree with this statement, because it’s hard to stomach the idea that Everyone Is Cheating Their Way through College – via my friend
  • Is anyone truly surprised that Kristi Noem, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, has no idea what habeas corpus means? See also: The Questionable Case of Kristi Noem’s $50 Million Luxury Jet
  • Criminal investigation launched related to Hope Florida, the sham charity championed by DeSantis and his wife. – via progressflorida.org

• Egyptologist in Paris Discovers Secret Messages on the Luxor Obelisk: The 3,300-year-old monument has sat in the French capital’s center for almost 200 years, but no one else noticed these strange encryptions.
• I took the boys to see Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith in the theater on the 20^th anniversary of its release. I saw it in Century City (several days before the official release) two decades ago (and then again a few days later!) and am happy to report that also viewing it hundreds of times on a TV did not detract at all from the thrill of seeing it on the big screen. We loved it. It’s wild that the re-release of a twenty-year old movie made north of $42M over the weekend. Related: I love reading about Star Wars movie mistakes.
• “The choice of wood was completely incomprehensible,” isn’t the best line in this story about a concentration camp violin, but it’s up there.
• In sport, turning 30 was once the point where pundits started sharpening retirement speeches. But Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James, and Lewis Hamilton didn’t just stretch the narrative, they shattered it.
• Boulevard of Broken Dreams:
  • “DOGE” has tapped into some of the most sensitive and valuable data in the world. Now it’s starting to put it to work.
  • Related: “DOGE” says it has saved $160 billion. Those cuts have cost taxpayers $135 billion. – via @heidiyounggrasshopper
  • Public health, modern medicine, and disease mitigation will suffer under RFK Jr. because he sees sick people – not sickness – as the problem.
  • Vince Vaughn poses with POTUS in the Oval Office. Pathetic.
  • Senate Democrats who took heat for government shutdown vote now feel vindicated. Pathetic.
  • Oh Great, Millionaires Are Racing Sperm Now
  • The Supreme Court’s Late-Night Alien Enemy Act Intervention

• Whoa! Archaeologists Discover Tomb of Unknown Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh. (Doesn’t that make two this year?!)
• My son and I somehow got sucked into a rabbit hole watching Michael Jordan YouTube highlight videos and I had fun trying to explain to him just how jaw-dropping the 1997 flu game was to watch live.
• I recently listened to the Smartless podcast interview with John Lithgow, which reminded me that for a couple of years I lived on the fringe of Beverly Hills and frequently saw him walking his dog around the neighborhood when I’d go on my morning runs. (We never interacted beyond a gentlemanly nod, but he seemed like a lovely man.)
• France‘s far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been barred from seeking office for five years after being found guilty of embezzling funds from the European Union. It’s always refreshing to see powerful politicians held accountable for breaking the law. We should try that in the US.
• The first Shohei Ohtani card to sell for $1 million included a coveted piece of his pants.
• I really love these LEGO picture frames, shelves, and office organizers.
• Apple is pretending to sell the computers from Severance, which I think is a cute little marketing gimmick.
• Good News for People Who Like Bad News:
  • Turkish student at Tufts University detained by masked men claiming to be police
  • Top FDA Vaccine Official Resigns, Citing RFK Jr.‘s ‘Misinformation and Lies’
  • FCC commissioner opens investigation into Disney and ABC for diversity policies
  • How a Landlord and a Florida PR Firm Helped POTUS Kick Off the Tren de Aragua Gang Panic
  • Administration Abruptly Cuts Billions from State Health Services
  • The Florida State Health Department released a letter with a surprising new recommendation that contradicts standard of practice guidelines for measles outbreaks. – via YLE

• I created a Bluesky account back in April, but then fell into Threads. I think I’m going to try using the former more than the latter. I very much appreciate that you can get verified there without paying for it, and their verification process is excellent.
• Whether he’s writing a television pilot, a comic book, or one of the greatest superhero movies of all time, Sam Hamm always has Virginia basketball on the brain. I loved this story about the Batman writer who hides UVA basketball Easter eggs in his work. – via David Betancourt @ The Athletic
• After a Montana man illegally cloned and bred an endangered giant sheep species, government agencies must now contend with the illicit offspring.
• I’m very happy to report that my cocktail guide iOS app, bartender.live, is still chugging along. If you’re a fan, please leave a review and/or spread the word. (Thanks!)
• The Miraculous Resurrection of Notre-Dame: This is the story of how an army of artisans turned back centuries to restore the crown jewel of France by hand, and wound up reviving something even greater than the cathedral itself. – via Curious About Everything
• Ok, NOW I’m thinking a lot about the fall of the Roman Empire. – via @chrisjbrinkman
• “Billionaires” puts the focus on an arbitrary number. Bring back “robber barons,” or at the very least, “tycoons” – via @king_mattking

This is beautiful:

“It’s not cancel culture unless it comes from the Cancelle region of France. Otherwise, it’s just sparkling consequences.”
– via Michael Burns