- 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 “Texas”
- Most people simply recorded the emergency as it unfolded. A couple of college athletes took action.
- In one of the largest studies ever, scientists found that eating more fiber meaningfully reduced your risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and colorectal cancer. – via Arnold’s Pump Club
- Oh, Jason, this is totally my cup of tea: The Greek Mythology Family Tree, Explained
- I just ordered my third set of these awesome 5″ twisty-lock wire loops because I keep finding new uses for them. I also highly recommend these JETech iPhone screen protectors, which I have on all our phones.
- Skier Lindsey Vonn said she almost lost her left leg after suffering a tibia fracture on the second day of the Olympics, adding that having surgery soon afterward was the only thing that spared an amputation.
- The best drone shots of the Olympics – via Kottke
- The U.S. women’s hockey gold medal-winning match was the most-watched women’s hockey game ever. (And then the team politely declined an invitation from the president to attend his State of the Union address.)
- It’s pretty incredible that the same guy who wrote Andor, Rogue One, the Bourne screenplays, and Michael Clayton also wrote The Cutting Edge.
It Could Be All Downhill from Here:
- In any other universe, this would be the biggest story of the month. But in our current dystopian hellscape, it barely made the news: The US Justice Department withheld testimony that POTUS sexually abused a girl when she was 13 or 14. – via @adamjschwarz
- In any other universe, this would be the second-biggest story of the month. But in our current dystopian hellscape, it barely made the news: The US Secret Service shot and killed an armed man who entered the secure perimeter of Mar-a-Lago.
- Companies with backbones should be supported.
- Wired is reporting that a popular right-wing account that called a video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes “a masterpiece” appears to be run by a White House staffer.
- What is clear is that Kansas Republicans have weaponized the government to target a tiny subset of an already small portion of the population to score political points and institutionalize cruelty.
- Someone referred to VPOTUS as the Pillsbury Proud Boy and that is simply some top-tier comedy right there.
- An analysis reveals that the social media accounts of Nicki Minaj, which are now advocating for conservative causes, has been amplified by an army of bots and coordinated activity.
- U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas resisted growing calls from fellow congressional Republicans to resign over a report of an alleged affair with a former staffer who later died after she set herself on fire.
- More than a dozen states sued the current administration over its rollback of vaccine recommendations for children, calling the move an illegal threat to public health.
To paraphrase FDR’s grandfather:
Not all conservatives are evil men.
But all evil men are conservatives.
- I’m pretty sure I’ve already linked to The Labyrinth Locator, but it’s neat enough to warrant posting again in case you haven’t seen it.
- What was your favorite Super Bowl LX commercial? (I thought the Sabrina Carpenter ad for Pringles was the best one.)
- What it was like to be a bush at Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance
- Rockhopper Penguins’ Athleticism Makes Them the Daredevils of the Animal World
- I am cautiously optimistic about both the upcoming Ryan Gosling sci-fi flick, Project Hail Mary, and The Adventures of Cliff Booth, the Brad Pitt/David Fincher sequel to the Quentin Tarantino film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
- The first in a wave of legal cases alleging that social media is dangerously addictive is now on trial.
- Here’s a great line from an essay about the death of programming: Someday years from now we will look back on the era when we were the last generation to code by hand.
Winter Olympics
- U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn — who has arguably been the biggest story of the Winter Olympics — crashed during her fifth Olympic Games. So she won’t go home with a medal, but she will go home with the heart of a champion.
- “The summer games are about pleasant activities — swimming! running! playing games with your friends! — and the winter games have 11 separate terrifying ways to almost die hurling your body at maximum speed down an icy mountain.”
- US reaches first Olympic curling mixed doubles final, will face Swedish siblings for gold
- Hot Mic At Winter Olympics Catches NBC Announcer Call Snowboarding Big Air Final ‘So Boring’ – via @blobcostas
A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara’d into Submission)
- You are probably getting brain damage from all those COVID infections.
- How TikTok 2.0 Became a Weapon for ICE – via @scalzi.com
- Children trapped in Texas immigration facility recount nightmares, inedible food, no school – via @letatcestmoi
- Heartbreaking: Read Letters from the Children Detained at ICE’s Dilley Facility
- The President’s online drugstore isn’t what it seems.
- POTUS shares racist video depicting the Michelle and Barack Obama as monkeys
- Dr. Mehmet Oz, of all people, urges Americans to get the measles vaccine as cases rise across the country.
- “Life on Peptides Feels Amazing,” says everyone who’s buying from looksmaxxers on Instagram or AI bots in China and injecting them into their bloodstream.
- For the first time in nearly 25 years, an Asian elephant gave birth to a calf at the Smithsonian Zoo. – via What A Day
- Got kids? Send them a link to Ian’s Shoelace Site!
- Super quick and easy way to send a message to your reps asking them to stand with the people of Minnesota against ICE: ICE OUT OF MINNESOTA NOW – via @bhay
- NSS: The US immigrant population generated more in taxes than they received in benefits from all levels of government every year from 1994 to 2023. – via @jfallows
- Leslie Jones shares what her reaction would be if she were a reporter and the President insulted her.
Winter Olympics
- Lindsey Vonn says she is competing this weekend despite rupturing the ACL in her left knee just a few days ago.
- Winter House is definitely a better name than the original.
- Where, when, and how to watch the Opening Ceremony
- How to watch Mikaela Shiffrin live at Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics
- As law enforcement officials continue to search for her mother, Savannah Guthrie will no longer be part of NBC’s Winter Olympics coverage – via @latimes.com
What fresh hell is this?
- In an interview with NPR, Melinda Gates confirmed that she ended her marriage with Bill Gates because of allegations contained in the Epstein files.
- Operation Dirtbag, Swamp Sweep, Operation Catch of the Day, the Speedway Slammer, the Cornhusker Clink, Alligator Alcatraz, and Deportation Depot are just some of the degrading, dehumanizing, and disgusting names the current administration has been using for ICE operations and facilities.
- Health officials in New Mexico are warning against consuming raw dairy products after a newborn baby in the state died from a listeria infection that they say was likely contracted when the baby’s mother drank raw milk during pregnancy. – via @philplait
- The POTUS urged Republicans to seize control of elections and place voting under national authority, one of his most explicit signals yet that he plans to interfere with the workings of democracy. – via @marcelias
- ICE confirms measles outbreak at Dilley family detention center – via @pgourevitch
- Symbol Salad is a great resource for those in need of special keyboard characters, like ¢ and ½.
- Organ Donation & Pascal’s Wager – via mergesort.me
- The current administration does not want to FAFO with an organized gang of wine moms. – via @froggyb
- Speaking of FAFO: I can’t believe this academic admitted to losing all his AI-generated research.
- The Ottawa Senators are selling jerseys with the names of the HBO Heated Rivalry characters for $325/ea (and donating the proceeds to a local queer hockey group) and they can’t keep them in stock because they sell out so quickly. – via The Athletic
- Rhode Island might ditch Mr. Potato Head license plates after Hasbro moves to Boston
- Well, fuck. Swearing Actually Seems to Make Humans Physically Stronger and There Really Is Something Soothing About Saying The ‘F’ Word
- This is absolutely wild: Back-scratching bovine leads scientists to reassess intelligence of cows (I mostly quit eating beef about 15 years ago and haven’t missed it at all. But now I’m going to feel even more guilty about the milk in my coffee.)
- It’s “Mental Illness Doesn’t Do That” Season Once Again
- This will be the first time the Patriots have been to the Super Bowl since Bill Belichick‘s girlfriend graduated high school. – via @bgoad85
And now for the bad news:
- Since beginning operations seven years ago, Brightline, which runs high-speed trains between Miami and Orlando and is the only private rail service in the country, has killed nearly 200 people. – via longreads.com
- The South Carolina measles outbreak has surpassed the recorded case count in the 2025 Texas outbreak.
- Immigration agents operating near Vail, CO placed branded ace of spades playing cards — similar to “death cards” left on corpses by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War — in cars left behind after immigrants’ arrests.
- “FYI, a masked, anonymous, armed paramilitary force denying due process and breaking into people’s homes to arrest and detain people in camps is exactly what fascism looks like.” – via @darrigomelanie
- Death of Cuban Detainee in El Paso ICE Facility Is Ruled a Homicide
- America’s Would-Be Surgeon General, Casey Means, thinks improving health is a spiritual project?!
- 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
- An extraordinarily rare original of the Magna Carta has been discovered, hiding in plain sight in the archives of the Harvard Law School.
- Texas Democrats are trying to ban Republican Senator Ted Cruz from attending college playoff games, saying he’s “a well-known curse” for teams in the state.
- A baby born with a rare and dangerous genetic disease is growing and thriving after getting an experimental gene editing treatment made just for him. – via The Associated Press
- How cool is this? Rick Steves was on The Simpsons
- “These kids are ticking time bombs” – The Threat of Youth Basketball
It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry:
- The Environmental Protection Agency plans to weaken Biden-era rules that limit exposure to “forever chemicals” in drinking water.
- Kristi Noem has been working with the producer of Duck Dynasty to pitch a reality TV show titled The American, featuring immigrants competing in a string of challenges “for the honor of fast-tracking their way to U.S. citizenship.” – via brendannyhan.bsky.social
- The U.S. Register of Copyrights was abruptly dismissed last weekend just 24 hours after her office released a report stating AI companies can’t freely use copyrighted movies and TV shows for training. – via The Dailies
- NYU denies diploma to student who criticized Israel in commencement speech
- In response to latest POTUS executive orders, RAINN, the nation’s largest anti-sexual-violence organization, has barred its crisis hotline staff from sharing resources specific to LGBTQ people, immigrants, and other marginalized groups. – via maggieastor.bsky.social and sarahweinman.com
- The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled the state can keep banning abortions around six weeks after conception by agreeing with the earliest interpretation offered of when a heartbeat starts.
- 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
- A Masters win for Rory McIlroy gives him, at last, a seat at the table.
- The Last of Us S2 on
HBOMax premiered this weekend, so it’s a great time to read some perspectives from an epidemiologist and a plant scientist. - What can we learn from the books being read by the characters in White Lotus S3?
- Lorne Michaels is going to produce a British version of Saturday Night Live starting in 2026.
- Great quote from physicist Brian Greene: “My best teachers were not the ones who had all the answers. They were the ones deeply excited by questions they couldn’t answer.” – via Austin Kleon
Dreaming of a song, but something went wrong:
- A federal judge sided with the [current] administration in allowing immigration agents to conduct enforcement operations at houses of worship for now.
- Death is the point.
- Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard signed a sworn declaration stating that she was a resident of the State of Texas, and then voted in Hawaii. – via mehdirhasan.bsky.social
- Vice President JD Vance fumbles trophy during Ohio State football’s White House visit
- I can think of a few thousand better ways the AP could have worded this headline to more accurately convey just how corrupt this weirdo is: DeSantis Defends $10M Donation from State Agency Settlement to Charity Linked to His Wife
- The American Dream Is Over: He did this with the enthusiastic support of the entire Republican party and conservative movement, and a plurality of American voters.
- Dark energy is probably doing something weird, and we don’t know why.
- The Scale of Time
- New research suggests that being even slightly dehydrated can reduce muscle thickness after lifting weights—potentially limiting growth and recovery. – via Arnold’s Pump Club
- Prosecutors who resigned rather than carry out what they saw as an unethical, improper and potentially illegal order were 100% vindicated by [the judge]’s extensive findings.
- “Only one thing / I did wrong / Stayed in Mississippi / Way too long” – For some reason I had no idea that this was a “newer” (relatively speaking) Dylan song, or that it was released on 9/11. It feels much older than that. (It’s also weird that the Sheryl Crow cover was released in 1998!)
- On the Best (Worst) Best Man Speech Ever (at My Super Mario-Themed Wedding) – via kottke, of course
- How to optimize files and fix your storage problems on Macs, iPhones, and iPads
- We Can Do Better:
- Several members of [the President]’s National Security Council have been fired a day after conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer visited the Oval Office and pressed [the President] to get rid of them.
- The state of Florida is prepared to convict [a woman] for killing her son, despite the fact that the only direct evidence of arson has been thoroughly discredited. This story is as infuriating as it is heartbreaking.
- JD Vance Would Throw His Own Kids Under A Bus If [POTUS] Were Driving It
- How the [Current] Administration Learned to Obscure the Truth in Court
- Texas GOP Congressman Ronny Jackson has been fundraising with what appears to be an unauthorized legal expense fund.
- [Administration] Declares a Trade War on Uninhabited Islands, US Military, and Economic Logic
- Georgia Woman Arrested After Having Miscarriage
- The [current] administration is planning to halt more than half a billion dollars in contracts and grants awarded to Brown University.