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Is ‘The Pitt’ Really an ‘ER’ Spinoff? Michael Crichton’s Estate Says It Is.

San Diego protests, rallies and resources to help you push back against tyranny

The Trump administration just pulled off the industrial policy equivalent of lighting your own house on fire to prove you have working smoke alarms.

Mitchellaneous CXVIII: Seven photos of the Zaharakos Ice Cream Parlor (Est. 1900) in Columbus, Indiana

Mitchellaneous Vol. CVII: Eighteen things I saw on the Internet

Mitchellaneous Vol. CV: Thirteen things I saw on the Internet

"The Stainless Steel Rat" is the GOAT nickname for a fictional hero

A Grand Unified Theory of what's wrong with the economy and why China is beating us up

I'm shifting things around in my blogging and social media again.

How the Attention Economy Is Devouring Gen Z -- and the Rest of Us

Gmail’s new subscription management is here to dec...

The New York Times worked with a racist to generate a fake scandal about Zohran Mamdani

“Dozens of federal officers in tactical gear and a...
Warning: NY & Minnesota’s Social Media Warning...

Mitchellaneous Vol. C: Twelve things I saw on the Internet

Mitchellaneous Vol. XCIX: Eleven Things I saw on the Internet

Mitchellaneous Vol. XCVIII: Ten Things I saw on the Internet

Mitchellaneous Vol. XCVII: Ten Things I saw on the Internet

Congressman Issa falsely claims ‘criminal illegals...
Which ‘wow’ skill is secretly super easy to learn?...

Mitchellaneous Vol. XCVI: Ten Things I saw on the Internet

Trump’s Immigration Enforcement: Free The Criminal...

Mitchellaneous Vol. XCV: Ten things I saw on the Internet

Mitchellaneous Vol. XCIV: Twelve things I saw on the Internet

Mitchellaneous Vol. XCIII: Ten things I saw on the Internet

The New York Times and Fox News agree — the New York subway is scary. Hamilton Nolan disagrees.

Promises The ‘Trump Phone’ Would Be ‘Made In USA’ ...

Mitchellaneous Vol. XCII: Nine things I saw on the Internet

Mitchellaneous Vol. XCI: Twelve things I saw on the Internet

I think I just don’t like Twitter-like services anymore — not Mastodon and not Bluesky

More Than 90 Percent Of ICE Detainees Have Never Been Convicted Of Violent Crimes

Mamdani and the Moguls of Madness: Will he be a good mayor? Nobody knows. But the hysteria is revealing.

Mitchellaneous Vol. XC: Twelve things I saw on the Internet

What’s a “public internet?” By Cory Doctorow plura...

Mitchellaneous Vol. LXXXIX: Twelve things I saw on the Internet

Mitchellaneous Vol. LXXXVIII: Twelve things I saw on the Internet

Mitchellaneous Vol. LXXXVII: Twelve things I saw on the Internet

Mitchellaneous Vol. LXXXVI: Twelve things I saw on the Internet

Mitchellaneous Vol. LXXXV: Twelve things I saw on the Internet

This article about the Dull Men's Club starts playfully, then becomes sad and moving

Mitchellaneous Vol. LXXXIV: Seventeen photos of McDonald’s in the 70s

Currently reading: Washington by Ron Chernow 📚I wa...
Kevin Smith’s “Dogma” is finally getting a re-rele...
S2E3 “The Last of Us.” Catherine O’Hara is a reall...

I am reading "The Ministry of Time," a first novel by Kaliane Bradley, and I am finding it brilliant and compelling.

The way to end the Gaza war has been clear for nearly a year

The ugly truth behind ICE agents’ masks. Will Bunc...

AI is a new iteration of the industrial revolution, and not in a good way

What Did People Do Before Smartphones? No one can remember

Omaha swung 43 points to elect Democrat John Ewing Jr. over a transphobic GOP incumbent by focusing on real issues, not hate. Dems, take note.

Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail i...
‘It’s out of control’: the fight against US ‘tip-c...
“If you’ve never worked in a big corporate o...
It Is So Embarrassing to Watch Dems Try to “Find” ...

I migrated from Mastodon to Micro.blog. Here's what worked well, and where I have problems

Meta Battles an ‘Epidemic of Scams’ as Criminals F...

For One Hilarious, Terrifying Day, Elon Musk’s Chatbot Lost Its Mind

"Trumpism relies on the fusion of two groups of people: a tiny number of oligarchs, and millions of everyday people who are constantly victimized by those oligarchs."

Personalization, The Vastly Bigger Story Behind the Pimpmobile Jet Bribe

Two science fiction stories that I think about when I think about AI

Everyone is cheating their way through college: ChatGPT has unraveled the entire academic project

Are white Afrikaners at risk in South Africa? Not really, most say

"An Open Letter to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Who Thinks My Daughter Is a Tragedy"

We’re back from a somewhat spontaneous eight days in London.

What’s an unspoken rule in your house that would c...

The New York Times' Ask Vanessa answers a reader question: Can I Wear a Sheath Dress Without Looking Like a MAGA Woman?

Paul Krugman on the China-US tariffs deal: When an Arsonist Poses as a Firefighter

A short video where I talk about what’s hot ...
Telcos trade faith-based buildouts for demand-base...
Pritzker’s Total-War Message Is a Hit Among Angry ...
Trading stuff for money — Dynomight asks: Is it gr...

We watched the series finale of "Bosch: Legacy" last night. It feels like a significant life event

Outstanding interview with Walter Mosley, a brilliant Black American writer who is also Jewish

Trump pardons Nevada politician who paid for cosmetic surgery with funds to honor a slain officer

15 photos from Saturday’s Hands Off rally in El Cajon (San Diego), California

Harvard’s pushback against Trump could be an early salvo in a war among the elites

US-born citizen detained by ICE in Florida under law that shouldn't have been enforced in the first place

In the 1850s and 1860s, the "Old Leatherman" wandered the back roads between New York City and Hartford, Conn.

A path for BlueSky to achieve profitability without selling out its users

The Problem With Abe Lincoln's Face: The president's iconic beard was a product of the anxious new realities of the photographic age.

The Original Stock Photo From ‘The Shining’ Has Finally Been Found

Sam Keen, Philosopher of the Men’s Movement, Is Dead at 93

Keep San Diego County Blue. Vote for Democrat Paloma Aguirre in the April District 1 Special Election

DevonThink, a research, note-taking and productivity app I rely on, is now in public beta for Version 4

What goes around comes around: Revolving restaurants are making a comeback

Ian Welsh: Trump is "speed-running" America's "imperial decline"

Cory: The AOC-Sanders anti-oligarch tour is all about organizing

Excellent history and photo essay on Tristan de Cunha, the "remotest [inhabited] island in the world," population 265 as of 2016

Andy Kaufman, subject of a new documentary, "anticipated our reality-bent world"

More US states are reporting measles cases as deadly anti-vax lies spread

El Cajon nurse can’t shake COVID-19’s unrelenting grip: ‘I have lost relationships’

New 'Starship Troopers' Movie in the Works from 'District 9' Filmmaker Neill Blomkamp

"Fascism always fails. It is destructive and it is awful and not everyone lives to see the other side, but it always, always fails."

Patti Davis, on her father, Ronald Reagan: My Father Spoke to Me Only Once About Why He Led This Nation

RIP Joseph Wambaugh, 88, ex-cop and writer, who wrote brilliant police procedurals and true crime, including "The Onion Field."

A company looks to relaunch the commercial airship business with a design that looks like a flying butt

(Relatively) easy instructions for downloading Kindle ebooks before the deadline, which is today or tomorrow

How an obscure advisory board lets utilities steal $50b/year from ratepayers

DOGE is re-hiring Marko Elez, a staffer who resigned after he made vile, racist posts on Twitter.

“We are witnessing a private equity-style plunder of the entire US government -- of the USA itself.”

Rusty Foster on the coup: "It's both more and less than it seems…. it's a coup that's only happening on the computer so far…. "

I poked around on the fanfiction archive AO3 for a few minutes last night

"The single most ridiculous aspect of human history is how much of it has been driven by the goal of allowing a tiny portion of a large population to live in luxury."

Jamelle Bouie: You’ll Never Guess Who Trump’s New Favorite President Is

I’m questioning all my media consumption after quitting Facebook last week.

“The Anti-Social Century: Americans are now spending more time alone than ever. It’s changing our personalities, our politics, and even our relationship to reality.”

The Terrifying Realization That an Unresponsive Patient Is ‘Still in There’

Project 2025 is “neofeudalist fanfic shit out by the most esoteric Fedsoc weirdos the world has ever seen.”

Yesterday's Meta announcement finally pushed me to quit those services

"The evidence is not flawless." Scientists investigate claims of life after death

Today I learned Chevy Chase played drums in a college band that later became Steely Dan.

My favorite movies of 2024 (third try posting, trying to correct egregious formatting errors)

"Trump is a little guy, and Musk is a big guy when it actually comes to having money." A historian predicts trouble for Trump.

"A lot of the current hype around LLMs revolves around one core idea, which I blame on Star Trek: Wouldn't it be cool if we could use natural language to control things?"

Ian Welsh: Well That Was Hell: 2024 In Review. tl;dr America and Europe are in decline, Russia is doing well and China is doing *very* well.

Congratulations to John Scalzi on the 20th anniversary of his debut novel "Old Man's War."

"The MAGA civil war over H1-B visas … like watching a cage match between the two worst people in the world.”

I see a lot of ageism on the political left. Ageism, like all other prejudice, is wrong.

A quick impromptu comparison test of ChatGPT vs. Kagi vs Google vs. Perplexity

Book bans and culturally divisive conflicts cost schools more than $3 billion last year.

The meaning of McDonald's: Writer Chris Arnade's "favorite franchise can't seem to get out of the news"

The Longevity Revolution: America Needs to Radically Rethink What It Means to Be Old

LA Times Billionaire Owner Hilariously Thinks He Can Solve Media Bias With 'AI'

Presumptive Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is Trump's "most dangerous cabinet pick."

This House Democrat Keeps Winning in Trump Country. Here’s What She Knows.

I found this photo of the cover of David Gerrold's novel "Yesterday's Children"

While walking with the dog this morning, I saw a half-dozen people set up a commercial coffee machine in the park

The Verge Editor-In-Chief Nilay Patel breathes fire on Elon Musk and Donald Trump's Big Tech enablers

Photographer Susan Schiffman's charming photos of rent-stabilized apartments in New York's East Village are intended as portraits of the unseen tenants who live in them.

Donald Trump's New 'Border Czar' Defended Child Separation at Festival Held by Gun-Worshipping Sect

"So what does that mean in practice? Democrats ponder whether to do real or fake populism"

"Want to live a long and fulfilling life? Change how you think about getting old"

Instead of dialing for Kamala, I did an hour or so of door-to-door canvassing yesterday for Democrats up and down the ballot

Today's dialing for Harris to get out the Democratic vote was frustrating

A year of modest victories and tough losses for California's reparations movement

Washington Post writers say don’t dump subscriptions over non-endorsement

It's now legal to hack McFlurry machines and medical devices to fix them

Lawsuit charges that ad tech enable surveillance of hundreds of millions of people worldwide, enabling possible terrorism and harassment

What’s the derivation of the phrase “hard-boiled” to describe a person or fictional character? When was it first used?

Facebook is a vector for AI-generated disinformation about federal post-hurricane relief

I changed the domain for Mitch's Other blog to mitchellaneous.net, which I am stupid pleased about

A left-wing 2028 Democratic primary challenge is essential for Democrats

If the stories are great, it doesn’t matter much if they’re true

Court rules that a 12-year-old’s pizza delivery from Uber Eats canceled her parents’ right to sue Uber after an unrelated car accident

An in-depth profile of Kamala Harris’s estranged father, the economist Donald J. Harris

"Under the Dome": Stephen King’s small-town allegory for Trumpism

"I'll be a pie-eyed emu!" Re-reading Alfred Bester's 1942 story, "The Push of a Finger"

R.U.R. reimagined: Adapting Karel Čapek’s 1920 science-fiction play about a robot uprising

Bluesky's Jay Graber on restoring user control and breaking social media stagnation

Revisiting a childhood favorite story: ‘Dreams are Sacred’ still delights

"Journalists and other writers are employed to improve the quality of chatbot replies. The irony of working for an industry that may well make their craft redundant is not lost on them."

Today's ephemera: Dolly Parton, one day on the bridge, migrant sex changes and more

Debunking Milton Friedman’s claim that the company’s only job is to increase shareholder value: It’s “a charter for doing whatever the fuck a CEO feels like doing”

Writer Zadie Smith and journalist Ezra Klein on connections between a 19th Century British huckster and Trump, emotions vs. rationality, wokeness, identity, how social media and other online spaces “seriously modify” our minds, loneliness and more

Mask bans disenfranchise millions of Americans with disabilities. Medical exemptions are nothing more than Band-aids

Articles I read over lunch today on Fierce Network: Brightspeed’s multi-billion-dollar cash infusion, US and Sweden team on 6G, and Huawei looks to beat Nvidia chips

An appreciation for the under-appreciated, brilliant sci-fi writer John Varley.

Canadian sci-fi writer Robert Sawyer has released a free version of the venerable WordStar word processing program

On this day in 1888, Bertha Benz took the first documented road trip in an automobile, to visit her mother, 60 miles away

As Israel braces for attack, ordinary citizens fear that Netanyahu has destroyed a country and a dream

I tried Stage Manager on the Mac yesterday and loved it instantly, which is surprising because I've tried it a couple of times in the past and hated it instantly.

A conspicuously dressed-down shooter won Olympic silver. Then he went viral.

“The political parties are more divided by their views on gender than they are divided by gender itself”

Please share tips for managing windows on an ultrawide computer display

“Confused about the Vance couch thing? Here’s a quick rundown”

Ghost cities in the Amazon are rewriting the story of civilization

Tumblr is raising rates for Premium membership by 1.75x. And I'm canceling

Kamala is a happy warrior and that is a powerful political strength for her

Israel as it exists today is not merely brutal. It is also incompetent

James Davis Nicoll reviews Robert A. Heinlein’s “Farnham’s Freehold”

“There is no ‘online world.’ That was always a met...

Jo Walton: “The worst book I love: Robert Heinlein’s ‘Friday’”

Cory Doctorow: “Holy CRAP the UN Cybercrime Treaty is a nightmare”

"What Homeless San Diegans Think About the Mega Shelter Pitch"

“It seems like there are two acceptable settings for female politicians: nurturing motherly matron or total bitch.”

AOC: Democratic leadership who want to replace Biden have no plan what to do next. None.

Hamilton Nolan: “You patsy. We don’t have time for this bullshit”

DARPA is launching a program to sift through quantum computing hype

The new version of the Overcast podcast app seems to be working OK for me now after a bad start.

Good profile of J.D. Vance, Trump’s VP pick, in the form of a 55-point list at Politico.

Something I noticed re-reading Roger Zelazny's "Doorways in the Sand"

Meet the thing I've been working on for three months: Fierce Network Research

I searched the house for my glasses this morning. Eventually, I found them on the ground outside in the backyard, where they had been all night.

Molly White launches FollowTheCrypto.org to track cryptocurrency spending to influence the 2024 elections.

I occasionally think that while my daily walks are great, I should soon start doing strength training

Two theories about Biden, comprising four strained metaphors

37Signals, the company behind Basecamp and HEY, is introducing Writebook open source software for publishing books on the Internet

Today I learned that they’re putting AI into cat l...

“Recent research on lucid dreams suggests that consciousness exists along a spectrum between sleep and waking, between hallucination and revelation, between dreamworlds and reality.”

Tonight’s movie. Brings back much of the top cast ...
Purdue University gives itself a Wi-Fi glow-up — C...
“Farewell, My Lovely” is the best movie we’ve seen...

I've been messing with an app called Surfed, a browser history and bookmark manager, for a few days

The fediverse needs to be more than clones of existing social media

Here's What You Discover When You Walk Every Block in New York City

📷🤪I see this realtor ad several times a week when ...

I’ve been using my iPhone as my webcam and it works great

Trump Is Not America’s Le Pen. He’s worse — Le Pen...

A study found that a quarter of bosses hoped return-to-office mandates would make employees quit

📷🐈‍⬛🏳️‍🌈Here’s something I saw while walking the d...
My hour of memoryless lucidity — For Eric Neyman, ...
“To understand how software will change, we can be...
Cisco: We were unprepared for the cloud. But we’re...
We don’t need to burn down the planet for AI — AI ...
📷🐕🦖Something I saw while walking the dog: This hou...
Box CEO Aaron Levie: “The reason I’m insanel...
Parable of the Sofa — Tim Bray praises lifestyle b...
I’m consolidating social. I’ll post memes and othe...
The Hugos There podcast discusses “A Wrinkle in Ti...
📷🐈‍⬛I guess I’ll put this sweatshirt in the laundr...
After the previous episode, why hasn’t the Doctor ...
Noseart of B-17 Flying Fortress “Daddy’s Delight” ...
I’m turning my home office upside down looking for...

‘My songs spread like herpes.’ Why did satirical genius Tom Lehrer swap worldwide fame for obscurity?

The Valley of the Dolls — On the Last Archive podc...
📷 🐕 💩I’m happy to report that Minnie is a healthy ...
“A video posted to Donald Trump’s account on his s...
The Clue of the Blue Bottle — On the Last Archive ...
I loved the “Planet of the Apes” movies and TV ser...

Jamelle Bouie: The Underappreciated Genius of ‘Planet of the Apes’

🌮An Oakland, California woman was arrested after a...
Overheard: Don’t forget Moms are half price tomorr...

Attempting to talk about the movie “American Fiction” without using the word “woke.”

This nuclear engineer can’t stop getting hit on by...
Google Cloud’s asteroid hunt could mean better AI ...
Something I saw while walking the dog at the park ...
Are Americans losing their taste for Starbucks? &l...
Jack Dorsey quits Bluesky board and urges users to...
You’re not a sinner for gaining weight. You’re a ...

A local government in England is eliminating apostrophes from street signs

My new favorite subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/...
We watched the first episode of Fallout. It has gi...
The AI-Generated Population Is Here, and They&rsqu...
Romance writer K. Renee was locked out of Google D...
“Hazel,” a self-described “tab hoarder,” kept 7,50...
A Native American girl of the Kiowa tribe Oklahoma...
500 Briggs St, Erie, Colorado. Late 1890s - Presen...
Dinosaur Beach Keith Laumer 1971 (cover by Kelly F...
The Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez You Don’t Know ...

Bill Gates, ousted for misconduct, is still pulling the strings at Microsoft

Walter Molino 1915-1997, Italy, “Il Gatto In...
Reading about James Clavell. We have two episodes ...

Barbaric: A Texas man filed legal action to scrutinize his ex-partner’s out-of state abortion.

Dairy Barn was a drive-through convenience store p...
Something I wrote: Walmart scales stupendous globa...

Jarrod Blundy loves his Meta smart glasses for rock climbing and running

77 Types of Notes to Keep in #Obsidian [amerpie.lo...
Inner Cosmos with Stanford University neuroscienti...
Alt Text Hall of Fame [alttexthalloffame.org] — Ho...
The Comfortable Problem of Mid TV [nytimes.com] — ...

Federico Viticci talks about his homemade MacBook-iPad hybrid with John Gruber on The Talk Show

Meeting Alaska’s broadband infrastructure challeng...

I'm packed and ready for my first business trip since December 2019

I embark on the dangerous mission of changing task management software

Jon Udell: Best Practices for Working with Large Language Models

Elon Musk wants to turn Tesla’s fleet into AWS for AI — would it work?

A San Diego state senator's bill would ban the plastic bags you buy when you forget yours

USC canceled a Muslim valedictorian’s speech over safety concerns over the Middle East conflict

I'm taking my first business trip this month in more than four years

I’ve been abstaining from posting political content, news headlines, and speculation about the current global crisis

“A tendency to the lurid.” Reading the November, 1932 Astounding Stories

Suicide Mission: What Boeing did to all the guys who remember how to build a plane

🦆Today’s memes: “These are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the New West.”

Today I learned that Cleavon Little, who starred as Black Bart in "Blazing Saddles," grew up in San Diego.

For the past two nights, I’ve been unsuccessfully trying to induce lucid dreaming

🦆Today’s memes: Has your mother told you these intimate physical facts?

First impressions of my new MacBook Air, after using it just a few minutes

Excellent post from Cory about how widespread corruption in public institutions leads to anti-vax, MAGA and other conspiracy theories.

I tried using the AirPods Pro as sleep earbuds. That didn’t work.

Here’s a moderation tip I observe on the GEnie online service more than 30 years ago

I have zero coding skills, but I coaxed ChatGPT to write a JavaScript blogging tool

A Magic 8 Ball would be a superior weather predictor to my iPhone weather apps

Today’s memes: so excited to start my new job here at the Mutant Animal Weaponization Program 🤗

The “True Grit” movies came up in a conversation so I went down an Internet rabbit hole

I’m re-reading “Everybody’s Fool,” by Richard Russ...
Millions of people — including me — were locked ou...

“AI search is a doomsday cult…. Does anyone even want an AI search engine?”

The New York Times explains the controversy around the 2023 Hugo Awards, hosted by China

“The Hucksters:” A sitthroughable 1947 romcom and satire starring Clark Gable

We watched “Mr. Holmes,” a 2015 movie featuring Ian McKellen as 93-year-old Sherlock Holmes.

Today’s shitposts: When the insurance company wants a diagram of the accident

Listen to our talk about the novel “Alas, Babylon” on Seth Heasley’s Hugos There podcast

What if you had a universal app to access every social media platform in one screen?

The New Yorker: How Ten Middle East Conflicts Are Converging Into One Big War

The secret history of Napoleon Bonaparte: Watching “The Emperor’s New Clothes” (2002) starring Ian Holm

Oxiclean gets an insulated coffee carafe or Thermos clean as a whistle, without scrubbing

Far too many software services are sending me 2023 year-in-review emails

“You’ve got me? Who’s got you?!” Rewatching Christopher Reeve’s “Superman”

Every so often I like to get inspired by reading about the writer Robert B. Parker

How to draw irregularly shaped polygons, such as L-shaped boxes, using Excalidraw

Yet another example why YouTube instruction videos for software are evil and you should use written documentation instead

We have seen ”Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” and I have thoughts

Facebook and Instagram’s recommendation systems are finding and promoting blatant pedophilia

“Avoid situations that someone you love might later have to explain on a medical or government form.”

Welcome to dating in 2023: Today’s oddly satisfying and mildly interesting things I saw on the internet

Get weird about that thing you're weird about: Today’s oddly satisfying and mildly interesting things I saw on the internet

That poor couch: Today’s oddly satisfying and mildly interesting things I saw on the internet

Everything peaked in the 70s: Today’s oddly satisfying and mildly interesting things I saw on the internet

Jinkies! Today’s oddly satisfying and mildly interesting things I saw on the internet

Cory Doctorow “The idea that creative workers aren't workers is bullshit.“

Trolled by a fucking goat: Today’s oddly satisfying and mildly interesting things I saw on the internet

Threads is in the early days of the social media enshittification cycle. That’s why it’s so great—for now

What if we kissed on the jouch? Today’s oddly satisfying and mildly interesting things I saw on the internet

Today's oddly satisfying and mildly interesting things I saw on the Internet

RIP Mark Goddard, who played Major Don West on the 1960s “Lost in Space.”

I’m thinking about “Level 7,” an apocalyptic 1959 novel that had quite an effect on me when I read it as a boy 📚

This year's iPhone announcement is the least consequential iPhone announcement ever (and that's OK)

As TikTok Ban Looms, ByteDance Battles Oracle For Control Of Its Algorithm

Excellent discussion of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”

Last night before bedtime, I stepped into the backyard and found myself standing with a big red spider a couple of inches in front of my nose.

Finder stealing focus on the Mac: Fixing the problem with help from ChatGPT

How "Animal House" changed the world and invented today's Republican Party

Jamelle Bouie: Why an Unremarkable Racist Enjoyed the Backing of Billionaires

Reddit seems to have successfully put down its moderator revolt, but is destroying the site in the process

Cory Doctorow: Verizon’s “repeated incompetence and waste on an unimaginable scale.”

The American Dream has lost its hustle: Young workers just aren’t buying it

Ringo looking groovy and other oddly satisfying and mildly interesting things I saw on the internet

Larry’s red space suit and other oddly satisfying and mildly interesting things I saw on the Internet

Sci-fi writer Ted Chiang: 'The machines we have now are not conscious'

A Dad shows off for his delighted toddler daughter and other oddly satisfying and mildly interesting things I found on the internet

I am in awe of the mental gymnastics required to conclude that there's any solution to homelessness other than finding housing for people. It's like telling a drowning person that their real problem is they eat fatty foods.

Sunday morning comics, Ohio, 1950s. And other things I found on the Internet

Today’s ephemera: An “ANIMALS TALKING IN ALL CAPS” throwback

Virginia Postrel: Gadgets and Gizmos that inspired Adam Smith

Today’s ephemera: Looking in the bathroom mirror first thing in the morning

Today’s ephemera: This beagle would like you to know he is helping

We’ve been watching “Yellowstone,” “1883,” and “Ju...

Cory Doctorow: Denazification, truth and reconciliation, and the story of Germany’s story

Today’s ephemera: Alright everybody ... let’s find that grape

Today’s ephemera: Welcome to this absolutely massive and surprisingly clean sewer!

Everyone Has ‘Car Brain’. “Online communities dedi...
Finished reading: Persian Fire by Tom Holland 📚 Fa...

Today’s ephemera: Wow! See the unbelievable mystery hole

Jo Walton writes about Heinlein’s Worst Novel. I 9...
I asked ChatGPT to write an episode of “Gilligan’s...
How Tom Brady’s Crypto Ambitions Collided With Rea...

Here are some funny tweets and a classic Norman Rockwell illustration

Today’s funny found photos, a meme, skeet and tweet and a vintage photo of Harrison Ford

Question for my vegetarian/vegan friends: Would you eat lab-grown meat?

Suddenly, It Looks Like We’re in a Golden Age for ...

I’m fiddling with my RSS/read-it-later setup—again!

I had thought the end of “Endeavour” might take pl...
We have watched four episodes of “Silo,” and so fa...
“Stunning”—Midjourney update wows AI artists with ...

“We are living through the end of the useful internet.”

Today is a day of petty disappointments. I’ve had ...
I’m disappointed that Reddit is jacking up its API...

📺 We watched the final two episodes of "Succession." I have thoughts. SPOILERS

‘They’re afraid their AIs will come for them’: Dou...
Reddit’s new API charges would cost the developer ...
I wrote this: Today’s data centers require extreme...

The threat of human extinction by AI is only scary for billionaires and centimillionaires

We recently learned about “Valerian and the City o...
Panpsychism is the view that the mind “or a mindli...
Possibilianism is a religious philosophy that’s op...
The iPhone will auto-reply to text messages—but on...
‘Ace of Cakes’ Creates “Star Trek: The Cake” ...

“I tried the AI novel-writing tool everyone hates, and it's better than I expected”

Jealous of other people's excellent videoconferencing backgrounds

Oracle’s Larry Ellison gears up to spend millions ...
If the Apple VR/AR headset debuts, and it’s as des...

Mimestream is a Mac Gmail client that’s worth paying for

“It makes you really appreciate how free we are as...
jwz: “Today I learned that Church Molestation Liab...
Kieran Culkin, who plays Roman on “Succession,” wo...
Today I learned the phrase “Taco Tuesday” is a reg...
Today I learned Jeff Bezos’s biological father was...
The Ugly Truth Behind “We Buy Ugly Houses”. ProPub...
Bluesky should be pronounced “blooski.” Follow me ...
For years I’ve complained that there’s no online e...
Today I learned there’s a “Babylon 5” animated mov...
America’s Caffeine Addiction: Why Some Experts Say...

That time Heather Armstrong roasted me on her popular blog, dooce

I’m on the hot new social app. @mitchw.bsky....
If you're looking to procrastinate, Midjourney is ...
It's hard to have a nap when there is a cat standi...
I’ve got a 1,500-word article due Thursday b...
Scientists have invented a technique for reading a...
My latest: VMware customers should find ‘exi...
Paramount Can’t Say No to the Man Behind ‘Yellowst...
ChatGPT is powered by these contractors making $15...
Steven Spainhouer’s son was working at Allen Prem...
Marissa Mayer says she wishes she’d bought Hulu or...
AI text generators are writing more of the interne...
TikTok tracked users who watched LGBTQ content. (W...
Elon Musk’s goal for Twitter is “unregretted user-...
Republicans have the answer to food insecurity in ...
Lines stretch down the block at food banks as cost...
The oats only need to soak two hours and I have an...
I’ve been awake less than a half hour and already ...
Corporate greed, not workers, is the cause of infl...
“Insufficiently Caffeinated” would be a good name ...
“… when you refuse to learn why something weird is...
Dave Winer: “I definitely want Bluesky to ju...
Dave Winer: “As a user, I no longer want to ...
Ostromizing democracy: Cory Doctorow discusses a p...

I used ChatGPT to do background research for an article

A new study by researchers at Duke University look...
Nature red of tooth and claw came to the backyard:...
Things I post that people seem to enjoy: Original...
I have been using Grammarly for a few weeks, and I...
Self-appointed virtue police at the National Cente...
I saw these baby geese and momma goose at the park...
Using the word “risible” makes you a p...
Optimism Optimized & Pessimism Prodded “An int...
Mastodon needs to be more user-friendly, or people...
Donald G. McNeil Jr. cites many reasons why US pan...

Cory Doctorow’s “Red Team Blues” is the most exciting technothriller about a 67-year-old accountant you’ll read this year 📚

California Isn’t Special: California’s housing problem isn’t what you think it is

I’d love to see a Star Trek miniseries focused on young James Kirk, in his first posting to a bridge crew.

"Picard" seemed to be setting up a spinoff focused on Seven of Nine, and I'm there for that.

Ever since I was a little kid, I have thought men’s suits from the 1930s-50s looked great.

“‘Hunger Games’ meets ‘Lord of the Flies’” among e...
Was this week’s “Picard” the first time “Star Trek...
We’ve been watching “Shadow and Bone.” I’m not int...

A bit of family history, from my father’s service in Word War II

I can spell “sovereignty” as long as I don’t think...

Shower thought: What’s the deal with Velcro, anyway? How long has it been around?

“The Mariko Aoki phenomenon (青木まりこ現象, Aoki Mariko ...
Gentleman on Twitter posts his “sleep stack”—12 pr...

On our walk today, the dog and I got caught in a surprise and intense hailstorm

Showerthought: Why don't the supporting characters in “The Office” just find other jobs?

Can we really be sure the new Microsoft Bing isn't conscious or intelligent?

AI is going to make it a lot harder for journalists, as CNET and other publishers turn to machines to generate copy.

I used to think I had become unplugged from pop culture. Now I think pop culture might not exist anymore.

“Procrastination is not a result of laziness or poor time management. Scientific studies suggest procrastination is due to poor mood management."

That was fast. I started a new job in September and was let go about 10 days ago.

We don’t need a new global town square to replace Twitter. We already have one: The Web.

A new Indiana Jones movie, starring 80-year-old Harrison Ford? Sure, why not?

What weird food habits did you have in your family when you were a kid? If you’re a parent, how would your kids answer that question?

How can the Democrats claim to be pro-union and pro-labor and also do this?

Epic Games' assertion that there's an iPhone market that Apple monopolizes, distinct from the smartphone market that includes Android, looks like bullshit to me.

Clashing privacy laws between the US and Europe spell trouble for big tech

Light and time are great ways to disinfect masks. Washing is generally unnecessary

The Amazon Critic Who Saw Its Power From the Inside: Tim Bray was a celebrated engineer at Amazon. Now, he is its highest-profile defector

David Gerrold’s 1983 novel “A Matter for Men” feat...

“Ghislaine, Is That You?”: Inside Ghislaine Maxwell’s Life on the Lam

Spies, Lies, and Stonewalling: What It’s Like to R...

Microsoft did a virtual-reality/augmented-reality thing to make video meetings look more like physical meetings

Julie got a new handbag. Sammy says, “Mine now!” 📷...
My reaction immediately before watching “Hamilton:...
The 1776 drinking game: Take a drink — of rum — ev...
‪I like that the instructions for Hot Pockets say ...
I’ve had to teach myself how to read books again. ...

Milton Glaser, Co-founder of New York Magazine and Creator of ‘I❤NY,’ Dies at 91

"You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument"

African safari journal – one year ago – we visit a tribal village

African safari journal – one year ago – never get tired of the elephants

“ ... trying to shame people into wearing condoms didn’t work—and it won’t work for masks either.”

The White House is taking increasing measures to protect Trump from covid, even as he insists publicly the disease is no big deal

Paradise, California, suffered extensive damage and deaths in 2018 forest fires, and is now grappling with the pandemic and recession. The high school graduating faces uncertainty with hope for the future

Africa journal – one year ago – spectacular leopard encounter

"City of Girls," by Elizabeth Gilbert, was very enjoyable and a nice change of pace from my usual reading 📚

Medical supply company threatens to sue to stop iFixit from distributing repair manuals

The EU has an opportunity to break Big Tech's monopolies by requiring interoperability

How to stop Google Calendar from automatically including Google Meet links in meeting invitations.

Nathan Lane’s performance in “City of Angels” is p...
We hate “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels,” but can’...

Africa journal - one year ago today - Tswana language lesson

African safari journal – one year ago today – a visit to a local village

Safari journal – one year ago today – we learn the local language and speak it badly

African safari journal – one year ago today – Camp Xakanaxa to Leroo La Tau

We are watching “The Great” and rewatching “Rome.”...

The real lesson of William Shatner's “Get a Life” sketch

Our African journal – One year ago today – At the Okavango Delta in Botswana

Julie received a text message that just said, “Mom...

Riot aftermath here in La Mesa, California: Murals by local artists cover smashed storefronts 📷

African travel journal – one year ago today – I complain like a Karen

African safari journal: One year ago today, Julie and I arrived in Africa

📷 Baked potato, deli turkey breast, spicy brown mu...

Pluralistic: Ferguson's first black mayor, why do protests become violent and more

📚Reading "The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic."

10 things Democrats could do right now - if they actually wanted to stop Trump’s power grab

How ‘antifa’ became a Trump catch-all www.politico...

RIP Irene Triplett, the last living person to receive a US Civil War pension

George Will: ‘There is no such thing as rock bottom for Trump. Assume the worst is yet to come.’

Fans rally around Crazy Fred’s, a comic book store...

Protesting is important, but it's not the hard thing, or the most important thing

Trump’s bailout czar makes out – how to stop police brutality

Protesters Dispersed With Tear Gas So Trump Could Pose at Church

An American Uprising: Who, really, is the agitator here? – David Remnick at The New Yorker

@dave Winer compares Trump to Captain Queeg — Old ...
Let’s just leave Trump in his protective bunker un...

Minneapolis has a deep history of police abuse and racism

Looting and arson come close to home (but we’re fine)

Protestors Criticized For Looting Businesses Without Forming Private Equity Firm First

New York couple decides to quarantine together after one date

🍿I watched the end of the Coen Brothers comedy “Ha...
Who’s watching Lawrence Welk anymore? My grandpare...
Julie and I watched “Dune” again not long ago. The...
On the It’s the Pictures That Got Small podcast: D...
📷 Two ducks 🦆 🦆 hanging out in the pond, a third d...
📽Last night we watched “Saving Mr. Banks,” about t...
Coronavirus: The Mask Wars – Science Vs Scientific...
“Shoe-leather” contact tracing works –...

If Not 10,000, How Many Steps Should We Be Walking Each Day?

What We Might Learn From The 1918 Flu Pandemic – F...
Knockoffs – 99% Invisible – Dapper Dan went from s...

A pandemic is no walk in the park, except yesterday that's exactly what it was

Jughead, 1970. It doesn’t require much individuali...
The death cult at the grocery store – Retail worke...
Why Is Facebook So Afraid of Checking Facts? – Fac...

Facebook’s Giphy acquisition would be a privacy disaster

Qanon is so popular because there are so many real-life conspiracies

New Christopher Pike "Trek" series in the pipeline. SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!

I like the way the dog looks at the camera for approval. "Did you see that move?"

The Saga of Michael Flynn – Politics doesn’t...

Rumors that some horror movies are cursed become their own kind of curse for the people who make those movies

Help Garry Armacost, a Vietnam vet, fight cancer and VA bureaucracy

Little Richard, Rock Pioneer Who Broke Musical Bar...
The Sopranos: How Would Tony Soprano Handle the Co...
My Facebook profile recently got upgraded to suppo...
Today (and yesterday) on Cory Doctorow’s Plu...
Ocasio-Cortez claps back at GOP criticism for play...
I think I will suggest to Julie that we should wat...
Wilford Brimley was only 48 when he appeared in &l...
As Restaurants and Stores Reopen, What’s Safe? – A...
Microsoft and AWS exchange poisoned pen blog posts...
Roaming ‘robodog’ politely tells Singa...
Zoom is adding data center capacity in Equinix, as...
Google unifies all of its messaging and communicat...
House GOP urge Trump against supporting additional...
James Carville Warns Trump: Your ‘Grifter&rs...
Which Supreme Court Justice Flushed the Toilet Dur...
Now I’m curious which book it was and what w...
Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic The TSA...
Supreme Court throws out convictions of New Jersey...
The first Google account you sign in to is set as ...
“She’s starting to shake! She’s ...
Everybody alive today will be somewhat germophobic...
[Several years ago] JULIE: “What is ‘m...
Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic ++ Alvi...
‪I am hosting a video conference for dozens or hun...
The grocery store was nearly out of our favorite b...
We watched the first episode of “Rome”...
We may be dramatically overestimating China’s capa...
Parking Lots Have Become a Digital Lifeline — With...
Over on Twitter, I’m suggesting to @MikeElga...
On Twitter, @mat asks: “With the benefit of ...

One year ago today I saw possibly the most ridiculous example of security theater I have ever witnessed

📺 I have finished watching I Claudius, for the fou...
I just want a professional haircut. I realize this...
The Hollywood Vigilante Actress Marisol Nichols, s...
“Having no plan is the plan! … Plans ...
As a newly self-employed person, I’m learnin...
John Cleese: “If you’re absolutely no ...
Hospital CEOs are keeping their seven-figure salar...
Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic ++ The ...
Larry Ellison Reveals His Big Data Battle Plan To ...
AWS engineer Tim Bray resigns from Amazon followin...
Inspired by a conversation with Mike Elgan yesterd...
This Woman Was Isolated In Her Nursing Home, So He...
Man In Quarantine Can’t Remember How Long It’s Bee...
The Scientists Who Won’t Give Up on the Warp...
Terry Pratchett: Doctor Who is not science fiction...
School bus converted to mobile, full-time off-grid...
It’s the 50th Anniversary of Humanity’s Favorite A...
The Coronavirus Is Rewriting Our Imaginations Scie...
Welcome to your work-from-home dystopia: Employers...
What The U.S. Might Learn From China’s Appro...
Boy raises a hammer during a solidarity rally for ...
Wearing a mask is for smug liberals. Refusing to i...
John Belushi reportedly visited the set of “...
The U.S. Needs Way More Than a Bailout to Recover ...
Airplane Mode – For grounded frequent flyers, this...
Increasingly Desperate Alex Jones Says He Will Kil...
Microsoft lays out more detail on its 5G, edge com...
Harlan Ellison: “I don’t take a piss w...
Me, deciding to take advantage of pandemic downtim...
Covid-19 is 9.5-44x more fatal than seasonal flu —...
ME (1 month ago today): “How is it April alr...
We watched the latest episode of “The Good F...

Trump goes postal, coronavirus in the UK vs. Ireland, and more on Cory Doctorow's Pluralistic.net

Minnie is recovering nicely, but she won't eat her regular kibble or canned food.

I've been drinking a meal replacement shake called Huel for breakfast for months

Kansas Republicans are fighting to kill Christians and Jews [Zack Budryk/The Hill]

Appalling/delightful Disney horror/comic mashups! IT heroes! Forging PDF signatures! And more!

Swiss physicist Nicolas Gisin may have solved one of the fundamental mysteries of physics: Does time exist?

Coronavirus breaks my iPhone: FaceID doesn't work when you wear a mask

Cory Doctorow's Pluralistic.net: Cleveland Plain Dealer massacre; TSA child molesters and more

Researchers are building nearly microscopic robots, made from living cells, that live in petri dishes

I still get occasional comments on this article I wrote 10 years ago. Ten years!

Something else to think about: Potential disruptions in the food supply chain.

The US is losing jobs drastically faster than other nations -- by design

A major medical staffing company just slashed benefits for doctors and nurses fighting coronavirus

Seth Davis was stranded at Los Angeles Airport for three months after his wallet was stolen Christmas Eve.

A Las Vegas farm feeds 4,000 pigs slops made from waste food from casinos. The farm is now struggling.

Glice is building artificial skating rinks with plastic panels instead of ice

Lax antitrust regulations killed a plan to stockpile ventilators

Andrew Sullivan uses his memories of the AIDS epidemic to cast light on coronavirus and society.

If we need to kill grandma and grandpa to save the economy, then fuck the economy.

People who say cruel things on the internet are often not the cartoon villains we imagine them to be.

Good news for gig workers in stimulus bill, but Uber CEO talks rubbish about “third way” to classify employees

Cory Doctorow reviews Thomas Pikkety's new book, "Capital and Ideology."

The travel, conference and tourism industry are going to be in recession for a long time after coronavirus is a distant memory.

"Even during a global pandemic, nobody in Boston eats manhattan clam chowder"

"Julia Roberts’ performance is the magic spell that makes Pretty Woman work."

Law firm warns work-from-home employees against eavesdropping by Alexa, baby monitors, etc.

Right to Repair is important during a pandemic, because medical professionals are the right people to make decisions on field-repairing hospital equipment, not med-tech company shareholders and their lawyers - Cory Doctorow

Senator Richard Burr Warned Of Coronavirus Effects In Private Meeting - NPR

Steve Sinofsky compares the evolution of the iPad Pro vs. laptops replacing many PCs and PC servers replacing mainframes.

Cory Doctorow: The Democrats' worst Congressman is out of a job

Beijing fears Covid-19 is a turning point for China and globalization

Jeet Heer: The Democratic party's DC leadership is failing the coronavirus test

I heard you like coronavirus memes so here are 28 coronavirus memes

When your phone links you to a crime: How law enforcement used a “geofence” warrant to identify a suspect of a crime he didn’t commit.

Cory Doctorow: "Bigoted Republican Congressjerk votes against coronavirus relief because it might cover same-sex partnerships."

NYT: Trump Now Claims He Always Knew the Coronavirus Would Be a Pandemic

Charter employees are fuming as the Internet and phone provider prohibits working from home, despite coronavirus.

Even with coronavirus, the US toilet paper supply remains strong. Interesting article for supply chain nerds.

The Man With 17,700 Bottles of Hand Sanitizer Just Donated Them

He Has 17,700 Bottles of Hand Sanitizer and Nowhere to Sell Them

Apple TV+ 'Foundation' series production halts over coronavirus fears

The Ezra Klein Show: Trump didn't break democracy. Broken democracy gave us Trump.

The Last Alternative: A 1978 Soviet TV adaptation of Isaac Asimov's "The Naked Sun"

Sisters Margaux and Mariel Hemingway struggled with the family history of depression, substance abuse and suicide

Americans only started calling our country "America" around the turn of the 20th Century. Previously, we called ourselves the "Union," "Republic," and even "Columbia" and Freedonia.

Republican Darrell Issa moves on to face Democrat opponent Ammar Campa-Najjar in the November election for CA-50

ICE's New York office uses a rigged algorithm to keep virtually all arrestees in detention. The ACLU says it's unconstitutional

Inside the race to build the best quantum computer on Earth

I tried to go 24 hours without touching my face. I made it 18 minutes

How Facebook has become one of the least trusted and most profitable companies in the world.

The true story behind "You've Got Mail:" The movie was based on a real conflict between a New York Barnes & Noble and a local children's bookstore.

California Legislature’s Battle Over ‘Gig Economy’...

This silly little $6.50 plastic gadget makes walking the dog more comfortable

A California entrepreneur plans a limited production run of the iconic 80s sportscar, the DeLorean

The story about how Mike "The Monkees" Nesmith's mother invented liquid paper is surprisingly interesting.

Affluent parents are giving their children growth hormones, to keep the kids from growing up short.

Meet the Unlikely Hero Saving California’s Oldest Weekly Paper: I love this story so, so much

An Oklahoma University journalism professor likened the phrase "OK Boomer" to the N-word. This is such a weird story

Matthew Yglesias: Mainstream Democrats shouldn't be freaking out about Sanders

Trump cannot go a day without committing an impeachable offense, and his lies are becoming more blatant and obviously untrue.

Leaked audio captures Bloomberg defending racial profiling and stop-and-frisk policing.

The theme to the "Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show." I loved this show when I was a little boy. If my mother had to listen to it every day on the living room TV, I'm surprised she let me live.

Forget self-driving cars. We already have technology that can transform cities and help save the planet: Buses

Column: San Diego author Laura Preble turns a germaphobe into a heroine you’ll want to hug [San Diego Union-Tribune]

'People were breaking down crying': Iowa vote-counters tell of caucus debacle [Tom Cullen/The Guardian]

How an 'election meltdown' could throw the US into crisis in 2020 [Fresh Air]

"Spenser Confidential," a movie based on the Robert B. Parker novels, hits Netfllix March 6.

Quiz: Which of these 2020 Democrats agrees with you most? I came out Mayor Pete and Yang, which wow. [washingtonpost.com]

How is the most unpopular and divisive president on his way to a second term? – theguardian.com

La Mesa Shop Owner Arrested After Attack on San Diego Media (I have a slight personal connection to this story)

Martin Luther King: Blacks and poor people get "welfare" but whites and rich people get "subsidies"

TSA issues apology to Native American woman who had braids pulled by agent

Interview with Carol Downer and Francie Hornstein, who helped women get safer abortions in the 1960s before the procedure became legal in the US.

Jeffrey Epstein's arrest is leading to "I told you so" from supporters of #pizzagate, Qanon and other conspiracy theorists.

Surveillance cameras show that bystanders will intervene to help in cases of emergency, debunking the so-called "bystander effect" that's been common wisdom in the social sciences for 50 years.

The Pinboard social bookmarking service turns 10 and creator Maciej Ceglowski celebrates with his usual dry, delightful wit

Good podcast about a bizarre relationship between psychiatrist and patient

The decentralized, open source Mastodon social network has been invaded by Gab, a pro-Nazi platform.

Netflix's "Another Life" features Katee Sackhoff as commander of a starship making first contact between Earth and an an alien civilization, in the near future.

John Carpenter’s “The Thing” but with adorable cla...

When Natural Disasters Strike, Operation BBQ Swoops In With Relief — And Ribs

Oh, lovely, a bipartisan election hack alert law bill for Mitch McConnell to feed into the shredder

Rural America Might See More 5G With FCC's New 2.5GHz Order

Built on Sand: “Wherever we go, we’re surrou...
RIP Rip Torn: Actor’s actor, political activist, b...

Bill Gates envies Steve Jobs's ability to mesmerize people with nonsense

Get a Spine! Stories about people – including a sc...
Maureen Dowd: It’s Nancy Pelosi’s Parade - The New...