Lawrence O'Donnell delivers a scathing rebuke of the media's failure to hold Trump accountable for his lies and non-answers given throughout his recent hour-long press conference at Mar-A-Lago. [more inside]

New Consumer Reports study on getting your address, phone number, etc. removed from sites like Spokeo: "Data Defense: Evaluating People-Search Site Removal Services". "a group of companies offers to remove people’s personal data from people-search sites for fees ranging from $19.99 per year to more than $1,000 per year..." They tested 7 removal services to try to delete participant info from 13 people-search sites. While the study's authors "do not consider the results statistically significant or nationally representative", they found that "As a whole, people-search removal services are largely ineffective." and "Manual opt-outs were more effective than people-search removal services but were also far from perfect." (19-page PDF including Methodology and Limitations sections.)

200 MW of Power (sorry Doc) This article was interesting to me, as it took me back to the days when I finished my math degree with some study of crypto, and their explanation of how the 512 bit key ended up in use.

Also: be extremely wary of the research mentioned in the article, without approval from the company and maybe some legal advice.

Also Also: not quite 1.2 “jigga” watts.

The Olympic Village has free healthcare. The United States, of course, does not:

In the days following her victory, US rugby player Ariana Ramsey made appointments with the Village gynecologist, dentist and ophthalmologist. “Like, what?” she said in a post on TikTok describing her new discovery. The Village also offers cardiology, orthopedics, physiotherapy, psychology, podiatry and, of course, sports medicine—all at no cost to the athletes. Ramsey came to Paris as a rugby player, she is leaving as a universal free healthcare advocate.

The trailer for director Jason Reitman's "thriller-comedy" about the beginnings of SNL has landed. [more inside]

A weird, whimsical game is hiding in the bookshelves at Los Angeles Public Library LA Times: "Imagine that your local public library is inhabited by an undiscovered race of tiny people. They’ve hidden themselves in the racks, tucked behind books and magazines, amidst history and fiction, new media and old." [more inside]

Did Camus confound the judges with an absurdist goalkeeper’s lament? [lithub] [more inside]

Each project moving through the Lego Ideas program starts the same way: a Lego designer tries to replicate the original fan creation in the real world to see what works and what doesn’t.

Eight months and 3000 people: Furiosa is Australia's biggest, most expensive movie ever. Director George Miller reveals how the latest Mad Max came to be, and why Anya Talyor-Joy was the right actor to take over from Charlize Theron.

A former AdVon employee told The Verge that the content that AdVon says is created by humans is nearly identical to the AI-generated content they created while working there. Freelancers who were initially hired as writers were reassigned to roles of editors and tasked with making AI-generated writing sound human. The tool AdVon used — called MEL internally — generated hundreds of words on products using bare-bones prompts like “best televisions,” spitting out links to product pages on Amazon. from Chum King Express [The Verge; ungated]

The Boy Who Gave Away The Bomb [ungated] - "Drawing on intelligence sources in Russia and the United States, we had identified [Ted] Hall as an atomic spy, the long-rumored third spy at America's Los Alamos bomb laboratory." [more inside]

(CW: Suicide) The only thing as fascinating as opulent wealth is its sudden disintegration Candice and Brandon Miller showed the public a world of glittering parties and vacations. The money to sustain it did not exist. [more inside]

Emily Wilson has translated the Iliad and Odyssey, and teaches classics at the University of Pennsylvania. Recently, she was interviewed ...by the journal Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. [more inside]

With Kamala Harris' Vice President pick Tim Walz rapidly becoming everyone's favorite dad and Mr. Rogers substitute, Jason Cosper's Tim Walz Fixed Your Bicycle -- a rif on Mat Honan's 2008 Barack Obama Is Your New Bicycle (yes, you are that old now) -- has collected a singularity's worth of wholesome male role model positivity. [more inside]

Three young boys, the most famous dinosaur in history, and a prehistoric discovery that left them speechless. Two young brothers and their cousin made the discovery of a lifetime whilst hiking in North Dakota — a T-rex fossil poking out of the ground.

Spiders of Paradise is an upcoming exhibit of large scale portraits of tiny colorful Peacock Spiders (Genus Maratus) by artist Maria Fernanda Cardosa. Here's a short video about the project.

"You probably know the start of this Olympic story, but do you know how it finished?" Before coming to the Olympics, Equatorial Guinea's Eric Moussambani had never seen a 50m pool. Aaron Smith tells us an incredible story that starts with 'Eric the Eel' answering a call for volunteers, and ends in a way you might not expect.

"With a Boob Out" is the new music video from Australian folk music singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Alana Wilkinson. [Despite the title and the use of the word "boob" this post is entirely SFW] [more inside]

Israel Accused of Running "Torture Camps" as Video Emerges of Soldiers Raping Palestinian Prisoner - Democracy Now covers the days-old story that's still not quite got any significant coverage in Western media: 'The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has published a major new report documenting how the Israeli prison system has become "a network of torture camps," where physical, psychological and sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners is normalized and routine. The report, titled "Welcome to Hell," collects the testimony of 55 Palestinians who were detained by Israeli authorities since October 7 and later released, almost all without charges. This comes as a group of U.N. experts condemned the widespread torture of Palestinians and as Israel's Channel 12 News aired shocking footage of Israeli soldiers sexually abusing a prisoner at the Sde Teiman army base, where thousands of detainees from Gaza are held. Sarit Michaeli, the international advocacy lead for B'Tselem, says the abuse in Israeli prisons is "systemic, ongoing and state-sanctioned," reflecting the cruelty and thirst for revenge among a growing number of Israelis. "They would like to have a completely open field in terms of what they can do to Palestinians," says Michaeli.' [more inside]

NYT: Wirecutter takes on the perennial question "Frankly, some people are just monsters. And those monsters are our loved ones." [more inside]

Autostraddle columnist Em Win chronicles her experience with Ozempic, the good and bad.

YouTube: Democracy Manifest. Jack Karlson (may be an alias) has passed away, aged 82. BBC: A man responsible for one of the most viral clips in Australian history has died at the age of 82. The prison escapee and on-again off-again petty criminal ... shot to fame in 2009, after a clip of his dramatic 1991 arrest outside a Chinese restaurant in Brisbane was uploaded to the internet and enthralled the world. TV report. Guardian: "As a final send off, we gave uncle a last taste of red wine through his drip just before it was removed" she said. Metro: Yet despite his viral fame, Karlson was not tech-savvy and shunned the internet, never truly understanding the true impact of his role in popular culture. ‘He is folklore and doesn’t even know it,’ Davis said.

Unusual and often breathtaking, the genre is relatively unknown in the West. Lovely article introducing and situating North Korean science fiction as its own genre

The transformative power of a northern Canadian wrestling tour. Sonya Ballantyne and Stephan Peterson directed The Death Tour, about a Northern Manitoba indie wrestling circuit.

"The Giant by N. C. Wyeth (1882 – 1945) has hung in the Dining Room of Westtown School since 1923, a memorial from members of the Westtown Class of 1910 to their deceased classmate, William Clothier Engle (1891 – 1916). Commissioned by the class, the painting pays tribute to an artistic young man lost in the prime of his life." A short film was recently released to explore the painting and its significance further. "Headmaster James Walker and his wife picked up the painting at Wyeth’s studio and carried it back to the school in an orchard truck." At the Brandywine Museum of Art.

Why I Finally Quit Spotify The platform interface has gradually made it harder to find the music I want to listen to. With the latest app updates, I’d had enough. [Kyle Chayka for the New Yorker, ungated] [more inside]

Criticism is an act of autobiography. The work of making an argument, coming to a judgment, or simply choosing which books or objects to give time and attention to is inevitably, helplessly, an expression of values—and an expression of self. Our tastes tell on us as much as our syntax and tone; that mysterious compound called sensibility is formed by some strange alchemy of innate tendencies, life experiences, and material circumstances. In the pursuit of explicating a text, observing its patterns and structure, how it works, what it means, I also explicate myself—revealing what catches my interest, where my attention lingers. I might do this more, or less, intentionally, but I always do it. from A Reviewer’s Life by Christine Smallwood [The Yale Review]

Only 50 of these tiny frogs are left in the wild, but a drop of thousands of eggs in Kosciuszko National Park may change that. More than 3400 southern corroboree frog eggs have been released into their natural habitat in the NSW Snowy Mountains in the hope of bringing the iconic species back from the brink of extinction.

The fact that so many people across the political spectrum appeared to believe his post to be true hasn't bolstered his faith in the critical-thinking skills of the electorate, Rick said — though he accepts that blame for the misapprehension starts with him. "In terms of media literacy, and those kinds of things, I guess I was already in the mud rolling around," he said. from The author of the viral joke post about JD Vance having sex with a couch breaks his silence

"[U]nhumans oppose everything that makes up humanity. As they are opposed to humanity itself, they place themselves outside of the category completely....they rob and they kill...They don't believe what they say. They don't care about winning debates. They don't even want equality. They just want an excuse to destroy everything. They want an excuse to destroy you." So begins Unhumans, an Amazon best-seller by Jack Posobiec. Cover blurbs lauding the book are by J.D. Vance, Donald Trump, Jr. and Michael T. Flynn. [more inside]

When a man obsessed with woodblocks began to do business with a man obsessed with medical antiques, their relationship flowered — until it soured. By Christopher Kuo for the NYT. For decades, beginning in the late 1990s, Washington, 62, created thousands of ornate woodblocks and used them to make intricate prints of all kinds of things: biblical imagery, erotica, anatomical illustrations, the stark motifs of German expressionism. Mastery was never enough for him, though. To profitably sell woodblocks — which can be an oddity in the art market — Washington decided he also needed myth. So he created elaborate origin stories for his pieces.

‘Weird’ And The Breaking of The Fascist Fever “I hate when people laugh at me,” he said somberly at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “I hate it. Hate it. It’s so disrespectful.” This wasn’t a bit, or some practiced schtick he does for his adoring crowds. The Big Boy meant what he said: Don’t laugh at me. I don’t like it.

The owner of Furaffinity for most of its existence, the central hub for the Furry community, Dragoneer, has passed away. He has passed at 44 after struggling with an unknown unusual lung condition, possibly caused by A recalled CPAP machine known to cause deaths. He documented his months-long struggle to get medical treatment, Highlighting the financial burden and difficulty of coverage.

For more than two decades, through two wars and domestic upheaval, the idea that al-Qaeda acted alone on 9/11 has been the basis of U.S. policy. A blue-ribbon commission concluded that Osama bin Laden had pioneered a new kind of terrorist group—combining superior technological know-how, extensive resources, and a worldwide network so well coordinated that it could carry out operations of unprecedented magnitude. This vanguard of jihad, it seemed, was the first nonstate actor that rivaled nation-states in the damage it could wreak. That assessment now appears wrong. from New 9/11 Evidence Points to Deep Saudi Complicity [The Atlantic; ungated]

White-tailed eagles spend a year caring for injured chick.

You ever try making a sourdough starter, but around day three, it starts to smell super pukey, like the Devil's Own Cheese? Apparently that's due to pH levels letting the wrong bacteria thrive before the right ones settle in. Turns out you can skip that foul-smelling phase by simply using pineapple juice rather than water for your initial starter (and part two) to get the pH just right from the start.

BABYMETAL x ‪ElectricCallboy‬ - RATATATA

"I’m working on a list of corporate jargon alternatives." Matt Watson proposes that we replace modern business phrases with "equally swanky alternatives from English of a bygone era." Examples: changing "I will check on that and circle back with you." to "I will investigate the matter and bring thee word again." and switching from "This is our new normal." to "Of such is our new state of affairs."

The once high flying staple of macho swaggering Dad Rock, Aerosmith has called it quits on touring. Last year during a September show on their "Peace Out Farewell Tour", Steven Tyler (75 at the time) damaged his vocal cords to the point of bleeding. He has been unable to recover to the point of performing. [more inside]

Whatever your thoughts are about Minnesota Governor Tim Walz becoming the USA Vice-President candidate on the Kamala Harris ticket, you probably have several questions along these lines: What is hotdish, how is it different from a casserole (because it definitely is)and why do Minnesotans call it that?!

This week, Elon Musk has added to his already sizable legal problems with two cases on both sides of the courtroom. On the plaintiff side, he has sued the Global Alliance for Responsible Media over them encouraging advertisers to pull ads from Twitter over hate speech and bigotry on the site. On the defendant side, Michigan AG Dana Nessel has opened a criminal investigation into his PAC over their voter registration website violating state laws. [more inside]

Having recently broken a months-long silence on his YouTube channel with another collaboration with Chrystabell, David Lynch reveals in an interview with Sight and Sound that he can no longer direct films in person, due to emphysema contracted after years of cigarette smoking. [more inside]

These women want to be sterilised — they have to fight the law, their country, family and history. Women in Japan face a $4800 fine if they have a sterilisation procedure without their spouse's consent, but there is now a fight to have that changed.

Hugo and Nebula-winning sci-fi writer Robert J. Sawyer was sysop of the Compuserve WordStar forum. Now, he's taken the files of the last released version of seminal word processor WordStar 7.0D for DOS, released in 1992, its company long defunct, and released it, ready to run with two DOS emulators, manuals, and odds and ends from the old Compuserve forum libraries, on his website in a 649 megabyte ZIP download: The Complete WordStar Archive. WordStar is still beloved of some professional writers, including George R.R. Martin. Why use WordStar in 2024? You can read his essay about that. [more inside]

Judge Orders Part of African Art Collection Discovered in Houston Shed Sold to Settle Debt Mysterious smuggled art, evil landlord, embezzlement of civic funds,and bankruptcy.

In December, Night_owl alerted us to Rosemary Hayne, who was sentenced to a job in fast food for throwing a bowl inside a Chipotle in Cleveland. Grub Street has just posted a follow-up, The Empathy Punishment.
(archive link)

Just sixteen days after Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 election, and less than a week after securing the nomination herself, Kamala Harris has officially announced her running mate: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. A true dark horse candidate, Walz emerged from a crowded field of hopefuls, including astronaut and senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, popular Kentucky governor Andy Beshear, and runner-up Gov. Josh Shapiro of critical swing state Pennsylvania. The affable Walz -- a former schoolteacher, National Guardsman, and chair of the Democratic Governors Association -- has a track record of winning in conservative terrain and delivering progressive victories despite slim legislative margins. He's also proven to be an extraordinarily effective communicator, winning over skeptics with folksy Midwestern charm and coining a catchphrase -- "weird" -- that captured the zeitgeist and pithily summed up everything wrong with Trump-era Republicans. Walz will join Harris at a debut rally in Philadelphia tonight (awkward), with the Democratic National Convention starting in two weeks and plans for a VP debate with JD Vance still up in the air. [more inside]

The Harmony Codex (YouTube playlist, full album): Having grown up with Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream, Yes and King Crimson, it staggers me that I've managed to get to 2024 without previously having encountered Steven Wilson. Headphones, an ad blocker and a little over an hour of distraction-free time strongly recommended. Music and visuals are both extraordinary.

Armand "Mondo" Duplantis breaks own pole vault world record, vaulting a new world record height of 6.25m (20 ft 6 inches). He had earlier secured the gold medal and set a new Olympic record of 6.10m. Detailed analysis of his unorthodox technique (WaPo gift link). [more inside]

We Bought Everything Needed to Make $3 Million Worth of Fentanyl. All It Took Was $3600 and a Web Browser. (slReuters; interactive)