September 21, 2023
Best Foot Forward
Oh no! NFTs are worthless!
What's an Enter Key?
A story about plumbing and people, and a man called Fran: Here was the amazing thing—both men were skilled, even brilliant plumbers.
They loved to talk about their craft, and I enjoy being around people like that.
They told stories about horrible, disgusting situations they’d been involved in,
Ones that left them covered in shit or “things you don’t want to know about.”
They admired our guest-room bathroom’s toilet, where the smoke had been.
It was vintage. “That is one of the best flushing toilets ever made,” Greg said.
He assured me that some people would pay real money to own one of those.
Stone-age Hominids Invented Lincoln Logs
It’s not language that makes you Latino
The 'no sabo kids' are pushing back on Spanish-language shaming. Being Latino isn’t a monolith — some may speak Spanish, some may speak Indigenous dialects and some may only know English. Mala Muñoz, co-host of Locatora Radio (episodes): “I grew up just constantly hearing the reason dad speaks terrible Spanish is because he wasn’t allowed to speak Spanish. It was kept from him. They were being beaten at school. And that’s why he speaks his Spanglish, and that’s why we speak our hybridized Spanglish.”
How Bangladesh removed lead from turmeric spice — and saved lives.
Rumble at the Best Buy
Tech Talk with Tim and Ted is a semi-improvised narrative podcast about technology and emotional labour, told in the form of an Apple evangelist podcast. Learn how to download the Spotify app, update your printer firmware, and how to get your wife back. (I haven't listened to anything else in the last two weeks and I can't stop laughing.)
Succession: The Reality TV Show
News Corporation and Fox News chair Rupert Murdoch announces he will step down from the helm of his media empire, handing control to his son Lachlan. (SLCNN)
How will we care for our elderly?
There is no “You’re doing great, Mama” discourse on Facebook for those who care for elders. We are still very much in the era where caring for old people is considered a dreadful task worthy of pity. [more inside]
Here are details on the grisly deaths of Elon Musk’s Neuralink monkeys
Elon Musk denied claims that Neuralink’s monkey test subjects died as a result of its brain implants — but Wired points out some documents that suggest otherwise. On Tuesday, Neuralink announced it’s starting in-human trials for people with quadriplegia. Letters sent to top officials at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by a medical ethics group call on the agency to investigate Musk’s claims that monkeys who died during trials at the company were terminally ill and did not die as a result of Neuralink implants. [Content Warning: descriptions of animal abuse/cruelty]
BBC local radio cuts: "ageist and ableist"
Sophie Little, broadcaster on BBC Local Radio in Norfolk has been let go after 15 years. Treasure Quest, which she broadcast on Sunday mornings, has been a Radio Norfolk cult favourite for 15 years. It saw listeners solve a series of clues which guided presenters around Norfolk, visiting communities. She prefaced her last gig with 2 minutes of context & criticism of the cuts. This "rant" was excised from the BBC Sounds [digital on-demand service] version of her programme. [more inside]
The Ultimate Phantasmal Machine
The magical credo, “what we think we are”, has a positive and a negative aspect. On the positive side, it promises a world subdued to will. On the negative side, it threatens the possibility of becoming a captive to one’s own thought. If the world is to be subdued to thought, then thought must itself be subdued to will; but that is an unwinnable struggle if “you can no more keep a thought to yourself than you can hold a monopoly in the sunshine”. If your thought can penetrate and control everything, then it can also penetrate you, leaving you merely transparent, the will-less vehicle of thought, spilling in all directions, rather like radiation. from Radioactive Fictions: Marie Corelli and the Omnipotence of Thoughts
Project 2025
Conservative groups draw up plan to dismantle the US government and replace it with Trump's vision - "Led by the long-established Heritage Foundation think tank and fueled by former Trump administration officials, the far-reaching effort is essentially a government-in-waiting for the former president's return — or any candidate who aligns with their ideals and can defeat President Joe Biden in 2024." [link-heavy FPP] [more inside]
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