From Zeynep Tufekci, a reminder that people who get the measles “lose much of their immune memory”, which leaves them “more vulnerable to many other diseases for years afterward”.
What If, Indeed
Hamilton Nolan, in a 2021 piece for The Columbia Journalism Review, under the headline “Bezos Has Been Hands-Off. What if That Changes?”:
Bezos has given the paper the resources to be bigger and better,
and, by most accounts, pretty much stayed out of the newsroom’s
hair...
More good reporting from Wired on white nationalist Stephen Miller’s role the...
More good reporting from Wired on white nationalist Stephen Miller’s role the ongoing coup. “Miller is carrying out the daily work of governance while Trump serves as head of state, focusing on the fun parts of being president.”
Jeff Bezos Takes Control of the Washington Post’s Opinion Pages; Asserts Exclusive Focus ‘In Support and Defense of Two Pillars: Personal Liberties and Free Markets’
Jeff Bezos, in a memo he shared publicly on X:
I shared this note with the Washington Post team this morning:
I’m writing to let you know about a change coming to our
opinion pages.
We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two
pillars: personal li...
How Elon Musk Executed His Takeover of the Federal Bureaucracy
This is excellent reporting by the Times (although at times it makes Musk’s actions sound heroic rather than unconstitutional, criminal, and treasonous) on how Elon Musk took over a huge chunk of the US government, which he still controls today. It began at a Republican fund...
Gene Hackman Dies at 95
nytimes.com/2025/02/27/movies/gene-hackman-unforgiven-bonnie-clyde.html
Loved this remembrance by Manohla Dargis in The New York Times:
When Clint Eastwood needed a performer who could persuasively go
boot-toe to boot-toe with him in his brutal 1992 western
Unforgiven, he needed an actor who was his towering equal
onscreen. Eastwood needed a...
From Rolling Stone, a list of 20 essential movies starring Gene Hackman....
From Rolling Stone, a list of 20 essential movies starring Gene Hackman. The French Connection, The Conversation, Superman, No Way Out, Mississippi Burning, The Royal Tenenbaums. Phew.
Touch Grass is a screen time limiting app for iOS that requires...
Touch Grass is a screen time limiting app for iOS that requires photographic evidence of you actually touching grass to unblock apps on your phone. (Is there a “touch snow” option?)
Radiolab
• WNYC Studios
Revenge of the Miasma
Today we uncover an invisible killer hidden, for over a hundred years, by reasonable disbelief. Science journalist extraordinaire Carl Zimmer tells us the story of a centuries-long battle of ideas that came to a head, with tragic consequences, in the very recent past. His la...
Excusing Yourself
628: There’s a Certain Smell
Pre-show: Marco messed with the system
Zoom F1
USB Pre 2
Schiit Jotunheim
Follow-up:
New “Boundless” immersive episode: Arctic Surfing
Bono Autobiography
Prospects for humanoid robots
macOS testing (via Anonymous)
With apologies to Joe Rosensteel
Exhibit A
Exhi...
How to Persuade the Vaccine Hesitant
I loved this short thread from Andrew Miller about how his pediatrician wife helps parents who are skeptical of vaccinating their children change their minds.
So my wife is a pediatrician and works in some hospitals with high vaccine and intervention hesitation (suburban o...
In What We Trust?
The central point of Dr. Brooke Harrington’s essay about the destabilization of “basic systems we count on to make our society function” over the past month is bang on:
This promises to be a tough way for Americans to learn a critical fact too often overlooked: that one of ...
What Makes for an Effective Boycott?
From Choose Democracy and Build the Resistance, Boycott Central is a fledgling resource about boycotts. I found this checklist of requirements for effective boycotts really interesting & useful:
a target (who is supposed to change behavior)
a demand (so the target ...
When Social Security checks stop showing up because of gov’t employee purges,...
When Social Security checks stop showing up because of gov’t employee purges, millions of Americans will finally understand what’s going on. “It is no exaggeration to say this will kill people — mainly people who are elderly, disabled and/or poor.”
“Democracy Dies in Darkness” Wasn’t a Warning; It Was Our End Goal....
“Democracy Dies in Darkness” Wasn’t a Warning; It Was Our End Goal. “When it comes to choosing whether or not to resist authoritarianism, I believe Snyder meant to write, ‘Do not! Obey in advance!’”
DOGE’s Chaos Reaches Antarctica. “If the Antarctic program budget is cut, then...
DOGE’s Chaos Reaches Antarctica. “If the Antarctic program budget is cut, then they’ll…get to the point where they can’t even keep the station open. If the South Pole [station] is shut down, it’s basically nearly impossible to bring it back up.”
“The Covid Alarmists Were Closer to the Truth Than Anyone Else”
From David Wallace-Wells, a reminder that those who were considered alarmists at the beginning of the pandemic were ultimately proved right — it actually was an alarming situation.
Today, the official Covid death toll in the United States stands at 1.22 million. Excess mor...
Women Are Scared And Scrapping Their Baby Plans Under This Administration &...
Women Are Scared And Scrapping Their Baby Plans Under This Administration & For Good Reason. “I don’t want to die trying to have another baby. I don’t want to leave my own living child motherless.”
The February 28 Economic Blackout
A broad range of Americans are organizing a 24-hour economic boycott on February 28th to protest the ongoing actions of the Trump administration and to send a message to corporate America. From The People’s Union USA website, here are the details:
The boycott runs all da...