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kottke.org Valid
Text • Jason Kottke

Study: “A few weeks of X’s algorithm can...

Study: “A few weeks of X’s algorithm can make you more right‑wing – and it doesn’t wear off quickly.” People using the “For You” feed were more likely to favor GOP policies, less likely to want Trump prosecuted, and were more pro-Russia (vs Ukraine).

Longreads Valid
Text • Peter Rubin

Wish You Were Her

“Aboard the celebrity impersonators’ cruise.”

kottke.org Valid
Text • Jason Kottke

Can You See the World When You Close Your Eyes?

Aphantasia (the inability to visualize) is one of those things that I find endlessly fascinating; I’ve written about it a few times since 2016, most recently in response to Larissa MacFarquhar’s 2025 piece for the New Yorker: Some People Can’t See Mental Images. The Conseq...

Colossal Valid
Text • Kate Mothes

Bubbles, Algae, and Plastics Go Haute Couture in ‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’

Bubbles, Algae, and Plastics Go Haute Couture in ‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’The show opening at the Brooklyn Museum this week reaffirms Iris van Herpen’s one-of-a-kind approach to sustainable, sculptural fashion.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Bubbles, Algae, and Plastics Go Haute Couture in ‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’ appeared first on Colossal.

kottke.org Valid
Text • Jason Kottke

We’re Diversifying the University by Hiring More...

We’re Diversifying the University by Hiring More Crackpots. “For too long, the university has ignored the wisdom of the donor class and hired based on academic excellence. Regrettably, this has led to the underrepresentation of discredited viewpoints…”

Longreads Valid
Text • Carolyn Wells

I Work in Hollywood. Everyone Who Used to Make TV Is Now Secretly Training AI

"For screenwriters like me—and job seekers all over—AI gig work is the new waiting tables."

kottke.org Valid
Text • Jason Kottke

Digg has (sorta) relaunched (again) and instead of an...

Digg has (sorta) relaunched (again) and instead of an underwhelming Reddit clone, it’s now just scraping noted fascist cesspool “X” for AI news and telling us that Sam Altman is influential in AI? This is embarrassing. It’ll probably be a huge success.

kottke.org Valid
Text • Jason Kottke

How NASA Built Artemis II’s Fault-Tolerant...

How NASA Built Artemis II’s Fault-Tolerant Computer. “Every subsystem must be designed to survive cosmic-ray bit flips, radiation-induced latch-ups, and hardware faults without a single second of downtime.” (A: An extreme level of redundancy.)

Longreads Valid
Text • Cheri Lucas Rowlands

The Clippening

"'Clippers' cut up podcasts, videos, and events into infinite shorter versions. How long can they ride the algorithms?"

Longreads Valid
Text • Courtney E. Martin

‘This Was Our Life’: A Reading List on Multigenerational Caregiving

Five stories on the overwhelming, profound art of caring for other people.

xkcd.com Valid
Text

Pullback Drive

"How does the spring not run out almost immediately?" "We pull it back REALLY far."

Dan’s Polaroids
Text

05.05.2026

A building with old-school advertising saying Cameras and Filme.
Cameras und Filme

The Atlas Obscura Podcast Updates instantly via WebSub
Audio • SiriusXM Podcasts & Atlas Obscura

The Paris Sewer Museum

We dive into the dirty history of the famed Paris sewer system, from its unorthodox cleaning methods, to a pneumatic postal service that ran via the sewer, to… a poop tax.

We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or a story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com

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The Rewatchables
Audio

‘Tropic Thunder’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Van Lathan, and Joel Anderson

You never go full rewatch. The guys head to the jungles of Vietnam to revisit Ben Stiller’s 2008 action comedy, ‘Tropic Thunder,’ starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Brandon T. Jackson, Matthew McConaughey, and Tom Cruise.

Producers: Craig Horlbeck, Chia Hao Tat, Eduardo Ocampo, and Matt Pevic

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Daring Fireball Valid
Text • Daring Fireball Department of Commerce

[Sponsor] Drata

drata.com/daring

Leverage autonomous AI agents to automate compliance, manage internal and third-party risk, and continuously prove your security posture.

Link: drata.com/daring

Simon Willison's Weblog Supports Webmention
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Thoughts on GitLab's workforce reduction" and "structural and strategic decisions"

GitLab Act 2 There's a lot going on in this announcement from GitLab about the "workforce reduction" and "structural and strategic decisions" they are making with respect to the agentic era. They're "planning to reduce the number of countries by up to 30% where we have smal...

Daring Fireball Valid
Text • John Gruber

iOS 26.5 Includes Beta Support for End-to-End Encrypted RCS Messaging

apple.com/newsroom/2026/05/end-to-end-encrypted-rcs-messaging-begins-rolling-out-today-in-beta/

Apple Newsroom: Starting today, end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging begins rolling out in beta for iPhone users running iOS 26.5 with supported carriers and Android users on the latest version of Google Messages. When RCS messages are end-to-end encrypted, they can’t be r...

kottke.org Valid
Text • Jason Kottke

Remember Desktop Tower Defense ? I played it for a bit...

Remember Desktop Tower Defense? I played it for a bit this weekend and it’s still great fun. One of the very best games from the Flash era.

Rick Beato Updates instantly via WebSub
Video

The Secret Behind Toto’s “Africa” #guitarist #song #shorts

kottke.org Valid
Text • Jason Kottke

Taken : this is a web page that shows how much data your...

Taken: this is a web page that shows how much data your browser can collect that websites can use to “fingerprint” your device, even without cookies. “It identified your device with enough specificity to distinguish it from most others on the internet.”