The War on DEI Is a Smoke Screen. “MAGA’s attacks on ‘wokeness’...
The War on DEI Is a Smoke Screen. “MAGA’s attacks on ‘wokeness’ and diversity, equity, and inclusion are a thinly veiled attack on the Civil Rights Movement itself.”
Subscribe
Jason Kottke's weblog, home of fine hypertext products since 1998
- Public lists
-
Featured
- Fetched
Ethan Marcotte resigned from his job at 18F (a GSA subsidiary) rather...
Ethan Marcotte resigned from his job at 18F (a GSA subsidiary) rather than participate in the Trump/Musk purge of gov’t employees. “I didn’t want to sit down with anyone involved in that, and pretend like any part of their work was lawful, legitimate, or moral.”
Musk and the Trump Administration are lying about not purging anyone from...
Musk and the Trump Administration are lying about not purging anyone from the FAA involved in safety. A fired FAA employee: “The danger to the national airspace can’t be understated. This is a very real threat to the American flying public.”
In case you need a new t-shirt: READ BOOKS PUNCH NAZIS. “All...
In case you need a new t-shirt: READ BOOKS PUNCH NAZIS. “All proceeds from this campaign are going to SafePlace International in Oakland.”
150-Year-Olds Aren’t Collecting Social Security
Elon Musk has claimed that his “DOGE” team has found evidence of “massive fraud” at the Social Security Administration, alleging that 150-year-old Americans were receiving benefit checks. I saw this claim easily debunked over the weekend, but Wired has a good writeup of it. ...
Marisa Kabas: Elon Musk & his young acolytes are actual, open Nazis....
Marisa Kabas: Elon Musk & his young acolytes are actual, open Nazis. “Whatever comes to mind when you think of a Nazi, that is for whom this country is currently being run.”
The Personal Toll of the Trump/Musk Government Purges
Brian Merchant, author of the excellent Blood in the Machine (about the Luddites), talked to a bunch of federal tech workers about the illegal purge of federal employees and shuttering of entire government agencies (also illegal): “what’s happening, how they’re processing it...
“The future of the Department of Education — and of the students...
“The future of the Department of Education — and of the students with disabilities who depend on it — will likely hinge […] on the world views of two billionaires who abhor what they perceive as weakness and waste.”
NBA star Victor Wembanyama brought a book with him to the All-Star...
NBA star Victor Wembanyama brought a book with him to the All-Star Game and said that he reads before every game. My new favorite player! 📗❤️
The Global Economic Policy Uncertainty Index is at an all-time high right...
The Global Economic Policy Uncertainty Index is at an all-time high right now, besting even the economic uncertainty at the start of the pandemic (May 2020).
“We, the opposition, are the majority. Take heart,” says Hamilton Nolan. “How...
“We, the opposition, are the majority. Take heart,” says Hamilton Nolan. “How do regimes manage to impose minority rule on enormous populations? By getting the majority to give up. Don’t do that.”
Amid shortages of air traffic controllers & fatal aircraft events, the Trump...
Amid shortages of air traffic controllers & fatal aircraft events, the Trump administration has purged several hundred FAA employees. Casual detail: the firing email came from a Microsoft email address, not a .gov one. (But her emails, etc.)
Elon Musk’s attack on key US government systems and agencies continues with...
Elon Musk’s attack on key US government systems and agencies continues with the IRS: “US tax agency has received request for access to classified system containing personal financial records of US taxpayers”. Everyone’s tax records, nbd.
From Heather Cox Richardson, an overview of what the Trump administration is...
From Heather Cox Richardson, an overview of what the Trump administration is doing in terms of foreign policy. Their war on liberalism in the US is being matched by a war against liberal democracies.
The Evolution of Electronic Music (1929-2019). Interesting that it took so long...
The Evolution of Electronic Music (1929-2019). Interesting that it took so long for electronic music to creep into pop music and now you can barely find any music that doesn’t have electronic music in it.
Cool thing that I did not notice about The Wild Robot: at...
Cool thing that I did not notice about The Wild Robot: at first the robot was computer-generated but gets more and more hand-painted throughout the film. “She literally begins to fuse with the island as she adapts and becomes a resident.”
New Evidence Suggests Humans Developed Written Language To Avoid Breaking Up In...
New Evidence Suggests Humans Developed Written Language To Avoid Breaking Up In Person. “Early Mesopotamians created the first cuneiform tablets in 3200 BCE because they couldn’t bear the idea of looking their partner in the eye…”
My Recent Media Diet, the Endless January Edition
Hey look at this, a media diet post that’s not months and months since the last one! Phew, it’s a been a long-ass six weeks since the beginning of the year, hasn’t it? Here’s a list of what I’ve been reading, watching, listening to, and experiencing to help get me through t...
How Trying Became Cool Again
Nathan Zed argues that a lack of effort and vulnerability has made art, media, design, music, and architecture boring — that everything has the “soulless, monotonous no-personality vibe”. But artists like Tyler, the Creator; Chappell Roan; Doechii; and Kendrick Lamar are making trying cool again.
It has become uncool to just try. Like, just to put in some effort. Don’t do too much, okay, it’s embarrassing — just be nonchalant, be cool, be effortless. This has made everything boring! Everyone is too scared to try because that would be vulnerable. I feel like only now are we seeing a shift back to people putting in effort and being rewarded for it.
Tags: music · Nathan Zed · video
Ken Burns’ Criterion Closet Picks include Seven Samurai, a Fellini box set,...
Ken Burns’ Criterion Closet Picks include Seven Samurai, a Fellini box set, and Wim Wenders’ Pina.
Thought-provoking musings on AI from Robin Sloan. “The language model reads Everything,...
Thought-provoking musings on AI from Robin Sloan. “The language model reads Everything, and leaves Everything untouched — yet suddenly this new thing exists, with strange and formidable powers. Is that okay?”
The Crazy Thing About Babies
man the crazy thing about babies is that like, some people would think that reading a baby a book about farm animals is teaching them about farm animals, but really it’s teaching them about the concept of a book and how there’s new information on each page of a single object, but really, beyond that, it’s teaching them how language works, and beyond that it’s really actually teaching them about human interaction, and really really it’s them learning about existing in a three-dimensional space and how they can navigate that space, but actually, above all it is teaching them that mama loves them.
Girls Who Code’s “Five by Five” strategic plan is “reaching 5 million...
Girls Who Code’s “Five by Five” strategic plan is “reaching 5 million girls, women, and nonbinary individuals by 2030” with their programs designed to educate girls, women, and NB folks for careers in technology.
I love this week-by-week map of Gina Trapani’s life. “This is a...
I love this week-by-week map of Gina Trapani’s life. “This is a map of my life, where each week I’ve been alive is a little box. Tap a box to see what I was doing where that week.”
Allegra Goodman writes about the “life-saving power” of listing to audiobooks (Austen,...
Allegra Goodman writes about the “life-saving power” of listing to audiobooks (Austen, Caro, Dumas, Voltaire) with her son. “We spent hundreds of hours together and had a respite from each other too.” I *love* listening to audiobooks w/ my kids.
Wes Anderson’s next movie is called The Phoenician Scheme, an “espionage comedy-drama...
Wes Anderson’s next movie is called The Phoenician Scheme, an “espionage comedy-drama thriller” that will be released in US theaters in May 2025. Stars Benicio del Toro, Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, ScarJo, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Willen Dafoe, etc.
Kevin Kelly’s 50 Years of Travel Tips
Kevin Kelly is the biggest traveller I know and he recently shared some of the advice he’s learned over his 50+ years on the road. Here are a few of my favorites:
If you hire a driver, or use a taxi, offer to pay the driver to take you to visit their mother. They will ord...
Deadline: “Starz has acquired the rights to Miranda July’s buzzy novel All...
Deadline: “Starz has acquired the rights to Miranda July’s buzzy novel All Fours to develop as a TV series.” I wonder if July herself will be starring…
From Nolan RoYAlty (cReAtor of oNE Million chEckBOXES), A globAL CAPS LOCK....
From Nolan RoYAlty (cReAtor of oNE Million chEckBOXES), A globAL CAPS LOCK. “whenever AnYONE running the CLIENt Presses caPs LOck, it PRESSEs for everyone ELsE.” (i wrote tHIS POST WItH IT.)
Jerry Lawson was one of Silicon Valley’s first Black engineers and is...
Jerry Lawson was one of Silicon Valley’s first Black engineers and is known as “the father of the game cartridge”.