“As a clinical psychologist, I was curious: Could ChatGPT function like a thinking partner? A therapist in miniature? I gave it three months to test the idea. A year later, I’m still using ChatGPT like an interactive journal.”
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Matt Webb on copyrighting your faults. “I think part of growing up...
Matt Webb on copyrighting your faults. “I think part of growing up is taking what it is that people tease you about at school, and figuring out how to make it a superpower.”
mRNA vaccines for HIV trigger strong immune response in people. “Two vaccine...
mRNA vaccines for HIV trigger strong immune response in people. “Two vaccine candidates using mRNA technology elicit a potent immune response against HIV, according to an early-stage clinical trial.” The good news lately re: HIV is incredible. Fund this!
“Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has canceled nearly $500 million of...
“Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has canceled nearly $500 million of grants and contracts for developing mRNA vaccines.” This, like many other Trump regime actions, will result in easily avoided deaths.
The McDonald’s Quarter Pounder With Cheese Is a Lie. A Delicious Lie.
Some facts about the McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with Cheese:
1. As you can see in the photo above, purportedly taken in 1974, there was originally a Quarter Pounder without cheese, which was scrubbed from the menu at some undetermined point (even though you can still orde...
Molly White: Curate your own newspaper with RSS. “What if you could...
Molly White: Curate your own newspaper with RSS. “What if you could take all your favorite newsletters, ditch the data collection, and curate your own newspaper?”
What Kids Told Us About How to Get Them Off Their Phones....
What Kids Told Us About How to Get Them Off Their Phones. “This generation of digital natives still longs for what most of their parents had: time with friends, in person, without adults.”
At 17, Hannah Cairo Solved a Major Math Mystery. “The math world...
At 17, Hannah Cairo Solved a Major Math Mystery. “The math world was taken aback when Cairo announced her counterexample to the Mizohata-Takeuchi conjecture.”
Philip Bump on the results of a recent poll. What Makes an...
Philip Bump on the results of a recent poll. What Makes an American? Three in 10 Republicans Say: Being White.
The Case of the Terrifyingly Affordable Flashlight
In this video, Maurice Moves highlights a pair of flashlights that are extremely useful & well-designed but also shockingly affordable.
Most people never think about flashlights, but as someone who uses one daily for work, it’s always top of mind, and the tech, value, and products are proof that modern flashlights are absolutely insane and defy logic and manufacturing economics.
The two flashlights he featured are the WUBEN G5 Rechargeable EDC Flashlight ($20) and the Nitecore EDC37 8000 ($140) — the Wuben in particular would be affordable at twice the price given how nicely designed and engineered it is.
I feel like this about Apple’s M4 Macbook Airs; as I wrote last week, “$800 is an absurdly low price for so much computer”.
See also No One Knows How to Make a Pencil. (thx, dunstan)
Lonely Avenue
Jon Batiste & Randy Newman team up for a song called Lonely Avenue. This is lovely. (via craig mod)
Tags: Jon Batiste · music · Randy Newman · video
Corporation for Public Broadcasting says it’s shutting down (due to a lack...
Corporation for Public Broadcasting says it’s shutting down (due to a lack of continued federal funding). Just catching up from last week and this one fucking stings.
I’d like to say that I’m a proud member of The Great...
I’d like to say that I’m a proud member of The Great I Haven’t Economy™ — “owning zero Labubus, consuming zero matchas, having zero dating profiles, eating zero Dubai Chocolates, owning zero Stanley Cups” — but more likely I’m just old.
The Panama Playlists is a collection of the Spotify accounts of celebrities,...
The Panama Playlists is a collection of the Spotify accounts of celebrities, politicians, and journalists (JD Vance, Pam Bondi, Marc Andreessen, etc). “The Panama Papers revealed hidden bank accounts. This reveals hidden tastes.”
Cory Doctorow is coming out with a book on enshittification in the...
Cory Doctorow is coming out with a book on enshittification in the fall: Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It.
“If the behavior that this administration has exhibited in just its first...
“If the behavior that this administration has exhibited in just its first six months continues and is amplified for its full four years, the America you know will be gone. And I don’t know how we will get it back.”
Two Ways To Film The Same Scene
In a review of City of Angels, the 1998 Hollywood remake of Wings of Desire by Wim Wenders, Roger Ebert says:
To compare the two films is really beside the point, since “Wings of Desire” exists on its own level as a visionary and original film, and “City of Angels” exists squarely in the pop mainstream.
In his latest video, Evan Puschak leans into the vast gulf between the two films to “explore the differences in cinematic cultures and styles”. He takes a close look at the same scene in both films and what they reveal about Hollywood on the one hand and European art cinema on the other.
Tags: City of Angels · Evan Puschak · film school · movies · video · Wings of Desire
1787: “Caroline Lucretia Herschel became the first woman to receive a salary...
1787: “Caroline Lucretia Herschel became the first woman to receive a salary as a scientist and hold a government position in the UK.” 2025: “Professor Michele Dougherty CBE FRS FRAS became the first woman appointed Astronomer Royal in the UK.”
Two of the most promiscuous snack brands, Oreo and Reese’s, are teaming...
Two of the most promiscuous snack brands, Oreo and Reese’s, are teaming up to bring the eating public two new treats: the Oreo Reese’s Cookie and Reese’s Oreo Cups. 🫱 Is this… 🦋 innovation?
The Rule of Law Is Dead in the US. “I did not...
The Rule of Law Is Dead in the US. “I did not write an ‘end of term’ Supreme Court review piece this year because… what’s the point? [Critiquing individual cases] feels like a guy on the Titanic complaining about the song selection from the band.”
How to Upload an Image to a Bird
Entertaining YouTuber Benn Jordan built a setup to record and analyze bird sounds, songs, and calls. He used it to record a starling who has mastered mimicking all sorts of manmade and artificial sounds in its environment, including things like the default iPhone camera sh...
Motherfucking windfarms. In Europe, they’re called Royale with Breeze. (I stole that...
Motherfucking windfarms. In Europe, they’re called Royale with Breeze. (I stole that joke from Bluesky.)
Always Stand on the Side of the Egg
In 2009, novelist Haruki Murakami controversially accepted the Jerusalem prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society in the aftermath of Israeli military action in Gaza. In his acceptance speech, he related a story about something he keeps in mind while writing:
“Be...
Forthcoming book from Bill McKibben: Here Comes the Sun. “Energy from the...
Forthcoming book from Bill McKibben: Here Comes the Sun. “Energy from the sun and wind is suddenly the cheapest power on the planet and growing faster than any energy source in history — if we can keep accelerating the pace, we have a chance.”
Bill McKibben: Rooftop Solar Is a Miracle. Why Are We Killing It...
Bill McKibben: Rooftop Solar Is a Miracle. Why Are We Killing It With Red Tape? In many countries, getting rooftop solar or “balcony solar” can be as easy going to the store, buying some panels, and plugging them in. In the US, it’s not so easy.
Rebecca Solnit: The renewable energy revolution is a feat of technology. “It...
Rebecca Solnit: The renewable energy revolution is a feat of technology. “It is nothing less than astonishing and unbelievable that we have achieved so much progress in so little time.”
The End of America as a Center of Science
Ross Anderson writes about how scientific empires, from the ancient Sumerians to the Nazis to the Soviet Union in the 1950s, have crumbled (or been willfully dismantled by ideologues) and the clear signs that the same thing is happening here in the United States under the co...
Side effect of the Tour de France: pro riders gobbling up all...
Side effect of the Tour de France: pro riders gobbling up all the Strava top times (King of the Mountains) across France: “1,809 KOMs nabbed by the pros during the three weeks of racing”.
How conspiracy theories about COVID’s origins are hampering our ability to prevent...
How conspiracy theories about COVID’s origins are hampering our ability to prevent the next pandemic. “Evidence hasn’t emerged” to support that idea that SARS-CoV-2 originated in a laboratory. Here’s what the evidence says.
The Wirecutter’s list of the best canned cocktails. Very interested to hear...
The Wirecutter’s list of the best canned cocktails. Very interested to hear people’s thoughts on this. None of these are available at my local liquor store, but we do have Barr Hill’s canned G&T, which is the best canned cocktail I’ve ever tasted.