Students and faculty from Columbia University recently held a “25-hour speak-out” in support of academic freedom. Some of the remarks made during the speak-out are published at Rise Up, Columbia: part 1, part 2.
Turkuler Isiksel, political science professor:
Like other sc...
From Kirkus, a list of the Best Books of the 21st Century (So Far). I’ve read some of these but want to add the rest to my pile.
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This is a great data-driven short documentary by Neil Halloran about how smallpox was eradicated from the face of the Earth. And what it took was humanity, through the use of science & humanitarianism, answering its own plea for something to be done about it.
Some ph...
Our Freedom is Fragile: Lessons From the Jewish Children Who Fled Nazi Germany. “America is no longer a country of refuge but one that is preying upon its most vulnerable inhabitants, including children, who stand to suffer the most…”
How Photography From the Vietnam War Changed America. “The images changed how the world saw Vietnam, but especially how Americans saw their country, soldiers and the war itself, which ended 50 years ago this month.”
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100 days in, the Trump regime is failing. “We should thank [our] lucky stars that Trump chose to do this in the most stupid way possible.”
They fucked up the kerning on Pope Francis’s tomb. FR A NCISC VS. “There is no historical or aesthetic reason why the kerning is so poor.”
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Two weeks ago, ICE detained Mohsen Mahdawi when he showed up for his citizenship interview. Today, a judge ordered him freed. Mahdawi: “I am saying it clear and loud. To President Trump and his Cabinet: I am not afraid of you.”
The Tide Is Turning. “After 100 days of chaos, I think we can finally declare that America realizes what is happening — and cares enough to stop it.”
Trump is a hallucinating LLM. “He answers questions in a manner quite similar to early versions of ChatGPT. The facts don’t matter, the language choices are a mess, but they are all designed to present a plausible-sounding answer to the question…”
“Authoritarian followers share three tendencies: they obey authority figures from their in-group (called authoritarian submission); they punish rule breakers (authoritarian aggression); and they rigidly endorse long-held traditions (conventionalism).”
On working for Andy Warhol. “The year I worked at the Factory felt like the happiest & most exciting period of my life, a whirl of discos, parties, famous people. Yet afterwards, when I looked back, it seemed a dangerously empty, soul-destroying time…”
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IL governor J.B. Pritzker urges resistance. “If it sounds like I’m becoming contemptuous of Donald Trump and the people that he has elevated, it’s because… I am. You should be too. They are an affront to every value this country was founded upon.”
Trump’s Already Lost. “You simply cannot impose an autocracy if a clear majority of the country opposes what you are trying to do at the outset,
when you are trying to do it.” (Not sure I buy this? But I’d like to?)
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched into space 35 years ago and in celebration of that milestone, Alan Taylor collected some recent images from the Hubble, whose mission is still ongoing.
Tags: Alan Taylor · astronomy · Hubble telescope · photography · science · space
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This is fun: Jacob Collier Improvises the National Symphony Orchestra. “I was challenged to improvise a piece of music with an orchestra, with no plan, no sheet music, no rehearsal, and no prior discussion. Here’s what happened.”
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Ok it’s not one hour of Zemo dancing, but I’ll take it. And the YT comments are better:
“Many Bothans died to bring us this beat.”
“Sir, we have located the Rebel bass.”
This isn’t the first time this song has appeared on Andor — it’s an “intergalactic hit” called Niamos! written for the show by composer Nicholas Britell, who lives in this galaxy and was also responsible for the Succession theme song. (via @moleitau.bsky.social)
Tags: Andor · dance · music · Nicholas Britell · Star Wars · TV · video
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The federal minimum wage is officially a poverty wage in 2025. “The annual earnings of a single adult working full-time, year-round at $7.25 an hour now fall below the poverty threshold of $15,650.”
Vystery is a game where you click/tap to enhance sections of an abstract image and try to guess what it is in the fewest moves possible.
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My friend Jodi wrote a pretty thorough crash course on how Canadian elections work (and how they compare to US elections). “In Canada, the election or campaign period must be at least 37 days and no more than 51 days.”
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Well this is just wonderful: Studio Ghibli has uploaded hundreds of high-resolution still images from almost all of their films, including all of the major ones: Princess Mononoke, Sprited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, The Boy and the Heron, Howl’s Moving Castle, etc. etc. The images are labeled “solely for personal use by individual fans to further enjoy Studio Ghibli films” and people are urged to “please feel free to use the images within the bounds of common sense”.
Head to the list of Ghibli movies and click through to each film to find & download the stills. (via open culture)
Tags: art · movies · Studio Ghibli
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This is a lovely little short film about the many snowy owls that migrate down from the Arctic and settle at Boston’s Logan airport and the man who safely captures & relocates the owls away from the airport. I love this story about what a fierce hunter the snowy owl is...
A new game from the creator of One Million Checkboxes: One Million Chessboards. “Moving a piece moves it for everyone, instantly. There are no turns. You can move between boards.”
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“There are other meat-eating caterpillars that “do lots of crazy things, but this takes the cake,” said study author Dan Rubinoff with the University of Hawaii at Manoa.” I, for one, think it’s cool when bugs wear other bugs.
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Silenced Science Stories is a collaboration between scientists and artists to tell the stories of scientific experts who have been affected by the Trump regime’s purge of their ranks.
We are organizing an illustrated series of portraits and stories of scientific experts whose work is being affected by federal budget cuts and mass firings.
We have over 30 science artists who are volunteering to create these features to communicate the careers and the important scientific research of federally employed and funded scientists.
If you’d like to get involved, they are looking for both artists and scientists with stories to tell. You can read more about the project in Physics Today. (via jonathan hoefler)
Tags: 2025 Coup · art · Donald Trump · illustration · politics · science
Scientists have invented (or discovered?) a new color called “olo”. “Verifying that [the] participants had indeed seen a novel color was tricky. Only one person witnesses the experience of color: the person who sees it.”
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Website For MAGA-Friendly Businesses Backfires As People Use It For Boycotts. “Social media posts about PublicSquare have gone viral as Trump critics use it to find companies not to support.”
A year of hate: what I learned when I went undercover with the far right. “Leaders in the far right conceal their true nature to present a more acceptable version to potential voters, donors and sometimes their own members.”
This Five-Hundred-Word Bumper Sticker on My Tesla Explains Why I’m Not a Bad Person. “Trust me, I feel the sting of every single disapproving glare like a thousand needles. My soul trembles and withers. It is an unbearable burden.”
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