June 30
Is it 1860 all over again?
Irreconcilable differences? Ryan D. Griffiths, Professor of Political Science at Syracuse University, has a new book coming out this September: “The Disunited States: Threats of Secession in Red and Blue America and Why They Won't Work.” [more inside]
Has Crisis Passed Away for Failure to be de Riguer
Jack Rakove has piece in piece on the Washington Monthly dissecting the failures of Congress and the Supreme Court to meet their obligations as set forth by the United States Constitution. It is a strong argument for journalists to stop talking about constitutional crisises and be more direct about how the system has failed not in parts but in whole. One of the important things he tries to do is provide a useful definition of what a constitutional failure is compared to a crisis. [more inside]
I put the "not" in astronaut
The first trailer for the screen adaptation of Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary has dropped.
Do not watch if you've not read the book. The trailer is fairly spoiler-heavy. I honestly had no idea this was in the making.
Everything is going in the wrong direction
Connections is a puzzle built around the novel ‘misleads’. A “mislead” in the game refers to the specific way words are presented or combined within a particular puzzle that might tempt a player to form an incorrect group. An example is the word “ARCHER”, which might mislead you to group it with “BOW”, “ARROW”, and “TARGET” (for “archery terms”), when its intended category is actually “TV SHOWS” with words like “LOST” and “FRASIER.” While words and categories can be repeated over time, the misleads ideally should not. from Developing an Internal Tool for Our Puzzle Editor [New York Times Open]
Quiet on set
Sound designer and podcaster Dallas Taylor has started a YouTube channel that promises to explore "how iconic audio is made and the people behind it". First up, Inside the Sound of Jeopardy! and Behind the Boom Mic at SNL. [more inside]
Ugly endangered animals ignored as cute bias harms conservation efforts
Ugly endangered animals ignored as cute bias harms conservation efforts. While there are plenty of conservation efforts and community love for cute marsupials like the western ringtail possum, researchers say that pretty privilege is threatening the existence of blood suckers and web weavers.
The LGBTQIA+ News Post, End Of Pride Month Edition: June 30, 2025
Welcome to the LGBTQIA+ News Post for June 30. Sorry about the delay; the Skrmetti case demoralized me for a while. But we will survive!. [more inside]
"I struggle and surface again."
Lotte Jensen (11/2021), "How the Struggle Against Water Shaped Dutch Identity": "Together with the flood disaster of 1953 the St Elisabeth Flood [of 1421] is ... etched in the collective memory of the Dutch ... kept alive via websites, newspaper articles, children's books, documentaries, films, paintings, museums and visitor centres." Films like De Storm (2009), art like Waterwolf & Aquanaut (2020), and journalism throughout 2023. Jensen's Water: A Dutch Cultural History examines this topic in detail, and her co-edited Dealing with Disasters from Early Modern to Modern Times has relevant articles like Adriaan Duiveman's on "Disaster, Time, and Nation in Dutch Flood Commemoration Books, 1757–1800," generally sharing Jensen's perspective "Nature Doesn't Cause Disasters, People Do." Disaster studies previously and previouslier.
‘Sort of like a mini-American presidency’
The conservative Nova Scotia government may be considering strong mayor legislation for Halifax. In Ontario, Georgian Bluffs, Fort Frances, Limerick and Gananoque want to be excluded from this "affront to democracy." [more inside]
We're all rats now
Via Paul Krugman: We're all rats now. A roundup of recent racist moves from the Trump administration. [more inside]
Long May You Run
The Rise of Longform Culture. Ted Gioia observes that Youtube videos, Top 40 songs, concerts and movies are all getting longer. Why is that? Popular podcasts are hours-long, Taylor Swift concerts are longer than a Mahler Symphony. Rebecca Yarros' books can stun an ox.... [more inside]
"...about what it means to be a [...] shitposter, in federal court"
On June 20th, World Psychedelics Day, a U.S. Administrative Law Judge released a recommendation to place on Schedule I two psychedelic drugs: DOI and DOC. These drugs are extremely exotic and obscure in terms of human use, but are very important to scientific research, precisely because they are not subject to the onerous requirements of a Schedule I license. This recommendation is the conclusion of a Kafka-esque hearing held last year at DEA headquarters, where a team of scientists organized by Students for Sensible Drug Policy presented their case. [more inside]
Lean back, we’ll take care of it
At its base, slop is the cause and the symptom of a fundamental alienation in our society. A procedurally-generated ambient track, a second-screen TV show, an AI image, a meme: all place us in a passive relationship with the world, objects acted upon by outside phenomena, rather subjects possessed of inner will. They encourage us to be reactive, self-oriented, incurious, they present us with mechanisms to not think, not engage, not act with regards to ourselves and others. from Slop Demos by Richard Rubsam [Liberties]
June 29
Farmers restore nature to help river smashed by agriculture and drought
Farmers restore nature to help river smashed by agriculture and drought.
Authorities say farmers revegetating the banks of the Hopkins River are crucial to saving the key south-west Victorian catchment, which is grappling with the impacts of climate change, drought and intensive agriculture. (Australia)
RV in Perfect Condition - $20,000
Have you ever had a such a shitty vehicle you wished you could just run it off a cliff? Have you ever thought it would be cool to get detailed footage of such an event from multiple viewpoints, including inside the vehicle? Have you ever thought it would be nice to get someone to help sponsor running your shitty vehicle off a cliff? SuperfastMatt did all three. [more inside]
Provisioning extended sea voyages
Feel like sailing away from it all? Here's how to provision your sailboat for 100 days.
Primordial Deep Time
Antedeluvian is a short animated film based on 19th century interpretations of prehistoric life. Antedeluvian Explained shows the historical art that inspired the film, the creatures depicted, and a bit about the animation process.
Civil War Tails
Miniature cats fighting the American Civil War. Located in Gettysburg, PA, Civil War Tails at the Homestead is a unique presentation of key battles from the American Civil War (1861-65) using dioramas filled with thousands of inch-high uniformed clay cats. Built and operated by two sisters. Go expecting kitsch, and you will be disappointed to learn that they are extraordinarily learned scholars of the war who have turned a hobby into a livelihood (for one sister; the other practices law in her spare time). I have visited twice and plan to return! (And, yes, you can by souvenir cat soldiers; we own two.)
"Miniature Perspectives on Big Historical Pictures"
Kate Ferris and Huw Halstead eds. (2025), Miniatures: A Reader in the History of Everyday Life: "When we began work on the everyday life history podcast Miniatures ... we were ... " inspired by Alltagsgeschichte, "revealing how macro-processes play out on micro-scales. At the same time, we were driven by the simple yet profound conviction ... 'people are just so interesting.'" People like a POW from Benin, the 'Widow of Trias' in 1909 Barcelona, a British schoolboy in Nazi Germany, a young man coming out in the 70s, or Joyce Sikhakhane-Rankin and others in apartheid South Africa, and sources on everyday life like the children's section of a Finnish North American Socialist Women's Newspaper, the official investigative reports on a 'Burial of the Sardine' celebration under Franco, or playful WhatsApp messages in Zimbabwe.
If I took a picture, I reasoned, I’d have a memory
Whenever Doug Biggert (1941-2023) picked up a hitch-hiker in Northern California he took their picture: Riding With Strangers: California Hitchhikers in the 1970s
Today's death toll in Gaza rises to 47
Today's death toll in Gaza. Israeli settlers shoot, injure 3 people in West Bank. Note: Al-Jazeera is reporting from Amman, Jordan, since they've been banned in Israel and the West Bank. Since May 27, at least 583 Palestinians have been killed and 4,186 injured at food distribution sites. Haaretz has published an expose confirming that IDF soldiers have been ordered to deliberately shoot at unarmed Gazans waiting for humanitarian aid. ungated. Trump has threatened on Truth.Social to withhold funding for Israel for prosecuting Netanyahu on corruption charges. Hamas is also battling to survive, facing "defiant" clans and doubts over Iran. [more inside]
📚 Small press speculative fiction in translation 📚
For years, Rachel S. Cordasco has been reviewing and promoting speculative fiction in translation. Below the fold, a sampling of her small press picks from around the world. [more inside]
Tourists from snowy countries realise Australian winters feel too cold
Even visitors from snowy countries realise Australian winters feel too cold. Tourists are stunned to discover they were warmer back in a country that's blanketed by snow for months of the year.
Cheaper Than Cheep
Sorry for the late post, but Frank Zappa's Cheaper Than Cheep a live TV special from 1974 that never aired due to audio sync issues is streaming on youtube this weekend for free.
Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays
Day trips through the Mushroom Kingdom
Mario Kart World, the $80(?!) Mario Kart for the Switch 2, lets you go nearly anywhere. Its tracks and their tricks exist, for the first time, in a larger context. You can drive around and find Rosalina's car dealership, the slums of Royal City, or explore the field around Moo Moo Meadows. Youtuber Any Austin went off-road and made a video about the weird little spaces in Mario Kart World. (23m) OnADock followed an NPC car around to see where it went (14m), and discovered drivers can get out of their cars. Mr A-Game followed two different bomb cars for over an hour (but just a 15-minute video) to see where they go. It's all the result of Lyle Rains' 1977 patent for implementing computer-controlled racers.
She’s kind of hiding these trousers
Elise Wortley is bringing to life the stories of history's forgotten women adventurers by re-creating their expeditions using only what was available to them at the time. [more inside]
There is something like a pulse beating beneath all of this
It is crushing to read a novel that forces you to watch two people, young and in love, succumb to the banalities of everyday life: The comfort of making a safe decision when it comes to a partner. The comfort of spending all day on your phone. Of thinking that making art and building a website that looks like a lava lamp are the same thing. Of making money and getting comfortable making money. Allegro Pastel isn’t at all ambitious about the way it reckons with these ideas. It favors prose that is flat and chilly, self-consciously cool while also wanting you to feel like the point is that it is self-consciously cool!!! It wants you to laugh at the characters but doesn’t quite give you enough distance to do it. from Crushing Banalities [The Point; ungated]
June 28
"Three forgotten tales"
Bruce Gaston, ed., (2024), Saki (H.H. Munro): Original and Uncollected Stories: "This book reprints--for the first time in over a hundred years--thirteen stories originally published in newspapers and magazines ... Three ... have so far been missed by anthologists." The title character of "Mrs. Pendercoet's Lost Identity: A Tragedy of the Chelsea Arts Club Ball" (alt. edition) would not yet have had access to Dennison's Party Magazine but could have consulted Ardern Holt's Fancy Dresses Described, perhaps referring Rollo to Gentleman's Fancy Dress. "The Optimist" (alt. edition) was published only about two months after "The Open Window," a more famous story with multiple adaptations and a notable analysis. And "The Romance of Business" has context that the editor explains in "Saki and Mr Selfridge." Previous unanthologized stories by Saki.
The Phenomenon that was Rock Hill Park
Rock Hill Park - "A booming mecca of down-home entertainment once brought thousands of happy visitors to the heart of Mulmur Township." For a while it was billed as "Nashville North" and it was in the middle of nowhere, north of Toronto. [more inside]
The simple act of reading can be a crime in Malaysia
The simple act of reading can be a crime in Malaysia. Here's why. Malaysian authorities raided this bookstore on Wednesday to seize two books on the grounds of morality. But for the bookstore staff and publishers, this is just another day.
VG101
Video Games 101 is a fun Youtube series starring "Professor Brigands," who presents walkthroughs and strategy guides for retro games under the guise of being a college course, with the help of his TAs Scary Gary, Blaze and Fluff the (adorable) hand-puppet cat. They've made a huge assortment of entertaining walkthroughs and guides (links inside). Previously (and still going): U Can Beat Video Games. [more inside]
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Archipelago"
“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? … If… if… We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation. … We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.” [more inside]
Comics History with 4 Ts
YouTuber Matttt has been posting exhaustively researched videos since 2023 on comic and manga history, on artists from Disney legends Carl Barks and Don Rosa to Marvel stars Todd McFarlane and Rob Liefeld (and yes, you do want to watch that one), along with artists from Europe, Japan, South America, and a century ago. If you love comics, there'll be something here to enjoy. [more inside]
Avi-ate-tion
Complementing the recent post about airline food, here's a site that claims to be the world's first and largest online photo archive of inflight meals, which has appeared previously on MetaFilter, both times in 2002 when it was a year old and had 50x fewer images.
In four days, nearly a third of Tuvalu applied to live in Australia
In four days, nearly a third of Tuvalu applied to live in Australia. The Pacific Island nation has rushed to apply to live in Australia under a landmark climate change visa.
Knights LARPing as Knights at the Renaissance Faire in the Renaissance
In Pas d'armes and Late Medieval Chivalry, Marina Viallon's essay on "a Roleplay Game from the Pas des Armes de Sandricourt (1493)" says "the 'knights-errant challenge,' was held in the nearby wood dubbed the forêt dévoyable (Labyrinthine Forest)" and its participants "left the castle ... to wander at random, two by two, in the nearby forest and its surrounding fields ... 'looking for adventure as the lords of the Round Table used to do.'" Source. Related project website and database of events. Virtual exhibition: "This event ... was an example of a pas d'armes ... a type of chivalric tournament inspired by themes from courtly literature." See also Ringhieri's 1551 parlor game "Giuocho del Cavalliero" in which players invented emblems, mottoes, and clothing colors for imaginary knights at a joust, or see Azgaar's Armoria, which can generate them for you.
Venice, Billionaires, and the Spectacle We Keep Endorsing
The Daily Beast: How Bezos and Sánchez’s Venetian Bacchanal Delivered a Pitch-Perfect Ad for Socialism Jeff Bezos married Lauren Sánchez in Venice, surrounded by a who's who of global elites: Oprah, Gates, DiCaprio, von Fürstenberg, Diller, and more. They came by jet and yacht, to toast obscene wealth in a sinking city.
Many of them speak about climate change and justice. But when it comes to billionaire weddings, the contradictions are ignored. We still celebrate wealth, even when it's the problem. [more inside]
"My boyfriend did this and you better like it!"
New York girlfriend is a hype man for her boyfriend’s plants, sparking a trend on social media, and it is absolutely delightful.
I want Tandy
From leather shoe bits to the TRS-80: The Tandy Corporation: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4 [Abort, Retry, Fail]
June 27
"The Great American Poet of Daily Chores'
"In November of 1963, A. R. Ammons, known to family and friends as Archie, the author of a single, privately printed book of poems and a manager at his father-in-law’s glass factory, picked up a roll of adding-machine tape at a local store and began to “contemplate . . . some fool use for it"
Alas, "Ammons’s poems, from the first to the last, are a record of American life, speech, and imagination in the twentieth century, a master inventory of the vicissitudes of human existence, worked by genius into memorable shapes."
'American Expansion.'.
'American Expansion.'.
New risk-mapping tool aims to curb bird deaths from powerlines
New risk-mapping tool aims to curb bird deaths from powerlines. Five out of six eagles in this refuge are highly likely to be victims of powerlines. The Raptor Refuge founder wants risk mitigation practices to be put in place. (Australia)
Trump education purge advances
"In an email sent to the university community on Friday and circulated on social media, university president James Ryan said he was resigning to protect the institution from facing the ire of the government." [more inside]
They’re Gentle. They’re Seasonal. They’re Soft Boy Cooks.
Hide your tomatoes: These charismatic chefs are on socials media, a counter to the harder-edged chefs. [more inside]
It's "Parasite" at No. 1
The New York Times conducted a massive poll of “directors, actors, and notable Hollywood names” to come up with the Best 100 Films of the 21st Century. Individual ballots from folks like Mel Brooks, Sofia Coppola, John Waters, and Stephen King have been published as well. (NYT link for those with access.)
Seize the opportunity, go beyond what your physical body can do for you
Our elegant, full-size wearable is perfectly designed for all women. We combine generative AI with the latest LCD technology to replace your physical self with a more versatile avatar. Whether you're giving a TED talk or simply doing the groceries, The Box has you covered.
A Model Dog
A short story from 2019, by our own jscalzi on The Verge, A Model Dog. Programmer working for a startup owned by a billionaire is given with a new task: build a robot replica of the billionaire's father's dog, so when the dog passes away there will be a substitute. Events unfold, and an unplanned-for contingency occurs. (CW: thinking about death, the dog is fine by the end)
Higgledy-piggledy
A collection of double-dactyl-with-hexasyllabics poems. A bouncy light-verse form that loves one kind of long word, invented by Anthony Hecht and John Hollander. [more inside]
Read 'em and weep
New Supreme Court decisions have dropped, nearly all of them appalling if you happen to be a fan of the rule of law or constitution. 1. The US supreme court has limited federal judges’ power to block Trump orders (which seems to have repercussions involving birth-right citizenship). 2. The US Supreme Court allows parents to opt out of lessons with LGBT books. Other decisions were also handed down today but your OP is too exhausted with sorrow to include those. [more inside]
Today we are all llorando.
Songwriter and vocal artist Rebekah Del Rio, most widely known for her performances in Mulholland Drive and Twin Peaks, died on Monday. She was only 57 years old.