Most Favorited Posts in the Past 24 Hours (7 days, 30 days, 12 months, all time)
Here's a quick guide to what the numbers mean. Subscribe
A Hideous Monstrosity Made Out Of Computers And Greed
Bitcoin Is A Hideous Monstrosity Made Out Of Computers And Greed That Must Be Destroyed Before It Devours The World, Part I. On the final day of the first third of the 6th month of Our Year Of The Coin 13 (2022 C.E.) a mysterious account named Michel de Cryptadamus appeared on Twitter bearing a prophecy given to him by The Oracle of Tulips foretelling cryptocurrency's end of days that he had recently inscribed into the hard stone of r/Buttcoin. The redditors of r/Buttcoin, long used to playing the part of modern society's Cassandras, with memes in place of their forebear's mantic verse, watched in amazement as these predictions began to come true. [more inside]
Ketanji Brown Jackson sworn in as first Black woman on the Supreme Court
Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in Thursday at noon as the 116th Supreme Court justice and the first Black woman to serve on the high court.
At a noon ceremony at the Supreme Court, Jackson was joined by her husband and two children for the swearing in. A formal investiture will follow in fall.
Jackson took two oaths during the livestreamed event: a constitutional oath, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts, and a judicial oath, administered by Justice Stephen Breyer. [more inside]
An area where the egg will not roll away
Without the presence of eggs, the average pigeon nest could pass as a coincidental aggregation of twigs or jumble of debris. To our human eyes, a pigeon nest looks objectively half-assed. It is a nest that seems to mock other nests. — Why Do Pigeon Nests Look So Shitty, Sabrina Imbler investigates for Defector
COVID vaccines approved for Americans under five.
For the second time in less than a year[YT] Ted Cruz (Republican senator for Texas) has got into a Twitter fight with a muppet; this time 3.5 year Elmo of tickle me fame. The feud the result of the FDA approving COVID vaccines for children under five.
🎸🎸🎸 I AM IN SO INTO YOU 🎸🎸🎸
Yo.
Technoblade, known for farming potatoes and posting the funniest Minecraft videos around, has died of cancer at age 23. His father reads a final letter from him in this video.
What's New Pussycat?
This morning, a soft rock station in Vancouver, Canada, played Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine. And then again. And again. They're taking calls for requests!
How the Supreme Court could radically reshape federal elections
The U.S. Supreme Court announced Thursday that it has agreed to hear a case next term that could upend election laws across the country with the potential endorsement of a fringe legal theory about how much power state legislatures have over the running of congressional and presidential elections. [more inside]
Country Roads, Let's a-Go
*crumples up thesis on Kashin silver mine*
Recently we learned that 折毛 spent a decade writing fake Russian history. Wikipedia just noticed. [English summary/translated Chinese summary] A good reminder to peruse the list of Wikipedia hoaxes, idly speculate if citogenesis has already occurred, and to pour one out for all the frustrated novelists out there...
let's never go back to dinosaur island
Tom Cardy: Jurassic Park 12: It's Dino time! slightly NSFW for some lyrics + closed captions, tom cardy [previously]
It's fine, I put some blubber on it
Ferris Jabr critiques bird nests and the personalities that build them in Bird Nesting Styles: A Critical Review, via (appropriately enough) Twitter (Part 1, Part 2) or Threadreader (Part 1, Part 2). Just some lighthearted Friday fun.
Canon Balls
Over the past decade or more, the conquest of the cultural landscape by quippy spandexed superheroes has been Napoleonic. The idea that a citadel of bookishness has fallen to this siege of adolescent fantasia could easily take on outsize importance. from Prestige Comics: On the Penguin Classics Marvel Collection [more inside]
Linda Skeens is too busy WINNING, for all your social media nonsense
At the 109th annual Virginia Kentucky district fair, one contestant started to win categories. Several categories, including canned fruit, canned tomato, non-cucumber pickled item, relish, jelly, jam, quilt, cakes, pies, cookies, brownies, savory bread, sweet bread, candy, chow chow, corn relish, applesauce, pears, embroidery. Many categories. (Facebook post). But, as 'the internet' goes looking and pesters the wrong person, who is Linda Skeens? And is Robin Moore (best overall pickled cucumber - bread and butter, best overall fruit - peaches, salsa, blackberries) her nemesis?
his nest of adopted goose, duck, and chicken eggs
"This emu has taken over the duck coop and is now diligently siting on goose eggs. I just watched a chicken run in, burrow under him, lay an egg, and leave." [Twitter thread with photos]
I don’t want no other baby but you; Paul after Linda
Glastonbury reminded the world of the power of Paul McCartney, but in 1999 Paul McCartney had to remind himself. And he used Rock 'n' Roll. Following the death of Linda McCartney in early 1998 saw Paul McCartney take time away from music to grieve. His return was the late 1999 release “Run Devil Run”, a quickly recorded collection of covers from the 50s with a few friends… Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, Johnny Kidd & the Pirates’ Mick Green. and Deep Purple’s Ian Paice on drums. McCartney mostly stuck to bass, just as in the early Beatles days. [more inside]
Viva Terlingua?
Farewell to the Last Frontier. "For those who live here year-round—among them, cave-dwelling desert rats, sun-scorched river guides, musicians, alcoholics, survivalists, artists, eccentrics, wanderers (and millionaires camouflaged as one or more of the aforementioned figures)—that sense of isolation is often experienced as a kind of primordial liberation. The feeling of being free from convenience and unshackled from expectations—of existing in “Terlingua time,” as locals put it—has always been as appealing to the flag-waving pilot of a forty-foot RV as to the tent-dwelling, peyote-smoking vagabond. But like some Daoist riddle, the more newcomers seek out Terlingua’s magic, the harder it is to find." (SL Texas Monthly)
Here Comes the Sun (hopefully not too close)
Every so often, our star fires off a plasma bomb in a random direction. Our best hope the next time Earth is in the crosshairs? Capacitors. [Wired; Archive] [more inside]
What Goes Up...
Line Goes Up is a very long, highly detailed, and meticulously researched investigation into and polemical take-down of the NFT and crypto scene by Dan Olson. [more inside]
All mountains are old, but the Appalachians are incomprehensibly old
Yes, all mountains are old, but the Appalachian mountains are incomprehensibly old. Have you ever wondered why we don’t find fossils in the Appalachian mountains?
The truth is, we do, they’re just not the kind of fossils you might think of—there are no mammals, no dinosaurs, no reptiles. There’s something else entirely. (Single link twitter thread) (threadreader)