2025-06-10

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Nitpicking Gladiator's Iconic Opening Battle

This sequence in particular is a banner example of what I’ve termed elsewhere the ‘perils of historical verisimilitude,’ the habit of historically based popular-culture works including what we might think of as fake signifiers of research, things that seem historically grounded rather than being historically grounded, as a way to cheaply cash in on the cachet that an actually grounded representation gets a work. Gladiator actually provides a perfect metaphor for this: its main character’s name. Russell Crowe proudly informs us he is, “Maximus Decimus Meridius,” a name that certainly sounds suitably Roman, picking up the three-part name with that standard second declension -us ending. It sounds like it could be a real name – if you didn’t know Latin you would probably assume that it could be a real Roman name. But, as we’ve noted, it isn’t a Roman name and in fact gets nearly all of the Roman naming conventions wrong.
Never Forget What They've Done

What’s particularly horrifying about the AI bubble is that it’s shown that when they decide to, big tech can put hundreds of billions behind whatever the fuck they want. They are able to mobilize incredible amounts of capital and the industrial might of multiple companies with multi-trillion dollar market capitalisations to build entire infrastructure dedicated to one thing, and the one thing they are choosing is generative AI. They’re all fully capable of uniting around an ideal — it’s just that said ideal exists entirely to automate human beings out of the picture, and even more offensively, it doesn’t seem to be able to do so, and the more obvious that becomes, the more obvious the powerful’s hunger becomes for a world where they never see or talk to us, and they get all of our money and attention. And it’s not just their greed — it’s how obviously they love the idea of automating human beings away, and creating a world where we’re increasingly disconnected and beholden to technology that they entirely control.
Hammerhead shark falls from sky in South Carolina, interrupting disc golf game | Live Science

An osprey flying over Myrtle Beach dropped the small shark from a tree after being harassed by crows.

Horseshit

Harassment of athletes by angry gamblers is rising
Whether having a baby ruins your life or not

There’s been a lot in the culture recently about whether having a kid ruins your life. Last month, a 27-year-old pop star went viral for telling a podcaster all her friends with babies are unhappy and ‘in hell’, sparking a mini-furore online. Right or wrong, she definitely tapped into something. Birthrates are plummeting around the world, leading to reports sex may be dead. The threat of a third (or is it fourth?) recession since high school hangs over today’s generation of 30-somethings, meaning parenthood feels financially risky. In this era of scarcity, personal fulfilment and ‘wellness’ has displaced material success as the great aspiration of our times, and there is sneaking suspicion this may be best achieved by devoting what scant resources we have to our own development and happiness, rather than some mewling offspring.
The Collapse of Collaborative Dialogue: A Crisis of Value Creation

Research across neuroscience, psychology, and sociology points to the same conclusion: humans are fundamentally collaborative meaning-making creatures. The current digital landscape has pushed us away from these collaborative instincts, but emerging technologies make it possible to restore what we've lost at unprecedented scale. By intentionally capturing and preserving genuine human dialogue, we can begin to rebuild communication systems that create Makiguchi's three forms of value rather than destroying them. We can move beyond the engagement-optimization that has fractured human connection toward technology that genuinely serves human flourishing. The question isn't whether technology will continue to shape human communication—it will. The question is whether we'll build systems that create beauty, benefit, and good through collaborative dialogue, or continue to drift toward platforms that extract attention while destroying the social bonds that make life meaningful.
- more "Strength Through Unity"
Canada Makes Quantum Technology a G7 Priority
Gen Z Doesn't Want to Start a Bar Tab
The Child-Like Role of Dogs in Western Societies
Corvette C8 Turned Food Truck Is About to Set a Guinness World Record
Defiant loyalists paid dearly for choosing wrong side in the American Revolution
Tony Soprano and the Jungian Death Mother

Here, I’ll explore the most complex character in the history of television. Tony Soprano can be understood through two key scenes that took place in the final season: First, his decision to murder Christopher, one of his sons (his nephew, but essentially a surrogate son Tony was grooming to lead his crew) by suffocation. Second, his decision to rescue his other son, A.J., from suicide by suffocation. James Gandolfini, as Tony Soprano, was the greatest portrayal of any character in any medium. Tony Soprano is the quintessential TV anti-hero. He revolutionized what was possible to portray on television.
A How-To for the Self-Sacrificing Samurai, Now Translated into English - The New York Times

“Kaishaku: The Role of the Second” is the title of a new compendium of four rare instructional manuals that have been translated into English for the first time. The earliest, titled “The Inner Secrets of Seppuku,” dates to the 17th century and was originally a work of kirigami, a half sheet of white mulberry paper folded into a book. “The manuals contain secret teachings that traditionally were only passed along by word of mouth,” said Eric Shahan, who translated the texts. An American-born English teacher based in Japan, Mr. Shahan has a passion for translating ancient martial art books. He came across the two oldest guides, “Inner Secrets” and “Secrets Traditions of Seppuku,” a manual written in 1840, in their original handwritten forms last year in libraries in Japan.
- All fun and games until some teenager reads it
Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh smashes 400M freestyle world record
Largest Aircraft in the World to Make Its Debut at Paris Air Show 2025
Inversion Semi proposes 'tabletop' particle accelerators with petawatt lasers
Arizona family warns against dangerous TikTok trend after death of teen daughter
My Friend Hid Her Income While I Picked Up the Tab. Can I Still Trust Her?

celebrity gossip

The 11-year-old Ukrainian YouTuber snapping at MrBeast's heels

Obit

Taiwanese influencer known for eating beauty products dies suddenly
Frederick Forsyth Has Died

Best-selling author Frederick Forsyth, known for thriller novels including The Day Of The Jackal, has died at the age of 86, his agent has said. "We mourn the passing of one of the world's greatest thriller writers," Jonathan Lloyd said in a statement. Forsyth published more than 25 books, also including The Odessa File and The Dogs of War, and sold 75 million books around the world, he said.
- Frederick Forsyth Has Died
- Frederick Forsyth, Day of the Jackal author and former MI6 agent, dies aged 86
Sly Stone, Family Stone Leader Who Fused Funk, Rock and Soul, Dead at 82

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

Americans still have faith in local news − but few are willing to pay for it

Musk

Why Tesla's full self-driving is a scam

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

TechSuck / Geek Bait

killing X11

X11 is supposed to be dead, but people keep using it because apparently it still works. I have a plan to fix this so everyone does what I want. It all starts with a popular toolkit library like QTK. Even if people don’t upgrade X11, if they run a browser, they’re on the upgrade treadmill. I change the internal pixel representation from RGB to BGR and adjust the Wayland backend, but not the X11 backend because that’s community supported. I am confused when bug reports start coming in. Weird colors on X11? Doesn’t surprise me, there’s tons of weirdness in that pile of jank. Works for me in Wayland, you should try it. Somebody will figure it out and submit a patch. I’m sorry, but we have a release scheduled and we can’t merge anything that may cause further regressions, even though it only changes x11.c. Are we sure this is even the correct fix? Have you tested with a Voodoo2 card?

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

Economicon / Business / Finance

Quant Firm's $1B Code Is Focus of Rare Criminal Case
The Palantir job that grows startup founders
Can Tim Cook stop Apple going the same way as Nokia?
Walmart using its own fintech firm to provide credit cards after dumping CapOne
Major US grocery distributor warns of disruption after cyberattack
Amazon to spend $20B on data centers in Pennsylvania
Calculated Risk: Recession Watch Metrics

I'm still not yet predicting a recession for several reasons: the U.S. economy is very resilient and was on solid footing at the beginning of the year, the administration might reverse many of the tariffs (we've seen that before), and Congress might place some checks on the executive branch. Also, perhaps the tariffs are not enough to topple the economy.
Junk bond sales surge as companies try to beat fresh tariff uncertainty

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

NOAA warns staff a militia group thinks its radars are 'weather weapons'

Mostly Peaceful Riots

Is it a civil war when different factions of the government are waving their minions at each other?
Thousands fill the streets, block freeway after Trump deploys National Guard
Government funds paying for the riots
Media Calls Riots ‘Peaceful’ As Los Angeles Burns - modernity
The Media Are Taking L.A. Riot Gaslighting to a Whole New Level

ABC 7 in Los Angeles is gaslighting its viewers, too. Anchor Marc Brown had the audacity to blame law enforcement for escalating the situation when it was just a bunch of people having fun, watching cars burn. I’m not joking. He literally said the situation “could turn very volatile if you move law enforcement in there in the wrong way, and turn what is just a bunch of people having fun watching cars burn into a massive confrontation and altercation between officers and demonstrators.”
Waymo Self-Driving Cars Vandalized in LA
Waymo vehicles set on fire in downtown L.A. as protesters, police clash
Waymo Halts Service in Downtown Los Angeles After Its Taxis Are Set on Fire
L.A. Police Chief Admits Officers ‘Overwhelmed’ as Thousands of Rioters Block Freeway, Torch Cars

“We are overwhelmed,” McDonnell said at a Sunday evening press conference. “Tonight, we had individuals out there shooting commercial-grade fireworks at our officers. That can kill you.” “They’ll take a backpack, and the backpack will have a cinderblock in it,” he continued. “They’ll break up the cinderblock and use that, pass it around to throw at officers, to throw at cars and other people.”
Trump Suggests Arresting Newsom as LA Protests Enter Fourth Day
Trump says border czar should arrest California Governor Newsom
Marines mobilized in response to LA protests

Democrats

Opinion | The Abundance Agenda Has Its Own Theory of Power - The New York Times

I have had a fascinating few months. “Abundance,” the book I wrote with Derek Thompson, is either going to save the Democratic Party or destroy it. You think I’m kidding. Here’s The Wall Street Journal’s headline: “Can the ‘Abundance Agenda’ Save the Democrats?” Here’s The Nation: “Why the ‘Abundance Agenda’ Could Sink the Democratic Party.” The Atlantic placed the book at the center of “the coming Democratic civil war.” Before “Abundance” came out, I worried that its argument would be too agreeable to generate much debate. I didn’t foresee Ragnarok. But I was wrong about who would perceive it as a threat. The book is largely a critique of how Democrats have governed in the places where they’ve held power.

Left Angst

Schneier tries to rip the rose-colored AI glasses from the eyes of Congress
Trump Administration Ignored Advice When Installing Starlink at the White House
Musk vs. Trump is a cautionary tale for Silicon Valley
Does Musk's feud with Trump pose a risk to U.S. access to space?
- Weren't these people arguing that NASA was as capable as ever and Musk shouldn't be allowed to loot it, just last month?
The Dangers of Consolidating All Government Information
- The time to object was around when they shoved the enabling "Patriot act" through congress. And every time they voted to extend it.
NIH's Human Genome Project archives are at risk of disappearing
Law Enforcement Officials Struggle to Fulfill Trump Promises Rooted in Conspiracy Theories - The New York Times

Top leaders at the Justice Department and the F.B.I. are struggling to fulfill Trump campaign promises often rooted in misinformation and conspiracy theories.

Dan Bongino, the intense and voluble media personality tapped by President Trump to be a top F.B.I. official, appeared on Fox News last month to deliver news that should not have been news: Jeffrey Epstein, he said with glum resignation, had not been murdered after all. “I’ve seen the whole file,” said Mr. Bongino, sitting next to his boss, Kash Patel, the bureau’s director. “He killed himself.”
Kennedy guts CDC's vaccine panel of independent experts
At the Bitcoin Conference, the Republicans were for sale
- How much is Hunter's art worth nowadays?

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

World

Iran / Houthi

Iranian Cities Ban Dog-Walking in Effort To Prevent Western Culture of Pet Ownership From Taking Hold.
- Iran to Crack Down on Dog Walkers

Israel

Greta Thunberg 'kidnapped' on Gaza flotilla

Greta Thunberg, in a video posted on social media, said she and other members of the Freedom flotilla en-route to Gaza have been kidnapped by Israeli forces. This comes after the Daily Mail reported that several Israeli vessels surrounded the ship Madleen, prompting the crew to raise an alarm.
As war rages in Gaza, archaeological looting in the West Bank has spiked

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

China

Health / Medicine

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

There's an invader turning swathes of Britain into spreading dead zones

Deserts are spreading across great tracts of Britain, yet few people seem to have noticed, and fewer still appear to care. It is one of those astonishing situations I keep encountering: in which vast, systemic problems – in this case, I believe, covering thousands of square kilometres – hide in plain sight. I realise that many people, on reading that first sentence, will suspect I’ve finally flipped. Where, pray, are those rolling sand dunes or sere stony wastes? But there are many kinds of desert, and not all of them are dry. In fact, those spreading across Britain are clustered in the wettest places.
Forests offset warming more than thought: study
Reforestation can’t undo global warming, but it could help, study says
Estate of woman who died in 2021 heat dome sues Big Oil for wrongful death
Mushrooms communicate with each other using up to 50 'words', scientist claims
Sea acidity has reached critical levels, threatening entire ecosystems
Poor building standards add £1k to energy bills of new homes, analysis finds

Occupants of homes built in the past seven years have paid about £5bn more in energy bills than they would have if regulations requiring new homes to be low-carbon had not been scrapped in 2016, according to analysis seen by the Guardian.
West Virginia coal mine had 30 years of production left. It will close
The World Is Running Out of Clean Water. This Technology Promises to Fix It
Scientists stunned to see humpback whales trying to send messages to humans
Lab-grown salmon gets FDA approval
Women Emit Less Carbon Than Men
Delft's innovative mushroom coffins gain traction in global markets
Las Vegas is embracing a simple climate solution: More trees