May 1
"Magritte is determined to clear his name, but ... murders mount up"
Quirky whodunits to look forward to include The Sheep Detectives ("Offbeat Family Comedy Has Bags Full of Charm"), This is Not a Murder Mystery ("cosy-crime meets art in an irresistibly surreal Belgian drama" on Channel 4), and You're Killing Me ("Acorn TV (US) Announces Murder Mystery May 2026 Schedule"), perhaps joining Ludwig (Fanfare) and The Residence (Fanfare; relevant book recs) among recent and well-received offbeat mysteries. Among recent whodunits in print, r/mysterybooks suggests Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone etc., The Decagon House Murders etc., Strange Pictures etc. (author interview with Shaenon K. Garrity), Lavender House, and work by Anthony Horowitz, Lucy Foley, Tom Mead, and Kate Atkinson. Anyway, if you're into film whodunit challenges, it's Murder Mystery MAYhem month, and among those online, the first 5 minutes of Murder at Midnight (1931) shows how Acting Charades worked (previously).
Minnesota nice kitty
A mother cougar and three 8-month-old kittens have been filmed in Northern Minnesota. This marks the first time in over 100 years that cougars have been confirmed to be breeding in the state, and only the second modern instance this far east anywhere in the USA. Researchers at the Voyageurs Wolf Project discovered a deer carcass that the cats had buried under some leaves, and set up a trail camera to investigate. [more inside]
The most fire-resilient home possible
During the Black Summer bushfires, the Grahams watched their house burn from a peephole in a fire bunker. When they decided to rebuild, they created the most fire-resilient home possible. Here's how they did it.
What can such a vessel offer us to drink?
The Scale of a Man, a new comic about scale models of sailing ships and one model maker in particular, by MeFi fave Lucy Bellwood. [more inside]
You never finish learning a song
Pleasure and mastery. I devote myself to the feel of the cool ebony fretboard, to the gentle pressure on my ring finger as I use it to mute the fourth string, to the difference in tone when I pluck a string with my nail or with the pulp of my finger, to the vibration of my guitar against my belly when I strike the strings with gusto. When I play the final chord of “Asturias,” I lift my guitar to my ear, pressing it hard against my concha. I hear the notes resonating within the wood long after the string itself has gone silent, filling this hollow body with music.
We will block you
XOXO Explore
First linked from the blue in 2012, the incomparable XOXO festival and conference, created to celebrate and connect indie artists and creators working on the internet, celebrated its final year in 2024. Now, after years of working in secrecy, Andy & Andy have published a monumental cornucopia called XOXO EXPLORE, including all of the videos, lineups, schedules, festival documentation, and archived standalone websites for the entire run of their "experiment gone right".
[via mefi projects] [more inside]
Your Favorite Republican Hoods
Was Nate the true villain of the Devil Wears Prada?
‘The Devil Wears Prada’ has a boyfriend problem (WaPo gift link) As years went on, it has been fascinating to watch Nate become colloquially known as the “true villain” of “The Devil Wears Prada.” Particularly to some women (and maybe to men, too, but let’s be honest, straight men were not watching this movie), who worked in grueling fields and saw themselves in Andy: trying to gain toeholds in impossible careers against a backdrop of skyrocketing housing costs and stagnating wages. [more inside]
And you have to wonder how they got this list
Judge orders Alberta separatist group to pull down online database of voter information [more inside]
Tiny mountain possum bred at lower altitudes due to climate change
Tiny mountain possum bred at lower altitudes due to climate change. Trevor Evans has been breeding the endangered mountain pygmy possum to better deal with the effects of climate change. The population at his sanctuary has grown rapidly in the process.
April 30
Like Snow White with the Dwarfs
Chonkers is a ~2000lb Stellers sea lion that has been hanging out with the much smaller California sea lions in San Francisco. Old Thom is a solitary Northwest Atlantic killer whale who is regularly seen in the company of much smaller Atlantic white-sided dolphins[YT]. Nzou, Shona for elephant, is matriarch of a herd of Cape Buffalo. Since being paired with the herd[YT] when she came to the Imire Rhino & Wildlife Conservancy at two years old she has taken over as leader and has killed over a dozen buffalo bulls who tried to usurp her position.
US Politics Odds and Ends
A little bit of non-grim, or at least grimly funny news to lighten your day. 1. DOJ Files Ballroom Brief That Reads Like Truth Social Post — Because Trump Probably Wrote It. Not good news per se, but I see the unhinged-ness of the brief as a positive sign that, like the unhinged Kilmar Abrego Garcia filing before it, this will go nowhere in court. [more inside]
Controversial Songwriter David Allan Coe has died at 86.
Controversial Songwriter David Allan Coe has died at 86. Known for writing songs like "Take This Job And Shove It," and "You Never Even Called Me By My Name," he helped invent the "Outlaw Country," genre. He was a native of Akron, Ohio and had a long colorful career.
The plunk sound of rain makes seeds sprout faster, scientists find
The plunk sound of rain makes seeds sprout faster, scientists find. Scientists say they have the first direct evidence that seeds can sense the sound of rain, and will sprout faster when they do.
Is the future bright for 1930s?
Talk with the past -- Talkie is a language model from 1930. Chatbot trained on a 13-billion-parameter language model trained on pre-1931 text.
We are GOBLINS! Bum ba-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum!
Ars Technica: OpenAI's Codex must be made to stop talking about goblins. WHAT DOES IT KNOW THAT WE DON'T? OpenAI on the source of the gobbos. Wikipedia on Goblins - D&D on Goblins - Goblin Punch (A D&D blog) - Goblin Band (a Mastodon server trying to achieve Tumblr, i.e. goblin, energy)) - Goblin Mode was the Oxford University Press Word of the Year for 2022.
House GOP concedes in DHS funding fight, reopening TSA but blocking ICE
temple robbers
To Finance Their Lifestyle, a Young French Couple Went to Cambodia to Steal Antiquities. They Did Almost Everything Wrong "Clara and André Malraux conspired to loot the pink temple of Banteay Srei, but their failure started a battle of reclamation"
Go go go go go go g
He snatched at you and you match his cigarette
The matchbook pulled from a dead man’s pocket in a film noir is never just a matchbook, and it’s never just a clue to a single, solvable crime. Instead, it’s a window onto a whole world of ambition and weakness, pleasure and destruction, that the detective can illuminate but never fully comprehend. The Wienberg collection works in much the same way, assembling a fragmentary image of a Malibu that’s largely gone now, burned or bulldozed or simply forgotten, and the ambitions and dreams of a moment in time. There’s a particular irony in the fact that it falls to matchbooks—instruments of ignition, made to be used up and thrown away—to preserve the memory of a place that fire has repeatedly erased.
The current cigarette discourse is getting spicy
April 29
SPLC being cut off from large institutional donors
Fidelity and Vanguard (the two largest donor-advised fund managers) have suspended giving via Donor-advised funds to the Southern Poverty Law Center absent any clear legal mandate. [more inside]
Ancient fossils reveal when the iconic Twelve Apostles formed
Ancient fossils reveal when the iconic Twelve Apostles formed. An analysis of tiny fossils of sea creatures found in rock samples around the Port Campbell region in south-western Victoria has refined our understanding of how the Twelve Apostles formed. (The Twelve Apostles are a named rock formation.)
Keep an eye out for those seashells
There's all kinds of fun things a cursor can do at Cursor Camp. Play on the slide, kick around a soccer ball, watch movies, float down the river, explore the caves, visit the cabins, use the telescope, look for secret radio stations, pet the cat....
'Tsumiku no le'
indoctrination disguised as spiritually rigorous self-help content
A thirtysomething woman with the easy smile of your favorite neighbor sits in her earth-tone living room, natural light washing over a gray couch so long it could easily fit four children. The woman speaks of a friend, a married mother, who was frustrated that she had to constantly remind her germophile husband to wash his hands. Hearing this, the woman cautioned her friend: “I think it would be better for your entire family to get the black plague and die … than for you to continue treating your husband like a toddler by reminding him to wash his hands.” Welcome to Wife School, a video masterclass led by Tilly Dillehay, a 38-year-old Baptist writer, podcaster and pastor’s wife who teaches women how to “become the kind of woman who inspires a godly leader”.
Roberts Court Deals a Death Blow to the Voting Rights Act
"The Supreme Court’s six-to-three Republican-appointed majority issued a staggering ruling on Wednesday essentially killing the remaining protections of the Voting Rights Act, dealing a death blow to the country’s most important civil rights law. The majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito in Louisiana v. Callais strikes down the creation of a second majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana and in so doing narrows Section 2 of the VRA to the point of irrelevance, making it nearly impossible to prove that a gerrymandered map violates the right of voters of color." [more inside]
A true dwarf needs only his axe, his friends and his pyjamas
The Banished Flame Saga is a complete 34 episode fantasy comic by Krumparrian. Follow Gimo the dwarf and his companions on a perilous quest. With art reminiscent of Jeff Smith and Osamu Tezuka and a story that dives head-first into classic fantasy with a shameless and unconquerable sincerity.
400,000 Wood Blocks for Communal Building
Inside the cavernous former train station that now houses Hamburger Bahnhof, 400,000 wooden cubes stack and topple into piles. Conceived by Lithuanian artist Lina Lapelytė and commissioned by Chanel, “We Make Years Out of Hours” is a large-scale installation that invites the public to remake structures from these 10-centimeter blocks made of pine and spruce.
This plant is the only known wild specimen in the world
This plant is the only known wild specimen in the world, found on just 300 metres [984.2 feet] of roadside. Only one known single spyridium plant is left in the wild, in crushed limestone on the side of a road. But scientists are hunting for more.
I'm a Mary Ann but I've also always wished to be surrounded by Mary Anns
What Wayne Koestenbaum Learned From Gilligan’s Island (And Why He Will Never Finish Reading Marx’s Capital)
Two coffee shops play by completely different rules when it comes to tax
The UK has an Awkward Tax Avoidance Problem - Damien Talks Money (YouTube)
April 28
Woman’s Talkspace therapy app sessions exposed in court
Jennifer Kamrass confessed her worries to her therapist: her marriage, her finances, and self-esteem. Therapists are legally and ethically bound to confidentiality, but two years later, a transcript of every word Kamrass had typed to her psychologist using the app Talkspace was produced in court by her former employer. ... Talkspace has amassed “one of the largest mental health data banks in the world,” according to reports to investors, containing 140 million message exchanges.
Goddamn, it’s Donut
If you know two things about the Dungeon Crawler Carl book series, one is that it has impressive audiobook adaptations. Listeners are frequently surprised to learn that one man, Jeff Hays, is responsible for all the voices (aside from a couple guest spots.) The eighth book in the series, A Parade of Horribles, is due in a couple weeks, but you can get a peek behind the curtain and watch Hays record the first few chapters of the audiobook (spoilers, obv.) [more inside]
Indigenous solar projects to tackle diesel shortage concerns
Indigenous solar projects to tackle diesel shortage concerns and halve power bills. Two remote Indigenous communities have attracted a combined $11 million [US $7.9 million] in funding for solutions to tackle their fuel security and cost-of-living crises.
King Charles III addresses a joint session of Congress
AP report King Charles III addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress today, only the second British monarch to do so after Queen Elizabeth II in 1991. Speaking during the 250th year of American independence, he invoked Magna Carta, Oscar Wilde’s line about being “divided by a common language,” and framed the relationship as “A Tale of Two Georges” — Washington and George III. An interesting blend of speechwriting, symbolism, diplomacy, and royal theatre. Curious what others made of the speech.
AI makes real money for island of Anguilla
Read article | Sheer luck means Anguilla’s domain is .ai - so many tech businesses are rushing to use it. The island is happy to shut up and take their money! [more inside]
We’ve got to get back to cool crimes
A call for targeted microlooting. Nadja Spiegelman hosts the New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino and Twitch streamer/commentator Hasan Piker on a New York Times podcast to discuss the political possibilities of stealing from large corporations. [more inside]
Why So Many Mayors Are Quitting
Haunted? Or infrasound?
Spooky feelings in old houses may be caused by boiler sounds, study suggests For believers in the paranormal, unsettling sensations brought on by old buildings can be a sinister hint of loitering spirits. But new research points to a more mundane explanation: inaudible sounds from aged pipes and boilers. Scientists investigated the impact of infrasound on a group of volunteers and found that even though it was beyond the range of human hearing, people were more irritable and levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, rose when the sound was switched on.
We desperately need better skepticism
In 2024, Ed Zitron was hardly alone in wondering if AI would take this route; it seemed plausible to me too. Models like GPT-4 were tantalizing mostly because of what they suggested might be possible in the future, rather than for their direct economic utility. If building bigger models didn’t pan out, it was easy to imagine that we’d see some bankruptcies. But time passes and situations evolve. Ed Zitron, though, clearly does not. from AI's biggest critic has lost the plot
The Conservationists Protecting the World's Most Overlooked Felines
Small Cats, Big Impact: Meet the Conservationists Protecting the World's Most Overlooked Felines. Oncillas, African Golden Cats, and Clouded Leopards.
April 27
It took pursuing the one career that was more miserable....
Isabel Hagen is a standup comedian....also a viola player. In this comedy special, she eventually multitasks. (Viola makes entrance at around the 26 minute mark).
Timothy Leary May Have Been Among the CIA’s Greatest Assets
Timothy Leary was touting LSD as a consciousness-expanding drug that could induce sexual euphoria among women and lead to the development of a more peaceful society.
However, in hindsight, Leary proved to be a false prophet who helped destroy the 1960s movements by pushing young people to take a drug that fried their brains and diverted their energy from political activism. [more inside]
Now They're Giving the Kids (A)iPads
(And Chromebooks). Before we had a son, my wife and I had always assumed we'd send him to public school. But over his first year, we've been getting the feeling that it might be hard to find a public school whose curriculum isn't entirely mediated by iPad. It turns out we were wrong about that intuition, but only in the sense of the specific device: "In a national survey conducted by the Times last November, about eighty per cent of K-12 teachers said that their districts use Chromebooks," which was depressing enough, but it turns out that the Chromebooks are now the way that Google's going to inject its large language model into my future kindergartener: "[this Chromebook rollout] has created a vast captive market for Gemini and helped make A.I. in schools a near-universal prospect." And it looks like the 20% without a Chromebook probably have some other device with some other AI on it. [ungated] [more inside]
PM Carney announces Canada Strong fund.
"Many countries that are blessed with natural resources, like Norway, have Sovereign Wealth Funds. Canada hasn't had one. Until now." [more inside]
In my heart, I want to choose the Bucket of Bravery
A ‘Game Show’ That’s Basically Dropout For Word Nerds Is The Funniest Thing I’ve Watched In Years slKotaku) [more inside]
An unsettled sense of responsibility, for there is a great deal to mend
When we come to see the underbelly of a place, temptation to flee can come, too: to get down the mountain as fast as 18 wheels can carry us. There’s a part of me that wants to cut and run from Monteagle, from Tennessee, from the South. Plenty of folks seem to be feeling that urge about America, period. Though, lord, it can hurt to hear of eager decampments abroad when so many are desperate to stay here. To roll on may indeed be the right choice for some of us or for some time. But when I catch that scent of summer, the body itself is a reminder. Even if I never stepped foot in the Assembly again, cutting ties isn’t an option. Not really.
ChatGPT Solves Erdos problem #1196
An amateur just solved a 60-year-old math problem—by asking AI “This one is a bit different because people did look at it, and the humans that looked at it just collectively made a slight wrong turn at move one,” says Terence Tao, a mathematician at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has become a prominent scorekeeper for AI’s push into his field. “What’s beginning to emerge is that the problem was maybe easier than expected, and it was like there was some kind of mental block.” [more inside]