Great culture can save lives. Literally. Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

Now that winter (and snow) is fully here, if you have a pride flag on your home you gotta clear your sidewalk. Like 20% of people will form political opinions based on nothing more than “this type of person was nice/willing to pull their weight once”.

Complete dissolution of border patrol and ICE, followed by criminal trials aimed at removing these monsters from society, followed by redistribution of agents’ personal assets as reparations to victims, followed by a denazification process to prevent the cancer from taking hold again.

There’s a proposal to build an enormous data center in a neighboring town, and I have never seen a level of unity like the opposition to it. Politically this is a very purple area but people on the left right and center are coming together in opposition. www.pineknotnews.com/story/2025/1...

Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder & joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily & I must return the gift. ~Robin W. Kimmerer 🖤🤍 #StunDay #ClassicMono #Mammals 🌿

Google’s AI overview for the search “kodiak bear size” features a diagram that compares it to the abominable snowman

Calling peoples' employers in a rage because their tributes to Robert Redford weren't horny enough

My dad first signed up for Twitter to follow live sports and he’s a freak about U of I. One day he said to me “Twitter is abuzz about Illini golf,” and I was like dude you only follow Illini sports accounts. And that’s how every reporter feels Charlie Kirk was the most important person in the world.

Great write up on the piece of media that has consistently fed my curiosity more than any other.There’s no better way to learn something than to find in it that contagious joy of discovery, and no better way to live than to seek discovery in the way this show exemplified.

Update: they are technically still covering them (maybe?), but won’t cover covid shots specifically at CVS. They will still cover flu shots there though, so this is just some pre-compliance bullshit

As of this morning, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota is not covering Covid vaccines. Had one of the new ones scheduled with CVS, who just called me to say they couldn’t do it. I’m even one of the approved risk groups listed by the vichy CDC, but it seems they don’t care. @bluecrossmn.bsky.social

One of my little moments of joy today: the dragonflies are migrating overhead, and the nighthawks have followed.

Yes, but it doesn’t matter. Even if we get a competent and trustworthy government again for some period, everyone should know that it can’t last unless structural and constitutional reforms are made. The fascists are among us and unless they are structurally disempowered, they’ll be back.

Early harvests. Pomme, pomme de terre

The integrity of the midterm elections is the last big test of the system’s ability to restrain a dictator. Don’t ask what comes after that. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/cross-the-...

I follow the NBA, but intentionally do not follow the draft or offseason trades because getting GM-brained about my team can really sap the enjoyment out it for me. Plus it’s so fun every season to be like “who the heck is this guy!” and “Kevin Durant is a Piston now??”

Zero respect for the federal department head resigning in the face of doge attacks. If you actually believed in the mission you would use your power to throw sand in the gears, fight for it while you can. Stepping away keeps your hands clean while stranding everyone else. Pure cowardice.

I mean, literally, the answer to this is "I am federally prohibited from telling you anything about my students without a subpoena or judicial warrant; if you have a subpoena or judicial warrant, please submit it to [Legal Officer/Office] to ensure it is in compliance with all relevant federal laws"

There’s been a pretty deafening silence from Dems so I don’t really expect much, but on an opposition level, people really need to start getting over the fact that “that’s not legal” is not a defense against fascism. And that stopping the tides of fascism often involves the doing “illegal” things.

consider looking up and sharing the information around the rights everyone still has if they encounter ICE or other law enforcement. here's the more MN specific info:

Yup, @jamellebouie.net has this exactly right. What these guys are celebrating/pursuing/yearning for is not masculine energy, it's *adolescent* energy. Drinking Red Bull, crushing Call of Duty, refusing to clean your room. It is indescribably pathetic. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/18/o...

What's the longest (non-iterative) sentence you can make using entirely the wrong homophones? So far I've got: "Wheel bee grate too here, kernel!" (Presumably in response to the Colonel asking you if it's worth listening to your band tonight)

Via @maketheroadny.bsky.social: If ICE shows up, know your rights. “ICE does not have the right to enter your home without a valid warrant signed by a judge.” maketheroadny.org/we-protect-us/

The lists that rahaeli maintains are so helpful in their specificity. Worth checking out if you want to block (for example) a bunch of accounts that spam get-rich-quick schemes

Feel good story you need in your life.

Raw milk is one of those ideas that can really only take hold when people haven't seen a cow. if you see a cow from let's say ten feet or less you immediately understand the problem that pasteurization is solving

Lots of clarity today

The Privacy Act of 1974 covers the use of federally-collected personal information, but there is no specific guidance covering the federal use of third-party data, leaving one huge gaping loophole that it is critical to fix.

The only recurring argument my wife and I have is whether our cat is an Old Man or if he is a Little Baby Boy

I'm simply uninterested in class reductionist rejections of intersectionality. You cannot have a unified working class without recognizing that different marginalized and racialized groups have distinct needs that must be respected. Arguing otherwise isn't class consciousness, it's white supremacy.

This is your reminder that we are ALREADY paying more in taxes, per capita, than most other nations. This does not count private health insurance. Our PUBLIC TAX BURDEN for health care is higher.

A group of 13-year-old boys at the middle school I teach at have started doing this with bread.

Murdering someone directly is, rightfully, condemned. Choosing to let thousands of someones die because it increases profit is lauded and rewarded with millions in salary and bonuses. Both are morally unacceptable violence that create orphans and widows.

Q for anyone reading this: do you think that you are less curious than you used to be? Regardless of answers, why do you think this is?

There are no rules anymore and the longer everyone keeps pretending this is normal, the worse it's going to be

We're thankful to hear that Wisdom, the world's oldest banded bird, has returned to Midway Atoll for the breeding season AND has already laid an egg! At 74+ years old, Wisdom is changing our understanding of #seabird biology. Welcome back & congrats! #ornithology friendsofmidway.org/wisdom-was-s...

Following United Farm Workers has been the single most educational thing on social media for me. Though I've known seasonal farm workers and heard about how food comes to our tables, I hadn't really had a good idea of the reality. Highly recommend following them.

Btw just to throw some numbers on this: if you go back to like... 2010. A lot of social media consists of links to sites, not creations denuded of their creator. Someone like me now and then would frontpage digg or Reddit. People would go to my site. That could be worth hundreds of dollars in a day.

Every time I read a Giri Nathan piece about an individual tennis player I feel like I’ve been shown something beautiful and true. Just some top-notch deep and sublime shit. Even if you don’t follow tennis, this retrospective of a Great is a wonderful read.

Holy fuck a swan just tried to eat my camera.

Browser inexplicably closed my extra window with all my "I'll read/do this later" tabs (30+) Very rude to assume I will never actually get around to them and also accurate

"These changes are carried out through rulemaking and budgeting processes. They are felt in graveyards and cemeteries." A worthwhile read.

bluesky request. do not follow or reward quote-doomers. people who quote an article and only add something like "you have no idea how bad this is" or "it's over" or "say goodbye to everything you love". they succeed from your stress. they're bringing you down with them. stay awake; not like this.

Heads up everyone - this means they hate how well the blocklists work, which is amazing. But also time to be discerning about which lists you subscribe to.

in modern political discourse, the word "echo chamber" is only used when you don't want to relitigate ideas that have been thoroughly disproved by the outcome of WWII