And corrupt. You forgot corrupt

A useful reminder of the work @darg-sessions.bsky.social have been doing over the years to curate a fascinating series of interviews.

“Pope Leo made a plea on Wednesday for countries to offer their ​citizens universal healthcare, calling it a ‘moral imperative’ that ‌people have access to the health services they need.” www.reuters.com/business/hea...

Fools and their money… Gift article: buff.ly/9ZsqXXk

Federal agents visited the home of a man who had sent a scathing email to a top ICE official after two demonstrators were killed. Now, a free-speech watchdog is suing the Trump administration, arguing that the agents’ actions were intended to intimidate the man.

The number of students admitted to Ph.D. programs this fall dropped 15% from the previous year, according to data from over 50 top research universities. The decline is driven, in part, by a chaotic and unpredictable federal funding environment under the Trump administration.

Had such a fun time chatting with @debbiemillman.bsky.social on her fabulous pod about all the things including why my life has been one big attempt to get back at Razorfish for snubbing, 18-year-old idiot me: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

In Germany, cats are called 'Stubentiger', which means 'living room tiger.'

I built a better members-only Goodreads: craigmod.com/roden/115/ (in continuing my Rebuilding All The Software jag)

@philipcball.bsky.social "How Life Works" is an amazing MUST READ for anyone who wants to understand where biology is right now. It's a masterpiece. Dawkins was wrong. Genes are not selfish and not the deterministic blueprint for life. Just as important, the machine metaphor fails.

👀 Craig Mod interviewed by Debbie Millman on Design Matters. (I guess those eyes should be ears but an ears-bugging-out emoji doesn’t exist.) [shows.acast.com]

Just advised a friend, off to vacation for a second time in Mexico City, to keep an eye out for street dogs, conditions having been so tough there that survivors are easily smarter than 35% of Americans voting in presidential elections.

Hey @chicagotribune.com Editorial Board: Why did you describe me as a “bomb-throwing influencer”? This is wrong, inflammatory, and racist. Change it. www.chicagotribune.com/2026/07/05/e...

In case you missed it, Utrecht, Netherlands has begun building the largest Dutch “car-free” neighbourhood. With: 12K people 6K homes 1.8K social rental homes 1.5K mid-range rental & affordable owner-occupied homes 21K bike parking spaces 250 shared cars 2 parcel hubs Parking structures on the edge.

The “vibe shift” proclaimed Nov. 2024 - Jan. 2025 was just some elites—in business, media, law, and some higher ed admins—who kinda liked the fascism and gave themselves permission to accommodate it. That’s all it ever was. A close presidential election is not somehow a binding cultural referendum.

📢 Abstract update! Invited speaker Ana Cristina Ostermann (UFRGS & CNPq, Brazil) @ana-ostermann.bsky.social: "Where there's life, there is hope: Calibrating hope in the face of impending death" — on hope in physician–family phone calls during COVID-19. Programme 👇 sites.google.com/york.ac.uk/y...

The only Fourth of July song that matters: youtu.be/vzpLAfKmqDg?...

Another image of fascists on the DC metro for America's 250th celebration Finn Gomez/Getty Images www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/m...

Yes — one of my favorite streets and cities on Earth! As the Danes say, it’s **hyggeligt og afslappende** (cozy and relaxed). It has the same feeling as Nyhavn, with the pubs and restaurants lining the sea canal.

This is important — “Kind of a miracle solution: How Paris is harnessing the Seine to replace air-conditioning. City plans to triple system of underground pipes that distribute chilled river water, reducing need for individual cooling units.” One of the world’s largest district cooling networks.

“The city’s transition away from the car, tho fantastically chaotic, has become a global role model. Under mayor @annehidalgo.bsky.social, Paris was ‘the most influential city in the world’ says Canadian urbanist Brent Toderian. Hidalgo, stepping down after 12 yrs, exulted: ‘The bike beat the car.’”

This is quite the metaphor for what Trump is doing to this country

Back home after a wonderful #icca2026 research conference in Edmonton, Canada.

#icca2026.

#icca2026.

#icca2026.

“In 2024 alone more 41,800 premature deaths in the US were attributable to road pollution.” (Same number as are killed in crashes.) www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Giving my talk -- "Divergence in alignment to the larger activity of a sequence: Impeded/Expedited progressivity & epistemics" -- in the epistemics session today at 1.30pm. I hope some folks are still around on the last day of this excellent conference! #icca2026

One calculation that blew my mind: When I push a pedestrian beg button to cross an arterial road w/ 40 mph spd limit. Wait of 90 sec means a car 1 mile away gets to priority to clear the intersection before I am allowed to cross the road. I am standing roadside breathing particulates

And when a bus with 60 passengers has to wait 90 seconds at a light before it can turn onto an arterial road, it means that a driver alone in a car one mile away gets priority over 60 people who have already arrived at the corner.

2/ And that’s mainly to prop up the lie about the antifa vandals. And he needs the antifa vandals fantasy to cover up the fact that he turned the reflecting pool into a broken swamp because he’s a dipshit surrounded by toadies and yes men.

The reflecting pool debacle is a marvelous illustration of the interconnection between autocracy, illiberalism and incompetence. Trump broke the pool. Lied abt it. Said it was violent outside agitators. Now he’s created a vast security perimeter to prevent people from getting near it.

Another #icca2014 memory during the wonderful #icca2026 in Edmonton, Canada.

Fond memories of #icca2014 (at UCLA), while currently at #icca2026 in Edmonton, Canada.

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com Trumpian policy failures such as going to war with Iran and slashing Medicaid “take a lot of intellectual and emotional bandwidth to process,” Michelle Cottle writes. “Some guy wasting a pile of money on a shoddy remodel? Everyone gets how pathetic and hilarious that is.”

good to see this. Musk is clearly getting visibly angry at the rising awareness of how many hundreds of thousands of people his DOGE wilding spree has already killed, millions more if this stays in place into the future. Everyone can participate in spreading the word about all the blood on his hands

Rep. Ro Khanna is calling for accountability over Musk’s USAID cuts, which one study projects could lead to 14 million deaths by 2030. After Musk lashed out, Khanna responded to Chris Hayes.

During the Chicago heatwave of 1995 newscasters telegraphed the heat by showing people at pools, showing how fast ice cream melted, attempting IIRC to fry an egg on a car. It was all very jokey. Meanwhile 739 people died over five days.

As I always say, if you read TPM you will be ahead of the curve.

A credulous media will be the death of the republic

Looking forward to seeing old (and new) friends at the conference! #icca2026

Our latest investigation: How giant trucks and SUVs are far deadlier for pedestrians. “Before the driver knows what’s happened, the pedestrian’s head is under the wheel.” www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

I love when I walk into an area with tons of trees and it instantly feels cooler.

The European Union is tightening the regulatory backdoor through which US automakers have been quietly importing around 7k large SUVs and pickup trucks/year. “The revised rules, expected to launch in 2027, are designed to close loopholes that Brussels says allow unsafe vehicles onto European roads.”