“The creases branching from the corners of his eyes feel artisanal, like a rare and exclusive collection assembled with great skill” This is very weird writing!

Two significant studies this week. One about the neurodevelopmental impacts of Covid in utero. The other about immune system dysregulation post-Covid that makes us more vulnerable to other viral and bacterial infections. (See next post.)

Related: Zenni, an online glasses store, is offering a coating for its lenses that the company says will protect people from facial recognition technology. Zenni calls it ID Guard.

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if you have editing or proofreading needing a quick turnaround, i'm available! & if you have a young person needing last-minute help with a college essay as those final deadlines approach, i do coaching and editing there, too!

“Through the history of public timekeeping, stories of clocks saved + restored thru community action, + close observation of clusters of ⏰ across different nbrhds, Dirks will explore what these timepieces help keep alive — shared time, civic care, + moments of connection in an ever-changing city.”

"'The Pitt' is confident, it’s propulsive, it’s filled with great actors who commit, and perhaps most importantly it has a strong idea behind it" yep!

for e.g. one was a genre film from a big name director who’s coming off a few commercial misfires (and can clearly attract top talent) so likely was looking for a bankable genre movie and yet it was not good! Forget experiment fare we need to restore our nation’s trove of craftman-like genre scripts

I watched two recent movies this weekend from two reliably interesting directors, both of which were depressingly bad and both of which reeked of “I need a financeable project pronto” and I can only conclude: We have a dire national shortage of tenable unproduced screenplays

Another day, another way Hollywood is showing its cowardice. www.allyourscreens.com/latest-news/...

I had similar thoughts. While it only went so far (like most celebrityhood docs of the moment) and is stylistically unremarkable, UNLIKE most celebrityhood docs of the moment that include the subject’s involvement, it doesn’t seem preoccupied with image management. This is who he is

(Also because this is the internet: Not all books are good for the soul. But that's where you can talk about books and what they're communicating, and teach kids to evaluate what they read.)

When I was in elementary school, I read everything from Sweet Valley Twins & Babysitters Club to Jane Eyre & Shakespeare (not out of parental urging, mind you - I saw A Midsummer Night's Dream on a field trip & was IN AWE). Let kids read. Even "junk." Also don't tell them any books are "too hard."

Second covid booster recommended by CDC for adults 65 and older and those who are moderately or severely immunocompromised "Individuals do not need documentation to prove immunocompromised status, and vaccinators are explicitly instructed not to deny vaccination" for lack of documentation.

Pro tip: If you are attending a crowded event in winter, wearing a well-fitting mask like an N95 can serve double duty by keeping your face warm and keeping viruses away. (yes, transmission can still happen outdoors in crowds or with close and sustained contact to someone who is sick).

Photographing the iridescent gorget of a male Anna’s #hummingbird, requires #GoodLight, with a low angle sun straight behind the photographer, and the bird should have raised it gorget feathers. I prefer a light overcast for the best colors. @robcrank68.bsky.social #BirdOfTheDay #birds #nature

Chicago ❤️

Jan. 7 is the deadline to apply for the Chicago Public Library's $4,000 Renaissance Project grants, which support research on Black history. chipublib.email.bibliocommons.com/email/view/6...

There's a thousand products to prey on people's insecurities. End of the day we're all just normal humans with normal characteristics. Don't give in to these people.

In this in-depth interview Billie Jean Sweeney — a former editor at The New York Times — details how the paper shifted towards openly promoting anti-trans hatred, why this was directed from the very top, how some staff pushed back and the immense damage done by the NYT legitimizing bigotry.

A point I wish more people understand! At a certain point the wealthy become their own species and prey on the rest of humanity to sustain their inhumanity.

It’s never bad time to get a flu shot if you haven’t already and to mask (especially if you’re traveling, which many are this time of year!) Gift 🔗

And disproportionately affects Black people with uteruses — I’ve seen reporting that 50-80% have the condition. This from the Mayo Clinic says 90% by age 50, it’s outrageous mcpress.mayoclinic.org/women-health...

Bring back the distinctive retail roof

I will never forgot the all-staff meeting after layoffs were announced where someone asked Moog whether he considered taking a pay cut himself (no, of course) — and why reporters and producers had to pay for CPM’s financial woes, instead of the people (ahem, him) who caused them. This is so gross.

It's wild! For a while their strategy was just: NatGeo is now on Disney+. And I guess NatGeo cable shows didn't work on Disney+ so they just dumped NatGeo? 🤦‍♂️ Not sure if you saw this, but it gave one enterprising freelance producer an opportunity to capture the audience for an abandonded show:

I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it: If you, as a manager, enable and allow abusive people under you to persist, then you yourself are an abusive manager. It's as simple as that. You don't get a pass because they're under you and you're looking elsewhere.

Nooooo! What a lovely man

A lot of this is on Harmon as a showrunner. Instead of apologizing for an employee’s egregious behavior (“sorry I’m such an incompetent manager of bullies”?) a supervisor needs to actually handle the situation and tell said employee: This is unacceptable in the workplace variety.com/2025/tv/news...

Oh this is a good comvo (I hadn’t realized Nat Geo had scaled back original programming so much … I just want a channel with shows about veterinarians and animals rescue orgs)

This was 💯 a thing! (So were ashtrays in the arm rests 🙃)

Here’s your winter TV preview, a look at what’s coming up over the next couple of months I say this only half-jokingly but if you see something that catches your eye, make a note in your calendar because the algorithm and/or minimal promotion usually isn’t enough to alert us to premieres Gift 🔗

Yes to this whole thread Would also love if we could move the conversation to meaningfully pushing for clean air ventilation/infrastructure The technology exists! We KNOW how to do it. And yet there is zero policy action/social energy to enact programs (beginning at least in hospitals & schools)

“the moment requires more than just presenting questions and what-ifs. It needs a stance, a commitment to an ethos and to the story it's ostensibly trying to tell, and an honesty about consequences” Yes! Good piece looking back at the year in movies from @aishaharris.bsky.social

This is great, "Why one small American town won’t stop stoning its residents to death," a story where Isaac Chotiner interviews the guy who administers the lottery from "The Lottery" archiveofourown.org/works/733964...

“the fact that almost a century since Olivier’s film, we are still calling it a love story — a great one! The greatest! It’s being released the day before Valentine’s Day! — when what actually happens is that Cathy rejects Heathcliff because she’s a snob, and he turns into a psychopath”

Listen to @rubinallergy.bsky.social and get masked! youtube.com/shorts/03_0d...

To stay or not to stay for a movie's end credits Much to my surprise, some audiences ascribe a moral component to watching the closing credits This week's newsletter. Subscribe! Share! It's free!

normalize drinking eggnog year-round

(whispers) It’s because none of these platforms care about cultivating a brand! It’s a travesty!

"Let people enjoy things" isn't the populist cri de coeur some people seem to think it is. It's giving everyone who gets rich making entertainment products for mass consumption cover to cater to the lowest common denominator. At least make them put some effort into taking your hard-earned money!

I’m just going to be plain. A handful of universities consistently win in football. That can’t be the cover for broader dysfunction for really any university.

To stay or not to stay for a movie's end credits Much to my surprise, some audiences ascribe a moral component to watching the closing credits This week's newsletter. Subscribe! Share! It's free!

I see there’s a post about microplastics going around with a photo of drinking straws, so here is my semi-regular reminder that the 3 biggest sources of microplastics are tires (45%), synthetic clothing particles (35%) and paint (~10%). Lay article attached:

I didn't find the season finale of Pluribus satisfying, but it isn't surprising. Like most modern TV storytelling, it lacks closure by design. It's anti-weaning: milk from a teat that is only designed to keep you coming back. If it was nourishing milk, over time you'd grow enough to be weaned.

Again, getting an editor's notes on my writing makes me feel like a good editor is worth their weight in gold. Even if I ultimately push to keep something, it makes me sharpen my understanding of why that one line is vital.

Real-life fanfic is noxious, the NHL has a rampant history of homophobia that deserves ink

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I don’t get it, is this supposed to fracture?