Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you — one painting per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings. #blueskyartchallenge #art #painting 19/20 Nighthawks - Edward Hopper (1942)

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA 10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

FWIW, Trump focusing on autism is not a distraction from Epstein. He has been obsessed with autism ever since his friendship with Bob Wright, the former head of NBC Universal and the founder of Autism Speaks. Wright was also the person who put him on the Apprentice.

Unfortunately, the FT did this "analysis" with ... ChatGPT. They don't note this in the article. They do admit it in an FT podcast! www.ft.com/content/9232...

Real conversation: Them: I've always wanted a longer neck. Me: Evolutionary pressures (by which I mean vampires) have forced humans to selectively breed for shorter, less accessible necks. Them: I'm so glad we're friends.

Since I dubbed Stephen Miller "Discount Goebbels," a few comments on his literal plagiarism of the real thing yesterday. IMO, Trump was rattled (unsurprisingly!!) by the assassination attempt last year. I think he might never have gotten it back together for the election. IMO, Miller got him back.

Thanks to the Texas Tribune for this comprehensive, fully reported account of the firing of the Texas A&M Instructor for teaching “gender ideology.” www.texastribune.org/2025/09/19/t...

A funny thing about RFK announcing he is pinning autism on Tylenol, is that this immediately pissed off a whole lot of anti-vaxxers who had their own pet theories for abusing kids. Many of whom are probably sending him death threats right now. Do you think between now and then he'll hedge on it?

So cool they discovered the cause of autism on basically day they guessed they would. I’m also glad they are withholding this information for a few days to prep for a WrestleMania-style announcement. This is how science works.

The 1947 version of this during the Cold War Red Scare was called the Committee for the First Amendment who flew from Hollywood to DC to protest the HUAC hearings. It included Humphrey Bogart, Danny Kate, Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball, Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, and more

It took a while though. I remember the call to action on the USENET sci.math newsgroup. The crackpots were making their edits at Wikipedia, and people who knew a quaternion from a quadratic were begged to look over and fix articles. I'm guessing other subjects needed similar defenders.

for all people mock it wikipedia is genuinely one of the wonders of the modern world

Don't be tempted by the discount rainbow roll at Redville Commissary.

I am pleased to report that Hawaii Supreme Court Justice Todd Eddins has dropped another total evisceration of the Supreme Court. He says originalism is a fraud—and the Republican justices are shamelessly making up facts and history to impose radical Christian nationalism: slate.com/news-and-pol...

This morning's front page @chicagotribune.com. Photo by @staceywescott.bsky.social

i don’t think people on bluesky understand the severity of this situation. i woke up to literally hundreds of texts from friends and family thinking about either moving back home to india or applying to other countries for jobs. this includes me.

Since many of us are cancelling streaming services, I want to post a little reminder that many library cards will allow you free access to Kanopy, an amazing streaming channel. If your library card doesn't work, you can often sign up for other libraries in your region.

The pharmacist asked me if I preferred Pfizer or Moderna. I said, is a slightly surprised voice (because I was indeed slightly surprised) "Really? We're back to that?" She chuckled.

Well, I renewed my Bill Gates-approved 5G nanobot bio system today. They say it helps prevent COVID too, but that's just a bonus as far as I'm concerned. #vaccines

Nearly 50 instructors from colleges across Illinois are named in an online database dubbed “Professor Watchlist” that was created by a group affiliated with slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk to unmask “radical professors,” WBEZ found. trib.al/UjFOTf8

Well, just discovered that this is real. I used Amtrak's Julie system to make reservations or check schedules. It was useful and worked well in the pre-web days. This is like if Julie got promoted to the post of Secretary of Transportation.

An actual quote from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade Too often people go to university to ‘explore research and knowledge’ Look forward to Wes S saying 'too often people go to hospital to have operations' or Heidi Alexander saying 'too often people go to the station to catch a train'

"This is how a four year old mourns a goldfish." Join me in repeating it on every platform and encourage others to do the same. Let's make this joke go viral and show Trump that he can't so easily violate our first amendment rights. I'm serious. Take a moment and start this movement with me.

Every headline talking about Kimmel being suspended for his “Kirk comments” is journalistic malpractice. He was suspended for comments about MAGA opportunists exploiting Kirk’s death, after the FCC chair issued a Mafioso threat.

Reminds me of "Magda Goebbels made good strudel":

Shout out to @mcsweeneys.net for letting me treat a certain kind of article with the level of respect it deserves. www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the...

These are precedented times and the precedent is a loud ass warning www.nytimes.com/1939/02/04/a...

The Doctor: A lost mine? A phony map -- are people still falling for that old guffin, well are they? Romana: You mean you didn't believe his story? The Doctor: No. Romana: But he had such an honest face. The Doctor: Romana you can't be a successful crook with a dishonest face, can you?

Yesterday Fresh Air did an interview with Robert Draper, who has covered Charlie Kirk. And this section on Draper's relationship with Kirk said a lot to me about modern access journalism, and the soft coverage we've seen in the wake of Kirk's death.

I would love to be part of the conversation on MSNBC related to the Kimmel story and it's chilling effects on first amendment, but unfortunately I was terminated by MSNBC for stating that "hateful thoughts lead to hateful words which lead to hateful actions".

Can Jimmy Kimmel sue Brendan Carr, or other federal actors, for violating his First Amendment rights by coercing ABC to suspend his show, and maybe eventually to fire him? To teal deer it, yes, but without an effective remedy. /1

/5 The concept is sometimes known as “jawboning” — government actors talking to private actors to influence, or coerce, them into censoring speech. This was famously and controversially litigated over the Biden administration’s responses to posts about COVID and other issues on social media…

Chicago news getting buried in the late night apocalypse

Trump Troop Deployment in U.S. Climbs to 35,000 Boots on the Ground flip.it/kPoG.I

Robert Malone has a book where he and his wife claim he’s being gang-stalked by deep state agents so yeah this checks. Just asking questions!

so the Atlantic ended up paying Ruth Shalit Barrett more than $1m for her retracted article about high school sports which I think works out to infinity dollars a word

In the thread more and more universities get added to the list. I predict a new Wikipedia List coming up.

The story of my grandfather’s dismissal from Tulane is discussed in this book

Obama gonna get fired from Columbia now

Thread of good posts about Kirk

You “regret” mistakes. This was not a mistake. They deliberately shackled these people and distributed video of them being humiliated. They detained them for days after. What they regret is that, this time, their gleeful anti-immigrant violence wrought negative consequences for the administration.

I'm moving my newsletter away from Substack and onto Ghost. First post on the new platform goes out tomorrow — about why I think Witchmark is a name to watch in #EnglishWhisky. If you're subscribed already you don't need to do anything. If you fancy a look, the link is the-glass.ghost.io

Well, that was a fun little distraction. Now, where are the Epstein files?

"When the truth offends, we -- we lie and lie until we can no longer remember it is even there. But it is -- still there. Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later, that debt is paid. That is how an RBMK reactor core explodes: Lies" --Craig Mazin, CHERNOBYL

Amusingly @beyerstein.bsky.social and I had the same brain wave this morning, and this useful video was in her feed, I’ll toss it here for reference. bsky.app/profile/brea...

This gets to something that as a former stand-up I recognized but couldn’t name. A 31 year old professional content creator baiting 19 year old amateurs into the format of his choice isn’t debate, it’s crowd work. It’s debate-shaped crowd work farmed for content.

Guys is electricity woke

I'm not posting this because I think any of us need to read any more about this but to celebrate the fact that Teen Vogue continues to be outstanding at covering things in depth and with nuance