A lovely little bit of physics that you might have spotted if you ever play with a slinky. We should all play more, because we should all embrace our curiosity. And finding out how the physical world works is fun!
Mishell Baker
@mishellbaker.bsky.social
Author of the Arcadia Project trilogy, mother, dungeon master. Terminal cancer, incurable optimist. AI used me, but I don't use AI. Enjoy life. Be someone you would love. Make things better.
Virginia has been the only state in the country to enforce a lifetime ban on voting for anyone convicted of any felony. The governor’s announcement on Friday restored voting rights to some 66,000 people.
Virginia Governor Restores Voting Rights for Thousands With Past Felony Convictions - Bolts
This is the only state that was banning people convicted of any felony from voting for life. Virginians have an opportunity to end that system for good in November.
boltsmag.org
Q: What do you get the man who has everything? A: A happy afterlife! Q: How do you do that? A: Eels. Obviously. In about 1500 Ralph de Baliol agreed to pay 2000 eels per year to get the monks at Castle Acre Priory, near King's Lynn, to pray for the soul of his lord, Earl Warren. 🗃️🧪
My 14yo worked *so* hard on our math lesson today. At one point I said "I can just go get a calculator; I'm pretty sure they expect you to do this part with a calculator." She said, "No, I want to do the steps." She sat there and she did all the dang steps, on paper. Good girl. So good.
Tell me a few things you love about being alive. Before you answer, meditate seriously on the alternative and consider what you would miss. Then switch to being glad you have it, and tell me all about it. Don't be shy, seriously. I want to hear.
There is nothing wrong with believing that a positive attitude, visualization, etc. can help with cancer. As long as you're not actively saying NO to other things that have been scientifically proven to boost your chances. I try everything that is remotely compatible, starting with the proven.
Douglas McGrath's EMMA starring Gwyneth Paltrow opened on this day in 1996. Celebrate the 30th anniversary with a marathon of Austen-powered movies including CLUELESS, BRIDE & PREJUDICE, and BECOMING JANE on Pluto TV Romance: pluto.tv/us/live-tv/5...
In order to hit the moon, you have to aim wholeheartedly for the stars beyond it. The key to happiness is to then be truly and deeply satisfied with the moon. To realize that aiming for the stars is what got you that far. It isn't a failure. You reached the *moon*, dangit.
NEW: after our coverage of this company's little scheme to use printed books to train AI, it calls it a "test of the market" and walked the entire thing back: www.404media.co/ai-company-t...
Company Offering Printed Books to Train AI Stops After 404 Media Coverage
Citing backlash, ISBNdb removed its webpages about training AI, denied ever buying, scanning, or selling a book for AI training, and said the site was a "test of market interest."
404media.co
Welcome to the resistance: meet the workers dodging (and sabotaging) their employer's AI mandates: aftermath.site/ai-resistance-...
I've said this before and I'll say it again: If you use genAI by choice, never tell me. Keep your shame to yourself.
“Anthropic described the project as “our effort to disruptively scan all the world’s books” in an internal memo, which noted “we do not want it to be known that we are pursuing this project”.” And they’re the ones who claim to be good guys. Shut it down.
No longer content with pillaging intellectual work and dismembering our environment (already critically weakened), AI companies are now hellbent on destroying books galore including rare editions. Shut down these nefarious enterprises already.
AI labs buy, scan, shred millions of rare books
If you have retreated to physical books because the internet is too full of AI slop, bad news — now they’re shredding the books to feed their AI slop machines.
news.com.au
I used to just devour books. Now I struggle to finish them. I think the last one I actually finished was an Octavia Butler a couple of years ago. I think I just...don't really like newer books? Which is sad. For me, I mean. Because they aren't making any more old ones.
Hm, it's almost like even in Texas, government and regulations can be a good thing and not a boogeyman to be minimized at all costs. It's almost like humans need someone with a bigger picture to stop them from wreaking havoc that makes everyone miserable.
Texas Tribune@texastribune.org · last wk.Texas’ power grid operators are calling for state lawmakers to expand their authority to regulate data centers, following a recent directive to rein in these facilities from Gov. Greg Abbott. bit.ly/4x3VgMI
Amazon supplied almost all the funding for a campaign presented as a coalition of New York workers, small businesses, and national carriers. The company's donations are by far the largest it has ever reported making to a lobbying effort in the state.
Amazon Bankrolled $5M Campaign Against NYC Delivery Bill
Amazon supplied almost all the funding for a campaign presented as a coalition of New York City workers, small businesses, and national carriers.
nysfocus.com
Phenomenal article. Sit down every man you know and make him read it. Failing that, memorize bits of it and quote them at every man you know. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
The Masculinity Scam
The manosphere’s campaign strategy
theatlantic.com
I was always alive. I just didn't realize until a few years ago that being alive is wonderful. That breathing and touching things is wonderful. That the very existence of earth and everything on it is a freaking miracle. That was always true. I just ignored it. I forgive myself.
I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free Michelangelo
Rich people are so fragile. A "wave of anxiety" from an "ominous" and "threatening" letter saying, "Our records indicate that the property referenced above may be subject to the new surcharge"? 🤣 Live ONE day as Latino, Black American or trans to find out what these words actually mean.
The City Reporter@thecityreporter.nyc · last wk.City Council members cry foul as homeowners receive letters demanding they prove NYC residency ahead of the city’s pied-a-terre tax program.
New from Mezabahnur Masum: There's much we don't know about the data center boom and its costs: water, electricity, and more. Solving that problem is harder than it looks, and the confusion might be by design.
With Texas’ Data Center Boom, Uncertainty Is the Business Plan
Proposed projects are driven by sketchy numbers nobody has to prove: inflated demand, water use most companies never report, power plans that route around ordinary review. Either way, the public pays.
texasobserver.org
South Side teens can learn coding, game design and more at a new teen tech space. blockclubchi.co/4bkzVq2
Whenever I read about someone "eating something with relish" I just stop and glory in the ambiguity.
Any contention that it works "in theory" is completely dependent upon people having reliable information. Which they don't because sellers of products own the media that reports on them, and the platforms on which non-journalist share anecdotal information.
Among the worst ideas floating around is that "the free market" will naturally achieve desirable results for society. No, it won't, not even in theory, much less in practice. Markets don't optimize "good for society" unless you make them.
Jon of The North@krauza.bsky.social · last wk.Turns out that food companies were only checking their food because the government told them to, which is exactly why we need government regulations.