Nick Kapur
@nickkapur.bsky.social
Historian of Japan and East Asia. I only post extremely interesting things. Author of "Japan at the Crossroads," out now from Harvard University Press. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674984424
This amazing website, called "Worse on Purpose," is cataloguing all the ways companies are deliberately and secretively degrading their own products As usual, in most cases the culprit is private equity extracting enormous sums while everyone else is left worse off.
Voters in the Clacton constituency have a chance to do a very funny thing next week.
Movies taught us that AI would destroy our culture with bombs. The failson techbros brought us a version that will simply make our human culture die via repetitive cloning.
Nick Kapur@nickkapur.bsky.social · 4mo agoWhen Japanese scientists re-cloned mice for 58 generations, everything seemed fine for a long time, but then the mice started dying for no discernible reason. Repetition breeds decline, in nature as well as culture.
When Japanese scientists re-cloned mice for 58 generations, everything seemed fine for a long time, but then the mice started dying for no discernible reason. Repetition breeds decline, in nature as well as culture.
Fauci... Wanted for the crime of giving Donald Trump advice that Donald Trump took. Unforgiveable.
Map of when women got the right to vote in different European countries
"If there is a question to ask, then, it is this: Why does Musk get a pass? Why do politicians, journalists and commentators treat his far-right racist radicalism as a sideshow rather than the core of his political, ideological and industrial project..." www.nytimes.com/2026/07/29/o...
Opinion | Elon Musk Is a Menace to Society (Gift Article)
Why does the owner of X get a pass for what he says and does there?
nytimes.com
As unpopular as the Iran war is, the coverage still doesn't do justice to the fact that they just could have not done any of this. There was literally no reason beyond general bloodthirstiness and incompetence.
Throwing one of your biggest customers under the bus to own the libs
public health guy@publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 2w agoit does actually sound like taylor farms and the white house teamed up to try and blame taco bell for the outbreak. unprecedented corruption
This amazing website, called "Worse on Purpose," is cataloguing all the ways companies are deliberately and secretively degrading their own products As usual, in most cases the culprit is private equity extracting enormous sums while everyone else is left worse off.
No. It’s not. Full public support for higher ed would solve all the problems in public higher education. An educated public is essential for the survival of the republic, and the republic is priceless.
NPR@npr.org · 2w agoIf an undergraduate program's graduates don't earn more than workers who never went to college, that program could be cut off from federal student loans. But is a degree just about making more money?
The fact that VP JD Vance and Richard Grenell went to Romania—on behalf of the Trump Administration— to advocate for Andrew and Tristan Tate, who by all accounts, were rapists running a coercive sex ring, then permitted them to come to Florida, should be a crazy, crazy scandal.
Today!!!
Modern Japan History Association@modernjapanhist.bsky.social · 4w agoOn July 14th! Peter Mauch (U of Western Sydney) on his new book “Tojo: The Rise and Fall of Japan's Most Controversial World War II General”, in conversation with Andrew Levidis (Australian National U) and Simon Avenell (Australian National U). Register for Zoom here: mjha.org/event-6712444
Is Taco Bell growing their own lettuce? No. They get their lettuce from companies like Taylor Farms (that has 1/3 of the market *including hospitals*). This is deflection on the part of the federal government, which specifically cut funding for food safety screening/testing.
Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · 3w agoFederal and state health officials are reportedly investigating whether Taco Bell restaurants played a role in one of the largest U.S. outbreaks of an illness that causes explosive diarrhea
Interesting article about how some Brazilians are blaming World Cup defeat on the rapid spread of US-style megachurch protestantism. I did not realize that 20 out of 26 Brazilian players at this year's World Cup - including Neymar - were protestant.
Interesting article about how some Brazilians are blaming World Cup defeat on the rapid spread of US-style megachurch protestantism. I did not realize that 20 out of 26 Brazilian players at this year's World Cup - including Neymar - were protestant.
For future viewing, or if you were unable to join us, a video of the recent MJHA "New Books on Japan" discussion with Hannah Shepherd regarding her recent "The Narrowing Sea: Fukuoka, Pusan, and the Rise and Fall of an Imperial Region" is now available on the MJHA YouTube channel!
New Books on Japan: "The Narrowing Sea: Fukuoka, Pusan, and the Rise and Fall of an Imperial Region"
YouTube video by Modern Japan History Association
youtu.be
"Our policy isn't working anymore, sir." "What policy? You mean the policy of digging up the graves of our once-beloved classics, dumping the contents onto a vaudeville stage, and paying overexposed celebrities to manipulate the brittle corpses like stiff, half-rotten puppets?" "Yes sir, that one"
The New York Times@nytimes.com · 3w agoDisney’s live-action “Moana” took in roughly $43 million over the weekend in North America, the company said on Sunday. Disney had been aiming for $60 million or more.
There really is no better name than this time period. Get it on a Time cover ASAP.
Peter@notalawyer.bsky.social · 2y agowelcome to the Age of Diarrhea
Did you write your comment yet on the OMB rules on federally funded science yet? No? Don’t worry, you can do it this weekend. Here are some resources that can help you get started.
The US global dominance in higher ed & scientific innovation was based on strong govt investment and an ability to attract top international talent. Trump is weakening both: "In this century, overall, the émigré fraction for U.S. Nobels in physics, chemistry and medicine now stands at 40 percent."
David Ho@davidho.bsky.social · 4w agoTrump-induced brain drain
"AI literacy" is not actually a thing, at least not on its own. Across every field, from coding to science to humanities, the people who get the most out of AI are the people who have already developed non-AI competencies, which they originally developed in the absence of AI.
Maine officials search the rocky beach for a new senate candidate. They find an unconscious man clad in tattered rags washed upon the shore. The sea provides for Maine, it always does
I mean, we all know why… all these failing but beloved companies it’s because private equity bought them. They make it so these places cannot make it long term. www.businessinsider.com/private-equi...
The $2.7 billion breakup of Pizza Hut
Yum! Brands is selling Pizza Hut for $2.7B, with LongRange Capital and Yum China taking over. Yum! will refocus on KFC, Taco Bell, and Habit Burger.
businessinsider.com
The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · 4w agoPizza Hut is looking for ways to reconnect with customers after years of restaurant closures and shifting consumer tastes. Some fans say the path forward may actually lie in looking back at its era of colorful lamps hung over checkered tablecloths.
Greg Pollock and I argue in @heatmap.news that electric vehicle manufacturing in the US is a national security priority. EVs are the largest source of demand for advanced batteries. Batteries are essential building blocks of the 21st century economy with important defense applications.
Electric Vehicles Are a Defense Technology
Two former defense officials argue that Rivian may be as important to America’s national security as SpaceX.
heatmap.news
The worst part is that this is essentially how politics in Latin America has worked since the 1830s. Liberals and Leftists who mean good things and try to do them and General Killmurder Skulltaker on the Right salivating for mass slaughter.
Christo Silvia@christosilvia.bsky.social · 4w agoI think the challenge is we can expect America to oscillate between Bidenism and Trumpism every four years forever
🚨 The devastation to the Affordable Care Act by the GOP & Trump Regime in two simple graphs. 1: Avg ACA premiums + OOP costs have gone up ~$1,800 *per enrollee* year over year in Michigan (+58%). 2. (NEW): Effectuated ACA *enrollment* has *dropped* by ~131,000 people y/y in Michigan (-27%).
Since taking office, Trump has pardoned dozens of white-collar fraudsters, tax evaders, and corrupt politicians, wiping out ~$1.3 billion in restitution owed to their victims and the taxpayers. /1
