🔗 Link list 4.15.2026

It’s Time for Americans to Start Talking About “Soft Secession.” Christopher Armitage: “States don’t have to actively resist. They can simply refuse to help. And without state cooperation, much of the federal government’s agenda becomes unenforceable." From August 2025, still current. I suspect there is a lot of this going on already, quietly.


For some people, music doesn’t connect with any of the brain’s reward circuits. By Jacek Krywko on Ars Technica. I suspect this describes me. I almost never listen to music.


Did people memorize numbers before mobile phones?On Reddit. I remember four phone numbers: My own, current mobile phone number. The phone number we had for most of my childhood. My parents' phone number when they moved to a new place after I grew up. And the phone number I had when I was age 4 to 6 years old, which I remember my mother drilling me on over and over because I came from the free range generation when I could wander around the neighborhood unsupervised and she wanted to be sure I had the phone number so I could tell a responsible adult if I got lost or in trouble and needed to call her to get home.


“If you’re ever worried about whether your writing is too self indulgent, I just want you to remember that Sharknado had 5 sequels.” Creators should bring Sharknado energy to their own work. Seriously.


“A slight guilty pleasure of mine is looking at the absolutely ridiculous advice some ‘How to be a masculine man’ videos are giving and then going into the comments to see the most performative shit going.”