How the head of Obsidian went from superfan to CEO. An interview with Steph “kepano” Ango. I am a recovering Obsidian addict, considering a relapse. www.theverge.com/decoder-p…
Publicity photos and a brief write-up on what to expect from Fallout Season 2 in December. I’m looking forward to it. www.theverge.com/games/760…
ICE Is Nothing Like the Brownshirts, Because the Brownshirts Actually Identified Themselves www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/…
A fascinating history of zippers, which were invented in 1892 and didn’t even work for almost 20 years. During all that time, zippers were a scam, a product in search of a solution. After all, buttons and snaps worked fine. articlesofinterest.substack.com/p/new-epi…
What Happens When an Entire Scientific Field Changes Its Mind www.scientificamerican.com/article/w…
I almost came home with another dog this morning, a sweet-faced chihuahua/German shepherd mix. (And isn’t that an unlikely romance?) The woman walking her said she was a foster, and available for adoption. But I resisted temptation.
The foster dog showed no interest in either me or Minnie, and the woman said the foster has a history of being hostile to men. Also, Julie definitely does not want another dog. So I see no reason why adopting that dog would have been a bad idea.
The scarcity of public toilets is a perfect example of American thinking in 2025. Americans would literally shit their pants to avoid the possibility of reducing a homeless person’s suffering.
A good day for our man Gavin
Some days I hate Gavin Newsom, some days I love him. Aug. 14 was a love-him day. Newsom launched a plan to fight Trump’s Texas gerrymander by putting a countermeasure on California’s November ballot. He spoke plainly, rallied allies like Padilla and Lorena Gonzalez, and trolled Trump online. This display of fighting spirit is a welcome change from Democrats’ usual milquetoast style. But Newsom’s past MAGA-curious pandering and anti-trans comments remind us the party still must decide who it really stands for.
I dislike Discord
I dislike it so much that I’ve decided to stop participating in all Discord forums.
Reddit and webforums (particularly those based on Discourse software) are great. Even mailing lists can be pretty good.
But Discord is a mess. Too many channels. Every time I visit one, it’s like I’m walking in on the middle of a conversation and have no idea what people are talking about.
Discord is meant for people who live on Discord and pop in a couple of times an hour to catch up. That’s not me.
I’m feeling a little the same way about timelines — Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads and Facebook and of course X. In the case of timelines, it all seems to be people talking past each other. Tumblr is better, but mostly I’m on Tumblr for the memes and vintage illustrations and photos.
Venice floats on millions of tree trunks that workers pounded vertically into the mud over a thousand years to erect vast stone buildings on top of floating foundations. This is wild, and I had no idea. www.bbc.com/future/ar…