Anteaters evolved independently at least 12 times in the 66 million years since nonavian dinosaurs went extinct.
Ants and termites are good eating and there are plenty of them. They outweigh all other insects, mammals, amphibians and birds combined in the rainforests of South and Central America. And globally, termites alone outweigh all wild mammals by a factor of 10.
Remember when we were all worried that Huawei had filled our telecoms infrastructure with listening devices and killswitches? It sure would be dangerous if a corporation beholden to a brutal autocrat became structurally essential to your country’s continued operations, huh?
In other, unrelated news, earlier this month, Trump’s DoJ ordered Apple and Google to remove apps that allowed users to report ICE’s roving gangs of masked thugs, who have kidnapped thousands of our neighbors and sent them to black sites.
There’s more: Decades of protectionist tech regulation gives the Trump government control of the world’s cloud applications, networks, tractors, phones, game consoles, medical implants, ventilators and more. “It’s well past time for a post-American internet.”
One of the benefits of using Amazon frequently is that we have a gallery of great photos of the front gate of our house.
ICE vs. NYC. Hamilton Nolan: “As dark as these times are, we can all take a tiny bit of comfort in the knowledge that ICE agents are going to have a terrible fucking time in New York City.”
Brilliant advice for any aspiring creative person, from an art teacher critiquing a student’s work:
My biggest critique is, I only merely dislike this piece. I want you to make me HATE it. Go crazy with the things that you like. Don’t hold back trying to make it palatable to people like me. Because I am NEVER going to like it. And if the audience does not like it, it should drive them crazy seeing how much YOU love it.
Heather Cox Richardson: “The president is establishing the principle that he can order the murder of anyone he deems a threat. And Congress is letting it happen.”
Pierce is one of my favorite tech journalists and podcasters, and it’s not just because he does great work and because of his winning, upbeat personality. It’s also because his mental processes and work style are similar enough to mine that I find it useful and enjoyable when he nerds out about his tools and work style.
He talks about the style of podcast where the hosts are friends and talk about a subject they love. The Vergecast, which he co-hosts is a great example. He and Mike Hurley praise two podcasts in that style: The Rest is History and Rewatchables. Those two podcasts and The Vergecast are three of my favorite podcasts. Locally, here in San Diego, the Voice of San Diego podcast is yet another great example I love of that type of podcast.
David says the friendships the audience feels for podcast hosts are real, that we spend more time with our favorite podcast hosts than we do with nearly all of our real-life family, friends and co-workers.
I definitely feel those feelings, but I am skeptical whether those friendships are real. I sometimes refer to my favorite podcast hosts as “imaginary friends.” I don’t know whether those feelings are mentally healthy.
I do occasionally write to my favorite podcast hosts (I just sent a quick note to Pierce), and I always keep in mind when I do that these people don’t actually know me. The relationship is 99.95% in one direction.
Further complicating things: I currently have two favorite podcast hosts and writers who are also real-life friends. I have met up with them many times in person, and they have been to my house. However, I only see one of them every few years, and the other one is someone I have not seen in more than 40 years. These two people occupy very oddly-shaped emotional spaces in my head.
David and Myke also nerd out about productivity tools. They both agree that they would love to be the kinds of people who sit down and do a weekly review of their plans every Sunday, and that they never do it. Same here.
“WordPress co-founder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg called the company’s Tumblr acquisition his biggest failure — but one he hasn’t given up on yet." I continue to love Tumblr, and I am so very far from its target demographic. I’m basically the Tumblr creepy old guy.
Hey, I’m going to add that to my Tumblr profile.
“Even Oedipus is like, ‘whoa, that sounds overly incestuous.'" Newsletter editor Dave Pell on “circular financing” in AI, where a company — like, recently, AMD — pays another company — like, recently, OpenAI, to buy the first company’s products.
