Cavalcade of Mammals

James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers. He co-discovered DNA’s structure but later engaged in rank racism and sexism. by Sharon Begley

Cory Doctorow on the AI bubble
AI as Normal Technology. An alternative to the vision of AI as a potential superintelligence

Lessons from a Red Scare. The American people are capable of turning the tide against repression. by David R. Lurie

Pi with the Major system:

Mad, rat, lip, nacho, llama, lava, pack, puma, gnome, fire
mad -> 31 rat -> 41 lip -> 59 nacho -> 26 llama -> 53 lava -> 58 pack -> 97 puma -> 93 gnome -> 23 fire -> 84
100 digits of pi:

perl -e 'use Math::BigFloat "bpi";print "pi: ",bpi(101),"\n";'

3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170680

1. “My Turtle Pancha will, my love pick up my new mover,Ginger”
2. “my movie monkey plays in, a favorite bucket
3. ship my puppy michael to sullivan’s backrubber
4. a really open music video cheers jenny F. jones
5. have a baby fish knife so marvin will marinate the goosechick

Using word length:
Pie, I wish I could remember pi,
“Eureka!” cried the great inventor,
Christmas pudding, Christmas pie,
Is the problem’s very center.

Algorithms for making interesting organic simulations

Scientists just cracked the mystery of why cancer immunotherapy fails. “Unlike ordinary stress responses that slow protein production to help cells regain balance, TexPSR drives protein synthesis into overdrive. The result is a relentless buildup of misfolded proteins, stress granules, and toxic aggregates ¾ similar to the amyloid plaques seen in Alzheimer’s disease. This overload poisons the T cells, crippling their ability to attack tumors.”. Nature 01 Oct 2025.

How Trump Is Making China Great. Why we’re going to lose the trade war, and much more besides. by Paul Krugman

Pluralistic: Apple’s unlawful evil (06 Oct 2025) by Cory doctorow.
Apple has removed ICEBlock, a totally legal app that helps people track the movements of the masked snatch-squads who illegally terrorize brown people in America’s cities, capitulating to a warrantless demand from Trump’s DoJ boss Pam Bondi. link.

Scientists found that “young” immune cells made from human stem cells can reverse signs of aging and Alzheimer’s in mice. pub link.

Republican tariffs now projected to cost US households an average of $2,400 / year. Also, it will increase unemployment. “Consumers face an overall average effective tariff rate of 18.3%, the highest since 1934.”

Dust-Licking Pimps. Mark Twain and Quincy and Immigration by Jess Piper

No Californian gentleman or lady ever abuses or opposes a [Chinese person], under any circumstances, an explanation that seems to be much needed in the East. Only the scum of the population do it – they and their children; they, and, naturally and consistently the policeman and politicians likewise, for these are the dust-licking pimps and slaves of the scum…

“Roughing It”, Mark Twain

“NFL” Shooting Wasn’t Random. Another manifesto gets censored in a case that needs transparency. by Ken Klippenstein

Political books that look interesting:
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez
Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang
The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions by Jason Hickel
How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr
The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy by Stephanie Kelton
The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay by Emmanuel Saez, Gabriel Zucman
Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy by Matt Stoller
Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein

Anton Schmid. “He was one of only three Wehrmacht soldiers who were executed for helping Jews.“

How SUVs Are Making Traffic Worse. As larger, taller sport utility vehicles took over US roads, they also aggravated highway congestion, according to a new study. It’s yet another ill effect of “car bloat.”

The Boy Genius Who Killed 14 Million Poor People. What is the moral weight of responsibility for the men who carried out DOGE’s work? by Jonathan V. Last

Element origins

Why bad arguments sound convincing: 10 tricks of logic that underpin vaccine myths by Martin LaMonica

 Scientists found the missing nutrients bees need — Colonies grew 15-fold. “By engineering yeast to produce six essential sterols found in pollen, researchers provided bees with a nutritionally complete diet that boosted reproduction up to 15-fold.”

Shingles vaccine reduces heart attacks, stroke
Vaccinated individuals:
72.9% lower risk of herpes zoster ophthalmicus.
83.7% lower risk of postherpetic neuralgia.
28% lower risk of hospitalization for acute myocardial infarction.
42.5% lower risk of hospitalization for stroke.

US private sector lost 33,000 jobs in June, missing expectations for an increase of 115,000

Major reversal in ocean circulation detected in the Southern Ocean, with key climate implications
“The upwelling of deep, warm, CO₂-rich waters is believed to be driving the accelerated melting of sea ice in the Southern Ocean. In the long term, this process could double current atmospheric CO₂ concentrations by releasing carbon that has been stored in the deep ocean for centuries…”

Racist Right-wing celebrations of Alligator Alcatraz have a long racist history: link.

Mormon Influence, Imagery Run Deep Through ‘Twilight’

the sham legacy of Richard Feynman by Angela Collier

‘Big Six’ experiences linked to on-time graduation survey

Myths That Make It Hard To Stop Campus Rape
The ‘myth’ is that these men aren’t rapists–men who set out to rape women.

I Called Everyone in Jeffrey Epstein’s Little Black Book. What I learned about rich people, conspiracy, “genius,” Ghislaine, stand-up comedy, and evil from 2,000 phone calls. by Leland Nally

US Container Volumes Set for Sharp Reversal Over Tariffs. Inbound Container Volume Fell 7.9% in June, After a 6.6% Drop in May

AOH1996 is an experimental anticancer medication which acts as a small molecule inhibitor of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). Looks good in pre-clinical studies.

Where Did All the Public Companies Go? Market observers worry the number of U.S. public companies has declined dramatically since 1996. New research from Tuck professor Espen Eckbo should put those fears to rest.

No, a New “Study” Doesn’t Prove COVID Vaccines are Unsafe. by Rebecca Watson

The white rural reckoning Trump is betraying the very voters who put him back in power. by Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman

TeleMessage customers include DC Police, Andreessen Horowitz, JP Morgan, and hundreds more. by Micah Lee

Math: Famous Curves Index

Spirograph Set Guide

WildGears

On The Question of Rebranding by driftglass

Their Bionic Eyes Are Now Obsolete and Unsupported. Second Sight left users of its retinal implants in the dark by Eliza Strickl and Mark Harris

The Party Should Throw Them a Party. A proposal for how to build a more durable Democratic coalition. by Ned Resnikoff

Another unheeded warning from Cassandra Krugman by Xpostfactoid

Fake Jobs and Fake Facts. By Misrepresenting Constitutional Law, Muskawamy Prove Brandolini’s Law by Don Moynihan

Miss Fire Rocket Kit, $250. Level 1 and Level 2 certification kit.

Fringe science, Junk science
A Short History of Psi Research by Robert Todd Carroll
The Telepathy Tapes by Ky Dickens. Credulous podcaster touts telepathy.

The 19th-Century Fight Against Bacteria-Ridden Milk Preserved With Embalming Fluid In an unpublished excerpt from her new book The Poison Squad, Deborah Blum chronicles the public health campaign against tainted dairy products. by Deborah Blum

How I Get The News. The Firehose Is Your Friend. by Oliver Willis

Could this famous conman be lying about his story? A new book suggests he is. Frank W. Abagnale Jr. is famous for cons documented in the blockbuster “Catch Me If You Can.” But science writer Alan Logan says the real grift is Abagnale’s entire story. by Xavier Lopez

Exclusive: A Stronger Playbook For House Resistance. An internal memo shows Senate Democrats aren’t the only ones who can gum up the works. by Brian Beutler

Roche SBX deep dive into the real specs. What is hidden behind the numbers presented by Roche?

Clear ice with directional freezing
Making Flow – Interview with director Gints Zilbalodis

“Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.” -Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.” -Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism

Measles outbreak in low tax, low government capacity Texas, link

Facilitate Insight by Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation
“insight problem solving task while receiving transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the anterior temporal lobes (ATL). Only 20% of participants solved an insight problem with sham stimulation (control), whereas 3 times as many participants did so (p = 0.011) with cathodal stimulation (decreased excitability) of the left ATL together with anodal stimulation (increased excitability) of the right ATL.”

Layoff announcement tracker

Beck Weathers (Mt Everest 1996 disaster) general session speech at 2015 NADA Convention

Violations of Power, Adaptive Blindness and Betrayal Trauma Theory by Jennifer J. Freyd
“DARVO—deny, attack, reverse victim and offender”

Ubuntu 24.04 was going to sleep by default. Turning it off, link.

101 American Fossil Sites You’ve Gotta See by Albert B Dickas

From the FOX propaganda channel: Misleading Rumor Claims Trump Admin Found 75K-80K ‘Missing’ Migrant Children

Sterilizing seeds
“My recommendation is 10% Calcium hypochloride or 5% Sodium hypochloride for 30 minutes, and for complex surfaces of bigger seeds, it is essential to add 2% Tween 20 as detergent (a small drop for 1mL bleach in an Eppendorf tube with seeds).”
“Sodium hypochlorite (1-5%) or 10% Calcium hypochlorite are most common. Mercuric chloride 1% is also probably the best, but use of 3 compounds: Sodium hypochlorite, KMnO4 and H2O2 with washing by water after each one gave best results for nuts and beans.”
“Glass container, clean. Place seeds into it and pour hydrogen peroxide 3%. Soak for five minutes. Drain, pour distilled water and soak for five minutes.”
Growing Seed Sprouts at Home, link.

Rictors Seeds

Map of obscure islands

Musk’s Junta Establishes Him as Head of Government. Imagining how we’d cover overseas what’s happening to the U.S. right now. by Garrett Graff

So many unmarried men. For Mary Midgley, the Western philosophical tradition is shaped by the fact that its greatest practitioners were bachelors. by Ellie Robson

Build a Simple 3D Printed CNC Plotter Machine by MertArduino

Try these Filament Combinations for Multi-Material and Supports

Little Red State Fundy sez…

Science Is a Word Game by Jamie Zvirzdin

Piping tip size charts (cake, decorating), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Free/open-source sites for the preparation of scientific illustrations: bioicons.com, scidraw.io, bioart.niaid.nih.gov, inkscape.org, biogdp.com, reactome.org/icon-lib

History for GRANITE. Exploring the pyramids of Ancient Egypt

Jan 6 Capital attack video, link.

Process your own JWST images at home

In Five Years, Chicago Has Barely Made Progress on Its Court-Ordered Police Reforms. Here’s Why. by Heather Cherone, WTTW News, and Vernal Coleman, ProPublica.

Fake Jobs and Fake Facts. By Misrepresenting Constitutional Law, Muskawamy Prove Brandolini’s Law. by Don Moynihan

Federal Pell Grants

How an Interracial Marriage Sparked One of the Most Scandalous Trials of the Roaring Twenties