Tootfinder

2026 is being celebrated by Toho as Mothra Year, as this year marks both 65 years since Mothra first appeared on screen, and also 30 years since the Heisei-era Mothra trilogy.
Mothra's my girl (my wife knows, and she's okay with it). 😍
https://godzilla.com/blogs/news…

Vurt, a mobile-first vertical streaming platform designed for indie filmmakers to upload their micro series or feature films, launches with 100 episodes (Lauren Forristal/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/17/vurt-mobile-first-v…

Meet Vurt, the mobile-first streaming platform for indie filmmakers embracing vertical video | TechCrunch
Micro-drama apps make billions in consumer spending, so VURT launched its streaming app to allow indie filmmakers to capitalize on the vertical video trend.

Social media algorithms prioritize right-wing content and influence the political views and behavior of real users. This is the finding of the recent study “The political effects of X’s feed algorithm”: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10098-2

The political effects of X’s feed algorithm - Nature
Among users initially on a chronological feed, 7 weeks of exposure to X’s algorithmic feed in 2023 shifted political attitudes and account-following behaviour in a more conservative direction compared with those remaining on a chronological feed, whereas switching the feed setting in the opposite direction, from algorithmic to chronological, had no effect.

Mamdani and his wife made less than $145,000 last year, tax filings show (Chris Sommerfeldt/Politico)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/16/mamdani-and-his-wife-made-less-than-145-000-last-year-tax-filings-show-00877729
http://www.memeorandum.com/260416/p118#a260416p118

Following California implementing a law raising its minimum wage to $20 for more than 500,000 fast-food workers in the state in 2024,
Christopher Thornberg, founding partner of research firm Beacon Economics, offered a warning about the state raising its minimum wage.
“California’s well-intended push to reduce income inequality via wage floors is beginning to have a significant negative impact on some of our most vulnerable workers
—our youth, particularly those from lower-i…

Economists warned California not to raise the minimum wage to $20. They were wrong in almost every way so far, another economist says
“The results are nowhere as dire as predicted,” Berkeley’s Michael Reich told Fortune.

Microplastics may be quietly damaging your brain and fueling Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s #health

Microplastics may be quietly damaging your brain and fueling Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
Tiny plastic particles may be quietly threatening brain health. New research suggests microplastics—now widely found in food, water, and even household dust—could trigger inflammation and damage in the brain through multiple biological pathways. Scientists estimate adults may consume about 250 grams of these particles each year, and some can accumulate in organs including the brain.

Filings: Caterpillar acquires self-driving electric tractor startup Monarch Tractor's assets, after it raised $200M and struggled to pivot to software services (Sean O'Kane/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/15/monarch-…

Monarch Tractor's collapse ends with an acquisition by Caterpillar | TechCrunch
The startup had faced mounting pressure from dealers, farmers, and a co-founder who complained that Monarch's tech didn't work properly.

Hope whoever wanted copies of that scrape Anna's Archive did of Spotify (reminder: Spotify began with pirated files, pays artists little to nothing, and funds military tech) has grabbed it already or is grabbing it now.
https://torrentfreak.com/u-s-court-ord

Roku says it is in 100M homes globally and its devices are used by "more than half of all US broadband households"; Roku had $4.15B in 2025 platform revenue (Chris Welch/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Roku’s Platform Crosses 100 Million Users, Fueling Ad Business
Roku Inc. said more than 100 million households are using its streaming platform, marking another milestone as the company continues to leverage that customer base to fuel its growing advertising business.

David Cronenberg, master of body horror movies, was born today (March 15) in 1943 (during World War II!)
I saw his films 'Crash' and 'Naked Lunch' early, around the same time, in 1997 or 1998. Since then, I've seen many more of his- I just counted, I've seen 13 of his 23 films, and I've loved all of them. I'm a huge fan. My favorite was Shivers for a while. I'm not sure what it is now. Gotta see those final 10!
Happy birthday, David. We love …