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 …
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
Microplastics may be quietly damaging your brain and fueling Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s #health
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
one reason recommendation systems seem terrible to me: I used to go to bookstores basically to read the bookshelves, not really looking for a book to read. similarly, I often open up netflix with a vague feeling of "maybe I'll watch something", but really what interests me is the browsing, and I'm unsatisfied by the weird browsing experience. sometimes I do hunt and want something to pounce on, but most of the time I'm just exploring
On the first day of the #PTSD intensive, we talked about the shooting. I had felt like I was done with that, that it didn't have anything left for me. But there was something still that filled me with rage... that is still confusing and enraging.
It wasn't actually being shot. I wasn't even the possibility of death. I had been prepared to die. I always knew that was possible. It was something else.
I remember Marc Hokoana's face as he pepper sprayed pacifists, smiling and taunting, joyfully hurting people who he knew were refusing to respond. I remember their flags, the kek flag, literally a Nazi battle flag replaced in 4chan colors with the clover 4chan logo instead of the swastika. How many people have been tortured, have died? How much suffering, that these people not only welcomed but celebrated, joyfully participated in.
The cruelty was the point. It was the plan, the plan he posted to Facebook, the same plan as they have always had, of torturing people until someone responds and then murdering them. Inflicting trauma, responding with overwhelming force, showing how "big and strong" they are because they can always escalate.
Try to stop someone from peppers praying people, they shoot you. Shoot back, like Michael Reinoehl, and they send a death squad for you. But we keep standing up, so they keep escalating to the slightest imagined infraction. Now they just murder you for being in a car, for filming at a protest, for existing.
The bar for what justifies murder or torture will continue to move lower until there is no one left, or until they can no longer escalate.
The feeling of helplessness is still not the biggest thing though. It's the joy with which they inflict this on us. That's it. That's the thing.
CW: gun violence, abuse dynamics
https://hexmhell.writeas.com/the-creature-ptss-5-day-1
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
Thirty-six horses were killed in a barn fire in North Carolina on Sunday afternoon.
The blaze broke out around 12:45 p.m. at the Callicutt Stables on Highway 220 Alternate in Randolph County, multiple fire departments said.
By the time firefighters got to the stable, the 15,000-square-foot barn was already engulfed in flames.
Several fire departments were called in to battle the blaze.
Crews were at the stable for five hours on Sunday.
Despite firefighters’ effor…
On the radio, I hear the German research foundation #DFG defend its recent move to allow #AI in project reviews, just with local setups, just for language clarity – lots of reservations.
I then listen to the most recent episode of Mél’s Data Fix podcast. An anonymous guest (🔥) talks about their daily…
Yesterday I explained my mixed feelings regarding LLMs to a friend by comparing them to cars ("I don't like cars, they destroy a lot, but they are also so very convenient"). Today I read the same argument here: https://aphyr.com/posts/420-the-future