Tootfinder

Turns out life doesn’t just imitate art
— sometimes it borrows the script, reboots it with National Guard checkpoints and streams it live from Los Angeles.
Case in point:
A Day Without a Mexican,
the cheeky 2004 sci-fi satire from Mexican filmmakers Sergio Arau and Yareli Arizmendi,
in which California wakes up to find every person of Latino descent has vanished into a mysterious haze,
leaving Angelenos panicking over who’s going to mow the lawns and run …

The Outrageous 20-Year-Old Movie That Predicted Trump’s America
In 2004 ‘A Day Without a Mexican’ was intended to be a political satire. In 2025 it seems all too real. Plus, Joel Grey auctions off his old lederhosen (and some nudes!) TikTok star Khaby Lame demands $1.2 million to talk, and Chet Hanks is a no-show at his book reading.

Ultrastable jammed sphere packings with a wide range of particle dispersities
Robert S. Hoy
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.16521 https://…

Ultrastable jammed sphere packings with a wide range of particle dispersities
We show that for a standard continuously-polydisperse model with particle-diameter distribution $P(σ) \propto σ^{-3}$ and polydispersity index $Δ$, employing a combination of standard SWAP moves and transient degree of freedom (TDOF) moves during a Lubachevsky-Stillinger-like particle-growth process dramatically increases the generated packings' jamming densities $ϕ_{\rm J}(Δ)$ and coordination numbers $Z_{\rm J}(Δ)$, for a wide range of $Δ$. We find that the fractional increase in $ϕ_{…

Internal documents show Texas National Guard scrambling to find trained soldiers for protests (Bayliss Wagner/Austin American-Statesman)
https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/state/2025/06/13/internal-documents-show-texas-national-guard-scrambling-to-find-trained-soldiers-for-protests/84193242007/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250613/p149#a250613p149

I've never written a novel or any other intensely-plotted work of fiction, but anyone who has read or watched it played a lot of stories can probably also recognize that some authors just aren't good at endings. They're great at setting things in motion, at keeping the twists and turns coming, at the soap opera style of drama. But they just don't have the craft necessary to tie things together into a satisfying conclusion. I imagine it's much harder than the process of getting things going out keeping them moving, since you both have to wind down all the various threads you've spun up and balance satisfaction with believability.
I just finished Girl Gone Viral by Arvin Ahmadi, and it has a bad ending. The beginning is fine, the middle has plenty of drama to keep you wanting to see what happens, but the ending is murky, unsatisfying, and manages neither veracity nor satisfaction (even discounting the biggest next step that might reasonably have been left there to make room for a sequel).
Given the other issues with the book, from poor politics, to inauthentic characters, to a techno-optimism that feels as bitter in this moment as it is far from the mark in its predictions, I can't recommended it, despite having read through to the end.
#AmReading

Is the beginning of the next American civil war?
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/09/politics/marines-mobilized-los-angeles-protests

About 700 Marines being mobilized in response to LA protests
More than 700 Marines based out of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in California have been mobilized to respond to the protests in Los Angeles, and the troops will join the thousands of National Guard members who were activated by President Donald Trump over the weekend without the consent of California’s governor or LA’s mayor.

US marines carry out first known detention of civilian in Los Angeles – live
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/jun/13/donald-trump-national-guard-los-angeles-ice-protests-military-parade-us-politics-live-news-updates

Republican-led House committee opens investigation into handling of LA protests by governor and mayor - live (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/jun/13/donald-trump-national-guard-los-angeles-ice-protests-military-parade-us-politics-live-news-updates
http://www.memeorandum.com/250613/p131#a250613p131

Gov. Newsom asks Trump to rescind ‘unlawful deployment’ of California National Guard
Blocks from Los Angeles City Hall, protesters have started to hide behind city benches
as police work to clear streets using pepper balls and stun grenades.
https://www.wa…

Live updates: Gov. Newsom asks Trump to rescind ‘unlawful deployment’ of California National Guard
The president said he is sending 2,000 soldiers to Los Angeles County after immigration sweeps led to tense confrontations.

The Trump administration’s deployment of national guard troops to Los Angeles
to intervene in civilian protests in the face of opposition from the Californian governor
is a major escalation that risks the politicisation of the US military, armed service veterans are warning.
Former top military figures have told the Guardian that the decision to put up to 2,000 troops under federal control and send them into the streets of LA
is a violation of the military’s commitmen…

Israeli military ordered to block aid flotilla carrying Greta Thunberg
The Freedom Flotilla ship is carrying rice, flour, medical supplies, and baby formula to Gaza.
Rashida Tlaib Pens Plea to Trump Admin to Protect Gaza Freedom Flotilla
https://www.politico.eu…

Israeli military ordered to block aid flotilla carrying Greta Thunberg
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition says it is on a mission aimed at delivering supplies to the Gaza Strip.