Tootfinder

Y'know, I have an incredibly stinky dead possum in my garbage can (Queens shit, don't ask), and somehow NYC Sanitation didn't pick up garbage last night.. And we're about to get potentially historic flooding starting in another hour?
I'm not chasing down that bloated carcass if it fucking floats away, NYC.

The reason this is good news is that I’ve found that the only method that works preparing for a new semester is last-minute panic

I rarely leave my neighborhood these days, so when the opportunity came last weekend to visit a town about 80 km from my home, I took a little detour to visit and take photos of the town’s only national historical marker.
(Those who have been following me long enough know that documenting historical markers in #Wikidata and

Landing at Nasugbu historical marker
NHI historical marker for the landing of the American forces at Nasugbu during World War II

Brazil records 62% jump in area burned by forest fires: monitor #Brazil

Brazil records 62% jump in area burned by forest fires: monitor
Historic forest fires in Brazil last year scorched through an area larger than the size of Italy, recording a burned area some 60% higher than average of the last four decades, said a report released Tuesday.

When Ashley Robinson and her mother took DNA tests 10 years ago and began meeting long lost cousins,
they stumbled across a surprising family history that changed their lives.
Robinson’s lineage traced back to the 272 West Africans who were enslaved by Jesuits
and sold to plantation owners in the southern US in 1838.
The sale of the enslaved Africans helped fund Georgetown University,
the oldest Jesuit higher education institution in the US,
and served a…

Desmond Watson, heaviest player in NFL history at 449 pounds, waived by Buccaneers, per report

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/desmond-…

Americans, take note:
Zohran Mamdani’s Historic Win: 16 Takeaways https://jacobin.com/2025/06/zohran-mamdani-nyc-mayor-cuomo/

Zohran Mamdani’s Historic Win: 16 Takeaways
Leftists and progressives throughout the country have much to learn from how democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani pulled off an unprecedented upset last night.

Climate change intensified wildfire weather in Greece, Türkiye and Cyprus: Study https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/08/climate-change-intensified-wildfire-weather-in-greece-turkiye-and-cyprus-study/

Climate change intensified wildfire weather in Greece, Türkiye and Cyprus: Study
Hundreds of wildfires across Europe have burned at least 1 million hectares, or around 2.5 million acres, since the start of the year. That’s made 2025 the worst year for the continent since official wildfire records began in 2006. In Türkiye, Greece and Cyprus, which saw deadly fires peaking since June, weather conditions that drove […]

Sure do wonder what that Trump admin representative spent all that time talking about in secret with her last week.
https://flipboard.com/@thenewsdesk/news-i8koidj5z/-/a-63GyKXj-S0qRqfOMUcoFKw:a:43591897-/0

Oh, Hacker News…FFS. Something got lost in the sad game of Popular Press Telephone between the actual study and this snotty post.
The actual study is here:
https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/ANNALS-25-00577
It notes that:
1. Most research on air cleaning devices used air samples, not human health outcomes. (It’s far more difficult to conduct a study on the latter.)
2. Not many people are studying whether e.g. UV air purifiers create toxic byproducts.
3. The available studies sure do measure a whole bunch of different things, and wouldn’t it be nice if they had more consistent standards.
Their main recommendation is basically “scientists should do more studies where they measure infection in humans, not just germs in the air.” And that’s fair: It’s reasonable to •guess• that fewer germs in the air means less sickness, but it’s nice to actually •test• that!
However, AFAICT, nothing in the study warrants the “tinfoil hats” remark. Unlike a tinfoil hats, we have plenty good reason to think at least some of these devices actually work; the paper just wants the research to go deeper. It’s one giant “further study needed.” https://mastodon.social/@ngate/115091700894746240