Tootfinder

YouTube terminates Screen Culture and KH Studio, two large channels that used AI to create fake movie trailers; the platform earlier suspended the channels' ads (Jake Kanter/Deadline)
https://deadline.com/2025/12/youtube-terminates-scr…

YouTube Shuts Down Channels Using AI To Create Fake Movie Trailers Watched By Millions
YouTube has terminated two prominent channels, Screen Culture and KH Studio, using artificial intelligence to create fake movie trailers.

The @… community has published their report about the very successful 2025 Culture Community Plenary: CCP 5: “Shared Data – Shared Practice – Shared Knowledge” and the Voices of the Community, at the Akadiemie der Wissenschaften und Literatur in Mainz, summarized by Zahia Schlott

The Hard Yarns Podcast
Conspiracies, Culture and Comedy. Branchy and Delby tackle the questions you've always wanted to know with different guests every week...
Great Australian Pods Podcast Directory: https://www.greataustralianpods.com/the-hard-yarns-podcast/

'M.O.B. Ties': How Mike Macdonald rebuilt the Seahawks' winning culture https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/47339227/seattle-seahawks-mission-bs-culture-nfc-west-los-angeles-rams

YouTube terminates Screen Culture and KH Studio, two large channels that used AI to create fake movie trailers; the platform earlier suspended the channels' ads (Jake Kanter/Deadline)
https://deadline.com/2025/12/youtube-terminates-scr…

YouTube Shuts Down Channels Using AI To Create Fake Movie Trailers Watched By Millions
YouTube has terminated two prominent channels, Screen Culture and KH Studio, using artificial intelligence to create fake movie trailers.

Kender I podcasten The Europeans? Jeg har arbejdet på at erstatte min diæt af amerikanske politiske podcasts med danske eller europæiske og er blevet rigtig glad for deres nede-på-jorden men samtidig grundige gennemgang af europæiske nyheder. Og de har et udsyn jeg kan lide, se fx denne anbefaling fra dem:
“So go get your beautifully designed copies of the European Review of Books or even take out a subscription if you're feeling generous.
Because they're another independent pan-Eur…

ChatGPT is ruining weddings now
Podcastepisode · The Europeans | European news, politics and culture · 16.01.2026 · 56 min.

🚀 Ein ausführlicher Rückblick auf unser 5. CCP vom 24.– 26.09. 2025 in Mainz – einschließlich der Stimmen von Euch, unseren Communities – ist jetzt auf unserem #4CulturePortal verfügbar: https://nfdi4culture.de/id/E6647

Vibe coding is the single biggest transformation since ChatGPT 3.5, it is one of the biggest transformations since the dawn of computing. It will thoroughly transform Open Source. We are not ready. #VibeCoding #OpenSource

What did Vibe Coding just do to the Commons? - varnelis.net
I write a lot about art and architecture, landscape, and the impact of technology on culture, but I haven’t written about coding since the 1980s, when I sold my first article to Creative Computing magazine. Back then I was a high school kid, spending hours working in both BASIC and 6502 assembler on the VIC-20. I ...

"So it’s not enough to equate Trump’s legions to the Gestapo or the Klan. (I’ve done both.) He also is the 21st-century version of Attila or Genghis Khan, heading a horde that is defined by an exterminationist loathing of cities and all that they stand for and promote. Their diversity, their toleration, their culture, their solidarity across racial and other lines—all are threats to the horde’s and its ruler’s autocratic monoculture. On the streets, the horde’s loathing manifests as indifference (at least) to the loss of city dwellers’ lives.
As it is the 21st century, and as we have an 18th-century Constitution, Trump’s impulse for city sacking Š la Attila is constrained by laws and customs, but he’s plainly determined to find ways around as many of those constraints as he possibly can. Correspondingly, a good share of the fear he’s engendered all across America has an ancient pedigree: It’s the fear of the barbarians at the gates."
#USPolitics
https://prospect.org/2026/01/15/attila-genghis-khan-trump/

Another example of El Cheato supporting and protecting rape culture....
I am beginning to believe that the 'R' and 'p' in "Republican" stands for "rape" and "pedophile".
https://www.propublica.org/article/andrew-

The White House Intervened on Behalf of Accused Sex Trafficker Andrew Tate During a Federal Investigation
Federal authorities were chided for seizing electronic devices from Tate and his brother, and told to return them, records and interviews show. Experts said the intervention was highly inappropriate.

I grew up near Pakistani refugee kids for half the time before we moved to America. Sometimes we'd play football in their small concrete courtyard, get it stuck on their neighbor's shanty roof, and stick 25 cent Spiderman toys to the ceiling. One would ask if we knew "the American zombie" and we'd say no cuz most American culture's too satanic for mom, and then he'd roll his eyes back into his head and chase us around like that somehow.
We first met them i…

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/18/well/european-american-sauna.html?unlocked_article_code=1.FVA.jle7.aYZXzDH1G_JY&smid=url-share

The Europeans Have Some Notes About American Sauna Culture
Don’t get them started on the bathing suits. Or the dancing.

"The Value of Public Domain Day"
a thoughtful piece on the economics and the loss by our overzealous locking up of our culture.
https://www.authorsalliance.org/2026/01/01/the-value-of-public-domain-day/
but please celebra…

Those are all wonderful films, but The Princess Bride is quite simply the perfect movie. @… https://flipboard.social/@CultureDesk/11572588…

Cowboys cheerleaders sizzle in sexy ‘Maxim’ magazine spotlight https://www.sportingnews.com/us/culture/fashion/news/dallas-cowboys-cheerleaders-sizzle-sexy-maxim-magazine-spotlight/4ddd8c33f0583accdf37b5…

"the billionaire businessman Vincent Bolloré, one of #Sarkozy’s longtime patrons and the owner of Fayard, publisher of “Le Journal d’un Prisonnier,” has been doing his most to propel the far right to victory."
"Twenty days behind bars, and not long before France may very well have a far-right head of state for the first time in nearly a century. "

One of the top stories on Hacker News today was a post arguing that Mozilla shouldn't accommodate any usage of AI in Firefox because (understandably) people were mad at Big AI companies for all the horrible things they've done to users and the internet and society. But I think people are ignoring the reality that *hundreds of millions of users* are using LLMs today, and they need to have tools from platforms that will look out for their interests.

I know you don’t want them to want AI, but…
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

🔊 #NowPlaying on #BBCRadio3:
#SundayFeature
- The Great Egyptian Music Mystery
Ellie Chan traces the story of a set of unique and puzzling manuscripts. Do they hold the key to the oldest musical culture in the world?
Relisten now 👇
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002m0p8

If you are up this late, maybe you want to stay up later. Go ahead, read my latest essay, What Did Vibe Coding just do to the Commons?
https://varnelis.net/works_and_projects/what-did-vibe-coding-just-do-to-the-commons/

What did Vibe Coding just do to the Commons? - varnelis.net
I write a lot about art and architecture, landscape, and the impact of technology on culture, but I haven’t written about coding since the 1980s, when I sold my first article to Creative Computing magazine. Back then I was a high school kid, spending hours working in both BASIC and 6502 assembler on the VIC-20. I ...

"If any of the work, that any of us do, contributes to the stretching of culture, the stretching of boundaries of empathy that’s expected of an audience… that’s the holy grail."
—Riz Ahmed
#acting #coaching

nazis. i hate these guys. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/german-far-right-lawmaker-calls-us-german-nationalist-alliance-maga-gala-2025-12-14/

😍😍
https://mastodon.social/@arstechnica/115571398905888467

Ars Technica (@arstechnica@mastodon.social)
Attached: 1 image Stranded astronaut finds an alien ally in Project Hail Mary trailer "The consensus here is that it would be preferable if you did not die." https://arstechnica.com/culture/2025/11/stranded-astronaut-finds-an-alien-ally-in-project-hail-mary-trailer/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

Was not expecting this plot twist in a Tina Brown interview.

The people who shut down US Antarctic research want to “make Star Trek real”, suggesting the thinnest possible reading of a show about future humanity that prioritises science and diplomacy.
https://arstechnica.com/culture/2026/0

Musk and Hegseth vow to “make Star Trek real” but miss the show’s lessons
AI weapons systems may annihilate their creators.

The Page Isn’t Dead, Your Attention Is Under Siege
Every few years we are invited to attend the same funeral. Someone declares that nobody reads anymore, that the printed page is finished, that books are an aging technology destined to become a museum object while the living culture migrates to earbuds and short video. It is a tempting story because it flatters our sense that we are witnessing a clean break with the past, a decisive turn of the wheel.

The Page Isn’t Dead, Your Attention Is Under Siege | David Boles, Blogs
Every few years we are invited to attend the same funeral. Someone declares that nobody reads anymore, that the printed page is finished, that books are an aging technology destined to become a mus…

The Stronger Life With Sami
The podcast for women who are ready to get strong, toned and confident (and finally ditch the diet culture BS). Whether you're chasing fat loss, muscle tone, confidence, or long-term health...
Great Australian Pods Podcast Directory: https://www.greataustralianpods…

Today, Wikipedia turns 25 years old. It's never been more important — or under more attack from authoritarians. Here's what to know about how we got here, and what we can do to push for its future and support them as they start to demand fair support from the AI companies that are profiting off of the community. There's no better example than Wikipedia of the web we make together.

Wikipedia at 25: What the web can be
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

The Fascinating History Ignored by Critics of a Bridge's New Name via @… https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2025/12/12/…

The Fascinating History Ignored by Critics of a Bridge’s New Name | The Tyee
In 1808, a Kwantlen man saved the life of Simon Fraser. The Pattullo Bridge’s replacement will stand as testament.

Forward thinking, stalled results: Raiders still searching for direction https://raiderramble.com/2025/12/16/forward-thinking-stalled-results-raiders-still-searching-for-direction/

This is a tricky balance. Some level of skepticism and counter-culture is good and healthy, both for people and society. But when it goes too far, it always seems to end up in the same place.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2

"If any of the work, that any of us do, contributes to the stretching of culture, the stretching of boundaries of empathy that’s expected of an audience… that’s the holy grail."
—Riz Ahmed
#acting #coaching

Joe Rogan criticizes ICE tactics: 'Are we really going to be the Gestapo?'
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/rcna253931

"Clear Vivid"-Podcast von Alan Alda:
"Alex Pentland: Shared Wisdom"
https://goloudnow.com/podcasts/clearvivid-with-alan-alda-931/alex-pentland-shared-wisdom-563176
"How technological innovation…

What @… said: https://www.anildash.com/2026/01/15/wikipedia-at-25/
You know, I am occasionally shocked when someone I think of as smart or admirable or n…

Wikipedia at 25: What the web can be
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

Classic - Breakfast in America (1979) von
#Supertramp #Model Kate Murtagh im Jahr 2016
https://www.instagram.com/p/DJquMx6Oany/

COVER ART MATTERS on Instagram: "In 2016, Kate Murtagh, the actress and model who famously portrayed the waitress on Supertramp’s iconic Breakfast in America album cover, was 95 years old. That year, a touching photo surfaced online showing her recreating the playful expression she made in 1979, a wide, cheeky smile and raised eyebrows that had become part of rock history. The original album cover featured Murtagh dressed as a diner waitress styled after the Statue of Liberty, holding a glass of orange juice in place of a torch and a menu instead of a tablet. Behind her was a whimsical model of the New York City skyline made entirely from breakfast items like cereal boxes, egg cartons, and cutlery, perfectly matching the album’s satirical take on American culture. Kate Murtagh passed away in October 2017 at the age of 96, leaving behind one of the most memorable images in rock music history. Art Direction by Mike Doud Design by Mick Haggerty Photography by Aaron Rapoport"
151K likes, 570 comments - coverartmatters on May 15, 2025: "In 2016, Kate Murtagh, the actress and model who famously portrayed the waitress on Supertramp’s iconic Breakfast in America album cover, was 95 years old. That year, a touching photo surfaced online showing her recreating the playful expression she made in 1979, a wide, cheeky smile and raised eyebrows that had become part of rock history. The original album cover featured Murtagh dressed as a diner waitress styled after the Statu…

“He’s the scary bad cop to St. Nicholas’ good cop,
to stoke some fear in the naughty children and get them to behave better.”
https://chicago.suntimes.com/entertain

Here comes Krampus: How the half-goat, half-demon became a cultural phenomenon
While Santa Claus’ dark counterpart was born centuries ago in Europe, Krampus’ recent explosion in the U.S. is all thanks to one Chicagoan who featured the beast in his comic zine 20 years ago.

The Paper Factory: How Academia Turned Research into Production — From publish-or-perish pressure to the erosion of creativity in modern science https://research-reviewer.blogspot.com/2025/10/publish-or-perish-research.html

The Paper Factory: How Academia Turned Research into Production — From publish-or-perish pressure to the erosion of creativity in modern science
An in-depth reflection on how the ‘publish or perish’ culture, precarious work, and academic metrics have turned research into a paper factory — an...

Check out my latest article - "there's more to life than constant stability"
https://www.brichapman.com/p/theres-more-to-life-than-constant?utm_source=bri-mastodon&utm_medium=social&src=mstdn

Discomfort Isn’t the Enemy: Why Avoiding All Stress Is Shrinking Our Lives
Wellness culture tells us to avoid discomfort, hustle culture tells us to endure it. Both are wrong. Here’s how to tell growth from injury and live more fully.

NowThis acquires Salary Transparent Street, a social-first short-form interview series that reveals salaries, and plans to add a finance video podcast and more (Tess Patton/The Wrap)
https://www.thewrap.com/culture-lifestyle/culture/now-this-acq…

Gen Z Media Company NowThis Acquires 'Salary Transparent Street' Digital Franchise | Exclusive
“I started Salary Transparent Street to fix a broken system, and make conversations about money feel human, accessible” Hannah Williams says

from my link log —
How Markdown took over the world.
https://anildash.com/2026/01/09/how-markdown-took-over-the-world/
saved 2026-01-10

How Markdown took over the world
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

A look at the history and rise of Markdown, which has been adopted across the tech industry in the decades since its quiet launch in 2004 by John Gruber (Anil Dash)
https://www.anildash.com/2026/01/09/how-markdown-took-over-the-world/

How Markdown took over the world
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

Joe Rogan criticizes ICE tactics: 'Are we really going to be the Gestapo?' (Angela Yang/NBC News)
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/joe-rogan-criticizes-ice-tactics-podcast-rcna253931
http://www.memeorandum.com/260113/p173#a260113p173

"As of November 5th, it estimated that U.S.A.I.D.’s dismantling has already caused the deaths of six hundred thousand people, two-thirds of them children."
https://social.coop/@eloquence/115535529645390697

Oil is the absolute enemy, and that should be completely clear at this point. Advocate hard for a Dutch style traffic plan and Dutch bike infrastructure. Push hard for mass transit. Fight car infrastructure with everything you can. Abolish free parking.
Every dollar you spend on gas, every dollar that goes to roads and free parking, is a dollar that will be spent murdering civilians to steal their oil.
Free parking is the most important subsidy to car culture. The more expensive you can make parking, the fewer cars will be on the road, the safer cities will be, and the less money will be available for the gang of thieves directing the military.
#FuckCars

Urban Domicile 🏠
城市聚落 🏠
📷 Pentax MX
🎞️ Ilford Pan 100
#filmphotography #Photography #blackandwhite

Never forget what the world's richest person did to the world's poorest people. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-documentary/the-shutdown-of-usaid-has-already-killed-hundreds-of-thousands…

The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
Atul Gawande writes about the short documentary “Rovina’s Choice,” by Thomas Jennings and Annie Wong, which tells the story of what goes when aid goes.

🤼‍♂️ Japan's sumo association turns 100, but the sport's rituals have a much older role shaping ideas about the country
https://theconversation.com/japans-sumo-association-turns-100-but…

Japan’s sumo association turns 100 – but the sport’s rituals have a much older role shaping ideas about the country
As Japan’s national sport, sumo has shaped perceptions of its culture since the mid-1800s.

Finally get to spend some time lounging in the corner of the bed watching Who Culture podcast on the closet monitor in the tardis bedroom.
The mattress did expand another cm or so during the time away over xmas. It's now been much more than the recommended 72 hours before I should use the bed.
So I used the bed for drinking a glass of wine, watching Who Culture, and mucking about on the tablet screen.

OMG my The Bear opinion isn't fringe 🥲
I LOVE S1. I've made SO many ppl watch it.
I also liked S2.
I absolutely HATED S3. It felt like the writers got too much artistic freedom after their (well-deserved!) success & I had to watch them artistically jerking-off on TV.
https://

The Bear Is Not a Good Show
When the series premiered on FX, it was smart and thoughtful television. Not anymore.

> The store page for it notes that it is the "first collaboration between the game developer and the exoskeleton manufacturer," a point that I don't think needed pointing out at all, and also raises several questions we won't get into right now.
https://www.<…

The end of merch culture is upon us with an official Death Stranding exoskeleton
You almost definitely do not need a Death Stranding themed exoskeleton, and yet here it is anyway.

Before we walked over to the bar to ring in the new year last night, I polished off MASTERS OF ATLANTIS as my last book of 2025. I'd put it on my to-read list after this review ... whew, back in 2020?
https://slate.com/culture/2020/12/master…

Penske Media sues Google for allegedly monopolizing the digital ad market and depriving publishers of billions in revenue, following a 2025 US court ruling (Josh Dickey/The Wrap)
https://www.thewrap.com/industry-news/public-polic…

Penske Media Sues Google Over Accusation of Digital Ad Market Manipulation
Penske Media Corp., the publisher of major entertainment and culture brands including Rolling Stone, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, sued Google on Monday, accusing the tech giant of illegally monopolizing the digital advertising market and depriving publishers of billions of dollars in revenue.

Culture against missiles: how music became a weapon of war in Ukraine: https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/06/culture-against-missiles-how-music.html

Who’s going to tell Germany that commiting genocide isn’t a fundamental European value? (I can see why they’re confused, of course.)
Deutschebags.
https://shrimp.vijf.life/notes/afvjl80c075vsdvy

sijmen (eepy) (@sijmen)
@aral@mastodon.ar.al > Germany, a major Eurovision backer, had signalled it would not take part if Israel was barred. Germany's culture minister Wolfram Weimer told the Bild newspaper he welcomed the decision. > > "Israel belongs to the Eurovision Song Contest like Germany be...

Regime change in Iran could also weaken Russia further, so we have a clear European interest here, also with regard to the war in Ukraine. But ofcourse the most important thing is that the Iranian people with their rich history and culture can enjoy more freedom.
#iranprotests #geopolitics

I've been working on this one for a while. The multi-trillion-dollar AI industry? Their *most advanced platforms* are controlled by a plain text format that John Gruber made up for his blog, and then bounced off of a 17-year-old Aaron Swartz, before sharing it with the world for free. *That* is the internet. Here's the amazing (true!) story of how Markdown took over the world.

How Markdown took over the world
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

There were also dragon's teeth just by London Road station in Guildford. I was fascinated by their raison d'être at the time and used to appreciate them every time I walked by.
Dragon’s teeth and elf garden among 2025 additions to English heritage list | #Heritage | The Guardian

I'm betting on Betteridge's Law for this one. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6936576/2026/01/06/heated-rivalry-nhl-hockey-culture-change/

Hit show ‘Heated Rivalry’ became a TV phenomenon. Can it change hockey culture?
The show has taken over pop culture and is opening up conversations about a complex topic within hockey.

Dangerous Cancel Culture Precedent Following Kirk’s Murder
The Trump administration continues to counter the First Amendment rights that Kirk so often referenced and arguably died defending.
For example, the Pentagon has promised to “address” federal employees who are deemed to mock or celebrate Kirk’s death.
(The Pentagon has also in recent days announced that it will require credentialed journalists to sign a pledge to refrain from reporting information that has not been …

The ‘Right to Offend’ and the Legacy of Charlie Kirk - San Francisco Bay Times
The day before right-wing activist and Turning Point USA Co-Founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated on September 10, 2025, he texted the following to civil rights advocate and CNN host Van Jones: “Hey, Van, I mean it, I’d love to have you on my show to have a respectful conversation about crime and race. I would […]

"It's not that any of the other streaming services are good, but Spotify is almost certainly the worst. Do not trust it. Do not let it turn your enjoyment of music into stats and algorithmic playlists."
(Original title: Spotify Haters Club)
https://knru.polin.ski/spotify-haters-

Spotify Haters Club
You know something that is absolutely worth considering? Planning an exit from the culture-destroying, weapons-investing, ICE-advertisement platform known as Spotify, a place where music is seen only as a tool to destroy people's imaginations and flatten art into a homogenised, AI-friendly, beige churn of endless content to immiserate us all.

Cowboys cheerleader stuck in ‘no bra’ scandal rocks very low-cut dress https://www.sportingnews.com/us/culture/fashion/news/cowboys-cheerleader-kylie-dickson-stuck-no-bra-scandal-rocks-ver…

The takeaway sentence here: “[T]wo-thirds of new data centers built or in development [in the US] since 2022 are in places already gripped by high levels of water stress.”
This is particularly pertinent here in #Australia, where already, once-plentiful artesian water’s dwindling, nitrogen- and phosphorus-rich runoff chokes waterways with algae and destroys coral reefs, and

"Google showing a wall of ads before any real results. Facebook promising to “never spy on you,” before evolving into a mass surveillance apparatus. Amazon’s highest-ranked products buoyed by fake reviews."
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/bo

Cory Doctorow coined the term ‘enshittification.’ And he knows how to stop it
The Canadian technology critic remains hopeful a good internet is possible

How Liam Coen got the Jaguars to the playoffs: 'It makes us want to fight for him' https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/47518705/nfl-playoffs-jacksonville-jaguars-coach-liam-coen-coach-year-buffalo-bills

In Parliament, the UK's culture secretary says concerns about the BBC are legitimate but some politicians are "launching a sustained attack on the institution" (Max Goldbart/Deadline)
https://deadline.com/2025/11/bbc-trump-row-lis…

UK Culture Secretary Blasts Fellow Politicians For “Launching A Sustained Attack” On BBC
The BBC Donald Trump saga has led Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy to defend the BBC and criticise politicians for attacking it.

Do You Write Your Name In Books? via @… https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2026/01/09/Write-Name-In-Books/?u…

Do You Write Your Name In Books? | The Tyee
You should! A New Year’s letter shows us why.

Ok, time for a little #rant
One aspect of (generative) AI in education that I have become increasingly aware of is the role AI plays in magnifying the results-oriented culture we have created. Grades and publication metrics are designed to measure the achievement of individuals as compared to other individuals. For students, better grades mean admission to the next degree or a better job. For…

There's something cruel in how our culture treats in-between times.
We have words for achievement
and words for burnout,
but we lack vocabulary for the necessary pauses that precede new growth.
If you say you're
"between projects," people assume you've been cast aside.
The idea that you might be in a natural winter,
that you might be dormant in a way that's preparatory rather than pathological,
doesn't compute …

The Harvest Will Come
I spent most of my twenties believing that purpose was something you found once and then held onto. A winning lottery ticket you kept in your wallet forever. The self-help industry reinforced this: find your passion. Discover your why. Land on the thing that makes you leap out of bed

Strength Culture's Podcast
Strength Culture's podcast is hosted by Jamie Smith and the boythes...
Great Australian Pods Podcast Directory: https://www.greataustralianpods.com/melbourne-strength-culture/

Q&A with Palantir CEO Alex Karp on "the woke left and the woke right", being patriotic, the Ukraine war, Palantir's culture, Trump, democracy, Israel, and more (Steven Levy/Wired)
https://www.wired.com/story/alex-karp-goes-to-war-palantir-big-inter…

Alex Karp Goes to War
Palantir's CEO is good with ICE and says he defends human rights. But will Israel and Trump ever go too far for him?

UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy says the BBC's charter review will examine political appointments to its board, amid concerns over board member Robbie Gibb (Jamie Grierson/The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/nov/14/lisa-na…

"accusing both President Trump and his son, Eric, of fostering a culture of sexual harassment at the Bedminster club"
Former Trump employee says her bosses made her wear a child-size uniform - Alternet.org
https://www.alternet.org/trump-employee-bedminster/

Urban Spots ✴️
城市噪点 ✴️
📷 Nikon F4E
🎞️ Ilford HP5 Plus 400, expired 1993
#filmphotography #Photography #blackandwhite

One of the toughest things to judge when considering a new job or a new role is, basically, “Will this crush my soul?” Here’s a simple list of questions you can ask to help improve the odds that your next gig will be less soul-crushing: https://anildash.com/2026/01/12/will-that-job-…

How to know if that job will crush your soul
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

Check out my latest article - "the lie of the niche"
https://www.brichapman.com/p/the-lie-of-the-niche?utm_source=bri-mastodon&utm_medium=social

The Lie of the Niche: Why Being Multi-Passionate Is a Strength
In a culture obsessed with specialization, curiosity is treated as a flaw. This essay explores why wholeness, imagination, and multi-passionate lives may be exactly what this moment requires.

from my link log —
The disappearance and return to print of John M. Ford.
https://slate.com/culture/2019/11/john-ford-science-fiction-fantasy-books.html
saved 2019-11-16

The Resurrection of the Greatest Sci-Fi Writer You’ve Never Read
He was beloved by Neil Gaiman and Robert Jordan, and so good that he won a World Fantasy Award for a Christmas card. How did John M. Ford disappear?

" You ARE The Culture, and dontchu forget it!! " a beautiful woman exclaimed to me yesterday. Then 3 philosophical zombies climbed out of her pussy and I was all alone

Christmas music is more popular than ever, with listeners embracing it earlier in the year; by December 10, 20 of Spotify's top 25 tracks were Christmas-themed (Elias Leight/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/music/…

One of the toughest things to judge when considering a new job or a new role is, basically, “Will this crush my soul?” Here’s a simple list of questions you can ask to help improve the odds that your next gig will be less soul-crushing: https://anildash.com/2026/01/12/will-that-job-…

How to know if that job will crush your soul
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

USAID’s dismantling is estimated to have already killed 600,000 people,
⇔ of them children.
Officials simply deny any harm,
while halting data monitoring and firing inspectors general who’d have documented it
https://www.newyork…

The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
Atul Gawande writes about the short documentary “Rovina’s Choice,” by Thomas Jennings and Annie Wong, which tells the story of what goes when aid goes.

Taylor Swift Songs Sung in the Style of The Velvet Underground by Father John Misty | Open Culture https://www.openculture.com/2015/09/taylor-swift-songs-sung-in-the-style-of-the-velvet-underground-by-father-jo…

Taylor Swift Songs Sung in the Style of The Velvet Underground by Father John Misty
If you're from a fading rock n roll generation, here's maybe a way to make peace with today's pop music scene. Just take Taylor Swift hits and hear them sung in the style of The Velvet Underground. That's what folk singer-songwriter J.

Crip Culture
Celebrates disability arts, culture and creativity...
Great Australian Pods Podcast Directory: #AusPods <…

The Seahawks smothered the 49ers, then soaked it all in: 'I don't want today to end' https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6938665/2026/01/04/seahawks-49ers-cigars-nfc-playoffs-celebration/

Cowboys cheerleader flaunts dancer’s bod in 'Santa baby' sneak peek https://www.sportingnews.com/us/culture/fashion/news/cowboys-cheerleader-kennedy-hannan-flaunts-dancers-bod-santa-b…

Sources: Bari Weiss has complained that CBS News' Standards and Practices team has "too much power" and asked "what's the point of standards?" (Justin Baragona/The Independent)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a

Bari Weiss wants to take down CBS News’ Standards and Practices unit for having ‘too much power’: sources
EXCLUSIVE: Internal rumblings within the newsroom come after the S&P head resigned and the network disbanded its vaunted Race and Culture unit.

We are told that, under stress, the humanities must be sacrificed
-- of what use are literature, philosophy, and history when we have problems to solve right now?
And yet colleagues meeting in wartime Kyiv have a clearer sense of purpose, more esprit de corps, , and a better instinct for the essential.
And soldiers on the front (as they tell me) want to talk about history and culture.
In traumatic conditions, people think about where they stand amidst larger force…

Ukrainian History Global Initiative
The Creative Humanities During a War of Destruction

Inside the creation of AI actress Tilly Norwood, which included 2,000 iterations; Particle6, its creator, says it has ~60 NDAs for projects involving Tilly (Ellen Gamerman/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/film/till

Silicon Valley, drunk on exponential curves and both terrified and entranced by endless funding rounds,
has given us the "Hero Developer":
a figure who ships features at midnight,
who “moves fast and breaks things,”
who transforms whiteboard scribbles into billion-dollar unicorns through sheer caffeinated will.
We celebrate this person constantly.
They're on the front page of TechCrunch et al.
They keynote conferences.
Their G…

The Rime of the Ancient Maintainer
Every culture produces heroes that reflect its deepest anxieties. The Greeks, terrified of both mortality and immortality, gave us Achilles. The Victorians, haunted by social mobility, gave us the self-made industrialist. And Silicon Valley, drunk on exponential curves and both terrified and entranced by endless funding rounds, has given us

Learning about this flute was what put me on the path of considering how closely intertwined the creation of art is with our very humanity (and our closest evolutionary relatives like Neandertals). I have come to the conclusion that that the drive to create art is one of the defining characteristics of being human, and the drive to create also drives our technological advances.
#ArtsPedagogy

Open Culture (Official) (@openculture@toot.community)
Attached: 1 image Hear the World’s Oldest Instrument, the “Neanderthal Flute,” Dating Back Over 43,000 Years https://www.openculture.com/2025/06/hear-the-worlds-oldest-instrument-the-neanderthal-flute-dating-back-over-43000-years.html

The number one thing I've been hearing from people in tech lately is, basically, "How the hell am I supposed to work in this industry anymore?" Though most folks are kind of afraid to say it out loud. So I wrote about how to think about it: https://www.anildash.com/2026/01/05/a-tech

How the hell are you supposed to have a career in tech in 2026?
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

BBC Chair Samir Shah apologizes for an "error of judgement", saying the Panorama edit "did give the impression of a direct call for violent action" (Ellise Shafer/Variety)
https://variety.com/2025/digital/globa…

BBC Chair Apologizes for Editing Trump Speech: 'Error of Judgement'
BBC chair Samir Shah apologized to the U.K. culture, media and sport committee following a scandal around the editing of a Trump speech in "Panorama."

"The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming" by David Wallace-Wells
is a stark, scientifically grounded "travelogue of the near future"
detailing the catastrophic, cascading effects of climate change beyond just rising seas and temperatures,
including widespread famine, refugee crises, disease, and extreme weather,
while also exploring how these changes will transform politics, culture, and technology,
serving as an urgent call for immediate…

The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming
Book — Non-fiction. By David Wallace-Wells. 2019. 320 pages. This book raises the alarm over the Earth's climate crisis and demands radical action to save human civilization as we know it.

A look at Paramount's culture shift under David Ellison, where the focus is on male-driven action movies, and not on prestige films seen as critics' darlings (Pamela McClintock/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

Feelings Don’t Matter: How the Ellison Era Is Transforming Paramount 
It’s a brand-new day at the legacy studio, where prestige films are out, testosterone-heavy tentpoles are in and Brett Ratner is back on the call sheet.

Language policing.
Cancel culture.
Victimhood contests and cultural grievances.
Despite attacking the left for partaking in such practices,
there’s an emerging set of individuals on the right who have became exactly what they’ve criticized.
Meet the woke right.

Video: Opinion | The Right Has Gone Woke
Language policing. Cancel culture. Victimhood contests and cultural grievances. Despite attacking the left for partaking in such practices, there’s an emerging set of individuals on the right who have became exactly what they’ve criticized. Meet the woke right.

The UK's College of Policing proposes new rules to end years of police secrecy and suspicion in their dealings with journalists following the Leveson Inquiry (Dominic Ponsford/Press Gazette)
https://pressgazette.co.uk/news/new-po

New police media guidance aims to reset post-Leveson culture of suspicion
The College of Policing has put forward proposals aimed at ending years of police secrecy and suspicion in their dealings with journalists.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which had about 75K digital-only subscribers and 40K print subscribers, ends its print edition after 157 years (Kay Powell/Atlanta Magazine)
https://www.atlantamagazine.com/news-cultu

An obituary for the AJC's print edition, from its legendary obituary writer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution print edition, 157, dies on December 31, 2025, succumbing to burgeoning digital news coverage. No service is planned. The paper’s survivors will include 40,000 Atlanta Journal-Constitution print subscribers. In lieu of flowers, readers are asked to refresh their browsers.

Q&A with Mohsin Hamid, co-founder of Equator magazine, which aims to be a "post-American" magazine of politics and culture, avoiding a "Western-centric gaze" (Jem Bartholomew/Columbia Journalism Review)
https://www.cjr.org/the-interview/equator-

A magazine born of anger, heartbreak, and hope. 
Equator promises to move beyond a Western-centric perspective. Can it?

How South Park's creators found success with a season full of attacks on Trump; Nielsen says viewership over the past four months is more than double 2023 (John Koblin/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/business/media/south-park-trump.html…

‘South Park’ Takes On Trump and Wins Bigly
“It’s not that we got all political,” said Trey Parker, one of the show’s creators. “It’s that politics became pop culture.”