I remember reading this and loving it and being confused about why so many people were dismissive about the book. It’s funny! Great story!

the adventures of Link.mp4

Blocked by gelatin! Not the way I'd want to go. I often wonder how some people -- a lot of people -- manage survive with just the sky over their heads.

I'm surprised no one has invented hostess clubs in the West because that is essentially the same model

Maybe it's just me being a Canadian Gen Xer, but he represents a postwar golden age in Canada -- they were based in Edmonton for a while, for god sakes. I'm not sure if that culture can ever be replicated, if that makes sense.

I haven't seen it yet but I'm looking forward to it. Something I thought was noteworthy was that Macauly Culkin, who doesn't do a lot of interviews, appears in it.

I have heard it from local tech bros before and I find it derisible, that "AI democratizes creativity." If you want to create something, you can just go out and do it! And you're doing it for yourself!

Many effects to process. Could start with this one: the newspaper Nikkei Shinbun ran a simulation of the October 2024 Lower House election. Without electoral support from Soka Gakkai vote-gatherers, the LDP would have garnered 20% fewer seats than their already dismal minority government result.

Japan, ostensibly one of the least religious countries in the world, had its political order upended by the lay Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai. That is THE story about Friday's epochal shift in Japanese politics (thread follows):

"Lulu's Back in Town" by Thelonious Monk - BOTD in 1917

Monk's performance on this track is something else, totally liberated from conventional ideas of what "good" piano playing should sound like.

youtu.be/qiM_RJevQbQ?...

Thelonious Monk was born on this day in 1917

youtu.be/nuzSR0CBuN4?...

Fall colours #photography

Meiko Kaji's body of work has exerted an undeniable impact on world cinema, thanks to stylish visuals, ruthless action, and most of all her mesmerizing acting.

Kaji said it herself recently during a public Q&A in Los Angeles: “I don’t think any other actress is quite as good at playing killers.”

Today in 1976, Gen. Paul Tibbets (USAF, ret.) re-enacted the bombing of Hiroshima he led on August 6, 1945, at an air show sponsored by the private Confederate Air Force in Harlingen, Texas. As Tibbets flew a B-29 overhead, conventional explosives were detonated on the ground to simulate the bomb.

> The Communist takeover of China in 1949 did not vanquish patriarchy, and campaigns like the land reforms often exacerbated gendered oppression.

My work companion today

In the 1950s, National Geographic wanted Kodachrome nature photography that really popped in print. One trick was to put foreground subjects (hikers, etc.) in bright colors; it was called the "red shirt school". Dick Lasher's Pinto makes this the greatest red shirt school photo of all time.

I can see that being an irritation, for sure. Here in City of Victoria, the city has installed purpose-built pickleball courts in different parks. In Beacon Hill Park a parking lot was repurposed for pickleball. Which is rad because the previous council wimped out and removed pedestrianized space.

(I live in downtown Victoria, which is apparently a hellhole, according to the suburbanites)

Agreed. I find it interesting how polarizing pickleball is. It's not even polarizing -- so many different groups seem to hate it. Suburbanites claim it's the noise, and I've heard lefties complain it's a takeover of public space by Boomers! My conclusion is we're encouraged to be haters.

I kinda moved on from Springsteen, but Born to Run and Nebraska are... cool!

I agree, although in the near-term it's likely that platforms like Adobe and Cloudflare (for example) will deploy tools at scale to assess provenance. Which will hopefully (?) be integrated into other platforms where audiences consume synthetic content: skywork.ai/blog/sora-2-...

Exactly. Rick Rubin rebooted his image in the 90s, no looking back. And it was a reboot -- Cash influenced Dylan, partnered with him, promoted his music. How cool is that?

Economist competing with the Spectator to see who employs the dumbest columnists.