"To have a history is to be real"

Kattullus — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 10:41:02 GMT

Am I Perhaps in Italy? and Men Watching Men by James Butler and Tom Crewe respectively, are two recent essays in the London Review of Books about gay men in history and historical gayness, the former taking a broad view of homosexuality in 15th, 16th and 17th century Europe, and the latter looking carefully at the impressionist painter Gustave Caillebotte. Malin Hay asked the two writers to discuss their pieces on the LRB Podcast, which they did in an entertaining and wide-ranging manner, and brought up another piece from last year by Alice Hunt about King James I.

Skub [ˈsgɔb] means "push" in Danish

pwnguin — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 17:52:28 GMT

Skub is a (mobile friendly!) open source daily puzzle game with simple rules: Slide the puck to the target. Fewest moves wins.

Very much inspired by Ricochet Robots, and a long line of predecessor digital adaptions. This one features leaderboards, hints, solution animations and an archive of 100+ playable puzzles.

The Era of Citizens United Could Be Nearing Its End

subdee — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 20:15:53 GMT

A Maine lawsuit has suddenly become the most significant anti-corruption battle inside America's legal system, offering the first serious chance in decades to challenge the disastrous Citizens United decision.

The 2010 Citizens United decision, written by former corporate lobbyist Anthony Kennedy, is famous for striking down limits on spending by super PACs and declaring that "independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption."

The sheer gall of that decision overshadowed an equally far-reaching lower-court decision three months later: SpeechNow v. FEC, which struck down limits on contributions to those super PACs. Without SpeechNow, oligarchs would have had a far harder time over the last sixteen years anonymously purchasing elections via super PACs, because those entities would have had to rely on much smaller donations and would not have been able to grow so large and so fast.

In 2010, the Obama Justice Department had a chance to challenge SpeechNow when the ruling was handed down by the DC Circuit Court, but Attorney General Eric Holder opted against a challenge. Holder asserted that SpeechNow "affects only a limited subset of the circumstances," and he insisted that the "decision will affect only a small subset of federally regulated contributions."

Those presumptions aged like milk. The Washington Post reports that independent expenditures are now more than a quarter of all spending in elections and that "1 in every 13 dollars spent in last year's national elections was donated by a handful of the country's richest people."

The whole world has become somewhat of a casino [for me to bankrupt]

They sucked his brains out! — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 02:41:53 GMT

Soldier Used Classified Information to Bet on Maduro's Ouster - US prosecutors say that Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke, who was involved in the operation to oust Nicolás Maduro from power in Venezuela, used the information to place bets on Polymarket.

Big Tree Tales | Taylor& Sillett Discover World's Tallest Douglas-firs

rubatan — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 16:02:58 GMT

"the finest specimens were logged off in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Historically, Douglas-fir often grew 300+ ft tall, and some forests were studded with ~1000-year-old titans perhaps surpassing 400 ft in height. " The extant titans of trees, coastal redwood and sequoia, may only hint at a history of even larger trees on our planet.

Dust N' Dread

Lorc — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 16:25:06 GMT

Do you enjoy supernatural horror westerns? Dust n' Dread is an episodic webcomic about a dead man, a werewolf and the odd jobs they do. With 9 chapters complete and a 10th in progress there's no better place to start than the beginning.

The syrup of crime bears sticky fruit

Shepherd — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 16:59:32 GMT

On April 2 of this year, the Radio-Canada (Canada's French national broadcaster; not actually just radio) program Enquête uncovered a Quebec maple syrup producer selling adulterated syrup, labeled as pure, that was actually 50% corn syrup, under his business -- the numbered corporation 9227-8712 Québec inc. aka "Érablière Steve Bourdeau". But there's more.

On April 9, Bourdeau's fake maple syrup -- which Bourdeau claimed he had pulled — was found still being sold in stores, now with the original name stickered over as "le sirop Angela." Officials said on April 10 that Boudreau had been under investigation for months, and that to their knowledge, this is the first instance of bogus maple syrup in Quebec. Things became even sticker on April 14, when more re-stickered product turned up on store shelves, this time as "L'Érabeille". On April 16, inspectors found staff at Bourdeau's facility pouring the canned syrup back into large containers, with Bourdeau saying "I'll find a way to get rid of it." In the interim, a class action lawsuit has been filed against Bourdeau for betraying consumer trust. And on April 22, the Quebec Federation of Maple Syrup Producers, known by its French acronym PPAQ, has called Bourdeau a "notorious and repeat offender," and has filed to launch a full investigation into Bourdeau's business, shut down his operations, and seize all his syrup. Bourdeau has claimed "suppliers" are responsible for the issues. Insurance Business Magazine speculates that this case may have larger effects on food and recall insurance in the long run.

While this is the first known instance of widespread syrup fraud in Quebec, syrup theft is not unknown, including the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist, the theft of the International Strategic Reserve of syrup in 2011 and 2012. The largest heist in Canadian history, it was later adapted as TV show "The Sticky" in 2024.

Thankfully, there are still some sensible people in the world.

Winnie the Proust — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 18:11:57 GMT

Next week, representatives from 54 nations will gather in Brazil to begin planning their transition away from fossil fuels. The conference, cosponsored by the Netherlands, was motivated by petrostates' ongoing success at blocking climate COPs from advocating for this obvious step. Conference website. January story from Climate Change News.

In Australia, homeless camps are rising as affordability falls

chariot pulled by cassowaries — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 11:10:18 GMT

In Australia, homeless camps are rising as affordability falls. It's a problem Australia has solved before. In the 1940s, tent cities and shanty settlements appeared across Australia, as families struggled to find homes. The government acted then – and needs to act now. (The Conversation).

A Mrs Crocombe For A New Age

drewbage1847 — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 18:34:34 GMT

Eleven years ago, English Heritage launched a historical cooking series on YouTube - The Victorian Way - and a viral star - Kathy Hipperson. She portrayed a historical head cook of Audley End House - Avis Crocombe. (Historical research, writing and occassional scullery maid Mary Ann by Dr. Annie Gray)

In 2024, due to budget cuts at English Heritage, they cancelled both the live reenactments and video segments after more than 100 episodes of glorious Victorian shade.

Recent video discoveries indicate that she had a descendent - Mrs Wilding - the post war cook at Abbot's Hall (home of The Food Museum).

Her cooking focuses on simpler fare for both the Longe Sisters (the last owners of Abbott Hall) and her husband, Pops in their cottage attached to the estate.

(Mrs. Crocombe previously)

Do I have to spell it out?

kirkaracha — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 04:39:53 GMT

Your name in Landsat. A little gizmo from NASA. "Type in your name to see it spelled out in Landsat imagery of Earth!" Here's MetaFilter.

The Disappearance of the Public Bench

Kitteh — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:36:37 GMT

Benches are microcosms of an expansive debate about who belongs in urban public spaces. When they are removed or made uninviting, we lose more than just a place to rest. (slPlacesJournal)

I found this article through Blue Sky, where a mutual MeFite follow said that this was their issue when they were in Tokyo, a city where you can do a lot of walking to explore.

Love Songs for Monsters

Kitteh — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 14:41:44 GMT

One of Canada's finest and creepiest bands.

A tribute post today as I learned that founder/lead singer Taylor Kirk died last week at age 44. No cause of death given. I've seen TT twice live (2016 and 2023) and to me, their music is what the title of the post feels like. Ominous, atmospheric, and darkly beautiful.

Various videos to get a taste:

Trouble Comes Knocking

Bad Ritual

Curtains?!

Velvet Gloves & Spit

Ask The Community

And lastly, their NPR Tiny Desk Concert

New, additional criteria for identifying ADHD in adults

wenestvedt — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 13:19:57 GMT

"ADHD Symptom Manifestation in Adulthood" A new study in the Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine argues that current diagnostic tools are stuck in a "childhood" mindset, focusing too much on physical hyperactivity. Through interviews with ADHD adults, researchers identified six new critical dimensions that better describe the adult experience but are often ignored by the DSM-5.

Results: Using thematic analysis, nine themes of adult ADHD symptoms were identified. The first three themes map to the original triad of symptoms – attentional difficulties, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. A further three themes identified are briefly mentioned in the DSM -– disorganisation, forgetfulness, and reduced activation. The final three themes are covered to some degree in the current rating scales but are absent from the DSM 5 -– emotional lability, sleep difficulties, and time perception difficulties.

Conclusions: ...This research highlights gaps in current assessment tools and suggests symptoms that are more reflective of the adult experience of having ADHD.

If you want to know how to make a cheese sandwich

davidmsc — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 16:34:22 GMT

How To Make a Cheese Sandwich Today I show you how to make a cheese sandwich. Learn how to make the perfect cheese sandwich in just a few simple steps.

Eight minutes of increasingly surreal meal-prep. Haven't laughed this hard in quite some time.

Wheels against wheels

SaltySalticid — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 19:33:13 GMT

The biological motor that powers the motion of bacteria is now finally understood. Wheels are rare in biology, but they exist. Recent research has completed a project that started with the discovery of a molecular-scale spinning wheel in the 1970s.

The only known example of a freely-spinning wheel against a fixed body is the flagellum. It comes in three types, on for each domain of life: bacterial, archaeal, and eukaryotic.

Fifty years after the discovery that bacteria move around by spinning their flagella, researchers finally have the full picture of how it works at the molecular level. Broadly speaking, a stream of protons enters the cell, and hits a ring of stators as it goes by. These stators aren't so static, and end up spinning like a turnstyle as a crowd of people walks through. The spinning stators then rub against an inner ring, which turns the flagellum it's connected to. Importantly, the motor can be switched, and the signalling mechanism of that was just published in March of 2026. When the flagellum spins one way, the bacterium is propelled forward, like a boat with a propeller. But when it spins the other way, the bacteria tumbles about chaotically. This combo of moving straight and tumbling allows the critter to move to any position in the field, maneuvering much like a single-line fighter kite, which also switches modes based on a dynamic instability. For the kite, the spinning vs. straight motion is controlled by the tension on the string. In the bacterium, certain environmental conditions result in a deformation of the inner ring, so that the same motion of the stator results in an opposite motion of the inner ring and flagellum.

This setup allows for taxis, and "[t]his amazing, self-assembling, signal-processing, direction-switching molecular machine is so powerful yet so spare that, billions of years later, it's still used by bacteria in virtually every gut and puddle on Earth."

A Brief History of Fish Sauce

ShooBoo — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 01:44:36 GMT

In its purest form, fish sauce is made from just two ingredients: fish and salt, fermented together for months. Despite the fact that some fish sauce labels depict squid, shrimp, or even a man carrying a giant shrimp over his shoulder ..., the base formula remains the same. Both fish and salt are placed into huge vats, usually three parts fish to one part salt, and weighted down to prevent the fish from floating to the surface as fermentation begins. Once liquid begins to seep out of the fish, it is drained and reintroduced to the vat for the full fermentation process, which lasts long enough for it to reach concentration, but not so long that off-flavours develop. Usually this process takes nine months to a year, with the vats sitting in the sun as the sauce takes form.

Some links from the article:
Fish Sauce in the Ancient World
Culinary History Mystery #3: Garum & Nuoc Mam
The Cosmopolitan Condiment: An exploration of ketchup's Chinese origins

Alexandra refused to listen to the final chapter

chavenet — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 10:25:29 GMT

Don Quixote was likely one of the few readings I did for pleasure during my doctoral years. Reading it in company and out loud — precisely how Cervantes' readers would have read it in the seventeenth century — constantly reminded me that literature is at its best when shared. Books bring people together, and their meaning only shines through when they are read in community. When we make them part of our relationships, they come to life, turning into objects that sustain us. Like her beloved errant knight, Alexandra allowed herself to be transformed by the stories she loved.

ffunny ffrends

dismas — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 16:50:24 GMT

Jeff Tweedy and Hayley Williams performing Unknown Mortal Orchestra's "Ffunny Ffrends" on Colbert's show Featuring a Hayley Williams theremin solo!

So, you've decided to write a terrible EV piece.

h00py — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 13:23:06 GMT

"My head assploded and harsh words came out after reading the ABCs stupidest ever 730 report on EVs." John Birmingham has many pertinent thoughts on stupid people trying to appeal to stupid people. In this instance, it's to do with a particularly stupid article about electric vehicles. (Sorry about Substack;, I'm sure he'll eventually get the message and change venues. He's an Australian national treasure who sums things up very well indeed).

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