Linklog

A lot of that is studying how dry bone, fresh bone, bone that is exposed to different types of forces will react to different types of insults. If you don’t know that a bone is going to break differently if it’s 100 years old versus 1,000 years old versus 6 days old, you would see a crack and go, ‘Oh, well, it probably happened during excavation.’

Riveting morning read. #

New forensic evidence supports Egyptian "retainer sacrifice"

Fresh analysis of First Dynasty mass burials finds signs of fatal blunt force trauma on 39 percent of skulls...

New forensic evidence supports Egyptian "retainer sacrifice"

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Different strokes for different folks, I guess #

A dolphin named Bubbles makes other fish vomit, then eats it

Dolphins are predators and actively hunt their prey, whether it's been stolen from another species or not.”...

A dolphin named Bubbles makes other fish vomit, then eats it

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A politician who reads books? Wish we had a lot more of those. #

What 248 books reveal about Kaja Kallas

EU’s top diplomat is a noted bookworm. But what can her bookshelf tell us about the politician leading Europe’s diplomacy?

What 248 books reveal about Kaja Kallas

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Turns out, a messy world demands fewer categorical (ha!) ideas on how our brain processes it! #

A New Framework for How the Brain Compresses Our Noisy World

An updated view of categorization reflects the modern understanding that the nervous system is more of a prediction engine than a filing cabinet.

A New Framework for How the Brain Compresses Our Noisy World

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Who'd have thought? #

These trees are making air quality in cities worse

They release compounds that contribute to ozone emissions, and rising temperatures could exacerbate the problem.

These trees are making air quality in cities worse

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A case for reading novels, even if they seem to bore you at first (it's part of the appeal) #

Every Novel Is Boring—Until It Isn’t

“If you didn’t get into novels at a young age—and organically discover that, at some point, a switch would flip, and then you couldn’t stop reading if you tried—there is no reason to intuit that this is how novel reading goes.” "If you didn’t get into novels at a young age—and organically discover that, at some point, a switch would flip, and then you couldn’t stop reading if you tried—there is no reason to intuit that this is how novel reading goes."

Every Novel Is Boring—Until It Isn’t

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A review of Nolan's Odyssey, by Emily Wilson. I think the final nail in the coffin of the idea, that Emily Wilson and Nolan conspired to rework the Odyssey together. #

Emily Wilson · An Uncomplicated Man

As they say at the awards shows, I was humbled to learn that Christopher Nolan has read at least the first line of my...

Emily Wilson · An Uncomplicated Man

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Well, that's exciting! #

This Cell Feeds, Grows and Reproduces. And It’s Manmade.

From chemical building blocks, scientists have created synthetic cells that have most of the hallmarks of life.

This Cell Feeds, Grows and Reproduces. And It’s Manmade.

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Turns out cities might be better for mating (for some birds at least) #

Male bowerbirds hope to dazzle females with bright human-made items

It’s a reminder of how human activity is changing the natural world in unanticipated ways.”...

Male bowerbirds hope to dazzle females with bright human-made items

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From the piece: "YKK makes the best zippers on earth. They're Japanese, they cost more per unit, and brands that care about longevity use them because a zipper failure kills a bag faster than fabric wear. On VF Corp's lower-tier models, YKK hardware got swapped for generic alternatives. A few cents saved per unit across millions of bags." I knew it! #

Your Backpack Got Worse On Purpose

In 1986, a corporation that made women's lingerie bought every backpack brand you've ever trusted.

Your Backpack Got Worse On Purpose

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Just as a reminder, another good text about the virtues and necessities for self-hosting. Thanks Paul for the link! #

Ownership of Digital Content Is an Illusion—Unless You Self‑Host

Prices are rising across Netflix, Spotify, and their peers, and more people are quietly returning to the oldest playbook of the internet: piracy. Is the golden age of streaming over?

Ownership of Digital Content Is an Illusion—Unless You Self‑Host

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This is both ridiculous and troubling. Troublingly ridiculous. #

NEA’s Creative Writing Fellowship Program Canceled

On Friday afternoon, writers who applied for the National Endowment for the Arts’ 2026 Creative Writing Fellowships received an email from the NEA saying that the program, and their applications, had been “withdrawn.”

NEA’s Creative Writing Fellowship Program Canceled

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My blog platform of choice (which also happens to be an indie newsletter platform) released their newest iteration and it's now Fediverse compatible. I think that's kind of a big deal. #

Ghost 6.0 - Grow faster.

Connect to the world's largest open publishing network, understand your audience with native analytics, and build a sustainable publishing business.

Ghost 6.0 - Grow faster.

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It's quite unfathomable that this aspect of the Trump regime hasn't seen closer scrutiny (and that people generally tend to not give a fuck). #

Trump's $100 million crypto mystery man - The Japan Times

A venture calling itself Aqua 1 Foundation announced last month it had bought $100 million worth of U.S. President Donald Trump’s World Liberty crypto tokens.

Trump's $100 million crypto mystery man - The Japan Times

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That explains a fair bit, unfortunately #

College English majors can't read

They have one job and they can't do it

College English majors can't read

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What's the ideology underpinning the AI movement? Here's one explanation, and it ain't pretty. #

AI and Esoteric Fascism

Web dev at the end of the world, from Hveragerði, Iceland

AI and Esoteric Fascism

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Found this in my notes, and was wondering: Is there still a Bucatini shortage? #

The Very Real Totally Bizarre Bucatini Shortage of 2020

The Very Real, Totally Bizarre Bucatini Shortage of 2020 https://www.grubstreet.com/2020/12/2020-bucatini-shortage-investigation.html

The Very Real Totally Bizarre Bucatini Shortage of 2020

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If you ever wondered whether Kikkoman of soy sauce fame had their own winery, the answer is yes. #

SOLARIS（ソラリス）公式サイト｜マンズワイン

マンズワインが世界に誇る国産プレミアムワイン「ソラリス」の公式サイトです。多くのお客様に支えられ、おかげさまでソラリスは生誕20周年を迎えました。

SOLARIS（ソラリス）公式サイト｜マンズワイン

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Ever wanted to play Doom from within a PDF? You're in luck, because now you can. #

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I've had this link saved for a while, and sometimes look at it, trying to understand what exactly it is. I don't think I have grasped it just yet, but I'm getting there. #

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What are the words missing from works of literature? #

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Gotta be tested#

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Turns out, we don't have to throw out half our kitchenware #

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For everyone who's a bit confused by these two different decentralisation protocols #

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RSS has been declared dead for at least a decade now, but even if we exclude podcasts, it's still very much alive and kicking. Use this tool to find which of your Mastodon friends have an RSS enabled blog. #

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It's like Wordle, but for animals. And I might actually learn a bit more about biology. #

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Very good: "Big tech — with venture capital by its side — spent a decade mistreating, manipulating and misleading governments, consumers and the media in the pursuit of greed, taking advantage of society’s optimism in the name of eternal growth." #

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I'm a fan of Matt Mullenweg, probably because he just gets it. I find this more than two hours long interview a great way to end this year and welcome the next. #

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If you need some inspiration for what to buy with all those vouchers you'll have gotten for Christmas #

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I may be from Gunma Prefecture #

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Good news for wasabi lovers. The bad news: it's only valid for real wasabi, not the tube type you get with your sushi, which usually contains little to no real wasabi (it's mainly dyed horseradish). At roughly $400 per kilo wasabi here in Europe, there might be more affordable ways to improve your memory. #

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From the piece: "This horrible industry took root because the average person cannot simply work and thrive — they must hustle, they must suffer, they must find any way they can to make even a modest wealth, and that same desperation makes them susceptible to con artists that promise an easy way out." #

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WordPress switching on the fediverse for their hosted offering. Very interested to see how that pans out. #

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An interesting meditation on what AI may mean for writers or even literature in general. #

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Fascinating insight that Singapore is in fact the world's third-largest importer of Scotch (behind the US and France). Also, with the JAG Liquid Gold Fund, I've finally found my kind of investment opportunity. #

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Friends, if you haven't yet done so, it's time to install Firefox, the only browser these days that's not based on Google's Chromium. And the one browser that doesn't track the hell out of you (on the contrary, it helps you  avoid being tracked as much as possible). #

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Fascinating 3D renderings of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan by Thomas Kole. With the accompanying text, they put you right back into the 16th century and the heart of the Aztec empire. #

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A new tech outlet made by ex-Motherboard journalists. It already sounded intriguing, but they had me when I saw that they put their RSS feed right into their menu. #

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A fun read about finding Tom Cruise, which reminded me of a French book by a guy called Guillaume de la Croix about how Tom Cruise stole his life. Incidentally, I tried finding out more about him just now, and funnily enough, found more or less nothing. #

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Sad to hear of his passing. His whole saga began right around the time I started getting interested in computers, the Internet and such and while his was obviously a cautionary tale, it was still endlessly fascinating to read about his exploits (literally and figuratively). #

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A wild story about something I was only vaguely aware of. Good reminder to make all my servers IPv6 ready. #

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I've just set up my own Lemmy instance, and this here is a good place to start looking for existing communities. #

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That's a long one! Figlmüller is right there at the start, which is nice, but I still haven't been. And seeing how nowadays it's more of a tourist trap than anything, I probably won't either. #

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32 switches to play ambient sounds. Looks like a nice piece of furniture as well. #

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A route planner for the Roman Empire. Includes seasons and various means of travel. Splendid! #

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"Nothing became him in life like the leaving of it, says a character from “Macbeth” of the traitor Cawdor’s acceptance of his execution. Boris Johnson may have once been commissioned to write a study of Shakespeare but he has never taken that particular line to heart. Perhaps that’s why he returned the publisher’s advance." – What a way to start this piece. I like it. #

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While I completely understand the necessity for this service, the whole premise would also make for an amazing (horror) film. #

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Unfathomable to me how people can steadily produce books, let alone write so much they decide to publish under an additional pseudonym. #

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Can you believe it's been almost twenty years since the publication of "Atlanta Nights"? I think I might still have my copy somewhere on a hard-drive. #

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"The problem with AI right now isn't that it's smart. It's that it's stupid in ways we can't predict." - A very apt conclusion to a pretty good segment about Artifical Intelligence by John Oliver. #

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