"Prairie strips" ... ... are narrow little parts of big farms that the farmers allow to return to nature ... ... with wild native plants growing there, and no fertilizer or pesticides Turns out these little strips of rewilding have a powerful and postive impact on the health of the surrounding soil Item #13 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter, free to read and subscribe to here:

Linkfest #25: The "Third Thumb", Prairie Strips, and Science Proves People Love Spoilers

Hello folks! It’s time for my latest “Linkfest” — i.e. "the opposite of doomscrolling”, in which I ceaselessly roam the Internet’s Plut...

Mastodon hive-mind! I require your assistance I'm wondering -- what was the first American song written about the problems of becoming famous as a singer/performer? Of the hassles of fame, of life on the road, etc? When did this become a subject matter of songwriters and performers? Please boost, the more brains on this one the better

Historian Timothy Snyder writes on Trump's stated plan to deport 12 million undocumented immigrants As he says, imagine that happening to one person in your neighborhood, family, workplace, friendship circle, yourself ... "And now consider a country with twelve million such scenes. It is a different America, one in which violence is normal and everywhere, one is which we see it and are dulled to it, one in which we all change for the worse."

Twelve Million Deportations

And an altered America

I'm not the first person to make this point, but when you look at data ... ... wow, it turns out we really *have* been doing geoengineering ... ... of the sort that helps explain the peculiarly destructive force of the recent US hurricanes! (It's not the type of geoengineering right-wing authoritarians and chaosmongers are talking about, mind you) https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-sea-surface-temperature https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-atmospheric-carbon-dioxide

"If you are a weatherperson, you’re a target. The same goes for journalists, election workers, scientists, doctors, and first responders. These jobs are different, but the thing they share is that they all must attend to and describe the world as it is. This makes them dangerous to people who cannot abide by the agonizing constraints of reality" Charlie Warzel on the flood of hurricane-related bullshit

The Atlantic

I’m Running Out of Ways to Explain How Bad This Is

What’s happening in America today is something darker than a misinformation crisis.

Unpaywalled: https://archive.is/PhRvu

Behold the "third thumb" ... ... an artificial new appendage You strap it to a wrist, and control it with two pressure pads -- one beneath your big toe, left and right foot With only a minute or two of getting used to it, hundreds of test subjects could use it the thumb to do all sorts of stuff ... ...like pick up more objects than one hand can normally hold, or unscrew a bottle one-handed Item #3 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter, free to read and subscribe to here

Linkfest #25: The "Third Thumb", Prairie Strips, and Science Proves People Love Spoilers

Hello folks! It’s time for my latest “Linkfest” — i.e. "the opposite of doomscrolling”, in which I ceaselessly roam the Internet’s Plut...

A careful, exhaustive and randomized study finds that subsidizing child care works ... ... really, really well: "Using tax data and other administrative records, they found that every dollar spent on a program providing free, full-time day care for preschoolers generated $6 in economic benefits. Most of that return came from extra pay that parents could earn because they had additional hours of care for their kids." https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/07/child-care-study-universal-pre-k-new-haven/

Okay folks, my latest "Linkfest" newsletter just dropped 📬 ... ... in which I comb the endless Plutonian beaches of the Internet, looking for the best in science 🔬 , culture 🎭 and technology 💾 ... ... JUST FOR YOU 🌞 Free to read and subscribe here:

Linkfest #25: The "Third Thumb", Prairie Strips, and Science Proves People Love Spoilers

Hello folks! It’s time for my latest “Linkfest” — i.e. "the opposite of doomscrolling”, in which I ceaselessly roam the Internet’s Plut...

In this issue: 👍 the "third thumb" 📃 the museum of grocery lists ⌨️ why Johnny can't type 🚗 the most ominous Rolls-Royce in history 🌾 "prairie strips" 🤦 why some people love spoilers 🕹️ QuanDoom ... AND MUCH MORE 🍾

There are no laws limiting how bright a satellite can be ... ... but wow, there really ought to be:

Gizmodo

Texas Startup Keeps Launching These Obnoxiously Large Satellites—and the Worst Is Yet to Come

Five BlueBird satellites have launched as part of AST SpaceMobile's growing constellation, with even larger ones ahead that may pose a threat ...

How members of AP3, a far-right militia, cozied up to local police and border officials in the last few years A *superb* investigation by Joshua Kaplan of @ProPublica, who appears to have gotten access to extensive chat logs from inside AP3 It's pretty mesmerizing Check it out:

ProPublica

Armed and Underground: Inside the Turbulent, Secret World of an American Militia

Rounding up migrants. Lists of “friendly” sheriffs. Debating political assassinations. Internal messages reveal AP3’s journey from Jan. 6 thr...