Between the horrors, today brings cosmic wonder from the Helix Nebula, a CIA sabotage manual climbing the charts, Billy Bragg writing protest songs for our moment, and baby penguins getting the zoomies.
Dying star lights up the Helix Nebula
By Rob Beschizza
In the Helix Nebula, a star much like our own is dying. Its death, though, creates a spectacle for us to appreciate now we have the James Webb Space Telescope to observe it. Knots of bright gas, fierce stellar winds, the dust that new things come from-and the possible eventual fate, NASA reports, of our own solar system.
Here, blistering winds of fast-moving hot gas from the dying star are crashing into slower moving colder shells of dust and gas that were shed earlier in its life, sculpting the nebula’s remarkable structure.
A blazing white dwarf, the leftover core of the dying star, lies right at the heart of the nebula, out of the frame of the Webb image. Its intense radiation lights up the surrounding gas, creating a rainbow of features: hot ionized gas closest to the white dwarf, cooler molecular hydrogen farther out, and protective pockets where more complex molecules can begin to form within dust clouds.
This is 650 light years from us. Here’s more from Live Science‘s Jamie Carter on the nebula, now one of the most studied.
It acquired the nickname the “Eye of Sauron” for its resemblance to its depiction in The Lord of the Rings movies.
Britain’s Home Secretary wants AI so “the eyes of the state can be on you at all times”
By Rob Beschizza
Shabana Mahmood, Britain’s Home Secretary, dreams the dream of the interior minister: total surveillance of everyone, everywhere, at every moment of their lives. Evoking the Panopticon—the circular prison devised by philosopher Jeremy Bentham to allow a single observer to see into every prisoner’s cell—she said she hopes for an “AI version” so that “the eyes of the state can be on you at all times.”
“When I was in justice, my ultimate vision for that part of the criminal justice system was to achieve, by means of AI and technology, what Jeremy Bentham tried to do with his Panopticon. That is that the eyes of the state can be on you at all times. Similarly, in the world of policing, in particular, we’ve already been rolling out live facial recognition technology, but I think there’s big space here for being able to harness the power of AI and tech to get ahead of the criminals, frankly, which is what we’re trying to do.”
Mahmood’s dystopian fantasy was offered in a conversation with former prime minister Tony Blair, himself a longtime advocate of surveillance technology. The “AI” angle is that “AI” would not only let them focus on the criminals, but people the “AI” is trained to predict will become criminals.
The Torment Nexus comes to mind, given that this scenario was warned of in Minority Report. And the totalitarian implications were duly noted. It is “a deeply authoritarian, ‘Big Brother’ state.. totally unacceptable, and we must resist this dystopian future,” said Green MSP Maggie Chapman.
JBL’s new speaker removes instruments so you can play along
By Séamus Bellamy
Gen X kids who played an instrument likely remember using a tape recorder to snag songs from the radio or MTV, then rewinding the best bits for days trying to figure out the riffs we were willing to let our fingers bleed for. The problem with teaching yourself a tune this way: even once you know your chords, you’d still end up comparing yourself to Tom Morello (or in my case, Donal Lunny). There was no way to remove his licks from the recording, so your solo was always a duet.
JBL now has a solution: their BandBox line of speakers. Using a companion app, they can take a song streamed from your smartphone and remove whichever parts you’d rather do without.
The uses are obvious: suddenly every song in your collection is karaoke-ready. You could isolate just the instrument you’re trying to learn, accelerating your education (and frustration at how good Tom Morello really is). Once your confidence is up, reverse the process — remove the part you learned and play along with the band, taking that solo you earned.
This relaxing rain window website is perfect for a calm coffee break
By Popkin
This peaceful website is the perfect place to enter full-screen mode during your coffee break. The site features a simple glass window with moving raindrops. You can stick with the default background or upload your own image to the window view.
Customization is easy: a horizontal swipe controls the rain speed, and a vertical swipe controls how much rain runs down the screen.
If work on your computer is stressing you out, this is a nice place to visit when you need to sit at your desk and calm down for a few minutes. It beats spacing out at your email browser. I put this website on my screen today while waiting on hold with customer service, and it helped keep my sanity intact.
1893 photo shows man standing inside a volcanic “spiracle” in Iceland
By Popkin
In this 1893 photo, a man stands inside a “spiracle” in Iceland. With just his head popping out, it looks as if a random head has sprouted from a rock formation. The photo comes from the collection of Tempest Anderson, a pioneering Victorian volcanologist.
In the late 1800s, volcanologists sometimes used the word “spiracle” as a loose, descriptive term rather than a strict scientific term. Borrowed from biology, it suggested a place where a volcano seemed to “breathe” — a small opening in lava or volcanic ground where heat, steam, and gases escaped.
From Public Domain Review on Instagram: “Anderson was a surgeon from York, but when not busy pioneering new techniques of ophthalmic surgery or inventing photographic equipment, he spent his time traveling far and wide to explore volcanoes around the globe.”
How to make snow ice cream at home using just snow, salt, and simple ingredients
By Popkin
If you’re feeling cooped up inside during a snowstorm, consider making your own snow ice cream. All you need are warm clothes, some metal bowls, and a few simple ingredients. The colder it is, the quicker your ice cream will form.
In this video tutorial, the method is straightforward: put a small metal bowl inside a larger one. Fill the outer bowl with snow and salt. Mix your ingredients — condensed milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, and whatever else you want — in the inner bowl.
You’ll probably want to go inside to eat the ice cream afterward, to avoid becoming dangerously cold. Cabin fever sets in during heavy snow, so activities like this can help break up the monotony. It’s also a great activity for kids.
“OUR _____” is a new projection art piece focusing on everything ICE is killing
By Jennifer Sandlin
Los Angeles-based Vjay Bomb, an art collective that creates “projection bombs,” which consist of short videos projected onto walls and buildings, continues their brilliant activist art, culture jamming, and biting political commentary. Their latest piece, which focuses on the ongoing trauma being inflicted upon American cities and their residents by ICE, is as terrific as everything else they’ve created to date.
The artwork features an image of an armed ICE agent in tactical gear, who looks blindfolded and who is carrying an American flag in one hand and a pistol in the other. His head is tilted down toward the ground, and he uses his gun to repeatedly shoot the following words, on a loop: “our empathy, our soul, our love, our brothers, our sisters, our humanity, our democracy, our rights, our freedoms, our safety, our community, our goodness, our mothers, our children, our friends, our neighbors.”
The piece is a powerful commentary on everything good and decent that’s being taken from all of us as ICE continues its reign of terror and destruction in Minneapolis and across the country.
Slow the march of fascism with ideas from this declassified CIA document
By Séamus Bellamy
Have you heard the news? The internet is a cornucopia of copyright-free material to download, read, and learn from. With some documents being free to use, you can even print and share what you find with friends and neighbors.
Take this fun read, declassified by the CIA in 2008: The Simple Sabotage Field Manual. Published during World War II, it’s a brisk read detailing how to train regular folks to throw a wrench in the daily operations of authoritarian governments, fascists, occupying invaders, and other shit stains that the world keeps wiping up but never quite wipes clean. For reasons that surely have nothing to do with the current political situation, this book has been one of the most downloaded from Project Gutenberg over the past few weeks.
Acts of simple sabotage are occurring throughout Europe. An effort should be made to improve their efficiency, reduce their detectability, and increase their numbers. Acts of simple sabotage, multiplied by thousands of citizen-saboteurs, can be an effective weapon against the enemy. Slashing tires, draining fuel tanks, starting fires, starting arguments, acting stupidly, short-circuiting electric systems, and abrading machine parts will waste materials, manpower, and time.
Struggling to understand Gen Alpha? Here’s a twelve-minute primer on their slang
By Jennifer Sandlin
If you’ve got teenagers or work with them and you’re struggling to understand what they’re saying, here’s a terrific twelve-minute primer featuring polyglot Arieh Smith. Known online as XiaomaNYC, Smith has studied dozens of languages. Last year, the self-described “aging 34-year-old Millennial” was invited to speak to middle and high school students at Westtown School in Pennsylvania during “Languages Week.” Instead of just telling them why language matters, he spent weeks learning Gen Alpha slang and delivered the speech “in their own linguistic native tongue.”
Gems include “I had to absorb the drip so I wouldn’t get aired by your generation” (translation: “I had to learn it so I wouldn’t get ignored”); “No cap, I was dead-ass pressed” (”Honestly, I was really stressed”); “I’ll put the fries in the bag” (”I’ll do what I came to do”); and much more.
Billy Bragg’s “City of Heroes” honors the people of Minneapolis
By Séamus Bellamy
No stranger to protest songs or outrage over wrongs committed by governments and corporations, Billy Bragg’s music has been in the mouths of folks willing to fight for a better world for decades. On Monday night, Bragg revealed he has written a new song for the people of Minneapolis. From the man himself:
The murder of Alex Pretti was horrifically shocking, all the more so as we are still reeling from the images of the murder of Renee Good. That these crimes can be committed in broad daylight, on camera and yet no one is held accountable only adds to the injustice. I wrote this song yesterday as a tribute to the bravery of the people of Minneapolis who, knowing that these trigger happy ICE thugs operate with seeming impunity in their midst, are still willing to put themselves in harms way to defend their community. Their resistance is an inspiration to us all.
Thanks for always being there for The People, Billy.
Did you know baby King Penguins get the zoomies?
By Jennifer Sandlin
If you’ve ever spent time with dogs, you know about zoomies — those high-energy bursts also called “FRAPs,” or Frenetic Random Activity Periods, where, as Dr. Marc Bekoff puts it, a “dog looks like s/he is possessed, after which they often lie down exhausted as if they’ve run a marathon.” But did you know King Penguins get them too?
If you’ve never seen penguin zoomies, here’s a few seconds of joy to brighten your day. Watch the cutest, fluffiest, chubbiest baby King Penguin get the zoomies in the snow. He runs in a circle, frenetically flapping his wings and waddling so fast he falls on his belly.
Hero shooter Highguard lands on Steam with 74% negative reviews
By Grant St. Clair
Today’s the day! It’s Highguard day! Against all odds and the apparent disappearance of its dev team, Highguard — the world’s most generic-looking hero shooter — has finally descended from on high.
According to initial impressions, it has a long way to go. Highguard currently sits at a “Mostly Negative” rating on Steam, with 74% of reviews recommending against it. Most complaints target poor optimization and unpolished visuals leaning heavily on AI resolution upscaling and frame-generative tools like DLSS.
One particular review by Steam user Rounderhouse resonates: “I mostly just feel bad for the devs. The game clearly wasn’t designed or prepared for this level of scrutiny.”
Melania documentary expected to bomb. Who cares?
By Rob Beschizza
Why don’t you want to know about the wonderful life of Melania Trump? What kind of American are you? The cinematic “documentary” Melania has failed to sell out early screenings before it goes on wide release on Friday. With a $40m budget and a $35m marketing spend on top, this flick didn’t come cheap, and the signs are ominous.
It was directed by Brett Ratner, but Melania had “held editorial control over the film and was involved with the trailer, color correction, selection of music, and the advertising campaign.”
Here’s Apple CEO Tim Cook smiling with Ratner, hours after ICE executed another American citizen in Minneapolis. Fun times at Mar-a-Lago North!
Mecha Comet is a modular Linux handheld computer
By Rob Beschizza
Mecha Comet is a 6.1″ x 2.9″ x 0.55″ handheld Linux computer “that’s truly yours to own, build and mod,” with a 6-core ARM CPU, 3.92-inch AMOLED display, 8 megapixel camera and a modular attachment system that lets you swap out keyboard for game controls or an IO breakout board—and whatever else might come to its ecosystem. You can add 5G mobile data, LoraWAN mesh, an “AI accellerator.” Oh my God, there’s even a 3.5mm audio jack!
It’s $189 at the Kickstarter (which has already met its goal) for the base 2GB model with 64GB storage and “upgrades in the next step.”
Heathrow finally scraps the 100ml liquid rule, six years after Boris Johnson promised it
By Ellsworth Toohey
After years of delays, rollbacks, and contradictory announcements, Heathrow has become the world’s largest airport to fully scrap the 100ml liquid container limit. Passengers can now leave liquids in containers up to two liters in their bags while going through security, reports the BBC. Electronics like laptops can also stay in luggage. Clear plastic bags are no longer required.
The timeline is a story of broken promises. Boris Johnson announced in 2019 that the liquid rules would be scrapped by the end of 2022. The pandemic killed that deadline. In 2022, the Conservative government promised the scanners would be installed by June 2024. That deadline came and went for the big airports.
Even now, the UK’s rules are a patchwork. Other airports with the new scanners are still waiting for government approval to raise their limits. The £1 billion upgrade was supposed to end the dominance of “tiny toiletries.” For Heathrow passengers, at least, it finally has.
Apple’s new AirTag is 50% louder, works from 50% farther away
By Ellsworth Toohey
Apple released the second-generation AirTag. The new model uses Apple’s second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, enabling Precision Finding from up to 50% farther away. An upgraded Bluetooth chip extends detection range even further. The speaker is 50% louder, meaning you can actually hear it from across the room.
For the first time, Apple Watch Series 9 or later can use Precision Finding directly on the wrist, so you don’t need to pull out your phone to locate your keys.
The new AirTag costs $29 for one or $99 for a four-pack, available immediately online. In-store availability begins later this week. You’ll need iOS 26 or iPadOS 26 to use the new features.
The secret society of people who know the WD-40 formula
By Ellsworth Toohey
There’s a club in San Diego more exclusive than the Soho House and harder to get into than Harvard. It requires a special key, confidentiality agreements, passage through a bank vault, and typically an executive position. The only privilege is knowing the secrets of the world’s most famous lubricant, reports the Wall Street Journal.
“Entering there was like entering Fort Knox, frankly,” said Steve Brass, CEO of WD-40, who was admitted about 18 months ago — more than three decades after he joined the company. The handwritten formula is stored in a vault at Bank of America, at an undisclosed location in San Diego.
The notebook contains the 40th attempt at the formula — and the 39 previous failures. (WD stands for Water Displacement.) The company never filed for a patent because patents eventually expire and become public. As a trade secret, the formula is protected indefinitely.
Why does K$H Patel suddenly hate the 2nd Amendment?
By Ellsworth Toohey
FBI Director Kash Patel is in a feud with gun rights advocates after defending federal agents who shot Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, in Minneapolis last weekend. “You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want,” Patel told ABC News.
Gun rights groups fired back. “This is completely incorrect on Minnesota law,” said the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus. “There is no prohibition on a permit holder carrying a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines at a protest or rally in Minnesota.” The National Rifle Association called the administration’s position “dangerous and wrong.”
Pretti, who worked at a Veterans Affairs hospital, was legally carrying his holstered Sig Sauer with a valid permit when he stepped between immigration agents and a woman they’d shoved to the ground.
WikiFlix is like Netflix for public domain films, with no ads, no logins, and no data harvesting
By Ellsworth Toohey
What if Netflix only carried movies from the first half of the 20th century, charged nothing, and didn’t track your every click? That’s WikiFlix, a project from Wikipedia’s volunteer community that streams over 4,000 public domain films through a slick, modern interface.
The catalog pulls from Wikimedia Commons, the Internet Archive, and YouTube. You’ll find 1922’s Nosferatu, 1927’s Metropolis, and 1946’s It’s A Wonderful Life alongside live-action films from India, Japan, Portugal, and Spain, plus Soviet-era animation.
The interface looks like a modern streaming service, but without the dark patterns. No algorithms pushing content. No surveillance tracking. No ads. Since all the films are in the public domain, WikiFlix can run without logins, fees, or data harvesting.
Calls for World Cup boycott grow over Trump policies
By Ellsworth Toohey
The 2026 FIFA World Cup was supposed to be a celebration across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Instead, Time reports, it’s becoming a flashpoint for international anger at American policies.
Mark Pieth, former chair of FIFA’s oversight committee, advised fans to “stay away from the U.S.A.” Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter backed him. European lawmakers from Germany, the UK, and France have suggested their national teams consider boycotting entirely. Over 150,000 Dutch citizens signed a petition opposing participation.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has cultivated a close relationship with Trump, awarding him a pathetically embarrassing “FIFA Peace Prize,” opening a FIFA office in Trump Tower, and presenting him with World Cup trophies. Trump attended the FIFA Club World Cup final in New Jersey, where fans booed him.
The easiest way to sink Trump: hitting billionaires’ portfolios by reducing your spending on technology
By Ellsworth Toohey
NYU professor and podcaster Scott Galloway has a theory: markets move Trump’s decisions more than protests ever could. His solution, outlined in Open Culture, is a coordinated consumer withdrawal — an economic strike.
If wealthy households reduced spending by 10% and middle and lower-income households by 5%, “you would take GDP negative almost overnight.” That kind of hit shows up in earnings reports, stock prices drop, and corporate leaders start making phone calls.
He has specific targets in mind: cancel subscriptions to ChatGPT, OpenAI, and Anthropic. Move bank accounts from JPMorgan to regional banks. Cut streaming services. Refuse to upgrade Apple phones.
Stephen Wolfram: computation is the universe’s OS
By Ellsworth Toohey
Mathematica creator Stephen Wolfram has spent nearly 50 years arguing that simple computational rules underlie everything from animal patterns to the laws of physics. In his 2023 TED talk, he makes the case that computation isn’t just a useful way to model the world — it’s the fundamental operating system of reality itself.
Wolfram introduces “the ruliad,” an abstract concept encompassing all possible computational processes. Space and matter, he argues, consist of discrete elements governed by simple rules. Gravity and quantum mechanics emerge from the same computational framework.
But there’s a catch: computational irreducibility means some systems require actual computation to determine outcomes. No shortcuts exist.
A 10-minute introduction to Buckminster Fuller, patron saint of techno-optimism
By Ellsworth Toohey
Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) called himself a “comprehensive anticipatory design scientist” and spent decades promoting geodesic domes, tensegrity structures, and his own legend. Open Culture shares a 10-minute video introduction to Fuller and his ideas.
Fuller’s central mission was “trying to solve the world’s problems” by finding ways to “do more with less.” His inventions — the Dymaxion house, the Dymaxion car, the geodesic dome — never quite achieved widespread adoption, but they demonstrated a particular kind of optimistic futurism.
Still, Fuller’s influence extends far beyond his physical inventions. He inspired the 1960s counterculture, particularly the Whole Earth Catalog movement, which eventually evolved into Silicon Valley’s brand of techno-utopianism.
Trump takes direction from Fox morning show
By Jason Weisberger
Shortly after a Fox morning host repeated a plea to send Tom Homan to Minneapolis, Donald Trump announced he was sending him there.
While it is certainly possible that the Trump Administration was discussing sending the suspect of mishandling or accepting $50,000 inappropriately, Tom Homan, to replace ICE leadership in Minnesota in parallel to Fox’s Brian Kilmeade repeatedly urging them to do so, it does seem awfully coincidental.
Bovino takes the fall
By Jason Weisberger
After yet another execution style slaying of a citizen observer, the Trump Administration is sending its Third Reich cosplaying ICE Commander back to his old job, with rumors he will soon “resign.”
Gregory Bovino has been removed from his role as Border Patrol “commander at large” and will return to his former job in El Centro, California, where he is expected to retire soon, according to a DHS official and two people with knowledge of the change.
Bovino’s sudden demotion is the clearest sign yet that the Trump administration is reconsidering its most aggressive tactics after the killing Saturday of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents under Bovino’s command.
ICE will help jump start your car, or just shoot you in the back
By Jason Weisberger
DHS social media would like to reassure you: sometimes federal immigration agents help someone with a dead battery… even while the same agency’s operatives are gunning down U.S. citizens and dragging children into detention during a militarized operation.
I would like to point out that the AAA has been providing roadside assistance for decades without murdering any US Citizens. This feel-good anecdote does nothing to help people trust the government.
Mount Washington is the most dangerous small mountain on Earth
By Jason Weisberger
At only 6,288 feet tall, you wouldn’t think Mount Washington would be such a killer. Home to many pleasant day hikes, and a charming Top o’ The Mountain observation deck, this barely a mountain tricks you into feeling safe.
Sitting at the crossroads of several disturbingly strong weather systems, Mount Washington is prone to rapidly changing weather, deadly temperature swings, and near-zero visibility. Fatally Curious shares this excellent video on how this innocent-looking bump in the Presidential range fools folks into forgetting how lethal it truly is.
The Sea Lions of Sacramento
By Jason Weisberger
California Sea Lions want you to remember that Sacramento, the State’s capital, is in California and thus they belong there too.
Where there is food, there will be wild animals. California Sea Lions have found that the Sacramento River has plenty of fish, so they have moved in.
Sea Lions are cute, playful, and funny, but remember to give them their space. You may be surprised at how fast and strong they are if you get too close.
How the F4U-4 Corsair works
By Jason Weisberger
This meticulously animated breakdown of the F4U-4 Corsair peels back the skin on one of the most distinctive fighter planes ever built and shows, in hypnotic detail, how everything inside it actually works.
From the beautiful gull wings to the six wing-mounted .50 cal Browning M2 machine guns, the Corsair was elegant. Elegant because every unnecessary thing was sacrificed in the service of making an absurdly powerful machine actually fly, and giving the pilots who flew it every advantage possible.
Early 3D game pioneer Graeme Baird dead at 63
By Rob Beschizza
Starstrike squeezed 8-bit CPUs hard enough to bring a Star Wars-style 3D shoot-em-up to home computers in the mid-1980s. But it was Starstrike II, featuring solid polygons, original spaceship designs and a more detailed campaign, that blew me away. Along with other classics such as Carrier Command and 3D Tank Wars, it was co-created by Graeme Baird, who reportedly died recently.
Alongside Ian Oliver and Andrew Onions, Baird co-founded Realtime Games Software Ltd. in 1984 (all three men were former Leeds University students), and the company’s early games – 3D Tank Duel (1984), 3D Starstrike (1984), Starstrike II (1986) and Starfox (1987) – gave players immersive 3D worlds on the relatively humble home computers available at the time.
JD Vance responds to violence by siding with the violent
By Jason Weisberger
When faced with multiple videos, eyewitness accounts, and a growing body of evidence showing federal agents escalating encounters that end in death, the vice president’s response is always the same: defend the agents, blame the public, and rewrite the moment as part of a non-existent violent leftist plot. The killing of 37-year-old ICE nurse Alex Pretti was no exception.
What solution is Vance talking about? Disbanding ICE and demanding that he and the President he follows blindly resign? That’d be the one I see.