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Just sixteen days after Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 election, and less than a week after securing the nomination herself, Kamala Harris has officially announced her running mate: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. A true dark horse candidate, Walz emerged from a crowded field of hopefuls, including astronaut and senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, popular Kentucky governor Andy Beshear, and runner-up Gov. Josh Shapiro...

The Harmony Codex (YouTube playlist, full album): Having grown up with Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream, Yes and King Crimson, it staggers me that I've managed to get to 2024 without previously having encountered Steven Wilson. Headphones, an ad blocker and a little over an hour of distraction-free time strongly recommended. Music and visuals are both extraordinary.

Armand "Mondo" Duplantis breaks own pole vault world record, vaulting a new world record height of 6.25m (20 ft 6 inches). He had earlier secured the gold medal and set a new Olympic record of 6.10m. Detailed analysis of his unorthodox technique (WaPo gift link).Previously.

We Bought Everything Needed to Make $3 Million Worth of Fentanyl. All It Took Was $3600 and a Web Browser. (slReuters; interactive)

Cycling art, energy and locomotion: series of remarks on the development of bicycles, tricycles, and manmotor carriages by Robert P Scott begins with mathematical analysis of gearing, brakes and wheels, while part two is "designed to amuse rather than to instruct the reader, and intended as a reward to those who have struggled through the foregoing pages". His sarcastic commentary on the odd patented...

For YouTubers, thumbnails are serious business, as they can make or break a videos' reach. Top creators such as MrBeast test up to 20 different thumbnail variations on a single video, paying designers a reported $10,000 for a single video. This has spawned a microeconomy of freelance YouTube thumbnails artists around the world, who hone their design skills to attract clicks. Designers and artists...

What Happens in a Mind That Can't 'See' Mental Images? Neuroscience research into people with aphantasia, who don't experience mental imagery, is revealing how imagination works and demonstrating the sweeping variety in our subjective experiences.

The Secret Battle for the Future of the Murdoch Empire [ungated] - "Murdoch, 93, set the drama in motion late last year, when he made a surprise move to change the terms of the Murdochs' irrevocable family trust to ensure that his eldest son and chosen successor, Lachlan, would remain in charge of his vast collection of television networks and newspapers."The trust currently hands...

[CW: Discussions of violence, iniquity] The latest issue of the Tahoma Literary Review has a non-fiction story that is worth sharing with those who question what institutional privilege actually looks like through inter-generational consequences. Grandfather Clause: Tracing Ancestral Privilege to a Century-Old Crime Scene

Following weeks of anti-government protests over job quotas, in which hundreds of protestors have been killed, Bangladesh's Prime Minister has ended her stretch as the longest-serving female head of government in the world by fleeing to India.Sheikh Hasina Wazed, Bangladesh's Prime Minister since 2009, head of one of the dominant political families in Bangladeshi politics, and daughter of the populous South Asian nation's first...

After a ten week trial in which testimony was heard from major players in the tech industry like Apple and Microsoft, federal district court judge Amit Mehta has ruled that Google and Alphabet have acted as a monopolist in the realms of online search and online advertising, in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.Alphabet argued that their lead position was purely a result of...

Anthony's idea for frog-saving saunas went global. Can he harness his viral moment? At least 90 species of frogs have been made extinct by chytrid fungus worldwide. But a program to protect other frogs with saunas made of bricks is proving promising.

'Amid the chaos of far-right protests and violence I saw the best of Bristol' - as the UK is rocked by far right violence Bristol antifa successfully defend a hotel housing asylum seekers against a fascist mob.

In a complaint filed at the end of July with New York State's Supreme Court (which is actually not the state's highest court), TNT Sports and Warner Brothers/Discovery have made good on their threat to sue the NBA [NY Times, archive here] with a claim that NBA failed their obligation to renew an 11-year contract to carry basketball games, choosing instead a $77B deal...

Olympic medals per capita or GDP. Choose to view the data for one games or all of them, weighted or not, per capita or by GDP.Also, just in case you were about to Google it: Athletes from Liechtenstein have won a total of ten medals, all in alpine skiing. It is the only country to have won medals at the Winter, but not Summer...

Global Carry Trade Unwind Extends as Peso Drops, Yen Gains "The closing of short yen positions represents a "real structural issue" with investors realizing they will have to pay a positive interest rate and unwinding the trade as Japan is expected to raise interest rates at least one more time this year" [ungated]What's a carry trade again? Here's what sounds like a surefire way...

"I have always considered myself a cut above the rest. Where they must rely on trickery, I achieve my goals through tact and intellect." [NSFW] June Martin's short fantasy story "Of a Devil, of a Deal" (self-published June 6, 2024 on her Patreon) is a Not Safe For Work fable (no graphics, only text) about a particularly hard-to-fulfill bargain. Can this devil elegantly grant...

Public Work is a search engine for public domain content. Explore 100,000+ copyright-free images from The MET, New York Public Library, and other sources.

Rusty Foster at WaPo: The Alphas tend to be more outgoing, quizzing any passing thru-hiker about whatever happens to be on their mind, whether hiking-related or not. I don't believe this is a function of age; rather, it's generational, since the Alphas as a whole are a feral, no-gods/no-masters generation who recognize no authority and will brook no hint of inequality with man or...

Twelve years ago, songwriter/actor/singer/filmmaker/rapper/librettist and Emmy/TONY/Grammy/Pulitzer winner and MacArthur fellow Lin-Manuel Miranda started work on an unlikely-sounding project: a musical about the United States' first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. After resting on his laurels a bit, he has announced his next project: a musical based on Sol Yorick's novel The Warriors.The original novel has already enjoyed a film adaptation from 1979, one...