Headlines

IDF Soldiers Hide From Our Gaze

Official portraits show Israeli soldiers turning their backs on the camera, ostensibly to protect them from prosecution for war crimes. The gesture is a tacit admission of guilt.

Stop-Motion Lego Dr. Strangelove

Two sequences from Dr. Strangelove done in Lego: Muffley’s call to Kissoff on the hotline in the war room and Dr. Strangelove’s increasingly erratic presentation of his plan to preserve humanity in a mine shaft. This is really well done. (via bb ) [This is a vintage post

Reality Check

"AI-generated images have left us questioning what is real. But the godfather of digital forensics, Hany Farid, is not giving up."

Idle warriors

How a public health initiative to reduce air pollution has created ‘full-time citizen complainants’ who patrol the city - by Aeon Video Watch on Aeon

The airplane oath

You’re flying over Mount Rainier and a hole opens up in the bottom of your airplane. In that moment, you think hard about what you’ve done, what you’re doing, and what matters. My friend Ty actually had this happen. In that moment, she decided to stop wasting her days on a

“So, at about 14, I became the team’s...

“So, at about 14, I became the team’s unofficial basketball musician ,” writes Theocharis Papatrechas. “A big shot earned a triumphant snare drum roll with a resolving crash. And if someone missed badly — an airball — I’d drop in a ‘du-ba-dum’”.

The World Press Freedom Index at Global 25-Year Low

Since Reporters Without Borders started tracking their World Press Freedom Index 25 years ago, the global rating has never been lower than the 2026 score . From a summary of their analysis : For the first time in the history of the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press

The Banal Horror of Jimmy Fallon

"Under the sterile blue lights of his studio, Fallon laughs endlessly at the same pseudo-jokes, rubs elbows with Trump and Sam Altman, and ushers in the death of culture."