Reading is a Vice
The International Publishers Association spent the past year promoting the slogan “Democracy depends on reading,” but Atlantic senior editor Adam Kirsch argues that this utilitarian pitch fundamentally misunderstands why people become readers in the first place.
The most recent Survey of Public Participation in the Arts found that less than half of Americans read a single book in 2022, and only 38% read a novel or short story. A Universi … ⌘ Read more
God LOVES a Race War ⌘ Read more
How To Separate Art from Artists ⌘ Read more
Political Beliefs ⋙ Science ⌘ Read more
Israel Deploys World’s First Drone Defense Laser
Israel has operationally deployed Iron Beam, a 100,000-watt laser air-defense system capable of shooting down drones, rockets, and mortars at negligible per-shot cost. According to Tom’s Hardware, it marks the first real-world deployment of a high-energy laser as part of a modern, multi-layered missile defense network. From the report: The Iron Beam is a short-range line-of-sigh … ⌘ Read more
America CAN’T Count ⌘ Read more
What I Think About Stupid People ⌘ Read more
What Working with Neil deGrasse Tyson is REALLY like ⌘ Read more
How Did Adam Riess Win the Nobel Prize? ⌘ Read more
Adam Riess FLEXES his bling at Neil deGrasse Tyson ⌘ Read more
Is Dark Energy Shifting? ⌘ Read more
What is the Age Crisis? ⌘ Read more
3D Printing Organs! ⌘ Read more
An Amateur Codebreaker May Have Just Solved the Black Dahlia and Zodiac Killings
Los Angeles Times (non-paywalled source): When police questioned Marvin Margolis following the murder of Elizabeth Short – who became known as the Black Dahlia – he lied about how well he had known her. The 22-year-old Short had been found mutilated in a weedy lot in South Los Angeles, severed neatly in half with … ⌘ Read more
25.2% of Energy EU Used in 2024 Came From Renewables
An anonymous reader shares a report: In 2024, 25.2% of gross final energy consumption in the EU came from renewable sources, up by 0.7 percentage points compared with 2023. This share is 17.3 pp short of meeting the 2030 target (42.5%), which would require an annual average increase of 2.9 pp from 2025 to 2030.
Among the EU countries, Sweden recorded the highest shar … ⌘ Read more
The crime for wanting to spite your face! ⌘ Read more
JUST Smart Enough 😂 with Chuck Nice ⌘ Read more
Should Kids Have Chatbot Toys? ⌘ Read more
Pig Organ Replacement Parts? ⌘ Read more
StarTalk Live in LA this Jan 15th at the Novo! ⌘ Read more
A Finger Penis? ⌘ Read more
Why Are Auroras Migrating South? ⌘ Read more
Good Grades ⋙ Kids Wanting To Learn ⌘ Read more
Vulkan 1.4.337 Debuts With Long Vector & 3D ASTC Compression Extensions
Vulkan 1.4.337 released a short time ago as what could be the last Vulkan API spec update of 2025 depending upon how much time the working group takes off or not around the holidays. In any case, it’s a nice holiday treat with the new VK_EXT_texture_compression_astc_3d and VK_EXT_shader_long_vector extensions… ⌘ Read more
do we have any Trekkies following us?🖖 ⌘ Read more
Micron Says Memory Shortage Will ‘Persist’ Beyond 2026
Micron, one of the world’s three largest memory suppliers, expects the global shortage of DRAM and NAND flash memory to “persist through and beyond” 2026 as AI-driven demand continues to outstrip supply. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra made the forecast during the company’s latest earnings call on Wednesday, saying that “supply will remain substantially short of the demand for the … ⌘ Read more
Can AI Solve Our Biggest Problem? ⌘ Read more
Scientists Take on Elon Musk & Sci Fi ⌘ Read more
Moore’s Law Is Over! ⌘ Read more
Silent Warnings from Metropolis to Now ⌘ Read more
What is 3I/ATLAS? ⌘ Read more
New Linux Patch Confirms: Rust Experiment Is Done, Rust Is Here To Stay
Rust for Linux lead developer Miguel Ojeda posted the patch a short time ago to “conclude the Rust experiment”. The “experiment” of Rust programming language code in the Linux kernel is over as it’s now accepted to be a success and “Rust is here to stay” in the kernel… ⌘ Read more
Will Earth Keep Trying to Reach Into Interstellar Space? ⌘ Read more
What is the property of wetness? ⌘ Read more
Disney Puts $1 Billion Into OpenAI, Licenses 200+ Characters for AI-Generated Videos and Images
Disney is investing $1 billion in OpenAI and has entered into a three-year licensing deal that will let users generate AI-powered short videos and images featuring more than 200 characters from its Disney, Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar franchises.
The new features are expected to launch in 2026 … ⌘ Read more
Intel’s Vulkan Linux Driver Merges Shader VMA Allocator For Ray-Tracing Capture/Replay
Merged today to the Intel open-source “ANV” Vulkan driver in Mesa 26.0 is introducing a shader VMA allocator. Long story short this new allocator steps toward enabling Vulkan ray-tracing capture/replay support, which can come in hand for debugging issues with Vulkan ray-tracing on Intel graphics hardware under Linux and similarly to assist in optimizing for better performance… ⌘ Read more
Are We Creating New Life With Computers? ⌘ Read more
Changes are coming for short-term rentals in Brisbane’s suburban areas
Up to 500 short-term rental operators will be told to return to the long-term rental market under major reforms announced by Brisbane City Council. ⌘ Read more
Will Humanity Be Living on MARS in 2050? ⌘ Read more
Council announces crackdown on short-stay accommodation
Hundreds of properties in low and low-to-medium residential-zoned areas of Brisbane will have to seek development approval or be banned from acting as short-stay accommodation. ⌘ Read more
Unveiling Black Holes’ Secrets ⌘ Read more
Proposed testing changes for imported raw prawns labelled ‘short-sighted’
The federal government is being accused of allowing “trade to trump biosecurity”, over proposed changes critics claim will “weaken” and “roll back” testing of potentially diseased raw prawn imports. ⌘ Read more
Chandra’s X Ray Vision Unveils the Universe’s Secrets ⌘ Read more
Smith denied first Australian Open title as Neergaard-Petersen claims win
Cameron Smith falls agonisingly short of winning his first Australian Open, as Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen scores a thrilling one-stroke victory at Royal Melbourne. ⌘ Read more
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1girl ai_generated blue_submarine_no._6 breasts completely_nude female mutio nipples nude nude_female pointy_ears red_eyes shipwreck short_hair silver_hair siren-module solo underwater ⌘ Read more
Superman’s Superpower Explained ⌘ Read more
Radio Waves vs Sound Explained! ⌘ Read more
Live: Fires, heatwaves strike across Australia with extreme warnings issued
A broad heatwave is expected to spread across Australia, with short and sharp bursts of heat throughout the southern states. Follow live. ⌘ Read more
Did we just DISCOVER the first stars ever made? ⌘ Read more
RAM Is So Expensive, Samsung Won’t Even Sell It To Samsung
A severe spike in global DRAM prices has pushed Samsung Semiconductor to refuse a long-term RAM order from its own sibling, Samsung Electronics. The move is forcing the smartphone division into short, expensive renegotiations, which will likely mean higher costs for consumer devices. PCWorld reports: Samsung subsidiaries are, naturally, going to look to Sa … ⌘ Read more