- ‘Survivor’ Contestant Brandon Hantz Arrested for Racketeering, Arson
❝ Brandon Hantz — a veteran of the “Survivor” universe — has been arrested on charges of racketeering conspiracy and arson … while several of his alleged associates are facing murder charges. - WHEN ‘FAQ’ STANDS FOR ‘FUCKING ANGRY QUESTIONS’
❝ From Humane’s “AI Pin Consumers FAQ”, which they link to with one of the best euphemisms of the year thus far — “We understand this transition may be difficult, and you may have questions”
💬 There’s nothing inherently wrong with a voice- and gesture-first AI companion device. There was nothing about Humana’s product that was stupid-at-a-glance. But it wasn’t ready for the marketplace when it shipped, and it hasn’t gotten any better since… it was a solution to a problem that no one will have for at least ten years. - Unbelievably Cruel ASMR Video by the White House of Deporting Immigrants
❝ This afternoon on Twitter, the official White House account posted an ASMR video of an immigrant deportation flight. - X is reportedly blocking links to secure Signal contact pages
❝ Signal has recently become a popular organizing tool among government workers.
💬 The interesting thing is that we’re also hearing that Russian cyber-ops people are actively trying to unmask and misdirect Signal users with fake invites. So in his rush to limit leaks within “DOGE”, Elon Noonien Singh may actually be making life harder for his Russian overlords. - Fake AI “true crime” documentaries are taking over YouTube
❝ A harrowing report on the proliferation of AI-generated “true crime documentaries,” collectively garnering millions of views on YouTube
💬 The narrator is a machine. The images and videos are generated or scraped. The stories are intentional AI hallucinations written by an LLM. Welcome to the dystopia. - Taylor Lautner to star in Taylor Lautner: Werewolf Hunter |
❝ Taylor Lautner’s fictional version of himself will be “Hollywood actor by day, supernatural warrior by night.” - Dating App Cover-Up: How Tinder, Hinge, and Their Corporate Owner Keep Rape Under Wraps – The Markup
❝ The company behind more than a dozen dating apps, Match Group, has known for years about the abusive users on its platforms, but chooses to leave millions of people in the dark
💬 I’m kind of amazed that no one has moved to break up Match Group… who thinks it’s a good idea to centralize the English-speaking world’s dating pool? - Explore the world from home with City Walki: virtual tours of 130 cities
❝ Today, I came across a fun website called City Walki that allows you to travel to cities around the world through your computer. You can choose from 130 cities on… - No penalties even when deputies share a woman’s nudes after an illegal phone search
❝ Government agents have “qualified immunity” for 2019 actions.
💬 Instead of dunderheaded pseudo-solutions like “Defund the Police”, we should be talking about an end to qualified immunity… nothing will make a bigger impact on abusive policing than taking away their ability to act with impunity. - The rape case against Jay-Z and Diddy has now been voluntarily dismissed
❝ Although Combs is still set to stand trial on several criminal charges, a Jane Doe plaintiff has voluntarily dismissed a rape allegation against him and Jay-Z.
Category: Essays & Bad Ideas
An assortment of ramblings; some thoughtful, some thoughtless
The Daily Dad — Feb 13, 2025
- Sam Barlow didn’t know Her Story was an FMV
❝ When the award-winning Her Story came out in 2015, FMV games were still a relic of the ’90s. High-quality video isn’t the secret to their success. - What does it actually mean for a video game to be “horny”?
❝ Between the T&A cardboard cutouts of Stellar Blade and the safe and siloed sex scenes of Baldur’s Gate 3, real horniness in games is hard to find. - ‘McVeigh’ Trailer: Oklahoma City Bombing 30 Years Later
❝ Mike Ott directs ‘McVeigh’ about the Oklahoma City bombing.
💬 Alfie Allen seems to be on a quest to play the most unlikable characters ever committed to film. Which, I mean… good job, I guess. - Peter Dinklage to witness Dexter’s latest Resurrection
❝ Peter Dinklage has joined the cast of Dexter: Resurrection, the latest spin-off of the famed serial killer series.
💬 Between Dink and Uma Thurman, I may be forced to give this new season of Dexter a chance it hasn’t otherwise earned. - Apple Support: ‘About Migrating Apple Account Purchases Between Accounts’
❝ This might be the “finally” to end all finallys. I really never thought I’d see this day where Apple finally made this possible. This document presents a solution to a situation I’ve been in (and with each subsequent media purchase, digging deeper into) for over 20 years.
- Lars von Trier admitted to care facility for Parkinson’s disease
❝ “Lars is doing well under the circumstances,” the Melancholia director’s producer shared on Instagram today.
💬 This is extra-sad because he’s moved so quickly from announcing a diagnosis to entering a care facility. And while I know he doesn’t have Michael J. Fox money, the fact that he can no longer be cared for at home sounds very alarming to me. We may be losing another super-talented individual soon. - Meet Quipu, the largest object in the Universe
❝ Astronomers have discovered what is believed to be the largest structure in the universe, more than 1.4 billion light-years across and containing seventy galactic superclusters. Our solar system is a… - Space telescope reveals rare ‘Einstein ring’ phenomenon with startling clarity | CNN
❝ The Einstein ring, formed as light from a distant galaxy bends to glow around another object in the foreground, could help solve the universe’s mysteries. - Armie Hammer Admits ‘I Was a Dick’ and Addresses the Cannibal Texts
❝ Armie Hammer is addressing the allegations that derailed his Hollywood career four years ago.
💬 …what?! You mean the wealthy, good-looking movie star with an extensive resume and —at the time— huge slate of future projects didn’t actually intend to eat his model girlfriends?! That it was all just fantasy-talk from a self-centered pseudo-dom who liked scaring the clueless neophytes he roped-in?! This is so surprising! (Or not.) - After crawling for two days, stroke victim used Siri to make a call that saved his life
❝ Access to Siri can be lifesaving, especially when the user is otherwise incapacitated, like a Florida stroke victim that used the assistant to call for help after crawling for days.
- Firaxis Makes Surprise Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 – VR Announcement
❝ Firaxis has announced a virtual reality version of the recently released Civilization 7, called Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 – VR. It’s exclusive to the Meta Quest 3 and 3S.
💬 This is… shocking. A huge win for Quest and VR as a medium… if it’s done right, CIV VII could be as important to virtual reality as Half-Life: Alyx was. Perhaps more important, since Alyx required a high-end PC to play, while CIV VII will be targeted directly at the dramatically cheaper Quest headsets. - Voting for the Mayor Who Promised to Blow Up the City Doesn’t Mean I Approve of the Mayor Blowing Up the City
❝ It’s so easy to label people these days. From the way folks have been talking, you’d think everyone falls into two buckets: those who voted against the mayor who promised to blow up the city and those who voted for the mayor who promised to blow up the city. And now that the mayor, whom I voted for, is blowing up the city, as he promised, I’m one of many people who are being unfairly blamed for something I didn’t want. - Make Any File a Template Using This Hidden macOS Tool – MacRumors
❝ Stationery Pad is a handy way to nix a step in your workflow if you regularly use document templates on your Mac. The long-standing Finder feature… - Old dating myth debunked: women ‘more attracted to younger men’
❝ A study challenges conventional wisdom, revealing that both men and women show a preference for younger romantic partners
💬 SHOCKING NEWS. 🙄 - How to record podcasts using FaceTime on iPad & iPhone
❝ Forget expensive microphones and recording software — iOS 18 just turned FaceTime into your personal podcast studio. Here’s how to get started. - She Made Orgasmic Meditation Her Life. Not Even Prison Will Stop Her.
❝ Nicole Daedone’s supporters call her a “visionary.” Now facing a trial for allegedly abusing employees, she is out to preserve her legacy. Will orgasmic meditation have a future?
💬 Oh, “orgasmic meditation” has a future. And a past. It’s called edging, and you don’t need classes. - Tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas is “largest” in U.S. history, says report
❝ Current tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas is “largest” in U.S. history, says report - Diamond prices dropping sharply
❝ Diamonds may be forever, but the price is dropping fast. Naturally-formed diamonds are losing their value so quickly—26% less today in shops than two years ago—that one gemologist described them…
The Daily Dad — Feb 8, 2025
- ‘Flow’ Director Gints Zilbalodis on Animation Styles, Blender
❝ ‘Flow’ director Gints Zilbalodis tells IndieWire about working in Blender to create an emotive, evocative animation style. - ‘Annie Hall’ Star Tony Roberts Dead at 85
❝ Tony Roberts, famous for his work in a bunch of Woody Allen movies, has died. - The Last Days of American Orange Juice
❝ Health Savor every last drop. February 04, 2025 Whenever my mom comes to visit, she scolds me for not having orange juice in my fridge. “What about your health?” she asks, to which I reply: “What about my bank account?” As in many families, orange juice was always on the breakfast table when I was growing up. It was affordable, delicious, and full of vitamin C. (The high levels of sugar were co… - DeepSeek iOS app sends data unencrypted to ByteDance-controlled servers
❝ Apple’s defenses that protect data from being sent in the clear are globally disabled.
💬 Of course it does. I know our native “woo-hoo, America sux0rs” crowd likes to play delusional games about hostile foreign interests, but those hostile foreign interests are not playing games. They want your money, your medical records, and the logins to your municipal water supply… don’t be a fucking sucker. - “Torrenting from a corporate laptop doesn’t feel right”: Meta emails unsealed
❝ Meta’s alleged torrenting and seeding of pirated books complicates copyright case.
💬 To be clear, Meta didn’t do anything that all “AI” companies haven’t been doing… Zuck & Co. are just the only ones dumb enough to leave a trail of documentation. Honestly, the US Copyright Office should declare every AI trained on unlicensed data a public domain resource and put all of this nonsense to rest.
- Ozzy Osbourne and original members of Black Sabbath reunite to headline final show
❝ Ozzy Osbourne has announced his final show — and it will feature a reunion of the original lineup of Black Sabbath for the first time in 20 years. - ‘Little House’ star Melissa Gilbert looks back on Michael Landon blowing up Walnut Grove
❝ ‘Little House’ star Melissa Gilbert recalls Michael Landon blowing up Walnut Grove in ‘Little House: The Last Farewell,’ which aired 41 years ago this month.
💬 The cutest story I’ve heard from her is that she still has her original audition script from her childhood, with all of her lines underlined in crayon. - Developer runs Doom on Apple’s Lightning to HDMI adapter
❝ You’ve probably heard someone say “but can it run Doom?”
💬 People always complain about how expensive Apple adapters are compared to generic ones. There’s a reason for that. Their Lighting-to-HDMI adapter, for example, includes a chip for high-speed encoding/decoding of video streams and runs a stripped-down version of iOS. It isn’t a simple plug… it’s a smart device that looks like a plug. - I bought a container full of Chinese electric excavators. Here’s what showed up
❝ This isn’t exactly my first time dropping a container full of Chinese electric vehicles in the yard and cracking it…
- The Commodore Amiga was perfect
❝ Celso Martinho is willing to go a step further than even myself: he thinks the Amiga was the first perfect computer.
💬 He is right. The Amiga was the Platonic ideal of a computer… it was the essential form of computing. Everything that followed has been fundamentally inferior. - Neil Gaiman and Wife Sued for Rape and Trafficking
❝ Neil Gaiman, the prolific author of ‘The Sandman’ and other works, was accused in a lawsuit Monday of violent sexual abuse of a babysitter.
💬 I knew this was coming. It was clear there was a lot more going on here than just “Neil Gaiman randomly plays master/slave games with every girl he meets.” There was an arrangement between Amanda and Neil that served them both for years until… it didn’t. I suspect he crossed some line with some girl —fucked someone she hadn’t picked for him— and Amanda tapped out, but Neil either didn’t get the message or didn’t want to hear it, and disaster ensued. - Scientists discover how to hack the vagus nerve to fight autoimmune diseases
❝ The vagus nerve is a busy bundle of over 100,000 information-carrying fibers that runs from the brain stem through the body to connect the brain with major organs including the…
- R.I.P. John Erwin, voice of He-Man and Morris The Cat
❝ R.I.P. John Erwin, voice of He-Man and Morris The Cat - Apple to drop prepaid multi-year AppleCare+, but keep subscription option
❝ Apple products will continue to come with a year of AppleCare included in the purchase, but the company reportedly intends to move its extended AppleCare+ plan to a subscription-only model.
💬 I love Apple, but this is part of the ongoing enshittification of the modern world… yet another fixed thing is turning into a subscription. There will be some bonuses to this new form of warranty, but some definite downsides too. - Guy Pearce Considers Himself ‘Shit’ in ‘Memento’
❝ Guy Pearce considers himself ‘shit’ in ‘Memento’ after rewatching the Christopher Nolan film for the first time in a while. - The Magic of Moldovan Black Cake
❝ Dark, sweet, and spongy, babă neagră is a forgotten treat worth reviving.
- Netflix’s THE SANDMAN adaptation to end with season 2
❝ In the wake of the allegations of sexual misconduct by Neil Gaiman, Netflix has decided to make The Sandman season 2 the last.
💬 That one was pretty easy to predict. - Remembering David Lynch with 1988 Short ‘The Cowboy and the Frenchman’
❝ Starring Harry Dean Stanton, David Lynch injects pure Americana into ‘The Cowboy and the Frenchman’ — a short film from 1988. IndieWire After Dark. - Netflix to soothe America back to sleep with Little House On The Prairie reboot
❝ Did you know people streamed 220 million hours of Little House On The Prairie last year? Netflix apparently does.
💬 Dear Stupid Blonde Cunt Who Used To Work For Fox: Little House was always “woke”. It just happened to express its concern for the underprivileged and underrepresented within a Christian context. ‘Cause, y’know, “Christianity” used to be about charity and loving others before entitled shitbags like you came along. - FDA approves first non-opioid pain medicine in more than 20 years
❝ The drug, Journavx (suzetrigine), inhibits an ion channel in peripheral nerves. - Jennifer Love Hewitt Says Male TV Hosts Sexualized Her as a Teenager
❝ Jennifer Love Hewitt says she was just 16 years old when grown men on TV started making fun of her breasts to laughter from the audience.
💬 Kudos to JLH for having a nuanced take on something that lots of people want to sensationalize, as if it were somehow shocking or unusual for the time. - WALL-E grows up in the wildly ambitious sci-fi romance Love Me
❝ Twilight star Kristen Stewart and The Walking Dead’s Steven Yeun play post-apocalyptic AI in love in a wildly ambitious sci-fi romance. In theaters now. - How one YouTuber is trying to poison the AI bots stealing her content
❝ Specialized garbage-filled captions are invisible to humans, confounding to AI.
- Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Season 1 Review
❝ The animated Disney+ series makes a bold change to Spidey’s MCU story and the result is a series that’s fun and smart with a hint of genuine danger. - Legendary MTV VJ Matt Pinfield suffered a massive stroke earlier this month
❝ The former 120 Minutes host’s daughter filed for a temporary conservatorship over his health and finances. - Bill Gates on neurodiversity and Elon Musk’s “insane shit”
💭 He’s particularly riled by Musk’s put-downs of democratically elected leaders and his discovery of the hard right. - UK population exceeds that of France for first time on record, ONS data shows
❝ Office of National Statistics projects population will reach 72.5m by mid-2032, with growth driven by migration
The Daily Dad — Jan 25, 2025
- What’s It Open: The Key To Lynch And MULHOLLAND DRIVE
❝ Mulholland Drive is considered by many as Lynch’s best film, a neo-noir nightmare that challenges explanations and invites interpretation. - MAGA cultists insist Elon wasn’t making a Nazi salute
❝ Riddle me this, reader: When is a Nazi salute not a Nazi salute? When Elon Musk is giving it, according to his embarrassed fans.
💬 It was a Nazi salute. We all know that. That was the point. He had two purposes: (1) to make normal people uncomfortable, as freaks like Muskrat tend to do, and (2) to smugly toy with identity politics… he looked and acted like a Nazi, but said he’s not, and you’re thus a hypocrite if you refuse to validate his internal reality. (Never underestimate a queerphobic little bald man’s ability to make everything about his fear of his trans kid.) - George R.R. Martin has co-authored a physics paper
❝ “I couldn’t help but wonder if a simple underlying model might tidy up the canon.”… - Netflix Is Raising Its Prices Again, Even For People Watching With Ads
❝ The Squid Game and Lincoln Lawyer streaming service wants everyone to pay more… - The massive, ugly South Park lawsuit moves a little closer to trial
❝ The massive, ugly South Park lawsuit moves a little closer to trial
- Family Guy Creator Explains One Of Its Most Random Jokes
❝ Seth McFarlane finally sets the record straight on ‘it insists upon itself’ - Tumblr’s experimental GIF feed finally launches after 10 years
❝ Tumblr TV, a GIF-finding experimental feature that first debuted 10 years ago and now includes video, has rolled out to all Tumblr users. - Critical Ignoring as a Core Competence for Digital Citizens
❝ Low-quality and misleading information online can hijack people’s attention, often by evoking curiosity, outrage, or anger. Resisting certain types of information and actors online requires people …
💬 Seeing through curated reality will be an essential skill for future humans. Unfortunately, I see no sign that we will be able to manifest that skill at scale any time soon. - The legend of 3M’s invisible electrostatic wall
❝ David Swesnson wrote about the peculiar phenomenon in 1996, as observed in late summer in South Carolina, August 1980, in high humidity. - Horror Beat: How David Lynch made us feel seen through fear
❝ How did the work of David Lynch connect with us so deeply? This article explores just how much of a force fear was in his work.
- Nosferatu director Robert Eggers is making a Labyrinth sequel — but who could replace David Bowie?
❝ Nosferatu director Robert Eggers is making a Labyrinth sequel. But while Jennifer Connelly could return as Sarah, who could follow Bowie as the Goblin King? - The Making of David Lynch’s comic strip, The Angriest Dog in the World
❝ Behind the scenes at The Angriest Dog in the World, David Lynch’s 80s alternative comic strip, and one of his weirder projects - Chicken noodle soup now available as hard candy
❝ I had to check the date when reading this press release from General Mills to ensure that it wasn’t April 1st. It is not April Fools Day, and Progresso Soup…
💬 This may be the nastiest mass-produced food concept I’ve ever heard. And I grew up in the ‘70s. - Margaret Qualley: David Lynch Debunked That Actors Have to ‘Suffer’
❝ Margaret Qualley honored the legacy of late auteur David Lynch. - Wikenigma is a fascinating encyclopedia of the holes in human knowledge
❝ Wikenigma describes itself as “a wiki-based resource specifically dedicated to documenting fundamental gaps in human knowledge” that lists “scientific and academic questions to which no-one, anywhere, has yet been able to provide a definitive answer.” - David Lynch Tribute: ‘Blue Velvet’ DP Frederick Elmes on His Legacy
❝ ‘Blue Velvet’ cinematographer Frederick Elmes remembers David Lynch, ‘Wild at Heart,’ and the late filmmaker’s legacy.
- ‘Devil in the White City’ Movie: Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio
❝ Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio’s next movie could be ‘Devil in the White City.’
💬 Just get it done already, people. Marty isn’t getting any younger. - Criterion Honors David Lynch
❝ The passing of David Lynch has opened a floodgate of reactions and gestures to honor the legend. Criterion’s is particularly special. - Ted Sarandos says COVID stopped a David Lynch Netflix series
❝ Ted Sarandos says COVID stopped a David Lynch Netflix series - Kat Dennings Says Casting Director Called Her Fat At 12
❝ “They’re idiots.”
💬 Yes, but in fairness, it doesn’t sound like any casting director said that to Kat. That was something said to her agent, who of course should not have conveyed that information to their young client. This isn’t a story about the horrors of the casting process… it’s about the failure of a protector and advocate to protect and advocate. - David Lynch Remembered by Cannes’ Thierry Fremaux
❝ Cannes director Thierry Fremaux talked to Variety about his relationship with David Lynch, who showed “Mulholland Drive” at the festival. - Chart helps you convert between BASIC dialects in 1984
❝ Is it 1984? Are you trying to port a BASIC ap–sorry, program–from Microsoft BASIC to the newfangled Locomotive BASIC? Well, here’s the chart for you. A note on this scan… - David Lynch forever changed my life: A filmmaker’s tribute to cinema’s greatest dreamer
❝ Discover the profound influence of Eraserhead and The Elephant Man through the eyes of a director whose life was forever changed by Lynch’s work. - New documents released about the US government’s secret LSD mind-control program
❝ Starting in 1953, the US CIA conducted research on mind control using techniques ranging from hypnosis to electroshock, torture, and the administration of LSD to unwitting people. Called MK-Ultra, the… - Our favorite memories of and tributes to the great David Lynch
❝ David Lynch, the iconic director of Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive, passed away this week on Wednesday. Here’s a list of our favorite tributes to Lynch and his legacy.
- Bob Uecker Was Just The Best | Defector
❝ It is not difficult to find people who loved Bob Uecker unreservedly. There is a good reason for this: He was the last genuinely and instinctively funny person in baseball history. He was the god of Milwaukee even if you include all the Green Bay Packers going back to before Vince Lombardi. He was the […] - David Lynch Tributes from Jane Schoenbrun, Patton Oswalt, More
❝ David Lynch died at age 78.
The Daily Dad — Jan 17, 2025
- Kyle MacLachlan Pens Tribute to David Lynch: ‘I Owe My Career to Him’
❝ Kyle MacLachlan has paid tribute to David Lynch, the visionary filmmaker known for ‘Blue Velvet’ and ‘Twin Peaks,’ who died at the age of 78.
💬 Lynch’s decades-long collaboration with MacLachlan is up there with Scorsese/Deniro or Wes Anderson/Bill Murray… a pairing where very different people wielding very different artistic tools kept coming together to create magic. - AITA For Ruining Boyfriend With Autism’s Safe Food
❝ “He says I don’t understand his brain; I say he doesn’t understand our budget.”
💬 No sweetie, I’m the asshole. ‘Cause I’m sorry, but I don’t care about his problems: no one should be paying $47 for soup on a regular basis. Let’s just pretend it’s 1985 and tell the little fucker to pull up his big-boy pants and get over it. - The crypto scam behind those weird text messages
❝ In the last couple of years, I’m sure you’ve received texts that start with something like, “Hi! It’s [random name], remember me? How are you?” and try to engage you…
💬 To quote the poet Bobby Hill: “I don’t know you! Let go of my purse!” - Man Caught With Pants Down at Bikini Beans Coffee, Fatally Shoots Himself
❝ A despondent man fatally shot himself after he was caught with his pants down — literally — driving his car at a coffee shop in Arizona, authorities said.
💬 He did a shitty, potentially scary thing. They should have gotten his tags, called the cops, and turned over the evidence they collected. Done and dusted. Instead, some dumb fuck decided to go mob-rule on his ass, now he’s dead, and everyone involved is either going to (a) feel shitty for the rest of their lives or (b) grow increasingly defensive and toxic as the reality of it all eats away at their souls. - Gamers Suspect Elon Musk Is a Charlatan
❝ The X owner is facing accusations of “fraudmaxing” — faking his way to elite status in video games.
💬 It’s not an “accusation”. It’s an obvious fact lacking any reasonable, alternative explanation. Also, c’mon… dude is snorting way too many drugs to focus on a single game long enough to be good at it. - FDA Just Banned Red Dye No. 3 Due to Cancer Risk—See Which Drinks and Snacks Will Be Affected
❝ The ban on Red Dye No. 3 in food goes into effect in January 2027.
- David Lynch’s Box Office History: Biggest Flops Were His Biggest Hits
❝ David Lynch at the box office: The filmmaker’s ‘The Elephant Man’ and ‘Dune’ were his biggest hits before he became a legend. - Comics distributor Diamond is filing for bankruptcy
❝ The world’s biggest English language comics distributor is selling off assets and scaling its business back in order to survive. - Multiple women add detail to Neil Gaiman sexual assault allegations
❝ Multiple women add detail to Neil Gaiman sexual assault allegations
💬 The truth is always complicated and I’m gonna keep watching The Sandman whatever the case, but I must admit… dude’s ego is so huge that he stupidly assumed he could go from ‘hi, I’m Neil’ to ‘let’s play rape and I’m your master now’ in a half-hour. I mean… wow. Forget Alan Moore— Gaiman clearly thinks he’s a fucking magician. With that said, it also kinda sounds like Amanda had been procuring for him for quite some time, and his spiteful, entitled ass couldn’t imagine that she might send some poor girl over who hadn’t been groomed for the bath-and-bondage treatment. - Tyler Perry Calls Out Insurance Companies For Canceling Policies Before L.A. Fires
❝ Tyler Perry’s sick to his stomach watching coverage of the L.A. fires … and, he finds insurance companies ability to cancel policies on a whim “appalling.” - Florida’s Manatees Are Relative Newcomers, According to Historical Research
❝ These beloved sea cows were barely recorded in the area before the seas warmed in the late 1700s. Now their habitats are at risk. - Aligning Automattic’s Sponsored Contributions to WordPress —
❝ Automattic has always been deeply committed to the success of WordPress, dedicating significant resources and talent to its development for almost two decades. However, we’ve observed an imbalance …
💬 Matt Mullenweg destroyed the marketplace for paid blogging tools by incessantly pitching a free and open WordPress to the world, only to turn around and use his monopoly position to enrich himself and punish anyone who pisses him off. (It goes without saying that Tumblr has become worse since he acquired it.) He’s a typical startup asshole, in other words. - Why does Trump hate this tiny fish so much?
❝ As Los Angeles burns, President-elect Donald Trump is yelling at a fish.
💬 Why ask such a stupid question? He doesn’t know anything about the fish, and doesn’t care about it in any way. But he knows that someone he likes hates it, and someone he hates wants to protect it, so… fuck that fish! - Former MoviePass CEO, who gave moviegoers the best summer ever, pleads guilty to fraud
❝ Former MoviePass CEO, who gave moviegoers the best summer ever, pleads guilty to fraud
- New videos show off larger Nintendo Switch 2, snap-on Joy-Cons
❝ Accessory maker says 3D mock-up at CES is sourced from an actual console.
💬 I’m waiting to find out three things before I get excited: (1) how do the joycons feel?, (2) how big is that screen?, and (3) how much faster is it? - Razer has released a backseat gaming AI bot called Ava, and I’m not sure whether using it should be considered cheating…
❝ Will it be the “ultimate gaming copilot” like Razer says, or more like an annoying sibling shouting over your shoulder? - Billy Crystal Lost His Home of 46 Years to Pacific Palisades Fire
❝ Billy Crystal and his wife Janice have lost their home of over four decades to the Pacific Palisades fire.
💬 Two similar stories… - Spencer Pratt, Heidi Montag’s LA Home Burns Down
❝ Spencer watched his and Heidi Montag’s house burn down via their security cameras.
💬 …but my empathy has to work a little harder on this one. - Peter Yarrow of folk-music trio Peter, Paul and Mary dead at 86
❝ Peter Yarrow — the singer-songwriter best known as one-third of Peter, Paul and Mary — died on Tuesday in New York at the age of 86, his publicist said. Yarrow had bladder cancer for the past four years. - The Curious Gems of the River Thames
❝ London’s riverbanks are filled with treasures, including scores of deep red garnets with mysterious origins. - If you’re constantly losing cables, this could be your ideal charger
❝ At CES, Baseus has debuted a new wall charger and car charger that both feature 30-inch-long retractable USB-C cables.
The Daily Dad — Jan 7, 2025
- Hugh Jackman, Sutton Foster Pictured Holding Hands
❝ Hugh and Deborra split after 27 years of marriage in September 2023, while Sutton filed for divorce from her husband of 10 years in October 2024.
💬 I didn’t realize the “Sutton Foster” that Hugh’s banging was Sutton Foster from Bunheads. I’m surprised he didn’t take a shot at Lauren Graham first… - “Maneater” screwworm that lays eggs in nostrils and open wounds headed towards Texas
❝ Texas warned of “maneater” screwworm that lays eggs in nostrils, eyes, mouth and open wounds
💬 Well, that’s not horrifying at all. - Llawgnychu! It’s ok to Cymru to Welsh fairy porn
❝ Crudely appropriated for the crudest purposes by American authors, the Welshness is wildly popular on Tik Tok. - AI-generated Super Smash Bros. player is an unhinged trash talker
❝ If you’ve been around these parts for a minute, you likely know that one of my guilty pleasures is weird, unhinged Twitter accounts. The sheer level of commitment to the… - Texas Cheerleader Accused of Poisoning Rival’s Show Goat in Shocking FFA Scandal
❝ A disturbing case of competition gone wrong has emerged from Cedar Park, Texas, where a high school cheerleader has been charged with felony animal cruelty…
💬 If you know anything about hyper-competitive southern girls and FFA shit, then there’s nothing shocking about it. - Exclusive: New Orleans’ planned new Bourbon Street barriers only crash-rated to 10 mph
❝ Documents reviewed by Reuters make clear that the system, which is expected to be in place by Super Bowl Sunday, will offer little protection against vehicle attacks at any significant speed. - Mary Steenburgen Reveals Goofy Phrase Ted Danson Said to Her After Sex
❝ Mary Steenburgen says she thought her husband Ted Danson was a cool guy before they met … until he punctuated their first roll in the hay with a lame phrase. - Aubrey Plaza’s Director Husband Jeff Baena Dead at 47
❝ Filmmaker Jeff Baena — best known for directing films like “Life After Beth” and “The Little Hours,” and the husband of Aubrey Plaza, has died … TMZ has learned.
💬 When faced with a seemingly inexplicable suicide, we often ask, “Why would someone do that?” But when headlines about your death begin with your wife’s name, I think we have our first clue. - Almost the entire US South is now being blocked by Pornhub
❝ Supreme Court ruling could end Pornhub blackout across US South. - Massive mod is the best new Command & Conquer game in over a decade
❝ Combined Arms is a massive fan project built on the source code of the original Command & Conquer with enough content to be a new game in its own right. - After China, Apple also removing VPN apps from App Store in India
❝ The Chinese government forced Apple to remove VPN apps from the App Store there way back in 2017, and the… - Look out for hyper-personalized phishing attacks, powered by AI
❝ Phishing attacks are about to get a whole lot more convincing. A new report warns that scammers are now using…
- The world’s best pizza place is selling cans of water for $30
❝ It is a truth universally acknowledged that the best pizza in the world comes from New Haven, Connecticut. Yet even among that upper echelon of melty goodness, there is one… - easyJet Flight Makes Emergency Landing Amid Unruly Passenger
❝ EasyJet flight diverts after teen disrupts onboard safety, sparking safety concerns and criticism over crisis handling. - The huge stakes in a new Supreme Court case about pornography
❝ Texas asks the justices to abandon longstanding First Amendment protections for sexual speech. - Things we learned about LLMs in 2024
❝ A lot has happened in the world of Large Language Models over the course of 2024. Here’s a review of things we figured out about the field in the past … - The Creator of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Wants to Build a True Metaverse
❝ In 2017, Brendan Greene (aka “PlayerUnknown”) pioneered the Battle Royale genre of video games with PUBG. Now, he wants to pioneer something new. He wants to make a metaverse. - Jocelyn Wildenstein, ‘Catwoman’ socialite known for her extreme cosmetic surgery, dies
❝ Jocelyn Wildenstein, the Swiss-born socialite famous for surgery-enhanced feline features, has died. Her partner Lloyd Klein told AFP she died of a pulmonary embolism in Paris.
The Daily Dad — Dec 31, 2024
- Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
2024 was a mostly shitty year, following three shitty years. Hopefully 2025 is better for everyone, everywhere. - Russian propaganda video shows Santa Claus blown out of the sky by Russian missiles
❝ A Russian propaganda video shows Santa Claus blown to bits by the Russian military as he flies over Russia bearing gifts — NATO weapons. From Kevin Rothrock: The Russian military… - The US Treasury Department was hacked
❝ The US Treasury Department suffered a “major” security incident attributed to attackers in China, who remotely accessed workstations and unclassified documents. - Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt reach divorce settlement, ending 8-year dispute
❝ Actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have reached a divorce settlement after eight years, according to her lawyer, bringing an end to one of Hollywood’s most contentious and closely followed celebrity splits. - The Largest Walmart in America
❝ The largest Walmart Supercenter in the United States, referred to affectionately as “Mallmart,” has served the residents of Albany, New York, since 1994.
- Obituary: Team17 co-founder Martyn Brown has passed away
❝ ‘Know that he went out on his own terms listening to his favourite music and surrounded by loved ones.’ - Jimmy Carter’s legacy: A disappointing presidency, a remarkable post-presidency, explained
❝ Jimmy Carter, the longest-lived president in US history, dies at 100. - Freeway crash causes concern over Amazon packages and property damage, not people (video)
❝ Several lanes of traffic are closed, a light pole is bent, a truck is leaking fluids, and many Amazon packages will be late, but there is no mention of the people in a four-car pileup. - Elon Musk punishes Laura Loomer and other MAGA loyalists who criticize him: “MAGA wars have begun”
❝ Elon Musk suspends Laura Loomer on X, punishes other MAGA loyalists who criticize him: “MAGA wars have begun” - The quest to save the world’s largest CRT TV from destruction
❝ 440-pound 1980s behemoth rescued from an Osaka restaurant days before demolition.
- Olivia Hussey Dead at 73: Remembering One of the Best Final Girls
❝ Olivia Hussey Dead at 73: Remembering one of the best final girls, an actress who was equally at home in slashers as she was in classic romances. - My favorite holiday tradition is the Weekend Update Christmas Joke Swap
❝ The best part of Saturday Night Live is always Weekend Update – and the best part of Weekend Update is always the Christmas Joke Swap. - Sports broadcaster Greg Gumbel, 78, dies of cancer – ESPN
❝ Greg Gumbel, a veteran of CBS Sports who spent more than 50 years in sports broadcasting, has died of cancer at the age of 78. - Christopher Nolan to adapt The Odyssey with appropriately epic cast
❝ Christopher Nolan’s next epic will be an adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey with a stacked cast that includes Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya and Charlize Theron - R.I.P. Linda Lavin, Broadway star and TV’s Alice
❝ R.I.P. Linda Lavin, Broadway star and TV’s Alice
- Kotaku’s 15 Best Games Of 2024, Ranked
❝ This year has been one of the most challenging for the video game industry, so what games managed to stand out among all that turmoil? - Jason Mamoa cast as Lobo
❝ After making a splash as the King of Atlantis, actor Jason Momoa is set to play alien bounty hunter Lobo in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. - Honey’s deal-hunting browser extension is accused of ripping off customers and YouTubers
❝ YouTuber MegaLag says in a new video that deal-hunting browser extension Honey obscures the best coupons and replaces affiliate links with its own at checkout.
The Daily Dad — Dec 23, 2024
- ‘Nosferatu’: Lily-Rose Depp on Demonic Sexual Awakening as Her ‘Bible’
❝ ‘Nosferatu’ star Lily-Rose Depp read a book on demonic sexual awakening to prepare for the role in the Robert Eggers feature.
💬 I still haven’t watched The Idol, but I’ll get around to it eventually… same thing with Nosferatu. - Jesse Eisenberg’s still stinging from playing Lex Luthor
💬 I barely remember he was in the DC movies… does that make it better or worse, Jesse? - Bay Area squirrels are killing and decapitating en masse, study finds
❝ It was their post-kill behavior that proved especially unsettling, defying what may be expected of a species just beginning to hunt. - Astonishing 32TB hard drive uses lasers to heat and cool platters
❝ Seagate is finally offering its largest-ever hard drive – a staggering 32TB in a single drive, made possible by laser tech - Your AirTag’s Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab’s New TimeCapsule Enclosure
❝ Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple’s AirTag.
💬 This is a brilliant idea: you open up an AirTag and screw the “active” bit into this large-ish plastic case that also contains two big ol’ AA batteries, then snap the package shut… at that point, you drop it into your purse or luggage and don’t have to think about it again for a decade.
- ’90 Day Fiancé’ Star David Murphey Dead at 66
❝ ’90 Day Fiancé’ star David Murphey — who was best known for appearing on “90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days” — has died … this according to his family. - Britain’s online safety rules come into force, and sites are already shutting down.
❝ Britain’s online safety act, forced through parliament despite all the usual warnings about hasty “think of the children” legislation, is now in force. The overwhelming compliance requirements are already causing… - The creator of Ico and Shadow Of The Colossus is making a giant robot-piloting game
❝ Fumito Ueda is the august visionary behind ICO (small boy rescues small girl from evil castle), Shadow Of The Colossus … - Hayley Atwell’s coming back for Avengers: Doomsday, too
❝ Hayley Atwell’s coming back for Avengers: Doomsday, too - Campaign board games are shrinking, and it’s for the better
❝ The reality is we all have less time and space - How ‘Babygirl,’ ‘The Substance’ Fight Society’s Standards for Women
❝ Female protagonists in films like ‘Babygirl,’ ‘The Substance’ and ‘The Room Next Door’ fight back against modern society’s standards for women - 17 Reality Show Secrets Directly From Stars
❝ In Season 2 of Vanderpump Rules, Tom Schwartz and Katie Maloney’s fight in Mexico was very real, but Tom pouring beer over Katie’s head had to be recreated. - Play The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in your browser – Abandonware DOS
❝ Play The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy online directly in your browser, by Abandonware DOS - Two mathematicians just solved a centuries-old prime number puzzle that experts thought impossible
❝ Two mathematicians have cracked a centuries-old puzzle about prime numbers using an approach that no one saw coming. Ben Green of Oxford University and Mehtaab Sawhney of Columbia University proved… - Paula Abdul settles sexual assault lawsuit against Nigel Lythgoe
❝ Paula Abdul settles sexual assault lawsuit against Nigel Lythgoe - Beloved Zelda-Like Okami Is Getting A Sequel 18-Years Later
❝ The Capcom cult-classic puzzle action game is coming back - Federico Viticci on Apple Intelligence, With ChatGPT, as a Breakthrough Automation Tool
❝ Like Viticci, I remain largely skeptical and uncomfortable with AI for purposes of generating original new stuff — writing, imagery, whatever. But as an assistive agent, it’s quite remarkable today and improving at a fast clip. - Frankie Muniz will be Malcolm In The Middle again in a limited revival
❝ Frankie Muniz will be Malcolm In The Middle again in a limited revival - Best Budget GPUs in 2024 – IGN
❝ Graphics cards are expensive, so save some cash and go for one of the best budget graphics cards. - Mouthwashing Review – IGN
❝ A horror game that paints an unsettling picture of who we can be in our worst moments. - Jack Quaid’s feeling no pain in the gruesomely fun Novocaine trailer
❝ Jack Quaid’s feeling no pain in the gruesomely fun Novocaine trailer
The Daily Dad — Dec 13, 2024
- Indiana Jones And The Great Circle Tip: Leave Vatican City ASAP!
❝ Bethesda and Xbox’s latest big game has a lot to see, but you gotta leave the starting map - Game-like ‘task scams’ stole more than $220 million in six months
❝ The FTC warns of a sharp rise in online job scams that convince victims to perform tasks for money but end up paying the scammers. - Halsey to Write Dark Comedy ‘Bloodlust’ and Reunite with Ti West
❝ Halsey will write a dark comedy series called ‘Bloodlust’ for Amazon MGM Studios that will reunite her with ‘MaXXXine’ director Ti West. - Chris Evans is returning to the MCU for Avengers: Doomsday
❝ Chris Evans is returning to the MCU for Avengers: Doomsday - Explainer: Hawk Tuah Girl’s crypto token crashes, wiping out $500 million in 24 hours
❝ Hawk Tuah Girl Hailey Welch’s $HAWK shitcoin crashed and burned this week, vaporizing nearly half a billion dollars of investor money in what critics are calling a textbook pump-and-dump scheme.…
- George R. R. Martin Isn’t Sure He’ll Ever Finish The Winds of Winter, ‘but That’s Still a Priority’ – IGN
❝ George R. R. Martin has acknowledged the possibility that he might never finish The Winds of Winter, but says it’s “still a priority.” - The Bear Star Jeremy Allen White Joins The Mandalorian & Grogu as Jabba the Hutt’s Son – Report – IGN
❝ Emmy-winning The Bear star Jeremy Allen White is reportedly joining Star Wars film The Mandalorian & Grogu, providing the voice of Jabba the Hutt’s son. - GOP Lawmakers Are Already Trying to Overturn Missouri’s Right to Abortion
❝ Lawmakers have filed a raft of bills restricting abortion access and proposed raising the bar for future ballot initiatives. - How marijuana legalization played itself
❝ Pricey, legal weed is great news — for the black market. - Air Canada’s cheapest tickets on some routes will no longer include carry-on baggage
❝ Months after WestJet added a controversial ultrabasic ticket that didn’t allow travellers to bring a carry-on bag, Air Canada is following suit by stripping carry-on baggage from its cheapest tickets on some routes.
- Bill Lawrence is getting back into Scrubs
❝ A new iteration of the 2001 sitcom is officially in the works at ABC.
💬 Well, not really. I’m not a purist who rejects Scrubs 2.0 —the one-season evolution of the show starring Kerry Bishé, Dave Franco, and a few hold-overs from the OG Scrubs— so I’m the theoretical target audience for this. But everything I’m reading suggests Lawrence won’t be running the show or in the writer’s room… they’re basically just rebooting the concept of a young doctor daydreaming his way trough his daily struggles. Which means it isn’t Scrubs in the same way that a random show about hospitals isn’t ER. - The South Korean president’s stunning martial law decree, explained
❝ The National Assembly voted down the decree, but the political crisis isn’t over. - What in the world is pink cocaine?
❝ It’s not cocaine, but it can be just about anything else — except a good idea. - FBI suggests use of encrypted messaging apps while US faces huge cyberattack from China
❝ The FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency say that Americans should use encrypted apps such as iMessage and FaceTime to be safe from foreign hackers. - R.I.P. Debbie Nelson, Eminem’s mother and contentious lyrical muse
❝ R.I.P. Debbie Nelson, Eminem’s mother and contentious lyrical muse
- Sophie Rain Says OnlyFans Success Is Proof Virgins Can Make Money on Platform
❝ Sophie Rain says the $43 million she claims she grossed on OnlyFans is proof women and men don’t have to film themselves having sex to make money on the platform … ’cause she’s still a virgin. - Data brokers may be banned from selling your social security number
❝ A new rule proposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would require data brokers to comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act, limiting how they can buy and sell your information. - FTC Bans Location Data Company That Powers the Surveillance Ecosystem
❝ Venntel is a primary provider of location data to the government or other companies that sell to U.S. agencies. The FTC is banning Venntel from selling data related to health clinics, refugee shelters, and much more. - Flexbar is a USB gadget for anyone missing the Touchbar
❝ Flexbar is a MacBook-style horizontal touchbar as a discrete USB gadget, perfect for anyone who wanted one on their PC or who miss their disappearance from Apple’s laptops. They’re 10… - 27 Gross Things Couples Do
❝ “My husband and I weigh ourselves before and after we poop so we can compare who had the biggest poop…”
- R.I.P. Jim Abrahams, director of Airplane! and more
❝ Abrahams, who along with Jerry and David Zucker became the preeminent parodists of their generation, died at age 80.
💬 Airplane and Top Secret are two of my favorite childhood movies… I’ve probably seen Airplane dozens of times. I even saw Airplane II in a theater, and while I’m pretty sure it was a substantial step down from the original, I left the building with a smile on my face. - Supermassive black hole binary emits unexpected flares
❝ Their orbit periodically takes them through a cloud of gas, triggering flares. - Man jumps out of moving roller coaster to save his life — and then gets yelled at by negligent ride operator
❝ Man jumps out of moving roller coaster to save his life — and then gets yelled at by negligent ride operator - ‘The Great British Baking Show’ Needs a New Judge
❝ Early seasons of ‘The Great British Baking Show’ celebrated English tradition with familiar recipes. But as its contestants and challenges have grown more international and creative, the formulaic judging lags behind. - Life is Strange: Double Exposure, As Told By Steam Reviews
❝ Life may be strange, but the reception to the latest story-driven game from Deck Nine Games is even stranger. - Vintage digicams aren’t just a fad. They’re an artistic statement.
❝ In the age of AI images, some photographers are embracing the quirky flaws of vintage digital cameras. - NBC Sports is Latest to Test NFL ‘Alt-Cast’ With EA Sports Madden Game
❝ NBC Sports will jump into the world of sports ‘alt-casts’ with a Madden NFL cast slated for Peacock in December - Australia To Ban Under-16s From Social Media in World-First Law – IGN
❝ Australia will soon ban under-16s from social media after a world-first law was passed by the Australian Senate. - Man suffers chemical burn that lasted months after squeezing limes
❝ The toxin is in more foods than you might think, including carrots, parsley, limes, and lemons.
The Daily Dad — Dec 12, 2024
- Studios Wanted to Recast Peter Dinklage in ‘The Station Agent’
❝ Bobby Cannavale explained how 2003 film ‘The Station Agent’ almost wasn’t made as studios wanted to recast lead actor Peter Dinklage.
💬 One of the best movies of the 2000s… I need to watch it again, ASAP. - TikTok will ban beauty filters by under 18s for mental health
❝ TikTok has announced that it is responding to new legislation in the UK and EU by introducing a ban on… - Learn how to play the mouth trumpet—or have a good laugh failing
❝ Emma Nissen’s a singer/songwriter who plays a mean mouth trumpet—her mouth trumpet is so good, I swear it sounds like an actual trumpet - Affiliate influencer sues competitor who also reviews junk in off-white minimalist bunker
❝ Both women stage their “clean girl” content in similarly pale, austere, sterile environments. Who was first? Does it even matter? - Marvel star accidentally shares first look at MCU’s Galactus
❝ The Marvel Cinematic Universe is welcoming Galactus with a cool leaked design
- The Valley is taking in orphaned Vanderpump Rules SURvers
❝ The Valley is taking in orphaned Vanderpump Rules SURvers - The 2K Launcher Is No More — You Can Now Launch 2K’s PC Games Directly in Steam – IGN
❝ 2K Games has pulled its launcher from all its PC games as part of a “complete sunset” of the software, which means PC gamers can now launch 2K games directly in Steam. - Dwayne Johnson encourages fans to disrupt moviegoing experience for everyone else
❝ Dwayne Johnson encourages fans to disrupt moviegoing experience for everyone else
💬 …says the dude who hasn’t had to sit next to some obnoxious, noisy asshole in a theater in at least 20 years. - New Lana Del Rey album, The Right Person Will Stay, coming May 2025
❝ Lana Del Rey is leaving the swamp and returning to the studio with The Right Person Will Stay - Bluesky filter lists from SkySentry
❝ As BlueSky grows, it’s helpful to have some filters. SkySentry has a fantastic collection of well-maintained block lists. - What delusions can tell us about the cognitive nature of belief
❝ Delusions can sometimes turn into strongly held beliefs. - What the Mesopotamians had for dinner
❝ In Ancient Babylonia, soups and stews reigned supreme. Food historians are now using taste-tests to recover their forgotten flavours. - Would you live on a cruise ship for four years to escape the Trump presidency?
❝ If you have lots of money and the ability (and desire) to live on a cruise ship for four years… - Surgeons remove 2.5-inch hairball from teen with rare Rapunzel syndrome
❝ The teen didn’t return for follow-up. Instead, she planned to see a hypnotherapist. - Kids are getting ruder, teachers say. And new research backs that up
❝ Some teachers say kids are just plain ruder these days, with a sharp increase in interruptions and outbursts in the classroom. New research from Brock University backs up those observations. - How gophers and fungi revived Mount St. Helens
❝ In 1980, after months of earthquakes and minor eruptions, Mount St. Helens erupted explosively, with thermal energy equivalent to 26 megatons - The Strange Reason Nearly Every Film Ends by Saying It’s Fiction (You Guessed It: Rasputin!)
❝ Virtually every film in modern memory ends with some variation of the same disclaimer: “This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons,…