Kottke.org Posts and Links for Jul 9, 2024

Hi, Jason here. This newsletter is a digest of posts and links from kottke.org, published every Tuesday and Friday. It's not absolutely everything from the site, but it's durn close. Unsubscribing is easy if you'd like to get off this ride. As always, you can read kottke.org on the web, via RSS, on Bluesky, on Mastodon, and in several other ways. Ok, onto the links!

If dragons were real, how might fire-breathing work? "A dragon could draw on some chemistry used by the bombardier beetle. This insect has evolved reservoirs adapted to store hydrogen peroxide..." [theconversation.com]

True statement that sounds completely false: Steph Curry cannot spin a basketball on his finger (without Globetrotter help). [instagram.com]

I saw Midnight in Chernobyl at a bookstore over the weekend and it looked interesting (esp. since I've been rewatching Chernobyl on HBO — even better than I remember). Has anyone read this? Is it good? [amazon.com]

For the next three days, the shipping on Kottke Hypertext and Process Tees is completely free (within the US, 50% off internationally). Collect 'em all! [kottke.org]

Here's how auto dealerships try to scam you when buying a car. "The ideal customer is disproportionately young, disproportionately female, and disproportionately a person of color." [prospect.org]

Project 2025 in one sentence: "Project 2025 is conservatives' vision for an American society that's a result of gutting all the gains made by the civil rights, abortion rights, LGBTIA+ rights, voting rights and environmental rights movements..." [kottke.org]

Biden is The Candidate. Gabrielle Blair on the practical facts of the Democratic nominee. "If he ever needs to be [replaced], the replacement is already in place. That's literally part of the job of the Vice-President." [threads.net]

The trailer for Gladiator II. I am so HERE for all of this. Wow. [kottke.org]

Members of the original cast of The Avengers (Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, etc.) reunited to dub the movie in the Lakota language. It's now streaming on Disney+. [kottke.org]

The Onion highlights some of the lesser-known Project 2025 plans. "Immigration through Ticketmaster: By privatizing immigration, it ensures all immigrants pay the service fee, order processing fee, and the occasional surge pricing fees." [theonion.com]

Project 2025 would be a disaster for the environment. "It would be game over for climate progress in the US, turning the reins of our government over to the polluters." [sierraclub.org]

Project 2025, the terrifying conservative blueprint for America if Trump wins the election in the fall. "It should hopefully be very clear by now, a second Trump term really does promise to be far, far worse." [kottke.org]

How to Stop Fascism: Five Lessons of the Nazi Takeover. "4. Big business should support democracy. Whether they like it or not, business leaders bear responsibility for whether a republic endures or is destroyed." [kottke.org]

Fascism and Fear and the Media. "The Biden administration is being held to standards, while the previous Trump administration is not; and Biden personally is being held to standards, while Trump as a person is not. This helps to generate a fascist aura." [kottke.org]

The Forgotten Black Explorers Who Transformed Americans' Understanding of the Wilderness. Esteban, York and James Beckwourth charted the American frontier between the 16th and 19th centuries. [smithsonianmag.com]

THIS THIS THIS. "The proof of Biden’s ability to run the country is the fact that he is running it. Successfully. Not a debate performance against a pathological lying sociopath." [kottke.org]

An interesting teaser trailer for F1, the racing drama starring Brad Pitt — it's like a 90-second music video. Joseph Kosinski is directing...he did Top Gun: Maverick, which makes me optimistic about this one. [youtube.com]

Rebecca Solnit on the ridiculous frenzy about Biden's age: "[The media is] doing exactly what they did in the 2016 presidential race — providing wildly asymmetrical and inflammatory coverage of the one candidate running against Donald J Trump." [kottke.org]

There I Ruined It: Kermit the Frog sings Snoop Dogg's Gin and Juice to the tune of Rainbow Connection. [instagram.com]

Whoever the Democratic Candidate Is, Americans Have Already Lost. "If you take your eye off the ball of democracy for any length of time, no amount of history will save you. Americans have taken our eyes off the ball." [nytimes.com 🎁]

👀 👋 🎉

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