A Short History of the Varangian Guard for Bostonians - McSweeney’s Internet Tendency
Now, evuhryone knows that the Vikings were some sehriously hahdco’ah fuckin’ fightahs. ’Cept most’ah ’em actually didn’t go a-viking as they just stayed there in their frigid fuckin’ homelands fahmin’ n’ fishin’ n’ shit. But those that did go a-viking, they were some hahdco’ah fuckin’ fightahs… when they weren’t too busy tradin’ tah be supah fuckin’ violent that is. I guess accumulatin’ material wealth has always been a top human priahrity regahdless’ah race, gender, creed, ah innate inclination towahds extreme violence.
Nobel Prize in Literature 2025 - Press release - NobelPrize.org
The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2025 is awarded to the Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai,
“for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art”.
Six billion tonnes a second: Rogue planet found growing at record rate | ESO
Astronomers have identified an enormous ‘growth spurt’ in a so-called rogue planet. Unlike the planets in our Solar System, these objects do not orbit stars, free-floating on their own instead. The new observations, made with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), reveal that this free-floating planet is eating up gas and dust from its surroundings at a rate of six billion tonnes a second. This is the strongest growth rate ever recorded for a rogue planet, or a planet of any kind, providing valuable insights into how they form and grow.
Press release: Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025 - NobelPrize.org
Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi are awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025. They have developed a new form of molecular architecture. In their constructions, metal ions function as cornerstones that are linked by long organic (carbon-based) molecules. Together, the metal ions and molecules are organised to form crystals that contain large cavities. These porous materials are called metal-organic frameworks (MOF). By varying the building blocks used in the MOFs, chemists can design them to capture and store specific substances. MOFs can also drive chemical reactions or conduct electricity.
Merlin Mann: “If you’re in YouTube on AppleT…” - Mastodon
If you’re in YouTube on AppleTV, you can hit the Siri button twice, and it’ll start an in-app search.
I like this feature very much.
Press release: Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 - NobelPrize.org
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 to
John Clarke University of California, Berkeley, USA
Michel H. Devoret Yale University, New Haven, CT and University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
John M. Martinis University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
“for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit”
Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025 - NobelPrize.org
Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi are awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025 for their fundamental discoveries relating to peripheral immune tolerance. The laureates identified the immune system’s security guards, regulatory T cells, which prevent immune cells from attacking our own body.
iPhone Air - “Real Review” - YouTube — Flossy’s definitive review. He speaks candidly. “It’s a piece of shit.”
The Latest Controversy in Chess Is the Cupcake Gambit - WSJ
It was the chess equivalent of Aaron Judge showing up to play Little League.