General Commotion of Links for May 12, 2025
One of my favorite movies is on YouTube! Pope stuff! A few news items that annoyed the heck out of me and I decided to include them anyway!
Entertainment
The Ultimate Guide to Film Credits Order Hierarchy
https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/where-credit-is-due-film-credits-order-hierarchy-with-free-film-credits-template/If you’ve ever watched a movie’s end-credits and thought “Geez…I bet the rules and processes for putting that together are Really Something”…you don’t know the half of it. The Credits put-gether people to get their own Academy Award. One with double the heads and arms, to underscore how much harder this job is than pretending to be a cop or an elf for a month.
MrBeast & James Patterson Thriller Novel To Be Published Globally
https://deadline.com/2025/05/mrbeast-james-patterson-thriller-novel-publishing-globally-1236389674/A PSA for all authors for whom success has been elusive: your friends and family will listen to you rant about this deal for only so long before they say “I love you, but it’s not as if you were next in line for a $10,000,000 publishing deal and MrBeast stole your spot.”
A giant sculpture of Gandalf riding an eagle departs Wellington airport for good
https://apnews.com/article/zealand-wellington-airport-eagles-gandalf-f5567f30c1ba13e71d84dcc1180c1832ARRGH I’ve never passed through this airport. I’m just foundationally-opposed to anything that reduces the Weirdness of a public space anywhere in the world. It means more work for those of us who are committed to closing the deficit.
The ‘tsundoku’ phenomenon, or how we’ve normalized collecting books we’ll never read
https://english.elpais.com/lifestyle/2025-02-22/the-tsundoku-phenomenon-or-how-weve-normalized-collecting-books-well-never-read.html
I feel much better about myself now that I know that there’s a fancy Japanese word for it. I concede that I own too many books while reserving the right to think that houses without books in them are just weird.
Art
James Nolan Gandy
https://www.jamesnolangandy.com/James Gandy is a machinist who builds pen-plotting contraptions. The machines, and the drawings they create, are all terrific pieces of art. In the abstract, these are analog computers that visualize hypercomplicated functions.
Monumental Sculpture of a Black Woman in Times Square Sparks Debate
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/thomas-j-price-viral-sculpture-times-square-debate-2642837
A line from “Mystery Science Theater 3000” comes to mind: “It’s called ‘Art’. You bring your preconceptions to it.”
Science & Tech
Facebook Allegedly Detected When Teen Girls Deleted Selfies So It Could Serve Them Beauty Ads
https://futurism.com/facebook-beauty-targeted-adsJerks, jerks, jerks, jerks, JERKS. Sarah Wynn-Williams’ memoir of her time at Facebook (which I really, really should have read already; I’m a cheapskate and I’m on my library’s waitlist) is why huge companies want to lock employees into ironclad NDAs.
FTC delays enforcement of click-to-cancel rule
https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/10/ftc-delays-enforcement-of-click-to-cancel-rule/Hoo-kay. I’m young, bright-faced and idealistic, so I’m going to believe that the FTC is just doing what they’ve frequently done for decades. Compliance with a new regulation can be tricky. Industries sometimes just need a little extra time. This rule was an important (and needed) victory for consumers.
The Lost CSS Tricks of Cohost dot org
https://css-tricks.com/the-lost-css-tricks-of-cohost-org/CSS frustrates the hell out of me and impresses the hell out of me in equal measures.
Private Japanese lunar lander enters orbit around moon ahead of a June touchdown
https://phys.org/news/2025-05-private-japanese-lunar-lander-orbit.htmlWoo-hoo! Commercial spaceflight should set its ambitions far, far higher than merely sending rich people and celebrities on an 11-minute thrill ride.
I may have found my perfect PC chassis: A Ryzen 7 rig, built in a foldable keyboard that you can fit into a (large) trouser pocket
https://www.techradar.com/pro/i-may-have-found-my-perfect-pc-chassis-a-ryzen-7-rig-built-in-a-foldable-keyboard-that-you-can-fit-into-a-large-trouser-pocketI have no idea what problem this PC solves for anybody, and I love it to death. Many makers are trying to figure out if “a PC with desktop-level resources that you can easily carry from one workspace to the next” is a thing.
PC gaming remains undefeated: Nintendo now says it has the right to brick your Switch if it thinks you're pirating games or modifying the console
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/pc-gaming-remains-undefeated-nintendo-now-says-it-has-the-right-to-brick-your-switch-if-it-thinks-youre-pirating-games-or-modifying-the-console/Here’s a new low. The ideological opposite of “consumers’ right to repair” is “manufacturer’s right to brick the device if they suspect you’re doing anything with the thing that they even minutely disapprove of.” And this is a $500 device. I’ve played Mario Kart. It’s fun, but not that much fun.
Huawei’s HarmonyOS Takes On Windows 11 with Enhanced UI and Performance — But Deprived of App Sideloading & Backward Compatibility
https://wccftech.com/huawei-harmonyos-takes-on-windows-11-with-enhanced-ui-and-performance/HarmonyOS is Huawei’s attempt to build a totally new OS from the kernel on up that can run on everything. This is a big step forward. I think it’s based on HarmonyOS NEXT (the 100% in-house thing that isn’t compatible with anything else on any level). I’m excited that somebody is releasing an OS that isn’t built on top of pre-Internet code and concepts. God knows what kind of surveillance infrastructure is wired in there at the sub-molecular level. But it’s still interesting. If nothing else, it might give western tech companies some ideas worth stealing.
Pope Leo XIV speaks out against AI: ‘A challenge of human dignity, justice and labour’
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-leo-xiv-ai-challenge-humanity-b2748531.htmlHe compares it to the Industrial Revolution. Sam Altman already regretting donating 2 billion lira to Leo XIV’s inauguration committee.
How Signal, WhatsApp, Apple, and Google Handle Encrypted Chat Backups
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/05/back-it-back-it-let-us-begin-explain-encrypted-chat-backupsWhen it comes to security and privacy, “just trust us, bro” ain’t gonna cut it. I’m resigned to the need to keep re-learning this stuff every quarter.
High tariffs become ‘real’ with our first $36K bill
https://blog.adafruit.com/2025/05/08/high-tariffs-become-real-with-our-first-36k-bill/
Another report from a business that can’t buy a seat at one of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago candlelight suppers…
Google settles Black employees' racial bias lawsuit for $50 million
https://www.reuters.com/legal/google-settles-black-employees-racial-bias-lawsuit-50-million-2025-05-09/This isn’t the first time Google’s been accused of tracking POC and female engineers into jobs with no path to upper levels of management. It’s part of the company’s Googley-ness.
Google has quietly entered the movie and TV business. Here's why.
https://www.businessinsider.com/google-tv-movie-hollywood-boost-tech-image-hundred-zeros-2025-5Google isn’t challenging Apple (their streaming platform is somewhat more popular and influential than AppleTV+). They’re investing in movies that can raise the profile of Google phones and services among the Free-Spirited Youth of Today. We might start seeing Android phones in the hands of the good guys, for once.
Google agrees to fund the development of three new nuclear sites
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/07/google-agrees-to-fund-the-development-of-three-new-nuclear-sites.htmlGood news, everybody! The multi-trillion-dollar tech company you don’t completely trust is steadily becoming a nuclear superpower! Fine, I jest. But this overall trend is interesting. Can regional governments exploit the AI industry’s desperate need for water and power to strong-arm them into improving infrastructure for everybody, and not just the AI farms?
Build rich, interactive web apps with an updated Gemini 2.5 Pro
https://blog.google/products/gemini/gemini-2-5-pro-updates/Gemini keeps leaping forward. But I look at this line in the blog post and wonder: “We were going to release this update at Google I/O in a couple weeks, but based on the overwhelming enthusiasm for this model, we wanted to get it in your hands sooner so people can start building.” Really? It’s not that there was a Come To Jesus moment where everybody finally agreed that the Google I/O keynote can’t go three hours?
Google is finally building its own DeX: First look at Android's Desktop Mode
https://www.androidauthority.com/android-desktop-mode-leak-3550321/
“A desktop experience that shows up when you connect your phone to a keyboard, mouse, and screen” is a mainstay on my list of Tech Ideas That I Love But I Appear To Be All Alone Here. The only time I come close to using all of the compute resources of my flagship phone is when I snap a photo. The only thing keeping it from being the only device I need during short trips is the sucky nature of productivity on a teensy screen.
News
What Did the New Pope Do While Waiting for the Conclave? He Watched the Conclave Movie, of Course — Oh, and It Turns Out He's a Gamer
https://www.ign.com/articles/what-did-the-new-pope-do-while-waiting-for-the-conclave-he-watched-the-conclave-movie-of-course-oh-and-it-turns-out-hes-a-gamerMy eye was drawn to “it turns out he’s a gamer” and I instantly imagined some 11-year-old reviewing their Xbox Live history and discovering that they once called Pope Leo XIV a “****ing ****-ass b***h.” It turns out the Pope just plays word games with his brother.
Librarian of Congress firing is latest move in upheaval of U.S. cultural institutions
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/09/nx-s1-5393737/carla-hayden-fired-library-of-congress-trumpAnother ridiculous move. Trump spokespeople offered dunderheaded reasons for the firing, which (as usual) only makes this more infuriating.
Fired Librarian of Congress on losing history during Trump 2.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GEIXkofoSc
Just days before the Trump administration fired her for Crimes Against Ideology, Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden gave this interview to GBH.
Read, Watch, and Listen
Much Ado About Nutting
https://vimeo.com/1068528560Top-tier Warner Brothers, full stop. My nominee for the Best WB Cartoon Without Any Of The Usual Characters.
Wingless Flight: The Lifting Body Story
https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/sp-4220.pdfThe official account of one of NASA’s freakier research projects: think “soapbox derby race cars that fly when towed by a government-owned hot rod.” The M2-F2 lifting body would later become famous as the weird test aircraft that crashes during the opening credits of “The Six Million Dollar Man.”
The Stunt Man (1980)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVLrUEyYLAIOne of my favorite thrillers, and maybe even my favorite Peter O’Toole performance. You should sit down and watch this movie cold, with as little advance info as possible. All I’m going to tell you is that the experience of watching this movie is why I love movies.
How I Wrote My First Code Using A Teletype Model 33 Terminal
https://www.gatesnotes.com/home/home-page-topic/reader/teletype-model-33I wouldn’t have figured that Bill Gates would make a late-life pivot towards “indie comic zine creator.” This is a profoundly odd year.
From Riches to Rags: The Merino Sheep Craze of 19th Century New England
https://poorprolesalmanac.substack.com/p/the-merino-sheep-feverIf you grew up in New England (especially as a free-range child) you’re well-familiar with stone walls that seem to only separate one piece of deep forest from another piece. It turns out that they’re often relics of a 19th-century crypto boom.