Uhhh, maybe I shouldn't post that one actually while actively applying for jobs.

Telegram channels can't show up on searches, right?

Alright kids, it's wonk take time

Regarding the Epstein circle:

There's an interesting thing occurring where a lot of people (especially in the US, but I'm sure this sentiment is around elsewhere) frame it under the lens of "moral corruption is a natural consequence of power."

In any serious society, this would be a critique on power, and prompt serious inquiry into how it's alloted. However, our power systems are deeply entrenched, and seem unmoveable in the eyes of many. So, what would otherwise be seen as a radical critique of our social and administrative systems is instead reduced to a pathology, a sort of hand-waving "what can we do about it?" gesture in the face of a multi-front failure.

While I don't mean to imply everyone is letting the perpetrators of this abuse off the hook because of this (thankfully most of us still aren't!), I definitely see this argument starting to form, and I expect to see it more often as people try to make excuses for their guy™️

Good idea: practice bird watching

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/birdwatching-birding-brain-boost-cognition-research-rcna259945

Being an expert birdwatcher is more than a hobby. It’s a pastime that may alter the structure and function of your brain. And these changes may enhance cognition even as you age, new research suggests.

https://www.jneurosci.org/content/early/2026/02/11/JNEUROSCI.1307-25.2026

#birdwatching, #neuroplasticity, #nature

https://ieji.de/@MinistryOfGoodIdeas/116221519866429625

Immediate Action:

FDA petition to register all trans women taking HRT in the US, gatekeep HRT, and place severe legal restrictions on hormones such as estrogen!

The FDA is currently taking public comments supporting and opposing the petition.
Please follow the link and learn how to make your opposition heard:

https://transresilience.org/issues/fda-registry

- sometimes it will say the comment is closed, but it is in fact still open!
- read the guideline on what to say in the comment
- you can do it anonymously

The Wikipedia birthday graphic!!!!!!!

It's on the desktop version only, I think.

Crank theory of the morning:

On Unwanted Sequels and Reboots

I won't be the first to point out the trend of movies and shows getting unnecessary and unasked for sequels and reboots. It's been widely discussed as a phenomenon, and is usually explained with the simple logic of "studios want safe IPs, most don't want to take serious risks."

That's true, yeah. But there's another layer to unpack there, which is the increased frequency with which they come out. It doesn't take a genius to realize that working with an already popular franchise is going to make more money. It's absurd to think this thought is new, when it's so seemingly obvious. Yet, while sequels and reboots have always existed, they seem unusually prominent now. Why?

Let's consider reboots and sequels as part of a wider genre of media revival, a genre that also includes adaptations. When we include adaptations as part of this tradition, we see that this revival tendency has been prominent for basically all of film history, it's just the things being revived now are no longer books or plays, but just other movies and TV shows.

This, in my mind, is incredibly telling as to why the reboot apocalypse is upon us: it's not that franchise revival is new, but rather that we increasingly live in a world where non-televised media isn't widely consumed. The endless reboots is a factor of our increasingly post-reading society, one in which book adaptations are far less guaranteed to secure an audience.

Good idea: Plastic that dissolves in saltwater

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1110174

Researchers at Japan's RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science have developed a plant-based plastic that could be a real game-changer for ocean pollution. The material is made primarily from carboxymethyl cellulose, a commercially available wood-pulp derivative that's already FDA-approved and biodegradable.
What makes it special is that it dissolves completely in saltwater within just a few hours, leaving zero microplastics behind, something most so-called "biodegradable" plastics can't actually do.
The team solved an early brittleness problem by adding choline chloride, another FDA-approved food additive, which lets them fine-tune the flexibility, from hard and glass-like all the way to stretchy enough to extend 130% of its original length.
It can even be made into a strong, thin film just 0.07 mm thick. To keep it from falling apart when you don't want it to, a thin surface coating can protect it from unintentional decomposition.
The best part is that all the ingredients are common, inexpensive, and safe, which means this plastic could realistically move from the lab to everyday use.
Given that nature produces about a trillion tons of cellulose annually, the raw material certainly isn't in short supply...

#plastic #pollution #ocean #environment

https://ieji.de/@MinistryOfGoodIdeas/116244167302504366

If you want to tackle systemic oppressions, if you want society to change, you have to participate in building it. You have to act.