damn it, I had JUST got it out of my head

Oh you bastard

"Space sleep is the best sleep ever." YouTube video by Scientific American

“Even after 328 days in space on my previous mission, I never did the thing where you think something will float in front of you. I’ve done that on this return, for some reason. I put a shirt in the air, and it went <tschoof!>. It actually surprised me.”

Thank God we never had to watch Morpheus explain why the Chinese Jaeger needed three pilots.

To be clear: it’s *completely fine* that none of it makes sense. That is *not a problem at all,* but you have to *commit* to it, utterly. Don’t try to “… and a form of fusion” your way out of it.

One day I will get over this.

Should’ve been a post-credits scene: one of the Machines muttering “WE HAD FUSION! I *TOLD* THEM! ‘WE HAVE FUSION, you idiots!! Why do we need to mess about with giant people farms? Why don’t we at least use cows or something? They’re much better behaved!’ But would they listen? No, they would not.”

That car from Back to the Future parked on a normal street

hey uhhh cool car

I rewatched this recently, and still adore the entirely poker-faced insistence that punching a monster with a really big arm would be more neurologically taxing than punching it with a normal one.

This is why it’s better than The Matrix: no flaccid “… and a form of fusion” audience-winking here.

Vancouver PSA: the Vietnamese Coffee ice cream they have at Rain Or Shine at the moment is RIDICULOUS.

Publishers, I understand why you might want to put “NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE” on the front of a book, but PLEASE make it a removable sticker. It’s like a record label printing “NOW AVAILABLE AS A RINGTONE!” on an album cover.

I was trying to tell someone about these a while ago, and they thought I was making it up.

@alexludoboyd.bsky.social @arthurkaufman.bsky.social, was it one or both of you? (I haven’t been dwelling on this the whole time, I promise)

Dismissing China’s repression in Xinjiang Vijay Prashad and Tings Chak recently defended China’s policy toward ethnic Uyghurs in Xinjiang. David Brophy exposes the weakness of their case.

He could have gone for cheap shots (there were plenty of opportunities) but David took the time to write a thoughtful and super informative rebuttal to the drivel in Monthly Review.

Worth a read even if you didn't see the original

Translation: "Letting You Think You Haven't Been Silenced is Crueler Than Deletion" China’s online censorship regime is often associated with overt blocks, deletions, and account bans, but these blunt and highly visible measures exist on a wide spectrum. Toward the harsher end are in...

Translation: “Letting You Think You Haven’t Been Silenced is Crueler Than Deletion”
"The brilliance of shadow-banning comments is that it transforms platform decisions into self-doubt."
chinadigitaltimes.net/2026/04/tran...

AI Drafting My Stories? Over My Dead Body AI-assisted writing is creeping into newsrooms under the guise of efficiency. But the tradeoff may be more profound than publishers are willing to admit.

It's efficient and economical to have AI write drafts of of a news story or, god forbid, something longer. After all, people just want the info, right? Wrong. If this is the wave of the future, I'd rather drown. www.wired.com/story/backch...

This site now has enough of a particular type of juice for @chinadigitaltimes.net’s mentions to regularly include people who think we’re the official account of China as a whole. Which is of course true, carry on.

That thing about pacing myself to make it last longer? That didn’t really work out.

Tesla Cybertruck Sales Were Inflated by a SpaceX Buying Spree Almost one in five pickups registered during the fourth quarter went to another company in the billionaire’s business empire.

There seems to be an insinuation here that SpaceX has no real need for 1,279 Cybertrucks, for some reason.

it is the "vaxxed?" equivalent here

He took a duck in the face at 250 knots.

Not even the most basic grasp of meteorology

Many thanks to @kcar.me for inadvertently planting that titanic drum performance in my head

Sting - If I Ever Lose My Faith In You (Live From Lake House, Wiltshire, England, 1993) YouTube video by StingVEVO

VINNIE! COLAIUTA!!

The Online Fiction Boom Reimagining China’s History Chinese fantasy novels reimagine the past with modern tech and ideology. A new book argues they also help reinforce authoritarian politics.

This week's newsletter: Contrary to MAGA, who dream of reviving the old America, there's an online boom of time travel sci-fi in China trying to rewrite the country's unglorious past. Rongbin Han's (professor at UGA) new book call them the "Make China Great Again" fiction.

BLOOD IN THE MACHINE is looking for a podcast producer Come help me make a podcast

Greetings all. I'm looking for a podcast producer to help do a (much) more regular BLOOD IN THE MACHINE show. I thought I'd start by reaching out here, and to the broader BITM community. If this sounds like it's up your alley, details are in the link below:

(Bloomberg) Taiwan vs UK market capitalization

Taiwan’s stock exchange is now the world’s 7th largest in terms of total market capitalization, surpassing the UK

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

I mean, other than “because a lot of things aren’t.”

It can’t be real, can it? Why do I still ask that in 2026?

We’ve got to face it, though: sex sells.