The fact that Mel Brooks is going to turn 100 soon is wild. He looks and sounds great. But I hope they film his stuff first, because Spaceballs was like my Bible as a kid, and I really hope they can deliver on this. Even if not, what the hell—it'll be fun to have something with a 100-year-old Mel Brooks in it.
The Independent Variable
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The conspiratorial left needed proof Trump is a monster. They settled on Sascha Riley.
politicsWhen asked directly what expertise she brought to survivors of trafficking or child abuse, Voldeng said, “My approach is proactive and pre-emptive.” Her team, she said, is “a mix of Red Cross meets Jedi Knights.”
I don't even know where to begin. If anything, this feels more like a mental health story than a political story. It's a little scary to think that something like this can happen. Our brains are just so fragile and malleable. I'm sure this guy maybe believes it and thinks his memories are true, But I just don't think in any world that any of that is a real possibility. The fact that people want to help him get the message out and believe it is an even more troubling sign of the times. What's even worse is it would probably take real proof of something like this to get the people on Trump's side to turn against him. There's enough monstrous stuff out there that he's done and said with real evidence alreasy, and it has zero effect on people and their morality as they strive for more power and ignore the real-life consequences that come from that.
Allbirds, the San Francisco shoe brand that made 'Salesforce Ones,' pivots to AI
aiAmerican Exchange Group, which entered a purchase agreement with Allbirds earlier this year, intends to “build on Allbirds’ legacy and deliver compelling products to Allbirds’ customers” by changing its name to NewBird AI. The company is set to receive $50 million from an investor, and stocks have soared to $19 per share, up from $2.59 earlier this year.
This feels like the moment when we can officially say AI has jumped the shark. Even as a skeptic, I have to admit the usefulness is real; I've been able to utilize Claude Code to help me make some little web apps and tools for myself, but I don't know how you go from being a huge shoe company—even if you are based in the Bay—to an AI company. Its capitalism run rampant. Everyone's just chasing a dollar rather than working on things that they actually think are important, that they enjoy, or that they want to do. It's the personification of a bad MBA.
Flexoki
designThis project has been a battle between my competing desires in science and art. One part of my brain searches for reliability and precision, while another part searches for those elusive imperfections that remind us what feels real. Solving for all these problems is how I arrived at Flexoki. I hope you find it useful.
I didn't really understand this at first, but I've come to be a bit obsessed with this theme. Similar to Solarized, it didn't seem useful for my own purposes—even if I can see how developers might find them nice. I think the prose & analog approach that Steph takes makes it better for me personally. It brings some of the simplicity that I love about the simple black, white, and blue themes that I tend to use across a lot of things while still being easy on the eyes, easy to understand, and a delight to use. I now use it in all my home-baked apps, in Drafts, in Obsidian, in Mona, in Ghostty, basically anywhere I can have a theme, I'm using Flexoki.
Can AI judge journalism? A Thiel-backed startup says yes, even if it risks chilling whistleblowers
When asked if Objection could make it harder for media to publish important stories holding power to account, he said “If it raises the standards of transparency and trust, that’s a good thing.”
There is so much wrong with this whole thing that I don't even know where to start. Using AI models that are known for making things up, getting things wrong, and hallucinating to fact-check journalists is obviously insane. The fact it costs $2,000 to file an objection means only people who have 2 grand laying around will ever have the opportunity to do so. This means the rich and corporations will be the only ones taking advantage of this “system” to sow doubt in pieces that are unfavorable to them. And for what it's worth, I don't think the standards of transparency and trust were broken before racists like Trump started getting involved in politics and making things up and calling actual journalism fake news. So maybe we just make it easier for people to go after those like Trump who make false claims and don't do anything to back them up not the journalists and whistleblowers who help keep power accountable.
April 14, 2026
politicsToday, when asked if he were comfortable with Trump’s threat of last week that an entire civilization would die if it did not meet his demands, Senate majority leader John Thune (R-SD) changed the subject by saying: “You’ve got to…look at what the president is doing, and I think right now he’s trying to open the Strait of Hormuz, which…we are all supportive of.” The strait was, of course, open before Trump attacked Iran.
Feels like the perfect time to remind people of the wonderful writing that Heather Cox Richardson has been doing for a while. As things get crazier, I think Heather does a wonderful job summarizing what's happening. Given all the craziness, it's just impossible to keep track of what new nonsense has happened today, and she's able to put it down on paper in a concise way that makes sense. It's clear, but still leaves you thinking the world is going to end very soon. Which...
