Actually, the same can often apply to "NASA-developed." https://t.co/g6WKTjGYhl
— Not-So-OK Boomer (@Rand_Simberg) July 26, 2026
Category Archives: Popular Culture
A Golden Oldie
From twenty-one years ago on this date. A lot of comments there from commenters who may no longer be with us.
First Starship V.3 attempt was on the anniversary of the launch; today’s will be on the anniversary of the landing. I’ll be discussing that and Evoloterra on The Space Show at 7 PM PDT.
The Odyssey
Christian Toto reviews it.
I’m still on the fence about going to a theater for it.
[Friday-afternoon update]
Here is Peter Suderman’s review.
[Bumped]
[Saturday-afternoon update]
I just watched Christopher Nolan’s #TheOdyssey and I left the cinema with a deep sense of disappointment.
— Herod Priovolos (@herodpriovolos) July 17, 2026
I entered expecting Homer’s world to breathe: salt in the air, darkness over the sea, gods watching from a distance, and a wounded man struggling to return home. Instead,… pic.twitter.com/qeoryve9b6
[Monday-morning update]
Another review, from John Podhoretz.
[Bumped]
…and another, at Tablet magazine.
Regardless of faithfulness to Homer, it sounds like quite the visual spectacle.
Joanna Pettet
RIP. I had the hots for her when I was a kid.
Groundhog Day
Why it continues to resonate:
Groundhog Day is one of the most beloved films ever made. And yes, Andie MacDowell is cute and charming. But that is not why it hits a chord thirty years later with people who can’t quite explain why they keep rewatching it.
— Krzysztof Szczawinski 🇵🇱 (@Kristof_Poland) July 16, 2026
The reason is Aristotle. And almost nobody knows it.… https://t.co/8lBK7PGfzT pic.twitter.com/mfaRCZn8gK
Customizing Netflix
A very useful thread for subscribers:
A woman had Netflix for 6 years.
— Alvin (@Alvin1492840) July 14, 2026
She opened the app. She scrolled. She picked something after 25 minutes. She fell asleep during episode 2. She repeated this every night.
Her friend, a former Netflix UI engineer, sat on her couch one evening and opened Settings on her account.…
Ingrates
I know someone will tell me this is AI.
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) July 9, 2026
I know.
But it’s a banger. pic.twitter.com/OgAYl8xZRd
Fortunately, Ember isn’t much of a hunter (neutering probably will do that), and his sister Ashe, who is the hunter in the family, generally only brings in butterflies, most of which I manage to save and release. We don’t have mice (AFAIK), but once in a great while she’ll get a bird.
Coding And AI
An interesting X thread of diverse experiences:
This is a certain kind of talk around LLMs that I find increasingly puzzling. That is all of the people bitching that LLMs constantly generate crap code and hallucinate solutions, and are worthless for programming.
— Eric S. Raymond (@esrtweet) July 8, 2026
This has almost never happened to me, and never during the last…
My own experience is that it can be useful in providing first drafts for things like business plans, requirements documents, etc., but I have to edit, and many wouldn’t have the knowledge to do it properly or recognize issues. It can be a multiplier of both good and bad.
[Update a while ago]
The wages of AI: Professor bans take-home exams after rampant cheating.
What would terrify me about this if I were a student again would be having to go back to handwriting papers and essays. If I didn’t have a keyboard, I’d have hardly written anything in my life.
The Banjo
On America’s birthday, a history:
The banjo is America’s instrument – born in struggle, forged in freedom, and ringing and twanging for 250 years. 🪕🇺🇸@MrWinMarshall delivers a beautiful tribute to the banjo on America’s 250th Independence Day: pic.twitter.com/66I6kBqJxn
— Melissa Chen (@MsMelChen) July 4, 2026
The Revolution
This is much more accurate than the 1619 Project.
Everything they taught you about July 4th, 1776 is a lie.
— PJ Ace (@PJaccetturo) July 3, 2026
The Redcoats weren't soldiers. They were something else.
We recovered the real footage using Utopai 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/v2GFLGQqpW