Closing my tabs – 2025 02 23 – Dispatches from Dallas

Nicole Kidman Worked With 19 Female Directors in Eight Years After Vowing to Do So: Things Only Change by ‘Actually Being in the Films of Women’. Good for her.
Dazed: We all know too much about each other. “Social media and location-sharing apps have normalised the constant surveillance of our friends and partners. But is access to all this information about one another fuelling anxiety and FOMO?” I think a lot of the hype around social media overload is overblown but the idea that kids are constantly sharing locations with friends a little unnerving. I share my location with my husband and occasionally others for short-term planning. I can’t imagine leaving it on with my friends.
The Guardian: Two-thirds of the Earth’s surface experienced record heat in 2024. See where and by how much – visualised. The visualization is really impressive.
BioGraphic: The American Lobster’s Baby Bust. It’s climate change, but the mechanism is very interesting.
Ars Technica: What is device code phishing, and why are Russian spies so successful at it? Today I learned.
BBC: James Bond’s long-serving producers give control to Amazon. I grew up watching the OG Connery and Moore movies with my dad, and I’m here to tell you: Bond is over. How can you do anything like Bond in a world where Apartheid Clyde and his DOGE underlings have taken over the US government? There’s no way a Bond movie can top reality any more.
Elle: ‘I’m Platform Agnostic’ – Why The Key To Success On Social Media Is Disloyalty. I’m not making a paying career out of blogging but if I were trying to, I’d absolutely keep my finger in a lot of social media pies.
Marie Claire: Mary Ellen Matthews Is the Woman Behind Every Portrait on ‘Saturday Night Live’ Since 1999. This was a cool story on a topic I knew little to nothing about, though I’ve seen and been impressed by her photos.
Literary Hub: Judith Butler: To Imagine a World After This, Democracy Needs the Humanities. This is going to take several more readings to really grok.
Cup of Jo: 12 Questions for a Grief Therapist.
AP: The Netherlands has a record crop of new millers to keep the windmill sails spinning. I’d never thought about how they keep the windmills working but of course windmills need maintenance and repair.
The Conversation: Trans people affirmed their gender without medical help in medieval Europe − history shows how identity transcends medicine and law. As always, there are caveats with this kind of thing (modern definitions don’t have anything to do with how medieval people saw themselves), but what we now call social transitioning has been known for a long time.
Vanity Fair: A Lovesick Aristocrat and the Royal Family’s Nazi-Connected Shames. Unity Mitford is the aristocrat. Edward VII, later the Duke of Windsor, is the royal shame.
PEN America: Banned Books List 2025.
Daring Fireball: Golfo del Gringo Loco. A good post on a stupid topic.
jukeboxgraduate dot com: Learning Songwriting with Brian Eno. Wow, I would have loved to take that course. Too bad I have exactly zero ability to make music.