Humdrum Places - BlogFlock

Spaceballs: The New One - The Independent Variable

2026-04-16T17:22:13.000Z

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 conspiratorial left needed proof Trump is a monster. They settled on Sascha Riley. - The Independent Variable

2026-04-16T17:12:04.000Z

ms.now

When 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 - The Independent Variable

2026-04-16T17:05:09.000Z

sfgate.com

American 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.

Out of the Band - foofaraw

2026-04-16T16:00:16.000Z

Galen walked from the fog of dry ice and on to the stage like he always did, owning it, until there was only the mic stand between him and his people.

But there was no roar this time, no blinding spotlight, no desperate desire in the eyes of the boys and girls pressed against the barrier. There were no waves of love hitting him like a tangible, psychic pressure, filling his heart and brain, the feeling that had sustained him for so long.

The auditorium was empty.

A few cleaners picked up crushed plastic beer glasses and dropped them lethargically into polythene sacks, ignoring the stage. Various members of the road crew were on stage, moving gear about or crouching by the equipment, tinkering. Prepping for sound check, the purgatory of lost rock bands.

Galen recognised most of the crew, they’d been with the band for years. But they wouldn’t meet his eyes, wouldn’t even look at him. He knew they laughed about him.

“He’s even worse than on the last tour.”

“It’s the dope. Can’t handle it.”

“How can you be that fucked up and still think you’re the Messiah?”

They never said it to his face, not even the rest of the band did that. They used to call him The Head. As in big. As in dick. But none of them had lived the lives of saints, especially early on.

Fuckers. Disloyal fuckers. He’d made this band. His songs had bought their penthouses.

Galen tried out a couple of his old moves, just for fun, but they seemed foolish now. He stepped back from the microphone. It had been set a couple of inches too low for him.

The stage was lit up by harsh overhead lights so the techs could work. He could see naked cables snaking across the floor, the wear on the speaker cabinets, the old flight cases propping up the laptops at the back. Without the magic of stage lighting the mystique was spoiled, the atmosphere sucked away. It was one of the reasons Galen hated soundcheck. That, and having to hang out with the rest of them while they pretended the crew were important, or worse, their mates.

No one noticed any of them when he was out front.

A black sheet was draped over Zhero’s drumkit so it resembled a pile of forgotten furniture in an abandoned house. The kit had grown since the last time Galen bothered to look. Zhero always had to have one more drum to bash, one more hi-hat. It was compensation for his inadequacy. Look at me, I’m over here behind the kit! Look at me! Galen had always hated Zhero’s hi-hats. Total shit.

He wandered about the stage. Here was Mikey’s old bass, propped up against a speaker. He played every single gig they ever did with that bass. Mikey was all right. Uninspiring, but all right. Did his job, nothing too showy, stayed in his spot.

Der Stuka was another story. His little empire was over on the other side of the stage. The prick’s ego was in direct proportion to the number of guitars standing upright and gleaming like they were on parade. Crew swarmed there like flies, tuning, polishing, replacing strings, hoping they’d do it right, because if they didn’t there’d be hell to pay. And they called Galen The Head.

Stuka was a miserable little cretin, but he wasn’t stupid. He had plenty of gutter cunning. To think how he’d turned them all against him, first the rest of the band, then management, then the record company. Whispering, always whispering. He’d worked hard at it, and it was persistent, insidious work.

Galen realised now that Stuka had always resented him—right from the start. His power. It was Galen they all wanted. The fans used to run past Stuka and the rest to get to him. Galen did the interviews because he had something to say. Stuka never had the charisma, the spark. But he was patient and clever and he was happy to take the money and his share of Galen’s light while he chipped away at his foundations. Galen swore it was Stuka that let that guy with the bad dope backstage in Boston.

Artwork by Tony Tran

He returned to the mic. Time had passed. The crew were gone and he stood alone. The fans were beginning to stream in, the obsessives staking their claims by the barrier. They seemed younger.

Stuka had always wanted him out, and Zhero backed him up, and Mikey said nothing when it all went to shit after Boston. Stuka picked his moment well.

What hurt even more was who they replaced him with. Riley! Stumpy Riley, one of Zhero’s drum techs. He’d been creeping around for years, kissing arse like it was part of the job, and then overnight he was out front, in Galen’s spot.

The auditorium here was big, wherever it was. The band had more than held on to their audience. Too safe to feel a real edge? Uncomfortable with genuine confrontation? Then why not try counterfeit rebellion, with a few tattoos and haircuts and nothing inside. A covers band. Sell-outs. Fucking actors.

The place was filling up. Band t-shirts, body art, hair, the uniform, the usual. Galen couldn’t hear their voices now. They weren’t calling his name. Everything was insubstantial, somehow, like reality was being dialled down, decohering. The light faded and changed, dying everything in a deep, velvety red.

The band were walking on to the stage. Galen’s stage. To play Galen’s songs. To his audience.

The dry ice swirled about him, enclosing him like a cloak, obscuring his view, all those faces, until they were less than memories. He’d undone himself and the truth of it finally hit. He was destroyed and the band played on. And he understood then that the dry ice was not dry ice at all, but the mist that divides the first and the second stages forever.

David McGillveray was born in Edinburgh, Scotland but now lives with his family in London. He likes islands, post-punk, curries, walking, live gigs, skimming stones and lots of other things. His fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, Analog and The Daily Tomorrow and his story collection Forgotten Dragons, Plastic People is available on Amazon.

Thursday, April 16, 2026 - A Humdrum Life

2026-04-16T15:44:36.000Z

Here we go again…

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Flexoki - The Independent Variable

2026-04-16T00:15:48.000Z

stephango.com

This 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 - The Independent Variable

2026-04-15T21:31:08.000Z

techcrunch.com

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 - The Independent Variable

2026-04-15T19:03:41.000Z

heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

Today, 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...

If Every Congressman Facing Credible Rape Allegations Resigned, We’d Have No One Left to Govern the Country - The Independent Variable

2026-04-15T18:56:42.000Z

mcsweeneys.net

It’s naïve to imagine the government can continue to function without the tireless dedication of our best and brightest rapists. ... The American voter isn’t stupid. They know what they’re getting into when they cast a vote for a man. ... In other words, we, the American people, were asking for it.

There are way too many perfect lines in this piece. I can't pick just one.

🚧 OBSTRUCTION #16 - foofaraw

2026-04-15T17:56:39.000Z

Catch up!

Matthew Burbridge

The story so far:

Endgame for the Open Web - The Independent Variable

2026-04-15T03:01:03.000Z

anildash.com

A month old, but I'm testing something..

The Fanfare Around the Band Geese Actually Was a Psyop - The Independent Variable

2026-04-15T02:57:03.000Z

wired.com

Essentially, the firm creates networks of social media pages (typically on TikTok) and uses them to drive the band’s music into the recommendation algorithm. Songs are dropped into the backgrounds of videos. Live clips are shared. Sometimes, burner accounts, comments, and whole ecosystems of interactions can be fabricated out of digital cloth, stoking—and in some cases, completely manufacturing—discourse around an artist

In a perfect world we wouldn't have to resort to this to get the word out about good music, but unfortunately that's the world we live in. So I really don't have a problem with this. I mean, if their music was crap, it wouldn't matter how much they pushed it on social media—people wouldn't listen to it.

Are there some people influenced by the repetitive visibility of something? Sure. But I think the proof is in the pudding when it comes to the music and the people who actually go out to shows and spend real dollars. They're not doing that for music they don't like, but were fed constantly through the algorithms. Unfortunately, the algorithms are a necessity in today's world if you want to get the word out about something.

NBA Europe draws host of bids, including $1 billion offers - The Independent Variable

2026-04-15T01:00:02.000Z

nytimes.com

The NBA was said to be seeking a sliding scale of investment, depending on the market, between $500 million and $1 billion for a “license,” or permanent entry into the new European league, and two sources familiar with the bids said several came in meeting or exceeding the $500 million threshold.

I'm a bit nervous about American sports ruining some of the tradition in Europe. I'm not sure how basketball leagues works today, but relegation is incredibly important to soccer. The NBA expanding to Europe probably won't have relegation—If anything, we should bring relegation into our sports. If you want to prevent people from tanking, that's the perfect way.

ByeDoom — Give a Link → Get a Feed - The Independent Variable

2026-04-15T00:56:52.000Z

byedoom.com via chrisglass.com

Add any public Instagram profile, YouTube channel or X account to quickly get an RSS feed for your favorite reader.

I feel like I've seen a few of these tools before. I'm always skeptical that following something like Instagram through an RSS feed won't break eventually, but this one does look like one of the more well-polished versions, so I'm not opposed to giving it a try.

Quincy (2018) - A Humdrum Life

2026-04-15T00:33:01.000Z

The latest batch of music documentaries where the artists are heavily involved have gotten a bit grating for me.

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Somebody Help Me, I’m Being Spontaneous! (2026) - A Humdrum Life

2026-04-15T00:31:29.000Z

Fell off a bit in the second half, but I really, really, really enjoyed the first half.

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The Internet's Most Powerful Archiving Tool Is in Peril - The Independent Variable

2026-04-14T20:03:21.000Z

wired.com via kottke.org

There is no widely available public tool comparable to the Wayback Machine, and if it continues to lose access to major news sources, its preservation efforts could erode to the point where early digital records of history become much harder to access, or are even lost altogether.

On the one hand, I get it—you don't want your stories to come out from behind the paywall and you don't want it to be used by AI (although I bet most of these publications have deals with AI companies—so that's the real reason). But no one is really reading everything via the Wayback Machine—since it's a snapshot, it's not a pleasant experience—and if they are, you are failing at presenting your journalism in a meaningful way.

Angine de Poitrine - Full Performance (Live on KEXP) - The Independent Variable

2026-04-14T17:41:20.000Z

youtube.com

Angine de Poitrine performing live at ESMA in Rennes, France, during Trans Musicales 2025

I am fully obsessed with these guys. Are the outfits and stuff a gimmick? Sure. But they still jam. I said it before, but they feel like a mix of Khruangbin and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and it's just a blast. It also has that GWAR performative nature to it, but it only adds to the music—it doesn't take away.

Bong Joon Ho’s Next Film, Ally, Looks Unexpectedly Cute - The Independent Variable

2026-04-14T17:34:54.000Z

reactormag.com

This isn’t the first time filmmaker Bong Joon Ho has created an appealing creature for one of his films (that would be Okja). But Ally is a new level of cute.

I get that he did Okja with the cute little animal, but man, this feels like it's coming out of left field. And I'm here for it.

This guy recorded 10,000 concerts and now you can stream them - The Independent Variable

2026-04-14T17:15:22.000Z

thefader.com via relisten.net

Adam Jacobs, an avid concertgoer and once casual, later committed, concert archivist, began recording the concerts he attended in 1984 to tape. He went on to record over 10,000 concerts

I've seen this floating around for a bit, but you should also make sure you're familiar with the Relisten app. It's on iOS and Android, and it pulls concert recordings from the Internet Archive. I imagine these 10,000 concerts will eventually make their way there, which will be a huge boon on top of the already incredible number of concert tapes on the app.