“Imagine a mug that’s left on a coffee table.” — Anil Dash, That goddamn mug

“Reality isn’t brand safe. If you’re in the reality based community, brand safety should be your sworn enemy, even if they help you temporarily get a couple of Nazis kicked off Twitter.” — Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr “Brand safety” killed Jezebel

Alleged pickleball masturbator nabbed after Columbia Pike peeping incident. From the comments: “Pickleball penis perp perpetually pleasures phallic package, police properly prohibit person.”

The documentary “Sly” reveals depths to Sylvester Stallone.

What emerges isn’t the superstar who turned Rocky and Rambo into American icons as much as a thoughtful, surprisingly self-aware artist, who happens to be much smarter, more sensitive and steeped in cinematic history than even his biggest fans might have known.

Both Bruce Springsteen and Stallone “have channeled their inner selves through art to create a third identity, one that exists somewhere between truth and fiction, that has become a potent avatar, especially for their male fans.”

We’ve been getting Sylvester Stallone all wrong

A surprisingly moving profile of Geddy Lee. “… in the era of headbanging and ‘Cat Scratch Fever,’ they were singing 11-minute songs inspired by the epic poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.” There was never a band like Rush. Geddy Lee doesn’t want to forget it.

A researcher identified the man on the cover of Led Zeppelin IV, 50 years after the album’s release. The man was a thatcher named Lot Long, and the album cover is based on a found photograph from the Victorian era. The photographer was named Ernest Farmer, now the subject of an English museum exhibition. Long lived 1823-1893. Researcher Brian Edwards, who discovered the photo, has been listening to the album since it came out more than 50 years ago.

In the movie “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” a character recommends a specific track from Led Zeppelin IV as make-out music, but when the big make-out scene comes around, the music on the soundtrack is Kashmir, from another Zeppelin album.

Britain’s ‘loneliest sheep’ was rescued after two years at the foot of cliff. “The ‘over-fat’ ewe, named Fiona, was hauled up from her solitary spot on a remote Scottish beach by farmers.” She had a “huge fleece.”

A kayaker spotted the sheep, which followed her along the riverbank, calling out the whole time. The kayaker described the experience as “heart-rending.”

Jezebel: Feminist media site shuts down after 16 years.

Jezebel was a great site that “pioneered the sharp, dishy coverage that came to characterise many digital upstarts.”

Tough day for online pioneers yesterday. Tumblr is scaling back drastically, and Nextdoor is also laying off a lot of people.

When they wear the hats it’s in a dramatic scene and rather than focusing on the emotional action and dialogue I’m just thinking what is that on their head?

Marvel TV shows and movies need to get rid of the ridiculous headgear. The costumes are fine but the silly hats have got to go.

Tonight‘s TV choices: Season finale of “Loki,” season debut of “For all Mankind,” final two episodes of the season of “Bosch” and a new episode of “Lessons in Chemistry.” Tough decision!

I’m grateful to the Automattic team for keeping Tumblr running and being good custodians of the community. Today’s announcement is sad news, but I’m hopeful Tumblr will succeed many years with its new, more focused mission.

Today’s ephemera: Dinosaurs are like the coolest thing possible

This runner finished last at the NYC Marathon. He feels ‘blessed.’.

Of course he should be proud. He finished the damn thing. He came in 51,258th place.

Also, today I learned there are people who walk marathons. Might be something I should do sometime.

No, Grammarly, “fertile AI” is not a better way to say “generative AI.”