flaminm

yosemite has a waterfall that looks like it's pouring lava.

it's called horsetail fall, and for a few evenings in february, the setting sun can hit the water at just the right angle and turn it bright orange.

no lava, no fire. just sunlight, water, and ridiculously perfect timing.

nature really knows how to show off.

buying the louisiana territory raised a constitutional issue for president jefferson, since the document said nothing about purchasing new lands. jefferson decided that keeping france from controlling the mississippi river was too important, though, to turn down the opportunity. so the purchase was judged necessary and the senate readily approved it in 1803. congress paid france about $15 million for the land.

the louisiana purchase doubled the land area of the nation, adding 800,000 square miles and more than 200,000 people-primarily american indians, spanish, and french.

when jennifer’s body came out in 2009, the studio marketed it heavily around megan fox being hot.

writer diablo cody later revealed that when she questioned the marketing strategy, one executive literally responded with three words: “megan fox hot.”

the movie struggled initially but eventually became a cult classic, especially among women.

kind of ironic that a movie exploring the exploitation of teenage girls was marketed by exploiting its lead actress’s sex appeal.

the vmas don’t matter unless my favorite artist wins. then suddenly we’re witnessing music history.

if they lose, it’s rigged. obviously.

race to the bottom gets a lot easier to see with real examples.

fast fashion is one. global brands keep looking for cheaper production, and bangladesh became a major manufacturing hub partly because of extremely low wages and weak labor protections. academics have literally used its garment industry as an example of the race to the bottom.

another version happened with amazon’s hq2. cities basically competed to win amazon by offering huge incentives. new york offered a package worth nearly $3 billion and virginia offered up to $773 million. the new york deal eventually collapsed after political backlash.

different industries, same weird dynamic: everyone competes to offer more by asking for less in return.

the concert of europe was basically the great powers of europe trying to keep the continent from blowing itself up again after napoleon.

britain, austria, russia, prussia and later france agreed to meet, negotiate, and manage major crises instead of immediately going to war.

it wasn’t exactly peaceful or democratic, and they often cared more about preserving their own power than anything else. but for a while, it helped prevent another continent wide war on the scale of the napoleonic wars.

kind of an early version of powerful countries realizing that talking regularly might be cheaper than fighting constantly.

one thing worth checking for every congressional candidate this year is where they actually stand on israel and gaza, and who is spending money to help elect them.

that includes aipac.

but there is an important distinction. aipac pac can contribute directly to candidates, while united democracy project, the super pac associated with aipac, can spend independently supporting or opposing candidates. federal law requires that independent spending to be disclosed, and it cannot legally be coordinated with the candidate.

why do people care so much?

because congress votes on billions of dollars in military assistance, weapons sales, foreign policy, and oversight involving israel. at the same time, american opinion on the conflict has changed significantly. in 2026, only 16 percent of democrats had a favorable view of the israeli government, while younger americans were increasingly sympathetic toward palestinians. more than half of americans still said the israel and gaza conflict was personally important to them.

so when looking at a candidate, i think there are two separate questions worth asking.

what do they actually believe about israel and gaza?

and who is spending money to make sure they get elected?

you do not have to assume the money bought their position.

but voters should at least know the relationship exists before deciding what to make of it.

irma grese was one of the female nazi perpetrators, her career is explained as “full of depravity, horror, extreme cruelty, forced bisexuality, and murder.” she is known for performing her duties without hesitation and doing so without remorse.

in the prosecution of irma grese, having numerous witness accounts of her cruelty, grese still maintained that she did not purposely harm anyone. she denied many accusations of beating prisoners unconscious, sending them outside the camp to be shot or allowing her dog to attack prisoners. grese does, however, admit some beatings at the bergen-belsen trials, here are a few questions and answers taken from the trial transcripts:

• in lager "c" you used to carry a walking-stick, too, and sometimes you beat people with the whip and sometimes with the stick? - yes.
• were you allowed to beat people? - no.
• so it was not a question of having orders from your superiors to do it. you did this
against orders, did you? - yes.

grese’s responses to these questions demonstrate that superiors did not order her to take these actions. there is also the understanding that superiors felt the prisoners were replaceable; railways constantly brought in new prisoners, allowing camp guards to see them as disposable.

ms. rachel is probably the healthiest version of toddler screen time, but it is still screen time.ms. rachel can help teach your kid words. she still cannot replace talking to them.

the wampanoag are a native american community from the northeast who have lived for thousands of years in what is now massachusetts and rhode island. they are known for their farming, fishing, and strong traditions, and they played an important role in early american history when europeans first arrived.

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life is less an individual journey than a web of relationships, rituals, obligations, stories, and exchanges.

we are born into cultures already in progress, inherit meanings we did not create, and spend our lives negotiating our place inside them.

in the end, a human life is partly what happened to us, and partly what our community learned to call meaningful.

it can be genuinely painful to read, but the reward is real.

this is one of those writers you have to meet at the right time. the book asks something from you too. it wants your full attention, your whole mind, almost your whole self.

i love the writing, but this is absolutely not the kind of author i can casually pick up whenever i feel like reading a few pages.

samsung responded: image
https://x.com/...ileUS/status/2097748103478591990

the price is going to be duo too, so i guess it makes sense.