The Sun had a bit of a meltdown on Tuesday, spewing massive streams of high-energy particles into space. Outbursts like this follow an eleven-year cycle, of which we’re just now nearing the peak.
Today’s One Great Thing is a beautiful poem written and performed by Lucas Jones called “Some good news if you wish you were dead”, from his book (Sorry I Was Miles Away) In the Year of Romance.
I have a treat for you today. NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts regularly hosts a diverse array of amazing artists performing in an intimate setting, literally behind a tiny desk, to an impromptu gathering of staffers (for the concerts alone, I’d give anything to work there).
Today’s one great thing is a new video from one of my favorite Youtube channels, Veritasium.
I didn’t know this was even possible but apparently you can travel across the entire United States by train.
Many people, especially Israel supporters, have asked me this question:
Marc, why are you so obsessed with Palestine?
When the people you love most,
And who love you the most,
In the whole world
Below is the text of an open letter I sent to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian on April 12, 2024. The image above comes from a New York Times article called The Schoolyard.
In his celebrated dystopian novel 1984, George Orwell introduced the concept of Newspeak, which illustated how language can be used to control thought and behavior.
Many people assert that answering this question in the affirmative is antisemitic. Let’s take a closer look…
Let’s start with a definition:
Zionism. / (ˈzaɪəˌnɪzəm) / noun. a political movement for the establishment and support of a national homeland for Jews in Palestine, now concerned chiefly with the development of the modern state of Israel. a policy or movement for Jews to return to Palestine from the Diaspora.
In the darkness of night
When the world feels askew
I scroll through the news
And I’m outraged anew
I was a young child during the US War in Vietnam. I wasn’t old enough to fully understand what was going on. But something amazing was happening then. And it’s happening again today.
Here’s a list of things that some people consider antisemitic, but actually are not (according to me):
We exist in the minds of others.
The phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” has been declared antisemitic by supporters of Israel. It’s been claimed that the phrase calls for the eradication of the state of Israel.
Soldiers on tiktok,
Dancing on death
With glee celebrate
A baby’s last breath
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
Those are the words they taught me to sing.
I grew up in a Jewish household. Both my parents were Jewish. Both of their parents were Jewish. And on and on as far back as you can go. How do I know that? According to 23andme, my DNA is 99.7% Eastern European Jew. I’d really love to know more about that .3%!
Depending on your news sources, you may not be fully aware of the industrial level of death and destruction Israel has wrought on Gaza. Here is a summary of the horrifying statistics, courtesy of The Guardian.
Some people see the situation in Gaza as a religious war. Some see it as a territorial dispute. Others see it as Israel’s right to defend itself. But it’s really much simpler than that.
I’ve hesitated to write about this tragedy, because I know this article is going to offend some people. But I’ve decided that staying silent about injustice makes me part of the problem.
Like an old infomercial claim (“It slices! It dices!"), this article’s title sounds too good to be true, but it is true – in one article, I’m going to explain how the web works and you will walk away a better informed human being. All you have to do is give me a few minutes of your time.
Great conversations flow effortlessly and collaboratively. I enjoyed this short piece about applying the rules of improv comedy to improve your conversations.
I really enjoyed seeing Colin Hay perform live in London last Friday night. You’d have to be a certain age to remember Men At Work but whether you know his music or not, he’s a captivating performer - a guitar virtuoso, his voice sounds great, and he’s just an incredibly funny and self-deprecating story teller.
Imagine growing up in an English-only household, in a rural village in Japan, fully immersed, for your entire life, in two very different cultures.
Growing up surrounded by poverty and gang violence, this inspiring and mesmerizing short film tells the story of a young man who found his path to happiness on a surfboard.
What would an alien civilization think of us if the only record of our existence was Google Reviews?