“The podium was draped in black, which was a bad sign. The single star and thirty stripes of the Martian Congressional Republic hung in the background not once, but eight times. That was worse.” :: Corey, J. S. A. (2011). Leviathan wakes. #1. Orbit.

“Supermodel Kathy Ireland has this to say about how to take a compliment: A compliment is a gift. It’s not relevant that you may not agree with the giver’s opinion of you. In some ways, the compliment is not even about you; it’s about the fact that someone else cared enough to think of you and to share his or her thoughts in a positive way. So the best way to handle one? With a heartfelt, ‘Thank you.’ We agree.” :: Alberti, R., & Emmons, M. (2017). Your Perfect Right. New Harbinger Publications.

“If we want abusers to change, we will have to require them to give up the luxury of exploitation.” :: Bancroft, L. (2002). Why does he do that? : Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men. Berkley Books.

“One source of information about just how bad the working conditions were in SNIA’s plants is unimpeachable—the reports of Fascist secret police spies who were meant to infiltrate the regular rank-and-file shop floor workers. Sent in to identify and denounce a suspected anti-Fascist cell among the Turin SNIA workers, the agents sent back to their handlers reports of the deplorable working conditions that they encountered. One reported on the irritant fumes in the bleaching operation, which were so potent that after only three days of exposure, and despite the correspondent’s self-described iron constitution, the would-be spy suffered from an incessant cough. Another report told of a worker making Lanital who complained that the manufacturing line was malfunctioning and was likely to catch fire; the foreman told the man to keep the equipment going at all costs. A few minutes later the worker was enveloped in flames and threw himself into a nearby vat of acid to douse the fire; he expired two days later.” :: Paul David Blanc. (2016). Fake Silk. Yale University Press.

“The girl in the video is a reminder about how fragile our hold on sanity and health is and how much we are at the utter whim of our Brutus bodies, which will inevitably, one day, turn on us for good. I am a prisoner, as we all are. And with that realization comes an aching sense of vulnerability.” :: Cahalan, S. (2012). Brain On Fire: My Month of Madness. Penguin UK.

“Gale just looked at me in amazement and said, ‘Wow, you were actually listening?’ People have gotten so used to people not giving them their full attention that when you do, it is the most wonderful and cheapest gift and rapport builder on earth.” :: Dreeke, R. (2026). It’s Not All About Me, Revised and Updated Edition. Simon and Schuster.

“For decades Americans have experienced a populist uprising that only benefits the people it is supposed to be targeting. In Kansas we merely see an extreme version of this mysterious situation. The angry workers, mighty in their numbers, are marching irresistibly against the arrogant. They are shaking their fists at the sons of privilege. They are laughing at the dainty affectations of the Leawood toffs. They are massing at the gates of Mission Hills, hoisting the black flag, and while the millionaires tremble in their mansions, they are bellowing out their terrifying demands. ‘We are here,’ they scream, ’to cut your taxes.’” :: Frank, T. (2004). What’s the matter with Kansas? : how conservatives won the heart of America. Metropolitan/Owl Book, Cop.

“All these mammals live in societies and nations sometimes numbering hundreds of thousands of individuals, although now, after three centuries of gunpowder civilization, we find but the debris of the immense aggregations of old. How trifling, in comparison with them, are the numbers of the carnivores! And how false, therefore, is the view of those who speak of the animal world as if nothing were to be seen in it but lions and hyenas plunging their bleeding teeth into the flesh of their victims! One might as well imagine that the whole of human life is nothing but a succession of war massacres. Association and mutual aid are the rule with mammals.” :: Peter Kropotkin. (1902). MUTUAL AID: a factor of evolution. Bibliotech Press.

“Even when they learned they would have to rub foul-smelling impregnating grease on their uniforms to be impervious to a possible mustard gas attack, the men took it in stride. A war correspondent for the New Yorker reported that when one sailor noticed he was being watched as he greased his shoes, he jokingly called out, ‘This is the first time I ever tried to get a pair of shoes pregnant, sir.’ ‘No doubt you tried it on about everything else,’ another sailor retorted as he, too, worked on his shoes.” :: Molly Guptill Manning. (2014). When Books Went to War. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

“I have never forgotten those people and I know that anything I achieved in my life was a result of others who have helped me along the way. None of us are immune from life’s tragic moments.” :: McRaven, W. H. (2017). Make Your Bed. Grand Central Publishing.

“Experiences of synchronicities, as Nietzsche pointed out in the nineteenth century, are the engines of religious belief and practice. They function this way for practitioners within UFO cultures as much as they do for members of Catholic cultures. Nietzsche was warning against the easy adoption of the “religious” position regarding them, and he suggested that one instead focus on how the human mind has reached its highest ability, that is, to ascertain the interplay of chance and interpretive skill. In other words, he suggests that rather than leading to a dogmatic religiosity, these experiences should instead lead to a state of wonder about existence. His aphorism ends on a decidedly mystical note: We do not want either to think too highly of this dexterity of our wisdom, when the wonderful harmony which results from playing on our instrument sometimes surprises us too much: a harmony which sounds too well for us to dare to ascribe it to ourselves.” :: Diana Walsh Pasulka. (2019). American cosmic : UFOs, religion, technology. Oxford University Press.

“It is a far simpler and a highly effective method of conserving one’s energies to simply admit that one was wrong and to do it promptly without futile attempts at defending a mistake. What a relief it has been to be free of this burden! I am not immune to making mistakes, and, when I admit my humanity, people invariably understand. It is only when I insist that I was right that I provoke their anger.” :: Twerski, A. J. (2009). Addictive Thinking. Simon and Schuster.

“Psychologist Richard Wiseman created a study using waiters to identify what was the more effective method of creating a connection with strangers: mirroring or positive reinforcement. One group of waiters, using positive reinforcement, lavished praise and encouragement on patrons using words such as ‘great,’ ’no problem,’ and ‘sure’ in response to each order. The other group of waiters mirrored their customers simply by repeating their orders back to them. The results were stunning: the average tip of the waiters who mirrored was 70 percent more than of those who used positive reinforcement.” :: Voss, C., & Raz, T. (2017). Never split the difference: Negotiating as if your life depended on it. Random House Business Books.

“In the last two years, several states, beginning with Florida, have approved PragerU content to be taught in public school classrooms. In Oklahoma, teachers relocating from states with ‘progressive education policies’ will have to undergo an assessment in partnership with PragerU to determine if they’re allowed to teach. ‘If you want to teach here, you’d better know the Constitution, respect what makes America great, and understand basic biology,’ State Superintendent Ryan Walters said in a press release.” :: Cole, S. (2025, July 18). White House Partners With PragerU to Make AI-Slopified Founding Fathers. 404 Media. https://www.404media.co/white-house-partners-with-prageru-to-make-ai-slopified-founding-fathers/

“‘How many images can possibly exist?’ the film’s narrator asked. To answer that, it explains the concept of total pixel space, which actually reflects how image generation tools work: Pixels are the building blocks of digital images—tiny tiles forming a mosaic. Each pixel is defined by numbers representing color and position. Therefore, any digital image can be represented as a sequence of numbers… Just as we don’t need to write down every number between zero and one to prove they exist, we don’t need to generate every possible image to prove they exist.” :: Axon, S. (2025, June 24). Curated realities: An AI film festival and the future of human expression. Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/culture/2025/06/curated-realities-an-ai-film-festival-and-the-future-of-human-expression/

“…trust in the accuracy of AI has fallen from 40 percent in previous years to just 29 percent this year.” :: Axon, S. (2025, July 31). Developer survey shows trust in AI coding tools is falling as usage rises. Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/07/developer-survey-shows-trust-in-ai-coding-tools-is-falling-as-usage-rises/

“Given two days, this single strain could remove about a quarter of the phenol, a third of the biphenyl, 30 percent of the DBF, all of the naphthalene, and nearly all of the toluene.” :: Timmer, J. (2025, May 7). Genetically engineered bacteria break down industrial contaminants. Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/05/researchers-engineer-bacteria-to-clean-up-industrial-wastewater/

“The errant order partly relied on “two fictitious cases” to deny the wife’s petition—which Watkins suggested were “possibly ‘hallucinations’ made up by generative-artificial intelligence”—as well as two cases that had “nothing to do” with the wife’s petition.” :: Belanger, A. (2025, July 21). It’s “frighteningly likely” many US courts will overlook AI errors, expert says. Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/07/its-frighteningly-likely-many-us-courts-will-overlook-ai-errors-expert-says/

“At the trial, Zuckerberg testified that AI and augmented reality will be key fixtures of Meta’s platforms in the future, predicting that ‘several years from now, you are going to be scrolling through your feed, and not only is it going to be sort of animated, but it will be interactive.’ Meta declined to comment further on the company’s vision for social media’s future.” :: Belanger, A. (2025, May 21). Meta hypes AI friends as social media’s future, but users want real connections. Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/05/meta-hypes-ai-friends-as-social-medias-future-but-users-want-real-connections/

“Or “奇葩,” literally “strange flower,” someone who’s odd in a harmless, funny, and maybe even adorable way.” :: Huang, M. A Chinese Internet Phrasebook. Asterisk. (2025). https://asteriskmag.com/issues/08/a-chinese-internet-phrasebook

“The sex lives of flies? Well, understanding how flies reproduce led to the development of a sterilized screwworm fly and the elimination of a common livestock pest, saving some $200 million a year. The applications of basic science are often unexpected because new technologies can be broadly applied.” :: Mousa, D., Gilbert, L. A Defense of Weird Research Asterisk. (2025). https://asteriskmag.com/issues/09/a-defense-of-weird-research

“Specifically, GLP-1 drugs coming to market may change our thinking with respect to regulatory approaches. It’s early days in the evolution of appetite-altering drugs, but it could end up being more cost-effective to medicate ourselves rather than regulate ourselves.” :: Kaplan, S. (2024, July 12). California vs. Big Soda. Asterisk. https://asteriskmag.substack.com/p/california-vs-big-soda

“While it may seem counterintuitive for a disinformation campaign to alert those trying to tackle disinformation about their efforts, for the pro-Russia operatives, getting their content posted online by a real news outlet—even if it is covered with the word ‘FAKE’—is the ultimate aim.” :: Gilbert, D. (2025, July). A Pro-Russia Disinformation Campaign Is Using Free AI Tools to Fuel a “Content Explosion.” WIRED. https://www.wired.com/story/pro-russia-disinformation-campaign-free-ai-tools/

“Westerman has been talking up another option largely absent from decarbonization discourse in the US: install a clutch on existing gas plants, on the shaft between the fuel-burning turbine and the spinning generator. The clutch isolates the generator, so it can keep spinning with a relatively minor jolt of electricity and without burning fossil fuels. This approach also keeps the gas plant around to produce power on what Westerman described as ​’cold, dark, and still’ days, when the renewable fleet falls short. Such plants could eventually switch to biofuels or clean hydrogen instead of fossil gas. ‘[The clutch] is like 1950s technology—it’s really boring,’ Westerman said (‘boring,’ for grid operators, is the highest form of praise). " :: Spector, J. (2025, October 11). Australia’s March Toward 100 Percent Clean Energy. WIRED. https://www.wired.com/story/as-coal-fades-australia-looks-to-realize-dream-of-100-renewable-energy/

“One thing I noticed in Gen Z, especially my generation, is that they will only stop doing something if they’re embarrassed by it.” :: Tenbarge, K. (2025, May 21). Eating Disorder Content Is Infiltrating TikTok. Some Creators Are Going Viral Debunking It. WIRED. https://www.wired.com/story/eating-disorder-content-is-infiltrating-tiktok-some-creators-are-going-viral-debunking-it/

“The game’s strategy isn’t what trips up the AI tool, it’s the act of moving the chess pieces that actually proves to be the most difficult. ‘I’m focusing on accurate positioning as I continue playing despite earlier misclicks,’ the agent says in its internal log before eventually quitting and letting me know that the controls were too difficult to navigate.” :: Rogers, R. (2025, July 22). OpenAI’s ChatGPT Agent Is Haunting My Browser. WIRED. https://www.wired.com/story/browser-haunted-by-ai-agents/

‌It came with a technical-sounding name, toxicant-induced loss of tolerance, and a convenient acronym, TILT. You can lose tolerance after one severe exposure, Miller says, or after a series of smaller exposures over time. In either case, a switch is flipped: Suddenly, people are triggered by even tiny amounts of everyday substances—cigarette smoke, antibiotics, gas from their stoves—that never bothered them before. These people become, in a word, TILT-ed. :: Lexi Pandell. (2025, July 21). The Next Thing You Smell Could Ruin Your Life. WIRED. https://www.wired.com/story/multiple-chemical-sensitivity-tilt-claudia-miller/

But in a startling admission with sobering implications, McChrystal states in his memoir that JSOC in Iraq was “hindered by an almost complete lack of Arabic skills within our force,” suggesting that nearly all of those whom Delta Force killed were targeted not on the basis of the content of telephonic intercepts, but on pseudoscientific “nodal analysis,” tips from paid informants, and arbitrary guesswork. :: Harp, S. (2025, August 12). The Rise of the US Military’s Clandestine Foreign War Apparatus. WIRED. https://www.wired.com/story/the-fort-bragg-cartel-seth-harp-excerpt/

“The ARMP brought in $70.9 million from its slot machine operations during the 2024 fiscal year, according to a document obtained by WIRED. That year, the ARMP made $53 million in net proceeds. (The ARMP program covers slots on Army, Navy, and Marine Corps bases, while the Air Force also has their own version of the program.)” :: Longman, M. (2025, August 4). The US Military Is Raking in Millions From On-Base Slot Machines. WIRED. https://www.wired.com/story/us-military-on-base-slot-machines-gambling-addiction/