davidgagne

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Daily David

Elephants trumpet, squeak, and flap their ears after their complex move across an Australian city. Bridge Grades score Congress members on their ability to collaborate, build coalitions, deliver consensus solutions, and bridge America. – via @froggyb.bsky.social Men Actually Crave Romantic Relationships More Than Women Do: According to more than fifty studies of mixed-gender relationships, men…

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Daily David

The music industry traded tape for hard drives and got a hard-earned lesson. Roughly one-fifth of the hard disk drives from the 1990s sent to Iron Mountain are entirely unreadable. My son got me hooked on New Rockstars. Erik Voss and his team produce amazing YouTube recaps of all sorts of things in pop culture. The Jessica Clemons breakdown of the Kendrick Lamar Super Bowl LIX halftime show is…

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Daily David: Super Bowl Sunday Edition!

Super Bowl LIX for Dummies A Super Bowl Preview, Minus the Football: A look at the musical acts, the famous fans, the commercials and all of the other things surrounding the NFL’s signature event 5 Classic Super Bowl Commercials That Still Warm Our Hearts The Tunnel Runway: How Sports Became Fashion’s Newest Catwalk Kendrick Lamar aims to infuse his Los Angeles hip-hop flavor into New Orleans…

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The War Books

The New York Post declared Charles Yale Harrison’s novel Generals Die in Bed “the best of the war books.” (Nielsen n. pag.) Considering the number of books related to World War I that were published, including Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, this is no small praise. Harrison and Hemingway used somewhat similar writing styles to share the experiences of soldiers in war, but Harrison’s more…

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Daily David

You can now play the classic 1982 Atari 2600 game Pitfall! in your browser. I’ve been using FontAwesome in web projects since late 2012 and they are still the best. Scaling Our Rate Limits to Prepare for a Billion Active Certificates – Let’s Encrypt protects a vast portion of the Web by providing TLS certificates to over 550 million websites. They currently issue over 340,000 certificates per…

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Daily David

You are the captain of a starship, about to embark on a long journey to a strange planet. You must hire a crew and buy supplies for the long journey ahead, then deal with all sorts of adventures and problems along the way. Space Awesome is a lovely little retro game similar to Oregon Trail* or Zork*. (You can play a complete game in a few minutes.) The Comprehensive Guide to Building a Realistic…

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Pampelone

On November 15th, 2024 I purchased an early Christmas gift for my wife from Instagram ecommerce retailer Pampelone. I had gotten her something from them a few years ago and it was a big hit. About a week later I still hadn’t received an order status update, so I sent a message to their customer service email address. The FAQ page on their site clearly states, “If 7 working days have passed and…

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Once upon a midnight dreary

Today is the birthday of the poet and short-story writer Edgar Allan Poe, born on this date in Boston in 1809. My mom adored his writing and so by the time I was in 8th grade I’d read almost everything he’d published. Of course he’s best known for The Raven and his horror stories. But you should also know that he essentially created a new literary genre when he wrote The Murders in the Rue…

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Daily David

The US government wants to start protecting you (and your kids) from Roblox robux scams. – via Anil The Moon is part of the Diocese of Orlando, in accordance with the 1917 Code of Canon Law, which states that “any newly discovered territory was placed under the jurisdiction of the diocese from which the expedition which discovered that territory left.” – via Kent Hendricks I can’t be the only…

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Daily David

This LA Times interactive map of the Southern California wildfires has been very handy. – via @dansinker.com “Just a reminder that the French revolution started with a climate crisis-induced famine, an empire that had overexpanded into too many foreign wars, and parasitic nobility that funneled all the wealth upward while regular citizens suffered.” – via @chris.writes.books If you want to…

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Daily David

“Hey gamers remember, on Dec 26 a lot of kids are gonna be online playing with their gifted console/game/pc for the first time. Be nice.” – via @dinocornel An Ode to Christmas Eve It’s a Christmas miracle! Netflix subscribers can play Civilization VI on iOS devices, free and with no ads. – via hiro.report In 1996 Sir Purr became the only NFL mascot to ever be involved in a live play. – via…

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Lights Will Guide You Home

Almost twenty years ago I read an article in Harper’s magazine about ultra long-distance runners. It stuck with me, probably because — like one of the runners in the story — I, too, will sometimes find myself listening to Fix You by Coldplay on repeat when I’m on an extremely long run. Every so often I’d think of that essay and try to find it again, but was mistakenly convinced for some reason…

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#FridayFive: A Better House

Here are a few feel-good stories you can watch this weekend. I think it’s fair to say everyone – or at least right around 50% of us – could use a little fantasy on the topic. Please do let me know if I’ve missed your favorite from the theme. Dave The American President Air Force One The West Wing The Roosevelts – An Intimate History

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Disney Music in the 1930s

This is an essay I wrote on February 15, 1996 for an English literature class (LIT 4930) at the University of Florida. While today there are millions of children (and adults!) who enjoy the music of such Disney films as The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and The Lion King, Walt Disney Studios has been producing movies and cartoons with progressive and ground-breaking soundtracks since the late 1920s.…

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chased by spectres of abstraction

If Blake was not simply stoned out of his mind, then what explanation can there be for this troubling work? Continue reading chased by spectres of abstraction

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I wish I could think of something uplifting or witty to say by now, but I don’t. I’m sure that day will come soon, but today I’m just … tired. Hopefully these links will brighten your day a little. Continue reading Daily David

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When Indiana Jones tells you he needs your help fighting Nazis, you help Indiana Jones fight Nazis. – via @laurenthomanwrites (Vote!) If you’re looking for some good news: The population decline of honeybees has actually reversed! – via @dirtyrealism42 In 2034 people are going to rediscover these unhinged John Mulaney musical sketches and realize they were incredibly brilliant and hysterical. #SNL – via @gatordavid The Boss opening his show in Montreal with a cover of Ghostbusters makes me really happy. – via @coachbennett I wonder how many of the rabid anti-immigration folks in the US could pass a citizenship test? Learn programming by playing games! – via @denicmarko_ I’m no rocket scientist, but this headline seems bad. The International Space Station Has Been Leaking for Five Years – via @laura.helmuth The Athletic just published a great article about sports video game soundtracks that’s worth a read. “Can you imagine the beautiful chaos if LinkedIn allowed commenting on open job positions?” – via @regina.thequeen.bee (I love this idea! Couldn’t someone make a browser extension for this?)