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The excellent notes app Voicenotes (iOS, Android, Web) has launched a new feature called Pages which allows users to publish audio notes to a web page where they'll appear in reverse chronological order for anyone with the page address to listen to them. Visitors can also subscribe to a Page and be notified when new content is added. Listeners do not need to have the Voicenotes app.

This is a wonderful service for poets, diarists, or anyone else keen on sharing their thoughts with friends, family, lovers, or other subscribers.

Pages is just an added-on aspect — it's not the app's main purpose, just a very lovely frill. Voicenotes is an comprehensive note-taking app that I use multiple times a day. It's the easiest way I've found to record thoughts and ideas before they're gone.

For now, the app does have a free tier, though I suspect they'll be getting rid of it soon. You can sign up for a monthly or annual subscription and if you sign up with this link, I'll get a small kickback should you decide to become a subscriber. Play with it for 15 minutes and I'll be you'll be hooked.

I always find the videos by Bill Hammack (a/k/a EngineerGuy) explaining everyday items to be fascinating. He consistently manages to explain the complex ideas behind simple items in an understandable way.

Here's one on the common soda can, which he calls ingenious:

And one on the soda bottle ("Masterful"):

Nardwuar does bizarre and entertaining interview with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. I'm all for it.

Below is a video compilation of some of Pau Buscató's street photography. Buscató is based in Spain and is known for his impeccable timing. Absolutely tremendous stuff that will have have you smiling and gasping.

Don't feel like watching a video? Here are a few of my favorites:

More on Buscató's website.

Relying on deft genetic engineering and ancient, preserved DNA, Colossal scientists deciphered the dire wolf genome, rewrote the genetic code of the common gray wolf to match it, and, using domestic dogs as surrogate mothers, brought Romulus, Remus, and their sister, 2-month-old Khaleesi, into the world during three separate births last fall and this winter—effectively for the first time de-extincting a line of beasts whose live gene pool long ago vanished.

From this interesting cover story in Time about how Colossal has de-extincted The Dire Wolf.

The NYtimes also did a piece.

(Of course, they haven't really recreated the Dire Wolf. Sill interesting.)

In somewhat unrelated news, I've been reading Magic Pill, a book about Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs. There's a little bit of trivia that I found fascinating. When the scientists were stumped because they couldn't get the GLP-1 in the drug to last more than a few hours after injection, they discovered that the Monitor Lizard's GLP-1 could sustain... but they couldn't get their hands on a Monitor Lizard as there's no legal market for them. One of the scientists managed to convince a rogue zookeeper to sell him one for $250. ("You understand I'm going to euthanize this animal, right?" "Do you have the $250 or not?") Without that illegal transaction, there might not have been any Ozempic.

People who lack the empathy to care about animals at all — I encountered many when I was a vegetarian — I've often been surprised that their selfishness does not translate to "maybe we shouldn't let them go extinct because we can use them!"

The Creative Independent is a growing resource of emotional and practical guidance for creative people. Some areas (like Essays) haven't been updated in a few years, but others (like Interviews) have new content just a few days old. Created by Kickstarter.

Never Too Small has titled this video 5 Dreamy Australian Tiny Cabins which nails it. All five are great but the first one absolutely blew me away.

Infinite Monkeys is exactly what you think it is. Scroll, watch, or choose a monkey of your own.

Yale professor Timothy Snyder announced this week that he and his wife Marci Shore (also a Yale prof) are leaving America and moving to Canada to teach at the University of Toronto. This is significant because Snyder is an expert on tyranny. His book On Tyranny: 20 Lessons from the Twentieth Century is a succinct and vital read on the subject. It was one of the best books I read while living in Vanuatu during Trump's first term. I highly recommend it.

The first "rule," Do Not Obey In Advance, is being broken by countless individuals and corporations under Trump's second term. Once you're aware of this pithy statement, you'll start to see it happening everywhere, and it's frightening.

Here's John Lithgow reading from the book: