Brainwise

Jackson Browne was equal parts poet and prophet on this one.

Album cover for Jackson Browne's 1986 release "Lives In The Balance." Features the face of the Statue of Liberty behind a series of lines very much looking like scaffolding.

This week on the Friday #80s Flashback: Jackson Browne's first politically charged album, LIVES IN THE BALANCE, turns 40. And it's just as sadly relevant today as it was when he released it on February 18, 1986. #Music #Politics

bookendedbycats.blogspot.com/2026/02/frid...

Cover for ODIN #1.

James Tynion IV wondered "...what the real Norse Odin would do with these idiots* if he had the chance." See what he came up with when ODIN #1 comes out this May from Image Comics / Tiny Onion.

*white supremacists perverting Nordic spirituality.

www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=...

Banners with his likeness? So, now the goal is to Make America Gag Aggressively?

Jumpin Jötunns! That line "...what the real Norse Odin would do with these idiots if he had the chance" has me HOOKED for this.

She also medaled in Spackling.

A personal affront!

Didn't care for Ring when they first came out, and that opinion has persisted.

^ Image: Back cover of Steely Dan's 1973 album, COUNTDOWN TO ECSTASY. Band members in the studio (L-R) -- Jim Hodder, Walter Becker, Denny Dias, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and Donald Fagen in the recording studio

Back cover of Steely Dan's 1973 album, COUNTDOWN TO ECSTASY. Band members in the studio (L-R) -- Jim Hodder, Walter Becker, Denny Dias, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and Donald Fagen in the recording studio

Steely Dan – "the rock'n'roll band who aren't really a band and don't like rock'n'roll but have sold 50 million records to people who do"
www.loudersound.com/music/albums...

Footprints in a snow-covered cemetery, marking a path halfway between a church and the setting sun, and perhaps disappearing beyond both.

Photo taken February 14, 2026, around 5pm.

Jazz [Deluxe], by Jonathan Hay 13 track album

Here's the Smith and Hay album mentioned early in the story: JAZZ (DELUXE) jonathanhaymusic.bandcamp.com/album/jazz-d...

WIRED posted story on May 20, 2025. I first read it in the July/Aug 2025 edition of the print magazine.

‘A Billion Streams and No Fans’: Inside a $10 Million AI Music Fraud Case – A chart-topping jazz album! Loads of Spotify and Apple Music plays! Just one problem: The success might not be real.
www.wired.com/story/ai-bot...

Huzzah!

Hel yeah!

"It’s one thing to contemplate the existence of the Sasquatch. It’s another to mark him as an extra-terrestrial. And then, of course, to make him a cyborg (like Steve) is a stroke of wacky brilliance." –John Kenneth Muir

An obscured Bigfoot just before his reveal on THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN.

50 years ago this month, The Six Million Dollar Man met Bigfoot. John Kenneth Muir remembers "The Secret of Bigfoot" (airdate February 6, 1976).

reflectionsonfilmandtelevision.blogspot.com/2026/02/50-y...

Oak | February 16, 2026 A dry oak leaf on a tree in the local park. Photo taken February 16, 2026.

Oak | February 16, 2016 sub-text.blogspot.com/2026/02/oak-...

a group of cartoon characters are sitting at desks in a school classroom . ALT: a group of cartoon characters are sitting at desks in a school classroom .

Saaaaaaame.

I try to turn off Google's AI Overviews in browsers. And when I cannot do that, like in the Google app, then I scroll past them. Turns out, that's a good choice.

"Google’s AI Overviews Can Scam You. Here’s How to Stay Safe"
www.wired.com/story/google...

The series is on my pull list, so consider it pre-ordered! :)

Standing Up For Our Neighbors - A Vital Lesson From The Siege Of Minnesota Dems need to make clear they are for reining in ICE, *and* stopping mass deportation and the expansion of the detention centers. We must stand up for our neighbors.

Hopium Chronicles By Simon Rosenberg (Feb 15, 2026): Standing Up For Our Neighbors - A Vital Lesson From The Siege Of Minnesota
www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/standing-u...

"Cheating, Lying, Stealing" by David Lang

Performed by Bang on a Can All-Stars: Ashley Bathgate, Cello | Robert Black, Bass | Vicky Chow, Piano | David Cossin, Drums and Percussion | Mark Stewart, Guitars | Ken Thomson, Clarinets

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VqM...

Album cover for Dee C. Lee's SHRINE (February 1986).

She sang with Wham!, and she sang with The Style Council. But 40 years ago this week, British soul vocalist Dee C. Lee released her debut album, SHRINE. Revisit it with the Friday #80s Flashback. #music bookendedbycats.blogspot.com/2026/02/frid...

Your Friendly Neighborhood Mad Scientist led a class on rocketry this afternoon. Wrapped up with a model rocket launch. Kids were impressed that it soared so high, and disappointed that we couldn't recover it (chute malfunction plus the wind took it over into the fenced tennis courts).

YouTube video by Ingo Schmit Real Life - Catch Me I’m Falling (1984) Official Video

Catch Me I'm Falling - Real Life
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td9n...

YouTube video by Dani Twisted Sister - I AM, IM ME Lyrics

I Am (I'm Me) - Twisted Sister
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejih...

Decades ago, Tanya Shaffer's father fled fascism in Europe to come to the U.S. Now, she has dual citizenship, and Europe might be her refuge from creeping autocracy in the U.S. Read her story in "Dual Citizen" (Feb 03, 2026):
tanyashaffer.substack.com/p/dual-citizen