Zac Whittenburg

I hear it’s been a good week for being into sports

Trump’s Takeover of Kennedy Center Leads to Stunning Sales Collapse The Kennedy Center is quickly dying thanks to the president’s new vision for the historic theater.

When you’ve papered the house and it’s still half empty bit.ly/3WAMhm0

Look folks gen AI videos are out in the wild so if you weren't already being careful about sharing rage bait videos then now is a great time to start

If you can't trace a video back to a trusted source then I recommend leaving it where it is, like a slice of bologna you found on the street

Authorities Investigating Explosion on Harvard’s Medical Campus, Believed To Be Intentional | News | The Harvard Crimson A device exploded inside the Goldenson Building in Harvard’s Longwood medical campus early Saturday morning, according to a message from the Harvard University Police Department to University…

A device exploded inside the Goldenson Building in Harvard’s Longwood medical campus early Saturday morning, according to a message from the Harvard University Police Department to University affiliates.

Matan H. Josephy and Laurel M. Shugart report.

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Michigan lawyer says a Halloween terror plot that FBI Director Kash Patel described never existed A Michigan defense lawyer is disputing FBI allegations that his 20-year-old client and four others planned a terror attack on Halloween weekend.

🎃 bit.ly/4nytrqA

A bearded gentleman dressed for Halloween as Diane Keaton, wearing a black bowler hat and multiple necklaces with cross-shaped pendants, dances with one arm raised

A mustachioed gentleman dressed for Halloween as Diane Keaton, wearing a blonde bob wig and black fedora along with frameless sunglasses, looks over his right shoulder

A bearded gentleman dressed for Halloween as Diane Keaton, wearing a black bowler hat and Annie Hall–style vest and necktie, stands in front of a neon sign that says “Party”

Four men dressed as Diane Keaton for Halloween pose together for a group photograph

TMW three of my friends recreated classic Diane Keaton looks for Halloween, and we ran into a fourth Diane Keaton

Nancy Mace Curses, Berates Confused Cops in Airport Meltdown: Police Report At an airport in South Carolina on Thursday, US representative Nancy Mace called police officers “fucking incompetent” and berated them repeatedly, according to an incident report.

“The entire walk to gate B-8 she was cursing and complaining and often doing the same into her phone.” (NB the penultimate paragraph) bit.ly/3X2yaWO

Illinois Democrats push through massive $1.5 billion plan that overhauls Chicago-area public transit Plan includes a state motor fuel sales tax, using interest from the state’s road fund, a sales tax increase in the Chicago metro area and a sharp increase in tolls on the Illinois Tollway.

🎁 www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/30/i...

So not only does the massive transit package passed last night fill the funding gap, it *boosts* ops funding by roughly the size of the gap, eliminates parking minimums within a half mile of rail stations, and gives the new regional transit board sweeping powers to do public development

Twelve wall-mounted boxes in two parallel rows of six used to display shoes for sale in a now-empty storefront in Chicago. The back of each illuminated box is a vibrant color — lime green, bright red, seafoam green, etc.

The vacant, former Hanig’s Footwear at the base of the Hancock Center is like a Donald Judd

Here’s How the AI Crash Happens The U.S. is becoming an Nvidia-state.

“When all the data centers in New Carlisle are built, they will demand more power than two Atlantas.” bit.ly/4oLbPsG

In Utah, Trump’s Vision for Homelessness Begins to Take Shape

“And moving marginalized people to government camps, they say, is an idea with a long and shameful history.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/u...

"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"

'Jarring, frightening attack': Chicago homeowner describes immigration raid at his home MSNBC exclusively obtained security footage of federal agents targeting construction workers at a home in the wealthy Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago. Leo Feler, who owns the property, joined The Wee...

In a wealthy neighborhood in Chicago, immigration agents hopped the fence of a US citizen’s home and tried to pull a construction worker out a 2nd-story window. Homeowner came home to blood all over his house. www.msnbc.com/the-weekend-...

Hot sauce is hot sauce and another category entirely but when it comes to *salsa* I don’t think I’ve found anything at a grocery store hotter than Mami brand El Tóxico salsa verde asada. The only ingredients listed are tomatillo, jalapeño, habanero, onions, garlic, and salt. Weapons-grade intensity.

“They are coming for people just trying to get by.” bit.ly/3L8gA0P

DHS Wants a Fleet of AI-Powered Surveillance Trucks US border patrol is asking companies to submit plans to turn standard 4x4 trucks into AI-powered watchtowers—combining radar, cameras, and autonomous tracking to extend surveillance on demand.

NEW: DHS is asking companies to submit plans to turn standard 4x4 trucks into AI-powered watchtowers—combining radar, cameras, and autonomous tracking to extend surveillance on demand.

by me @ wired:

direct evidence of profound jank in a system people literally trust their lives to enters public discourse framed around a neo-spiritualist viral content phenomenon instead of you know the first thing

Architecture and crime at the Louvre Geoff Manaugh joins us to explore how “burglary is built into the fabric of cities”; plus, sorting through the rubble at Trump’s White House

Today’s issue of Christopher Hawthorne’s newsletter features a great interview with Geoff Manaugh about the Louvre heist, design, security, and theft in various forms bit.ly/476a97c

“The use of force that I’ve seen has been exemplary — the least amount of force necessary to accomplish the mission,” Bovino told @cbsnews.com Friday. “If someone strays into a pepper ball, then that’s on them. Don’t protest and don’t trespass.”

N.C. counties that busted budgets after Helene still waiting for FEMA to pay them back A year after Hurricane Helene, FEMA hasn’t reimbursed millions of dollars spent on cleanup and recovery, upending local budgets and hindering reconstruction.

"Since Hurricane Helene devastated the community in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, the county government has spent nearly $50 million on cleanup and recovery — while getting reimbursed only $4 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency..."

www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2025...

“I don’t know him. I don’t know if he is French. Maybe a tourist? Maybe he is English.” nyti.ms/43AlpX3

Depending on how and where AI is deployed, you could find yourself facing a cash flow problem or a physics problem or a legal problem or a safety issue or any combination thereof. More AI won’t necessarily catch it or improve the situation. That’s a whole bunch of soft cost ready to harden.

Been thinking about this in terms of time and of how the “time savings” one (1) person gets from using AI to produce something may cost others their time — perhaps in unpredictable and compounding ways — and drain capacity overall. The *net* effect is not where it should be for such a hard push now.

Silicon Valley startup admits its balloon may have struck United jet, forcing emergency landing A Silicon Valley company says one of its “smart” weather balloons may have struck a United Airlines flight, cracking the cockpit windshield and injuring a pilot.

A Palo Alto company has launched more than 4,000 of its "smart" balloons. Looks like one of them smashed into a United 737.

Everyone was OK, but the pilot did tell passengers, “The aircraft has collided with an object and a window in the cockpit has shattered"

www.sfchronicle.com/travel/artic...

A parking garage, buildings, and trees are reflected by a glass curtain wall in downtown Minneapolis, whose mirrored panes distort the image

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, interesting views from hotel fitness centers

Three workers clean exterior windows high up at 50 South Sixth in downtown Minneapolis, a skyscraper designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and completed in 2001. In the foreground are the dark, square windows of nearby 33 South Sixth, designed by the same firm and built two decades earlier.

Heist in progress at 50 South Sixth in downtown Minneapolis (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 2001)

“It’s obvious the whole convo is off record. There’s disappearing messages and it’s on signal. What is your story? You never even told me about a story.” bit.ly/3J6Godh

The Future of Professional Criticism Looks Something Like This Demand for cultural commentary is higher than it’s ever been—but now that commentary is coming from unconventional new sources.

This year has been grim for professional arts criticism. @skornhaber.bsky.social reports on the fans, stans, and influencers who are filling the gap: