my name is branden

World Ice Theory 2026 Jun 6   bigthink.com
In 1894, Austrian engineer Hanns Hörbiger was inventing new types of valves and helping construct the Budapest subway and staring at the Moon so long he started to believe that he was floating in space and also space was made of ice. Hörbiger claimed that "ice moons, ice planets and also 'global ether' (made of ice) controlled the development of the universe." The bullshit continues at length, each additional assertion stupider than the last – the solar system was born when the Sun crashed into a bigger star made of ice; the Milky Way is actually just a ring of ice blocks surrounding us; Noah's flood and Atlantis' disappearance both occurred because ice moons fell to Earth – and Hörbiger defended his idiocy by attacking those who criticized him.

Which made it only natural that famous fascist assholes the Nazis loved his ideas. Physics was Jewish, after all. But World Ice Theory? “Our Nordic ancestors grew strong in ice and snow; belief in the Cosmic Ice is consequently the natural heritage of Nordic Man.”

Luckily, this crackpot theory died along with the Nazis.

Draft Excluders and Walls in Soccer 2026 Jun 5   allaboutfootball.net
Watching the soccer games, sometimes when there is a free kick the players do weird things such as form a human wall or lie on the ground. Why? This linked article explains in detail.

The Outsized Influence of Mediocre Men 2026 Jun 5   deadcarl.com
Linked is an essay reminding us that between the "Great Men of History" theory and its inverse, "history from below," lies that reality that real history can often be understood only by looking at the mediocre men who have found themselves in places of power. As a case study, author Kiran Pfitzner delves into the biograpgy of German Emperor Willhelm II, the most mediocre of men.

Ararat, Virginia 2026 Jun 5   en.wikipedia.org
When Noah's Ark after forty days and forty nights finally came to rest on land, the Bible says it was on the "mountains of Ararat." It's contentious (of course) but this is generally identified with a mountain in Turkey near the Armenian border. A few alternate mountains have been suggested over the years, but none of them have ever been in the North American state of Virginia. So why is there in that state an 'Ararat'?

Well, according to an unsourced Wikipedia statement added all the way back in September 2007:

The large monadnock mountain was thought to resemble a bullfrog and the Native Americans named it "Ratratrat," after the sound the animal makes. Early white settlers thought what they were saying sounded like "Ararat."

Is it true? Unclear. Is it plausible? Well, yes.

The Vorkosigan Saga Reading Order Debate: The Chef Recommends 2026 May 27   dendarii.com
Lois McMaster Bujold herself in 2012 wrote:

Many pixels have been expended debating the 'best' order in which to read what have come to be known as the Vorkosigan Books, the Vorkosiverse, the Miles books, and other names, since I neglected to supply the series with a label myself. The debate now wrestles with some fourteen or so volumes and counting, and mainly revolves around publication order versus internal-chronological order. I favor internal chronological, with a few caveats.

I, of course, am reading them entirely out of order.

1800s American fascination with Ancient Egypt was also racist 2026 May 7   theconversation.com
In a revelation that shouldn't surprise me, early Americans fascinated with Ancient Egypt were everywhere – naming the city of Memphis, designing the US dollar bill note, reinterpreting our culture as being a direct descendant – but also identifying not with the Hebrews seeking from slavery, but with the Egyptian aristocracy who owned those slaves. This The Conversation article from October 2025 explains it all, also recalling recent entries here linking New Orleans to North Africa.

Algiers, New Orleans 2026 May 7   noirnnola.com
Speaking of New Orleans places named after Northern African things, there's Algiers Point. The part of the city "cross the river" from the famous French Quarter and the other more-famous locales, Algiers and Algiers Point yet remain an intrinsic part of the Big Easy. But, is there any connection between the names Algiers and it's near neighbor Arabi?

Well, no. But it takes some digging to find that out, as none of the various Algiers, New Orleans histories online dip into its etymology. Even the official Algiers Historical Society, despite listing other place names the location has worn, doesn't touch upon how it acquired its current designation.

But the linked Noir 'N Nola article from 2020 does. There, it outlines the area's early and deep-rooted connection to the slave history of our country, as the site that many Africans first touched soil in North America, enslaved. As the author Cierra Chenier says:

It’s said that the very name comes from the view of the site from The Quarter -- the hundreds of Black figures seen from across the river reminded the Europeans of Algeria in Africa. Hence, the name Algiers. By 1731, 99% of Algiers’ population was enslaved, making it “the largest concentration of people of African ancestry in the entire region.”

Yikes.

The paper Chenier links in the above quote goes a slightly different direction, however. In it, Tulane University geographer Richard Campanella tells how the country of Algeria "had come to the attention of Americans, and particularly New Orleanians" during the 1815 Second Barbary War. The USA, incensed by Algerian piracy, dispatched Commodore Stephen Decatur to put an end to it, which he did by defeating the Dey. "The action made Decatur a national hero, this being the first major foreign engagement of the U.S. Years later, New Orleans would rename Levee Street to honor Decatur." Campanella further expounds:

Secondly, in the late 1820s, France ... sent troops to colonize Algiers. To New Orleans’ French-speaking population, who were pointedly proud of their mother country, the name of Algiers ... took on positive symbolic meaning—just the sort of thing marketers like to tap into. It’s unclear who first applied the names “Algiers” ... to [this] particular West Bank subdivision, but, then as now, catchy names help sell real estate, all the more if they instill a sense of pride. “Algiers” as a neighborhood name started appeared in newspapers in the 1830s... In this same era, a number of uptown streets were named to commemorate Napoleon’s conquests, with a principle avenue named for the emperor himself. That same intersection of ethnic pride with real estate marketing probably explains Algiers.

I am more convinced by this second etymology.

Letter to Ted Turner from his father [PDF] 2026 May 7   bu.edu
In light of Ted Turner's passing, the linked letter is making the rounds. Undated but likely circa 1956, it's from Ted's father, Robert, owner of a billboard company, and is chastising Ted's decision to study classics at Brown University. The quick and entertaining three-page read starts by saying that he "almost puked" before describing the works of Plato and Aristotle as "useless deliberation," and concludes with "I think you are rapidly becoming a jackass" (a sentence I could use in my personal repertoire). "You are in the hands of the Philistines, and dammit, I sent you there. I am sorry. Devotedly, DAD". Nothing like a father's love, is there?

The letter may have struck a nerve, as Ted would switch his major to Economics prior to his expulsion for fraternizing with a woman. And Robert, sadly, would commit suicide a few short years later, effectively making Ted president of the family business at just 24 years old.

Arabi, Louisiana 2026 May 3   en.wikipedia.org
Next on my recurring fascination with unusual place names comes the small New Orleans satellite community of Arabi.

In 1517, the Ottoman Turks conquered Egypt from the Mamluks, themselves having overthrown the Ayyubids about three centuries prior. The Ottomans remained in power but suffered a gradual decline in authority, brought to a head when Muhammad Ali formalized autonomy within the empire in the early 19th century. What all of these various rulers of Egypt had in common is that none of them were ethnically Egyptian or even Arab. So, when Ali's dynasty worked on modernizing the land and turning it into a European-style nation, the khedive rulers championed removing the age-old formalized disenfranchisement of the locals.

Enter Ahmed Urabi, an Egyptian coming on the first wave from the common villages into political power, rising through the military ranks into government office at the forefront of resisting foreign influence. "Foreign" here meaning less Ottoman, since the Sultan couldn't seem to be bothered, but rather France and Britain, to whom Egypt found itself indebted in its efforts towards modernity, notably the recently-completed Suez Canal. So when Urabi's movement erupted into open revolt, it was British troops they were fighting against, sparking the interest of the international community.

That's all to say that when residents on the rough-and-tumble outskirts of New Orleans were fighting back against centralized control – attempts at regulating their slaughterhouses as well as the sometimes-illegal after-hour entertainment of those workers – the residents found inspiration via their newspaper in the exploits of Ahmed Urabi (although the American journalists at the time were calling him Arabi Pasha).

Things didn't end terribly for Urabi. Sure, his revolt was defeated and he was banished to Sri Lanka. But it was only temporary, since his aims of Egyptian sovereignty were soon realized anyway, and he was able to live out the rest of his life in newly-independent Egypt.

And this is how a small Louisiana industrial community came to be named most unusually after an Egyptian national hero.

What gear does a stormchaser use? 2026 Apr 27   severestorms.com.au
Stormchaser Daniel Shaw lays out on his webpage the exact gear he uses to keep himself connected, updated, and safe while tracking tornadoes.

Cenepa War 2026 Apr 11   en.wikipedia.org
The last military conflict over territory in the Western Hemisphere was in 1995, a brief war between Ecuador and Peru. Someone on Wikipedia wrote:

The Cenepa War was the most recent military clash between Ecuador and Peru over a long-standing territorial dispute that dated back to the first decades of the 19th century, when both countries came into being after the Wars of Independence of the Spanish colonies in South America.

Synecdoche vs. Metonymy 2026 Mar 30   englishstudyonline.org
Besides being fun-to-say words with Ancient Greek etymologies, synecdoche and metonymy both (erroneously trigger my browser's spell check and) are very similar concepts: a word used in substitution of another. An example would be city hall in the phrase "You can't fight City Hall," where it refers not to the literal building itself, but to the associated government. But when is something synecdoche and when is it metonymy?

I searched the internet far and wide (5 minutes) for an answer not excreted by an AI (I think) and found the linked page. Regardless of whether it's slop, the article very thoroughly says what I believe I can summarize much more concisely: it's synecdoche when the substituted word is a part of the subject (e.g. wheels for "car"), and metonymy when the substituted word is simply related (e.g. Wall Street for the New York City financial markets).

Now off with ye.

What's My ΔE(OK) JND? 2026 Mar 30   keithcirkel.co.uk
Another color game, this one tests your ability to discern between two increasingly similar shades.

Public Open Spaces in Downtown San Francisco 2026 Mar 30   downtownsf.org
One of those things that most visitors to San Francisco have probably experienced but not realized were a thing are some of the privately owned but public open spaces in downtown, such as some of the micro forests and rooftop gardens. About ten years ago, I made a list and visited as many as I could in one day. Perhaps it's time to return.

What's up with those "VEKS EVICT" stickers? 2026 Mar 26   blog.lauramichet.com
Inexplicable graffiti stickers are always everywhere, such as this one I spotted recently in Campbell, California: I don't know why I bother searching for deeper meaning, as if I live in Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49, yet I keep doing so. Los Angeles video game designer Laura Michet had a similar curiosity October a year ago:

I'm sure that this is a two-person project, since you can google up each of these graffiti writers individually and find traces of them online. I've wondered whether more than two people are putting them up, though - they're incredibly dense, all over the city. Most of the time when I'm riding on a major stroad or artery in the city, I'll see one of these at least once a minute - often more frequently! Apparently, you can find them in Toronto and SF too.

The Completionist a "con artist"? 2026 Mar 16   reddit.com
Here's a sure sign I'm losing the plot: in a world increasingly wracked by hatred and divisiveness and war, I'm busying myself digging through YouTuber drama.

And what juicy drama it is.

While watching a recent hour-long video on the history of the TV show X-Play, I found out that G4 TV returned from the dead briefly in 2021~2022. And among the old hosts, some new ones included Jirard Khalil, aka The Completionist. I happened to have met Khalil years ago when staffing the fandom convention circuit, when "The Completionist" was Jirard but also this guy Greg Wilmot. And when several years later The Completionist returned as a guest but sans-Greg, naturally I wanted to know what happened. Except I dared not ask Jirard himself, and nobody else on Guest Relation convention staff would (or maybe could) tell me.

So now here we are, over a decade later and being reminded about The Completionist, I think to myself 'surely someone in that interval must have investigated this drama'.

Well. They have, just not how I expected. The original falling out is now documented suchly: Greg and Jirard in 2015 had a pretty severe if hazy difference of opinion, one which included Greg two years later going so far as asking all 120 of his episodes be removed from YouTube. Jirard complied, putting in what must have tons of work when re-completing all the games that previously featured Greg. And that's where things remained.

Until last year. Enter another video game YouTuber named Karl Jobst. Jobst is (in)famous for accusing video game celebrity Billy Mitchell of cheating at his Donkey Kong high score by using a modified arcade cabinet. Mitchell has since successfully sued Jobst for slander and bankrupted him. But Jobst also made a second investigation: Jirard Khalil's charity, Open Hand Foundation. Open Hand, through a fundraiser called IndieLand, raised over $600k for dementia research. In a 2023 video (with drama still ongoing) Jobst accused Jirard of taking the entire sum for himself. And Jirard, unlike Billy Mitchell, admitted guilt, was fired from most of his engagements, took a long hiatus from YouTube, and is now subject to a criminal embezzlement investigation.

And in the fallout of all that, Greg reactivates his old reddit account to post a message explaining that all this is why him and Jirard had the falling out way back when.

Well... damn. That's not what I expected when I began this journey.

remembering colors. 2026 Mar 8   dialed.gg
Reminding me of the game in #224, here is a simple web game all about remembering a color and how difficult it is to do.

Full dressing 2026 Mar 5   hzhmarine.com

If you have ever been to a port during a national holiday or a major celebration, you have likely seen a vessel looking like it is decorated for a massive party. This stunning display, where a ship is covered from bow to stern in colorful flags, is known as Full Dressing (or Dressing Overall).

Kotel and Ultra Orthodoxy 2026 Feb 27   urj.org

The Reform Movement unequivocally condemns the preliminary vote in the Israeli Knesset to advance legislation that would criminalize egalitarian Jewish worship at the Western Wall, one of Judaism’s holiest and most-enduring symbols. If enacted, the proposed bill by MK Avi Maoz of the far-right Noam party would render forms of Jewish prayer not sanctioned by the ultra-Orthodox Chief Rabbinate punishable by up to seven years in prison. 

This alarming proposal represents an unprecedented attempt to criminalize mainstream Jewish worship in the Jewish state. It is a direct affront to Jews in Israel, North America, and across the globe who pray in egalitarian settings. 

Israel has since its inception enjoyed (and, debatably, required) support of diaspora Jews such as myself. Yet the Israeli government's actions of late – actions inconsistent with Jewish teachings and practice – have made it troubling to continue that support, even before the abuse of Gaza. And now Israeli parliament takes another step in distancing itself from Reform Judaism, pushing Haredi practice into laws such as this. For a country asking us Jews to stand together in unity, they sure are working hard to dismantle that cohesion.

Atherstone Ball Game 2026 Feb 23   reddit.com
In "barely a sport" world news, last week was the Atherstone Ball Game.

The ball gets thrown from the offices above Mark Webster estate agents at 3pm by a local respected member of the community and from 3pm to 4.30pm, it's for the women/kids to have a try, and it's very tame. When the claxon sounds at 4.30pm, that's when it gets feral. Whoever is holding the ball when the claxon sounds again at 5pm is declared the winner. The prize: being able to say you won it and a free pint at The Stag & Pheasant. All the shops down Long Street are boarded up in preparation. If the game falls during term time, schools close early for it! In the weeks running up to the game, the ball is taken to various places (shops, schools, businesses) for people to sign it.