Flipso

Just in time for the @digg shutdown, here comes flipso.com 🙋🏼‍♂️

Territorial Spirits - A religious studies professor describes how his work on demonology and exorcism drew desperate calls from people seeking help with alleged possessions, and reflects on why exorcism remains culturally powerful in modern America.

Why You Should Never Talk to the Police. Period. - A former prosecutor argues that speaking to police without a lawyer can hurt your case, even if you believe you did nothing wrong. The post advises invoking your right to remain silent and asking for an attorney before answering…

The Undervalley - Why the Bay Area has become a setting for underground-labyrinth horror, from Silicon Valley’s hidden toxic history to the uncanny worlds of Us and Backrooms.

Why We Should Vaccinate Wild Animals - Wild-animal vaccines can reduce zoonotic spillover, protect species from disease-driven decline, and improve animal welfare. From rabies bait programs to new vaccines for threatened wildlife, the article shows how immunizing animals in the…

An interview with Ollie Wagner - Ollie Wagner discusses designing Apple emoji, including the creative constraints, technical tradeoffs, and how familiar symbols are shaped for millions of users.

I Love the Computer - An exploration of how I became a massive geek.

Europe’s Housing Shortages Are Even Worse Than America’s - European housing shortages are often more severe than America’s, and restrictive zoning is a major reason. The piece argues that suburbs and densification are treated differently in Europe, so the politics of housing ref…

Mechanical Watch - Interactive article explaining the mechanics of a mechanical watch movement, including the mainspring, gears, escapement, and balance wheel.

Heikki's Garden of Flowers - An archive of roughly 2,500 pictorial typography and letterpress works spanning four centuries, with images composed from type ornaments, characters, and rules.

Better immigration can help fix the debt - Selectively expanding legal immigration could improve fiscal sustainability. The piece argues for more merit-based visas, better-designed temporary worker programs, and policies that make immigration contribute more to growth and the de…

The Ethics of Space Colonization - A philosophical look at the moral tradeoffs of colonizing space, weighing utilitarian benefits, Kantian duties, virtue ethics, environmental stewardship, social justice, and existential risk.

Alive and Vivid - William Maxwell’s 1980 acceptance speech for the William Dean Howells Medal becomes a meditation on remembering the dead, with Louise Bogan as the example that shaped his life and work. The post reflects on eulogies, literary memory, and why keeping the dead “a…

We Don’t Need the World, We Only Need Money - Charles Hugh Smith argues that replacing fiat money won’t fix deeper problems in values, incentives, or the real-world systems that keep supply chains, energy, and trade functioning. He warns that scarce replacement currencies could…

Banned Book Library - A DIY project that turns a Wi‑Fi smart bulb into a hidden access point for hosting digital copies of banned books. The post walks through the hardware teardown, ESP32C3 firmware experiments, attempts to add storage, and the design tradeoffs of building a lo…

Legible Forager Stories - Early human foragers used language and weapons to help bands coordinate against would-be dominators, and that same power later shaped norm enforcement, politics, and storytelling. The post argues that vivid stories evolved to make people’s motives and n…

Why I email complete strangers - The first time I emailed a stranger, I swear my cursor hovered overSendfor a full five minutes.

Peopleless economy? Terrifyingly enough, not technically impossible

Will China, Inc. Be Zombified? - China may be heading toward Japan-style “zombie” firms: loss-making companies kept alive by rollover loans, below-market credit, and state support. The piece argues this can preserve jobs in the short run but weaken productivity, crowd out health…

Making glass-to-metal seals for homemade vacuum tubes - Step-by-step notes on forming durable glass seals and related glassworking techniques for homemade vacuum tubes, with practical guidance on heating, shaping, joining, and avoiding cracks.

The Game Engine White Papers: Commander Keen - A 214-page, full-color book on how Commander Keen was developed, covering the hardware, game assets, engine internals, and even the CGA version. A free high-res PDF is available, along with source code on GitHub.