The Independent Variable
The Independent Variable
Kevin Humdrum
Welcome to The Independent Variable, the official linkblog of the interwebs covering culture, politics, sports, and tech since 2012.
Latest Posts
NY TimesIn 2021, a convicted fraudster named Adriana Camberos was freed from prison when President Trump commuted her sentence. Rather than taking advantage of that second chance, prosecutors said, Ms. Camberos returned to crime. She and...
THRIt is not clear what the executive order will say, or what legal mechanism there is to enforce an exclusive broadcast window. FCC chairman Brendan Carr reposted Trump on Sunday, which is suggestive of the order being directed at his...
ProPublicaShe wouldnāt. In a region that had legislated its commitment to life, she would spend her final days struggling to find anyone to save hers.I admit, Iām a bit heated right now, and there are obviously a lot of parties at fault...
...I just gotta get Kottke to link to Foofaraw somehow... So if you're the magical person who got this site in front of Jason last week, this is directed at you. Go tell him about Foofaraw, a zine of surreal storytelling and worldly...
Did you know we produce a little single-page zine every month about the prior month's news? And you can get it in your mailbox on some nice paper too! What's better than getting something in the mail? UpgradeWe are a bit late this month...
KottkeUmm⦠so this happened⦠the godfather of linkblogging somehow came across this silly little site and linked to it⦠bringing over 4,000+ visitorsā¦I donāt ever go into the Ghost dashboard, so I had no idea until just now as I was...
YouTubeI donāt know about you, but I could definitely use a break from all of the news and this feels like the perfect antidote to give my mental sanity a little rest.
NY TimesItās laughable it took this long.The FBI and and anyone who has had their image created or depicted in an explicit manner should be going after Elon Musk, X, and use everything within their legal power to identify the people...
BirchtreeI got into the irony of 2nd Amendment fanatics saying they needed gun for if the government sent masked men into their streets yelling, āpapers pleaseā, only to then cheer for those masked men when they did take to the...
The EconomistIām blowing up ships in international waters, breaking domestic and international laws, invading other countries, asking people for their papers on the street and rounding them up based on inherent traits, and participating...
BirchtreeIāve come to the conclusion that streaming music platforms are a shared lie we all agree to that suggests weāre paying for music when weāre actually may as well be pirating it, we just pay $10 a month to keep the cops away.Itās...
404 MediaUsers voted to restrict Anthropicās Claude to its own channel, but Jason Clinton, Anthropicās Deputy Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and a moderator in the Discord, overrode them.The word of the year might be Slop, but...
BlotNew theme fo the Blot CMS I use learned about via their newsletter. Itās styled after Obsidian Publish and looks terrific. Making me think I should give a digital garden another goā¦
TheWrapThis might come across as insensitive⦠but what on earth did Charlie Kirk do in 2025 to deserve Person of the Year? Besides getting shot⦠If getting assasinated is the requirement, Iād like to nominate Melissa Hortman and John...