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
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...
KottkeUmmā¦ so this happenedā¦ the godfather of linkblogging somehow came across this silly little site and linked to itā¦ 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 insensitiveā¦ but what on earth did Charlie Kirk do in 2025 to deserve Person of the Year? Besides getting shotā¦ If getting assasinated is the requirement, Iād like to nominate Melissa Hortman and John...
PitchforkKing Gizzard frontperson Stu Mackenzie said in a statement to the Music that he was ātrying to see the irony in this situation.ā He added, āBut seriously wtf we are truly doomed.āContinuing the conversation about āethical...
VogueBut this strangeness is always a stylish statement, unlike, say, Supremeās infamous brick. āA24 chooses objects and ideas that are too strange or too narrow for a normal marketing department, and turns them into talismans,ā says...
Letters from an AmericanThe final document began with a preamble explaining that a UDHR was necessary because ārecognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the...