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
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...
BandcampH/t to Crucial Tracks for this incredible find. So much fun listening through the demos that led to the creation of the best album of the year.
I'm not really supposed to do self-promotion here... but I was featured on What's in my NOW? if you care to give it a gander.
Sticky comicsIn fashion language, white suggests luxury, like, you donāt have to work, because if you worked, youād wear a more practical color that wonāt get stained within 5 minutes. Staying clean is a privilege ā the aristocracy keeps...
Crucial TracksI donāt think itās ethical to use Apple Music, but I DO think itās unethical to use Spotify. I donāt think the āHow to quit Spotifyā article made any point other than finding a more ethical alternative to Spotify, which...
WSJOver the next six months, Van der Velden toiled with her 15-person team to nail down the look of her leading lady, creating 2,000 iterations of an actress unbound by the limits of physical ability, age or talent.In recent weeks, she...
New YorkerIn the months since Geese released its third studio album, āGetting Killed,ā the band has been rhapsodically heralded as the redeemer of a certain kind of noisy, lawless rock and roll.Spoiler alert: Getting Killed is making my...