Ṣumūd (Arabic: صمود, meaning “steadfastness” or “steadfast perseverance”; derived from the verb صمدṣamada, meaning “to defy, brave, withstand”) is a Palestinian cultural value, ideological theme and political strategy that emerged in the wake of the 1967 Arab–Israeli War among the Palestinian people as a consequence of their oppression and the resistance it inspired. People who exhibit ṣumūd are referred to as ṣāmidīn (صامدين), the singular forms of which are ṣāmid (صامد, m.) and ṣāmida (صامدة, f.).
I saw a Bluesky post earlier about the Oscars having an anti-union past and so I looked it up and found a Teen Vogue article about union-busting “at the roots of the ceremony”.
The story goes that Louis B. Mayer, co-founder of MGM (he’s the last M), wanted a beach house made quickly and cheapily so rather than using regular labourers, he got some studio construction workers to do it. While they started unionising, he feared that actors and directors would do the same, so he decided to do something covert about it:
Mayer founded the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in 1927. AMPAS was initially designed to seem like an advocate for employees, effectively trying to replace the need for a union. However, membership in the organization was by invite only, and its loyalties clearly rested with management. Peter Decherney, a professor of cinema studies and author of Hollywood and the Cultural Elite tells Teen Vogue, “The Academy promised to be this industry-wide body that could help set standards. It never worked that way. It was often dismissed as the studio-heads’ union.”
The desire for industry control also inspired the creation of the Academy Awards in 1929. After a number of scandals, the awards offered an opportunity to generate positive publicity. Mayer is even quoted in one of his biographies specifically identifying the awards as a means for creative control. He said if he gave filmmakers “cups and awards, they’d kill themselves to produce what I wanted.”
Now the Oscars is a huge annual event and the pinnacle of film awards. But, much like the Grammy Awards, its history has been full of controversy and antiquated practices not including the anti-labour practices that inspired it.
Arizona’s Wildlife World Zoo had a contest to name their new pygmy hippo. Visitors had a choice between Cadbury, Twixi, Jellybean, and Taffy and the winner was… Jellybean!
Happy Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year, Tujia New Year, Tsagaan Sar, Hmong New Year, Ryukyu New Year, Korean New Year, and Vietnamese New Year to those who celebrate, in whatever way you celebrate, and in whatever name you call it around the world!
I’m honoured to have engineer and musician incognitothief as my next interviewee.
What is favourite city in the world?
Mumbai. Every single crack and crevice of the city is alive. The energy is incomparable to even Los Angeles or New York.
What’s the most unusual item you take everywhere you go?
There are a few items I would rather not mention.. In general though, I keep a notebook with me.
Why do you do what you do?
I am an engineer and a musician. I have been a musician longer than I have been an engineer and music is something I take to naturally. I love it; I don’t think I will ever put it down. When it comes to engineering, I feel that I operate out of necessity. As far as I know, engineering is just a material extension of curiosity and if I have an idea, more often than not I like to test it. On the rare occasion that those two practices intersect… sparks fly.
The latest occasion being the discovery of faircamp.
When I realized that there was an established method for musicians to separate from mainstream audio platforms, reclaim autonomy, and have a fighting chance at redefining what it means to publish music online.. A grenade was tossed into my imagination. I immediately set out to investigate and break down any barriers for a non-technical user.
Approximately 15 days later, version zero of The Public Library was born. A public infrastructure, network aggregator for independent streamers with the intention of building tools to make it easier to become independent and increase the opportunities for those who choose to remain (or participate as an) independent (you can read the documentation on docs.whereditgo.diamonds)
I am a digital artist, and this is my craft. I have other interests.. but I could not escape this work even if I tried.
Getting rid of ICE won’t solve all the inherent problems behind what is called “law enforcement” but it’d be a start because the constant funding and murdering can’t continue if we want a better world. Solidarity with Minneapolis and every person who has been a victim of fascism.
Once the second-most common U.S. restaurant type, pizzerias are now outnumbered by coffee shops and Mexican food eateries, according to industry data. Sales growth at pizza restaurants has lagged behind the broader fast-food market for years, and the outlook ahead isn’t much brighter.
I guess it makes sense as tastes and levels of disposable income change, not to mention the ever-increasing cuisine options. And it’s not just the US either as UK pizza outlets like Pizza Hut and Pizza Express have struggled for many years as other fast-food competitors take a piece of the pie (no pun intended) and supermarkets take more slices too.
YouTube recommended this to me (maybe because of all the mediocre Hallmark movies I’ve been watching this Christmas) and I haven’t laughed so hard in a while. I’m not above a good fart gag and this video of The Holiday with farts—and the whole channel to be fair—knows how to pull them off.
Venezuela is going through a lot of sociopolitical turmoil with the illegal capture and arrest of its president, Nicolas Maduro. There are lots of contrasting feelings from its citizens—relief that Maduro has been removed (at least in person) but also worry about the future given that Trump did it and claims that the US will “run” the country now.
So the reason I’m writing this is to 1) help me educate myself more on the country and some of its cultural history (as I have done for countries like Australia and Argentina) and also draw more attention to the cultures rather than just associations with political warfare and dictatorships.
The history of Venezuela
There are two stories about where the name Venezuela came from. The main one was from Amerigo Vespucci (the guy who likely gave his name to “America”) who said that areas in the country reminded him of Venice this calling it Veneziola, or “Little Venice” and then the Spanish version “Venezuela” was later adopted. The other came from one of his crew mates, Martín Fernández de Enciso, who claimed the indigenous people called themselves the Veneciuela.
The Venezuelan flag (above) has three horizontal stripes of yellow, blue, and red, with an arch of 8 white stars in the middle representing the seven signatories to the Venezuelan declaration of independence and the Guayana Province. The flag originally had 7 stars with the eighth was controversially added by Hugo Chavez in 2006.
Venezuela was colonized by Spain in 1522 and gained indepedence in 1811.
Venezuela’s official motto is Dios y Federación or “God and Federation” in English
Admin stuff
Venezuela is the 33rd largest country in the world in terms of land area.
The capital of Venezuela is Caracas which is also its largest city.
Spanish is the most-spoken official language of Venezuela, with Castillian as the official “mother tongue”.
Venezuela has an estimated population of about 31.3 million people but due to how the figures are gathered, other sources range from 28.3–33.7 million.
The currency of Venezuela is the Venezuelan bolívar.
The average life expectancy in Venezuela is about 72–73 years.
The Venezuelan economy is the world’s 69th-largest by nominal terms, and the 77th-largest by PPP.
Venezuelans drive on the right-hand side.
Venezuela’s largest export is crude oil (ahem) with the US being its biggest customer (AHEM) (source)
Food and drink
Venezuela’s national dish is creole pavilion consisting of white rice, stewed shredded beef, fried plantains (known as tajadas), and stewed black beans
Other popular foods include arepa, which is a round, flat bread made from maize, hallaca, traditionally served during Christmas, and cachapas which are corn pancakes.
The legal drinking and alcohol purchase ages are 18.
In 2023, Venezuela imported $17.1 million of hard liquor, primarily from the UK (source)
The arts
The Museum of Contemporary Art of Caracas (MACC) is home to thousands of pieces including works by Matisse, Picasso, and Rodin
Notable Venezuelan writers include former president Rómulo Gallegos, Arturo Uslar Pietri, Antonia Palacios, Rafael Cadenas, and Karina Sainz Borgo.
The literacy rate in Venezuela is about 97% (source)
Sport
Baseball, basketball, and soccer are the most popular sports in Venezuela.
Athletes representing Venezuela have won three medals at Summer and Winter Olympics (Asnoldo Devonish, bronze in 1952; Francisco Rodríguez, gold in 1968; Naomi Soazo, Paralympic gold in 2008).
Coleo is a traditional sport played mainly in Venezuela and Colombia with small groups of llaneros or cowboys on going after cattle on horseback attempting to flip them over (naturally, it’s a dangerous sport for animals and humans)
Nature and geography
The highest mountain on the Venezuelan mainland is Pico Simón Bolívar (5,720 m)
Venezuela is home to over 1,400 bird species
The Venezuelan troupial is Venezuela’s national bird
The national flower is the flor de Mayo
The white-bearded helmetcrest is exclusive to northwestern Venezuela
Venezuela is also home to capybara, manatees, and Orinoco crocodiles
Angel Falls is a waterfall in Venezuela and the world’s tallest uninterrupted waterfall, with a height of nearly 1 km (3,212 ft)
Firstly, happy new year everyone. I hope 2026 is even more prosperous than 2025.
It’s that time of year again: 1st January is Public Domain Day as I’ve documented in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025. This year, that means that certain works of art from 1930 become free of copyright in the US and available to the public to do what they want with it and without permission.
The biggest names include Betty Boop, Pluto (when he was known as Rover), and the first four Nancy Drew mysteries.
Below you will find a list of works from 1930 you might find interesting. As always, check works from any years prior to 1930 to make absolutely sure you follow any licence requirements (if there are any), particularly in other countries or regions such as the EU. That’s because copyrights may have been extended or follow slightly different laws outside of the US. Happy hunting!
My son found this yesterday and I was intrigued to see what made the list in the last 64 years. A lot of the early stuff was alien to me but as it entered the 80s, it all made sense and then as it went through the 2000s and 2010s, I was clueless again.
I was also surprised not to see Woody and Buzz Lightyear feature anywhere from 1995–1999. I wanted those so badly and only managed to get a Woody toy that wasn’t the “proper” one thank to my auntie in the US. They were all sold out everywhere. Maybe one day, Buzz…
The Christmas period isn’t over yet so keep the festivities going with this beautiful cat “singing” Jingle Bells with its meows. And as a bonus, you can watch the cat unwrapping their presents.
