Odds and Ends — 8 February 2026

Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, AI, and Debt:

Bitcoin difficulty plunges, Buterin sells off Ethereum

Japan's Crypto Industry Faces Critical Test Ahead of Snap Election

Flash Fiction:

I’d been out all night but didn’t think anything of it when I’d gotten back to my dorm and my roommate wasn’t there. Later, in the common room, everyone was talking about him. Turns out he had taken three tabs of LSD, learned that he was a bird, and went out our window to fly. Luckily, our room was on the second floor and he only broke a leg.

Written for this prompt.

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Local political climate tied to COVID vaccine uptake

Politics:

https://twitter.com/BachmannRudi/status/2020197993224507606

https://twitter.com/hissgoescobra/status/2020223038227427502

———— Minnesota Under Siege ————

https://twitter.com/tripgabriel/status/2020160210791215552
https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan/status/2020195704434806907

https://twitter.com/NortonMpls/status/2020196915233640686

https://twitter.com/robin4mpls/status/2020165849475068189

https://twitter.com/DSchrantz/status/2019866961895911432

Minneapolis tells residents to stop building anti-ICE barricades, but they keep popping up

Minneapolis officials are urging residents not to block traffic as neighbors build makeshift checkpoints to slow and track federal immigration agents.

https://twitter.com/Meidas_LaurenA/status/2019901670994637202

https://twitter.com/NortonMpls/status/2019967442211205382

https://twitter.com/TheJFreakinC/status/2020221253114819022

———— The Epstein Coverup ————

https://twitter.com/TheMaineWonk/status/2019953705739776311

https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/2019811623033012632

https://twitter.com/aliasvaughn/status/2019943731466760518

Morgan McSweeney resigns as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff

Longtime aide has said he takes ‘full responsibility’ for advising PM to appoint Peter Mandelson as US ambassador

https://twitter.com/Stare_Lawdee/status/2020260606566342814

https://twitter.com/peterjukes/status/2019921352782696616

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/2020288349907673420

———— Tulsi Gabbard ————

https://twitter.com/leftcoastbabe/status/2019674779817738404

Richardson’s essay is available here.

https://twitter.com/JoyceWhiteVance/status/2020195826350375395

https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/2020192706723795286

https://twitter.com/LuisMorenolg/status/2020198858509181280

https://twitter.com/hissgoescobra/status/2020292565799735798

https://twitter.com/RobertJMolnar/status/2020265131641541026

———— Concentration Camps ————

https://twitter.com/WajahatAli/status/2019592517751304318

https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/2020174642829488325

https://twitter.com/hissgoescobra/status/2020223760570413460

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/2020187621855752287

———— Autocracy R Us ————

https://twitter.com/thejackhopkins/status/2020203663965208841

ICE’s growing surveillance state

ICE has constructed a digital dragnet that captures and retains massive amounts of data about all of us, citizens and noncitizens alike.

https://twitter.com/JonLemire/status/2020261490075341135

———— Blatant In-Your-Face Corruption ————

https://twitter.com/Daractenus/status/2020205455889347062

———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————

https://twitter.com/MikaAaltola/status/2019658030418133143

Russian general shot several times in Moscow

https://twitter.com/CatherineBelton/status/2019916436357968194

https://twitter.com/JayinKyiv/status/2020141119162429651

———— Hegseth on the Rocks ————

https://twitter.com/JimLaPorta/status/2019963085860360689

https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/2020197946197709255

https://twitter.com/4HumanUnity/status/2020143015226966461

———— Mors Imperii ————

https://twitter.com/davetroy/status/2020005605990363574

Serendipity:

https://twitter.com/SketchesbyBoze/status/2019886304939634993

https://twitter.com/Kasparov63/status/2020161266543644937

After Almost a Century, Readers Close Mass Market Paperbacks

E-books and pricier formats push cheap pocket novels toward extinction

https://twitter.com/SandyofCthulhu/status/2020241732517130568

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