Sunrise.

Write about whatever you like in the comments.

"There’s something slightly feral about a wet look — it’s sexy, undone hair."

"I have folders of reference photos of River Phoenix and Johnny Depp in the ’90, along with old Hugo Boss and Calvin Klein campaigns."

From "Wet Hair Is Making Waves. Here’s How to Get the Look" (NYT gift link).

Here’s how to get the look... it would be funny if it's just get your hair wet. The headline is a little off. It says "wet hair," but the article isn't about wet hair. It's about the wet hair look. "The important thing is how you build products into the hair," we're told.

You want to look like something it would be easy to be, but without being that thing. This should be a metaphor, but for what?

"Although people had been instructed to leave the animal alone, 'some members of the public continued to stop next to the power pole to film and take pictures of the bear, so the bear remained at the top of the pole'..."

"... the department said in a statement. If animals touch two wires simultaneously, they can be electrocuted, so small birds are usually unharmed, said James Dwyer, a wildlife biologist at EDM International, a consulting firm that works with electric companies. Larger animals like hawks and bears are at greater risk, he said."

From "'Heartbreaking' Video Shows Bear Before It Was Electrocuted Atop Utility Pole/The animal’s plight alarmed onlookers and highlighted the drought conditions that are forcing wild bears closer to where people live in search of food" (NYT gift link).

People need to stop rubbernecking. That link goes to Wikipedia where we learn:

H. L. Mencken said the word rubberneck is "almost a complete treatise on American psychology" and "one of the best words ever coined."

By 1909, rubbernecking was used to describe the wagons, automobiles and buses used in tours around American cities, and through their Chinatowns. The tours included a megaphone-wielding individual offering commentary on the urban landscape. Chinese Rubbernecks was the title of a 1903 film....

I looked for that old film, but didn't find it at YouTube, where I did find this: 

And, via Wikipedia, here's Čumil, a popular sculpture of a rubbernecker that you can pose with if you go to Bratislava:

What is it about us humans, stopping to stare? It's not just that one bear has died because of our rubbernecking. Many have died. And some of us have lived because others refrained from rubbernecking. I count myself in that group.

"The Dane County Farmers’ Market will still take place Saturday morning on the Capitol Square, though organizers say the market 'will look different.'"

"'It is not a celebration of local food, but a space where everyone can find food grown in their community to sustain themselves and be together,' the market said in a social media post."

In case you're thinking of going down to the Farmers' Market.

That's from "'My family needs justice': Relatives of Corey Ruiz speak out for first time since police shooting/Family members spoke at press event with civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who previously represented George Floyd's family" (WPR).

The Farmers' Market is a huge weekly event for ordinary Madisonians who are going about living their normal lives. Free speech is, of course, part of the much-loved tradition.

Here's the Market's Instagram message:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dane County Farmers' Market (@danecofm)

"Ian Andersen cycled into Iran in June 2025, carrying a camping stove, a tent, a flat-tire kit and cigarettes."

"Mr. Andersen, a free-spirited Minnesotan, was documenting a 10,000-mile bike journey from Portugal to Japan for a growing social media audience and had entered the country despite U.S. State Department warnings not to travel there. In one clip, Mr. Andersen, 33, is seen biking a mostly empty road while blaring an explicit, satirical rock anthem about America. In another, he remarks that the State Department’s advisory left opportunities for 'hidden gems.'"

From "Is Instagram’s Latest Travel Trend a Disaster Waiting to Happen? Travel accounts that feature risky, cross-continental journeys are proliferating on social media. Security experts have serious concerns" (NYT gift link). 

Here's that "one clip"

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ian Andersen (@ridewithian)

IN THE COMMENTS: A lot of you want to talk about the "real" Ian Anderson, and I see he's still around. He's 79. Here's the 2022 Jethro Tull album, "The Zealot Gene."

"I just wanted to get to my house — that is it"/"We all just want to do something in this world."

🚨 NOW: Anti-police “protestors” are SURROUNDING a woman’s vehicle in Madison, Wisconsin as she BEGS for them to let her go

Madison is going to end up burning.

BLM is doing their best to make sure of it. pic.twitter.com/dliDbWvNXp

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) July 25, 2026

ADDED: That's not a minor residential intersection but one of the most important intersections in downtown Madison.

Is that E Wash?
Do people understand how important arterial roads are on an isthmus? pic.twitter.com/Bcs9KQnxYw

— JoRL (@spaceghostRL) July 25, 2026

The protesters are not just expressing themselves but demanding that other people stop living their lives freely and become one with the protest.

I am reminded of something Michelle Obama said back in 2008: "Barack Obama ... is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed." You can find that quote in "It’s All About Him," a William Kristol column in the NYT (gift link).

"Is this supposed to be fun? Am I supposed to be serious? Am I supposed to be a comedian?"

Trump finally gets his White House Correspondents' Dinner speech:

Was he just supposed to take up where he left off before he was so rudely interrupted?

"I could never [do] the speech that I had ready just a short while [ago]. Oh, that was going to be a doozy. I was so psyched. I was going to rip people and I don't know, just something changed and it's really for the better. But I just wouldn't want to do that. But we'll do a little ripping if you don't mind...."

ADDED: I just listened to the whole "little ripping." He told a lot of bad jokes, often stopping to ask "who wrote this?" Sample bad joke: "I thought Kaitlan [Collins] had really made it big with a major new sponsorship, but then I [was informed] that it wasn't her on the Bud Light can. It was Dylan Mulvaney."

Then there's the joke he said he thought was the best one: "The other day, a senator I knew got a text, a great guy, from his wife, and she said, 'When you get home, I want to have you immediately come up the stairs and make love to me.' And he said, 'I can't do both.'" He had to say, "Does anybody get that?" And then: "That was actually the only thing I thought was good in this whole freaking stupid speech that they wrote." They wrote. Don't blame him. He's trying to use the old Johnny Carson method of improvising jokes about how the monologue is failing. 

I see he took the same position I took on Graham Platner: "I think Platner might have done surprisingly well because we're in the age of Trump.... People can do well today. Platner, I don't know. But, you know, people don't have the guts to stick it out.... He certainly didn't defend himself very well...."

And here's the joke I thought was the best: "Under my administration, a once-feared and powerful regime that relentlessly attacked America has finally been toppled. Their former leaders have been removed and they're now being run by a gay dictator facing internal divisions. But I for one wish Bari Weiss all the best at CBS News. She's a wonderful woman."

AND: Near the end, he offers "somewhat of a scoop": "My intention to run for a fourth term as President of the United States." He puts on a red "Trump 2028" cap. It's a double joke — that he's running beyond the constitutional term limit and that he's already won more than twice — and he leans into it, to make sure they get it: "I won three times. Now I'm going to do it again.... I'm going to do it again. It should be easy. I'm getting very good at running for President. No, I won three times. Did very well the second time, by the way. It's a rigged election...."

"Police officers killed an unarmed 17-year-old in Northeast Austin on Friday morning in what Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis characterized as 'potentially a suicide by police.'"

"The Austin Police Department responded to a 911 call at 3:51 a.m. Friday about a teen in a parking lot possibly brandishing a gun. Officers responded to the scene and found the 17-year-old, a Black male, on the playground at a community park in the 10100 block of Baden Lane, Davis said at a press conference on Friday afternoon. Body cam footage released by APD on Friday shows officers approaching the playground and telling the teen to keep his hands up repeatedly. Shortly after, the teen appears to lift his shirt and reach for his waistband, and officers immediately fire multiple times, causing him to fall to the ground. Officers shoot again in response to the teen apparently moving on the ground.... Officers didn’t find a gun on the scene. A water bottle was in the teen’s waistband, Davis said."

From "Austin police fatally shoot unarmed teenager in what they say may be 'suicide by police" (KUT News).

How does that sound like suicide by cop? "APD said it determined that the initial 911 call came from the teen’s phone. Audio from the call shared by police starts with the dispatcher asking if the caller needs police, fire, EMS or mental health services. The caller responds with police."

Sunrise.

Talk about whatever you want in the comments.

"You want voters to believe you posted to this account but all of the bad things came from someone else, including a friend who is dead?"

When asked today if he was 100% certain he didn't write any of the offensive posts on the 'Dirt McGirk' Twitter account, David Crowley said, "Look, we would have to go through all of these different posts, but the ones that I've seen that were printed, I did not write those." pic.twitter.com/UWAvPn57n5

— Matt Smith (@mattsmith_news) July 24, 2026

Background: "Controversial old social media account linked to Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Crowley/Crowley's campaign confirmed to NBC News that he registered the account but denied authoring any of the controversial posts, saying it was operated by 10 to 12 others to promote a bar and social club" (WTMJ Milwaukee).

A musical interlude....

... in 3 parts:

Why Madison police don't have body cameras.

Former Madison Mayor Paul Soglin’s perspective on why Madison police don’t have body cameras (Soglin was mayor until 2019): pic.twitter.com/IOg8IzpblU

— Molly Beck (@MollyBeck) July 24, 2026

Looks like the protesters want body cams:

The lakeside breath of freedom.

And here we were talking about that 4:23 a.m. post about Kierkegaard and anxiety:

"His detractors have adopted the 'Never Vance' slogan and flooded social media, especially over the past week, with attacks..."

"... including claims that Vance is 'unfit' to be vice president due to his efforts to negotiate a peace deal with Iran. They have asserted, without evidence, that Vance is making policy decisions not supported by President Donald Trump. They have likened him to former president Barack Obama and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont)...."

I'm reading "Knives are out for Vance in the GOP. His allies say it’s a coordinated ‘op.’ The vice president has faced a barrage of attacks recently that are unusual for their intensity and how early in the political calendar they are taking place" (WaPo)(gift link).

The utter frustration of trying to make Elon Musk understand and care that he is hated.

🚨 Elon Musk just NUKED this reporter to her face in a MASTERCLASS

"People loathe you!"

ELON: "I don't care. The fact that a quarter billion people follow me means a lot more people like me than don't."

"I think a lot more people hate YOU and the MEDIA than you realize!"

🫳🏻🎤 pic.twitter.com/BOj528BGE8

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 23, 2026

"Because the ritual [of land acknowledgment] still treats land as something that can be owned..."

"... it names the theft while leaving the idea of ownership untouched. Indigenous relationships to land were not about possession or title. They were about reciprocity, care, responsibility. Wendy Red Star, an Apsáalooke artist, put it this way: 'The concept of territory is a completely Western idea. When we make land acknowledgments, we’re putting a Western, colonial concept on the relationship between the Native people who were stewards of the land. It’s not ownership.'"

Writes Reid Walker, in "Please Don’t Thank Us for the Land" (NYT gift link).