What Happens Next

Spotlight: What Happens Now?

Hello there, dear reader. I want to start this issue off with a bit of a heart-to-heart.

Let's talk about the State of Stuff, and where my head is at regarding the direction of Stuff Keeps Happening as well as the general… everything.

The "Big Beautiful Bill" was signed into law here in the United States. Among it's nearly 1,000 pages of single-party legislative goals are cuts to public health spending, increases to student loan payments, removals of climate initiative investments, and tax cuts which continue to overwhelmingly support the richest people and corporations.

Of course, it also expands the budget for ICE—our immigration enforcement agency—by effectively 10x, with intentions to hire thousands of new agents and fast-track their violent deportation efforts against non-criminal immigrants.

And so, I want to take a second to address the elephant in the room: shit's not good, and it's not going to be good, and I do not think it is healthy for me to produce a show where I tell you all about all the new bad things going on.

I have spent the past several years covering the failures of the Biden admin to protect the most vulnerable populations, the unchecked idiocy of the Trump admin, the nonstop and unconscionable violence in Gaza, and the ongoing atrocities right here at home. While I will not stop being loud about these issues, I also have to manage my own stress and wellbeing. Covering the nonstop flood of child death… it can take a toll.

Aight, So… What?

This may be surprising, but I don't really consider myself a news boy. I know I am, and I know virtually my entire following knows me as "crowbar news guy," but that's just not my internal identity. I see myself as a creative, and Stuff Keeps Happening is just what happens when you take my creative desire to make things that people enjoy and mix it with my endless head-desking at the firehose of news.

I have many other ongoing projects, such as my tabletop role-playing game, Proscenium. I also have an expansive online community called The Astral Campgrounds, which I plan to talk more about in the near-ish future. Beyond that, I stream regularly, and have several other smaller projects ongoing. All of this is in addition to researching, writing, performing, editing, and publishing Stuff Keeps Happening, which I would loathe to halt work on.

SKH is not going away, no worries. I also don't intend to change it's schedule right now, aside from continuing to release new issues later in the day on Mondays than I was doing before.

Instead, I want to make sure I feature a better mixture of content in each issue—with more focus on world news, science, humanities, technology, and gaming. While I've never shied away from political coverage, I feel that it has taken up too much of my headspace—and thus—taken up too much of a percentage of SKH for a long time. It used to be a single part of the larger whole, but I feel it has become the core component of the publication.

I won't stop covering political issues or injustices. In fact, that's still quite a lot of this particular issue. But instead of filling a quota of specifically "policy" stories, I'm going to refine the common sections of the newsletter to just be "Stateside" and "Elsewhere" regarding geopolitics and major current events. The rest of the newsletter will be dedicated to other topics.

Additionally, I plan to cover fewer total topics, but provide more insight and discussion on the ones that I do choose to discuss. I love learning about the world, and hope to share that love with the rest of you. I think it will be healthy for both myself and all of the folks who read, watch, and listen to my work if we spent more time talking about varied subjects and less time about the nonstop bullshit from the States.

That said, if something does come up which I feel deserves a focused discussion, my plan is to start making topical videos outside of my usual production schedule. I won't guarantee those will be frequent, but that will help keep the normal issues of SKH from falling into this endless cycle of, "well, I wanted to talk about a heist, but we just stripped a shitload of human rights away from people again so that seems… more pressing."

My purpose on this Earth is to increase the number of smiles in the world. I want to do that however I can.

Thank you so much for reading Stuff Keeps Happening. If you find value in my work and are currently either not subscribed or on a free subscription, it would mean the world if you would consider a paid subscription starting at $5/mo to support this effort. I am deeply aware that $5/mo can be a significant commitment for people, so please don't feel pressured to subscribe unless it is reasonable for your situation.

Take care, be well, and now on to the rest of the dang thing. Because despite the world dragging us down, Life Keeps Happening.

Stateside

Texas Flooding Claim Lives

Sudden rapid flooding in central Texas (northwest of San Antonio) resulted in the deaths of over 80 people at time of writing, at least 20 of whom were young girls who were attending an all-girls summer camp in the area.

In the aftermath of the flooding, area officials spent their time pointing fingers first at each other, then at the National Weather Service, and then again to each other. Surprisingly, none of the affluent white dudes in positions of power took responsibility for a total breakdown of interior safety on their watch in some way that could lead to material improvements.

The reality of the situation appears to be a mixture of problems. The immediate reaction from many anti-MAGA folks was to cite Trump's cuts to NOAA and NWS as a direct precursor to this event. On the other side, they were blaming NOAA and NWS as having not provided helpful enough information, but stopped short of citing that it was due to Trump's deep cuts to the agencies.

Meteorologists disagree with the assessment of the quality of work from the National Weather Service, instead saying that given the available data, the work done by the meteorologists was as good as could be reasonably expected.

The actual crux of the issue appears to have come down to communication. The NWS did indeed send out several early warning flooding alerts, including "major threat to life and property" alerts. However, reporting has shown that a key role in the region's NWS office was missing: the person whose job it was to coordinate with local and rural emergency response networks.

So all of the higher level officials are claiming they got bad advice from agencies, while lower level officials seem to be pointing blame at other officials, while the NWS was likely working with the best data they could, but the guy who would have coordinated with emergency networks took Trump's buyout offer, leaving a hole in their system. The White House is claiming this has nothing to do with "budget cuts," since it was technically a buyout offer that the person previously in that role took.

So was it Trump's fault? Not really, kinda sorta. I mean yes—obviously, he played a role in contributing to the confluence of problems here. But there's more at play than just that one decision. Lack of investment in local infrastructure, lack of urgency upon receiving emergency alerts, lack of trust and investment in scientific organizations whose sole purpose is to help us not die from floods. Oh, and rainfall that caused the river to surge nearly 30 feet in under an hour. That'll do it, too.

To be obnoxious about it, I'd say it's more accurate to say this situation is another in a long line of disasters which probably would have happened regardless but were made far, far worse due to a combination of inaction—and worse—action from our leadership.

I wanna end this story by saying that there's been an ongoing conversation about people within the United States angrily saying that people in states that went for Trump "deserve what they voted for." I understand that frustration. I know that most people don't truly mean to imply that every single person in those states—including children and those who voted against Trump and his cronies—deserve death.

But not everyone thinks that clearly. A low-fidelity, highly-emotional assertion such as, "they get what they voted for," does harm to the nearly 50% of the population in those areas who have had their lives ruined and voices suppressed by leadership who does not represent their values. Yes, there's MAGA people there, too. But there's MAGA people in every state in the union. Our voting system is busted and makes it seem like states are either fully Democrat or Republican, but that's just not the case. But between rampant gerrymandering and a fundamentally stupid presidential vote counting system, the political maps deeply misrepresent actual on-the-ground sentiment.

America Party

After his wildly public break-up with Donald Trump, Elon Musk has announced on Twitter that he will be forming a new political party: the America Party.

Now, let's start off by clarifying that this is not yet a political party, just a thing Elon tweeted about a bunch. At time of writing, no actual party has been registered, and you cannot change your affiliation to it or anything like that.

Musk says the party will be "for everyone," and keeps talking about representation for "the middle," which is concerning given he doesn't seem to have a grasp on any basic reality, such as how its a bad thing to do an emphatic Nazi salute and endorse the nascent fascist party in Germany.

Most of this seems to be happening because Musk is upset about the Big Beautiful Bill passing, claiming that the bill undermines the work he did with DOGE to "save money," which either suggests that he truly though the was Doin Somethin, is using that to cover up his hurt feefees, or—what I believe is most likely—he's just an opportunistic grifter who has no sense of self beyond seeking endless attention.

Elsewhere

Senegal City by Akon Abandoned

Several years back, musician Akon announced a project to build a hyper-futuristic city in Senegal called Akon City, powered financially by a cryptocurrency called, "Akoin." You might remember that wild era where NFTs were suddenly the thing and everyone was talking about having crypto stuff power daily life and whatnot. This isn't even the only crypto-based self-funded municipality project announced during that time.

Anyway, that's not happening. Well, not as it was intended. Akon has been adamant that the project has been moving along and that it's gonna be A Real Thing eventually. The government of Senegal disagrees.

According to the government, the project is basically dead. The construction hasn't moved, nothing is built (like almost literally nothing), and they've said they'll work to find a new, perhaps "more realistic" path forward for the space.

Apologies to anyone who has been hoarding Akoin. I know this must be a difficult time for you.

Eyes on the DRC

Section Content Warning: Non-graphic discussion of rape, child rape, and violence against civilian populations

The Democratic Republic of Congo is experiencing and escalating HIV crisis amidst the ongoing violence, rape, and genocide in the region sparked by decades of layered conflicts between private, public, local, and foreign interests over the immense amount of high-value minerals and a desire to establish sovereign security in the region.

Put simply: it's real fucking bad there right now. It's essentially a battle royale between several key groups, some of whom have ancestral claim, some who have historic grudges, and some who are literally just opportunists looking to extract value from the conflict and land.

Meanwhile, millions of Congolese folks have been displaced to communities around the country due to the untenable violence in the region.

Now, with the closure of USAID by Trump, Musk and Marco Rubio, key medication and supplies such as "rape kits" have evaporated, leaving what few humanitarian services remain without the means they need to treat the overwhelming number of rape victims.

Rape is used as a weapon of war in the region, notably by the militia group that goes by "M23," whose actions have resulted in a 38% spike in reported rapes since entering the region. The DRC is—sadly—referred to by international aid groups as the "rape capital of the world," and with that comes widespread HIV infections, trauma, death, and population destabilization.

In some regions, HIV infection rates can be as high as 3.5%, which is now expected to spike much higher given the dramatic and sudden cuts to USAID providing aid in the region

Viruses do not respect political borders, which is why providing foreign aid to help improve and sustain health in the global community is critically important. But instead, two men who have spent their entire lives surrounded by riches decided to—without any other plans—destroy a critical humanitarian support venue which brought more life into this world. Neat.

Science & Tech

Meta's Crazy AI Cash

Zuckerberg is desperate to amass more high-tier talent from AI companies, going as far as to poach several employees from OpenAI to the tune of around $100,000,000 in signing bonuses and compensation. That's not a typo. One hundred million dollars to a single hire.

I wanna drive home the point that within the world of tech, the amount of money just flying around for whatever purposes is unconscionable. Think about the oil or steel barons of yore (or of… now) and how much influence they had over everything by just waving money around. Now, consider that modern tech barons absolutely dwarf the fortunes of those moguls.

Dumping billions of dollars into a project that likely won't work out is normal in that space. Meta also recently posted a $14B stake in a company seemingly to get one dude.

Whenever these companies bitch and moan about how they'd never be able to do business if they had to pay copyright fees or how it's impossible to handle content moderation because it's too costly, remember that Mark Zuckerberg—on a whim—offered multiple people nine-digit compensation packages sight unseen.

Tesla's Robo Taxis

Tesla has been testing out their long-discussed robo-taxi service in Austin, Texas. The service currently consists of a limited number of people using an app to purchase rides for—I shit you not—$4.20 each. The "robo-taxi" shows up with a Tesla employee in the passenger seat, and can only go within a very limited area.

Even still, there's been a smattering of viral videos showing the cars bumping into parked vehicles, stopping in the middle of intersections, and just generally being wacky. Classic car stuff.

Given that this has been in the works for so long, other companies have already rolled out, and in some cases, wound down robo-taxi services in other cities, making this a fairly unremakrable launch of a product which has been positioned as the next phase of Tesla.

Between Musk's political fallout, the Cybertruck's wildly unsuccessful launch, and a not-particularly-heat-durning pilot program, Tesla's stock has been quite tumultuous. We'll just say that.

Glizzy Revenge

You may have seen headlines about "hotdogs causing cancer" as the US went into July 4th weekend, arguably the ultimate day of hot doggery.

The reality is that there was a meta analysis study which looked at self-reported data regarding the consumption of processed meat, which found that relative to no consumption of processed meat, eating a lot of processed meat is linked to higher rates of cancer and diabetes, among other things.

Let me make this simpler for everyone: they're hot dogs. Nobody has ever once thought "this is a healthy thing to put in my body regularly".

Gaming

Hades 2

Hades 2 (the sequel to Hades) is inching ever closer to its release date, but doing so intentionally slowly so that I, personally, am agonized.

The developers behind the game published a big ol' update to the early access game recently, announcing alongside the patch notes that this would likely be their last update before going to their full 1.0 launch.

Now personally, I've been hopelessly re-addicted to the original Hades for the past few months, and have not yet played Hades II as I've been wanting to wait for the full release. But I tells ya—I'm getting ANTSY.

Possible THUG Remaster?

In an interview with Polygon, Tony Hawk talked about the future of more possible remastered Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games—more specifically, the Tony Hawk's Underground series.

With THPS 3+4's remaster coming out in just about a week, folks have been wondering about a possible remake of the more RPG-like THUG games. In The original Tony Hawk Pro Skater, the games are much more linear and arcade-y, rather than the "this is your story to tell" vibe of the Underground games.

Tony himself seems down for the idea, but also noted that it could take a different shape than the original remakes, if it does happen at all. And honestly considering that the THUG are a bit dated in content, it makes sense that a revamped interpretation could be a good call.

Ubisoft

Three former high ranking executives from Ubisoft were found guilty of harassment of women who worked in the company's Paris studio.

Thomas François, Serge Hascoët, and Guillaume Patrux were charged with psychological and sexual harassment for actions ranging from throwing equipment to soliciting kisses from employees. After a court found them guilty, they were hit with fines and fairly light (and suspended) sentences.

The allegations against these men came out about five years ago, with Ubisoft dragging their feet on taking any action internally.

Here's the Weather

More Stuff

• American dude from the US was detained in Antarctica during his journey to fly his Cessna aircraft to every continent. Local authorities said his submitted flight plans were inaccurate. He's also trying to raise money for cancer research so that's neato
• Archeologists found a stash of 32 ancient Roman shoes, eight of which were unusually large. They dunno who was rocking the size 14s but it wasn't common.
• FaceTime will auto-pause your video if it detects you are undressing in the next major iOS update
• The person who won a Guy Fieri chicken restaurant franchise from a Guy Fieri reality show has sued Guy Fieri over allegations that Guy Fieri didn't supply the full prize offering that Guy Fieri said he'd give
• Tumblr was planning to migrate to use WordPress and integrate with the Open Social Web, but that's on hold now. Reminder, you can follow me on Tumblr!
• Scientists discovered a new life form in some goo from the underside of a ship. They have temporarily named it, "ShipGoo001"