Numlock News: August 4, 2025 • Slop, Seeds,

Aug 04, 2025

By Manny Fidel

Walt is out on vacation, and filling in today is Manny Fidel, a host of the outstanding show

NO SUCH THING

The Slop Era

Hey all, Manny here. Shamelessly and unsurprisingly, I’ll be linking to Walt and I’s collaboration on my podcast, NO SUCH THING, which just signed a production deal with Kaleidoscope. In this episode, we talk about the fatigue everyone’s feeling about Marvel movies and franchise films more broadly. Before 2020, 19 out of 22 Marvel movies hit the $500 million box office mark. Since then? Only 6 out of 13 have. Walt made this franchise movie burnout incredibly easy to understand. For example, who knew that franchise storytelling was an ancient practice? Homer was absolutely cooking. All that and more insights from Walt’s segment in the episode.

iRobot(s)

If you are, for some reason, still on X like I am, you may not find the following revelation very surprising: 76% of X users are bots. More broadly, 50% of all internet traffic comes from “non-human sources.” Yes, I knew X’s “For You” page was essentially run by guys in moldy basements with computer setups straight out of The Minority Report. But the idea that three out of every four accounts on X is a bot is still mind-numbing. How many times have I argued about LeBron James’ legacy with a computer program?

Ashley Lutz and Nich Lichtenberg, Fortune

Death Stanning

The visionary video game auteur Hideo Kojima was profiled by SSENSE with an awesome photoshoot. His latest game, “Death Stranding 2: On the Beach,” is being heralded as a near-perfect project. Known primarily for the “Metal Gear” franchise, Kojima admits to making intentionally divisive art — arguing that if everyone likes his games, then his games aren’t that interesting. I love this mentality, even if it results in some clunkers at times. Who knows, maybe “Megalopolis” will age really well in 10 years. I’m about 20 hours into the first “Death Stranding,” and in accordance with Kojima’s “safe is boring” mantra, it’s the weirdest game I’ve ever played. But it’s also awesome. I love being a delivery man trekking post-apocalyptic America with my psychic, premature, purgatory baby that acts as my supernatural demon radar.

Kevin Nguyen, SSENSE

Make America Seedy Again

The Hateful Eight is it’s not just a middling Tarantino film, it’s also the moniker given to a group of seed oils that the Make America Healthy Again movement finds to be particularly nefarious. Corn, canola, cottonseed, soy, sunflower, safflower, rice bran and grapeseed. Of course, like many targets of RFK Jr.’s ire, they’re totally fine to consume. The popular alternative for cooking, beef tallow, is also fine if you want to use it, but it’s not necessarily better for you than seed oils are. To get a good grasp of what’s happening not just within this debate, but also with our country’s history with seed oils, watch my beautiful and smart wife’s YouTube explainer for Business Insider.

Mia de Graaf, Business Insider

A Sign of the Times

Slack messages leaked to Max Tani at Semafor revealed great tensions among editors at The New York Times, specifically surrounding the photos used in a story the paper published about starvation in Gaza. The main photo for the story featured an 18-month-old child with pre-existing health issues that could potentially make him look thinner than he normally would. Pro-Israel groups accused the Times of blood libel, arguing that the photo implied that the situation in Gaza is more dire than it actually is. Personally, I don’t think that “the starving baby had pre-existing conditions” is the argument that these critics think it is, but the internal debate about the potential implications of a given photo was fascinating. As Max notes in his analysis, the consensus among Americans on which side of the conflict is the aggravator has dramatically swung to the Israeli government.

Max Tani, Semafor

Standard Procedure

The history of hysterectomies is a fascinating one. The documented version begins in 50 BC, when the first recorded vaginal hysterectomy was performed by Themison of Athens. The procedure — removal of the uterus — is quite common, but often overlooked in health discourse. My friend Andréa, a sociology professor at Hunter College, is looking to change that with her new book Get It Out. When she told me she was writing this book a couple of years ago, I responded with intellectually stimulating questions, like “What is a hysterectomy?” Now, she’s educating the rest of the world, not only about the procedure, but the many ways the American health system fails people who want to maintain control of their own bodies. Give it a read.

Dr. Andréa Becker, Get It Out

The Hot Seat

I think the summer is overrated. I’m doing the same things I do in the winter, except while sweating and exhausted, and there’s too much pressure to have fun. What doesn’t help, apparently, is the proliferation of “heat domes” — an area of unusually high pressure that traps hot air. In July, parts of the Midwest hit a heat index of 128 degrees Fahrenheit due to a heat dome. It’s easy to be a grouch in this climate, and especially in a world of climate change apathy. Bleak. I’m ready for October.

Jeva Lange, Heatmap

Send links to me on Twitter at @WaltHickey or email me with numbers, tips or feedback at walt@numlock.news. Send corrections or typos to the copy desk at copy@numlock.news.

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