Today I reached a 1,000-day Duolingo streak. I pay for it, and I have used streak freezes, but the last one I used was in March 2024. I’ve only used eight in …

All images © Masayoshi Matsumoto, shared with permission # Balloons Puff and Twist into an Elaborate Inflatable Ensemble by Masayoshi Matsumoto November 7, 2022 Art Grace Ebert * Share * Pin * Email __Bookmark Armed with colorful balloons and plenty of air, Masayoshi Matsumoto (previously) twists and ties a playfully quirky menagerie of inflatable creatures. A chemical engineer by day, the artist spends his off hours stretching the malleable material into a sticky-fingered tree frog or plump squirrel, elevating the creations typically associated with children’s birthday parties or carnivals into elaborate sculptural works. Matsumoto is loyal to the bendable material and forgoes paints, glues, and other fasteners, and many of the animals accentuate the shape of the balloons themselves: deflated tips resemble claws and puffed oblongs hang like shaggy fur or splay upward like a rooster’s crest. Find more of the latex animals on the artist’s Instagram and Tumblr, and head to YouTube for tutorials on creating your own characters, as well. **Do stories and artists like this matter to you?** Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing. * Hide advertising * Save your favorite articles * Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop * Receive members-only newsletter * Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms ### Join us today! $7/month $75/year Explore membership options Previous article Next article

Videos on social media show officers from ICE and CBP using facial recognition technology on people in the field. One expert described the practice as “pure dystopian creep.”

Attached: 1 image Kazakhstan aims to be a ‘strategic partner’ for Europe’s green transition https://www.euractiv.com/news/kazakhstan-aims-to-be-a-strategic-partner-for-europes-green-transition/?utm_source=eac&utm;_medium=mastodon&utm;_campaign=%40euractiv%40masto.ai

A wistful Lafufu.

“Soviet mosaic with episodes from the Nart Epic and Circassian history inside the Palace of Culture in the village of Gabukay. Mosaic author: Teuchezh Kat (Теучеж Кат) Also on the mosaic there is a...

Following the sale of Komoot to private equity, Josh Meissner explores the broken relationship between corporate capital and our communities...

Attached: 1 image Foreign oil tankers are being temporarily barred from loading at Russia's main Black Sea ports following new regulations, effectively blocking exports from Kazakhstan handled largely by a consortium partly owned by U.S. energy majors. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/kazakh-black-sea-oil-exports-halted-by-new-russian-regulations-sources-say-2025-07-23/ #Ukraine #Russia #US #Kazakhstan