Americans want banks to do more to prevent scams. (@mattcarmichael.com @ipsosus.bsky.social) More, via Opinion Today: opiniontoday.substack.com/p/260626-top...

Maybe trying to paint the Democratic Party as a monolith is a bad strategy. Maybe progressives work in some districts and moderates in others and everyone should just get over it. Same for GOP.

Rage emoji.

Give or take a few years ago (cough) this week, @jfallows.bsky.social gave a graduation speech at Northwestern's @medillschool.bsky.social. Most commencement addresses don't stand the test of time. This one stayed with me. I wrote a little something about it: buttondown.com/meetingmyher...

truck hitbox power creep

Internet Archive (aka The Wayback Machine) is one of the most valuable even essential resource of the internet.

This bsky.app/profile/phys...

@jasonkpargin.bsky.social are you planning to tour at all?

About half of evangelical Christians—a core component of Trump's political base—believe his administration's approach to the Iran war and immigration ​enforcement is not in line with their understanding of Christianity — Reuters/Ipsos poll. More, via Opinion Today: opiniontoday.substack.com/p/260614

I so regret trading mine in.

As always, emdash.fan

A study of more than 2,300 9- to 10-year-olds found that socioeconomic factors explained most differences in the preteens' brain development. n.pr/4xoA70O

Factual statement.

"Something remarkable happened in April. For the first time in history, wind and solar generated more electricity than gas across the entire planet. Not in a country. Not in a region. Globally." Tons of great news here from Danny Kennedy (via @billmckibben.bsky.social's newsletter, which rules).

One of the first things I noticed after moving to Chicago from NYC was that it’s so much easier to find a bike rack in Chicago. To learn that the cyclist killed yesterday was responsible for the ubiquitousness of Chicago bike parking…this is just so sad 💜

My crankiest old man take is that referring to all art/entertainment/journalism/criticism/comedy/advertising as “content” helped pave the way for broad-ish acceptance of AI slop.

New Analysis Shows Trump’s Approval Sliding in His Stronghold Communities. (@dchinni.bsky.social, American Communities Project More, via Opinion Today: opiniontoday.substack.com/p/260527-top...

Having had to fly to Miami solely to clear customs and get back on the plane to Dallas bec Dallas customs had closed this is terrible. Even the flight crew was like “this is the dumbest thing we have ever done”

I’d imagine it would actually lower short term productivity and cause labor disruptions with parents taking leave and/or leaving the workforce

Americans seek more foods and beverages that improve hydration, energy levels, focus/concentration, and provide longevity benefits, according to new data from the @ipsosus.bsky.social Consumer Tracker. www.ipsos.com/en-us/americ...

This is one of the best threads on this platform.

Today on Volts: Minnesota utility Xcel is installing small-scale batteries on commercial & industrial land. It may not sound like much, but @pierlafarge.bsky.social says it augurs a new chapter for the US grid, wherein storage will enable big new loads like data centers to reduce rates for everyone.

Trying to think of a quant survey question that would get at this qual level of nuance.

AI slop the old fashioned way.

If we are sincerely worried about AI-driven job loss, we have to address the fact that our unemployment insurance system is unfit to the task. Built for an earlier industrial era, it has been seriously underfunded for 50 years. But it's fixable! Nice to see people putting some ideas on the table.

Democrats and Democratic leaners are 22 percentage points more likely than their Republican counterparts to feel this election is more important than past midterms. (Ipsos) More, via Opinion Today: opiniontoday.substack.com/p/260510

The midterm enthusiasm gap: Democrats and Democratic leaners are 22 percentage points more likely than their Republican counterparts to feel this election is more important than past midterms. (Ipsos) www.ipsos.com/en-us/midter...

Well the only other options are utopia or meh growth. So….

Washington Post-ABC-Ipsos Poll finds broad rejection of religion-related messages from Trump, Hegseth. (@michelleboorstein.bsky.social and @sfcpoll.bsky.social, Washington Post-unlocked) More, via Opinion Today: opiniontoday.substack.com/p/260506

"On Polymarket, the Journal found, 67% of profits go to just 0.1% of accounts. That means less than 2,000 accounts netted a total of nearly half a billion dollars."

Even Costco gas was up to 4.85 today.

Also legalized weed.

I’d like to see this overlaid with the prevalence of high hood pickups and SUVs. I sense some multivariate correlation.

I’m giving this as a gift to all the people in the last year who have said “I think [XYZ use] is bullshit, but some of the medical AI applications seem to be impressive…" where radiology is the most frequent example

BREAKING: Trump's approval rating is down to 34% according to a new Reuters/IPSOS poll.

Why does it face a funding challenge?

I'll say it again, one of the worst things this rampant push to cram "generative AI" into everything has done is make people suspect bright kids of cheating when they're just nerdy or bookish or neurodivergent, sanding down their unique edges to fit into people's lowered, homogenized expectations.

It's a small part of this discussion. But betting market advocates who say they're better than polls weirdly ignore that most betting market numbers are just downstream reactions to polls.

I wish instead of saying “no link has been found between vaccines and autism” they said that it’s a lie started by a doctor who committed fraud in the research and was found guilty of misconduct and unethical violations @theatlantic www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/...

I talk about this a lot. But I think the short answer is that “the economy” is a bunch of measures that aren’t nec rational nor tied to how much money most people have.

Might have to go to that Sox game now….

Where Americans stand on AI. (Ipsos) More, via Opinion Today: opiniontoday.substack.com/p/260412

Awesome. How hard is that? That’s government working.

I think I have some family home movies of this parade!

That’s a little more of a disclaimer than I’m currently comfortable with? But I guess if the world ends I will need neither my money back nor my book so….

For the first time I am doing signed copies of my FIRST book, John Dies at the End. We're taking orders now and they'll ship in November unless the world ends or something. This is the big paperback anniversary edition, order here: bit.ly/signedjdate

Philosophical diamond sign by Edward Tufte.

You need to pay for news

Love this: a "universal basic neighborhood."