Really loving the growing list of things that really should be reliable for health and safety and are instead being destabilized by AI

I will always love a manual transmission, even as I long for an EV. Both my Gen Z kids, now in their early twenties, learned to drive stick. Maybe it's a dying art, but it gives them bragging rights with their friends. wapo.st/4gJh1ww [gift link]

"Police in Hong Kong arrested five booksellers over alleged 'seditious' material on Wednesday, as Beijing imposes increasingly strict control over the once-autonomous territory in successive free speech crackdowns." wapo.st/4gGQCQ0 [gift link] #BookSky 📚 #freedomtoread

👇💯

Today’s Wordle is absolutely a word. And a fun one.

My privilege to share some lovely stories from the science community about what Sam Neill's timeless performance as Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park meant to them—and why it will continue to inspire kids to chase their own discoveries for years to come.

The big literary discourse on twitter right now is whether The Hobbit—a children’s book that won children’s lit awards and was literally written for the author’s children—is appropriate reading for children or in fact such a difficult book most adults can’t “get their head around” it.

When they say, "History will be the judge," they mean on Bluesky, immediately after your death.

To be a historian is to speak ill of the dead and the rest of you should take more history classes and join us.

Hey, I have these postcards of my book's cover (by Vera Villanueva for Yale UP). I'd love to mail you one. Will you send me a screenshot of 1) your pre-order OR 2) your (free!!) request that your library purchase the book? And of course an address to mail it to.

Outrageous and unnecessary. (Classic Friday news drop, too.)

my bet is that there is at least one highly placed person at every US university who redirected large portions of institutional funding to go all-in on the following things, in succession: 1) Second Life 2) MOOCs 3) "The AI revolution" my further bet is that this person somehow still has their job

when you’re doodling in meetings but you’re William Morris

Hammering out interview-request emails to possible sources for a freelance story, I'm thinking about 1) how important it is to get the ask right and 2) how much I would lose as a writer if I outsourced that task to AI.

This seems promising! www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Do what.

Happy Fourth from DC in spite of everything.

NYC reminding us how it’s done.

🤯🥵🥵

The entire city is on edge right now. It’s 96 degrees, we’re interrupted every 5 min by the sound of low-flying fighter jets, and the president has managed to ruin July 4th. Quietly muttering to myself: “just wait until IT happens. Everyone will be so happy when IT happens. It’ll be incredible…”

DC is, flatly, owed statehood after what they have been through under this man to make sure this shit never happens again

🤞

Bad air is the norm during fireworks on the 4th n DC. Going from 10k-20k shells to 850,000+, on a humid night with little wind... should be interesting. Why 2026 is primed to be smokey: www.capitalweather.com/dcs-firework...

Ahem: "Fireworks for this year’s July Fourth celebration are expected to cause hazardous levels of pollution around the National Mall and 'very unhealthy' conditions in central D.C., according to internal National Park Service documents..." wapo.st/4p1WAgv [gift link]

here is what i think: we're not consumers or spectators, we are participants with agency. you should not hope that democrats will do anything. you must work to force them to do the right thing. the odds are long, but we are far from the first americans to face long odds. we will win.

you know, when someone says something like "these are the things that need to be done to avert disaster" and your response is "you think democrats will do that?!?" all you're telling me is that you think politics is a spectator sport

But if you are thinking that it would be fun to head to the Mall for the monster fireworks on the Fourth, I would suggest you make other plans. www.capitalweather.com/live/#dcs-fi...

It truly is remarkable. I grew up here, and it's *never* this empty down there this time of year.

!!!

It's easy to be distracted by the disaster on the Mall -- but plenty of other, better celebrations of the 250th are happening outside DC including ***Tall Ships*** www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Record D.C. fireworks raise concerns for wildlife and pets www.axios.com/local/washin...

My Odyssey and Iliad translations are available as audiobooks, read/ performed by very talented real people: Claire Danes and Audra MacDonald. They do a much better job than the robots! www.audible.com/pd/The-Iliad...

I will not be in town for this hellish display. I feel so sad for the wildlife and pets (and people!) who will be traumatized.

this legitimately made me tear up. a tremendous public servant!

In case you didn’t know, Exeter uni, where I work, has announced a plan to make 25% of staff in my English department redundant. Left-over staff will do double the teaching while their research time will be shrunk to 1%. Meanwhile admissions for English at Exeter are HIGH, and on the rise this year

Anybody have more details on this? #NARA #libraries

For the first time on record, solar generated more electricity than coal across the entire U.S. - despite active federal policy pushing the other direction. Read more at the link below!

Law Dork, Monday: Does DOJ even know how to issue subpoenas for a proper purpose these days? www.lawdork.com/p/does-doj-e... Washington Post, this morning: DOJ issued, then withdrew subpoenas to force Post, WSJ reporters to testify. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Mars scientists have detailed, deliberate plans for what missions can give them the data they most want about the Red Planet. SkyFall's trio of helicopters (relying on the first-ever nuclear-propulsion spacecraft and mid-air deployment, all with a 2028 launch date!) is...not among them. 🧪 🔭

I'm so sad that it took her death for me to learn about Mona Khalil's amazing work to protect endangered sea turtles in Lebanon. www.bbc.com/news/article... 🌍 #conservation #turtles 🐢

The American Library Association is auctioning off a bunch of the classic celebrity “READ” posters along with a bunch of other full sized literacy posters. This is going to fix so many of my problems, I just know it. movieposters.ha.com/c/search/res...

We are entering peak farmer’s market season. Cherries! Peaches! Tomatoes, squash, basil! Get thee to a nearby market (if you have one nearby) and enjoy some simple summer joys.

Greetings from Washington DC

I worked on a very fun semiquincentennial feature for this weekend's WSJ. The editors asked me to select 26 novels that tell a story about America's 250 year history. It's not a best-of list, but one that suggests a (necessarily branching) national narrative. Gift link! www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

Please congratulate me for not responding to something dumb someone posted on the Internet.

A good week, nature-wise: fireflies, cicadas, and the first hummingbird sighting of the season here in DC!

The kind of mistake we’ve all made.

Here at the Reflecting Pool where a big chunk ofTrump's blue paint-apoxie has peeled off the bottom of the pool and is bobbling in the water.

Each week, we list some ways to get engaged in the city — whether that’s protesting, organizing with your neighbors, or testifying before your councilmembers. This week's features several Juneteenth events! More in the full guide: 51st.news/juneteenth-w...

'If you work freelance in the UK heritage sector this branch is for you. You don’t need to be a full-time freelancer. If you do any freelance work in the sector, you’re welcome.'