Oo this is interesting - hadn’t thought of the more benevolent design decisions and thinking that can go into apps as well i’ve told ppl that the weather app I *most* want would simply display YES/NO answers to the following questions 1. do I need umbrella today 2. and do I need jacket? Thx

Always good 2 be reminded that every single feature I interact with on my phone is an arbitrary opinionated decision made by Some Guy at Some Tech Company (^I do feel like many people are getting wiser to this fact as AI leaders’ interpersonal squabbles get news coverage)

Great read. Have been thinking a lot lately about where/how satire fits into These Times (and noticing my own constantly-shifting preferences for balancing spiky humor vs. sincerity and warmth in what I’m reading these days…)

Learned from my 101-year-old grandfather that one problem of being a centenarian is that airlines apparently only have a 2-digit age variable, meaning that every time he shows up at the airport, the data in the system at the check-in counter thinks he's a 1-year-old unaccompanied child.

Yesss love a one-pager format, always - great question + response summarizing issues in US healthcare (nice to get a distillation even though the issues are complex) www.kff.org/from-drew-al...

Now that I have physically unclenched from yesterday’s imminent threat of nuclear war, I am returning to my regularly-scheduled Silly Goose™️ programming Made a parody song about the impossibility of deciphering DC parking signs #dc #dmv #parking #parkingsign #comedy

Every day I spend with medical data that includes ICD e-codes for external causes of injury yields new insights. Learned that there is an injury activity code for “horseplay” (no codes for: tomfoolery, hijinks)

enticing offers on the apt building WhatsApp thread… hard 2 resist such a pitch

important read from Jeneen Interlandi at NYT with firsthand accounts from inside the CDC www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

a preliminary survey for the next component of my research: if you're willing to tell me about your connection to the movie/musical 1776... docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

!!!

NEW: Tornado watch issued for entire area until 7 p.m. NWS has issued a tornado watch for the entire region until 7 p.m. Remember that a watch means ingredients are in place for tornadoes, not a guarantee. But if a WARNING is issued, seek shelter immediately. Updates at cwg.live

I am burrowing ever-deeper down the rabbit hole of women's suffrage song sheet music curated by the Library of Congress; what a trip. Particularly striking are the ANTI-suffrage songs, especially the cover art with pics like this www.loc.gov/collections/...

currently burrowed into a just-for-fun internet rabbit hole about music in women's suffrage movements and Ethel Smyth in particular 👀 blogs.loc.gov/music/2022/0...

I MADE A NEW CLOSE FRIEND IN MY 30s; everyone please clap

Recently read "And Then We Grew Up" by Rachel Friedman - I was so moved by it! I *love* the premise of tracking down all your old arts camp friends and seeing where they ended up and how they are incorporating creativity and/or music into their adult lives, professionally or otherwise

very funny that the local dog daycare lists "lunch" on the activity schedule for the dogs. love 2 imagine dogs unfurling napkins and unwrapping little sandwiches. imagining this pic but with dogs.

Why do I have to pretend that I'm going to print something in order to save it as a PDF. Why do I have to engage in a little ruse.

This is basically my villain origin story. "How old are you?" (unique responses)

With all the coverage about "older" women competing in the Winter Olympics this year, I became curious and did an informal dive into data on ages of the oldest women in the Olympics over time. Finally finished the post here! #Olympics alirruth.substack.com/p/olympics-s...

on my way to humble myself* before God** *bring clothes to the consignment store **the hip 20-something who decides if my clothes are stylish enough to be consign-able

I really appreciate the way CWG emphasizes the level of uncertainty as a key component in forecasting

did some research to see if skeleton is as dangerous as it looks; found this piece by @clivethompson.bsky.social confirming it is even MORE dangerous than it looks 😱 www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

HUGE scoop re: George Washington’s fabled wooden teeth

Wrote this for the last Winter Olympics - would genuinely still love to have Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski providing real time sports commentary on my assorted mundane dysfunctions #Olympics originallittleoldlady.com/2022/02/25/j...

DC theater lovers! RUN don't walk to Studio Theatre for Dave Malloy's "Octet" - a quietly powerful musical about the age of the endless scroll. Audience members must lock up their phones in bags during the show (!) So much talent in the cast. Can't imagine a better musical for the present moment

production of The Muppet Show should not be dependent on petty vulgarities like “ratings” or “revenue.” it should be preserved as a vital function of american culture. it should have a taxpayer-funded budget rivaling the CIA

Really impressive history research approach- careful and thorough review of Census records to identify the small number of the last enslaved people in New Jersey in 1865

If you're a Post journalist who got laid off today: 1. [pats bench] come sit by us, is it time to go get that book deal?; and 2. even if not, I'd be happy to comp you a free year's subscription to "How to Glow in the Dark" if you reach out this week. neonliterary.substack.com?utm_campaign...

For those looking for freelance work in the wake of WaPo layoffs: I'm an editor at large overseeing Ideas & Culture at Bloomberg, including our Books coverage. Find me at [email protected]

All I’m saying is that if *I* were the billionaire novelist divorcée of Jeff Bezos and I had just watched him gut one of the best book review sections in a leading national newspaper and I had the opportunity to swoop in and use lots of money to build a new thing, I would simply Consider It

Heartbroken by the gutting of the Washington Post, esp the book section frankly hoping that some other billionaire (maybe Mackenzie Scott, Jeff Bezos’ ex and also a NOVELIST?!) will stand up some other pub with a rigorous book review section where these talented writers can go

i once bought a new blazer for a schitts creek panel, and when i walked into the green room, catherine o'hara complimented me on it, and also noted that i had forgotten to cut all the threads off the vents. and then she leaned in and said, "it's because you're going to return it, isn't it"

How, then, am I supposed to propel pieces of news into the sun

this photo. minneapolis. 💜 📷️ Alex Kormann/Star Tribune

To mark "Trump will declare a national emergency for mass deportations" day: here is the initial spreadsheet of our crowd-sourced *local* immigration advocacy/support organizations. Please share widely, put to good use, and keep letting me know about more organizations folks can connect with.

I'm putting together a piece about how much investigative journalism actually costs. If you are an investigative journalist and you're willing to share (not for attribution) what you make and how many hours (years!) you put in, my DMs are open. Estimates fine, just want to get a sense of it.

The chaos adds to the stress. Young adults I spoke to while reporting named the uncertainty around SNAP and the back-and-forth as part of what was taking such a heavy toll—not knowing what to prioritize, or how to plan. Even as benefits begin to go out, that kind of uncertainty is devastating.

Continuing my furlough hobby of recording parody songs - this is a jazz parody cover of Autumn Leaves #sweaterweather m.youtube.com/watch?v=puQd...

This is a beautiful interview with (now-28!) Malala Yousafzai www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/p...

We don’t know how or when this government shutdown ends. But there are resources to help if you’re not getting a paycheck. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

While furloughed I am dusting off old song parodies and contemplating a Sesame Street career pivot into educational Broadway songs (joking / actually not entirely joking given… everything going on) #Wicked #Broadway #WickedForGood youtu.be/E7yIwWn0F2c

spent Day #5 of my furlough learning how to create a MIDI musical backing track by plugging a cable into my electric piano keyboard, just as the GOP intended

Absolutely loved this quick read about later-in-life pop stardom www.nytimes.com/2025/10/05/o...

Beginning of October means beginning of Spooky Season, the month in which I argue that "Sweet Caroline" in a minor key is *actually* the scariest Halloween song of all time - www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vH4...

A Harvard Business School study shows that several AI companions use various tricks to keep a conversation from ending. www.wired.com/story/chatbo...

I'm late to catch up on it but the timing ended up being ideal for watching Marc Maron's new "Panicked" special - so so good (& perfect for right now) play.hbomax.com/movie/c51673...

Random useful thing I learned today - when you’re hyperlinking to a url for a pdf, you can append “#page=11” at the end of the link to direct the user to land on a specific page when clicking