New, on HEAT DEATH! Against the backdrop of a relentlessly changing climate, guest writer Israel Kolawole explores the strange history of a longstanding American dream: the ability to bring rain on demand.

Man this one wrecked me

Up close I swear to god their breathing sounds like Darth Vader

It is weird though to think of the Niemoller thing (and I’m not sure this was wrong even in the original context) as being about edgelords needing to stay edgy

These books rule. They are an oasis in the modern wasteland of dried-out IP, you will not get a better use of your time for $6

This is a really good job for a Texas journalist looking to build a platform, and The Barbed Wire is a great outfit to be associated with.

Who knew that taxonomy needed so badly to be Disrupted

oh fuck they followed them literally

Worth remembering that civilians don't *have* a commander in chief, as @samadlerbell.bsky.social and @mattsitman.bsky.social pointed out a while ago

If you think of Bari Weiss's main art as the mountebank-ish performance of journalism, then I think we have to recognize the CBS thing as her Mona Lisa — as I argued to @oliviamesser.bsky.social

Far from enhancing productivity, the push to add AI tools to every scrap of enterprise software may be ... destroying it? Which makes sense! There's been a madcap push to stick addictive work-simulating software into every digital space where people collaborate ... hbr.org/2025/09/ai-g...

We've also been getting a lot clearly AI generated fungus-themed pitches, so if you have those please send. To be clear, we categorically won't use them, and will probably blacklist those who send them, as we do other AI submissions. But! They *would* be helpful for a coming piece, so

Tapping the sign

We're just nine people away from hitting our 500th subscriber. Anyone want to help us get there?

Saul and Asher write beautifully on a number of ecological, sociological, folkloric, and art/cultural topics, and the essays they commission are just fantastic across the board. Really, really recommend shifting away from big pubs and into reading things like Heat Death.

Your occasional reminder that there are a small, specific, known and deeply unpopular group of people both 1. pushing for this outcome and 2. that we do nothing to avoid or even forecast it

The big question is: does the Democratic Party have within it the structural ability for real reform?

www.desmog.com/2025/09/29/r... Follow the money. Exactly zero companies are betting their own $ on a new bitumen pipeline, while global investments in renewables and battery storage are surging. Canada needs to skate to where the puck is going, not where it was last decade. @mark-carney.bsky.social

… at a time when there is a real right-wing push to treat homelessness as crime

If the Trump administration has its way, nearly *four million* people—half of them children—will be at imminent risk of eviction and homelessness. Let that sink in.

I love it when he cooks

Pitch us, and we’ll take your weird stories and make them sing

#Humberto is now a Cat 5! It’s the first time in nearly a century with back to back seasons with Cat 5’s in the Atlantic. We are seeing our warmer future unfold in real-time, IMO. 1/

It is, you might say, a ratchet

Just a cock- roach, on a stalk, bros

But consider: AI lets us hallucinate intercontinental rail

When I say the US has bet its post-pandemic economy on AI while China has bet its on green energy, this is what I mean: Here, AI related companies account for 75% of S&P 500 returns since ChatGPT's launch. In China, green tech accounts for one quarter of GDP growth.

Evening bump! Read @saulelbein.bsky.social’s elegant and moving tale of being humbled before vast forces of the waters and woods, the costs of Adventure, and — perhaps — ghosts. It’s really, really good.

Not so fun fact: like so many such waterways, the floodway for the creek by Camp Mystic still isn’t mapped. It’s a literal guess where it will go in flood conditions.

Missing the crucial Host v Nature

Of literally all the people to be saying this

In the wake of the Texas floods, I kept thinking about how in the mountains of Peru, there is a widespread belief that a rain-swollen river is angry, and it will not be calmed until it has taken a life.

In 2015, reporter @saulelbein.bsky.social joined a crew of Peruvian river guides on a trip down the treacherous Marañón. What happened there has taken many years for him to tell — and it's one of the most beautiful and moving stories he's ever written. It's Heat Death. Don't miss this one.

This is a story about Adventure (and the people who seek it) and tragedy, and the vast forces that move around us. It's a story about a river, spirits, and people, and @saulelbein.bsky.social tells it partially in the language of journalism and partially — inevitably — in the language of myth.

@asherelbein.bsky.social has Andor has taken the psychic place of the original trilogy

Absolute banger of an article! In a wasteland of art flavored products, reading Going Rogue on Heat Death reminds me of the first time I discovered the combo of 🥓 and 🍁 @tansyg.bsky.social @asherelbein.bsky.social @saulelbein.bsky.social @thelorehounds.com heat-death.ghost.io/decline-and-...

“The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail — its roof may shake — the wind may blow through it — the storm may enter — the rain may enter — but the King of England cannot enter! All his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement.”

"Against our president's laws" is a construction that absolutely stopped me short. Because uh our president doesn't make laws.

It’s Heat Death … on the Lorehounds podcast! @saulelbein.bsky.social and I talked to @jabd.bsky.social about the newsletter, the figure of the orc, writing a material history of Star Wars, aesthetics of juxtaposition, and much, much more. It’s a super interesting talk. Hope you enjoy!

I think my favorite line delivered during this interview was from Saul about industrially produced "art flavored products." Looking forward to talking with Heat Death again in the future! @asherelbein.bsky.social @saulelbein.bsky.social @thelorehounds.com

Reception vibes ✨

We are in … novel territory thehill.com/homenews/cam...

Texas Republicans keep announcing how mad they are that Democrats aren't here to talk about the very important issues on the agenda -- but keep not mentioning the actual reason they left, which is ... a mid-decade and highly partisan GOP redistricting attempt that destroys several Dem House seats

"Come and take it" is the new party line from the dozens of House Democrats threatened with arrest by state GOP leaders thehill.com/homenews/cam...

This historical context is interesting and important -- but I can't help feeling that it misses something, which is that while these dynamics have always existed and often been deadly, things are changing in a way that goes beyond the lessons of tradition or the historical record

I just don't see why the Soviets would bother with developing that office if the CIA was already doing it for free

Jock Jams Vol. 1 was released 30 years ago and fundamentally changed the course of sports, history, our bodies, and our brains. Or something like that. heat-death.ghost.io/were-all-joc...

This is a good thread on Texas redistricting, how Republicans locked down a previously purple state, how they're about to try and do it again, and the ways that doing so could make them vulnerable