At long last, we are purging chauvinist Sparta propaganda from our beautiful agoras.

I assume not understanding what this is about is a sign that I’m using this site the appropriate amount

The phone is for making posts like "the ass is the father of the legs" whereas the computer is for posts that include words like "inexorably"

We are looking at uncharted territory here where the acting Archivist of the United States is poised to become the acting head of a foreign government.

The Verso store books write themselves at this point.

DOUBLE CHECKED THIS ONE: Trump DOJ sides with journalists' union & against @pittsburghPG in #SCOTUS fight over health care benefits. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

I wrote about a budding idea to replace meetings with AI. mattdpearce.substack.com/p/what-if-ev...

I don’t understand the appeal of making prediction market wagers. Is it my goal in life to transfer part of my wealth to inside traders?

We are proud to announce the formation of the Chemical & Engineering News Guild. We represent staffers across the editorial and operations teams at C&EN. 1/6

Wrote about an obvious and yet profoundly underappreciated aspect of the AI boom: its total narrative capture by Elon Musk's X nymag.com/intelligence...

spiritually feasting upon some unearthly reminiscence

In the words of George W. Bush, that was some weird shit.

Hard to believe a FIFA Peace Prize laureate would do this.

Sydney Smith lived from 1771–1845 yet somehow knew all my New Year's resolutions

day one in mamdani’s new york

Just making sure that 2025 is definitely over

well, 2016 was a hard year, but we made it through. hopefully 2016 will be better.

pour one out

Sumerian engineers 2000 years ago

4/ The median American read 2 books in 2025. The *average* was quite a bit higher — but that's driven by the minority of heavy readers pulling up the mean:

i too have begun watching the straight man hockey podcasts discuss heated rivalry. this is the forum of athens to me

Who can ever forget this banger. We lost a real one.

I always tell students if you ask a good question the article will write itself

Rest in peace to Mike F, one of the all-time greats

Oh man how could I forget this one

I always enjoy writing and reading the year-end Best Of stuff we do at Defector, and find the Best Things We Read one to be especially useful every year. I'm not going to read all or most or many of these books, but I like knowing that they're out there: defector.com/the-best-thi...

modern society is so divorced from our food sources that most people who eat pop tarts have never actually killed one themselves

One of the best to ever do it

I've never read an Updike but I revisit this annually www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

I didn’t know until now that in the original Rosie the Riveter painting, she is crushing a copy of Mein Kampf under her foot. Happy feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, remembering all the women who crush the serpents of Satan under their heel.

This is true and I was the only one on set excited about it (and playing the song on my phone to blank stares)

Snowcones Cherryvale, KS

If you had a car with this interior you 1000% had to deal with the headliner falling down at some point.

Huge win for Richard Noticias LA, TikTok journalist shot by ICE. Criminal charges dismissed with prejudice, meaning can’t be refiled. ICE did him DIRTY. Repeatedly. Inhumane treatment, basically medical torture. Still in ICE custody on immigration case. They owe him unconditional release.

"I certainly don't know I'd be happier if I were to turn away from having a less shareable life online, to treat my writing more like a commodity, locked up behind the counter at CVS" Sometimes I hate some of my best, most useful work was never un-paywalled mattdpearce.substack.com/p/the-limits...

I have belatedly visited Lewis Hyde’s cult classic “The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World” and came away with mixed feelings. mattdpearce.substack.com/p/the-limits...

The bloody ghost of my ancestor Lt. John Bacon, shot dead by a redcoat musket during the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19th, 1775, appeared at the side of my bed last night and said anyone can be American as long as they aren’t English

bluesky is where elder millennials enjoying internet retirement meet younger millennials with untreated depression

Elite free speech discourse has culminated in state action to compel labor

90% of bluesky posts, to me

They say imitation crab is the sincerest form of crab

Found a bookstore that stocks your novels

Been thinking about “Marty Supreme” since I saw it in a Christmas doubleheader that included Avatar 3. Avatar 3, meanwhile, has receded to a part of the brain that won’t be accessed again until Avatar 4 like I’m a “Severance” character.

What a beautiful photo from last night’s snowfall. Photo credit: Adam Gray for The New York Times

cigarette company

I've been thinking about this sign for 6 months. a phrase I'll treasure forever. a metaphor with boundless potential

Martin Luther: Goes outside 500 Peasants: There goes Dr Pussyfoot! There goes Dr Easychair!

The Reformation must have been amazing for blogging.