"Thinking just got a big upgrade" is basically the pitch for most AI chatbots

I will never forgive last night’s NBA Finals broadcast for making me see David Zaslav in a backwards baseball cap.

If you've never read "The Jakarta Method" or "If We Burn" here's your chance to get a signed copy.

Giving away some books for my birthday — who wants one

WASHINGTON (AP) — Graham Platner wins Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Maine.

Incredible quote

Something very funny happening in this California congressional race. apnews.com/article/cali...

If I were an action hero, this is what I’d say to the bad guy before the kill shot.

Great piece by Efthimios Karayiannides examining Elon Musk's parasitic role in the global economy, building on some of the arguments in the book MUSKISM by @quinnslobodian.com & @bentarnoff.com. www.northsouthnotes.org/p/finding-el...

Finding Elon — Searching for Muskism in Africa — by Efthimios Karayiannides — North South Notes www.northsouthnotes.org/p/finding-el...

worth taking a look at your Instagram reels algorithm. I fucking love Podcast Season 3

Armando Iannucci (‘The Death of Stalin’) and Simon Blackwell (‘Veep’) are writing the script for ‘PADDINGTON 4’.

A friend of mine who was TA’ing for an AmLit course found a copy of Moby Dick a student had left behind. It had only one marginal annotation, around page 100, that simply said “whale is important.”

i was visiting a neighborhood bar in boston when a roving gang of elite college professors strode in acting like they owned the place. they saw me ordering a domestic lager and shouted "this motherfucker's not chasing novel gustatory experiences!" and started beating me with heavy wooden rulers

I've tried two different brands of trash bags and they all have tears in the plastic. Is this because of the Strait of Hormuz?

Minnesota bans prediction markets. The White House is suing to overturn the ban. www.semafor.com/article/05/2...

only one way to find out

Would you subscribe to a global affairs newsletter on the explicit promise of not spamming your inbox and only publishing when there's something worthwhile to read? If so, have I got an offer for you! northsouthnotes.org

Three decades after he was arrested for a capital crime he swore he didn’t commit — and more than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction — former death row prisoner Richard Glossip was granted bond by an Oklahoma judge and released from jail. theintercept.com/2026/05/14/r...

Pro-Israel protest outside the New York Times building just now, presumably about the Nick Kristof article.

maybe I'm just stupid but can a country even sue someone for defamation??

I can disclose that Bad Bunny's performance put me in the hospital for 2 weeks.

Bahrain saw some of the worst repression during the "Arab Spring," when a peaceful movement for reform was brutally crushed by the monarchy with help from the Saudis. Now there's a new crackdown taking place amid the Iran war. www.northsouthnotes.org/p/the-view-f...

Bahrain saw some of the worst repression during the "Arab Spring," when a peaceful movement for reform was brutally crushed by the monarchy with help from the Saudis. Now there's a new crackdown taking place amid the Iran war. www.northsouthnotes.org/p/the-view-f...

When people say "they don't make them like they used to," they're specifically talking about the 2016 buddy comedy The Nice Guys

wow, pretty wild stuff here

bro I am NOT setting up 2-factor authentication on my Petco account. I would rather die

An unexpected impact of the Iran war: The cost of synthetic rubber gloves (made from crude oil byproduct) has risen by around 40% and supplies could dwindle at hospitals around the world as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...

"She hates when I dance to what's sometimes referred to as the 'gay national anthem'"

I’m not the first person to say it but it’s crazy how quick the movie Her went from being sci-fi to reality except not quite dumb enough

The Iran war is now as unpopular in the U.S. as Iraq and Vietnam at the height of those conflicts. 61% of Americans say using military force against Iran was a mistake. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Incredible youtube thumbnail

KOKO THE GORILLA: Koko birkin bag. Practical Koko possession bag RESEARCHER: No, Koko. You can’t have a Birkin bag. KOKO: Good Birkin good Koko give beautiful Koko deserve gorilla RESEARCHER: Koko, we simply can’t afford a Birkin bag. It is an unjustifiable expense. KOKO: jealousy professor

80 year old congressman David Scott has died after serving in the House for 23 years. He is the fourth Democratic congressperson age 70+ to die in office since 2025.

It’s inaccurate to say Mario is brave and Luigi is cowardly Luigi is afraid of death, so he runs away from danger. Mario is afraid of living, so he runs towards death. Both brothers are cowards in their own way

"More than 24 apes have died so far as a result of the conflict …The true death toll is probably higher." www.wsj.com/us-news/ngog...

try and imagine a bigger W as an academic

Hormuz is definitely one of the top straits out there right now

not sure what I expected but the Wikipedia illustration of a strait leaves a lot to be desired en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait

Very excited about this.

Every time I’m in Union Square I think about how Tammany Hall, the seat of power for New York for decades, is now a Petco

Trump: “Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people! President DONALD J. TRUMP”

incredible www.ft.com/content/f6eb...

This feels important to save for the future

Tax exiles stuck in London desperately trying to get *back* to Dubai to avoid becoming tax resident in the UK? Just great stuff. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Chubby Checker's "The Twist" joyful, carefree, infectious Chubby Checker's "Twist Again" melancholy, plaintive, bittersweet

Every time I want to give up I put my clothes in the trash like Spider-Man.

adding the New York Public Library to my close friends on Instagram

My favorite part of this Sopranos bit is the goon immediately going "I never got that at all" even though nobody has ever looked more like the Shah of Iran than Phil Leotardo

we're going to see unprecedented levels of situation-monitoring today