"I’m sure you know better than I what sort of tasks non-CEOs perform! Maybe you can turn some kind of crank?" www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

A big day for the Only in Journalism Word "scion" cc @bryancurtis.bsky.social

Please also squash stuff using an industrial press

I wrote about the Canvas outage, and the sorrow of living inside a world made of software.

I get a lot of AI slop book marketing emails, but this is the first time I have ever been . . . mistaken for Jane Austen.

The first bloggers

Business Insider says the best steakhouse in Kansas is in Missouri

1. Sprummer 2. Sumtumn

“Bring gifts, inheritances, and life insurance into the income-tax system, where they rightly belong”

I wrote about the strangely romantic, improbably shared experience of the American gas-station sign—and why it might be ending.

This news item from the Winter 1981 issue of Electronic Games discusses Warren Robinett's secret message hidden in Adventure for the Atari 2600 and includes one of the earliest appearances of the term "Easter egg" in the context of video games.

I have zero interest in even trying this new season. It really was good at first!

An @ibogost.com joint www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Well, this just about wrecked me.

Screengrab from Taylor Swift's website c. Nov 2002. Charming on many levels: as artifact of humble beginnings; as relic of primitive internet aesthetics w/wonky interface, talk of 56k modems, etc. News to me that Jay-Z saw 12-yr-old TS sing. Also: "a name that you will surely hear quite a bit." LOL

i think it's smart that the Wikipedia page for Chips and Dip opens with a "Rationale" section. a lot of people are flabbergasted to find out about this concept and need some grounding before they get into the history

If you have even a passing interest in The Beastmaster or Krull — and who doesn’t? — you will enjoy this very much

Probably my favorite moment from The Last of the President’s Men, Bob Woodward’s memoir of Alexander Butterfield:

“Cricket was shot for yapping uncontrollably, bungling the mission, and killing innocent bystanders. Noem’s misdeeds are very similar, but she will be treated more mercifully.” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

This is extremely Providence (complimentary) www.providencejournal.com/story/news/g...

Lovely appreciation by Kevin Merida www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

If you're in D.C. a week from tomorrow, there's an event at Politics & Prose honoring the history of Book World. I think the tone will likely be less funerary than you might imagine. I know my comments will be. politics-prose.com/tribute-book...

Michigan native @jonathanbchait.bsky.social explains the full history of the Detroit-Windsor bridge saga -- and how Trump's threat to block the bridge opening reflects his warped economic worldview www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Baseball is turn-based for the batter but real-time for the runner (after reaching first)

Bill Self should be national coach of the year

Tina Brown rightly puts Fred Ryan's name in the mix of what went wrong; the N.Y. Times has omitted him in recent coverage. open.substack.com/pub/tinabrow...

Peggy Noonan: “if you know you’ve got this fabulous island of broken toys, professional journalists working for a reputable news organization, you’ve got a real chance of learning what’s true” www.wsj.com/opinion/a-la...

A eulogy for the mass market paperback, "one of the most brilliant technologies in the history of the world."

Petri: www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

Definitely worth noting since it wasn't announced in that way.

The Post killing its Books section (one of the best around) is so fucking bleak

I'm going to frame this

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"

Blocked

I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.com

“Limited Edition”

Robert F. Worth on what he saw at the Arab Spring, and what he saw in Minnesota (gift link): www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

Incredible lede www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

F1 receiving a Best Picture nomination over Weapons is one of the more egregious Academy Award errors

Really liked this www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, head of the Archdiocese for the U.S. military services, says Trump’s threat to seize Greenland by force “tarnishes the image of the United States”; troops can refuse “immoral” orders. The former USCCB president is seen as a church conservative (Gift link) wapo.st/45kMRJz

I like that the same day a guy was like “this place will never be Twitter” this thread gave us the most 2015 Twitter experience (complimentary) imaginable.

Groff’s Farm. I am sad just thinking about not being able to go there www.pennlive.com/f