Curious reader — 72 sources in 90 days
Also a writer — 3 original pieces this quarter
Like the NYTimes, LinkedIn now has some great daily games. Unlike the NYTimes, there's not much else to stick around for.
LinkedIn Adds Button on Every Post to Report "Seems Like AI Slop," Which Is Definitely Going to Get a Real Workout
LinkedIn has caught on to the abysmal state of its website, adding a new button that allows users to flag a post that "seems like AI slop."
futurism.com
In another Kawhi Leonard scandal... he is an investor in a Pawtucket, RI minor league soccer team? I'd like to follow Uncle Dennis around for a week just to see what he gets up to.
wpri.com
This is partly an AI slop issue but partly just a Boomers with no taste issue. Even pre-LLMs I can't tell you the number of self-published kids books I've read that are garbage, and they all fail in the same way (soulless art + way too wordy). Editors exist for a reason!
Boomers Can’t Stop Gifting Their Grandkids AI-Generated Slop Books
Parents are getting fed up with garbled bedtime stories that feature characters based on actual photos of their children.
wired.com
While the woke Nolan discourse has been exhausting, I have found the details about Imax and moviegoing more generally quite illuminating. Or, to quote the article: "An Imax ticket comes with a promise of baseline quality that used to be free with every movie ticket"
How Imax Won the Movies
It’s too expensive, probably not the real thing, and increasingly the only reliable theater experience.
vulture.com
I ultimately haven't decided yet to what degree I think Flock is a menace vs. a tool to fight crime but I at least think there's value in knowing to what degree it has blanketed my community.
This Searchable Tool Is Helping Track Flock Surveillance Cameras in Your City - CNET
The Atlas of Surveillance database is the largest-ever repository of police surveillance technologies in the US.
cnet.com
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OpenAI says Hugging Face was breached by its pre-release models | TechCrunch
OpenAI has come forward to claim responsibility for the Hugging Face breach, saying it was the result of internal testing gone awry.
techcrunch.com
I realize civil service administrative reform (i.e. changing the way we hire and fire) is empathically unsexy but I genuinely think it could be transformative, especially at the state and municipal levels.
North Carolina’s bold move on civil service
The state’s new civil service statute, enacted by a Republican legislature and signed into law by a Democratic governor, is a big deal
open.substack.com
Consign VAR to the fire. Tennis (and now maybe baseball?) are the only ones who have gotten this right.
VAR Is My Mortal Enemy and Should Be Yours, Too
The 2026 World Cup has been astonishingly good, with one nightmarish exception
theringer.com
One might go so far as to say I am Vindicated... (I am selfish, I am wrong, I am right, I swear I'm right, swear I knew it all along)
economist.com
Gustafson's (pronounced GUS-stuf-son) Corgi is what put her over the edge into my favorite Fire player right now. (Also, long live the Fire, since we may end up losing the Blazers due to a cheap-ass owner.)
Pancake’s mom has got it going on: Why Portland fell in love with Megan Gustafson
The Portland Fire center has charmed fans with her gritty attitude and fierce play – and her charismatic corgi Pancake.
opb.org
Submitted without comment.
All the Cool Kids Are Birding
A younger crowd is flocking to a hobby once dominated by retirees—and transforming it along the way.
theatlantic.com
Among the US of A's greatest inventions is... the white line on the edge of the road?
wsj.com
wsj.com
As a Marylander, I am pro blue crab. As a former resident of Maine, it makes me nervous about their ecosystem. As a polar bear, fuck yeah, undergraduates publishing science!
Are Green Crabs Facing a New Predator in the Gulf of Maine?
bowdoin.edu
Concierge medicine for your hoo-ha! (Paywalled)
The Billionaires’ Vagina Club
With her motto, “Sexual health is health,” Dr. Sally Greenwald aims to optimize orgasms for the women of Silicon Valley.
newyorker.com
Some (well-informed) speculation on the president's next moves could be in the "election fraud" skirmishes, especially as the SAVE Act continues to be dead on arrival.
What Trump May Say During His Thursday Address on Election Integrity
Really, who knows what Trump will say?
michaelmcdonald.substack.com
Glad this story got the New Yorker treatment it deserved.
Did a Climber Leave His Girlfriend to Die at the Top of a Mountain?
An Austrian court pieces together the mysterious circumstances of a couple’s disastrous hike.
newyorker.com
This is quite the line: "if Trump is 'a poor person’s idea of a rich person,' Platner is basically the opposite — a rich person’s idea of a working-class person." (The rest of the piece is good too.)
I have never been working class
Unlike some American elites, I actually understand this fact.
open.substack.com
As a (admittedly latent/dormant) Orioles fan, knowing how this tradition started delights me.
How Yelling “O!” During the National Anthem Became a Statement of Baltimore Pride
Unsurprisingly, the hometown tradition started during the Orioles’ rowdy, it’s-not-over-until-it’s-over summer of 1979.
baltimoremagazine.com
Is this clickbait? It might be clickbait. But it's a wild story and takes 2 minutes to read.
Student pilot, 22, is forced to land her plane alone after instructor leaps to his death from cockpit mid-flight in Argentina | Daily Mail Online
The 22-year-old had been training with her instructor, Leandro Bertazzo (pictured), 42, in a Cessna C-150 when he evacuated the aircraft.
dailymail.com
The Argument dropping a #slatepitch that has some merit to it.
Should DayQuil be legal?
The combo drug grift is dangerous
theargumentmag.com
Mind your coffee grounds and pet pee! Keep PDX green!
oregonlive.com
ESPN writer has accident, loses arm, posts a GoFundMe and... Gets milkshake duck'd?
Matt Miller's charitable efforts face scrutiny amid life-threatening car crash
As ESPN NFL Draft analyst Matt Miller recovers from a near-fatal accident, questions have emerged about his charitable efforts.
awfulannouncing.com
Rare is it that a 10 year anniversary reprint makes me audibly chortle but this one did it for me. I may have even guffawed.
Opioid of the Masses (From 2016)
To many, Donald Trump feels good, but he can’t fix America’s growing social and cultural crisis, and the eventual comedown will be harsh.
theatlantic.com
RICE is out for the standard of care?
Column | There’s a new way to treat sprains and strains. Hint: Ice is out.
If you think you need rest, ice and ibuprofen, think again.
washingtonpost.com
A whole site of slightly off kilter, meditative game-like experiences.
screen toys
screen.toys
A look at how transit-oriented development could impact Portland. (With maps and a fun little tool.)
Why Oregon Needs Transit Oriented Upzoning
2025 was a big year for Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) on the US West Coast. Washington and California both passed major bills that set statewide standards for zoning around transit stations: * SB 79 in California required cities to legalize 6-9 story buildings near transit, with different standards for higher
urbanpdx.blog
We're returning logs to the river in Washington. I hope they are taking salmon counts in the years before and after, both in the Toutle, and other similar rivers, to understand the impact.
Salmon habitat restoration: Group uses helicopters to carry logs to South Fork Toutle River
TOUTLE — The whomp-whomp-whomp of helicopter blades carried for miles across the South Fork Toutle River valley Thursday as crews from Oregon-based Columbia Helicopters carried logs from a timber harv
columbian.com
Somewhat ironically, Wham-O discs were always considered irregular and we only used Discraft discs for Ultimate.
Toy company Wham-O produces first Frisbees | January 23, 1957 | HISTORY
The first Frisbees—originally known as "flying saucers"—are produced in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
history.com
Florida.
Florida Has Sentenced Some Alligators to a Terrible Fate. No One Realizes Exactly How Horrifying It Is. I Went There to Find Out.
In the manicured suburbs of Florida, the American alligator is facing a strange existential crisis.
slate.com
Folks in Portland aren't the only ones fighting the good and holy war against trees of heaven.
denverite.com
A legitimately decent deep dive on futbol tactics in advance of Japan v. Brazil today.
How Japan’s strategy for overcoming 100 schoolkids might help to eliminate Brazil
Hotaru Yamaguchi, Hiroshi Kiyotake and Yosuke Ideguchi taking on 100 schoolchildren on a full-sized football pitch may be in evidence today
nytimes.com
The repo man cometh.
The Repo Man Coming for Your Ride
As America’s auto debt nears $1.7 trillion, repossessions are reaching levels not seen since the Great Recession. Inside an industry at the front line of the country’s affordability crisis.
newyorker.com
It never occurred to me that as part of a content backlash libraries might move YA books to the adult section. Ultimately I'm not sure how much it matters. The kids who read are the kids who will seek these out regardless, no?
Are Public Libraries Becoming Children’s Libraries?
Books written for younger audiences are being relocated to adult sections at alarming rates. We asked experts to predict what that means for the rest of us.
404media.co
Half a billion dollars towards the broad-based elimination of respiratory infections seems like a smart use of money.
Ending respiratory infections
Introducing Intercept, a $500M bet to make respiratory infections like colds and flu a thing of the past.
open.substack.com
I had assumed the incentives of the 48 team field was the primary cause for the scoring boom. I didn't know about deep seams for in flight stability!
Goals are being scored at a record pace at the World Cup. The ball is one reason for the surge
It’s been goals galore so far at the World Cup. The tournament in the U.S., Mexico and Canada has been one of the highest-scoring in history.
apnews.com
I feel like I hear pika more frequently than I see them. Also, obligatory: <pickachu-face.jpg>
Do you like tiny, furry, squeaky animals? Cascades Pika Watch wants your help
Cascades Pika Watch already has over 400 trained volunteers out looking for pikas this summer. But the group is still looking for more. Participants can train online for free.
opb.org
Yglesias on urban planning and why we should abandon it entirely. There are obviously positives to urban planning but it is one of those things where the pros are legible to folks and the cons aren't, so the actual trade-offs happening in practice are poorly understood by most everyone...
Against urban planning
What I didn’t learn from playing SimCity with a former mayor
open.substack.com
On color. Not going to spoil it any more than the headline.
Where to Find the Colors Your Screen Can’t Show You
An atlas of the vibrance of the real world
moultano.wordpress.com
Don't trust what the government says, sheeple. Do your own research! These folks are out here, asking the right questions.
Mount Saint Helens WAS an Inside Job
I know it. You know it.
mountsainthelens.info
I hadn't realized the scope of incoming philanthropic money. I agree with the author that most existing orgs aren't a great fit for the folks who will have this cash. It seems too optimistic to say "hey, we're about to have billions of dollars to spend on thousands of new philanthropy startups" so I'm skeptical but sometimes a little optimism is good. We'll see!
The third wave of American philanthropy
AI is about to generate hundreds of billions in new philanthropic funding. We have real work to do to make the most of it.
open.substack.com
Today in "everything is a trade-off": accuracy vs. privacy in economic data... and if you release it at all.
A New Threat to Economic Data
A Commerce Department policy risks damaging the public’s understanding of the economy.
agglomerations.eig.org
When they say it's better to burn out than fade away, pretty sure this is what they're talking about.
I Went to One of the Last-Ever Shows of a Beloved Rock Band. What I Saw Was Haunting and Strange.
His desiccated performance and chintzy stage show eerily reflected his dark
slate.com
Setting aside the politics and the optics of the thing, I legitimately wanted to know about more about the algeafication process of the reflecting pool and this Newsweek article was capable enough to help me out.
American flag blue to pipes: 4 theories why Lincoln Memorial Pool is now green
Reflecting Pool turns green days after $14M revamp—here’s why algae blooms may be linked to heat, design changes, and long-standing infrastructure issues.
newsweek.com
I find this author's theory of the mind for LLMs pretty shallow but I love their conception of feedback, on its purpose and how to (try to) make it valuable. Way back when, when I was a writing tutor, I was often struck by how useless my advice seemed to be and I think this piece captures a lot of why that was. Which is to say, I was treating their writing as a problem to be solved rather than their person as a thing to be fostered.
Feedback: Human and Not
Acts of community.
open.substack.com
As someone who was in violation of this permit this weekend, I support this protest. It's also basically completely unenforced so it feels like it's just punishment for folks that *aren't* scofflaws, which isn't great.
Hundreds Take To The Clackamas River In Protest Of Paddle Permit Signed By Tina Kotek
Hundreds of Oregonians hit the Clackamas River this weekend for a "Float for Freedom" event aimed at pushing back against what many (including ourselves) see as yet another unnecessary fee
thatoregonlife.com
I dunno y'all. If the problem is housework, if you're rich and successful, have you considered marrying for love and then just getting an au pair or other live-in help? Or is it still to scary to marry your equal (or, God forbid, someone smarter/more talented than you)?
Matchmakers Are Being Paid $25K to Find Trad Wives for Rich Men
Even in blue states, nonreligious tech entrepreneurs and CEOs are increasingly asking for “traditional” and “conservative” women, matchmakers tell WIRED.
wired.com
"As Jeremy Gordon writes, “everything is ‘cringe’ from the right perspective.” 2010 is thus a perfect reference point: the year Instagram launched, with smartphone adoption rapidly growing but still far from the saturation point—the twilight of unself-consciousness. Older millennials were caught on the wrong side of this divide, living their formative years in a time that was increasingly documented for social media without thinking to posture for it."
An Obituary for Edward Sharpe, the Magnetic Zeros, and Earnestness
As its latest menacing wave of virality peters out, we celebrate the most cringe artifact from the most cringe period in human history.
vice.com
In the last 17 years, 30 states have raised their minimum wage, 20 of them haven't. What can we learn about employment effects from that?
A Minimum Wage Natural Experiment Has Been Running for Over a Decade
When 30 States Raised Minimum Wages, What Happened to Pay and Jobs?
open.substack.com
Understanding the Riemann hypothesis.
The Riemann Hypothesis — A Visual Journey
An interactive journey from 'what is a prime number?' to a genuine understanding of the most important unsolved problem in mathematics.
riemann.adilmoujahid.com
As someone who has been in PDX for two decades, I still love learning about these delightful "old Portland" spots. Adding this one to the list to check out.
For 132 Years, Rich’s Cigar Store Has Been Purveyor to Portland’s Nicotine Habit
Talking to tobacconist Bill Shindler about tobacco is like chatting with Miles Davis about jazz.
wweek.com
