I didn’t plan to post about Google today, but here we are!
Publishers Are Preparing to Opt Out of Google Search
The nuclear option is gaining traction as web traffic collapses and Google refuses to negotiate with content creators
adweek.com
@Renee
I write about baseball — mostly the Colorado Rockies. (Fandom is weird.) In addition, I’m a professor of English and a lifelong reader always looking for the next great story.
rockiespitch.comI didn’t plan to post about Google today, but here we are!
Publishers Are Preparing to Opt Out of Google Search
The nuclear option is gaining traction as web traffic collapses and Google refuses to negotiate with content creators
adweek.com
This is why I’ve gone to Kagi.
Client Challenge
A required part of this site couldn’t load. This may be due to a browser extension, network issues, or browser settings. Please check your connection, disable any ad blockers, or try using a different browser.
sfgate.com
I am not a Swiftie. But for anyone who is, enjoy!
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Marriage Plot
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding promised a kind of narrative closure for Swifties: after the pop star spent years singing about imagined weddings, her life was finally catching up with her art.
newyorker.com
For those following the World Cup.
The World Cup According to Gianni Infantino
FIFA’s powerful president is remaking global soccer in his own image. Can the sport survive him?
newyorker.com
I thought this was interesting.
Why the Last Battle of the American Revolution Was Fought In India
The conflicts that took place elsewhere in the world have receded from our collective imagination, but the American rebellion was, in many ways, a sideshow to a far greater imperial drama.
newyorker.com
This is just ghoulish.
Will betting on wildfires lead to arson? - High Country News
Fire survivors say using prediction markets to gamble on wildfire is “morally reprehensible.”
hcn.org
I’m sorry. What?
‘His ability is hard to deny’: is Tom Hardy a secretly good rapper?
The unconventional actor is releasing a new hip-hop album, the latest unlikely new string to his bow, but the big surprise is that he might actually be great
theguardian.com
One of my colleagues at Purple Row wrote this one, and I wanted to share it because of what it shows about how sports keeps us connected to those we care about, wherever they are.
The 2026 Colorado Rockies my dad would have loved
Productive additions prove to be easy to cheer on
purplerow.com
If you’re a Colson Whitehead fan, this one’s for you.
Colson Whitehead’s Big Score
As he closes out his Harlem crime trilogy with “Cool Machine,” the two-time Pulitzer winner turns again to the city that made him, and to the private ghosts behind his restless reinventions.
newyorker.com
Defector does not miss. Gift link.
Putting The "Buster" In Buster Posey | Defector
The San Francisco Giants have permission from Major League Baseball to wear Pride-themed gear. This was explained by commissioner Rob Manfred in a recent letter to Josh Hawley, the Republican senator from Missouri. The Giants and Dodgers have a special exemption: Other teams have only the 12 league-wide special uniform events, but these two teams…
defector.com
There’s a lot here
The Warrior-Witches of Ukraine’s Resistance
An underground intelligence network uses subterfuge and honey traps to direct drone strikes deep inside Russian-occupied territory.
theatlantic.com
I thought this was interesting.
What Science Knows About Grief
After my husband’s death, I had never been more pliable, tender, open, or raw. It was then that I tried E.M.D.R. therapy.
newyorker.com
I’m more of a cat person myself, but I am eager to read this.
bookshop.org
Eager to see this.
Why the Odyssey Keeps Defeating Filmmakers
Full of violence, desire, monsters, and magic, Homer’s epic has tempted directors for decades. Can Christopher Nolan’s new adaptation survive the voyage?
newyorker.com
I thought this was really well done.
Misery And Memory In Two Van Goghs | Defector
Beneath soaring ceilings, in a small, darkly painted gallery off the main hall of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, two immense sunflower paintings hang side by side. The paintings are bigger than I expected them to be, big enough that when I watch people pose between them, their faces are the size of only one…
defector.com
Horror really isn’t my thing, but maybe I should give this one a try.
“Widow’s Bay” Sets a High Bar for Horror Comedy
The Apple TV series starring Matthew Rhys follows a winning cast of small-island bureaucrats through a living hell.
newyorker.com
Maybe I should attend one of these.
Misery Loves Company—If There Are Snacks
Do “Admin Nights” make people more productive or less lonely?
newyorker.com
No one is better at this than David Roth.
Promises Made, Promises Kept: The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Absolutely Looks Like Shit Now | Defector
If everyone in the United States weren’t living downstream from its consequences, it would be a pretty good tragic flaw that Donald Trump wants more than anything to be seen as a brilliant man who has always been right about everything when he is transparently a butterfingered dunce whose professional expertise more or less begins…
defector.com
Very eager to read this.
Maggie O’Farrell and the Art of Inventing the Past
Why read historical fiction? A new novel by the author of “Hamnet” offers one answer: because it’s fun.
newyorker.com
I am not sure how much interest Seabird has in sports-related stories, but this is a big one, and *The Athletic* has some excellent writers.
Brendan Sorsby plans to enter NFL Supplemental Draft, ending saga at Texas Tech
The news comes as the NCAA and Big 12 grew increasingly at odds with Texas Tech over Sorsby's eligibility despite NCAA gambling violations.
nytimes.com
I’m a big fan of Adam Gopnik’s criticism.
Did a Rowdy English Nobleman Mastermind the American Revolution?
America’s fight for independence is often considered a battle fought and won at home. A new book argues that it was propelled by a transnational élite an ocean away.
newyorker.com
John Warner is one of my favorite writers to read on writing. Here’s this week’s newsletter, which focuses on feedback.
Feedback: Human and Not
Acts of community.
open.substack.com
Just glad she’s back with a new album.
Olivia Rodrigo’s Songs Can’t Always Keep Up With Her Impeccable Taste
On “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love,” the 23-year-old singer delivers a polished, solemn breakup chronicle that misses her signature adrenaline rush.
nytimes.com
I am a big fan of 404Media.
Chatbots Keep Telling Stories About Lighthouse Keeper 'Elias Thorne'. We Might Know Why
LLMs including ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude are obsessed with telling stories about lighthouse keepers and clockmakers, and one character named 'Elias Thorne' has made his way from chatbots to Amazon books. Researchers are trying to discover why.
404media.co
Let’s see if a Bluesky post will show here. This is a poem about AI someone posted.
Kurbs (@kkurbs.bsky.social)
Please Use AI
bsky.app
More please!
Tiny forests are a growing trend in Mass. and beyond
Around Massachusetts, communities are planting a wilderness-worth of trees into tiny areas according to the Miyawaki method. Devotees say it turbocharges biodiversity and brings environmental benefits, such as enriching soil, cooling summer heat and soaking up carbon emissions that contribute to climate change.
wbur.org
Reading is the best.
How I Learned to Read Way, Way More
I had to rethink my relationship to attention
johnpaulbrammer.substack.com
This is awful.
Anguished Parents, Crying Doctors: Life Amid Utah’s Measles Outbreak
The state’s outbreak means adapting to America’s new reality, in which vaccine-preventable diseases become common again.
wired.com
I am intrigued!
A World-Class Omakase in America’s Most Landlocked State
For the chef David Utterback, the sense that Omaha is underestimated is a source of both pride and torment.
newyorker.com
I suspect they’re not the only ones looking to leave US tech.
All the Ways Europe Is Ditching American Technology
A WIRED timeline shows how dozens of governments, companies, and other organizations across Europe are moving, or planning to shift, away from US Big Tech.
wired.com
Gift link
Scott Pelley on the Bari Weiss Era and His Last Days at ‘60 Minutes’
Lulu Garcia-Navarro sits down for an exclusive interview with the now-former CBS News correspondent.
nytimes.com
Always here for a good audiobook recommendation.
The Best Audiobooks of 2026 (So Far)
The year is nearly halfway over. Here’s what we’ve been listening to.
nytimes.com
Never change, baseball.
The strange history of baseball’s superstitions: ‘Magic is in the sport’s very structure’
A new book looks at how rituals, charms and curses are central to the identity of America’s pastime
theguardian.com
I am not sure gift links work here, so I’ve followed up with a regular link.
Shohei Ohtani Is Illogical | Defector
Before this season, pitching was pretty clearly Shohei Ohtani’s secondary talent, and that’s not an insult. He was just “also a pitcher” in the same way that Lady Gaga is also an actress or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is also a writer. In his first two seasons as a Dodger, Ohtani only pitched a total of 47…
defector.com
Ohtani is amazing by any standard. Gift link.
Shohei Ohtani Is Illogical | Defector
Before this season, pitching was pretty clearly Shohei Ohtani’s secondary talent, and that’s not an insult. He was just “also a pitcher” in the same way that Lady Gaga is also an actress or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is also a writer. In his first two seasons as a Dodger, Ohtani only pitched a total of 47…
defector.com
This looks really interesting.
Tribeca 2026 Review: Questlove’s ‘Earth, Wind & Fire’ Doc Explores the Complexity of Maurice White | Black Girl Nerds
Questlove’s Tribeca 2026 documentary explores the life and legacy of Maurice White, revealing the creative genius, ambition, and more
blackgirlnerds.com
I’m a big fan of music oral histories.
The Inside Story of the Athens Music Scene
How did the college football town spawn the B-52s, R.E.M., and Widespread Panic, to name just a few? The maestros and misfits who led Athens’s rise to one of the world's most influential and improbable music towns tell all
gardenandgun.com
No one is better at describing this than Mike Masnick.
Enshittification, Despotification, and the Open Internet
It’s not about whether technology is inherently good or bad, liberating or oppressive. Architecture shapes incentives; incentives shape outcomes.
liberalism.org
There’s a lot here.
The Inconvenient Village
We all want community, until we actually have to be a neighbor.
karengonzalez.substack.com
Where’s the congressman? Even The Times can’t find him.
A Congressman Was Suddenly Absent. So We Looked. And Looked.
Will the mystery of Tom Kean Jr., a New Jersey representative, finally be solved on Tuesday? The reporters covering the story will have questions.
nytimes.com
When politicians say they want to sell public lands to build “housing,” this is what they really mean.
Trump officials, billionaires and the quiet reshaping of America's public lands - WyoFile
A controversial land swap orchestrated by the megarich could be “a harbinger of what’s to come” for public lands under Trump.
wyofile.com
Some Sandra Cisneros poetry for your afternoon.
“How to Grow Old”
“Don’t fret about / the champagne-glass / neck. / Drink champagne.”
newyorker.com
I have always wondered about this process.
Bringing a Giant Canvas Back to Life, as Museum Visitors Watch
The Musée d’Orsay demystified art conservation by turning the meticulous, yearlong restoration of a 22-foot Gustave Courbet painting into a public event.
nytimes.com
So many great choices here!
It’s summertime, and the readin’ is easy. Fortunately, so is finding an interesting title.
Colorado authors have suggestions for ways to fill the blissful hours with a book. They range from the conventional to the experimental.
coloradosun.com
Some thoughts on designing book covers.
Cover Design from Hardcover to Paperback (with an Italian Twist)
Q&A with author Jessica Berger Gross about the covers for 'Hazel Says No'
substack.com
The world has so many mysteries.
Millions of Bees Have Thrived Under a New York Cemetery for More Than a Century
A walk in the cemetery led to Cornell researchers discovering an underground colony of bees with an estimated population of 5.5 million—one of the largest ever recorded.
wired.com
I enjoyed *Hacks*. But I also respect a show that knows when to make an exit.
In “Hacks,” Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder Gave Us an Odd Couple for the Ages
The unlikely bond between Jean Smart’s and Hannah Einbinder’s characters in “Hacks” led the show to a standing ovation of a final season.
newyorker.com
For myself, I’ve gone to Kagi. But this move by Google is a significant problem for everyone.
Client Challenge
A required part of this site couldn’t load. This may be due to a browser extension, network issues, or browser settings. Please check your connection, disable any ad blockers, or try using a different browser.
sfgate.com
I thought this was interesting.
A Difficult Groove
Archivist Andy Lanset on the long struggle to gather and edit radio "field tape" before tape existed. It required thousands of pounds of equipment, a lot of money, and incredible patience.
continuous-wave.beehiiv.com
This is discouraging.
Why that hotly-tipped band you love might not be touring this year
Rising Canadian prog duo Crown Lands won
flip.it