I didnāt 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 ā mostly the Colorado Rockies. (Fandom is weird.) In addition, Iām a professor of English and a lifelong reader always looking for the next great story.
rockiespitch.comCurious reader ā 32 sources in 90 days
Also a writer ā 1 original piece this quarter
I didnāt 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 Iāve gone to Kagi.
Client Challenge
A required part of this site couldnāt 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 Kelceās Marriage Plot
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelceās 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
FIFAās 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 āmorally reprehensible.ā
hcn.org
Iām sorry. What?
āHis ability is hard to denyā: 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 youāre a Colson Whitehead fan, this oneās for you.
Colson Whiteheadās Big Score
As he closes out his Harlem crime trilogy with āCool Machine,ā 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 teamsā¦
defector.com
Thereās a lot here
The Warrior-Witches of Ukraineās 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 husbandās death, I had never been more pliable, tender, open, or raw. It was then that I tried E.M.D.R. therapy.
newyorker.com
Iām 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, Homerās epic has tempted directors for decades. Can Christopher Nolanās 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 oneā¦
defector.com
Horror really isnāt my thing, but maybe I should give this one a try.
āWidowās Bayā 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 CompanyāIf There Are Snacks
Do āAdmin Nightsā 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 werenāt 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 beginsā¦
defector.com
Very eager to read this.
Maggie OāFarrell and the Art of Inventing the Past
Why read historical fiction? A new novel by the author of āHamnetā offers one answer: because itās 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
Iām a big fan of Adam Gopnikās criticism.
Did a Rowdy English Nobleman Mastermind the American Revolution?
Americaās fight for independence is often considered a battle fought and won at home. A new book argues that it was propelled by a transnational Ć©lite an ocean away.
newyorker.com
John Warner is one of my favorite writers to read on writing. Hereās this weekās newsletter, which focuses on feedback.
Feedback: Human and Not
Acts of community.
open.substack.com
Just glad sheās back with a new album.
Olivia Rodrigoās Songs Canāt Always Keep Up With Her Impeccable Taste
On āYou Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love,ā 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
Letās 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 Utahās Measles Outbreak
The stateās outbreak means adapting to Americaās new reality, in which vaccine-preventable diseases become common again.
wired.com
I am intrigued!
A World-Class Omakase in Americaās 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 theyāre 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 ā60 Minutesā
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. Hereās what weāve been listening to.
nytimes.com
Never change, baseball.
The strange history of baseballās superstitions: āMagic is in the sportās very structureā
A new book looks at how rituals, charms and curses are central to the identity of Americaās pastime
theguardian.com
I am not sure gift links work here, so Iāve followed up with a regular link.
Shohei Ohtani Is Illogical | Defector
Before this season, pitching was pretty clearly Shohei Ohtaniās secondary talent, and thatās not an insult. He was just āalso a pitcherā 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 47ā¦
defector.com
Ohtani is amazing by any standard. Gift link.
Shohei Ohtani Is Illogical | Defector
Before this season, pitching was pretty clearly Shohei Ohtaniās secondary talent, and thatās not an insult. He was just āalso a pitcherā 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 47ā¦
defector.com
This looks really interesting.
Tribeca 2026 Review: Questloveās āEarth, Wind & Fireā Doc Explores the Complexity of Maurice WhiteĀ Ā | Black Girl Nerds
Questloveās Tribeca 2026 documentary explores the life and legacy of Maurice White, revealing the creative genius, ambition, and more
blackgirlnerds.com
Iām 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 Athensās 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
Itās not about whether technology is inherently good or bad, liberating or oppressive. Architecture shapes incentives; incentives shape outcomes.
liberalism.org
Thereās a lot here.
The Inconvenient Village
We all want community, until we actually have to be a neighbor.
karengonzalez.substack.com
Whereās the congressman? Even The Times canāt 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 āhousing,ā 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 āa harbinger of whatās to comeā for public lands under Trump.
wyofile.com
Some Sandra Cisneros poetry for your afternoon.
āHow to Grow Oldā
āDonāt fret about / the champagne-glass / neck. / Drink champagne.ā
newyorker.com
I have always wondered about this process.
Bringing a Giant Canvas Back to Life, as Museum Visitors Watch
The MusĆ©e dāOrsay 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!
Itās summertime, and the readinā 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 millionāone of the largest ever recorded.
wired.com
I enjoyed *Hacks*. But I also respect a show that knows when to make an exit.
In āHacks,ā Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder Gave Us an Odd Couple for the Ages
The unlikely bond between Jean Smartās and Hannah Einbinderās characters in āHacksā led the show to a standing ovation of a final season.
newyorker.com
For myself, Iāve gone to Kagi. But this move by Google is a significant problem for everyone.
Client Challenge
A required part of this site couldnāt 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