En plein hair
The Dept. of Homeland Security has added DNA from thousands of US citizens, despite them not being charged with a crime, and added it to the FBI’s genetic database. / The Guardian
ABC’s reinstatement of Kimmel may have had a lot to do with building goodwill ahead of a planned price increase for Disney+. / The Handbasket
Trump appears close to taking over the Federal Reserve, which would give him “extraordinary power to reward his friends and destroy his enemies.” / The Atlantic [$]
Even if the American empire is over, “we have so much wealth, power, and resources that even a stupid hulking thing that cannot be counted on is still a stupid hulking thing.” / Rolling Stone
The NYC SIM banks busted by the Secret Service rely on esoteric hardware for making spam calls and they’re kind of awesome, in a nerdy way. / Tedium
Two years of far-right leadership in Odessa, Texas, led by a mayor who wanted the city to “publicly repent” for its sins, left city services in ruin—until voters revolted. / Texas Monthly
The GSA is hiring back hundreds of federal employees let go under DOGE, “after what amounts to a seven-month paid vacation.” / AP
A human using Suno—with an AI vocalist that sounds like Beyoncé—nabbed a $3 million record deal, which is a lot of money for music that could be vaporized by lawsuits. / Consequence
More AI in the workplace means more humans cleaning up coworkers’ AI mistakes, showing AI doesn’t happen “without the hidden overhead of human quality control.” / Harvard Business Review, Sify
Case in point: At least for now, AI can’t write subtitles for shit. / The Guardian
Unrelated: “I like to think of fights breaking out in projection booths as rival gangs, the Xenons and the Arcs, come to bitter blows.” Anthony Lane on the magic of film restoration. / The New Yorker
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Reading scores for American high school seniors are the worst recorded since 1992. / Slow Boring
The problem isn’t students losing competitions to AI—it’s whether we will degrade our capabilities in the presence of new machines. / The Argument
“This was the book I had never known I needed.” An ode to the Choose Your Own Adventure book series. / The Digital Antiquarian
Interviews with 21 (mostly male) college students. “There are really no rules to life besides living it.” / GQ
See also: A theory that telling a man his hair is not it is the most malicious thing you can do to his ego. / Finite Jest
RCA’s VideoDiscs failed in part because they were too fragile—and while developing new quality assurance techniques for the discs, the company happened to invent scanning microscopes. / IEEE
To build support for its building spree of nuclear reactors, France “branded them as modern ‘chateaux’, suggesting that they were part of natural cultural revival.” / Works in Progress
And now a brief chat with a new supporter, Will H.!
Will, thanks for supporting! When did you start reading TMN? I started reading The Morning News this year, on the recommendation of my most interesting and erudite friend Joe (I want to be just like Joe). So that’s high praise for y’all, in my little corner.
Shout out to Joe! Any particular reason you keep reading? I have just been getting too much of my information from the NYTimes and the NYTimes only, and I’ve felt myself becoming...duller as a result. I need more variety, and I need breadth, and I need to be reading culture as well as just news. I’ve been through a few news/essay aggregators over the years—it’s just how I like to engage.
Awesome. Any reason you supported today? I’m supporting because I know ink ain’t free.
In the members area, an unlocked link from the Atlantic ↓