Music has the right to children
Please note: We were unable to send yesterday’s newsletter due to an emergency in the TMN family. We’ll see you next week!
The US government’s fiscal year has now ended, and it turns out DOGE didn’t make any real difference, since federal spending increased by 6% compared to last year. / Quartz
We need to talk about Russell Vought as the Christian nationalist he is—a reality recent mainstream profiles have seemed incapable of presenting. / Democracy Americana
See also: Vought is trying to ignore the guidance Trump signed into law in 2019 that said government workers would be paid during the shutdown. / Government Executive
Emily Witt: The winners in an autocracy have little in common with the losers, “but putting on aviator sunglasses or a leather jacket and watching UFC seems to build gender solidarity.” / The London Review of Books
Women aged 28 and younger are currently the most liberal Americans. / The 19th
To justify removing an app documenting ICE activity, Apple designated immigrant agents as a protected class that should be shielded from hate speech. / Migrant Insider
See also: The developers behind ICE tracking apps aren’t backing down. “It's pure cowardice, what they're doing. I'm not gonna let off the gas with Apple.” / WIRED
OpenAI is removing copyrighted IP from Sora—and users are upset: “Turns out a lot of people's creativity is limited to what someone else has already made.” / Gizmodo
See also: “A good jailbreaker can think in ways that AI labs won’t anticipate.” Once AI models can do a thing, guardrails are meaningless to motivated users. / The New York Times [$]
In a ruling this week, Elon Musk lost his right to conceal his government security clearances because he tweeted about them. / Ars Technica
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As trade negotiations continue with the US, China formally restricts exports of its rare earths—in other words, 90% of the world’s supply. / BBC News
See also: “[The United States] are sending lawyers into an engineering fight.” / Foreign Affairs
A writer who’s exhaustively researched David Bowie’s career worries AI and ephemeral media will harm future researchers studying today’s artists. / The Tonearm
Grand slam tennis tournaments and the WTA have extreme heat policies, but the ATP does not, and players are struggling as brutal temperatures become more common. / The Guardian
See also: Last month, Roger Federer wondered if tournaments prefer slow courts because they improve the chances for Alcaraz/Sinner matchups. / BBC
Swiss researchers document the biodiversity in small segments of meadows, retracing the steps of two botanists more than a century ago. / The Guardian
For some members of Gen Z, divorce is said to be less of a tragedy, more of a “rebrand.” / The New York Times [$]
Top girls-only schools across the country are seeing an uptick in applications and enrollment (not so for boys-only schools). / Town & Country
Membership clubs similar to Soho House are spreading from big cities to midsize markets. / The Wall Street Journal [$]
A very quotable essay on how to make and keep friends. “It’s like applying for a job, except the application process is permanent and the job doesn’t exist.” / The Shadowed Archive
Street photography at Brooklyn’s Prospect Park from 1980 to the present, by Jamel Shabazz. / Colossal
Boards of Canada’s “Olson” played via paper tape through the 65-year-old PDP-1 computer as well as a bunch of other devices. / Engadget, MetaFilter
A New Jersey mom gives her five-year-old the one thing he wanted for his birthday: a Jimmy Carter-themed party. / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
(Today’s subject line is courtesy of this perfect comment at the MetaFilter thread on the Board of Canada cover versions.)
And now a brief chat with new supporter Deidre D.!
Deidre, thanks so much for supporting! Would you like to do our Q&A? If so, how’d you start reading TMN? I would love to do the Q&A. I’ve been reading TMN for years before I realized the other day that I'm not a paying subscriber. I must have started reading around the time I came across, read and loved Paris, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down [by TMN’s Rosecrans Baldwin]. I love Paris stories and cultural fish-out-of-water stories, and have sent that book to many friends. (I also love Lauren Collins’ When in French.)
Wow! Well, thank you so much—and most of all, thank you for supporting TMN. We really appreciate it. Keep it up. You’re [one] of the consistent sources of internet joy that makes the world seem more interesting than less.
In the members area, unlocked links from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal ↓