Tuesday headlines: (Bad) taste makes waste
As part of Olympic security, French authorities are using—and critics argue, abusing—an anti-terror law to restrict the movements of hundreds of people. / AP
"Aug. 2, 2024, was Black Friday for the artificial intelligence boom, as a week of rough earnings from Big Tech led to what felt like the entire media industry to ask: is the AI bubble popping?" / Where's Your Ed At
David Lynch says he's unable to leave his house due to emphysema, but has no plans to retire: "I would do it remotely if it comes to it. I wouldn't like that so much." / The Daily Beast
The ridiculous plot for M. Night Shyamalan's new movie—where an entire concert is staged for a sting operation—is loosely based on an actual, ridiculous sting operation. / GQ
"Over-describing something trivial can lead to your players fixating on it." Dungeons & Dragons taught me how to write alt text. / Eric W. Bailey
Why are so many prized midcentury homes being gutted right now—or worse, torn down? Money, obviously, and that's also the reason it hurts so much. / Snake
See also: It's another botched art restoration—this time at an 18th-century Spanish church, where one of the new cherubim appears to be wearing a backpack. / Hyperallergic
Facebook is the cause of Facebook's AI slop, which creators are using to generate engagement—and score performance bonuses from Facebook. / 404 Media
A US district judge rules Google has been running a monopoly in search and advertising—the decision could result in anything from a slap on the wrist to a breakup. / The Verge
Unrelated: A beautiful visual search for public domain content. / Public Work
Are book covers the reason men don't read novels? Depends on the man. / The Biblioracle Recommends
"It's unlikely that a DJ mix or a remix compilation will ever have such an impact again." For many, Kruder & Dorfmeister were the sound of a highly specific moment in time. / zensounds
Monday headlines: All that glitters
"Few questioned whether the MAGA tent was big enough to cover the tech futurists and the evangelical Christians." Inside the pro-Trump 2024 Bitcoin Conference. / The Verge
Hamilton Nolan: "The Democrats are a Big Tent Party…in the way you might feel if you arrived at a group camping trip to find that there were not individual accommodations." / How Things Work
How is Zoom now a thing for the Harris campaign? Compared to the 2020 election cycle, by this point voters had Zoom fatigue, but now it's novel again. / The New York Times [+]
By breaking with other news orgs and the White House, Bloomberg seemed willing to put the prisoner swap at risk in its pursuit of a scoop. / Intelligencer
Project 2025 aims to weaken the federal agency responsible for curtailing disinformation during elections, and seems to misunderstand what the agency actually does. / WIRED
Gaza's health ministry says 500 health workers have been killed and another 300 have been detained, which means both are happening at a higher rate than Gazans. / The New York Times [+]
"If these banned substances were as dangerous as WADA would have us believe, elite athletes should be dropping like flies. But they aren't." The myth at the heart of anti-doping. / STAT
At two gold medals, the winningest 2024 Olympic mountain bike is very expensive—to the tune of $12,500—but the bike that won silver costs $3,500 more. / Outside
See also: A recap of bike stuff from the first week of the 2024 Olympics. / A Whole Lotta Nothing
And also: The @artbutmakeitsports Instagram account has been having a field day with imagery from the 2024 Olympics. / Instagram
Africa likes mammals, South America likes birds, and more from a worldwide analysis of animals on currency. / Griffith University
"It's hard to imagine another artist where that radical leap forward took place on a Christmas album." On Low's Christmas. / Tobias Carroll
Saturday headlines: Eyes wide open
Germany's political shift toward right-wing extremism appears to be accelerating. / Semafor
The Pentagon deploys more warships and fighter jets to the Middle East. / Reuters
A review of bipartisan legislation that passed this week in Washington. / Wake Up to Politics
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff's "insatiable" fan base is nicknamed the "D-Unit." / Vanity Fair
A professional influencer, climate activist, and ski mountaineer runs for senate in Utah, even though she'll most certainly lose. / Vox
See also: "Normal people judge movements and parties by their most prominent representatives." / X
The love story—and game show story—of the first married same-sex couple to work for Southwest Airlines. / Slate
Medical experts say they frequently see patients who injure themselves attempting Olympic feats. / The Guardian
Related: "A lot of Olympians push their bodies to a breaking point "just to see where they can go." / The New York Times [+]
Some travel tips on how to use the free wifi at your hotel safely. Also, networking tips for music festivals? / AFAR, Carrd
The argument to put fresh herbs on everything. / Blackbird Spyplane
One of the biggest video games in the world right now involves clicking a banana. Meanwhile, if you care to stare at strangers, there's a new site for that. / Sherwood, Eyechat
Friday headlines: Allez, les jeux!
Bangladesh arrests more than 10,000 people after weeks of protests. / The Guardian
Russia frees journalist Evan Gershkovich, part of the largest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War. / The Wall Street Journal [+]
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff's so-called "insatiable" fan base is nicknamed the "D-Unit." / Vanity Fair
Some three-quarters of American parents believe college is worth paying for, even though tuition has ballooned in the past two decades. / FastCompany
Unrelated: Some questions for the notion that "if you are a skilled manager of your own mind, your feelings will not go on strike." / The Drift
Famine is officially declared in Sudan's Darfur region—only the third time in the last 20 years that famine has been declared. / Reuters
One in 11 people went hungry last year, while one in three struggled to afford a healthy diet. / Grist
See also: Can thunderstorms spoil milk? No, but people thought as much in the 19th century. / Atlas Obscura
Yet another big study of basic income finds "overwhelmingly beneficial" results. / The Los Angeles Times
How many times can a public beach vanish? As many times as Congress pays to rebuild it—"over a very long time." / E&E News
Selections of work from eight painters capturing urban life around the world. / Artsy
Physicist Sara Walker says assembly theory—the idea that everything is made from smaller parts—can explain what life is. / The New York Times [+]
Some notes on the design of the world's first powered pants. / dezeen
A "renaissance" in designing miniatures is said to be upon us. / Architectural Digest
Remembering the design of 1984's Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. "That ecstatic joy with design still feels unexpected and original, even three decades on." / Hyperallergic
One surprise in this summer's games? The French, Parisians especially, are barely complaining about them. / The Wall Street Journal [+]
Thursday headlines: Elementary my weird Watson
Iran and its proxies are meeting to discuss potential retaliation against Israel. / Reuters
Spencer Ackerman: If Harris wants to be different on Israel, she quickly needs to choose "active deescalation." / Forever Wars
"Why are you being so weird?" Inside the Democrats' new "big weirdo" political strategy. / Vanity Fair
Related: "They're weird. Normal people don't want to be around them." / Talking Points Memo
As of last month, zero Republican members of the House of Representatives or the Senate had TikTok accounts. / NPR
A researcher uses a citation-boosting service advertised on Facebook to make his grandmother's cat the world's most cited animal. / Reese Richardson
Some very old paintings and drawings of people storing their books in "cases, cupboards and carousels." / Lost Art Press
See also: Early photographs of people posed with books. / Public Domain Review
Fran Hoepfner: The stars of the Paris Olympics are people really good at just one thing. / Vulture
A brief history of free condoms at the Olympics. Also, a new product seemingly wants to be your imaginary friend. / Mental Floss, X
A millennial's eating diary from a food technology event. "We are more into texture, it turns out, than any other generation." / STAT
Wednesday headlines: Keep mom and carry on
Hamas's political leader Ismail Haniyeh is killed in Tehran. It's likely to have a chilling effect on ceasefire talks. / Al Jazeera, BBC News
Etan Nechin: Pinpoint operations stand in stark contrast to five-ton bombs. / X
Dan Williams: Ignorance and misperceptions are not puzzling. The challenge is to explain why some people see reality accurately. / Conspicuous Cognition
Landfills account for more than 17 percent of human-caused methane pollution. / Scientific American
In Europe, wind turbines and solar panels overtook fossil fuels to generate 30% of the EU's electricity in the first half of this year. / The Guardian
Germans adopt "plug and play" solar panels. "You just hang them from the balcony like wet laundry." / Kottke
New York's Metropolitan Museum says it's attracting half the international visitors that it did before the pandemic. / The New York Times [+]
A related short film: What's that mark on the wall? / Colossal
Some Britons fear their cherished slang is being lost as young people adopt universal terms learned on TikTok. / The Wall Street Journal [+]
What is the key to cultural relevance in 2024? "Intricate world building," i.e., lore. / The Face
Top performers on OnlyFans often hire "chatters" to impersonate them with fans. Some subscribers say the deception amounts to fraud. / Reuters
Meanwhile, are thousands of women really "panicking" about "blush blindness," i.e., wearing too much blush? / Vox
A growing number of women are said to be seeking out relationships with chatbots. / axios
Unrelated: "My Mom Says She Loves Me. AI Says She's Lying." / The Atlantic [+]
Tuesday headlines: Now is the tinder of our discontent
Venezuela severs diplomatic relations with countries that question its disputed presidential election. / Semafor
Heather Cox Richardson: At this country's most important revolutionary moments, it has seemed as if the country turned on a dime. / Letters From an American
Political rallies and fundraisers are moving to Zoom. E.g., star-studded "white dudes for Harris." / axios, USA Today
"To say that mainstream dating apps are in their flop era is not a controversial statement in 2024." On the return of the meet-cute. / Harper's Bazaar [+]
See also: DIY dating apps apparently are trending. / Bustle
Some notes on how to tell the difference between a genuine trend and something machine-made. "There's a very slim line between 'Everyone is doing it!' and 'The algorithm is algorithm-ing.'" / The Trend Report
Unrelated: You may not know the Likert scale, but "you've probably been Likerted your whole life." / The Offing
Art experts say the supposed Last Supper moment from the Olympics' opening ceremony was actually inspired by a painting of Olympian gods. / The Guardian
Dvora Meyers on the weird combo that is gymnastics scoring, surveillance, and AI. / The Verge
How that "flying cauldron" in Paris was fabricated. What exactly is this summer's mascot? Also, dating apps are thriving at the Games. / dezeen, Boing Boing, Betches
And in case you didn't know, swimmer Katie Ledecky hasn't lost a 1500m race in 14 years. / NBC News
Your weekly wanderlust: Hikes in California, coffeeshops in Turkey, Costco in Cancún. / Outside, Sprudge, The Paris Review
Monday headlines: Onward, dear heart
Oil prices fall on Monday as traders seem to be unfazed by the risk of war between Israel and Iran's Hezbollah. / CNBC
Mohanad Hage Ali: Hezbollah will likely choose restraint and de-escalation, owing to Lebanon's fragility. / Foreign Affairs
Kamala Harris's team tells donors to be wary of email and text messages supposedly raising money for the vice president. / The Bulwark
Warren Buffett decides to leave his money to his children, not the Gates Foundation. / Vox
The Trump campaign tells a conference of crypto enthusiasts exactly what they want to hear. "We get nothing but support now." / WIRED
See also: If you ever cared about Winamp skins, you may enjoy an investigation into a few secrets they contained. / Jordan Eldredge
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a glitch in its bird flu test hasn't harmed the agency's outbreak response. / Scientific American
Photos depict a man's life inside a 230-square-foot earthquake shack in San Francisco. / The San Francisco Standard
An explainer on how Paris supposedly built the first bicycle-accessible Summer Games. / Bloomberg
What's French about French Polynesia, where the surfing contest is being held? Seemingly, not very much. / Al Jazeera
Related: It's said to be the most terrifying venue in Olympic history. / The Wall Street Journal [+]
Andrew Long Chu makes the case against "women's writing," specifically Rachel Cusk's new novel. "Cusk, I'm afraid, is one of those rare writers whose genius exceeds the depth of her own experience." / Vulture
"Onward, dear heart." A writer remembers the great Lewis Lapham. / Stranger's Guide
Saturday headlines: Pool runnings
A few details about an investment scheme created, at the behest of Saudi and Emirati clients, to crash Qatar's currency. / The Financial Times [+]
Atlanta's "Cop City" is said to have become "a case study for how solidarity itself can be criminalized." / Lux Magazine
Related: A new tool shows you what NYPD cop a machine learning model thinks you most resemble. / Sam Lavigne
An argument for developing new cities around the United States instead of following Elon Musk to Mars. / IM—1776
Five acts of bipartisanship that took place this week in Washington. / Wake Up to Politics
Neema Avashia: JD Vance doesn't represent Appalachia—he only represents himself. / The Guardian
See also: Five excerpts from Vance's Emails to a transgender classmate. / The New York Times
Female gladiators fought in arenas across the Roman empire for some 200 years, but their history "is extremely fragmented." / Atlas Obscura
The good, the bad, and the weird of the Olympics opening ceremony. / Vox
We couldn't help but laugh: "Paris Opening Ceremony Features Tedious 45-Minute Discussion of Godard's Early Works." / The Onion
Pharrell Williams wants to reintroduce arts competitions to the Olympics. / Artsy
Meanwhile, Olympic swimmers admit they all pee in the pool. / The Wall Street Journal [+]
Friday headlines: All shall Paris
What to know about this weekend's presidential elections in Venezuela. / Chatham House
Kristina Foltz: In partnership with Hezbollah, "Caracas is directly threatening security for the entire hemisphere." / Newsweek
Riley Beggin explains why so many US Democrats support Israel, but not its leader. Meanwhile, the Obamas endorse Harris. / Riley Beggin, Politico
Related: Harris's stepdaughter is said to be making knit paintings cool. / The Art Newspaper
Unrelated: Time is the condition of two things existing in the same space. Space is the condition of two things existing in the same time. / Futility Closet
After some 50 years, Southwest Airlines abandons its open seating process. / NPR
A group of sound financial advice fits on an index card. / Kottke
How to buy everything you need to make $3 million worth of fentanyl with only $3,600. / Reuters
Arson attacks disrupt France's high-speed train network only hours before the Olympics' opening ceremonies. / BBC News
For some Olympic contests, NBC plans to put heart monitors on the athletes' parents, which viewers will then be able to monitor on-screen. / Variety
Researchers say Sha'Carri Richardson, the fastest woman in the world, could probably run on water, just not on Earth. / them
The share of Olympic medals won by American athletes between 2000 and 2021? Eleven percent. / The Economist
Scientists find the teeth of Komodo dragons are coated with iron to keep their edges sharp. / The Guardian
Unrelated: A history of rock music in 500 songs. / 500 Songs
Thursday headlines: From thirst to last
The United States economy looks to be strong for the next couple years—so, who gets to take credit for it? / The New York Times [+]
Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff face sexist, racist attacks online. Same for JD Vance's wife and children. / The Guardian, ABC News
Yet another account says Donald Trump uses the n-word. / Daily Beast
A new study suggests that metals in the deep ocean may be producing "dark oxygen." / Yale Environment 360
More "whale falls" are found off Los Angeles than in the rest of the world combined. / Hakai Magazine
Unrelated: A Belgian tourist in California's Death Valley melts his feet after losing his flip-flops in sand dunes. / The Los Angeles Times
Did you know? African elephants address each other vocally with individual names. / Atlas Obscura
Also this: More people have likely worked on the Pirates of the Caribbean movies than were actual pirates of the Caribbean. / The New Yorker
A new art exhibit about pirates is anchored by a well preserved, authentic pirate's flag. / The Art Newspaper
A tour of designer Tom Ford's $250 million collection of "trophy homes." / The Wall Street Journal [+]
Voting for the Tiny Awards 2024—celebrating small, quirky web sites—is now open. / Tiny Awards
In case you were wondering, currently trending are "meme tattoos," perms for teenage boys, and Skibidi Toilet. Not popular? Thirst traps. / Dazed, The Cut, The Washington Post [+], Refinery29
Wednesday headlines: It’s the same old wrong
A big new Dexter Filkins article on whether Israel and Hezbollah, i.e., Iran, will go to war. / The New Yorker
See also: How October 7 unraveled a landmark Mideast climate deal. / Grist
Israel's Netanyahu to speak "in one of the few places he can count on for support"—among Republicans in Washington. / NPR
Explaining the GOP's claims of being a working-class party. "It is very dumb." / How Things Work
Unrelated: A visual history of color charts. / Hyperallergic
The number of unwanted Paris Olympics tickets available for resale has hit more than a quarter of a million. / Marginal Revolution
Olympic athletes show off the free clothing they receive, also their cardboard beds. / The New York Times [+], Yahoo Sports
Why are CDs so popular in Japan? Factors like an older population and government price controls. / digg
Erroll Morris on generative AI: "Our task is to get back to get back to the real world, to the extent that it is recoverable." / NiemanLab
Two gay men—Alan Turing and Christopher Strachey—essentially invented AI writing decades before ChatGPT. / Big Think
Few people read Ph.D. theses, and fewer read the acknowledgments sections, but they're said to contain their own poetry. / ANU College of Science
Elaborate notes on Douglas Adams's later years. "He seemed more or less happy when he wasn't brooding." / The Digital Antiquarian
Abdul "Duke" Fakir, last of the original Four Tops, dies at 88. / The Associated Press
From a biography of the Four Tops: "It's the Same Old Song" was literally an overnight hit, recorded one day and in DJs' hands the next. / 64 Quartets
Tuesday headlines: We are watch amused
Vice President Kamala Harris says she has enough verbal commitments from delegates to clinch her party's presidential nomination. / Politico
Goldman Sachs tells clients it's "impossible" to model US trade policy under a potential second Donald Trump presidency. / Semafor
Could Republicans sue to keep President Biden on the ballot? "Who knows with this Supreme Court?" / Vox
See also: Seven ways to spot a bad argument. / BBC News
Palestinian factions including Hamas agree to form a unified government in the future. / The Guardian
One of the biggest direct income programs to date finds that distributing $1,000 monthly to people provides improved financial flexibility without disincentivizing workforce participation. / Fast Company
Is Silicon Valley pushing basic income as a way to replace all other safety nets? A way to accelerate A.I.? / The New York Times [+]
Thirty years later, the George Foreman grill still outsells rivals. / The Hustle
"They are wearing the shirts, they are buying the hot dogs." Studying the appeal of baseball to British people. / The Dial
Watches are said to account for around 30% of all counterfeit goods. / Ape to Gentleman
Related: A case study in counterfeit shopping in Istanbul. / Watches of Espionage
Seventy-two percent of Gen Zers and Millennialssay traveling is part of how they express themselves. / Thrillist
Travel experts say you should stow in your luggage in a bathtub (to avoid bedbugs). And maybe sleep in a silk cocoon. / Travel + Leisure, Outside
Monday headlines: Caught in the rot
Looking at Truman and Johnson's withdrawals and subsequent electoral defeats for Democrats, historians say Biden's circumstances differ quite a lot. / The New York Times [+]
Drug-resistant bacteria often spread in war zones; as conflicts proliferate around the globe, the risk of superbugs reaching civilian populations rises. / Rolling Stone
"The pool itself [was] rendered unusable by fallen glass, concrete, plaster and assorted debris." Ukrainian swimmers train for the Olympics amid Russian attacks. / The Guardian
The Crowdstrike outage is a direct result of the Rot Economy, where profit is absolutely valued over people. / Where's Your Ed At?
Related: A 12-hour timelapse depicting the number of US flights grounded due to the CrowdStrike outage. / X
Thanks to its ancient technology infrastructure, the MTA has been running normally during the Crowdstrike meltdown. / Curbed
As more content owners restrict their data, AI companies are quickly running out of new material to feed their models. / The New York Times [+]
Unrelated: It's apparently quite common for Americans to shoot at delivery drones. / Quartz
"Perhaps, amid a deluge of AI-generated jingles and podcast music and pop songs, we will all search even harder for the human." AI can't make music. / The Atlantic
See also: The top 18 albums of 2024 so far. / Andrew Womack
What it's like to attend a "predatory conference," a disorganized event with little quality control that's designed to make its organizers money. / Nature
"When I told a friend I was revisiting The Gods Must Be Crazy 40 years later, he said, 'Oh, I remember that movie! It must be totally racist.' It really is." / Slate
Friday headlines: Maps, they don’t love you
Please note: We're going on summer break starting tomorrow, and will be back on Monday, July 22—see you then!
As areas of Houston continue to suffer without power, who gets access to generators has illuminated the city's socioeconomic divisions. / The New York Times [+]
Nearly all AT&T customers' call and text records over several months in 2022 were illegally accessed and downloaded by hackers. / NPR
Targeting homebuyers looking to move to Israel, North American real estate firms are offering properties in illegal West Bank settlements. / The Intercept
"The need for mass deportations was taken for granted." A dispatch from the National Conservatism Conference, where Project 2025 "is alive and well." / In These Times
An investigation into guest reviews complaining about prostitution at Red Roof Inn, which is currently facing dozens of lawsuits alleging the chain ignored sex trafficking. / The Independent
"Ketamine is approaching world domination" and more in the world of drug trends. / VICE
After her sculpture Witness was beheaded this week, Shahzia Sikander doesn't want it repaired: "The damage reflects the hateful misogynistic act and it should not be forgotten." / Hyperallergic
How sci-fi films have changed since the 1950s: Present-day existential threats have been replaced by near-future dystopias. / The Pudding
"I was like, 'I bet Ben did that.'" The AI controversies at USA Today and Sports Illustrated can be tied to one person with a speciality in churning out internet sludge. / The Verge
From Egyptian cubits to 18th-century French feet, period-correct rulers of obsolete measuring systems. / burnHeart
"We have all become so reliant on online maps that we have lost the deep knowledge that allows us to make our own calculations of an optimal route." / The New York Times [+]
Scientists have 3D-printed LEGO-like bricks using meteorite dust as part of a test for how clean and sustainable buildings could be constructed on the Moon. / My Modern Met
Thursday headlines: Poetic energy
This week's Nato summit finds the global center left enjoying a moment together—perhaps temporarily. / Politico.eu
An argument for political neutrality. "The world likely needs more thoughtful interventions and politically neutral spaces and less activism for activism's sake." / Dust to Dust
The French government removes thousands of homeless people from Paris ahead of the Olympics. / The New York Times [+]
A Bitcoin mining facility moves into a small Texas town and suddenly residents are getting sick. / TIME
Vending machines in Alabama, Oklahoma, and Texas grocery stores now sell ammunition. / The Associated Press
People currently throw out 92 million tons of clothes a year and only an eighth of it gets recycled. / The Washington Post [+]
See also: Copenhagen tries a new approach to addressing overtourism: rewarding visitors who seem climate-friendly. / The New York Times [+]
How to make the next generation more intelligent? "The simplest way is to fortify basic foods." / The Economist
"Inner speech," or a voice inside one's head, is found to vary greatly in different people. / Scientific American
An open call for submissions for a physical directory of "the vast poetic web." / Internet Phone Book
A round-up of American swimming holes. And some aerial views of glacial rivers in Iceland. / Huckberry, YouTube
A collection of early macrophotographs of insects and spiders. / The Public Domain
Wednesday headlines: Boys pollution
Nigeria's debt to gasoline suppliers has surpassed $6 billion, doubling since early April. / Reuters
Young men in Sri Lanka face an epidemic of kidney disease linked to extreme heat, dehydration, and heavy pesticide use. / The New York Times [+]
"Sun kinks" refer to train tracks getting "visibly wavy" during severe heat waves. / The Grist
Dozens of Alaskan rivers are taking on an eerie shade of orange. / Atlas Obscura
Microsoft will pay an oil company hundreds of millions to remove carbon from the atmosphere. / Semafor
Online shopping, data collection, and algorithms are combining to generate individual prices for customers. / The Lever
See also: Buying a car is "an uneven negotiation from the beginning." / Prospect
George Stephanopoulos tells a passerby in New York City he doesn't think Biden can serve four more years. / Reliable Sources
Margaret Sullivan: The media has been breathlessly attacking Biden. What about Trump? / The Guardian
Related: Some details on the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025. / Kottke
Thoughts on the in-flight safety video. "Air New Zealand really leaned into it." / Why is this interesting
Exploring the cultural impact of Boyz n the Hood's title graphics. Also, J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is said to be a good book to read aloud. / It's Nice That, The Common Reader
Young men are said to be "glaringly absent" from contemporary writing about intimacy. / Esquire
Exam questions from a course taught by Vladimir Nabokov on European literature. "Did she like her mountain lakes with or without a lone skiff?" / Futility Closet
Tuesday headlines: Bite the Europe
An explanation of what just happened in France's shock election, and where it leaves Macron. / BBC News
Ukranian tennis star Elina Svitolina wears black at Wimbledon after a Russian missile barrage hits Ukraine's largest children's hospital. / The Guardian
Are you sure you wouldn't have been a Nazi in 1930s Germany? "If we want to play at time travel, we should look at how we're doing now and extrapolate backwards." / The London Review of Books
"Because everything was unfamiliar, my perspective on the world and my place within it shifted." Self-discovery via swimming in France. / AFAR
Seven signs that you're traveling in Europe. / Meditations in an Emergency
Some thoughts on different modes of travel. "Have a reason for each place you go—or better still, have no reason at all." / Shore Leave
Avian detectives in Washington DC investigate birds who get sucked into plane engines. / Smithsonian Magazine
There's a subreddit for people attempting to figure out if they're disqualified from obtaining federal security clearance. / 404 Media
Why is Donald Trump trouncing Joe Biden on TikTok? Because Trump is "treating it like he's a lifestyle girly, but he's catering it to his audience." / Politico Magazine
A deep dive into Biden's performances over decades in the public eye. / Wake Up to Politics
Unrelated: Is the coconut tree the most consequential dumb joke of the year? / Read Max
A Taiwanese barista is the 2024 "World Latte Art Champion." / Sprudge
A disturbing look into Alice Munro's moral relativism after the author's daughter told her that Munro's husband had sexually abused her throughout her childhood. (See also: The original statement.) / The New York Times [+], The Toronto Star
Monday headlines: Herb unenthusiasm
Tropical Storm Beryl is now pushing inland, leaving more than two million people in Houston without power. / Associated Press
Scalpers have reverse-engineered the anti-scalping technology used by major ticketing platforms, and are creating counterfeit tickets that can be resold. / 404 Media
Slop is rampant in video games, and AI— "a tool designed to manufacture nothing but the obvious and average"—is about to make it worse. / The Baffler
See also: "Tech giants and beyond are set to spend over $1tn on AI capex in coming years, with so far little to show for it." / Goldman Sachs
On the cinematic and real-life histories of AI voices and gender. / The New York Times [+]
See also: What should an electric car sound like? / YouTube
The company with a monopoly on ice cream truck music has a playlist that's barely changed since the 1970s, though it's about to mix in a 45-second jingle from RZA. / The Hustle
How the Library of Congress preserves audio from obsolete formats, the most fragile of which are lacquer discs, which are in a constant state of chemical degradation. / Library of Congress Blogs
"Remove hobbies, then risk, thrills, and adventures where you might have gotten hurt—imagine 80% of that gone." Loneliness is rising among American teens—what's that feel like? / After Babel
The Look Book goes to Brooklyn Prep's prom. / Curbed
"That weekend in New York, the bars were still open, though at half capacity. By Monday, every venue in the city had gone dark." One last rave before the pandemic. / The New Yorker
With no new buildings erected, and makeshift accommodations and BYO food for athletes, the first post-war Olympics, in 1948 London, were an exercise in austerity. / Messy Nessy
Cilantro fell out of favor after the fall of Rome, and its popularity has continued to ebb and flow ever since. / Atlas Obscura
Tuesday headlines: Pivotal to video
Please note: We'll be off the rest of the week and will return on Monday—see you then!
Following yesterday's Supreme Court decision, Manhattan prosecutors agreed to delay Trump's sentencing in the hush money trial. / Associated Press
"It's mind-blowing in terms of not just the results but what it means in the change in the French population." Why the French far right triumphed. / The New Yorker
As the far right continues its rise in Europe, authorities are increasingly confiscating party drugs embellished with Nazi symbols. / VICE
There was a time when corporations chose employees over stock prices, but that died with a 1916 court decision that ushered in today's Shareholder Supremacy. / Where's Your Ed At
Beyond "delve," a new analysis of AI-generated text uncovers more telltale "marker words," such as "comprehensive," "intricate," and "pivotal." / Ars Technica
Figma disables its new AI-fueled app design tool after a user demonstrates how asking it to design a weather app produced a ripoff of Apple's weather app. / 404 Media
The accuracy of US weather forecasts depends on the region—the Great Plains are the most volatile, while Florida predictions are good for at least a week. / The Washington Post [+]
As streaming companies turn to bundling—and become more like cable—now cable companies are turning to streaming. / Ars Technica
An inside look at the decade-long grind of producing the Game of Thrones content that publications depended on for their very survival. / The Verge
The era of famous influencers may be over—reasons why include engagement metrics, the continuing fracturing of the monoculture, and too many influencers. / Glamour
"The pinnacle of his pyramid is reached once a fridge contains foods that express collective virtue." The stages of affluence according to refrigerator contents. / WIRED
See also: Kitchen appliances are smarter, cheaper, and more efficient than ever—but as they become less mechanical, their lifespans shrink. / The Washington Post [+]
Paris's Olympic Village will use geothermal cooling instead of air conditioners—but some national teams are bringing their own ACs anyway. / The Week
Greco-Roman societies were enthusiastic about swimming; but by the Middle Ages, the practice was demonized and feared. / Literary Hub
To connect ancestral roots that span from Istanbul to North Carolina, a writer learns the dulcimer. / Longreads