Congressional Democrats call for an investigation of the postmaster general over cost-cutting measures that have delayed delivery of mail-in ballots. / The Washington Post

The postmaster general refutes accusations that he's beholden to Trump. / The News & Record

See also: What Democrats must do to save the USPS in time for the election. / Slate

According to a top US intelligence official, Russia is trying to sink Biden while China would prefer Trump not win reelection. / The Washington Post

Facebook employees say the company has been giving preferential treatment to right-wing pages that publish misinformation. / BuzzFeed News

Close-reading the Palantir founder's neo-Marxist dissertation for clues into Silicon Valley's coziness toward authoritarianism. / Boundary2

"No sweetheart, we know what you're doing." TikTok and the evolution of digital blackface. / WIRED

A profile of Bruce Maxwell, the first Major League Baseball player to kneel, and his conflictedness about returning to a league that scorned him. / ESPN

Vern Rumsey, best known as the bassist for '90s post-hardcore band Unwound, has died at 47. / Pitchfork

See also: A beginner's guide to Unwound's otherworldly post-hardcore. / Bandcamp

Using mortality data to determine what age "is the new" age—e.g., "40 is the new 30"—based on your age. / FlowingData

Tasty lede: "Halloumi cheese has pushed EU trade policy into uncharted and potentially hazardous territory." / POLITICO

A history of the power ballad, whose roots go back to European troubadour poets' "Courtly Love" tradition of the 11th and 12th centuries. / MEL Magazine

Experiments from the Amazon suggest "octave equivalence" is at least co-determined by culture. / Quanta

What happens when you stare at a painting long enough—a brief essay from TMN's Rosecrans Baldwin. / Substack

Australia's booming rooftop solar industry doesn't just rely on down-under sunshine—they've got the policy mix right, too. / GreenTech Media

"Over the past year or so, some 27 human genes have been renamed, all because Microsoft Excel kept misreading their symbols as dates." / The Verge

The UX of LEGO interface panels based on their realism and usability. / George Cave

Related: A common nomenclature for LEGO families. / The Morning News

We are loving these illustrations of daily life by Klaus Kremmerz. / Instagram