Hey friends,

While re-watching Hamilton recently, I was thinking: where did George Washington keep his armies?

In his sleevies.

Thinking Too Hard 🤔

Last week I talked a little about how I've been incorporating more reading into my daily life, but it's not just for funsies — there's another reason.

A few months ago, The Atlantic released an article called "The End of Reading Is Here". Some alarming statistics from the article include:

• Less than half of all adults read a book in 2022. Only 38% read a novel or short story.
• The percentage of American adults who read for pleasure on when from from 28% in 2004 to 16% in 2023.
• Over 60% of high school seniors struggle with interpreting text.
• ...a lots of others.

Many blame the smartphone, the ultimate attention predator, saying we're in "The New Dark Ages" and risking a return to the tribalism, emotionalism, and rage of the pre-literate world.

Dire predictions, but I think there's still time to counteract the slide. The links between reading and critical thinking are old and well researched. Reading is important, not just because it's fun, but because it NATURALLY RESULTS in improved cognitive reasoning and critical thinking. Reading is a workout for your brain!

But just like working out, it's not something you pick up right away. My wife is a teacher, and one of the things she works on with her students is their reading stamina. Over time, they gradually increase their overall reading time. That's why I love to carry books in my pocket, like I mentioned last week. Even 10 or 20 minutes is enough to get the ball rolling, and once you love it, once it becomes something you enjoy, the minutes will fly by!

Interesting Web Bits 🍜

Web Stuff

• Dave Rupert waves goodbye to the folks publicly leaving the industry... or at least online-dom.
• Sean Goedecke says that agent, like my children, need the why as much as the how.
• There's a new CSS function in town... and it's here to progress(). (Looks like it'll be pretty useful!)
• Oof. Remember when we had to do the star hack, and it's ilk? No? Just me? What about clearfixes...?
• You know what loves lists? LLMs. Feed your agents with these curated frontend lists.
• JPEG XL encoding may not be the way forward after all.

Other Stuff

• Cory Doctorow theorizes that bosses enforcing AI policies has more to do with psychological reassurance than efficiency.
• Clara Collier asserts that we already know what a world without work looks like. 😬

👽 Weird, 📺 Watch, and 🎮 Play

• 👽 Su filindu, the world's rarest pasta has just 3 ingredients but all the mystery!
• 👽 They've discovered a new cat species!.
• 📺 Shoo Rayner thinks about the purpose of sketchbooks, and who you're creating for.