It is summer in America and everyone is pushing the limit on how long the forces at work that are bigger than us can be ignored.
"It’s Only An Island If You Look At It From The Water", Elizabeth Cantwell for Bright Wall/Dark Room
Operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, it was, in essence, a 76,000-square-foot artificial wound.
"The Fall and Rise of Screwworm", Brian Potter for his newsletter Construction Physics
Submitted by Alex.
We can have our disagreements about the existence and nature of ghosts but on one question I will give no ground, ever: They feel pain.
This Year: 365 Songs Annotated, John Darnielle
Specklebelly, pixie cup, goat’s beard, witch’s hair, golden dust, egg yolk, oakmoss, tree flute, belly button, frog pelt.
"‘See the whole world in lichens,’ the marvels that grow anywhere", Lydia Mapes for The Seattle Times
Submitted by Ranjit. It is just a list of kinds of lichen, yes, but what a list!
I'm not a complete idiot - I can do a little bit of programming if you hold a gun to my head - but Unix was a shock.
James Gleick in a 1994 interview with Wired
A deeply 1994 sentence. Also, I wish James Gleick would write something long-form about the time he co-founded a hyperlocal NYC ISP as a bit.
Many lungs hacked up, lives ruined, brief moments of glory beneath an indifferent, jet-filled sky.
"Farewell You Filthy, Depressing, Horse-Racing Masterpiece", Max Rivlin-Nadler for Hell Gate
Brynjolfsson—who is towering and gregarious, what I imagine the Brawny-paper-towel guy would be like if he’d become an academic rather than a lumberjack—is gratified that the rest of the world is finally “seeing what I was seeing,” he told me.
"The Man Who Saw AI Coming", Annie Lowery for The Atlantic
Submitted by Hilary.
It's the Industrial Revolution, sweet cheeks!
Luddite (Re)creations: A Play
I attended the performance of this play that coincided with the launch of Summer of Ludd, a mostly-promoted-offline week of public programs trying to get people away from screens and off big tech. Admittedly, the context adds a lot to this sentence: the actor who said this line (playing a villainous capitalist, naturally) bore a striking resemblance to Tim Robinson.
Nobody is laughing at us anymore!” declared Trump, like a school shooter explaining himself.
"Bad Fascist Party", Hamilton Nolan for his newsletter How Things Work
Submitted by Chris.
Nay, the lady must have privacy, in the form of an indoor arena with no windows and the ability to host a president who has survived multiple assassination attempts.
"Cruel Summer for a Wedding at MSG", Hell Gate
Neil's problems will get bigger as he does
Subheading in an NPR article about Neil the elephant seal
To some extent becoming an adult is a process of one's problems getting bigger as you do, I think, and in this way Neil is pretty relatable.
Marriott, Mr. Lomena said, did not take his client’s claims seriously, arguing that no one was ultimately at fault for the bats.
"Pilot Was Bitten by Bat After Swarm Invaded Hotel Room, Lawsuit Says", John S.W. MacDonald for The New York Times
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