Arrest made over the death of black woman found hanged from tree in Mississippi

Tasia Fortune's body was found in the lot of an abandoned home in Mississippi in August.

A Beginning, Not a Decline: Colette on the Splendor of Autumn and the Autumn of Life

In praise of “the gaiety of those who have nothing more to lose and so excel at giving.”

The weather has seeded our earliest myths, inspired some of our greatest art, and even affects the way we think. In our divisive culture, where sharped-edged differences continue to fragment our unity, it is often the sole common ground for people bound by time and place — as we move through the seasons, we weather the whims of the weather together.

Of the four seasons, autumn is by far the most paradoxical. Wedged between an equinox and a solstice, it moors us to cosmic rhythms of deep time and at the same…

Trump Heads to Ireland for the Irish Open at His Golf Course

President Trump’s trip comes after a two-day Republican rally in Dallas, where he tried to energize voters amid fears that the party could face losses in the midterms.

Federal Judge Poised to Dismiss Lawsuit Challenging Trump’s Library

The judge, in halting the pretrial fact-finding process, said President Trump’s claim of immunity could “dispose of the entire case” involving the library to be built in Miami.

MPs vote against fresh attempt to legalise assisted dying

The proposed law sought to introduce one of the biggest societal changes in recent years.

Trump Wanted a New House Map in Missouri. Voters Got Chaos Instead.

The legal wrangling over a congressional map redrawn by Republicans has election officials, candidates and voters scrambling before November.

Saudi Oil Exports Face Heightened Threats After Attacks on Pipeline

Ship operators already faced severe risks in navigating the region, and now the danger is higher as Houthi militias assert control in the Red Sea.

'Never, ever forget' - America marks 25th anniversary of 9/11 attacks

In New York, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania, solemn ceremonies commemorate the landmark anniversary.

Last Year’s iPhone Share Amongst Users of Widgetsmith

David Smith, developer of the widely-used Widgetsmith, on Mastodon:

The eve of iPhone 18 Pro pre-orders seems a good time to look back at the iPhone 17 family’s adoption. Here’s the 17 family data as a percentage of overall usage for Widgetsmith.

Generally they followed the usual adoption pattern, and overall did very well ending at around 20% of total usage.

Is a September heatwave forecast for the UK?

Temperatures will return to summerlike levels over the weekend, despite some heavy rain.

Reform receives record £36m donation from crypto billionaire

Ben Delo's donation, the biggest single sum ever given to a political party in the UK, comes amid scrutiny of Reform's finances.

OpenAI agents carried out an undisclosed attack on RubyGems

On May 11th, 2026, hundreds of malicious packages were uploaded to RubyGems by AI agents performing web-lookup tasks with significant overlap with the German Wiki Incident.

Masked men, lorries and road blocks: How anti-migrant activists are changing tactics

Patriot Platform wants to build a group of working-class voters to influence political parties on the right.

President Trump to arrive in Ireland for two-day visit

Donald Trump will arrive on Saturday morning at Dublin Airport ahead of a two-day visit to Ireland.

Saudis Shut Down Crucial Pipeline After Drone Attack From Iraq

The news briefly pushed the price of oil to $110 a barrel over heightened fears of widening clashes in the Middle East.

The Day Dostoyevsky Discovered the Meaning of Life in a Dream

“And it is so simple… You will instantly find how to live.”

One November night in the 1870s, legendary Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky (November 11, 1821–February 9, 1881) discovered the meaning of life in a dream — or, at least, the protagonist in his final short story did. The piece, which first appeared in the altogether revelatory A Writer’s Diary (public library) under the title “The Dream of a Queer Fellow” and was later published separately as The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, explores themes similar to those in Dostoyevsky’s 1864 novel Notes from the Underground, considered the first…

Friday discussion post

I was not even a year old on 9/11, so I don’t remember the terrorist attacks or any life before them. Still, like all Americans since that day, remembrance has been baked into my experience of the world. Here are a few of the pieces of media I have returned to over the years in an effort to understand the events, each of which I read or watched today:

xAI has quietly built a massive battery at its Memphis data center hub

Elon Musk’s SpaceXAI has built what may be the biggest battery in the U.S. at its controversial Memphis AI computing hub. The exact size of the battery is unclear. Canary Media counted 720 Tesla Megapack battery containers visible on the grounds of the Colossus 2 data center in satellite imagery dated July 11. That…

A Tale of Two U.S. Opens: $20,000 vs. $100 (Yacht Not Included)

If money is no object, the luxury options are plentiful. But if you take the subway and don’t mind watching the match on a screen, a budget day at the finals is possible.

The Incredible Art of Being Jeff Koons

For five decades, the artist has made sculptures that are larger-than-life — and also singularly reflective of his own.

New York Marks the 25th Anniversary of 9/11 at Ground Zero

At a ceremony in Lower Manhattan, elected officials and loved ones of those killed in the 2001 terror attacks gathered in solemn remembrance.

America Gathers to Remember, 25 Years After 9/11

Also, an Iranian-backed militia seized a key Red Sea island. Here’s the latest at the end of Friday.

Fact-Checking Trump’s Attacks on Democratic Senate Candidates

The president attacked three Democrats running for Senate this week with inaccurate claims to portray them as too extreme.

This Chinese Luxury Brand Wants To Take Europe By The End Of The Year

In 2023, Li Auto said it wouldn't go global until 2028, but it now plans to launch an EV before the end of this year.

Facing Islamophobia, Mamdani Keeps Focus on 9/11 Victims

In recent weeks, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has visited firehouses around New York City as part of an effort to direct the public’s attention toward the victims, and away from himself.

New Englanders Will Pay Through the Nose to Stay Warm This Winter

As leaves begin to turn from green to autumn hues of amber, gold, and brown, New England is preparing for an expensive winter.

While most of the country heats their homes with natural gas or electricity, about 5 million households — overwhelmingly located in the Northeast — use oil. Like diesel and gasoline (both of which have set price records recently) home heating oil is distilled from crude oil, which is currently trading at prices not seen since the early months of the war between the United States, Israel, and Iran.

Benchmark oil prices are over $100 for the first time since the spring as…

Lawyer fined $5K over AI-hallucinated witnesses in a murder case

New Mexico's Supreme Court is punishing a lawyer for including AI-fabricated witnesses and fake police testimony in an appeal for his client's murder conviction, according to a report from Reuters. In a filing on Wednesday, the court fined Stephen Aarons $5,000 and held him in contempt for failing to "verify the factual claims and legal authority in his AI-generated brief."

The filing says the brief "contained false testimony from wholly fabricated witnesses," along with "false testimony" about the shooter's clothing and appearance. Justice C. Shannon Bacon questioned how Aarons wasn't aware…

Court Strikes Down Trump Order to Keep an Aging Coal-Burning Plant Running

The 64-year-old Michigan power plant was set to retire. Then the Trump administration intervened in a way that overstepped its authority, a court ruled.

C.I.A. Releases Intelligence Sent to Clinton and Bush on Al Qaeda Before 9/11 Attacks

The spy agency released dozens of intelligence documents it had sent to Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, outlining what was known about Al Qaeda.

Clarus the Dogcow Easter Egg in Apple’s OS 27 Settings

Many have complained that Apple design has been sapped of some of its trademark whimsy in recent years. Well, here’s the latest example of how the tides seem to be changing.

Buried in the Settings app on iOS 27, Apple has hidden an easter egg that hails back from classic Mac OS; Clarus the Dogcow. Here’s how to trigger it …

Very fun. Alas, this easter egg isn’t present in MacOS 27, only iOS 27. But the MacOS 27 version of the Liquid Glass settings panel does have a drawing glitch that makes the magnifying glass in the fake search field flicker terribly, so Golden Gate does have that going for…

Why Leaves Change Color and How We Become Who We Are: The Science of Chlorophyll and the Poetics of Personhood

“We reach forth and strain every nerve, but we seize only a bit of the curtain that hides the infinite from us.”

Autumn is the season of ambivalence and reconciliation, soft-carpeted training ground for the dissolution that awaits us all, low-lit chamber for hearing more intimately the syncopation of grief and gladness that scores our improbable and finite lives — each yellow burst in the canopy a reminder that everything beautiful is perishable, each falling leaf at once a requiem for our own mortality and a rhapsody for the unbidden gift of having lived at all. That dual awareness, after…

Why a Climate Law Expert Sees ‘Small Glimmers of Hope’

This week’s conversation is a quick catch-up with our friends at Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. I hopped on the phone with the center’s deputy director Romany Webb to chat about recent updates they published to anti-renewables opposition analysis. I wanted to dig into their research beyond the toplines — what should people care about in the coming election? How have data centers come up in their research? Or the repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act?

The following conversation was lightly edited for clarity.

Let’s start with the updates. Walk me through what’s new in…

Lightning Houthi advance in Yemen may bring dangerous new dimension to Iran war

The capture by the rebels of a stretch Yemen's strategic coastline is the group's most impressive military coup for several years.

All the Data Center News That’s Fit to Print

1. Pulaski County, Arkansas – A major utility sued the biggest newspaper in Arkansas over reporting on a data center energy deal. It’s a crucial case to follow.

The lawsuit Entergy filed last week against the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette centers on whether the newspaper was legally able to publish about an Entergy deal with Google around payments for a large solar farm to power a data center. It claims the information reported was a trade secret accidentally released by the state public services commission.

In a statement to a local ABC station, the utility claimed Google’s “electricity contract…

The Top 5 Midterm Races of the Data Center Backlash

It’s almost fall 2026 and you know what means: It’s time to figure out the must-watch midterm races amidst the data center backlash.

I’ve spent the past week pulling together a list of the top five congressional races worth watching as bellwethers for the impacts of the data center backlash in the American electorate. This list has three U.S. House races where Republicans are defending seats, one where a House Democrat is defending their seat, and the Senate race many of you are probably most thinking about anyway. Think of it as a tipsheet.

Before we begin, a crucial theme I picked up…

XCancel Is Back

Following the legal progress as announced in the Nitter GitHub project. The XCancel service is resumed.

More details will be shared on the Nitter GitHub project page.

Glad to hear it and I wish them well, but I think Zhenyi Tan’s Litterbox Safari extension is a much better solution for viewing tweets on X without going to X.

Lawmaker Demand Feds Take Action After 43 Tesla Drivers Filmed Asleep At The Wheel

One congressman is demanding that NHTSA look into continued misuse of Tesla's Full Self-Driving software.

GrapheneOS' rewritten Messages app is released

Notable changes in version 13: Version 13 replaces the legacy interface with Jetpack Compose and Material 3. It rebuilds every screen, adds new conversation controls and large-screen support, and f...

I spent $220 on Google app ads and 60% of the installs were robots

Google reported 21 installs in a day. The admin panel said 1. What the other 20 were, how a bot farm gets paid, and what we changed.

The Allocative Cost of War

Why is war so economically costly? Our answer is that modern war lowers output not only by destroying productive factors, but also by making the surviving economy work less efficiently. Using uniquely comprehensive firm-level data collected during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, we document a dramatic collapse in allocative productivity in Ukraine. To sharpen identification and explore key mechanisms (including the role of war intensity, internal displacement, reallocation, and macroeconomic instability), we exploit spatial heterogeneity across Ukrainian districts and…

The EPA is planning to scrap public review rules for data center pollution

Proposed rule changes would leave residents with less say over pollution in their communities.

Neat little prototype demo of a Bluesky reader that...

Neat little prototype demo of a Bluesky reader that uses the UI of the long-retired Paper app. I loved the design of Paper.

Reflecting Pool Contractor Blames Its Own Repairs, Not Vandals, for Damage

The contractor said the pool’s new blue liner peeled and tore because of “human oversight” and a flawed plan that involved layering two incompatible chemicals, documents show.

Behind the Blog: How to Talk About AI Doom

This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss AI doomers, 9/11 posting, and Barbie.

JOSEPH: I do always get emotional on 9/11 because it’s the moment everything changed. Rather than repeat those feelings that I’m sure you’ve heard a million times from various people, I’ll point to a couple of reporting projects that I think capture the day really well.

Court rules that Trump can’t force a Michigan coal plant to keep running

A federal court has ruled that the Department of Energy acted outside the bounds of its legal authority when it forced a coal plant in Michigan to keep running last year — a decision that could undermine the Trump administration’s push to prevent aging and costly fossil-fueled power plants from closing down. Under…

Matt Mullenweg returns as Automattic CEO two days after getting booted

Two days after being placed on a paid leave of absence, Matt Mullenweg says he has been reinstated as CEO of Automattic, according to a Slack message seen by TechCrunch. WordPress Executive Director Mary Hubbard confirmed Mullenweg's return to the CEO role in a Friday post on X, which the official WordPress account shared and Mullenweg reposted.

Read the full story at The Verge.

Europe's First Truly Driverless Robotaxi Just Started Rides In Croatia

A little known Croatian startup backed by Rimac is leading the way for robotaxis in Europe, with help from a Chinese AV company.

Automattic’s Matt Mullenweg Claims He’s Back 'In Control'

Less than 48 hours after announcing he was forcibly placed on a leave of absence by the Automattic board on Wednesday, Automattic’s Matt Mullenweg posted in a company-wide Slack channel claiming that he’s back “in control” of the company.

Have something to share? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at sam.404. Otherwise, send me an email at sam@404media.co.

According to Slack screenshots viewed by 404 Media, late Thursday evening Mullenweg posted “Don’t call it a comeback” and linked to LL Cool J’s music video for “Mama Said Knock You…

iPhone Duo Only Works With the $80 USB-C Apple Pencil, Not the $130 Apple Pencil Pro

It’s likely the iPhone Duo doesn’t support the Apple Pencil Pro because there’s no magnetic surface for charging the pencil. The Apple Pencil Pro charges magnetically when connected to a compatible iPad, while the Apple Pencil with USB-C charges with a USB-C port hidden behind a sliding cap.

Charging is the least of the problems. Because the Duo doesn’t have the magnetic attachment for Pencil Pro, there’s no way to even pair a Pencil Pro. The easiest way to think about it isn’t to compare which devices support which features (like pressure sensitivity, or double-tapping) — it’s just to think…

We unfolded the iPhone Duo

You only get one chance at a first impression, and getting to introduce Apple's first folding phone is certainly a strong way to start things off as Apple's CEO. On The Vergecast today, we're talking all about Apple's launch event: how John Ternus did in his first appearance as CEO, what we make of the new iPhones, and whether Apple is stepping into dangerous territory with its new AI features on the Apple Watch.

First up, Allison Johnson joins me to discuss the new iPhones, which she had a chance to test in Cupertino. Both of us have some questions about the new variable aperture camera on…

The White House says Truth Social is the ‘most powerful and popular social media platform in the world’

The White House claims the Donald Trump-owned Truth Social is the "most powerful and popular social media platform in the world." The statement, provided to The New York Times by White House spokesperson Davis Ingle, is at odds with the user counts from some of the biggest social media platforms on the web.

Data gathered by Search Engine Land shows YouTube is the most popular platform in the world, with 2.65 billion monthly active users. Facebook comes in second with 2.39 billion active users around the globe, followed by TikTok with 2.21 billion and Instagram with 1.99 billion. Truth Social…

A late 90s guide to Super Metroid was written in...

A late 90s guide to Super Metroid was written in monospaced type, fully justified with no double spaces or hyphens. “I just chose words carefully so that everything lined up on the right hand side.”

Anthropic spent this week in hot water over cybersecurity

After admitting earlier this year that its AI models had hacked other companies' systems on a handful of occasions, Anthropic released a new report on Wednesday detailing the attacks. It reveals a string of incidents displaying what Anthropic deems its models' single-minded "recklessness" - and will likely fuel already raging concerns about cybersecurity and AI.

In Anthropic's report, it detailed four cases this year in which its own AI models hacked an external company or exploited vulnerabilities. In one, an "internal, general-purpose research model" broke into third-party systems, using…

Microsoft’s head of comms is leaving after almost 20 years

Frank Shaw is leaving Microsoft after 17 years as chief communications officer. In an internal note to his team, Shaw says he's "decided it is time for me to move on and try new things," after supporting Microsoft's communications for 29 years - nearly 20 years as a Microsoft employee plus time at the Waggener Edstrom agency (now We. Communications) before that.

Shaw has been at the heart of Microsoft's communications since 1997, helping the company navigate multiple Windows and Office releases, CEO transitions, the all-important bet on cloud, and huge acquisitions like the $26.2 billion…

Friday assorted links

1. Some Princeton philosophers are converting to Catholicism.

2. New Ada Palmer podcast.

3. Nice statement of how intelligence is overrated in the AI debates.

Balcony solar is this year’s clean energy superstar in the US

This analysis and news roundup come from the Canary Media Weekly newsletter. Sign up to get it every Friday. Summer is only just coming to a close, but this year’s top clean energy trendsetter is already clear. At the start of 2026, you may never have even heard of balcony solar. The panels have long been staples…

China Has Already Exported More Cars Than Last Year

Growing global sales of EV and PHEV models have pushed China's export numbers to their highs, despite shrinking sales at home.

Meta may have leaked the first look at its slim ‘Project Phoenix’ headset

Just a couple of weeks before Meta Connect starts on September 23rd, UploadVR posted images seemingly revealing the design for Meta's "Project Phoenix" headset. The images, which UploadVR says were "found in the HorizonOS Prescription Lens firmware package," suggest Meta may be looking to compete with devices like those from Xreal or Viture. These companies' mixed reality glasses are a bit bulkier than something like Meta's Ray-Ban AI smart glasses, but a step down from a full VR headset like Meta's Quest 3.

This leak shows something that's almost in between larger headsets and smart glasses,…

Rune is now open source

Rune is now open source under the GPLv3. A native, keyboard-driven IDE written primarily in Go is ready for Go developers to inspect, change, and help build.

Where to preorder the Apple AirPods 5

The Apple AirPods 5 are bringing active noise cancellation to the masses, and they're now available for preorder at a variety of retailers. They'll officially launch on September 18th, the same day as the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, as well as the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max.

There are two versions this time around, just like with the last-gen model. The standard $129 model adds active noise cancelation, which was previously only found on the more expensive $179 AirPods 4 with ANC models. They're available from Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and Apple. The upgraded $149 model features a…

Anime reaction YouTubers are at war with copyright enforcers

On September 6th, YouTuber Nicholas Light posted a video to one of his channels that made it seem like all of his content was about to be removed from the platform. In the video - ominously titled "My Channel will be Deleted Today" - Light alleges that he was on the receiving end of some of the "thousands upon thousands of false copyright strikes" recently initiated by a company called Remove Your Media. Light spends much of the 13-minute video accusing Remove Your Media CEO Eric Green of being a troll who systematically targets creators whose content mentions or features clips of popular…

The wireless earbuds with unbeatable call quality got their first discount

Anker’s Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro came out swinging in May with incredible call quality, something that competing ear buds have struggled to get right. They’ve become part of our reviewer John Higgins’ rotation of earbuds for more than just taking calls; The Liberty 5 Pro have fantastic audio once you make some tweaks in their app, and they stand out thanks to an IP55 rating and LDAC high-res audio codec support on Android.

What’s more, they’re typically cheaper than the competition at $169.99, but you can snag them for $149.99 at Amazon, Best Buy, and at Anker. They come in four colors (black,…

You Can't Charge The Tesla Cybercab At Home (Yet)

The purpose-built robotaxi won't be able to slow charge from a plug like other Teslas.

Why Harvard's Dean 'Encourages' Students to Use AI

The end of summer brings a fresh throng of Americans to college campuses. But the vibes are wobbly in higher education:

In surveys, trust in universities has fallen to near-record lows.

The value of a degree is in question, as tuition costs have increased in the last few decades while the college premium—the expected benefit from getting a diploma—has flatlined and possibly even declined in the last few years.

Audi Developed The A2 E-Tron 21 Months Faster Than Usual. The Secret Wasn’t More Engineers

The brand’s most efficient car to date is already rolling off the assembly line in Ingolstadt.

‘We Did Not Invite You.’ Citizens Rage at Town Hall Over Proposed Nuclear AI Data Center

Representatives from the University of Michigan faced tough questions and a lot of vitriol from the citizens of Ypsilanti Township Wednesday night. The University partnered with America’s nuclear weapons scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL) to build a hyperscale data center in the Township and residents are pissed.

On Wednesday night the University hosted a town hall meant to ameliorate people’s anger and concerns. It didn’t work.

LANL and U of M want to build a $1.2 billion 220,000 hyperscale data center in Ypsilanti Township. The residents are worried about electricity costs,…

Oil Prices Spike After Houthis Blitz

Current conditions: August 2026 has tied with July 2023 as the hottest month the world has ever recorded • The Pacific’s hurricane churn continues as Tropical Storm Norbert strengthens off the coast of Baja California • Temperatures are nearing 90 degrees Fahrenheit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, where Bukharian Jews are just now — as we hit publish on this newsletter — ringing in Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, at the grand 135-year-old Gumbaz Synagogue.

1. Oil prices surge again as Iran-backed Houthis capture strategic Red Sea port

Houthi loyalists on a recruitment march in Sanaa this…

The Tesla Cybertruck Finally Gets A Feature That Was Promised Three Years Ago

The electric pickup’s most delayed feature is now officially available, according to Tesla.

Biiiiig Stretch

Back when I went on sabbatical in 2022, I told the story of the fiddle leaf fig tree I bought shortly after my ex-wife and I separated and I’d moved into my own apartment.

I’d recently moved into my own apartment after separating from my wife and figured a large plant in my new place would add some liveliness to a new beginning that was feeling overwhelming, lonely, and sad. For the first couple of months, I didn’t know if my tree and I were going to make it. I’d never really had a plant before and struggled getting a handle on the watering schedule and other plant care routines. It started…

“In almost every [US] county, extreme heat is at...

“In almost every [US] county, extreme heat is at least as bad as it was 30 years ago. In most counties, it’s much worse.” It’s Not Just You. America Has Gotten Much Hotter. (Not a fan of articles like this being in the “opinion” section…)

Where Has Construction Automation Been Successful?

Construction is famously labor intensive: direct labor makes up close to 50% of the cost of constructing a new single-family home in the US, compared to around 6 to 8% of the cost of manufacturing a car. Unsurprisingly, there’s long been interest in automating the construction process to reduce the amount of labor required, and therefore the cost of housing. The earliest attempt at automating construction I’m aware of dates to 1853, with a plastering machine invented by Isaac Hussey, and since then there have been numerous other attempts.

I wanted to get a better sense of what the arc of…

This 80 MPH Chevy Bolt Range Test Shows The Value Of Not Speeding

Who woulda thought that driving slower gets you better range. You might be surprised by how much, though.

Do people prefer traditional architecture?

Taste is subjective. But when it comes to architecture, there is a surprising level of agreement.

Building a big, abundant, clean grid

Jane Flegal has worked inside philanthropy at the Hewlett Foundation, industrial emissions policy at the Biden White House, and carbon-removal market development at Frontier; she's now a senior fellow at the Searchlight Institute, writing some of the smartest climate policy analysis around. We cover a lot of ground: industrial policy versus market approaches, what the IRA got right and wrong, philanthropy's proper role, data centers and the case for an infrastructure fund, and behind-the-meter gas, among other things. This is a long one, and spicy!

📌 Instructions to add paid episodes to your…

We’re still underrating 9/11’s impact

It was an incredibly bright and clear East Coast morning on September 11, 2001. I’ve always been an early riser, so even as a college student, I was awake and at breakfast when I heard a plane had hit the World Trade Center.

As for the rest of that morning, I don’t totally trust my own memory. But I do want to emphasize that quite a lot of us did literally watch thousands of people die on live television as the towers collapsed. And those who didn’t see it live saw it replayed endlessly in the hours and days that followed.

I don’t think anyone who didn’t experience 9/11 as an adult can fully…

Vouchers Promise Students With Disabilities a Path to Private School. Parents Say That’s Not the Reality.

It’s after 6 p.m. by the time Angela Johnson hurries home from work. Her 12-year-old daughter, Amelia, is at their house outside of Pensacola, Florida, with a nurse trained to care for medically fragile children. Amelia, who was born with a rare genetic anomaly, has endured many surgeries and requires a brain shunt and a feeding tube.

The nurse starts caring for Amelia as soon as a bus from the public school drops her off. Johnson loves much about the school. But as a physical therapist, she also recognizes its limitations. The district’s physical and occupational therapists have to travel…

The AI talent war is coming for Big Tech’s Asia executives

Silicon Valley’s artificial intelligence talent wars are now playing out in Asia. OpenAI and Anthropic are poaching top talent from U.S. tech giants including Google, Microsoft, and Amazon to build...

Trading Keggers for ‘Wellness Darties’

A new crop of college students is finding balance at daytime parties with yoga, saunas and cold plunges.

EPA to Loosen Methane Rules, Boosting Pollution From Oil and Gas Wells

The Trump administration is poised to loosen environmental restrictions on oil and gas wells that produce very little energy but release vast amounts of methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas.

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to drastically weaken requirements for leak inspections and equipment upgrades at more than 700,000 low-producing “stripper wells,” according to a draft rule being reviewed by the White House and seen by ProPublica. These wells — which tend to be old, poorly maintained and thus prone to leaking — produce just 6% of the country’s oil and natural gas but…

LA’s Largest Non-Tesla EV Charging Station Opens With A Surprise: CHAdeMO Support

EVgo, one of the largest charging networks in the U.S., hasn’t forgotten about the old Nissan Leaf.

The battery era is here — and China is supplying it

See more from Canary Media’s ​“Chart of the Week” column. Batteries are taking center stage in the energy world. Battery deployment, both to power electric vehicles and to store electricity for the grid, has skyrocketed in recent years. Last year, more than 1.5 terawatt-hours of batteries were placed into service…

My AI podcast with James Pethokoukis

You will find it here, with transcript.

The post My AI podcast with James Pethokoukis appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

Markets do respond to AGI news

Here is the link. What are the changes in the other market prices telling you?

The post Markets do respond to AGI news appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

Is there now a better trend in youth mental health?

A key U.S. government report on mental health, substance use and addiction showed continued improvements in several metrics, especially among young people.

There was some uncertainty about the future of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health last year, when the entire 17-member team responsible for it was laid off by the Trump administration. But the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration released the latest report Monday, with data that lets researchers look at trends from 2021 to 2025.

Fewer adolescents aged 12 to 17 reported using tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and binge…

Friday Video: Urbanists on Bakfiets Talking Cities

Forget Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee; it’s time for Urbanists on Bakfiets Talking Cities.

We love this new YouTube series from Urban Mobility Explained and host Lior Steinberg, which is, well, exactly what it sounds like: short interviews-on-wheels with some of the most interesting people in the movement to make cities better … with the subject riding shotgun in the bucket of an Urban Arrow cargo bike.

The first episode doubles as a rolling travelogue through Ljubljana, Slovenia, and it features none other than one of the godfathers of tactical urbanism, Mike Lydon — and they even ride by a…

Anyone Can Access Friday’s Headlines

A review of more than 100 studies found that increasing access to bicycles, particularly e-bikes, is the best way to get people to ride one. “Access” can mean a lot of things, though, from promoting safe biking routes to cash to buy a bike. Addressing these practical concerns is more effective than education or PR campaigns. (Momentum)

Subway construction in English-speaking countries is even more expensive than previously thought, compared to the rest of the world. (The Transit Brief)

Here’s how to turn an aging strip mall into a walkable neighborhood. (Building Better Places)

I Care About E-Bike Safety 0.02 Percent of The Time

A version of this article originally appeared on Urbanism Speakeasy and is republished with permission.

Corporate media outlets have found a new click-bait genre: the terrifying e-bike. A teenager on a sidewalk or a delivery rider weaving through a crosswalk on a machine that blasts through city streets like a rocket. Social media warriors and neighborhood busybodies are all in a tizzy.

In the US, the standard e-bike is a pedal-assist bicycle that tops out around 20 mph. These have become wildly popular because they have just enough juice to flatten hills and make it easier to carry heavy bags…

The Unspeakable World: Alan Watts on How to Touch the Pulse of Life

What makes life so disorienting is that its greatest revelations and greatest transformations are inarticulable. William James knew this when he listed ineffability as the first of the four features of transcendent experiences. Everything beautiful and meaningful, from the grand elations to the small gladnesses that make life worth living, is irreducible to words, is sand slipping through the fingers of language as we try to capture it.

Although we can transcend the limits of any one language by borrowing wonderful words from others, or inventing wonderful words, there is a fundamental limit…

VC Isn’t VC Anymore — Understanding the Rise of Cancer...

VC Isn’t VC Anymore — Understanding the Rise of Cancer Capital. “We must understand that it is no longer a financial machine that is used to fund startups, but a political and social machine focused on dismantling democracy and civil society.”

The Simpsons Switcheroo

At the beginning of a clip from this podcast episode of Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend with Matt Groening, Conan talks about one of his favorite things they did on The Simpsons:

It’s a phenomenon that the Simpsons did so beautifully, which is — and we did this with Homer a lot — but Homer is not the smartest guy in the world, but if it’s funny for him to have a certain knowledge of something or turn a phrase, suddenly he has it.

And one of my favorites of that is he’s sitting around the table and Lisa’s despondent. Something didn’t go well for her and she doesn’t think she’s going to get to go to…

“Gimme is a dazzling ever-growing type family of...

“Gimme is a dazzling ever-growing type family of multi-chromatic and variable display typefaces…” This is bonkers…letters made from Battleship pieces, Connect Four boards, playing cards, wooden railroad tracks, etc.

The Boring Company Raises $3 Billion To Help Put More Teslas In Tunnels

Elon Musk's tunneling venture is now worth $23 billion, the company said on Wednesday.

Bring Blockbuster Video back to your town/city by...

Bring Blockbuster Video back to your town/city by setting up a little free library of VHS tapes & DVDs. “Take a movie, leave a movie.” Love this.

Gloria Steinem’s final essay, posthumously published by...

Gloria Steinem’s final essay, posthumously published by the New Yorker. “When you’re lucky enough to have lived a long life, as I have done, your role as an older person is to remind us how far we have come.”

TIL that my iPhone has a tiny bit of water in i t (for...

TIL that my iPhone has a tiny bit of water in it (for cooling).

Teaser trailer for Musk, a 3h45m-long documentary film...

Teaser trailer for Musk, a 3h45m-long documentary film on fascist businessman Elon Musk, directed by Alex Gibney. “He’s chaotic, random, capricious. He is manifestly cruel and selfish. In a science fiction novel, he would not be a hero.”

Why Saying ‘Climate Crisis’ Falls Flat

We have a fascinating new project to share with you today. It gets to the heart of the question: Is there anything that can make Americans care about climate change right now?

Starting last year, Heatmap commissioned Embold Research to study what U.S. voters currently think about climate change — what messages are connecting with Americans today and which ones are falling flat.

It’s out now. I wasn’t directly involved in this research — other members of our team led it — but I think the results are interesting, useful, and worth your attention. (Embold Research is a frequent research partner of…

Albert Camus on the Source of Strength and How to Save Our Sanity in Trying Times

“In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”

In 1957, Albert Camus (November 7, 1913–January 4, 1960) became the second youngest laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded to him for work that “with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times.” (It was with this earnestness that, days after receiving the coveted accolade, he sent his childhood teacher a beautiful letter of gratitude.)

More than half a century later, his lucid and luminous insight renders Camus a timeless seer of truth, one who…

Mass. utilities and Hydro-Quebec sue each other over missing hydropower

Three Massachusetts utilities are suing Canadian energy giant Hydro-Québec after it failed to deliver promised hydropower for several days during a cold snap this winter. Hydro-Québec, in turn, is suing the utilities for withholding payment for power that was delivered. The dispute is the latest in a string of…

Show HN: Bodily Oddities

When I was about 11 years old, my best friend and I were playing during recess at school, and I was carrying him around on my back, presumably pretending to be a multipart attack robot. All of a sudden, my heart started hurting, and I collapsed to my knees, and the robot was no more. Every time I inhaled, it would feel like a spike was being driven into my heart, and my breathing got completely shallow. I was sure I was done for, when all of a sudden, after an exhale, it disappeared.

It wasn't until I was in my twenties that I learned this was called Precordial catch syndrome and it happens to…

Apple’s OS 27 Updates Will Be Released on Monday, 14 September

9to5 Mac has the iOS 27 release notes too. I haven’t spent much time using Golden Gate, but I’ve been using iOS 27 full-time ever since WWDC. It’s in excellent shape for a.0 release.

Now I need to think about how long I want to still hang onto MacOS 15 Sequoia on my main Mac. I’ll probably skip 27.0 and wait for 27.1, but maybe I’ll bite the bullet and upgrade when a 27.0.1 update comes out.

I Drove All The New Toyota EVs. Here’s My Pick—And How To Choose

The Toyota bZ, C-HR, and bZ Woodland all share the same bones. I drove them all to find the best value.

The VW ID.Buzz Will Get Assisted Lane Changes And Pedestrian Detection

Atlas, Golf, and Tiguan models all get VW's new suite of driver assistance tech, too.

My short interview with Julia Willemyns

Here is the link, here is the end bit:

Who is the most important thinker of our time?

It’s not about individual thinkers any more. It’s about the internet as this vast organ of knowledge that you can play like a musical instrument, and combining the internet with AI. You can figure out things to an unprecedented degree, and it’s great in a way how much we’ve removed that process from any individual thinker.

Why ‘Clean Is Cheap, Cheap Is Clean’ Isn’t Breaking Through

It’s the million-dollar question of clean energy advocacy: How do you persuade climate change skeptics to love renewables?

For years, the clean energy industry has treated the fact that renewables are the cheapest form of new electricity as its messaging trump card. This argument has the advantage of being true. Yes, there is nuance, room for debate, and always the possibility that things could change dramatically in the future. But this summer, the investment bank Lazard reconfirmed what the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the International Renewable Energy Agency — and plenty of…

Trump Could Be Ready To U-Turn On Chinese EVs, One Senator Claims

One U.S. Senator claims that rumors are swirling around Washington an upcoming meeting with China may open the door to Chinese EVs.

Joanna Stern on the iPhone Duo

One thing I learned from this video is that I’m way, way too careful when playing with the hands-on area demo units. I handle them like museum pieces; Stern treats them like hot dog buns.

Metamorphosis: Transformations in the Early Modern Flap Book (early 19th century)

By manipulating paper flaps, the child could turn Adam into Eve into a mermaid, a lion into a griffin into an eagle — all while learning about the inevitability of death.

9/11 in Realtime

impressive archival project synchronizing TV broadcasts, radio traffic, pagers, newsgroups, and more

Talking Headways Podcast: Carspreading

This week, we’re joined by Sofia Navas and James Nix of the NGO Transport & Environment to talk about their recent report, “Ever Bigger? Car Size at a Crossroads.” Why, why why are car sizes continuing to grow? It’s so clear that safety is directly linked to vehicle size — not to mention the toll big cars take on traffic and public space.

They literally bloat our lives, but you can find out more with the normal Talking Headways lineup:

Read an excerpt of our exhilarating conversation below.

Google Cements Its Place as Nuclear’s Salvager

Current conditions: The Pacific just can’t catch a break this hurricane season as forecasters warn that a new tropical development called Invest 96E could form in the next two days off Baja California, right behind Hurricane Lowell • In Indonesia, the wildfires blazing through the peatlands and forests of Borneo and Sumatra are now emitting by far the most carbon dioxide of any blazes in the world • A late-summer heat wave is sending temperatures along the California coastline beyond 100 degrees Fahrenheit this week.

1. Google cements its place as a nuclear salvager

When Alphabet inked its…

Empty Seat: U.S. Absent as Western Powers Meet on Wartime Protections for Civilians

Three years ago, the Defense Department led an ambitious international effort to better protect civilians during combat, a movement built on the bloody lessons of Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Pentagon created a network with European partners, driving the creation of shared standards. Civilian harm experts described the moment as a “unique opportunity” for American leadership by example.

Today, those efforts continue — without the United States, after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismantled the civilian protection mission.

EVs Cost A Lot Less To Drive Than Gas Cars in Europe—Even With Public Charging

Plus, EVs have gotten cheaper to buy, and there are hundreds of new models to choose from.

AI Safety Is Having a Moment

In the last few weeks, I’ve had many conversations—both on and off the record—with people who work on artificial intelligence about the dangers of out-of-control AI and the imminence of “recursive self-improvement”—the ability of powerful models to build ever-more powerful AI. Just as I was pulling some thoughts together, the news that an Anthropic researcher quit the company over AI-safety fears soared to the top of the Wall Street Journal homepage and sparked an extraordinary firestorm of attention, with dozens of politicians in the U.S. and around the world calling for new AI safety rules.

I…

The economy could survive a downtick in A.I.

Before moving on to an A.I. question I did get for the Mailbag, I want to answer one I didn’t. Tyler Cowen has been challenging A.I. risk worriers to make some investable prognostications about the looming clouds of doom.

I forecast that he will not find this answer satisfactory, but I think the problem here is that the real-world investment advice I have received from safetyists is mostly bullish. Advice I have taken that has paid off well was stuff like “buy Nvidia.” Advice I have not taken that would have paid off well is stuff like “go get a job at Anthropic and enjoy some stock-based…

25 Years After 9/11, Questions About the FBI’s Pursuit of Saudi Suspects in the Case Have Only Grown

Within a few days of the terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001, FBI agents identified an important possible suspect: a middle-aged Saudi graduate student who provided crucial help to two of the al-Qaida hijackers as they settled in San Diego early the year before.

The Saudi, Omar al-Bayoumi, had since moved to England, and he was arrested there at the FBI’s request. A police search of his home and office yielded a trove of evidence that quickly deepened investigators’ suspicions about Bayoumi and his dealings with the terrorists. But what happened to much of that…

Google Earth’s AI experiment lasted 24 hours. The damage to trust will linger

Since Israel and the U.S. launched strikes against Iran in February, plunging the Gulf region into conflict, the countries have also been waging an information war using tools powered by...

Got a Connection to Dominican Baseball? Text Us on WhatsApp.

Major League Baseball teams sign more players from the Dominican Republic each year than any nation besides the U.S. Almost every neighborhood is home to a baseball field where kids as young as 4 begin learning to play. In our months of reporting, we’ve rarely come across anyone in the Dominican who doesn’t have some connection to the sport: a sibling or uncle or son who aspires to be a professional player, or who once did.

As beloved and important as baseball is in the Dominican, industry practices can hurt young players and their families. Dozens of trainers and players have told us that…

The 9/11 attacks and the crisis of global liberalism

“The 9/11 terrorist attacks were a really big deal” is perhaps not the hottest take in the world. But as time has passed and a larger and larger share of the population was either not yet born or else — like my Co-Host Jerusalem — not an adult at the time, I think the sheer extent to which history really pivoted on that day can get lost. Younger people who know all about the ways in which the American foreign-policy response went wrong don’t necessarily have the full context for understanding what the prior trajectory of the country was and how things changed.

The episode starts with a review…

The Rising Baseball Star, a Fatal Car Crash and the Fixer

Around 4 a.m. on Sept. 21, 2020, Luis David Saba arrived at a desolate stretch of highway along the southern coast of the Dominican Republic. Police and paramedics had left by then, taking with them a Jeep Grand Cherokee with a crumpled hood and the tangled remains of the cheap motorcycle it had smashed into. Also gone were the motorcycle’s two critically injured passengers. The only signs that an accident had occurred a few hours earlier were the blood and debris smeared across the asphalt and a pile of neatly placed branches.

Saba knew what to expect underneath that pile. It was a Dominican…

The Dominican Baseball Factory

On an evening in late 2021, in a pristine baseball complex in central Santo Domingo, a baby-faced 14-year-old outfielder in athletic gear named Belfi Rivera huddled in front of a computer screen. Next to him was John Carmona, who had been Belfi’s trainer and de facto caretaker since he was 11 years old. In a nearby office, Belfi’s parents stared anxiously at a separate computer. On the screen, calling into the Dominican Republic, were representatives of the Arizona Diamondbacks, there for a conversation that promised to shift forever the fortunes of Belfi and his parents.

The team, they would…

The Volvo EX40 EV Is Dead In The U.S.

Volvo’s first mass-market EV is being retired stateside, but a revised version lives on in Europe and other markets.

Coal-to-solar project lands a rare clean-energy win in Ohio

Clean energy scored a rare win in Ohio last month when state regulators unanimously approved a permit for 149 megawatts of solar and 149 MW of battery storage at the Hamden Energy site in Vinton County, located in the southeast quadrant of the state. In contrast to most of the state’s solar permitting cases, no…

Trump emergency order casts uncertainty over grid battery growth

The Trump administration’s vaguely worded executive order on grid cybersecurity threatens to slow down the booming U.S. energy storage market. The order, issued late last month, declares a national security emergency over the risk that foreign-made technologies could be used to hack into and disrupt the U.S. power…

Dig Energy completes first project with novel geothermal drilling tech

Dig Energy, a startup on a quest to vastly improve geothermal drilling, has completed its first commercial project, digging seven boreholes for a geothermal heating and cooling system at the headquarters of Boston general contracting firm Suffolk Construction. Dig first stepped into the public eye almost exactly a…

Waymo’s Nevada Rollout Violates Accessibility Law, Disability Activist Claims

Waymo’s rollout of driverless taxis in Nevada must be halted because the company has violated state law by not lining up alternatives for disabled passengers, an emergency petition to state authorities claims.

Kelsey Maurine Brickl, who uses a powered wheelchair, filed her appeal in August, just days after the Nevada Transportation Agency permitted the autonomous taxi company to deploy 1,000 driverless vehicles in the Las Vegas area.

“We can’t [allow] this shiny new piece of convenient tech … to chip away at the rights of disabled people,” said Brickl, who initially founded Ghostlight Access to…

‘Back To School’ Means Back To Fear For Teen Cyclists

I am a 12-year-old cyclist in New York City. I’m constantly wondering if I’ll make it to 13.

My mom and I ride all the time, but even though I’m allowed by law to ride on the sidewalk (well, maybe I am — more on that later), I ride on the same streets as she does. So every time we go anywhere on my bike, I review my hand signals, especially the ones I use to go around a car parked in a painted bike lane, and take a deep breath.

Nine times out of 10, there is a car or truck parked in a painted bike lane. Trucks are the worst because they have huge blind spots. Typically, my mom and I have a…

Thursday’s Headlines Yearn to Breathe Free

Cleaner air equals smarter children. That was the result of a Columbia University study that found that a reduction in tailpipe pollution, among other sources, in New York City improved toddlers’ cognitive development by 26 percent. Other studies have also shown respiratory benefits when measures like low-emissions zones are implemented. (NY Times)

Jake Boyles provides hard proof that interstates are homogenizing the country, at least when it comes to the businesses that lie just beyond them. (Strong Towns)

Robotaxis would be much more useful in rural areas that lack transit than in big cities.…

The New Science of Plant Intelligence and the Mystery of What Makes a Mind

“Every thought that has ever passed through your brain was made possible by plants.”

“A leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars,” Walt Whitman wrote a decade before Darwin gasped at how incomprehensible “the marvelous complexity” of organic beings is, insisting that “each living creature must be looked at as a microcosm — a little universe, formed of a host of self-propagating organisms, inconceivably minute and as numerous as the stars in heaven.”

And yet this view does not come naturally to us humans, sensemaking creatures compelled to order the universe into…

“We found ~18,000 posts from autonomous AI agents...

“We found ~18,000 posts from autonomous AI agents (self-identifying as from OpenAI) using the public internet to communicate during a web research task. These AIs colluded to share answers, research their environment, and bypass sandbox restrictions.”

Modern Day Typographer

“Papyrus is a virus and restraint is the inoculum”

The Chicago Public Library informs patrons of how much...

The Chicago Public Library informs patrons of how much money they’ve saved borrowing from the library instead of buying. “You just saved $58.94 by using your library. You have saved $231.79 this past year and $1,107.24 since you began using the library!”

U.S. Postal Service Failed to Properly Handle Some Ballots During This Year’s Primary Elections, Audit Finds

Some U.S. Postal Service facilities failed to properly handle ballots during this year’s primary elections, according to a new audit from the agency’s Office of Inspector General. Election experts say the findings call into question the agency’s ability to meet even greater demands for the November election that are under consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The audit, which is dated Sept. 4 but has not been previously reported, found a lack of training for post office staff on how to properly and expeditiously handle mail ballots, deficiencies in how ballots were tracked and errors…

Over the past 12 years, Super Bowl-winning coach Mike...

Over the past 12 years, Super Bowl-winning coach Mike Tomlin has built a Minecraft city. He started playing the game for the same reason I started playing Fortnite: his kids. “How do I meet them where they are and spend time with them?”

From the Internet Archive: Vanishing Culture: A Report...

From the Internet Archive: Vanishing Culture: A Report on Our Fragile Cultural Record. “When digital materials are vulnerable to sudden removal…our collective memory is compromised, and the public’s ability to access its own history is at risk.”

Alaska’s ranked choice voting: Six years of experimenting and its biggest test yet

Alaska is in its sixth year — and third election — of an unusual ranked-choice-voting (R.C.V.) system that was created in a 2020 ballot measure that also included dark-money disclosure rules.

Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg Put on 'Leave of Absence'

On a company-wide Slack this morning, Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg announced he has been put on a paid leave of absence.

“And the biggest news: I won't be able to make the ELT tomorrow,” Matt wrote in an Announcement Slack. He continued, writing that Mark Davies, current Automattic Chief Financial Officer, has “conspired” with Automattic Board of Directors members Ann Dunwoody, Toni Schneider, and Sue Decker “behind my back and they voted to put me on a paid leave of absence. I voted against that.”

He wrote that Davies was voted to be the new interim CEO. “I received the resolution 50 minutes…

Usenet-Rewind

new commercial archive with deep full-text search of 982M posts going back to 1981

How to Change Your Life

HOW TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE

Don’t try to wash

clean from the bloodshed

Doctor Doom Thanked Seattle for All the Surveillance Cameras

Doctor Doom took the podium at a Public Safety Committee meeting on Tuesday to thank the council for covering the city in surveillance cameras. “Doom took over Axon enterprises [...] and now Doom will be watching you. Your continued cooperation expanding Doom’s surveillance network is required,” the Marvel supervillain said.

“This is the first of Doom’s gifts to the city of Seattle. The second gift is this: Doom will expand the real-time crime center to all neighborhoods with over 1,000 cameras watching every move,” Doom said. “Doom has total dominion over the city of Seattle. Doom will be…

Grand Theft Automated License Plate Reader

Morry Kolman made a GTA V mod that adds 235 Flock cameras around Los Santos, earn cash by destroying them

The Remnants of a Lost ‘Supercontinent’ Just Rewrote the History of Life on Earth

Subscribe to 404 Media to get The Abstract, our newsletter about the most exciting and mind-boggling science news and studies of the week.

Scientists have identified the submerged remnants of a giant lost supercontinent that played a pivotal role in the explosion of complex life more than 500 million years ago, reports a study published on Wednesday in Science Advances.

By gathering over 25,000 rocks from ancient continental fragments, a team reconstructed the past contours of Gondwana, a massive landmass that formed between 800 and 500 million years ago in the Southern Hemisphere. Gondwana’s…

Smear Campaign Says Anti-Flock Movement Is Chinese Propaganda

Over the weekend, more than a dozen local TV news stations ran a video report called “Far-left network behind ‘No Kings’ protests targeting AI data centers, Flock cams.” The report paints those opposing Flock not as a diverse, decentralized, bipartisan group of ordinary citizens who oppose mass surveillance, but as well-funded radical leftists who are spreading propaganda at the behest of China and rich billionaires. The opposite is true, of course: The entities defending Flock and painting their opponents as cynical, paid influencers have a specific agenda, have deep pockets, and are…

Podcast: DHS’ Secretive ‘Predictive Policing’ Unit Pulling People Over

We start this week with Joseph’s story about the secretive predictive policing units inside DHS that are analyzing Americans’ financial data and having local cops pull them over. After the break, Jason tells us about the funky shirt designed to fool AI-camera systems. In the subscribers-only section, we talk all about our third anniversary events.

Listen to the weekly podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Become a paid subscriber for access to this episode's bonus content and to power our journalism. If you become a paid subscriber, check your inbox for an email from our podcast host…

First ‘Take It Down Act’ Sentencing Puts Man Behind Bars for 15 Years

The first man in the country to be convicted of violating the Take It Down Act was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Tuesday, after investigators found more than 3,000 real and AI-generated abuse images on his devices.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Ohio, 38 year old Ohio man James Strahler was sentenced to 15 years in prison for “cybercrimes that included both real and AI-generated sexually explicit images and threats of violence to numerous victims.”

Strahler created “more than 700 images of both real victims and animated persons and posted…

Kids Trends

Riley Walz analyzed 100 million children’s drawings over 20 years, try searching for your own name

'Tell Everyone:' A Man Died by Suicide After Talking to ChatGPT. His Former Partner Wants to Warn the World About AI

If you or someone you know is struggling, The Crisis Text Line is a texting service for emotional crisis support. To text with a trained helper, text SAVE to 741741.

Just before Austin Gordon died, he left Megan Jones a letter telling her she was the love of his life.

For months before he wrote that letter, he talked to, confided in, and poured his heart out to ChatGPT.

A Design Space Exploration of Async/Await

Every language pitches async/await as synchronous-looking code, and the same two keywords appear everywhere. But behind the shared syntax hide nine independent design decisions, and no two of seven modern runtimes agree on what even the simplest async programs should do! In this paper we map the design space of async/await so you can find out where your language stands.

The Man on a Quest to Digitally Preserve America’s Public Restrooms

For the last three years Jake Welch has been 3D scanning public restrooms and archiving their peculiarities on a website called The Restroom Archive. “It started as a joke,” Welch, the site’s creator and head archivist, told 404 Media.

The Restroom Archive describes itself as “an ongoing repository of publicly accessible restrooms.” When someone first visits the Archive, the site serves them a random 3D scan of a public restroom, its location, and a brief written description. Hurricane, Utah’s Gypsy Emporium Antique Mall, for example, was scanned on April 11, 2026 and features paintings of a…

Is there way more conventional geothermal than we thought?

Zanskar argues that the US is badly underestimating its conventional geothermal resources — that there are far more undiscovered hydrothermal systems, and that each one can produce far more power, than people think. They think AI can help find those resources, and they have drilled three sites to back it up, including a “blind” discovery in Nevada with no surface signs and no prior exploratory wells. If they're right, terawatts of firm, carbon-free power are reachable with off-the-shelf drilling technology. Co-founders Carl Hoiland and Joel Edwards make the case.

📌 Instructions to add paid…

Trump’s terrible plan to break skilled immigration

Reminder: Paid subscribers are invited to join us this evening for our fall happy hour in downtown D.C. Full details here!

Fifteen years ago, the H-1B visa program that provides temporary employment opportunities for workers with technical skills was relatively uncontroversial.

Or, rather, the controversy was over how to respond to the fact that this one aspect of the immigration system had broad political support. Republicans wanted to expand skilled-worker visa programs, but only by cutting other visa programs; Democrats wanted to expand skilled-worker visa programs, but only as part of a…

Ectopic Pregnancy Deaths Have Nearly Doubled. It’s Worse in States With Abortion Bans.

The number of women who died after an ectopic pregnancy has spiked in recent years, a ProPublica analysis found. The mounting deaths in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data have drawn little scrutiny or response.

Such deaths typically occur in the first trimester, after a pregnancy fails to properly implant in the uterus and begins to develop elsewhere, most commonly inside a fallopian tube. The embryo grows until it causes the organ to rupture, triggering catastrophic bleeding.

With prompt and appropriate medical care, maternal health experts say, women should not die. Yet…

Now it’s China’s experts who are gig workers training AI

As a Shenzhen-based architect in her 40s, Cuicui has vast experience designing public stadiums, schools, and hospitals at an architecture firm. But over the past five years, declining government infrastructure...

I Wrote About His Wrongful Conviction. He Got Only 13 Years of Freedom Before Cancer Took His Life.

I’d like to tell you about Fred Steese, who died in August of cancer at 62. When I first met Fred, he was living hand to mouth in a seedy motel on the outskirts of Las Vegas. He had been released from prison a couple of years earlier and struggled to find stable housing and a job, because — on paper, at least — Fred appeared to be a convicted murderer.

In 1995, Fred was wrongfully convicted of the murder of Gerard Soules — a former trapeze artist who had a dancing poodle show at a Las Vegas casino — even though prosecutors had evidence that he was hundreds of miles away at the time. He then…

Liberalism needs a new philosophy of immigration

So, Germany’s far-right party, the AfD, just won a huge landslide election victory in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. This doesn’t mean AfD is taking over Germany — the far right is much more popular in the post-communist east than in the more populated western regions. Germany is also a parliamentary democracy, and almost everyone else hates and fears the AfD. But the statewide victory is a warning shot, and everyone in Germany — and in Europe — is taking it seriously.

AfD’s surge means two things. First, it means that the rise of far-right parties was not simply a reaction to the…

Virginia kept its climate law. Dominion sees a loophole.

Even as data centers spike energy demand and electricity rates rise, Virginia has stood by its landmark climate targets when other states, from New York to Hawaii, have wavered. Legislators in the data center capital of the world didn’t just preserve the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act earlier this year; they…

Questionable data center forecasts are driving up Ohio power bills

Ohio has emerged as one of the top states for data center developers, with roughly 100 of the facilities already up and running and nearly 150 more on the way. Many of those planned facilities may never get built, but their projected electricity needs will drive up energy bills for Ohioans anyway. Utilities base…

Wednesday’s Headlines Are Still Pretty Dirty

Plug-in hybrids emit six times the amount of greenhouse gases than official testing suggests, according to a new European Union study. The auto industry is opposed to regulations that would bring those figures into line with reality. (Transport & Environment)

Density makes cities more productive, but traffic congestion eats up a lot of those benefits. (Brookings)

West Coast states are leading the way in exploring new sources of transportation funding to account for more fuel-efficient vehicles and declining gas tax revenue. (Government Technology)

New typewriter interviews with Adam Koford and Kevin Huizenga

My latest typewriter interviews are with two cartoonists — one is a fully-drawn and pithy eye feast from Adam Koford, and the other a surprisingly wordy meal from Kevin Huizenga:

No urge to be doing

I used a quote from Patrick O’Brian’s Post Captain to start my letter, “No urge to be doing”:

“There are days… when one sees as though one had been blind the rest of one’s life. Such clarity – perfection in everything, not merely in the extraordinary. One lives in the very present moment; lives intently. There is no urge to be doing: being is the highest good. However… doing of some kind there must be.”

I am still in the kind of emotional and spiritual fallout that happens after I release a book, well-described by bell hooks in Teaching To Transgress:

The Ties that Bind: Central Asian Ikat (ca. 19th century)

Vibrant textiles from the dazzling Timurid metropolis of Bukhara.

Virtual worlds

The massively multiplayer online game was created in the 1980s.

Think your EV holds its value? China has some bad news for you

China’s used car dealers have set an expiry date for electric cars. About four out of five used car dealers in China refuse to accept a fully electric vehicle older...

Win tickets to an upcoming event! My NY climate week lineup, new faces at Volts, and just, hey, how’s it going

It’s been a while since I’ve spoken with you directly. I’ve been cranking out podcasts like crazy — more than any human being could be reasonably asked to consume, some might say — and falling a little behind on community threads and such. By way of asking forgiveness, here’s a picture of Abner.

I’ve got a lot to tell you about the upcoming month, but let me start by introducing Nate, who I recently hired to, among other things, think about how to improve this operation. You’ll likely see his name pop up in comments occasionally, he’ll answer your customer-service type questions, and he’ll be…

AI keeps stubbornly refusing to take our jobs

It’s Labor Day, so here’s a post about how human labor is alive and well in the age of AI.

I live in San Francisco and hang out with a lot of tech people, both in the AI industry and outside of it. And one thing that almost everyone I know here believes is that AI’s main economic effect is to displace humans from their jobs. Most people don’t have concrete arguments for why this should be true; it’s just an article of faith. The conventional wisdom is pretty well summed up by the first line of this tweet:

In fact, AI companies themselves have spent years talking about how their inventions are…

A never-ending childhood of malaria

How often do people in high-burden areas get malaria? Studies suggest that many children can experience five or more malaria infections a year.

Reading List - 09/05/2026

Welcome to the reading list, a weekly roundup of news and links related to buildings, infrastructure, and industrial technology. This week we look at SpaceX’s turbine blade factory, Fervo’s deal with Google, Delhi’s cheap metro, why recycling is overrated, and more. Roughly 2/3rds of the reading list is paywalled, so for full access become a paid subscriber.

Claims that increased immigration raids on residential construction jobsites are straining US homebuilders. “In some markets, homebuilders say the impact has been significant; in others, it has been an existential threat to their ability…

America is still beating China in the AI race

Most of the debate around AI, at least in the U.S., is not about the international aspect. The local political debate is all about data center construction; the national economic debate is mostly about fear of job loss, with a side discussion about a potential bubble; and the technological discussion, at least in public, is mostly about AI safety and risk. U.S.-China competition gets mentioned in certain circles, but it’s probably safe to say that it’s not Americans’ chief topic of concern.

But it still matters! For one thing, there’s the military aspect to think about. Cyberwarfare so far…

Best of August 2026

Volts published eight conversations in August — with two Idaho state legislators, a grid cybersecurity expert, the architect of Uruguay's energy transition, an EV charging exec, and more — which is a lot for anyone to listen to. We've rounded up the highlights into a single hour. Enjoy!

📌 Instructions to add paid episodes to your preferred podcast app via mobile / desktop

So last month, we tried something new around here, a compilation of clips from the month’s episodes strung together in a single place so that listeners could scan and see what they might have missed. I asked at the end of that…

All the microbes you can’t have

We’ve invented microbes that can eat plastic, detect landmines, and extract rare metals. They’ve been swallowed by a black hole.

How Will the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act Affect Housing Supply? Part III

This is my third and final essay looking at the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, and how it’s likely to affect housing supply. As I’ve noted in my previous two essays, this is a sprawling piece of legislation, with 59 sections spread across 12 different “titles.” So far we’ve looked at Titles I, II, and III, which together contain 24 individual sections. In this post, I’ll look at the remaining nine titles of the package. There are a lot of sections (35!), but many of them don’t apply to housing at all, and as with earlier titles the major potential impacts are concentrated in a small number…

How to respond to disinformation about clean energy, at scale

Disinformation about clean energy is showing up everywhere — online after every blackout, at county commission meetings about siting new projects, in regulatory dockets stuffed with fake comments. GoodPower, which combines a C3 education arm with a C4 advocacy arm, is trying to fight back with a network of thousands of content creators, rapid-response campaigns around storms and grid failures, and an AI tool that detects manufactured public comments. I talk with CEO Leah Qusba about what they've tried, what they've measured, and what actually works.

📌 Instructions to add paid episodes to your…

We Can't Let AI Writing Take Over the Internet

In January 1919, more than 2 million gallons of molasses exploded from inside a pressurized holding tank in Boston. A tsunami of syrup, which some reports said reached 40 feet tall, surged through the city’s North End, covering the waterfront, destroying buildings, and drowning dozens of residents.

As the historian Jill Lepore recently wrote in the New Yorker, the Great Molasses Flood is a morbid if apt metaphor for the effect that artificial intelligence is having on the internet. Gooey, disgusting, saccharine AI slop is flowing everywhere these days, gumming up your LinkedIn feed, oozing…

Just bury your trash

What if everything we know about recycling is wrong?

Beef production in Brazil has been the largest driver of global deforestation in recent decades

Most beef production in Brazil is to meet domestic rather than international demand.

Reading List 08/29/26

Welcome to the reading list, a weekly roundup of news and links related to buildings, infrastructure, and industrial technology. This week we look at sinking London homes, US magnesium manufacturing, the World Humanoid Robot games, catastrophic flooding in Nepal, and more. Roughly 2/3rds of the reading list is paywalled, so for full access become a paid subscriber.

New home sales are down 6.3% year over year. [Calculated Risk] And the median new home price is down to $393,800, the lowest since July 2021. [HousingWire]

As of a few weeks ago there’s a new tallest timber building in the world, for…

The rise of electoral democracy

How elections spread, voting rights expanded, and political competition developed around the world over the last two centuries.

Which countries have already passed peak population, and when will the rest do so?

Falling fertility rates have created a unique scenario in human history: many countries are experiencing structural population decline.