2026-02-20 19:35:58
Newspaper executives' emphasis on reader data doesn't serve subscribers who look to editorial staff to guide them to potential new areas of interest (John Williams/The Atlantic)
http…
Newspaper executives' emphasis on reader data doesn't serve subscribers who look to editorial staff to guide them to potential new areas of interest (John Williams/The Atlantic)
http…
Reparations for the insurrectionists.
(Gift link)
https://wapo.st/4pRwifB
And on the happier side of news:
Live possum found nestled in with plush toys at airport gift shop
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/mar/19/possum-hobart-airport-gift-shop-soft-toys?CMP=Share_Andro…
And on the happier side of news:
Live possum found nestled in with plush toys at airport gift shop
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/mar/19/possum-hobart-airport-gift-shop-soft-toys?CMP=Share_Andro…
Every technological acceleration is framed as a gift of time to all mankind...
The original promise of acceleration was always more free time. Washing machines would give us more leisure, email would cut our labour, automation would give us a 4 day work week, and so on. None of this really happened; a rising floor of expected output swallowed the gains, and so we signed up for more, and we ended up running faster to stay in the same damn place.
Bucky Brooks 2026 NFL mock draft 4.0: Giants gift Jaxson Dart top-10 picks at running back, receiver https://www.nfl.com/news/bucky-brooks-2026-nfl-mock-draft-4-0-giants-gift-jaxson-dart-top-10-picks-at-running-back-receiv…
It's worth saying that the reason I am able to be generous to friends in #Gaza is that other friends are generous to me. And the gift of the ability to be generous is a very great gift indeed.
You know who you are. Thanks!
The Gates Foundation and OpenAI plan to invest $50M to use AI to ease the impact of chronic staff shortages in 1,000 primary health clinics in Africa by 2028 (Financial Times)
So Trump just went full steam ahead fossil.
At the same time, @… aptly published this:
"Back during Trump I, he decided that Americans couldn't buy Chinese solar anymore, […] delivering a giant gift to the planet-wrecking oil companies that had helped him buy his way into office.
This was really bad for America, of course, but those so…
Someone Used This Coin as Bus Fare and Worker Discovers it was Minted by the Phoenicians 2,000 Years Ago https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/someone-used-this-coin-as-bus-fare-man-discovers-it-was-minted-by-the-phoenicia…
#Metrolinx finally admits what everyone has been expecting, the Ontario Line will open later than 2031
It might also require closures of the DVP for some crucial engineering work (the line will go over the freeway)
Диктаторы gotta dictate sad face
https://tomkahe.com/@GiftArticles/116262129457913429
Are they in the #Epstein files, too, Mr President? https://tomkahe.com/@GiftArticles/116100990382833807
"Jesse Jackson was a gift from God and a witness that God exists in the ways he cared for and lifted all people, the way he called forth a rainbow coalition of people to challenge economic and social inequality from the pulpit to a historic presidential run, the way he dared to keep hope alive whenever the nation struggled with being who she says she is and yet ought to be."
—The Rev. Dr. William Barber
Full statement here:
"The Rise of the Voluntariat" by Geoff Shullenberger (found via D. Graeber's "Bullshit Jobs").
"""
The voluntariat performs skilled work that might still command a wage without compensation, allegedly for the sake of the public good, regardless of the fact that it also contributes directly and unambiguously to the profitability of a corporation. Like the proletariat, then, the voluntariat permits the extraction of surplus value through its labor.
But unlike the proletariat’s labor, the voluntariat’s has become untethered from wages. The voluntariat’s labor is every bit as alienable as the proletariat’s — Coursera’s Translator Contract leaves no doubt about that — but it must be experienced by the voluntariat as a spontaneous, non-alienated gift.
And the voluntariat is not, like the proletariat, the instrument of its own dispossession. Rather, its contribution of uncompensated work accelerates deskilling and undermines the livelihood of those who do not have the luxury of working for free — in this case, professional translators who cannot afford to give away their labor.
"""
#AntiCapitalism
Ukraine Has Finally Given Up on Trump (Phillips Payson O'Brien/The Atlantic)
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/04/ukraine-trump-us-oil-russia/686854/?gift=BQHDq1p24LRO8cUUEyLQ662MHEbZ7hRgiAy66D6yYJ0&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
http://www.memeorandum.com/260418/p35#a260418p35
amazing piece but basically woke up in the middle of the night wondering about the unanswered question here: if book freak richard hell has been in the same wee spot since '74, what does he do when his shelves are full? does he have storage spaces like verlaine? does he deaccession at the strand? #nyc #books
I see no sign of any recognition from those who would want such a ban that they see any of the collateral damage a successful ban would have on the majority of kids who are not falling for this bullshit. That they are banning any good at all along with the bad.
Under 18s only
I see that the lobbying for these laws are funded by the absolute worst companies on the internet, those who will be entrenched by the legal compliance costs, that will cement themselves as the arbitrators of who is allowed to access the internet.
It’s a gift to Palantir and other surveillance companies. The very people running these algo-feeds are the ones who benefit from IDing every user and stalking them across the internet on their government-approved internet-licence IDs.
I don’t think even a successful ban on social media for kids would actually address the issue of kids being exposed to sexism and misogony or reduce the kids alienation and depression.
A ban can’t help, will make many things worse, won’t address the problem, and will make competing with the worst surveillance capitalists on the planet more difficult.
Going to war with every internet site and advice forum and making internet access harder won’t fix anything, and will have massive collateral damage against everyone seeking support from strangers or trying to learn things their parents won’t teach them.
But I see we are going to do it anyway.
The direction is clear.
Those companies do get what they lobby for, and they are lobbying hard for ID checks on every website, wrapping their desire to enclose the internet commons for themselves in a faux concern for children’s welfare.
And governments wish to monitor and control the internet, so they will pass these laws.
I wonder how many parents have a family group-chat that they’re going to accidentally ban their kids from using, not realizing that ‘social media’ might include Whatsapp? 😆
It won’t fix anything, it will make the situation for kids worse, impose costs and rents and hacks and exploits on all of us, and increase government and corporate power.
Many will lose access to their networks of support and help.
So it goes.
We will build a better more censorship resistant internet. It’s already here really: Briar. Matrix. Nostr. Bitchat. Veilid. Spritely. And the rest.
The laws may push us there faster.
The race will go on.
How AI's post-training process suppresses the creativity and whimsicality seen in earlier models like GPT-2, leading to bad writing from many top AI models (Jasmine Sun/The Atlantic)
https://www.
New Cowboys 2026 Mock Draft, Wild Trade Gift Wraps Perfect Defensive Haul https://www.si.com/nfl/cowboys/onsi/draft/new-dallas-cowboys-2026-nfl-mock-draft-wild-trade-gift-wraps-perfect-defensive-haul
Q&A with Emanuel Fabian, who says he faced death threats from Polymarket bettors over his reporting on a missile strike in Israel, making him doubt what he saw (Charlie Warzel/The Atlantic)
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/…
The Disappearing Off-Ramp in Iran (Thomas Wright/The Atlantic)
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2026/03/iran-victory-trump/686411/?gift=201cWZnM2XBz2eP81zy0pPg87xXkWj-Ly42FsbaVHUA&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
http://www.memeorandum.com/260317/p74#a260317p74
In the hustle and bustle of life, we often forget the simple joys that truly enrich us: laughter with family, wisdom from elders, and the gift of good health. Let's take a moment to appreciate these IRREPLACEABLE blessings. As Churchill reminds us, "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." Commit to GIVING more love, time, and gratitude today. 🌟 #FamilyFirst #CherishEveryMoment
This week, something broke.
Maybe Trump does not understand the link between the past and the present,
but other people do.
They can see that, as a result of decisions that Trump made but cannot explain,
the Strait of Hormuz is blocked by Iranian mines and drones.
They can see oil prices rising around the world and they understand that it is difficult and dangerous for the U.S. Navy to solve this problem.
They can also hear the president lashing out,
Got sent this email from the elderly convenor of a political group I sometimes sit with. Thank goodness I was alert and suspicious enough - his account had been hacked and this was an email spam that could have cost a lot of money. There was no "Dear Lilly", but they had signed off with his name at the end.
According to a source familiar with the negotiations, on Friday morning, Anthropic received word that Hegseth’s team would make a major concession.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/202
🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #VarietyMix
Mark Hollis:
🎵 The Gift
#MarkHollis
https://open.spotify.com/track/7nviB40euH8GciNuOn7uci
Calculated and if we got a donation of about $10,000 I could get all the music on my #AccordionBandcamp wishlist to play on @… radio 🪗
I got a $50 gift card over the holidays to spend on
The Gift Of Age Podcast
Brings you very best science, strategies and secrets for ageing with vitality, passion and purpose...
Great Australian Pods Podcast Directory: https://www.greataustralianpods.com/the-gift-of-age/
What I Saw Inside the Kennedy Center (Josef Palermo/The Atlantic)
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/04/inside-kennedy-center-shutdown-drama/686801/?gift=1ga2TvL-DbuHDQIcYF7oR4TqLDZnKDrfQ7o-dPJVETA
http://www.memeorandum.com/260416/p142#a260416p142
Everyone Now Has Trump’s Phone Number - The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/03/trump-phone-number/686370/?gift=7dKtnNrILXcLLty1b9gh3oytlFzIBnPfQHi4yQTwT_4 What could go wrong?
I will confess that out of morbid curiosity, I'd find it interesting to watch the entire process of someone generating a novel using AI. I feel like the prompt would end up being as long as a decent synopsis.
Gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2026…
It looks like here in California that the D-party is digging in on its plan to gift the governorship to a republican.
A bunch of D candidates need to drop out - TODAY.
But "identity politics" is, as usual, causing the D-party candidates to think in party-destructive, unity-destructive tribal or racial terms rather than asking what is good for everyone.
(And no - ranked choice voting systems would not fix this. Ranked choice systems could replace the "jungle …
A wandering mind is not the enemy of focus. It is the foundation of it. Your brain does not run on intensity. It runs on rhythm.
#NeuroScience
Dutch local elections ahead, so #smr fever rising to higher levels 'within 10 years every town has its own smr'.
Even promising a new smr up and running in 2030 (design hasn't past safety regulation yet)
Looking forward to the roast by Michael Barnard, Paul Martin and others. https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2026/03/12/liever-een-kernreactor-dan-een-zonneweide-staat-over-tien-jaar-in-iedere-gemeente-een-kleine-kerncentrale-a4922327?gift_token=4922327~1773937879~8461zGC_TN2dSsAGxzbXqQ~5UXd7goH3xxy5Z5xXiZBnqQu7LLovsNgpvXQ_9XMoPk
Sehr empfehlenswert, insbesondere mit dem Seiserschen Fünfländerpfeffer, und es geht auch mit Pak Choi. #nommention
https://
The Scapegoat Scam -- Hungarians stopped falling for an authoritarian's trick. (Adam Serwer/The Atlantic)
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/04/hungary-orban-loss/686832/?gift=Je3D9AQS-C17lUTOnl2W8FoWYxXkgmpBLzAqT3KAgEU&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
http://www.memeorandum.com/260417/p37#a260417p37
Anxiety is a Form of Futurism — https://www.brichapman.com/p/anxiety-is-a-form-of-futurism?utm_source=bri-mastodon&utm_medium=social&src=mstdn
Sources: President Trump is increasingly taking journalists' calls himself, as his personal phone number circulates and is offered for sale to rich individuals (The Atlantic)
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/
I gave two of the three gifts I can afford to give this week to #Gaza, to people I already know and regularly communicate with; I woke up this morning thinking I knew who I would give the third gift to.
But I've just learned of a young unmarried woman living in a tent, caring for younger siblings (and I think some other people, I'm not yet fully clear). She appears to have no support at…
FAFO: the same internal mechanisms used to deny minorities also work equally well at crushing dissent, from wherever it stems. https://tomkahe.com/@GiftArticles/116060293291811840
what a charming bunch of jim-jims. https://shakedown.social/@clifff/116217222575826865
"The U.S. ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, seems to have been installed primarily as an insult engine"
The guy is like the insult log in that old comic! //gift article
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/opinio…
Everyone but Trump Understands What He's Done (Anne Applebaum/The Atlantic)
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/03/trump-iran-war-allies/686423/?gift=hVZeG3M9DnxL4CekrWGK31dWsRj9tVhI4YolO-4zzIE&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
http://www.memeorandum.com/260318/p18#a260318p18
"From this universalist faith that God will redeem and bring back every one of his lost sheep, I gained the most surprising gift: the capacity to forgive my mother, the woman who murdered her, and myself."
—Julian Assele '26 M.A.R. in his powerful new piece in Commonweal https://www.commonwealm…
After taking time to connect with the Pretti family and with their consent,
we are honored to share that we have created the Alex Pretti Nursing Scholarship.
For those interested, you can learn more and make a gift here: https://crowdfund.umn.edu/campaigns/AlexPretti
Source describes the failed Pentagon-Anthropic talks: through the end, the Pentagon wanted to use Anthropic's AI to analyze bulk data collected about Americans (Ross Andersen/The Atlantic)
https://www.theat…
Kash Patel's Erratic Behavior Could Cost Him His Job (Sarah Fitzpatrick/The Atlantic)
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/04/kash-patel-fbi-director-drinking-absences/686839/?gift=1ga2TvL-DbuHDQIcYF7oRxNmK3jnX3wl-J-XKJbu_nU&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
http://www.memeorandum.com/260417/p93#a260417p93
Minnesota could finally teach The Convicted Criminal the limits of theatrically threatening illegal action. <-- There I fixed it for you Megan McArdle and the Washington Post :-)
https://tomkahe.com/@GiftArticles/115992703377834649
With the WaPo layoffs, we're seeing a business and leadership failure, and the death of a newspaper where the actual journalism still stands strong (Ashley Parker/The Atlantic)
https://www.
Y’know, if history’s anything to go by, that kind of sentiment’s likely to have your corpse exhumed and tried for regicide. https://tomkahe.com/@GiftArticles/116073977239739909
Q&A with NYT reporter Tiffany Hsu about AI-generated online influencers, how the volume of synthetic content produces exhaustion for users, and more (Charlie Warzel/The Atlantic)
https:…
Trump's Meltdown -- Attacking the pope was only part of the president's disturbing night on Truth Social. (Tom Nichols/The Atlantic)
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/04/trump-pope-post-truth-social/686802/?gift=otEsSHbRYKNfFYMngVFweNo33wuHWV4Tdf5cppid2dI&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
http://www.memeorandum.com/260414/p97#a260414p97
Pope James David Vance the First (Tom Nichols/The Atlantic)
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/04/pope-jd-vance-iran/686826/?gift=otEsSHbRYKNfFYMngVFweCD2cGfw5241ilIEMeRCsJw&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
http://www.memeorandum.com/260416/p40#a260416p40
Former NPR President and CEO Kevin Klose, who also had been Moscow bureau chief for The Washington Post, died Wednesday at 85 from Alzheimer's complications (David Folkenflik/NPR)
https://www.npr.org/2026/04/15/nx-s1-5786459/npr-kevin-klose-died-kroc-gift
The Dangerous Munitions Mismatch Between America and Iran - The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/03/us-iran-war-air-strikes/686228/?gift=7dKtnNrILXcLLty1b9gh3vvUj4Y1d1mUGAwGpcCnkok Free link.
Nieuw bewijs voor Amerikaanse schuld aan aanval op meisjesschool Minab.
https://www.
Gift Article:
How the Shooting of Alex Jeffrey Pretti Unfolded
-- a Video Tmeline
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/01/24/us/minneapolis-shooting-alex-p…
The fight over transgender rights in America has entered a new phase (Rachel Cohen Booth/Vox)
https://www.vox.com/policy/482762/transgender-lgbtq-trans-rights-kansas-health-care-bathroom-bans-sports?view_token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6IjVjaWJuUFdpZHEiLCJwIjoiL3BvbGljeS80ODI3NjIvdHJhbnNnZW5kZXItbGdidHEtdHJhbnMtcmlnaHRzLWthbnNhcy1oZWFsdGgtY2FyZS1iYXRocm9vbS1iYW5zLXNwb3J0cyIsImV4cCI6MTc3NDk1NjU5NiwiaWF0IjoxNzczNzQ2OTk2fQ.GR4VUR2vmfs_ZngkPiAVR5pozs4Js9L1VPquDkoB_Dk&utm_medium=gift-link
http://www.memeorandum.com/260317/p43#a260317p43
Q&A with NYT reporter Tiffany Hsu about AI-generated online influencers, how the volume of synthetic content produces exhaustion for users, and more (Charlie Warzel/The Atlantic)
https:…
YouTube livestreams will show fewer ads to users who support creators with Super Chat, Super Sticker, or gift purchases, and disable ads during peak engagement (Andrew Romero/9to5Google)
https://9to5google.com/2026/04/14/youtube-less-ads-during-livesteams/
The Epstein Emails Show How the Powerful Talk About Race (Ali Breland/The Atlantic)
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/02/epstein-race-science-watson-pinker-chomsky-musk/685965/?gift=Je3D9AQS-C17lUTOnl2W8NL7Rf5F6iPj5drDx91LO5k&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
http://www.memeorandum.com/260212/p52#a260212p52
Free link --> A Democrat for the Trump Era - The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/07/jasmine-crockett-democrats/683652/?gift=7dKtnNrILXcLLty1b9gh3il9Yroz0IJ6lNuCh03g3o4 …
A look at Kari Lake's 11 months as US Agency for Global Media de facto head, as she wasted money and blocked work to bring reliable news to repressive countries (The Atlantic)
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/02/
Pete Hegseth Treats Fallen American Soldiers as a PR Problem - The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/2026/03/pete-hegseth-american-soldiers-iran-media/686240/?gift=7dKtnNrILXcLLty1b9gh…
YouTube livestreams will show fewer ads to users who support creators with Super Chat, Super Sticker, or gift purchases, and disable ads during peak engagement (Andrew Romero/9to5Google)
https://9to5google.com/2026/04/14/youtube-less-ads-during-livesteams/
Harmeet Dhillon Is Not Wasting Any Time (Quinta Jurecic/The Atlantic)
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/04/harmeet-dhillon-doj-civil-rights/686758/?gift=mTq34Ny-ZVr996jdTJS9ThginPcLfxSHvK_QnshKgGk&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
http://www.memeorandum.com/260413/p66#a260413p66
Free link: Six Days of War, 10 Rationales - The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/national-security/2026/03/iran-war-rationales-trump/686255/?gift=7dKtnNrILXcLLty1b9gh3ut6MxpRahB-ghxrjWFNAmk
The US slashed research for cancer, Alzheimer's, mental health -- and nearly everything else (Pratik Pawar/Vox)
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/482363/nih-medical-research-grants-cut-2025?view_token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6ImJsVWFZMk1PSzEiLCJwIjoiL2Z1dHVyZS1wZXJmZWN0LzQ4MjM2My9uaWgtbWVkaWNhbC1yZXNlYXJjaC1ncmFudHMtY3V0LTIwMjUiLCJleHAiOjE3NzQ2MTkyOTIsImlhdCI6MTc3MzQwOTY5Mn0.DntsxOVbCb9ha3Xw0ZBEvzobSo4z6K2EWfc1qfJk728&utm_medium=gift-link
http://www.memeorandum.com/260313/p119#a260313p119
Free link. A Very Stable War - The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/03/trump-iran-rubio-vance-war/686219/?gift=7dKtnNrILXcLLty1b9gh3i5QFnBC8yFo-JaTWdjAtMs "After the president of peace, a …
SUCKER -- My year as a degenerate gambler -- n a thursday evening in September ... (McKay Coppins/The Atlantic)
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/04/online-sports-betting-app-addiction/686061/?gift=4QfSWyPVV95tk3w2EN6hQsc9kQsU4eXHz9WJjypKRyA
http://www.memeorandum.com/260312/p71#a260312p71
Illiberalism Is Not Inevitable -- If Viktor Orbšn can lose, then his Russian and American admirers can lose too. (Anne Applebaum/The Atlantic)
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/04/illiberalism-not-inevitable/686778/?gift=hVZeG3M9DnxL4CekrWGK32zuGE3vqLJtJTyIvvK-8_M&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
http://www.memeorandum.com/260413/p4#a260413p4
The Paradox of Trump’s Iran Attack - The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/02/trump-iran-attack/686191/?gift=7dKtnNrILXcLLty1b9gh3g6aEnNPodYnVVupuUG0p34
Sources: Microsoft is focusing on fixing the core issues of Windows 11 over the coming months after persistent bugs, ads, and bloatware eroded user trust (Tom Warren/The Verge)
On an earnings call, AMD CEO Lisa Su says Microsoft's next-gen Xbox "is progressing well to support a launch in 2027" and will feature an AMD semi-custom SoC (Tom Warren/The Verge)
VIKTOR ORBÁN COULD ACTUALLY LOSE (Isaac Stanley-Becker/The Atlantic)
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/04/viktor-orban-hungary-election-magyar/686732/?gift=4Lyfb4QAl_-Gf67Jy7QwuGPQehWwzC2q-XY4QawHjOA&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
http://www.memeorandum.com/260410/p80#a260410p80
The rise of the slopagandist ... The violent federal occupation of Minneapolis ... (Mia Sato/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/news/869824/right-wing-influencers-nick-shirley-slopaganda?view_token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6Ik9ybzNhRTVkV3IiLCJwIjoiL25ld3MvODY5ODI0L3JpZ2h0LXdpbmctaW5mbHVlbmNlcnMtbmljay1zaGlybGV5LXNsb3BhZ2FuZGEiLCJleHAiOjE3NzAxMzQ3NzUsImlhdCI6MTc2OTcwMjc3NX0.pSvXmTL-Bp-zqeCeqOavGJFU-selnaL2kD0VNRJaH08&utm_medium=gift-link
http://www.memeorandum.com/260129/p71#a260129p71
Court docs from a New Mexico trial reveal internal divisions at Meta as Instagram teen safety initiatives conflicted with growth and engagement goals (The Atlantic)
https://www.
Inside the Fight Over the Epstein Files (Sarah Fitzpatrick/The Atlantic)
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/02/epstein-files-trump-clinton-bondi/686156/?gift=AwR_TGzSRSLueG5W7xh0Rdj0F27-xDL_u0SsPTekRlg
http://www.memeorandum.com/260227/p76#a260227p76