Alexandra Petri: I Tried to Be the Government. It Did Not Go Well. “I have just driven six and a half hours to Ohio in order to forecast my own weather. From a hot-air balloon.” She also inspects milk & does lawn work on National Park land.
What You’re Watching Isn’t What You’re Really Watching. “You think you’re watching...
What You’re Watching Isn’t What You’re Really Watching. “You think you’re watching an innocent woman being shot and killed in cold blood by the federal government, but what you’re really watching is the death of the United States of America.”
Jim Moylan and the Moylan Arrow
Ben Cohen, writing last week for The Wall Street Journal (gift link):
One rainy day 40 years ago, Moylan was headed to a meeting across
Ford’s campus and hopped in a company car. When he saw the fuel
tank was nearly empty, he stopped at a gas pump. What happened
next is ...
Radiolab
• WNYC Studios
Brain Balls
When neuroscientist Madeline Lancaster was a brand new postdoc, she accidentally used an expired protein gel in a lab experiment and noticed something weird. The stem cells she was trying to grow in a dish were self-assembling. The result? Madeline was the first person ever ...
The Atlas Obscura Podcast
• SiriusXM Podcasts & Atlas Obscura
Man’s Best (Stiff) Friends (Classic)
Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring us two charming stories of some very special canines who have been (literally) preserved for the ages.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: Learn about Sergeant Stubby here and Owney here
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The New York Times Profiles John Ternus
Kalley Huang and Tripp Mickle, writing for The New York Times (gift link):
Threading the needle between adding new bells and whistles to
Apple’s products while watching the bottom line has defined the
careful, low-profile style of Mr. Ternus, who joined Apple in
2001. He...
Chase to Become New Issuer of Apple Card
apple.com/newsroom/2026/01/chase-to-become-new-issuer-of-apple-card/
Apple Newsroom:
Today, Apple and Chase announced that Chase will become the new
issuer of Apple Card, with an expected transition in approximately
24 months.
Apple Card users can continue to enjoy the award-winning
experience of Apple Card, which includes up to 3 percen...
Know Your Rights: Filming and Photographing the Police
aclu.org/issues/free-speech/photographers-rights/filming-and-photographing-police
The ACLU:
Taking photographs and video of things that are plainly visible in public spaces is a constitutional right — and that includes police and other government officials carrying out their duties.
However, there is a widespread, continuing pattern of law enforcement officers ordering people to stop taking photographs or video in public places and harassing, detaining, and arresting those who fail to comply.
Here’s their advice on what to say and do if you are stopped or detained for taking photographs or video.
Also, as good a time as ever for one of my periodic reminders to remember how to hard-lock your iPhone to temporarily disable Face ID: press and hold the side button and either one of the volume buttons at the same time for a few seconds.
Link: aclu.org/issues/free-speech/photographers-rights/filming…
Why Are Grok and X Still Available in App Stores?
wired.com/story/x-grok-app-store-nudify-csam-apple-google-content-moderation/
Caroline Haskins, writing for Wired (News+ link, in case Wired’s paywall blocks you):
Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok is being used to flood X with
thousands of sexualized images of adults and apparent
minors wearing minimal clothing. Some of this content appears to
not only...
The Gold Trump Phone Still Hasn’t Shipped
theverge.com/news/851151/trump-phone-missed-another-release-date
Maybe “next year” meant “next next year”?
(They’re still accepting $100 deposits for pre-orders.)
Link: theverge.com/news/851151/trump-phone-missed-another-release…
673: Six Impossible Things
Pre-show: Casey has a question for Marco
LivePhish
Goose on Bandcamp
Nugs
Thank you, ATP Patrons!
Follow-up:
Cord-cutting
Casey on Downstream
suppose.tv
Multi-select in iOS Contacts.app (via many, including Simon Ljungberg)
The Studio Display is $1600 (via Greg Se...
★ Let’s Call a Murder a Murder
The New York Times has frame-by-frame analysis, from three angles, of the murder of 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis yesterday. She was shot to death by a still-unnamed mask-wearing ICE agent Jonathan Ross, with what was obviously no justification. The shooting is, just...
LLM predictions for 2026, shared with Oxide and Friends
I joined a recording of the Oxide and Friends podcast on Tuesday to talk about 1, 3 and 6 year predictions for the tech industry. This is my second appearance on their annual predictions episode, you can see my predictions from January 2025 here. Here's the page for this yea...
How Google Got Its Groove Back and Edged Ahead of OpenAI
How Google Got Its Groove Back and Edged Ahead of OpenAI
I picked up a few interesting tidbits from this Wall Street Journal piece on Google's recent hard won success with Gemini.
Here's the origin of the name "Nano Banana":
Naina Raisinghani, known inside Google for workin...
Abolish ICE
🔗 Dan’s Polaroids
I created a new website where I share my Polaroid photos.
One instant photo per day.
The Atlas Obscura Podcast
• SiriusXM Podcasts & Atlas Obscura
Finding Freedom in the Bay Area
In July of 2024, Greg Eskridge was released from San Quentin Rehabilitation Center after 30 years in prison. We hear what it’s like to see the Bay Area with new eyes, and what places in his life have made him feel the most free.
The Uncuffed podcast empowers people in prison to tell their own stories. Listen here: https://www.uncuffed.org/
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The Obvious, the Easy, and the Possible
world.hey.com/jason/the-obvious-the-easy-and-the-possible-2e11a3fb
This 2021 post from Jason Fried is a good chaser to his “The Big Regression” this week (which I linked to yesterday):
Much of the tension in product development and interface design
comes from trying to balance the obvious, the easy, and the
possible. Figuring out which ...
An ICE agent murdered a woman in Minneapolis today. Mayor Jacob Frey...
An ICE agent murdered a woman in Minneapolis today. Mayor Jacob Frey to ICE: “Get the fuck out of Minneapolis.”
Superstition
