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Text • John Gruber

‘I’m the Guy Who Destroys Antique Books After We Scan Them Into Our Company’s Insatiable AI Platform’

mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-the-guy-who-destroys-antique-books-after-we-scan-them-into-our-companys-insatiable-ai-platform

Jack Loftus, writing at McSweeney’s:

People assume scanning is the exciting part. And, sure, it is impressive. They shear off the spine, separate the pages, and run everything through these enormous machines so the computer can absorb every sentence ever written and use it to create some fairly compelling LinkedIn posts. But then, boy oh boy, the wheeled cart carrying those decimated remains comes to me. That is where the human touch enters the process, assuming you count industrial shredders and a giant burn pit out back as an extension of the hand, which I certainly do.

(Via Michael Sippey.)

Link: mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-the-guy-who-destroys-antique…

Daring Fireball Valid
Text • John Gruber

‘How Americans See E.U. Tech’

youtube.com/watch?v=gGlpBuW6ZFc

I think at least half a dozen people have sent me a link to this video and now that I’ve watched it, I understand why. Perfect.

Link: youtube.com/watch?v=gGlpBuW6ZFc

Daring Fireball Valid
Text • John Gruber

We Certainly Have Made a Hames Out of This

daringfireball.net/linked/2026/08/28/trump-lake-ontario

I mentioned earlier that for anyone going along with the ruse that Lake Ontario is now named Lake America, the HOMES mnemonic no longer holds, the only two valid words in English with the new five letters are hames and shame, and that hames is rather too obscure.

But it’s not so obscure in Ireland, where they use it in an idiom: to make a hames of something is to make a mess of it. With that in mind, it’s hard to say which is more apt for this embarrassment, hames or shame.

(The other longstanding Great Lakes mnemonic is the phrase “Super Man Helps Every One”, which I don’t love because neither Superman nor everyone ought to be treated as two words, but it does have the advantage of sorting the lakes geographically from west to east.)

Link: daringfireball.net/linked/2026/08/28/trump-lake-ontario

Dan’s Polaroids
Text

28.08.2026

Lake Garda with heavy clouds and half a rainbow.
It rained today again. But we got a rainbow.

xkcd.com Valid
Text

Launchpad

It does come at the cost of some launchpad expansions and increased fuel requirements, but that all comes out of the facility's budget.

Simone Giertz Updates instantly via WebSub
Video

Redesigning an old welding jacket for everyday life

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Simone Giertz Updates instantly via WebSub
Video

Redesigning an old welding jacket for everyday life

Full video on my channel!

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Text • John Gruber

‘Not Sure How You Own Canada by Deleting Your Own History’

x.com/MattWalshBlog/status/2093060290371870948

Matt Walsh, described by Wikipedia as “an American far-right political commentator and podcast host” (a description that sounds harsh, but I’d say is describing him euphemistically), on Twitter/X (retweeting the official White House account’s announcement of the name change)...

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Text • John Gruber

From the DF Archive: ‘Golfo Del Gringo Loco’

daringfireball.net/2025/02/golfo_del_gringo_loco

Yours truly back in February 2025: The motivation behind the name change is simple as well. Trump didn’t change the US’s officially recognized name of, say, the Atlantic Ocean or the continent of Africa. He just as easily could, but he won’t. I’m starting to worry how ...

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Text • John Gruber

Trump Declares That Lake Ontario Is Now ‘Lake America’

notus.org/trump-white-house/lake-america-ontario-canada-trade-war-trump-executive-order-rename

Jackie Llanos and Jenna Monnin, reporting for NOTUS: President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order meant to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America,” taking his apparent jab at Canada one step further as a trade war between the two countries escalates. The pres...

Radiolab Updates instantly via WebSub
Audio • WNYC Studios

Dolly Parton's America: Sad Ass Songs

The world lost a legend recently, and we wanted in some small way to pay tribute to the great Dolly Parton. So we’re playing you an episode from a series we had a small part in back in 2017, Dolly Parton’s America.  The series kicked off with a simple question: How did...

Colossal Valid
Text • Colossal

September 2026 Opportunities: Open Calls, Residencies, and Grants for Artists

September 2026 Opportunities: Open Calls, Residencies, and Grants for ArtistsTime to brush up that artist's statement!

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article September 2026 Opportunities: Open Calls, Residencies, and Grants for Artists appeared first on Colossal.

Longreads Valid
Text • Carolyn Wells

Africa’s Wild Dogs Are the Most Hated Carnivores on the Continent. Here’s Why Some Conservationists Are Saving Them Anyway

"Meet the team that closely monitors the playful canines, which need help to form diverse packs and stop their numbers from dwindling."

Dan’s Polaroids
Text

27.08.2026

A large tent with a wooden terrace. The large inflatable duck hangs over the railing.
Accommodation

Longreads Valid
Text • Longreads

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

In this edition: Bad medicine, imperfect sound forever, know when to fold ’em, brainiacs, and a call of the wild.

The Atlas Obscura Podcast Updates instantly via WebSub
Audio • SiriusXM Podcasts & Atlas Obscura

Skinny Houses (Classic)

Producer Talon Stradley takes us on a tour of three skinny houses – each with a big story inside. Do these skinny houses have you curious about spite houses? 

Check out that episode here. 


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Daring Fireball Valid
Text • John Gruber

U.S. Judge Blocks Trump Defense Department’s Anthropic Blacklisting

reuters.com/legal/government/us-judge-blocks-pentagons-anthropic-blacklisting-2026-08-28/

Jack Queen, Reuters: A U.S. judge on Thursday blocked the Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic, ​the latest turn in the Claude maker’s high-stakes fight with the military over AI safety on the battlefield. Anthropic’s lawsuit in California federal court alleges that Def...

Rick Beato Updates instantly via WebSub
Video

Todd Rundgren on recording with effects #toddrundgren #musicproducer #shorts

Simon Willison's Weblog Supports Webmention
Text

Breaking Claude Code Opus 5 Auto Mode

Breaking Claude Code Opus 5 Auto Mode Anthropic are putting a great deal of faith in Claude Code's auto mode for protecting their coding agent users against prompt injection attacks. They recently made that the default and have made bold claims about its effectiveness. Johan...

Daring Fireball Valid
Text • John Gruber

Afterglow — Classic After Dark Screen Savers on Today’s MacOS

morphing.cloud/afterglow/

Jeff Halter has done it again: after bringing back the single greatest After Dark module (Ben Haller’s Lunatic Fringe game, via a modern runtime named Lunacy), he’s now released Afterglow: Running After Dark modules in the present day has involved fussy configuration of ...