Reading

Talkie: 13B language model trained on pre-1931 English text. via simonwillison.net

Mushroom facts of the day: Kennett Square, Pennsylvania produces 69% of US mushrooms. China dominates global production at 93%. via marginalrevolution.com

Surfing on distant planets, via kottke.org

NASA powers down Voyager 1 instrument to extend spacecraft operations.

Analysis reveals AI boom, not bubble.

We should notice when we feel guilty, and then ask whether the guilt is ours or whether we inherited it from somewhere.We should remember that almost everything about how software looks and feels is a choice that someone made, often quickly, often for practical reasons that may not apply anymore.And when we sit down with our phones or our computers, confronted with all those little numbers telling us how behind we are, we should feel free to ask the only question that really matters:Is anyone actually waiting?

Terry Godier's gorgeous essay on design choices of RSS readers - and "phantom obligation" via kottke.org

The resulting dataset of 139 instances where erstwhile democracies were gradually eroded also allows us to consider a crucial question: is the US under Trump’s second term hurtling inevitably towards the same destination as these other cases?...In Trump’s second term, by contrast, most of the action has taken the form of shocking acts or events that bypass rather than permanently corrupt institutions.

John Burn-Murdoch / Financial Gimes on backsliding from democracy and institutional resilience.

Crowd-sourced graphic design archive via wemadethis.co.uk

Defund Science, Distort Culture, Mock Education via kottke.org

Food Fight - a weekly digest of tasty food and drinks advertising and design.

GLP-1s could save airlines billions via Construction Physics

I am writing as an ordinary citizen of Minneapolis/St Paul ─ one of America’s 20 largest metro areas. I have kids in the public schools, own a house, go to work every day, pay taxes, volunteer in my community (e.g., coaching youth sports, helping in the schools). I am certainly not a radical of any kind. I had never done any community organizing work before last month.I am writing this to share with the outside world what is really going on ─ the terror being inflicted upon a U.S. city and state by our federal government.

First-hand account of federal ICE operations in Minneapolis.