In January 2025, a woman who writes under the byline Heather Jane got a Google Alert: CBC had a new podcast, Sea of Lies, about her father. He is Albert… Read the rest of the article: A murderer's daughter listened to a podcast about her dad and got physically sick
Drew Friedman has released a limited edition fine art print of Mel Brooks, hand-numbered and signed in a run of just 20, to mark Brooks's 100th birthday on June 28,… Read the rest of the article: Drew Friedman's new Mel Brooks portrait marks the comedian's 100th birthday
A centaur is a person assisted by a machine — anything from a bicycle to a spell-checker. A reverse centaur, Cory Doctorow says, is "a person who has been conscripted… Read the rest of the article: Cory Doctorow's "Reverse Centaur" book — why AI is hell on workers
Kevin Kelly's new essay, "The Emergent Self Loop," is about his recent ten-hour conversation with Anthropic's Claude. It's the most interesting thing I've read about AI selfhood in a while.… Read the rest of the article: What Claude thinks of Kevin Kelly's essay about Claude
When JG Ballard submitted Crash to Jonathan Cape in the early 1970s, a senior reader reportedly wrote on the manuscript: "This man is beyond psychiatric help. Do not publish." Cape… Read the rest of the article: An editor who read "Crash" called JG Ballard "beyond psychiatric help. Do not publish"
OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, xAI, and Perplexity all say the same thing in their terms of service: children under 13 cannot use their products unsupervised. Then they license the same technology… Read the rest of the article: Congressman wants AI out of kids' toys after chatbots got weird with children
Men are turning to chatbots for romantic and sexual roleplay in rising numbers, and philosopher Isaac Shur thinks the reason has less to do with loneliness than with control. In… Read the rest of the article: The appeal of AI girlfriends isn't the AI — it's that she can't say no
Craig Yoe — Eisner Award winner, former creative director of Jim Henson's Muppets — has a new kids' graphic novel called Captain LOL and Rubber Chicken: Har Har. It's a… Read the rest of the article: The Muppets' former creative director made a kids' book with a hole punched through every page
Jello Biafra, Dead Kennedys co-founder and Alternative Tentacles Records founder, suffered a hemorrhagic stroke on Saturday, March 7, caused by high blood pressure, according to a statement on the Alternative… Read the rest of the article: Dead Kennedys' Jello Biafra hospitalized after hemorrhagic stroke
Filmmaker Jodi Wille has spent years embedded in the archives and living rooms of American intentional communities — interviewing former members and earning the kind of trust that grants access… Read the rest of the article: Museum of Sex exhibit showcases 300 objects from American cults and communes
After nearly two decades locked away in PS3 prison, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is finally getting ported to literally any other system. Back when the new… Read the rest of the article: Metal Gear Solid 4 is finally escaping PS3 prison
Uri at Atoms vs Bits identifies three hallmarks of a specific type of boring person. "My definition of boring is someone who talks at me, at length, without listening to me, and… Read the rest of the article: Boring people trap you in infinite nested stories
Douglas Rushkoff was a twentysomething tech writer when he got invited to an exclusive New York dinner with scientists and tech CEOs. He brought a plus one — "the smartest,… Read the rest of the article: Douglas Rushkoff on the dinner party that turned out to be Epstein's
When Norwegian news outlet iNyheter reported that former Prime Minister Thorbjorn Jagland had been hospitalized after a suicide attempt, it was defying a coordinated media blackout. The Norwegian Editors' Association… Read the rest of the article: Norway's former PM hospitalized after suicide attempt amid Epstein corruption charges
New York wants to put a kill switch on your 3D printer. The state's 2026-2027 executive budget bill (S.9005 / A.10005) would require all 3D printers sold in New York… Read the rest of the article: New York bill would require kill switches on all 3D printers
Gary Lachman has lived several lifetimes in one. In the 1970s, as Gary Valentine, he played bass for Blondie, writing the music for their first single "X-Offender" and "(I'm Always… Read the rest of the article: From Blondie's Bowery loft to the esoteric frontier: Gary Lachman's remarkable journey
Google.ai is a new front-end for Google's AI services. Currently, it's free, ad-free, and delivers uncluttered answers to questions. It won't work this well for long, though. It's destined for… Read the rest of the article: Google.ai predicts its own enshittification timeline
Author Robert Anton Wilson read almost all of mystery writer John Dickson Carr's books. In an interview included in the Hilaritas Press edition of Coincidance, RAW explained his affection for… Read the rest of the article: Robert Anton Wilson's favorite puzzle-box mystery writer: John Dickson Carr
The daily experience of using the internet has become measurably worse: more ads, more algorithmic manipulation, more walls between you and the things you actually want. Cory Doctorow, journalist, novelist,… Read the rest of the article: Cory Doctorow explains how to rescue the internet from enshittification on The Daily Show
Noah Smith, an economist-turned-blogger who writes the Noahpinion newsletter, wrote an essay titled, "I love AI. Why doesn't everyone?" Fast forward a few decades, and I actually have that little… Read the rest of the article: People get mad at writer who "loves AI"
