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I never see pre-teens outdoors unsupervised by adults. Not playing in their front yard, not walking, not in a park, not at a playground, not riding bikes. Are pre-teens supervised all the time nowadays?

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The Case of the Internet Archive vs. Book Publishers

David Streitfeld at the NY Times:

In the pandemic emergency, Brewster Kahle’s Internet Archive freely lent out digital scans of its library. Publishers sued. Owning a book means something different now.

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“Sweet sesame chicken!” sounds like something a person would say instead of swearing.

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Lunch yesterday with friends at Shakespeare’s, a British pub here in San Diego. One of the restrooms had two walls covered with dozens of “cheeky postcards.” Here’s one example. 📷

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A quick look back at the first IBM PC that launched 42 years (and two days) ago My Dad had one of these. I was living at home and going to college at the time, and I spent a lot of time using it to write papers and noodle around.

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Three things Elon Musk and I have in common.

I’ve been listening to the Age of Napoleon podcast for months now, which covers Napoleon’s life, career and world in exhaustive detail. I am coming away a great admirer of Napoleon, while also acknowledging that Napoleon did terrible things. (Haiti.) That is one thing I have in common with Musk. I also love Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History podcast. So that’s two things I have in common with Elon. Also, like Musk, I have not and never will fight in a cage match with Mark Zuckerberg.

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Trump tells Georgia witness not to testify

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The Marion County Record was investigating sexual misconduct charges against police chief Gideon Cody before police raided the newspaper, according to publisher Eric Meyer. Meyer says the allegations, and the names of the people making the charges, are on computers the police seized.

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Police in the small town of Marion, Kansas, raided the local newspaper office, leading to worldwide protest by free speech organizations. The newspaper publisher’s 98-year-old mother died the following day; the publisher says the raid triggered her death.

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What if generative AI turns out to be a dud?

Gary Marcus: … we are building our entire global and national policy on the premise that generative AI will be world-changing in ways that may in hindsight turn out to have been unrealistic. I have found generative AI uses to be limited at best. I use it to generate illustrations for articles. In the past, I used public domain and Creative Commons images, and those were just as good as AI imagery.

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Want to read: Sh*tshow by Richard Russo 📚

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Want to read: Chances Are . . . by Richard Russo 📚

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Want to read: Triage by Richard Russo 📚

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Want to read: Elsewhere by Richard Russo 📚

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Want to read: Somebody’s Fool by Richard Russo 📚

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Want to read: My Life as a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland 📚

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Currently reading: This Bird Has Flown by Susanna Hoffs 📚

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San Diego attorneys fought to prosecute an unhoused woman for blocking a sidewalk. Now they’re backing off. The solution to homelessness is not criminalizing homelessness.

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The History of Command Palettes: How Typing Commands Became The Norm Again

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Cory Doctorow: Paying consumer debts is basically optional in the United States. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act protects the people who need it least. How the debt collection industry sets the poor to prey on the poor.