We’re going to the new exhibit at the Victoria and Albert East called The Music is Black: A British Story. It looks really great. I wish there was a good pre-read or “learn about the subject ahead of your visit”, but they’re just getting opened.
This video provides a great overview:
A supply side argument for the currently (high) price of books.
No, Books Are Not Remotely Too Expensive – by Joel J Miller Apr 23, 2026, 8:53 AM
The next time you pick up a $30 hardcover and wince, remember you’re holding a year (probably more) of someone’s creative labor; multiple rounds of professional editing; original cover art and interior design; paper, printing, binding, warehousing, and shipping; a bookseller’s rent; a clerk’s wages; not to mention an entire supply chain from forest to shelf. What’s more, you get all of this distilled into an object that supplies you with ten to twenty hours of the most immersive form of entertainment humans have ever invented. And did I mention that you own it forever?
I’d like to get a demand side argument, next.
If you’re sad that Pinegrove is no longer producing music, you can try listening to Jack M Senff. Quiet, thoughtful, gentle but also a big heart.
I’m always in search of good playlists and albums to listen to while doing work or writing. This site is a superb resource.
Datassette presents a series of mixes intended for listening while programming to focus the brain and inspire the mind (also compatible with other activities).
Source: musicForProgramming();
In all my recent conversations with peers about AI, this idea – we’re all letting the agents cook and we don’t understand, but we’re cool with it – has come up. There’s a novelty factor that makes it easy to overlook what’s happening to our brains. Maybe it’s ok. I don’t really understand how plumbing and electricity get made, but I like the world we have because of them.
But the real threat isn’t either of those things. It’s quieter, and more boring, and therefore more dangerous. The real threat is a slow, comfortable drift toward not understanding what you’re doing. Not a dramatic collapse. Not Skynet. Just a generation of researchers who can produce results but can’t produce understanding. Who know what buttons to press but not why those buttons exist.
I’m testing out the capability where I use Claude (and eventually Claude Code) to update my WordPress website.
I love the easy, calm way Anthropic talks about their agentic “coworker”. It all sounds so benign. Can you imagine all the bad emails that are going to go out as a result of this?
How is using Cowork different from a regular conversation? In Cowork, you give Claude access to a folder of your choosing on your computer. Claude can then read, edit, or create files in that folder. It can, for example, re-organize your downloads by sorting and renaming each file, create a new spreadsheet with a list of expenses from a pile of screenshots, or produce a first draft of a report from your scattered notes.
I mean, really, what could go wrong.
From BookRiot, a discussion about how we can improve our reading. I’m doing a slow read of War and Peace, and while I’m enjoying the story, it’s good practice for improving my attention overall.
Saw an announcement of a new publishing company that's focused on male writers, primarily. Interesting (in a not-great way) set of discussions on Reddit. Quick dismissals, concerns about the manosphere, complaints about the historical dominance of men in publishing (up until the last 20 years). I actually think this is a good idea. We *all* would probably benefit from more men reading fiction.
This episode of the Ezra Klein podcast was worth listening to twice.
It’s great for a lot of reasons:
But, what caught my ear was a consistent theme: our current leaders aren’t serious about a good outcome with China.
Serious. Are we serious? Are our leaders?
Here’s a long quote that demonstrates the exasperation of two guys who are deep thinkers about how to sustain American power:
I want to go back first to the point we were discussing about just the unseriousness of this administration.
The morning after Trump announced he was putting this massive tariff on China when the markets really melted down, I actually called our editors and said, not the most important story of the day, not the most disturbing story of the day. Please don’t lose sight. Of this story:
On the day before, we learned, or maybe in the same day, that Laura Loomer a conspiracy peddler who believes 9-11 was an inside job, was in the Oval Office , and we have since learned, apparently or reportedly, urged Trump to fire the head of our national security agency and his deputy, two of the most respected intelligence professionals in the world, because they weren’t pro-Trump enough.
Who knows what it was, Ezra? And Trump did that. Fired the head of basically two of our most important cyber warriors, defenders and warriors, widely respected around the world. He did that on the advice of a political witch doctor.
Holy mackerel.
… How can we be a serious country? Talk about things that filter down. That then filters down through the whole bureaucracy. Can I offer up intelligence that Trump will not like? So that’s to me, just we have to get that in there.
How could the president take such critical advice from someone like Loomer? How did she even get in the room where it happens?
And, as a result, what does tell us about what it mean to be “serious”?
What’s the difference between “serious” an unserious people? Between Tom Freidman and Loomer? And, in fiction, between Logan and the rest of the Roy family?
Time to do a little research.