Danny Dougherty
@dannydougherty.bsky.social
Graphics reporter in DC (currently razzmatazzing at the WSJ). Lots of data and coding work but often distracted by comics, St. Louis sports and interesting things I've read in the news of the day. I feed on groan responses to my puns.
I low-key suspect a lot of the literary crisis is people not liking the genres they think are an aesthetic fit for them—put down books you don't like! Try new things! If you don't like them, repeat the process!
Brandon Friedman@brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 3d agoAxios writer: I melted my brain with AI. Not only can I no longer read, but I don't even understand the purpose of reading anymore. Here's how you can also do this. www.axios.com/2026/08/11/r...
I just finished this book. It is such a crazy, brilliant fever dream of a book. If you like science fiction, and specifically the experience of an intellectual round house kick to the head that changes your view of what‘s possible, I cant recommend it enough.
Me, a decade ago: man, Star Trek sure looks silly making them carry around all those data pads now that we have modern tablets Me, now:
Oh yeah. It is the death of adventurous, intense, weird and masculine books that are making the boys stop picking up literature. I will now drink some coffee before I look up what won this year's Pulitzer for fiction...
As a Cards fan with a share of Nats season tickets just every part of this checks out so thoroughly defector.com/miles-mikola...
Miles Mikolas Now Better At Hitting Than Pitching | Defector
It’s been a bad season for the 37-year-old pitcher Miles Mikolas. He’s got an ERA of 5.67, and he’s made a habit of starts where a bunch of guys just wallop what he offers. Only two pitchers in MLB ha...
defector.com
It feels crazy making to have lived my whole adult life with the weaponization of the DMCA to now keep reading news releases about LLMs gobbling up all of content and going around cracking secure systems
On the one hand—it is great to see folks fighting loneliness to build a sense of community. On the other hand—if this feels novel to you, you should check out your neighborhood dive bar on a week night, swing by a running club or hit up a local brewery's open mic night! www.wsj.com/cio-journal/...
How One Man’s Cure for Loneliness Started a Movement
He went to the park with a sign inviting people to talk about their day. Six years later, they’re still talking.
wsj.com
Get up to speed on where autonomous vehicles are hitting the streets, what challenges they face and how policy makers are responding in my latest piece for CQ Researcher (free access this week) cqpress.sagepub.com/cqresearcher...
cqpress.sagepub.com
The great thing about Spidey and Batman both being too valuable to get caught up in dying universes is that they are going to come out with new stuff no matter what www.wsj.com/business/med...
The Hit Show That Pulls in Fans to Spend Billions of Hours Watching Spider-Man
A new movie this week is expected to have the biggest opening of the year
wsj.com
“If I get hot in my car and want some air conditioning, I just want to turn a knob and have cold air come out” Look at this bougie guy in his car from this century! Here I am unzipping my window when I want some air. www.wsj.com/lifestyle/ca...
These Drivers Are Taking Extreme Measures to Avoid New Car Technology
They scour dealerships for models with the fewest bells and whistles. Then they disable alarms and reconfigure dashboards in search of low-tech bliss.
wsj.com
It is difficult to overhype DDOT's policy change to automatically add bike infrastructure whenever they repave a road that is included in the bike master plan rather than doing this www.wsj.com/us-news/chic...
Chicago’s New Bike Lanes Spark a Rebellion From Businesses
Local business owners protest Chicago’s ‘complete streets’ design that cuts car parking spaces in favor of protected cycling lanes.
wsj.com
Do more things you are bad at or that make you uncomfortable. It will make you grow, teach you patience and give you empathy for the people who have to regularly do them with ease.
Zach Weinersmith@zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 10mo agoDo you have any extremely niche, but serious, ethical stances?
I feel like asking what to do when intelligence becomes abundant is the sort of thing that hits hard if your friends all routinely let you win at Catan.
TBH, I would happily take imperfect but generally smart and earnest catty criticism over the ongoing "are we going illiterate" debate
This is a great state policy lede, and it is just the opening salvo in a story full of twists and turns www.nytimes.com/2026/07/27/t...
How Meta Got Everything It Wanted in a Secret Louisiana Data Center Deal
A Times examination details how the Silicon Valley giant used private talks with local officials to start a project big enough to cover nearly six square miles.
nytimes.com
67 boat strikes, 221 dead. But while the routes have changed, cocaine is still flowing, according to Drug Enforcement Administration assessments. Made a big ol' map showing that change to go with this report by @alexhorton.bsky.social, @terrencemccoy.bsky.social , & Samantha Schmidt.
67 boat strikes. 221 dead. The cocaine hasn’t slowed, officials report.
The president says Operation Southern Spear has virtually ended drug trafficking by sea. Pentagon and DEA analysts have concluded otherwise.
wapo.st
Making up a guy to get mad at (writing allegorical short fiction)
Someone should make a gambling app marketed towards women and call it Kaleshi
Charli, Strokes, Shania, Willow, Tyla. What a new music Friday before we even dip into the singles.
My latest article for @today.yougov.com looks at why the U.S. House race hasn't changed even as Trump's approval rating continues to fall. Including a cluster analysis of three distinct groups of registered voters who disapprove of Trump but are on the fence about 2026. Check it out:
Donald Trump is deeply unpopular. Why aren't Democrats doing better in the race for Congress?
Surveys about the 2026 midterms, tariffs, Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump, freedom of speech, birth control, AI, data centers, crypto, the World Cup, walking, and group chats.
yougovamerica.substack.com
Fighting game fans gonna be bummed when the story is about them having to reckon with accidentally killing their father figure in the second act
Wario64@wario64.bsky.social · 3w agoMarvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls - Year 1 DLC Character: Phoenix Cyclops www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7t5...
There Is No Antimemetics Division is a brilliant blend of inventive ideas, interesting characters and page-turning genre writing. Strong recommend if you're in search of something compelling and interesting that won't bog you down! www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/b...
6 New Books We Love This Week
Reading recommendations from critics and editors at The New York Times.
nytimes.com
The quotes on this are great because they are referencing such a panoply of scifi works that are Don't Invent The Torment Nexus about this because it is such a visceral thing to write a cautionary tale about
worm@rfksbrainworm.bsky.social · 3w agoextremely normal guy voice: I cloned myself so I can become my own blood boy.
If LLMs can grow powerful picking up just any old book, imagine what you—a person—can do by reading one which sings to you
Jason Koebler@jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 3w ago“The world's best AI training data is sitting on a shelf. Books represent curated, peer-reviewed, domain-specific human knowledge, structured in a way no web crawl can replicate. Dense, edited, authoritative." www.404media.co/ai-companies...
The good news for these men, moved to tears by well engineered transit, is that they can move to a city and ride a train every day www.wsj.com/lifestyle/a-...
A Locomotive Named Big Boy Is Making Grown Men Cry
Union Pacific’s 1.2-million-pound iron giant is on its first coast-to-coast tour. At every stop, rail fans break down.
wsj.com
When asking if a date was good, I think back about whether I had fun, whether she had fun, if we ran over on time, if we want to go out again or if it was a good story. But I guess metering talking time and doing sentiment analysis can be some people's thing! www.wsj.com/lifestyle/wo...
This Conversation Is Being Recorded. They All Are.
People in tech use AI apps to record and transcribe meetings, workplace chats and even dates—all in the name of productivity.
wsj.com
@aedwardslevy.bsky.social I looked up, saw this guy while I was reading on my back patio
Lots of good stuff on the state of hobbyist app dev & the marketplaces... ...but I am absolutely screaming at the lead: "Marco Pérez had long wanted to read all of the news he was curious about in one place." We had that! Google Reader was great & we threw it away! www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/t...
A.I. ‘Vibecoded’ Apps Are Flooding Apple’s App Store
Mobile apps are easy to make with artificial intelligence. That doesn’t mean people are excited to use them.
nytimes.com
