Dammit this #Nats season was supposed to herald a slow, steady decline from mild enthusiasm to gentle disappointment, not a hard u-turn from contenders to Bad Baseball Product.

Really testing the limits of "all the news that's fit to print" here.

Ben Collins@bencollins.bsky.social · 20h ago

Oh my god the dietician who is telling everyone in the White House to only eat steak and sauerkraut doesn't wipe his ass.

Interesting, but I'm skeptical. In my experience, Arizonans do speak a little more slowly than coastal folks, but there's no discernable twang, etc. The Arizona accent is "mildly stoned Midwesterner."

Jonathan Danielson@jonathanin2k.bsky.social · 23h ago

I’m no linguist, but I’d push back that AZ doesn’t have its own dialect. While people have come and gone over the last 100 years, plenty stayed, and maybe the “Arizona mumble” is the product of 100 years of specific dialect leveling and koineizatipn, like Australian and New Zealand English.

I must inform you that Rebecca Black’s “Friday” just went platinum, according to the RIAA. www.riaa.com/gold-platinu...

"Today is August 4, 2026" There Will Come Soft Rains By: Ray Bradbury

Hello! Would you like to take a craft seminar with me this Saturday, and get a copy of my book? Here's where you can: writersleague.org/calendar/sat...

WLT Saturday Craft Seminar: “A Long Game” with Elizabeth McCracken

A few times a year, the WLT hosts Saturday Craft Seminars featuring a presentation and conversation with an author who has recently released a book on the craft of writing. Everyone who buys a tick…

writersleague.org

One of the most rewarding things I've ever done covering books---certainly the most rewarding writing project I did for free---was have a long sit-down with Richard Price about this book. www.bookcritics.org/2008/02/29/r...

Richard Price, in Conversation (Part 1) - National Book Critics Circle

This week, the In Retrospect series is looking back at Richard Price’s 1992 fiction finalist, Clockers. What follows is the first of a three part interview (parts 2 and 3

bookcritics.org

Dan O’Sullivan@osullyville.bsky.social · 3d ago

Changed my life

Solid take on what to expect out of the Dodgers next season. www.instagram.com/p/DbidovABmn... #mlb #RIPGuardians #octopus

Nick Bateman on Instagram: "Are the Dodgers ruining baseball? 🧐 #mlb #dodgers #skubal #baseball #pca"

9,123 likes, 60 comments - nickduringtheday on August 2, 2026: "Are the Dodgers ruining baseball? 🧐 #mlb #dodgers #skubal #baseball #pca".

instagram.com

This has been a great weekend for everybody who's nostalgic for the 2025 #Nats.

Does anyone have any recommendations for good books about boring day jobs?

"I read your review and was intrigued. I read the book and enjoyed it immensely so thank you!" --e-mail, to me, about this review, by me: www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

Review: Why this deceptive beach read is poised to become a cult favorite

Cali Adeline's debut novel 'People Watching in the Desert' uses the tropes of a breezy summer getaway to explore the thorny, Didion-esque ethics of the stories we tell about others.

latimes.com

Skubal to the Dodgers is fine by me. No such thing as too much good starting pitching.

Great but why are you wearing your cap like that?

This isn't going to improve Miles Mikolas' trade value.

This piece on the decline of restoring corpses for open-casket funerals is excellent, and not as morbid as you might think. After all, "their labor is intended for the living." harpers.org/archive/2026...

A Dying Art, by John Semley

The last of the morticians

harpers.org

Drop a few thousand dollars on right-wing Nebula and stick it to (squints) Jean Baudrillard.

🐝

!! (bl.ag)

BLAG Magazine: Adventures in Sign Painting Craft, Community & Culture

Adventures in sign painting craft, community and culture with BLAG (Better Letters Magazine), the only print and online publication dedicated to the trade.

bl.ag

Shannon Mattern@shannonmattern.bsky.social · 7d ago

Coincidentally, I just got the new issue of BLAG, the sign-painting journal :)

A few books we have.

Jonas Salk Hologram To Be Prosecuted By People Who Didn't Get Polio

Stop Calling Me Frank@stopcallingmefrank.bsky.social · 5d ago

You have a month to write a 33 1/3 book about the album of your choice. Which record are you going to write about? (No previously covered albums allowed; new shit must come to light: see below.) (For all books in the series: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/33_1/3) (H/t @monostich.bsky.social

incredible discovery here: the 1762 original of the ha ha ha yes sicko cartoon courtesy of thomas waters new book “Magic”

My pal and once-upon-a-time editor @hitsville.bsky.social has compiled the epic, career-spanning, opinionated lists of songs by the Beatles, Stones, Zep, Floyd, etc. into an e-book. Essential for classic-rock nerds and fans of smart criticism. www.amazon.com/dp/B0H86SJ83...

Breaking news: Arizona, California and Nevada will be required to curb their use of the water from the Colorado River by about 20 percent over two years — and could face even larger cuts — according to three officials familiar with negotiations.

A new Colorado River plan requires water cuts for three states. Deeper cuts are still possible

Arizona, California and Nevada will be required to curb their use of the water from the river by about 20 percent over the next two years, according to three officials.

washingtonpost.com

Of course @shadowtodd.bsky.social is informative and funny about "Walking on Sunshine." But fact is, the song is grim. She has no letter from her lover---she's just excited to get one. She's "sure" of their love, but on what evidence? It's all manic self-delusion. youtu.be/eb1qEnVZQu4?...

ONE HIT WONDERLAND: "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves

YouTube video by Todd in the Shadows

youtu.be

Annoyed that the Nats game is on ESPN tonight because a) I don't have ESPN and b) I'm pretty sure the Nats are something like 0-18 in nationally televised regular-season games.

Somewhere William Gass (b. 30 July 1924) says “and” is a “sunderer”: any conjunct a wedge keeping distinct the objects it attempts to join. William Gass, painted (with no ands, ifs, or buts) by Philip Guston:

A small win: After AAA gave me a rundown of problems with my minivan that would cost more than its trade-in value to fix, I sent the list to my mechanic, who called it "mostly fluff." (Get in touch if you need an honest, reliable mechanic in Phoenix.)

I like this Guardian list of best Kinks songs but...is there such a thing as a guilty displeasure? Something everybody loves but which you have no feel for? That's "Waterloo Sunset" for me. It's lovely, I see why people like it, but...eh. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...

Dedicated followers of passion: the Kinks’ 40 greatest songs – ranked!

To coincide with a new exhibition in London about the Davies brothers, we rate the best of a band who brought a sociologist’s eye to hard rock, gentle pastoralia and so much in between

theguardian.com