Everyone Wanted Alexander Graham Bell to Debut the Telephone at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition. He Almost Avoided It Entirely

The inventor had to be persuaded to make the trip from Boston, then balked at the thought of a delay in debuting his device. But history interceded, and his American innovation got its proper accolade...

smithsonianmag.com

An AI for Africa would be built on Hunhu/Ubuntu ethics | Aeon Essays

Western-developed AI rides roughshod over Ubuntu values of connection and community that animate African ethical life

buff.ly

As glaciers melt, a writer considers what stories can do that data cannot | Aeon Videos

Retracing his grandparents’ journey to Iceland’s Vatnajökull glacier, a writer draws on storytelling to grasp climate change

buff.ly

Darwin’s Greatest Regret and His Deathbed Reflection on What Makes Life Worth Living

“If I had to live my life again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week.”

themarginalian.org

The Courage to Be Yourself: Virginia Woolf on How to Hear Your Soul

“Beyond the difficulty of communicating oneself, there is the supreme difficulty of being oneself.”

themarginalian.org

An Explosion of Misery

Making American hungry and uninsured again

open.substack.com

Ancient Genes Reveal That Big, Bright Avocados Were Carried Through the Americas Thousands of Years Ago

People brought large avocado seeds from South America to Central America, kicking off a burst of diversity for the fruit

smithsonianmag.com

How to Prepare Students for Life’s Pivotal Moments

We can help students align their daily actions and decisions with the values that will allow them to become their best selves.

greatergood.berkeley.edu

3 Ways Sidekicks Strengthen Your Novel

Does your main character need more than a confidant? In this post, we look at sidekicks and the important roles they play in novels.

writerswrite.co.za

Republicans Admit They Can't "Rein" in Trump and His Reign of Chaos and Corruption

Reek of the Week, Senator John Cornyn, says "there is nothing [the GOP] could do to rein in the president," proving that the GOP remains a dangerous cult controlled by a dying and decaying Trump.

open.substack.com

Six Things I Learned About Fiction Writing from Comic Books

What I Learned About Writing From What I Was Reading

williamspivey.medium.com

🏌️‍♀️ Our Major Player of the Year…and it is neither Nelly, nor Rory

Korea’s Haeran Ryu missed one major and nearly a month of action in the middle of a highly compressed major season, but was sensational whenever she teed up…

open.substack.com

No, Substack Isn't Collapsing

Diary of a Substack Growth Strategist

open.substack.com

Abdul El-Sayed Projected Winner in Michigan! What It Means for Dems and America!

A recording from THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali's live video

open.substack.com

August 4, 2026

On Friday night, a court filing from Capital One denied there was any political motivation behind the closure of more than 380 bank accounts in the names of Donald Trump and the Trump Organization.

open.substack.com

At colleges, the AI boom means everyone wants to dabble in computer science

Hiring for entry-level software developers has slowed, and college enrollment in computer science is declining.

apnews.com

The latest thing in cocktails is spicy and savory. Tips and recipes for home bartenders

Spicy drinks are trending, and bartenders are getting creative. Turner Greaves from New York’s Sip and Guzzle describes his tequila highball, Doctor Green, as herbaceous and slightly bitter, with toma...

apnews.com

FIFA boss Gianni Infantino is Finding That Rolling with Donald Trump is a Path to Ruin

The FIFA President Who Couldn’t Stop Sucking Up to Trump

medium.com

The EPA Heralds Its Omaha Cleanup as a Success. But We Found Many Yards Still Have Toxic Levels of Lead.

The agency spent hundreds of millions on lead remediation in Omaha, Nebraska, home of the nation’s largest residential Superfund site. New soil tests by the Flatwater Free Press and ProPublica show th...

propublica.org

FACT FOCUS: No, you won't need an ID to shop at city-owned grocery stores in New York City

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan to open five city-owned grocery stores is being misrepresented online with claims that identification will be required to shop there.

apnews.com

Five Amazon countries arrest hundreds in major crackdown on environmental crime

Authorities from five Amazon countries have arrested hundreds in a major crackdown on environmental crime.

apnews.com

Trump's Empty Promises On Paper

And a New Yorker cartoon!

open.substack.com

“The old-media era of journalists really wanted to be powerful. And I think now it’s about being interesting.”

Entertainment reporter Richard Rushfield on the future of showbiz

open.substack.com

Illegal Immigration: Fascism’s Favourite Trojan Horse

Fascism creeps up; it’s our duty to reject it

medium.com

Spider-Man makes his own silk. Scientists are using spider genes to use silk in innovative ways.

If Spider-Man were real, he could help scientists revolutionize healthcare. Since he's not, researchers develop creative ways to produce spider silk to study.

open.substack.com