Mastodawn

Nothing Works in Trump’s America — Except Racism. “Trump is objectively bad at running the government, but he’s objectively good at running a Klan rally, and his supporters value the latter so much that they forgive the former.” https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/newsletter-laguardia-tsa-baseball/

Nothing Works in Trump’s America—Except Racism

In this week’s Elie v. U.S., our justice correspondent explores Trump’s stunning incompetence. Plus: Baseball is back—for now.

The Nation

kottke.org 13h ago

The 2026 issue of the HTML Review, “an annual journal of literature made to exist on the web”. https://thehtml.review/05/

the html review 05

the html review is an annual journal of literature made to exist on the web

kottke.org 15h ago

Mark Simonson reminisces about when he discovered type design. “The idea of coming up with an original alphabet design fired my imagination. And learning that it was possible to design type professionally was a revelation.” https://www.marksimonson.com/notebook/view/the-day-i-discovered-type-design/

The Day I Discovered Type Design

Mark Simonson

kottke.org 17h ago

“By focusing its narrative on the tech industry itself, Halt and Catch Fire’s staying power has only increased. The story it tells still has something to say about our present-day reality.” https://dirt.fyi/article/2026/02/dude-the-internet

“Dude, the Internet.”

Prestige Silicon Valley television.

The Dirtyverse | Dirt

kottke.org 19h ago

For the latest episode of Design Matters, Debbie Millman interviews Timothy Snyder about “how we misunderstand freedom, why truth and empathy are under threat, and what this political moment asks of us”. Millman is an *excellent* interviewer. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/timothy-snyder/id328074695

Design Matters with Debbie Millman

Design Podcast · Updated Weekly · Design Matters with Debbie Millman is one of the world’s very first podcasts. Broadcasting independently for over 15 years, the show is about how incredibly creative people design the arc of their liv…

Apple Podcasts

kottke.org 20h ago

Endgame for the Open Web, brought on by LLM bots, content summarizing while driving no traffic, increasing paywalls for information of all kinds, locking down APIs (due to AI abuse), attacks on Wikipedia, disruption of open source communities, etc. https://www.anildash.com/2026/03/27/endgame-open-web/

Endgame for the Open Web

A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

Anil Dash

kottke.org 21h ago

NASA’s LRO found a new crater on the Moon…it’s 225 meters across and 43 meters deep. “According to predictions based on other lunar landmarks, a crater that big should form only once in 139 years.” https://www.sciencenews.org/article/moon-new-crater-nasa-orbiter

In a rare event, the moon got a massive new crater

A crater as wide as two American football fields formed in spring 2024, a size expected roughly once a century. A NASA orbiter got to watch.

Science News

kottke.org 22h ago

The future of energy is being decided now. "The US is basically aligning itself as the last big petrostate. We're going to go down with the fossil fuel ship, and China is aligning itself as the first electrostate." https://kottke.org/26/03/us-the-last-big-petrostate

The US Is the Last Big Petrostate

In a conversation with economist Paul Krugman, climate journalist David Roberts asserts that the United States and China are going in different directions in en

kottke.org

kottke.org 23h ago

Help! My Favorite Athlete Is an Idiot (Alt headline: When Sports Heroes Have Terrible Opinions). “Just root for the jersey and not necessarily the nitwit wearing it?” https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/opinion/sports-politics-athletes-opinions.html?unlocked_article_code=1.XVA.xCEB.T63tNo8s9DtB

Opinion | When Sports Heroes Have Terrible Opinions

Sports used to be an oasis from political squabbling. But now the bad opinions of star athletes have become impossible to escape.

The New York Times

kottke.org 1d ago

Astronaut Michael Fincke was rendered unable to speak while on the ISS, prompting an evacuation to Earth. “We’re almost 100% sure that this is a space-related thing.” Uh, I’ve been reading a lot of sci-fi recently; this is *exactly* how It starts. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/28/science/nasa-astronaut-medical-evaluation.html?unlocked_article_code=1.W1A.U255.7DhaSPrHSLDK

Astronaut’s Condition That Led to Space Station Evacuation Remains a Mystery

The astronaut, Michael Fincke, experienced a medical emergency in January that rendered him unable to speak, he said.

The New York Times