My top-number-one, all-time favorite author, Charles Dickens, died on this day in 1870. In general, my advice is not to mourn his passing but to read his books. They are magnificent.

This year, I want to shout out a Dickens-adjacent book that came up in conversation over the weekend. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver reimagines Dickens' David Copperfield in contemporary Appalachia. If you have time, you should read 'em both, but hers is worth it even if you miss his. He'd have liked it.

Low humidity, high winds raise mid-week wildfire risk in western Alameda county and the wine country:

https://www.weather.gov/mtr

This seems pretty Fediversey:

https://tinyawards.net/

Please boost and share on your other socials. And if you're doing cool tiny work, or you know someone who is, please nominate the project!

The 29th Annual International Obfuscated C Code Contest has concluded. I salute the strange and powerful brains that competed, much less won.

https://www.ioccc.org/2025/

I’m a long-time subscriber to @molly0xfff’s reporting. She’s provided outstanding coverage of crypto political skullduggery and grift for years. She’s now expanding her beat to include activity by the big AI companies. She’s repurposed and expanded her Follow the Crypto site to track politicians, policy work, relationships and political spending by AI and crypto companies:

https://influence.citationneeded.news/