Scott Smith

America Keeps Adding EV Chargers. Will There Be More Drivers to Use Them? The number of fast-charging ports​ in the U.S. has surged after a two-year construction spree—just as electric​-vehicles​ sales are expected to plunge​.

It's that daggone Biden economy. www.wsj.com/business/aut...

The Pushkin job: unmasking the thieves behind an international rare books heist The long read: Between 2022 and 2023, as many as 170 rare and valuable editions of Russian classics were stolen from libraries across Europe. Were the thieves merely low-level opportunists, or were bi...

The Economist ran a long-read feature on this exact same story 2 months ago. Feels a bit lame to rehash it as another long-read. Which one will get the Netflix/breathless podcast treatment?
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o.... www.economist.com/1843/2025/08...

@klingebeil.bsky.social?

OpenAI targets 10% AMD stake via multibillion-dollar chip deal Latest circular transaction aims to make ChatGPT maker central to the effort to build a huge AI infrastructure

I think the technical term for all of these deals cumulatively is “circle jerk” on.ft.com/3VR0B9G

on.ft.com/4pTQ3US America is now one big bet on AI

@scoxsmith.bsky.social called this one months ago.

Just sent my kid a Valerie Giscard d’Estaing GIF and my work is done here.

Just watching the rare YouTube video right now and realizing how, despite being extremely online since the BBS days, I rarely watch video or listen to podcasts. I feel OK with that.

A ★★½ diary entry for The Damned (1962)

Watched this weird film last night — They Are the Damned. British new wave meets mid-century scifi. Children bred to survive a nuclear apocalypse. Oliver Reed + Macdonald Carey. boxd.it/bgrhv7 Compressed version on YT here. www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3Qe...

OpenAI and Jony Ive grapple with technical issues on secretive AI device ChatGPT maker is working with former Apple design boss to launch a palm-sized personal assistant next year

How bout no. on.ft.com/4gVVRJC

Sorry.

It’s really just over-under.

Yeah, the risk of seeing those investments trashed immediately or longer term is enough to keep it where it is. The cumulative dampening effect of many different idiot moves (eroded rule of law, destruction of research pipelines, wildly variable costs and little ability to hedge) has macro effect.

Pepys You May Know

“We have to reject the idea that our only, best power is our pocketbooks. That’s a desecration of civics, as corrosive as the idea that debate is the pinnacle of civil discourse. It cheapens our actions by degrading what we believe is possible.“ Been trying to find a way to say this. 🙏🏻

Just go see a counselor/therapist and leave us alone.

Sit with it for a minute.

Beginning to think, and bear with me here, that the current regime has no plan to govern beyond petty vandalism and random acts of distraction.

Only you can prevent head injuries.

Vance is running a mil-blogging workshop after the big talk.

Why General Motors Boss Mary Barra Is Slamming the Brakes on Lofty EV Ambitions Falling consumer demand and shriveling government support undermine GM’s all-electric plans.

Given the EVs GM was producing, I'd quit too. Not attractive, not competitive, not happening in vehicle classes suited to EV. www.wsj.com/business/aut...

I see so many videos of guy sin baseball caps with tiny moustaches showing their time hacks and productivity setups, and I'm like, for what? Do you just have a massive time mountain somewhere?

Performing masculinity via the appearance of economic necessity? Or vice versa?

Noticed over time that the fewer American men that are working, the more "American workwear" is produced. Chore coats (what chores?), work boots, everyday carry, bags, jackets, tools, desk setups, etc. Yet less is being produced by fewer men. Now DHS is absorbing the more aggressive subset.

With large pincers.

We built the framework to support those of us dedicated to building the systems behind narrative change and narrative power. Use this framework to assess your role, map your challenges, and determine strategic actions to build narrative power.

Request the framework: info@transformationalchange.co

A brief introduction to the "Narrative Infrastructure for Narrative Power" framework from the Center for Transformational Change, to support those dedicated to building the systems behind narrative change and narrative power.

Today is the 4th anniversary of the @cftchange.bsky.social . To celebrate, we are launching our framework, "Narrative Infrastructure for Narrative Power."

In an era of media consolidation, institutional capture, polycrisis, and democratic decline, communities need ownership of systems that create, distribute, and sustain their narratives. Without community leadership, existing power dynamics persist rather than transform toward justice and opportunity

Why are we so worried about ID cards? We’ve happily handed over so much data already | Karen K. Burns I need to chime in on the UK's #digitalID cards debate as so much nonsense is being written about both it and #Estonia, which has been world leader in adopting this (and the citizen of which I am). ...

Bringing this post over from LI by the excellent Karen K Burns on why a 1:1 comparison between the current framing of the proposed UK digital ID and Estonia's digital ID system is flawed in several ways. www.linkedin.com/posts/karenk...