Good news for Ireland and Austria....

Onion graphic of “American Looking Skills, 1920-present” which shows a chart covering elements of “looking”, “staring” and “slack-jawed gazing” each rising inexorably over time with the advent of each TV milestone

AP to end its weekly book reviews In a note from Anthony McCartney, AP Global Entertainment and Lifestyles Editor, on Wednesday, shared by Jeff Rowe: Dear AP book reviewers, I am writing to share that the AP is ending its weekly book reviews, beginning Sept. 1. This was a difficult decision but one made after a thorough review of AP’s story offerings and what is being most read on our website and mobile apps as well as what customers are using. Unfortunately, the audience for book reviews is relatively low and we can no longer sustain the time it takes to plan, coordinate, write and edit reviews. AP will continue covering books as stories, but at the moment those will handled exclusively by staffers. I want to thank you for your time and commitment to reviewing books for the AP. All current review assignments through Aug. 31 will be honored and your invoices will be paid. (Please submit those as you normally would, and file final invoices by Sept. 15.) I want to take a moment to thank Carolyn, who has coordinated reviews and made sure relevant titles were covered, and Mark, who has edited the reviews and incorporated best practices for trying to get reviews to appear in search results and get as many readers as possible. Thank you again for your diligence and work on reviews. I wish you all the best.

The @apnews.com says that its ending its weekly book reviews.

Watchdog Group Downgrades U.S. From Democracy To Whatever Political System Lobsters Have

Watchdog Group Downgrades U.S. From Democracy To Whatever Political System Lobsters Have theonion.com/watchdo...

The Block BEARD Act of 2025 could be a game-changer for authors, many of whom have seen their books illegally distributed by offshore websites.

The sites are the main source of ebooks that AI companies have used to train their AI systems.

Our statement: authorsguild.org/news/ag-appl...

Australia is considering adoption of an exception to permit AI companies to use creative works without the consent of artists & writers. I join Australia’s creative community in calling for the ⁦‪Australian government to reject this terrible, no-good, bad idea.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

you don't understand. as someone who isn't inherently good at art, stealing paintings from the museum is the *only* way i'm able to express myself creatively. i wouldn't be able to paint beautiful portraits. but by breaking into a museum and stealing the paintings, now i am

The full list of all 18,500 children killed in Gaza, in video form.

www.washingtonpost.com/world/intera...

This essay really leaves me speechless—obviously not literally. Aside from the manufactured “generational tension,”
it places undeserved faith in AI companies’ claims of the impossibility of licensing. For Silicon Valley, anything is possible…except for things they don’t want to do. This is nonsense

let's make Bartleball a thing

Gorgeous. Who would've thought this song was so brass band ready?

IF ANY LAWMAKERS/IP FOLKS WANNA TALK ABOUT THIS PLS HIT ME UP kate_knibbs@wired.com / signal is kateknibbs.09

More than 100 humanitarian groups warn of mass starvation in Gaza A joint statement says the Israeli government's

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

1972, The University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. 17-year-old Electrical & Electronic Engineering student Rowan Atkinson at work. He graduated with a BSc in 1975, before beginning a PhD at Oxford. He did not complete it, dropping out to pursue a comedy career, but was awarded an MSc

The entire point of good reporting or good scholarship is to tell us something we didn’t already know and the idea that they could ever be replaced by AI tools that rely on scraping the internet database of what we *do* know is just ludicrous.

A fire bucket in a French supermarket with a handwritten note on it reading JE NE SUIS PAS UNE POUBELLE

Magritte is really running out of ideas

David Baldacci testifies before Senate committee as an Authors Guild member, and discusses concerns about AI companies about the theft of creative work.

“I truly felt like someone backed up a truck to my imagination and stole everything that I’ve created.” —David Baldacci

The Authors Guild asked Baldacci to stand before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee, and he delivered a powerful testimony.

Read about it! authorsguild.org/news/david-b...

Strong protection of intellectual property is the best way towards AI that authors and artists can see as an optional tool and not an existential threat. #StrongIPStrongAI

TIME CHANGE: Too Big to Prosecute?: Examining the AI Industry’s Mass Ingestion of Copyrighted Works for AI Training | United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary

I'm watching the livestream of the "Too Big to Prosecute?: Examining the AI Industry’s Mass Ingestion of Copyrighted Works for AI Training" hearing happening rn in Congress. Here's the link for anyone else curious: www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-ac...

Stanwyck puts up her foot; Gary Cooper, as Prof. Bertram Potts, is nonplussed.

"What a lot of books! Are they all different?"
- Sugarpuss O'Shea (Barbara Stanwyck), Ball of Fire, 1941

Don't use WeTransfer

The Media's Pivot to AI Is Not Real and Not Going to Work AI is not going to save media companies, and forcing journalists to use AI is not a business model.

Media outlets can't pivot to AI to save themselves. It's not a business strategy and it's not going to work. The only path forward is for journalists to lean into their humanity, to do things AI can't, and to make clear they are writing for people, not algorithms:

www.404media.co/the-medias-p...

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Every British person on the internet is complaining about you

“The Indians Won” “At one magical moment in your early childhood, the page of a book that string of confused alien cyphers - shivered into meaning. Words spoke to you, gave up their secrets; at that moment whole…

Thanks to Cibola Citizen for this thoughtful write-up of THE INDIANS WON by Martin Cruz Smith! "The Indians Won is an alternative-history novel that envisions a sovereign and independent Indian Nation." 💙📚

MARTIN CRUZ SMITH: R.I.P. Sad news. Award winning mystery author Martin Cruz Smith passed away yesterday. I was privileged to meet him on several occasions. He was a...

Martin Cruz Smith: R.I.P. mysteryreadersinc.blogspot.com/2025/07/mart...

John Martin, Devoted Publisher of Literary Rebels, Dies at 94

Black Sparrow, and Snoopy. Not bad, Santa Rosa, not bad at all. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/b...

F. Scott Fitzgerald and Nicholson Baker: the greatest two semi-colons in All Literature I promised I was going to share my favourite semi-colon in All Literature. This accolade used to belong to F. Scott Fitzgerald, for a beautifully ironical semi-colon in his story (or perhaps novell…

I wrote about my two favourite ever semi-colons in All Literature, and what they can tell us about how to use this delightful punctuation mark.

tinycamels.wordpress.com/2025/05/20/f...

Facebook post from Pet Shop Boys’ official page showing Neil Tennant’s big mug in a selfie and the words “Wishing Neil a happy 71st birthday today!” Below it the Meta AI bubble asks “How old is Neil now?”

At least you tried, Meta AI.

Text reads: OTHER MINDS: Fiction Featuring Animal Perspectives Watership Down by Richard Adams The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams A Mother’s Tale by James Agee Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis Timbuktu by Paul Aster The End of My Tether by Neil Astley The Sheep Who Changed the World by Neil Astley Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach Raptor Red by Robert T. Bakker King: A Street Story by John Berger Talk to Me by T.C. Boyle Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton The Sea Trilogy by Rachel Carson A Black Fox Running by Brian Carter Our Memory Like Dust by Gavin Chait Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr by John Crowley Mink River by Brian Doyle Only the Animals: Stories by Ceridwen Dovey The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers The Sage of Waterloo by Leona Francombe Pork by Cris Freddi The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy Ape House by Sara Gruen The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr by E.T.A. Hoffmann Open Throat by Henry Hoke The Tusk That Did the Damage by Tania James Bird Brain by Guy Kennaway Timothy; or, Notes of an Abject Reptile by Veryln Klinkenborg The Winter of the Fisher by Cameron Langford Me Cheeta: The Autobiography by James Lever The Call of the Wild by Jack London White Fang by Jack London Pony Confidential by Christina Lynch North Woods by Daniel Mason So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell A Beautiful Truth by Colin McAdam

Text reads: Gunflower by Laura Jean McKay The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay War Horse by Michael Morpurgo The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler Mitz: The Marmoset of Bloomsbury by Sigrid Nunez The Bees by Laline Paul Pod by Laline Paul Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt Bambi, a Life in the Woods by Felix Salten Fox 8 by George Saunders Black Beauty by Anna Sewell The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak Jeoffry: The Poet’s Cat by Oliver Soden I Am a Cat by Natsume Soseki Sirius by Olaf Stapledon The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson Underjungle by James Sturz Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy Strider by Leo Tolstoy Three Deaths by Leo Tolstoy The Once and Future King by T. H. White Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson Flush by Virginia Woolf My Stupid Intentions by Bernardo Zannoni

Much thanks to everyone who replied! Here's the updated list:

OTHER MINDS: A curated list of fiction featuring animal narrators, protagonists, and perspectives

With the White House #AI Action Plan expected on July 18, write to your elected officials TODAY to let them know that strong AI can only be achieved through protecting #copyright law and creator rights! copyrightalliance.org/get-involved...