Ben Werdmuller

It has a learning curve but it gets so good.

Incredibly, this is our first Ooni night of the summer. I feel like I’m getting better at it year on year.

Oh, it’s not the computers that have our grief. It’s the people who want to make billions of dollars renting them to us.

I’m so sorry about the displacement. But those dog walks sound lovely.

Small repairs Drinking Sunday coffee in the hyper-normal

Small repairs: a Sunday morning aside. werd.io/small-repairs/

That’s truly awful. I’m so sorry. These are vultures.

I hate this. It’s going through the motions of doing something very human and important; simulating the output when the remembering, the loving, the process of memorializing a person is the value of the thing.

My blog wouldn’t actually correct this, of course. It would just seethe in the corner

A single entry on a weblog is a post, not a blog

A blog is the whole site

An entry is a post

🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬😤😡😡😖😠

This has been a “crap, I ran my AirPods through the laundry” sort of day.

Did Craigslist decimate newspapers? "Here in six short chapters is the tale of Craigslist’s rise to a business generating hundreds of millions of dollars a year, how Newmark has used that fortune and how newspapers, slow to adapt, failed...

"Here in six short chapters is the tale of Craigslist’s rise to a business generating hundreds of millions of dollars a year, how Newmark has used that fortune and how newspapers, slow to adapt, failed to respond effectively to the digital shift.” werd.io/did-craigsli...

If you’re a parent, you probably already k ow this but: Bluey is really, really good. Even the music is so much stronger than basically another show of its kind. Just magic: these people care and it shows.

Really reassured this conversation between Trump and Medvedev is happening between two rational leaders with a firm grasp on diplomacy and an unwavering commitment to the well-being of their people.

Hi, this is bad. cpb.org/pressroom/Co...

🚀 The Big Blast from Tiny News, July 2025 👐 How vulnerability and transparency are superpowers for indie publishers

"Being real, telling people the unvarnished truth, helps break down the wall between news publishers and the audience." - @terabithia4.bsky.social writes in the latest 🚀 Big Blast from @tinynewscollective.bsky.social. Vulnerability + transparency = superpowers www.tinynewsco.org/the-big-blas...

The way people treat teachers is shameful. They're not entitled; they're not privileged; they're not asking for the moon. They just want basic protections while they spend their lives educating our children.

My mother changed tracks, late in her life, to become a middle school science teacher at a public school in California's central valley. She worked long hours and paid for classroom materials herself. But when it turned out she needed a lung transplant, union-organized healthcare saved her life.

I can't stand how antagonistic people seem to feel about teachers unions. This is a field where people are underpaid, overworked, and yet are absolutely load-bearing in society. They need higher pay, better benefits, affordable healthcare - and protections from political ebbs and flows.

Curate your own newspaper with RSS "In a media landscape dominated by algorithmic feeds that aim to manipulate and extract, sometimes the most radical thing you can do is choose to read what you want, when you want, without anyone watching...

"In a media landscape dominated by algorithmic feeds that aim to manipulate and extract, sometimes the most radical thing you can do is choose to read what you want, when you want, without anyone watching over your shoulder." werd.io/curate-your-...

The Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma has spun out of Columbia University and has become the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma.

Grateful for all they do to support the well-being of journalists worldwide. They're on Bluesky at @traumajournalism.bsky.social

createsend.com/t/r-349259D5...

My friends MK Hardy released their sapphic horror novel The Needfire in the UK yesterday. It looks amazing; I pre-ordered and I can't wait to read it. www.mkhardywrites.com/needfire/

Trump-era Dr Seuss

Evaluating AI How to think about vendors, technology, and power

Here's my personal model for evaluating AI. werd.io/evaluating-ai/

I love to cook. Not, like, show-offy chef recipes (although I like to do that too), but everyday meals that come together inside an hour and keep everyone fed. Most nights, I’m the one who cooks.

I have absolutely no idea what to make for dinner tonight and I’ve had a day full of meetings. Pasta? 🤷

Lately, I've noticed something.

People are using LLMs to write their social media posts because they hope it'll make them go viral.

It's not just annoying – it's lazy.

People are here to connect with people, not robots.

Be human.

Oh wow, you're 100% right

I am older than dust

"It really kicks *what*?!"

YouTube video by ProPublica Beatings, Humiliation, Psychological Abuse: What Venezuelan Men Experienced Inside CECOT

A short documentary film from my colleagues in the newsroom. This is horror. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KZR...

Now That They’re Free, Venezuelan Men Want the World to Know What They Endured in CECOT Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration say they endured months of physical and mental abuse inside a Salvadoran prison. Though happy to be home, they say the fact that they were released ...

"Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration say they endured months of physical and mental abuse inside a Salvadoran prison. Though happy to be home, they say the fact that they were released is proof of how senseless their detentions were." www.propublica.org/article/vene...

If I ran my life Designing a values-centered life from first principles.

For the last few months, I've written about how I'd lead Bluesky, Mastodon, NPR, PBS, X/Twitter, and more. For the last post in the series, I turned my lens inwards: what would I do if I could redesign my life from scratch, based on my values? These are my thoughts - I'd love to read yours.