Tove Danovich

The death of browsing is part of the reason art is the way it is now. Our opinions are largely fed to us by algorithms. Spending a spare 15 minutes wandering around a bookstore or comic shop or video rental place was how you found stuff you wouldn't ordinarily pick up and thereby expanded your taste

My back spasmed and I am stuck in a chair all day. Are there any good mystery movies I should watch? I love them but only so many make the grade.

I really want the New Year one to say “New Year new bushtit”

a mug featuring a painting of a bird beside the text "what the fuck was I supposed to be doing?"

You're supposed to be shopping the Threadless BFCM sale for $10 mugs and $12 tees!
effinbirds.threadless.com

I don’t love that just *visiting* a website is enough to add me to their email list now.

'The Precedent Is Flint': How Oregon's Data Center Boom Is Supercharging a Water Crisis Amazon data centers constructed in eastern Oregon's farmland have worsened a water pollution problem that’s been linked to cancer and miscarriages.

This is a fantastic longread on a community in Oregon that was wrestling with a groundwater contamination crisis...and then Amazon moved in and made it so much worse. It's also an interesting story on how a Republican rancher/elected officials got radicalized by that crisis.

What a great headline

Many many copies of Under the Henfluence: Inside the World of Backyard Chickens and the People Who Love Them laid on top of each other. Each has the title and a photo of a distinguished yet grumpy illustrated chicken on the cover.

Need a gift idea for a bird-lover? What about ordering a copy of Under the Henfluence: Inside the World of Backyard Chickens and the People Who Love Them from your local bookstore?

It’s all about chickens and was a finalist for an Oregon Book Award. Best of all (imo) I wrote it! #booksky

Louisiana Made It Nearly Impossible to Get Parole. Now It’s Releasing Prisoners to Deport Them. Gov. Jeff Landry eliminated parole for prisoners arrested after Aug. 1, 2024, and tightened eligibility rules for those already in prison. Then he set all of that aside for one group: undocumented imm...

One woman said her father called in June to say he was going to be paroled after serving 20 years for car theft.

Then in September, she got another call: He was instead being transferred to await deportation.

It was the last time she heard from him.

With @veritenews.org

Handing back student work that’s been written by ChatGPT with a 0 followed by the comment “This essay will never stand in authentic wonder before the Beauty of God’s creation.”

What is the deal with all the horribly understaffed pharmacies? I assume it’s a pay/burnout situation happening post corporate buy out of every pharmacy. But is anyone trying to fix this at all?

It’s very upsetting that VelociPastor isn’t available to stream ANYWHERE.

I really wish newspapers would stop the “tense standoff between millennials and Gen Z over baggy pants” article framing. It’s fine if the youth want to do something I do not want to do/wear! I am simply not spending my waking hours “at war” over it.

A pine tree which looks like a shadow against a slightly purple sky. The outline of a heron can be seen on one of the branches.

Took my dog on a pre-sunrise walk and was delighted by this Great Blue Heron who decided to fly up and perch in the tree next to us.

And I bought another book.

TFW your author photos are so good it makes you feel better about your entire career.

#authorsky

Brilliant work by my photographer Kait De Angelis (on film!)

The last frontier of empathy: why we still struggle to see ourselves as animals | Megan Mayhew Bergman Champions of exceptionalism say humans hold a unique moral status. Yet there’s only one species recklessly destroying the planet it needs to survive

I really liked this piece in @theguardian.com about human exceptionalism and the cost of denying that we too are animal.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

EPA just approved new ‘forever chemical’ pesticides for use on food Critics warn the EPA’s approvals of new PFAS pesticides could expose more Americans to “forever chemicals” through their food.

What? How can this be?
So scary.

wapo.st/4a4HPnp

I used to handle interlibrary loans for a public library. ILL is a magnificent expression of the idea that readers deserve books, and books deserve readers. It’s libraries everywhere pooling their resources for the benefit of everyone.

Killing IMLS could have killed ILL.

This is great news. 📚

Ooops. We weren’t supposed to know yet.

And so the uprising begins….

Gift boxes full of pears and one in each box of four is wrapped in gold foil.

Trader Joe’s is selling Harry and David pears. My grandma used to send them to me every year and they were the most expensive pears ever but also so delicious.

Of course the only bones my dog likes are the expensive, $25+ ones.

They also have an online shop:

shop.bookswithpictures.com

I just ordered some holiday presents.

This album will change your life we want media worth giving our attention to

AI is everywhere. Attention spans are shrinking. Streaming services want you to listen to favorite tracks, not albums.

So what does it say that Rosalía’s LUX the album of the moment?

tovedanovich.substack.com/p/this-album...

MUPPET KNIVES OUT

Opinion | Jamal Khashoggi: What the Arab world needs most is free expression The Arab world needs a modern version of the old transnational media so citizens can be informed about global events.

I will never forget having to edit Jamal’s final, posthumous piece for the Washington Post, after he was murdered.

He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...

authors you have the chance to do the funniest thing right now

Families of DC-area immigrant drivers snatched by feds stuck with tow bill Elected officials and activists note work vehicles removed lightning fast, resulting in hundreds in fees.

NEW—US Park Police w/ DHS officers near DC are increasingly pulling over Black and brown men, leaving their work vans on the side of the parkway + immediately calling a local towing company to take them. Families who just lost their breadwinner are stuck with the bill.

@melbuer.bsky.social reports:

Ah the annual “government keeps sending me emails saying I haven’t enrolled in health insurance even though I completed my enrollment” anxiety attack.