Daily Picks

Saturday, 29 August 2026

16 new posts

Flower bud of a Succisa pratensis. Focus stack of 36 photos. The main flower is about 11 mm in diameter.

Dominicus Johannes Bergsma · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

ACOUP
Economics & PolicyACOUPBret Devereaux

Collections: Global Trade and United States Navy

TL;DR

Despite changing US politics, the US Navy is currently the only force capable of keeping global maritime trade open, and the world is paying the price.

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Works in Progress
TechWorks in Progress

A cop’s case for Flock

TL;DR

License plate cameras like Flock are effective at recovering stolen cars and reducing crime, but concerns about misuse and privacy are driving many US cities to abandon them.

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nngroup
TechnngroupRachel Krause

AI Can't Replace Real Research in Empathy Mapping

TL;DR

AI can help organize user research you already have, but it cannot fabricate evidence about the specific, messy experience of real users — yet that evidence is exactly what makes an empathy map valuable.

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Hacker News
TechHacker Newsavsm

Just the rumour of a bug is enough to find an exploit these days

TL;DR

With AI, the time between a vulnerability being disclosed and being exploited has shrunk to hours or even minutes, rendering traditional security processes obsolete and forcing open-source maintainers to adapt.

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acx
Society & IdeasacxScott Alexander

Your Book Review: Thomas Urquhart’s Translation Of Rabelais

TL;DR

Thomas Urquhart, a failed Scottish nobleman, produced one of the greatest English translations ever—Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel—through his wildly extravagant style.

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Where’s Your Ed At
Business & ProductWhere’s Your Ed AtEd Zitron

Premium: The Hater's Guide To Circular Financing (Part One)

TL;DR

Nvidia's circular financing scheme artificially props up demand for its AI chips, but the model is showing cracks.

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nngroup
TechnngroupAnna Kaley, Raluca Budiu

The Custodial Era of UX: Cleaning Up After AI

TL;DR

AI makes production faster than evaluation, forcing UX designers from creators into janitors — but they can turn it around.

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Noema Magazine
Society & IdeasNoema MagazineNathan Gardels

Subjective Perspective Makes Objective Reality ‘Everywhere Whole’

TL;DR

Consciousness and matter are not opposites but the subjective and objective faces of a single reality—a view echoed across physics, philosophy, and ancient religious thought.

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Renaissance Periodization
Science & HealthRenaissance Periodization

The fiber cheat code

TL;DR

Dietary fiber is far more than a laxative; through multiple scientific mechanisms it affects gut microbiota, cholesterol, blood sugar, and appetite, making it a key component of a healthy diet.

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The Conversation
Society & IdeasThe Conversation

Lake Ontario to Lake America – who gets to decide what goes on maps?

TL;DR

A US president cannot unilaterally rename international waters or mountains; official renaming follows a lengthy domestic process, while international maps vary by viewer location.

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The Conversation
Society & IdeasThe Conversation

Dolly Parton took control of her career by making men the butt of the joke

TL;DR

Dolly Parton took control of her career by making men the butt of the joke, using humor to overturn the country music industry's biases against women.

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Uncharted Territories
Economics & PolicyUncharted TerritoriesTomas Pueyo

What Is Happening in Ceuta?

TL;DR

In July 2026, over 70,000 people surged from Morocco into Spain's enclave Ceuta after a court ruling clarified that swimming across the border wouldn't lead to instant deportation — and Morocco may have been happy to let it happen to pressure Spain.

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Net Interest
Business & ProductNet InterestMarc Rubinstein

Untangling Guggenheim

TL;DR

Insurers investing policyholder money in related parties is a common industry practice, and Guggenheim is just the most extreme case.

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Nautilus
Science & HealthNautilusAnand Kumar

I’m Part of the Team Writing the Next Bible of Psychiatry—For the First Time, the DSM Will Use Biology to Understand Mental Disorders

TL;DR

Although adding biology to the DSM is progress, mental disorders still lack reliable biomarkers, so biological diagnosis faces huge challenges.

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Nautilus
Science & HealthNautilusJake Currie

COVID Brain Fog May Not Be Irreversible

TL;DR

Cognitive impairment after Omicron infection is reversible for most patients, but a vulnerable minority suffer irreversible and even progressive decline, urging targeted long-term cognitive care.

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The Honest Broker
Society & IdeasThe Honest BrokerTed Gioia

The 3 Bad Types of Humanities Professor

TL;DR

The author argues that bad humanities teaching either bores students with trivia, mocks the classics, or fawns over mediocre texts, while good teaching means taking great works seriously.

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