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<p><em>The Atlantic</em> suggests that <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/08/reading-crisis-postliterate-age/687618/?gift=j9r7avb6p-KY8zdjhsiSZyM-26EN9jpQa5BZoBCHLjE">the end of reading is here</a>. It used to be easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. But now its easier to imagine the end of literacy than the end of YouTube.</p> <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/97469/2026/end-of-the-world.png"> <p><em>At the End of the…

<blockquote> <p>Only in silence the word, <br> Only in dark the light, <br> Only in dying life: <br> Bright the hawk&rsquo;s flight<br> On the empty sky. <em>&ndash; Ursula K. LeGuin</em></p> </blockquote> <p>You might care to check out the <a href="https://lithub.com/heres-the-shortlist-for-the-2026-ursula-k-le-guin-prize-for-fiction/">shortlist</a> for the 2026 Ursula K. LeGuin Prize for Fiction.</p> <img…

<p>Cockatoos? Five sulphur-crested cockatoos, foraging beneath the Norfolk Island pines of Botany Bay? Well, all right, if you insist.</p> <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/97469/2026/sulphur-crested-cockatoos.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="Five white cockatoos with yellow crests are foraging on the ground covered with pine cones and grass."> <p>#BirdsOfAustralia #WildlifePhotography #FeatheredFriends</p>

<p>You might be wondering how anyone can grow from being an advanced learner to becoming an expert. It might seem like an impossible step to climb.</p> <p>According to the traditional Japanese approach of <a href="https://writingslowly.com/shuhari-book">Shu Ha Ri</a>, a vital step in the learning process is to so absorb the rules…

<p>News just in from 2009:</p> <blockquote> <p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s time to get completely off RSS and switch to Twitter.&rdquo; <em>&ndash; <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2009/05/05/rest-in-peace-rss/">Techcrunch</a></em>.</p> </blockquote> <p>Well that didn&rsquo;t exactly age well. And now there&rsquo;s an RSS resurgence in the air &ndash; from <a href="http://scripting.com/2026/07/10/161133.html">Dave Winer</a>, of course, who made RSS immortal by giving it…

<p>We&rsquo;ve been having our regular family disagreement about <a href="https://writingslowly.com/2026/05/15/remembering-what-you-read.html">thinning our bookshelves</a>, which made this article timely: <a href="https://lithub.com/how-and-why-to-cull-your-book-collection/">How and why to cull your book collection</a> <em>[via <a href="https://kopttke.org">Kottke.org</a>]</em>.</p> <p>On reflection, our bookshelves are very much a working library, <a href="https://snarkmarket.com/2010/4890/">more about <em>flow</em> than about <em>stock</em></a>. Most books pass through.</p>

<p>Since we&rsquo;re currently lost somewhere in the middle of wars that seemingly have no end-point, and arguably no point, I wonder just what film director Christopher Nolan will make of <em>The Odyssey</em>, his blockbuster movie of which comes out mid-2026.</p> <p>After I watched another recent movie version of the story,…

<p>Watched: <a href="https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/975511">The Return</a> 🍿</p> <p>Odysseus brings the war home with him. As <a href="https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/simone-weil-the-iliad">Simone Weil</a> said of <em>The Iliad</em>, the true hero is force itself.</p>

<p>Happy 250th birthday, USA. The defining image in my lifetime of American culture is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hooded_Man">the hooded man</a> at Abu Ghraib prison. Well, you&rsquo;re still young and <em>&ldquo;finding a place to be/ in the early days of a better civilization,&rdquo;</em> as Dennis Lee&rsquo;s poem put it. Here&rsquo;s to the next…

<p>The ascended Christ of this mural at St. Vitus&rsquo;s Cathedral in Prague seems so happy I couldn&rsquo;t help but think of the song by <em>The Postal Service</em>:</p> <blockquote> <p>They will see us waving from such great heights <br> Come down now, they’ll say <br> But everything looks perfect from far…