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Famed NFL columnist makes humiliating admission after Rams prediction backfired
Bill Plaschke’s perfect Rams season lasted exactly one game. Four days after predicting Los Angeles would finish 20-0 and win the Super Bowl, the longtime Los Angeles Times columnist opened...
The Outlook
The Outlook is The Huddle's new matchups column. Kevin Tompkins will break down every fantasy-relevant player from each team every week.
NH Business Notebook: This lung’s for you
A company that is developing human lungs and other organs for transplant just bought an old brewery.
Opinion | No way: Wisdom and, or, but, politics
The wisdom of ancients offers guidance for our modern, confusing times, writes columnist David Romtvedt. %
The Not-So-Secret Winner in Netflix and YouTube’s Streaming Wars Battle
(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) Here’s a good piece of advice: when someone tells you a company has “won” the streaming wars, just assume they haven’t. Remember the narratives about the streaming media over the last few years: 2024 - Netflix has won the streaming wars! 2025 - YouTube has won the streaming wars! Yet…in 2026, I’d categorize it as… 2026 - Netflix and YouTube are battling for talent! Netflix and YouTube are aggressively fighting for top creators, marking a fierce new battle in the streaming wars. For two companies that “won”, that certainly doesn’t seem like winning behavior. If you win, you don’t have to fight for talent, because talent has to come to you. This is a good reminder that, if the streaming wars are a war—and I think they are—we should know what type of war they are. So it’s worth revisiting one of my big theories of the streaming wars, that the war these battles most represent is… The Thirty Years’ War1 I prefer this war to other, simpler wars, because, while it featured two “sides”—based on religion—and the current war has two main sides—tech versus entertainment—it also featured a lot of smaller players battling it out, sometimes switching sides. And that’s still the case for entertainment and media, despite the above headlines. I’d recommend this truism: if someone has to tell you they won the streaming wars, they probably haven’t. To wit, if someone told you they were fighting in the Thirty Years’ War—and no, they didn’t call it that at the time—and in year five, they told you they won, well, obviously they had 25 more years to go. That’s a lot of preamble to say, the story of the week is the latest battles between YouTube and Netflix. Their battle for talent says a lot about how hard this war will be to win. All that, plus The Curse of the Mogul in action, Netflix providing more (theatrical) data, whether Apple TV is in trouble, AMC getting in on distribution, and a whole lot more. Subscribe Today’s article is sponsored by… Substack is hosting a live Emmys watch party, starting at 5PM on the East Coast (2PM on the West Coast) on Monday, 14-Sep. Check it out! Tune In Most Important Story of the Week - Who’s the Big Winner in the Netflix vs YouTube Showdown? Netflix spent a lot in 2025, and then even more in 2026 adding a host of “creators”—both podcasters and YouTube stars—to their TV lineup. Frankly, for years, I’ve thought that more major studios/streamers/channels should look to YouTube as the launching pad for future stars and IP. Either by poaching proven talent—albeit at good prices—or by treating YouTube as an arena for your “A&R” reps to scout new talent and emerging voices. Netflix started executing the former strategy—which I thought was smart—while Focus Features did the latter with Obsession. So what changed? YouTube finally responded! Yikes. That’s a strong response, and stronger than I’d argue most narratives about YouTube suggest. People often describe YouTube as a self-reinforcing flywheel of success. Get on YouTube or perish. So why did YouTube have to respond? Because other folks poaching their top talent could really damage their business, implying their flywheel is a pinch more rickety than most analysis suggests. Clearly, creators can envision a life off YouTube and potentially a much more lucrative one. The Curse of the Media Mogul is Playing Out In Real Time We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… Who is the big winner in the Netflix versus YouTube battle… The biggest question about YouTube… Plus why YouTube’s saber rattling should worry talent… Why I’m skeptical that a U.S. federal tax credit for film will happen… What key change could pull Apple from the streaming business. AMC getting in on distribution… Some great reads on the Warner Bros.-Paramount merger... And a whole lot more... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support.
Roger Simon, a leading political writer including for the Tribune, dies at 78
Along with being a long-time columnist for the Sun-Times, he was White House correspondent for the Tribune and pioneered political writing at Politico.
Remembering Roger Simon, a political journalist with toughness and wit
Dan Balz pays tribute to “a craftsman of the first order,” who wrote for Chicago newspapers before joining Politico as a columnist. He died Thursday at 78.
Treasury Must Keep Collecting and Preserving Business Owner Info
The Treasury Department’s decision to stop collecting certain business ownership information and delete information already collected will hinder fraud investigations by the IRS and other federal agencies, columnist Danny Werfel writes.
Tom Purcell: Autumn — a season to calm our politics
September has arrived, which means autumn is here. It couldn’t come soon enough. Politics all day long You see, a 2026 Change Research survey finds that 30% of voters name […]
The Outlook
The Outlook is The Huddle's new matchups column. Kevin Tompkins will break down every fantasy-relevant player from each team every week.
How one org taps into neighborhood power to address climate change and health equity in Memphis
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Q&A with Center for Transforming Communities For the Center for Transforming Communities, climate change and health equity are not abstract concepts. They show up in the soil, in the quality of drinking water, in neighborhood walkability and in access to food. The organization works closely with residents and institutions to minimize negative impacts of … Continue reading
From moving people to managing them
Transportation policy used to have a fairly uncomplicated purpose: move people safely, efficiently and reliably. Build roads where people drive. Maintain bridges before they fail. Add capacity where growth overwhelms the system. Provide transit where it makes sense. Infrastructure was supposed to accommodate human behavior. Colorado increasingly prefers the opposite arrangement. Today, transportation policy is […]
David Brooks argues against political radicalism on YPU floor
David Brooks, a former New York Times columnist who became a presidential fellow in February, spoke in favor of the resolution, “Political Radicalism is Cowardice.” After arguments ranging from Edmund Burke to climate change, the resolution failed.
The 98 Biggest TV Show Flops, Bombs and Misses in the First Half of 2026
(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) In July, I updated my look at how the “streaming bubble” popped since 2023, showing the decline in streaming TV shows over time. But after compiling and analyzing and writing about over one hundred TV show flops in the first half of 2026—I counted 99 “nominees” and there are even more honorable mentions—I couldn’t have told you that the number of shows is going down. When it comes to scripted, English-language TV shows, it feels like we have as many bombs as ever. I don’t keep a specific count, but some streamers probably had as many flops as they’ve ever had.1 That’s right, it’s time for part two of my analysis of the biggest flops, bombs and misses on streaming in the first half of 2026. Two weeks ago, I took a look at films. Today, TV shows. If you want to read the full methodology for how I assemble this list, you can find it at the bottom of this article. In short, this list is… ...scripted and unscripted TV shows,...from the nine major streamers,...in the US (using US-only ratings),...excluding true crime, kids and foreign-language shows,...that got no/poor ratings,...from Jan-2026 to the end of June-2026. Reminder: this article does not represent my personal opinion—many of these shows are great!—but I follow the data, and a miss is a miss and a bomb is a bomb. Also, price matters. If a TV show costs north of $100 million, it needs to get lots and lots of streaming viewership to justify that budget. As with past editions, I ordered this list by streamer, going from best (fewest flops) to worst (the most misses)—taking the size of the flops into consideration—and like the last edition, three or four streamers vied to take the win/loss of having the most flops. (But the actual winner is no surprise.) I try to avoid tooting my own horn too much, but seriously, in just under 5,000 words (including the methodology section) I provide a mostly comprehensive overview of the eight major streamers (Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Hulu, HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount+, and Apple TV) for the first half of the year, mentioning most of their hits and all their misses. It summarizes the entire first half of 2026! If you want to support this work, please subscribe. Subscribe Tubi Big Mood Boarders The Freak Brothers Twenty Twenty Six Honorable Mentions: Busted on Bodycam, Deestroying the Pitch, Destination World Cup 2026 I don’t think that Tubi spends all that much making or (mostly) licensing these original TV shows—Big Mood, Boarders and Twenty Twenty Six all come from the UK—but they’re not free and they didn’t chart anywhere. Winner: The Freak Brothers Have you even heard of this show? It’s an animated comedy...that’s on its third season! And Pete Davidson, Woody Harrelson, John Goodman and Tiffany Haddish all provide voice talent for it. Yes, animated shows don’t cost as much as live action shows, but cheap isn’t free! So a show with this level of talent needs to perform better. Disney+ Daredevil: Born Again Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord Honorable Mentions: Behind the Attraction, Donna Hay Coastal Celebrations, We Call It Imagineering Disney+ doesn’t make all that many original shows anymore. They had two flops, and one was animated. Their one not-a-miss show, Wonder Man, got just good enough viewership to not be considered a “miss”...but it’s since been cancelled. At this point, Disney has pivoted entirely away from making big budget TV shows for Disney+ to making...almost nothing for Disney+? Sure, Disney’s spending circa 2019-2022 was unsustainable, but now they’re pivoting too far in the other direction. At some point, Disney needs to stop shifting strategies so wildly. Really, Disney should have made fewer shows for Disney+ at launch and the shows they did make at that time needed to be made at more reasonable budgets. And they should adopt that strategy now. Winner: Daredevil: Born Again Daredevil, the Marvel Comics character, is on my personal Mount Rushmore of favorite superheroes, so it pains me to give him the win/loss today, but this show deserves it. I’ll repeat my hot take from last spring: “Based on his popularity, Daredevil should be in movies, and probably ones that cost a lot less than the MCU’s usual price tag. Disney/Bob Iger/Ike Perlmutter (who, based on reporting, made the decision) made a huge mistake selling TV shows to Netflix in the 2010s, thus limiting this character to the small screen. Daredevil could have anchored Marvel’s post-Infinity War plans, and if he did, the MCU would probably be in a better place than it is now.” HBO Max We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… What four streamers had the most misses... HBO’s strong start to 2026… The caveat to Peacock’s turnaround this year... Paramount+’s key man problem… What country isn’t delivering hits for Netflix or Hulu... The cavalcade of stars on a streamer where no one is watching their shows... Across nearly 5,000 words of analysis… And a lot more... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. If you’d like to read more about why you should subscribe, please read this article about the Streaming Ratings Report, why it matters, why you need it, and why we cover streaming ratings best.
Exclusive: Two of gaming’s biggest names are making a big investment in gaming’s future
The first thing to know about the Nova Games Foundation is that it isn’t about The Game Awards. And it’s not about PlayStation. The ambitious new grant program is the brainchild of Geoff Keighley and Mark Cerny. Keighley is the host of The Game Awards, Summer Game Fest and Opening Night Live. Cerny is a game designer of some 45 years and the lead architect for the PlayStation 4 and 5. But this new thing, which they’re revealing through Game File, isn’t about their day jobs. It’s an unaffiliated, standalone philanthropic project. It’s a bet on the artistic future of video games and a way, they tell me, to give back. “I’m nearing the end of my career,” Cerny recently told me over email. “I’m not done yet, but paying it forward—in the best way possible—is very much on my mind these days,” The Nova Games Foundation is a university-affiliated fellowship program, intended to offer six-figure grants to 20 young game designers each year, potentially for decades to come. It will offer no-strings-attached funding along with mentorship from games industry leaders, a combination intended to aid the development of groundbreaking new games, Cerny and Keighley told me. Nova will begin accepting applications in December, from class of 2026 and 2027 students from 13 affiliated gaming programs at universities in eight countries. The schools working with Nova include the New York University and the University of Southern California in the U.S., along with Abertay University in Scotland, Cnam-Enjmin in France, TH Köln in Germany, and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, Cerny and Keighley said. The plan: $100,000 per recipient, with about a quarter of Nova fellows eligible for up to $500,000 more for projects that are shaping up particularly well. Payments will be delivered based on development milestones, and recipients will own their games. Nova will help promote the work, and developers will be free to pursue the publishers and platforms of their choice. Nova can help introduce fellows to publishers, but won’t take a cut. “I’ve always wanted to give back, but given my role in the industry, I’ve never felt it appropriate to commercially invest in games,” Keighley told Game File. “I’ve never owned stock in a game company or taken a financial stake in a game. Nova is philanthropy: we aren’t taking equity or looking to recoup the grants. The return we’re hoping for is creative—helping new voices make games and find their footing. “Mark and I have each made multi-million-dollar donations to establish the foundation, and we intend to keep contributing. We hope others will join us.” Cerny and Keighley have already hired an executive director, John Maconga, and a head of grants, recent Game Developers Conference director Ashley Corrigan, to help launch the effort. They’re working to recruit game industry leaders to join the effort. Keighley says “dozens of leading game directors have already expressed interest in contributing their time.” To name one, they’ve already gotten Josef Fares, lead designer from It Takes Two and Spit Fiction studio Hazelight on board with a donation and pledge to help out. “I’m proud to support Nova because it gives the next generation of creators the freedom to explore their creativity and hopefully bring their unique visions to life,” Fares told Game File. A plan forged from a friendship Keighley and Cerny have known each other a long time. It’s been so long, Cerny isn’t even sure exactly when they met. “We travel in much the same circles and I’m sure first intersected in the 90s or early 2000s,“ Cerny said. Keighley thinks it might have been during his stint writing a column about the mid-’90s console 3DO for a gaming magazine while Cerny was working on games with Crystal Dynamics or on Way of the Warrior with Naughty Dog. They became genuine friends about a 10 years ago, Keighley said, as they bonded over a shared love of games and a hope to improve the industry. “About a decade ago, we started having dinner a few times a year in LA,” Keighley said. “Just to catch up on life and the industry. Those conversations continued over Zoom during COVID. Nova grew out of that friendship and a question we kept coming back to: ‘What could we do to help the next generation of game directors get started?’” Keighley credits Cerny with the idea to figure out a way to put their money and time back into the industry. At one of those dinners, Keighley proposed the idea of a fellowship program. He’d recalled applying for a Rhodes Scholarship when he was younger. “Spoiler: I didn’t get it,” he said. He’d admired the MacArthur Foundation’s so-called “genius grants.” He liked these kinds of programs that recognized people’s talents and gave them the financial boost and the freedom to realize their potential. With Cerny, he had pondered what a game industry version of that could be. Keighley liked the idea of centering the fellowship on students, drawing inspiration from the accomplishments of Jenova Chen, the USC game design graduate who went on to lead the creation of gently moving, ambitious games such as Flower and Journey. Keighley also thought it could be useful to help promising graduates bridge the transition from student to professional. “Joining an established studio isn’t always possible—especially in today’s market—and even then, it isn’t the right path for everyone,” Keighley said. A fellowship, he realized, could give “graduates the time, resources and guidance to pursue a game of their own and not worry about the commercial viability.” As the idea took shape, Cerny also saw an opportunity to enable more games of a certain type: “The target with the grants is games as an artistic medium,” Cerny told me. “We like to say games with ‘artistic, literary and societal value.’” He added: “I’m a pretty big gamer myself, though I tend to gravitate towards the smaller and more unique or artistic titles, games like Neva, Abzu, Gorogoa, Stray or Outer Wilds. I was just playing and Roger on a flight to Japan, and was getting misty eyed to a degree that I was concerned that a flight attendant would ask me if I was OK. “So one fun benefit here is the games that will come out of the Nova Games Foundation – I can’t wait to play them myself.” Cerny believes it will also be useful for Nova fellows to hone their craft and team leadership skills. “We are looking for the next generation of visionaries,” he said. “The trick is that they will also need to have the executive function necessary to drive a small project to completion.” Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my reporting, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Going big with this Keighley and Cerny may have started Nova and may be the ones primarily backing it right now, but they’re dreaming of something that goes beyond them. “Mark and I may have helped get it started, but one of our measures of success is that Nova grows into something the entire games industry feels a sense of ownership in,” Keighley said. “Our ambition is to build a lasting endowment supported by people and companies across the industry, and an equally broad community of creators willing to give their time and experience to the next generation.” The industry has a lot of knowledge that it can pass to the next generation, Keighley said: “Nova can hopefully become a way to connect that generosity with talented young creators at the moment when it can make the biggest difference.” Cerny, who told me he believes Nova can mature “over the next 10 or 20 years,” sees an opportunity to give generations of game makers momentum. “The industry has changed immeasurably since I started in games in 1982,” he said. “These graduates have talent, training and tools that outclass what we had back in the day by an astonishing amount. But they face a tough road ahead getting traction in the industry, and many could benefit from our support. We want to be there to give it to them.” “There’s a personal side to this, too,” Keighley said. “I don’t have children, and I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I can do for future generations. Games have been my entire career. I’ve been incredibly fortunate, and helping someone else build a life in this industry feels like a meaningful way to give back.” Cerny’s oeuvre dates back to Marble Madness and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. He has stood on stage multiple times to reveal the future of PlayStation hardware. He’s been an executive producer for a string of modern PlayStation classics such as The Last Guardian and Marvel’s Spider-Man. Nevertheless, of Nova, he said, “It’s certainly not like anything I’ve done before.” Nova Foundation applications will be due in December and the first wave of fellows will be announced in March 2027. A full list of participating universities and steps students and recent graduates can take to apply to become a Nova Fellow is forthcoming.
Commentary: Who would want the US to be run like a business?
When pushing for the United States to be run more like a business, please keep in mind that framework naturally conflates the populace with labor and public servants with bosses. […]
Health Column: Helping patients feel comfortable in their own skin
Content provided by Memorial Regional Health. When people think about dermatology, they often think about treating skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis, acne, or suspicious moles. But for Emma Rodgers, NP-C, dermatology is also about something...
Redside Foundation provides mental health assistance to the West's outdoor guides
The Idaho-based nonprofit provides mental health and other services to river, hunting and wilderness guides in states like Wyoming, Montana and Colorado, writes guest columnist Chuck Malloy.
Haste ye back to full health, gaffer
This column is usually filled with bad takes, daft footballing opinion and poor attempts at humour, but today I want to be a little more serious. The gaffer, Jim Goodwin, is going through a health issue at present. As a player, Goodwin was never my favourite, in fact, he likely wasn't anyone's favourite.
Haste ye back to full health, gaffer
This column is usually filled with bad takes, daft footballing opinion and poor attempts at humour, but today I want to be a little more serious. The gaffer, Jim Goodwin, is going through a health issue at present. As a player, Goodwin was never my favourite, in fact, he likely wasn't anyone's favourite.
Autumn, finally: A season to calm our politics
As autumn arrives, columnist Tom Purcell urges Americans to step back from political stress and focus on friends, family and seasonal traditions.
Column: Wildfire bill flameout sad for California
It was unprecedented and stunning: California’s governor and top two legislative leaders negotiated a compromise on a big bill — and one house rebelled, refusing to bring it to a vote.
Even Dem court couldn’t abide theft of GOP seats
Thanks to the Colorado Supreme Court, Colorado voters will be able to reaffirm their support for the Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission after the court struck down the Democratic scheme to steal three Republican congressional seats. Billionaire-funded national Democratic groups from New York and Washington, D.C. created the hilariously named “Coloradans for a Level Playing Field,” […]
Prep sports recap for Sept. 6, 2026
PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — It was another big weekend of high school sports with plenty of football, flag football, and volleyball action. In Saturday night football action LeRoy got back in the win column with a 34-6 win over Tremont. With the win the Panthers improved to 2-1. Bloomington hosted an intercity flag football tournament. […]
The core anti-Pangram constituency is phony writers
Welcome to The Closing Argument, our verdict on the news, plus everything The Argument published and appeared in this week. The Verdict, by Kelsey Piper A lot of people hate AI for drowning the internet in slop and displacing human creatives. You might think that these people would be thrilled by a program that can identify and flag AI-generated work. But many people who hate AI also hate Pangram, an impressively accurate AI detector that produces very few false positives, according to high-quality independent research. This loathing found its most recent expression in a bizarre Wired article that amplifies a wide range of false arguments from Pangram skeptics: that AI detectors are racist (they’re not) or ableist (they’re not)1 or don’t work (this one does)2. Rather than starting from the premise that it would be really valuable to have a working AI detector and scrutinizing Pangram to make sure it lives up to that promise, the article starts from the premise that Pangram obviously has bad vibes and sets out to discover why. (One answer: The CEO microwaved lunch during an interview!) Why aren’t writers who resent Pangram more eager to distinguish themselves from posters who are having ChatGPT ghostwrite all their work? There are a few different things at play, but I think one key dynamic is this: These are often the same people. A core constituency for arguments like Wired’s is “writers” who are using AI to write their posts but resent this fact being made public. They stand to lose from AI detectors because AI detectors call them out. Share When Substack announced a partnership with Pangram, a sizable fraction of the platform’s authors rose up in outrage. Some people had experience with other AI detectors that didn’t work, and some felt that AI writing ought to be encouraged — both of which are fair enough. But the fury was fueled by authors passionately insisting that Pangram kept wrongly accusing them on almost every post they published. Pangram can be wrong, especially on short passages. But in the overwhelming majority of cases where Pangram looked at a whole blog post rather than a single paragraph, the program correctly detected work as AI. Even if we can’t be 100% sure in any individual case, we can notice the trend in the aggregate. Wired quotes Sam Illingworth, a professor of critical AI literacy at Edinburgh Napier University, who said, “I don’t think [AI detectors] work. … I think that detectors are prejudiced against certain people.” This spring, he said that he used AI for research and editing; this summer he acknowledged that in addition to research and editing, he also uses it “now and then for a turn of phrase I keep.” Pangram informs us that most of his posts are 100% AI-written (some are mixed AI-and-human) and that 100% AI-written posts started appearing last year. The favorable interpretation is that, as someone whose recent work Pangram consistently mistakes for AI, Illingworth sees Pangram’s flaws firsthand. The unfavorable interpretation is that the tool’s credibility trades off against his own, because its account of who writes his posts is not consistent with his. Illingworth is not alone in insisting the detector does not work. “It’s a Monday night in late July, and I’m pasting my own Substack draft into an AI detector for the first time. Not because I’m worried. Because I’m curious. I wrote every word of it myself, the way I write everything, out loud in my head first, in a rhythm that still carries the accent of a language I learned to think in before I learned to write in this one,” begins one Substack post by an author indignant that Pangram flags her writing as AI. “That’s the part I had to sit with before I could write this.” If you, like me, have worked with AIs a lot, you won’t even need Pangram there. The author of that piece is AI. It is obviously AI! I checked 10 other posts on the blog, and they were also obviously AI! “I have spent 22 years as an award-winning author and essayist. And now this bullshit tool that learned from MY writing is going to accuse me of plagiarism,” popular Substack writer Carlyn Beccia wrote in an anti-Pangram post. “For the last and final time, AI DETECTORS DO NOT WORK.” Here’s what her writing sounded like in 2020: “Most success stories revolve around one person who believed enough in you to say — give it a try. We call these people muses, but they are so much more than that. They are the strong man giants whose shoulders we stand on so we can see the horizon. Throughout the editing process, I am sure my editor felt less like a giant of greatness and more like Atlas with the world on her shoulders.” Pangram says it was 100% human-written. (So were other articles of hers in 2020.) And here’s what it sounds like now: “And then there is the reshuffling, which sounds like paperwork until you remember that empires have always loved paperwork. The Trump regime recently moved special education oversight from the Education Department to HHS. That is not a minor bureaucratic transfer. It changes the frame.”3 Pangram says this is mostly AI. I am not convinced that Pangram is wrong. In my own experience, Pangram is very effective on long texts — if it marks a long essay as AI, the essay was either written by AI or deliberately written to sound like AI. On tweet-length or paragraph-length texts, it’s not perfectly reliable. It seems to work just as well for non-native English speakers as for native speakers. While I have seen dozens of claims of pre-2022 text returning a positive result on Pangram, I have tried repeatedly to corroborate those and have never once succeeded. To be clear, I’m absolutely not saying that complaining about Pangram suggests a writer is a cheat. There are plenty of other concerns. Most are mistakenly premised, such as the false claim that Pangram trains on work you put into it, but others are reasonable: It’s unreliable on sufficiently short text segments; it creates an internet witch-hunt mentality when there are defensible uses of AI; people who are open about their AI use are sometimes blamed, when the only people really doing something wrong are the ones who hide it; and it isn’t perfect, so a single positive result shouldn’t be taken as decisive proof of misconduct. I’m happy to concede that Pangram is imperfect and possible to over-rely on. If an author’s posts are mostly non-AI and one scans as partially AI, this could be a mistake. It’s also possible to defeat Pangram with intentional effort. If you think we need something more robust and more reliable, fine! But if you don’t like AI and don’t like Pangram, your attitude really ought to be that it’s a shame that our existing tools for AI detection are imperfect, and it’s important to invent better ones. If your stance is instead that AI is evil and so is looking for AI, then ultimately you’re contributing to the sloppification of the internet. You’re making it harder for people who write their own text to distinguish themselves, and providing cover for authors who are definitely not writing their own text. Subscribe Top stories this week, by Kobe Yank-Jacobs Commentators often worry that the decline of reading could mean the decline of liberal democracy — but deliberative governance actually predated widespread literacy. This week, Maibritt Henkel pointed out that many liberal cultures thrive on a culture of raucous, interactive debate, which can happen in-person as easily, if not more so, than in text. Read on, dear reader, to learn more. It may actually cheer you up: [ ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/reading-wont-save-liberalism) [ Reading won’t save liberalism ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/reading-wont-save-liberalism) Maibritt Henkel · Sep 1 [ Read full story ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/reading-wont-save-liberalism) It used to be bad to downplay climate change (if we mean denying its reality). Today, it’s actually good to downplay climate change (if we mean keeping the issue out of political fights so we can make real progress). This counterintuitive view is called “climate hushing,” and contributor Alex Trembath argued that it’s the key to enacting good policy going forward. Get up to speed on the latest in climate politics: [ ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/we-wont-stop-climate-change-by-talking) [ We won’t stop climate change by talking about it ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/we-wont-stop-climate-change-by-talking) Alex Trembath · Sep 2 [ Read full story ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/we-wont-stop-climate-change-by-talking) Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney is standing up for the forces of liberalism against Donald Trump’s assault on our closest ally. So, why is one prominent left-wing commenter attacking Carney? Columnist Matthew Yglesias explains: [ ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/when-economic-liberty-means-central) [ When "economic liberty" means central planning ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/when-economic-liberty-means-central) Matthew Yglesias · Aug 31 [ Read full story ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/when-economic-liberty-means-central) 🌟Abundance Wins of the Week🌟 Shout out to my home state of California, whose legislature passed two housing bills this week. One requires a housing density minimum in transit-oriented areas of the state’s most transit-rich cities (Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, San Diego, and Long Beach). Another bill closes two common loopholes used by third parties to delay housing projects, including an opportunity to challenge maps of a given lot created by the developer after a project has been approved. Shout out to our big-state rival, Texas, where pro-housing SB 785 took effect this week. The new state law requires municipalities to have at least one district permitted for manufactured housing without a special permit. This will promote zoning changes in 44% of municipalities. The company Fervo Energy signed a deal with Google for what is set to be the world’s largest enhanced geothermal facility, proving a technology can work at a scale that could be crucial to a decarbonized, energy-abundant economy. Share Worth watching… This week, forecasting legend Nate Silver joined Jerusalem, Matt, and Jeremiah on a crowded episode of the pod. It was a party. And speaking of parties, our round table debated the factional lines within the Democratic Party: Is it possible to be center-left and also anti-establishment? Watch or listen to find out: The Rio Grande Valley in Texas is one of the areas that swung hardest toward Trump in 2024, but musician Bobby Pulido is running to flip it back. Right now, The Argument/Split Ticket’s model has him running 1.1 points behind his Republican opponent in a district Trump won by 18 points. Tune in to find out how he differs from national Democrats and what he thinks he can to do win this seat. On Thursday, Bernie Sanders was among the first politicians to call for a ban on superintelligence. My guest this week, Andrea Miotti, has been lobbying to ban superintelligence for several years, most recently in the U.K., U.S., and Canada. I asked him how he gets legislators to take speculative risks seriously, and we dug into what plans might look like to actually pass a ban. Listen to learn more: What’s News with The Argument The Argument recommends, by Kobe Yank-Jacobs If we ever lose track of Justin Zuckerman, I’ll have the team split up and check all the movie theaters in the city. I’m shocked (and a little jealous) at how often he gets out to see good cinema. This week, he brings us It Ends, a “horror-ish movie,” which he described as a “Gen Z Waiting for Godot.” I was intrigued before he added that it was “funny, dark and existential” — at which point I was fully locked in. I guess I also had existential themes on the mind this week. One morning, a single line from a poem I read long ago just came to me: “Is death a stretch of time in which a life is just a flash?” The poem is called “From 20,000 Feet” by Heather McHugh. I suggest the version in The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry, which, by tradition, my best friend and I always bring backpacking, extra weight be damned. We’ll stay thematically dark for just one more rec from senior editor John Robert Thomason, whose upcoming trip to Baltimore reminded him to suggest Michael Clune’s memoir White Out (about being addicted to heroin in Baltimore in the 1990s). Ben Lerner’s blurb called it _“_Disturbing, brilliant, hilarious—it’s as if Proust had written Jesus’ Son.” John told me this “seems accurate, with the caveat that I’ve never read Proust.” I, personally, have also shelved Proust until retirement. At this point, I was a little concerned for the team since all of us tossed out such psychologically grim material — maybe we’re all down about the end of summer — but thankfully, at least a few of us were into more upbeat selections. Milan Singh recommended Made In’s 5-quart stainless clad saucier, suggesting he had some fun in the kitchen. Jeremiah Johnson asked if he could recommend yet more Carly Rae Jepsen. Once denied, he offered up Game Changer instead_,_ calling it “the most wildly creative game show, maybe in the entire history of the genre.” Eli Richman mentioned _Lucky, “_a B-tier show with an A-tier cast and an S-tier theme song.” I suppose he was recommending the song, Horns of a Bull. Still, despite these cheerier recs, I couldn’t help but be concerned that we were subconsciously worried about racing toward summer’s end — the end of swim trunks and splashing around. Then a message landed reminding me of the three-day weekend to come. A whole extra day for sunshine. One more swim in the lake. I was grateful this called to mind yet another line from a poem, one by Mary Oliver, the patron saint of every gorgeous summer day (and about whom a documentary is now out). Speaking to God in the poem “Thirst,” she wrote: grant me, in your mercy,a little more time. Love for the earthand love for you are having such a longconversation in my heart. We have merch! We have quarter-zips, keychains, hats, and stickers. Each one is a great conversation starter in its own way. Buy them here. Subscribe More to read: [ The Opening Argument ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/seeing-like-an-elite)[ Seeing like an elite ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/seeing-like-an-elite) Kobe Yank-Jacobs · Sep 4 What do Americans hear when they watch Sen. Bernie Sanders or Vice President JD Vance rail against the elite? Are they thinking of right-wing tech billionaires? Imperious college professors? Liberal magazine writers? [ Read full story ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/seeing-like-an-elite) [ The Weekly Scroll ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/god-is-back-on-the-timeline)[ God is back on the timeline ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/god-is-back-on-the-timeline) Jeremiah Johnson · Sep 5 This week, we’re talking about Substack’s new religious debates, the continuing MAGA influencer scandal, how to retire from YouTube, and aura battles. [ Read full story ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/god-is-back-on-the-timeline) 1 This was a legitimate thing to worry about, but doesn’t seem to be a problem given the actual technology: Marijke Van Vlasselaer, Filip Van Droogenbroeck, and Bram Spruyt’s 2026 paper looks at whether Pangram is less accurate when evaluating the work of non-native speakers of English. It isn’t. That’s because Pangram isn’t really looking at how “unusual” a piece of writing is but whether it has the characteristic patterns of LLMs. The Wired article makes an odd gesture at a different Pangram-is-racist argument. There were several controversies this summer during which upcoming books were canceled after being discovered to be AI-written: “The three novels mentioned earlier — Shy Girl, Daggermouth, and Call Me, easily publishing’s biggest AI-detection scandals — were all written by writers of color.” But come on! As Zvi Mowshowitz put it: “They were not primarily written by people of color. They were primarily written by AIs.” That’s the whole problem! And as my colleague Jeremiah Johnson recently observed with respect to Cambridge’s Arday scandal, a community being unwilling to call out fraud if it’s perpetuated by people of color is not an anti-racist tendency; it is ultimately quite racist. 2 Many non-Pangram detectors don’t work, but many possible airplane designs also don’t work, and no one considers this a general argument against aviation; the thing that matters is whether any detection works. 3 The phrase “empires have always loved” mysteriously became all the rage in the last few years. See here, here, here, here and here. Before 2025, the only use of that phrase I have been able to find is a single Tweet. The logic of the sentence, too, is incoherent in an AI-characteristic way. “...sounds like paperwork, until you remember that empires have always loved paperwork”? Does remembering that make it sound less like paperwork? It’s a craft-ful sentence, but what is it actually saying??
Jodi's Journal: The emergence of the AI 'cleanup crew'
This Labor Day weekend, Jodi puts words to what many of us might be experiencing in the workplace: The role of the AI cleanup crew.
Column: Mental health leader passing the torch after successful 16-year run at Family Counseling in Aurora
At the end of this month, Eric Ward is turning the leadership of Family Counseling Service over to Jason Andrade, a colleague he’s spent the past six years preparing to succeed him.
Column: How the brotherhood among Chicago’s young stars fuels our great sports town’s next wave
Caleb Williams leading the “PCA” chants from behind the Cubs dugout Thursday night at Wrigley Field reminded us of a time when the starting quarterback of the Bears was not so beloved. It was 14 years ago next week that TMZ reported angry Bears fans at Stanley’s Kitchen & Tap, a North Side restaurant, lit a Jay Cutler jersey on fire. The video showed former Blackhawks star Chris Chelios as one ...
Immigrant input not welcome in Oakland school board races, despite law
An Oakland leader’s removal from a ballot statement drives home how immigrants are excluded from school board politics, despite a measure allowing them to vote, columnist Joe Garofoli writes.
August business changes, Smalls Sliders, Optimum make Lubbock headlines
Business Reporter Alana Edgin reviews recent Lubbock area businesses news and hints at upcoming articles in the Around the Hub column.
Column: Baseball history is full of interesting and unusual connections
“I’m not a headline guy. I know that as long as I was following Ruth to the plate, I could have stood on my head and no one would have known the difference.
Column: Enjoying everything Lower Piney has to offer
Jentel Artist Residency, located in Banner, Wyoming, offers artists, writers and composers an opportunity to spend three weeks together in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains producing work and enjoying
How posh are you? Do you have a therapist? What would you say to Trump at a party? Marina Hyde answers readers’ questions
We asked you what you most wanted to put to our Guardian columnist. You responded in droves, querying her ‘beef’ with Burnham, who she thinks is this generation’s Hugh Grant, and what she really thinks about Richard Osman ...
‘There is light at the end of this tunnel. But the tunnel is filled with sewage’: Marina Hyde on finding hope in political chaos
The Guardian columnist reflects on how she stays upbeat in a chaotic age of ejector-seat prime ministers, Mars-bound baddies and at least one celebrity ski-massacre trial …
Column: Who would want the U.S. to be run like a business?
Americans are already being ground down by actual businesses: those pinching wages and raising prices to the pain point.
Farewell Keir Starmer, a terrible politician whom we desperately wanted to be something more
‘U-turn’ doesn’t do justice to the myriad ways he found to break a pledge. Now the former PM is resigning as an MP, why did I have such high hopes? asks Guardian columnist Zoe Williams
Politics is not a spectator sport
Are you a political hobbyist or a political lobbyist? Maybe you’re a political atheist (someone who doesn’t believe in politics). There are probably other categories, but this is enough for one column. Andy Borowitz, a political satirist (another category) — best known for his “Borowitz Report,” short, fake-news, very funny dispatches — wrote a serious […]
Mark Madden: England gets football — and sports fandom
I can hear the groans from across the Atlantic: “Not another soccer column! Who cares?” It’s football, not soccer. And I care. But this won’t Xerox my usual piece about the glory of Liverpool F.C. and its epic stadium, Anfield. Glory is in limited supply after opening the new season
Column: Learn more about Iowa’s environmental health risks
Iowa has the second-highest cancer incidence rate in the nation. No single factor can be blamed. But scientists increasingly recognize that environmental exposures, including contaminants in our water, deserve serious scrutiny.
Column: California's fight against Trump's unhinged war on voting by mail
California could have some zany theater this fall: county prosecutors charging federal postmasters with felonies for obeying President Trump’s order to withhold delivery of mail ballots to voters.
St. Charles Park District: Building confidence, one Science experiment at a time
Column: Making soft, stretchy slime or dabbling in crafting Halloween-themed science experiences, there’s always a secret ingredient that instructor Lisa Lombardi brings to the table: Positivity, writes Melissa Rubalcaba Riske for the St. Charles Park District
Opinion/Guest column: More home health aid, better care for all in MA
Our state needs more clinicians to choose careers in home health so that we can improve outcomes for patients and bring down costs.
Tim Steller’s column: Choosy Tucson governments seek ideal business fit
The Tucson area’s economy is in a malaise. Still, after last summer’s data-center debacle, elected officials are being choosy, maybe too choosy, about which industries to court.
Letters: Golden anniversary suits Eric Sondheimer well
Readers of the Los Angeles Times Sports section give their thoughts on Times prep columnist Eric Sondheimer, the Dodgers, Rams and USC.
Doctor Says: Staying up late? There could be health risks.
This is a column in a series from Dr. Olivia Ragusa, a primary care physician at Baton Rouge General, sharing insight on a variety of health topics for patients of
Colorado’s hunting and fishing traditions rest on science, conservation and a proven heritage
By John Howard Eric Washburn’s recent column warns Coloradans the right to hunt and fish amendment is a Trojan horse designed to resurrect “cruel” practices voters have already banned and to elevate killing above every other form of wildlife management. The argument is passionate. It is also wrong on the text, the history, the experience […]
How AI is quietly reshaping chemical sciences
From reducing administrative workload to navigating ‘alien intelligence,’ this month’s column takes a practical look at integrating LLMs and LWMs in the lab
Sports Is a Universal Language, With Some Help From AI Translations
Today’s guest columnist is Ben Reynolds, CEO of Spalk.TV. As the World Cup showed us, sport is the language of the world. The numbers tell the story. Sixty-three million Americans watched the 2026 FIFA World Cup final between Argentina and Spain. While 62% of these fans watched the English-language broadcast on Fox, 38%—over 24 million …
Dolly Parton showed us a different kind of Southern politics
Contributing columnist Paul Hyde reflects on Dolly Parton and why she was beloved across generations, faiths, and cultural boundaries.
Column: Remembering Dolly Parton, from her quick wit to lipsyncing
MINNEAPOLIS -- I outed Dolly Parton. Back in 2004, when the country legend came to the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, I called her out in my review for
Goodbye, Dolly Parton: a gay icon whose appeal reached across age, class and politics, and into the Maga heartlands
Straight women loved her, so did Eminem. Even Donald Trump found something nice to say. Her allure had no boundaries and was truly unique, says Guardian columnist Emma Brockes
A bike ride across the Gordie Howe bridge gave me hope for civility
Free Press Contributing Columnist Randy Essex describes a bike ride across the Gordie Howe bridge amid acrimony between the two nations.
Column: Why I loved Dolly Parton and her Dollywood
CHICAGO — In the middle of Dollywood — a theme park in the Smoky Mountains that I have visited 50 times or more — there’s a replica of the one-bedroom
Martian Entertainment Names Ju Hong and Kaylin Kellin to Leadership Roles
Martian Entertainment named Ju Hong as Vice President of International Development and Kaylin Kellin as Head of Creative Strategy and Synergy, expanding…
Blue states should avoid disasters
Back when I was teaching political science at the U.S. Air Force Academy (and amazingly to me, a week from this column’s publication will mark 20 years since my retirement from active duty. Where the heck did that time go?) I used to teach my students about the Constitution, national security policy and little things […]
Guest columnist: Bill appears more political than science-based
Senate Bill 39, initially “An Act Relating to Fishing in Privately Owned Lakes and Ponds,” was passed by the 2026 General Assembly this year. In the last minutes of the […]
Dear Abby: Dad asks a lot of low-income live-at-home son
Daily advice column.
Jena Griswold’s record: corruption, incompetence
There is no statewide elected official going back decades who is as breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent as Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who is now running for attorney general of all things. And compliant ruling Democrats know it. Their silence is nothing short of complicity with Griswold’s shameful political grift. CBS Colorado’s political reporter Shaun […]
Selected Shots Sunday: First Edition
A new Sunday column, featuring my favorite Rock M photos of the week
Column: A sad ending for sports talk radio host Mike Mulligan — and some unsolicited advice for The Score
Sports talk radio WSCR-AM 670 fired Mike Mulligan and Marshall Harris without explanation. What we know — and what we hope to hear on a new Score.
Column | Lewis: Science first, politics second
As you can probably tell from these columns, I love a good debate. More importantly, I think it is important to listen to other perspectives. Through those interactions, my views evolve. After writing about housing...
Column | Lewis: Science first, politics second
As you can probably tell from these columns, I love a good debate. More importantly, I think it is important to listen to other perspectives. Through those interactions, my views evolve. After writing about housing...
Tim Steller’s column: Contract dispute shows Tucson politics changing
For Star subscribers: The controversy over a Pima County grant to a small nonprofit shows how Tucson politics are changing, as a new political group challenges the dominant network.
A summertime all-you-can-eat political buffet
We find ourselves in the doldrums of August with a complete dearth of political news. Yeah, right. These days, that train never stops moving. It is a 24/7/365 express amplified by 24/7/365 media. Let me respond with one of my occasional catch-all columns touching on a handful of topics worthy of comment but without the […]
GPL Column: Make a difference with citizen science
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed by columnists are solely the opinion of that person and not necessarily the Daily Journal.
Options: Half-day vs. all-day dove hunting preference more than science
If I had to describe myself as one type of hunter or fisherman it would start with bird hunter, and more specifically dove hunter. It is what I grew up […]
When should politics end a friendship, plus how to date in Houston
Welcome to the first edition of “Ask the CM Three,” a new advice column from CultureMap city editor Eric Sandler, home and design contributor Emily Cotton, and me, Brianna McClane. The three of us gathered for happy hour at Anvil to discuss questions submitted by readers, choosing three to tackle in our first column.
Former Seattle Times sports columnist resigns, says pieces weren't published over politics
A former Seattle Times sports columnist announced his resignation from the paper after more than a decade.
Former Seattle Times sports columnist resigns, says pieces weren't published over politics
I was a sports columnist at the Seattle Times for 11 years. This is why I resigned
A Seattle Times columnist resigned after his column defending Sophie Cunningham's stance on women's sports was spiked by multiple editors.
Seattle Times Columnist Resigns After Paper Scrapped Trans Sports Column
Matt Calkins, a longtime sports columnist, said editors had refused to publish a column about transgender athletes in women’s competitions.
Seattle Times sports columnist resigns over spiked trans athlete story
A sports columnist with The Seattle Times announced Thursday he has resigned after the outlet declined to run his piece on transgender athletes in women’s sports. “After 11 years as a sports …
Norman: What growing a business taught me about politics
We invited US Rep Ralph Norman and US Sen Darline Graham to explain why voters should select them in Tuesday’s GOP runoff for South Carolina’s Senate seat. Here’s Rep. Norman’s column.
Norman: What growing a business taught me about politics
We invited US Rep Ralph Norman and US Sen Darline Graham to explain why voters should select them in Tuesday’s GOP runoff for South Carolina’s Senate seat. Here’s Rep. Norman’s column.
Sports columnist resigns after story of protesters defending Sophie Cunningham ‘spiked’ by newspaper
Matt Calkins has resigned as sports columnist for the Seattle Times after 11 years. He says the paper refused to run a piece he wrote ahead of the Storm clash with Indiana.
High touch, not merely high tech
Commentary: AI is revolutionizing the customer journey in a wide array of dimensions. What must not be lost in this revolution, though, is the human element — including empathy, care, ethical reasoning, as well as effective decision-making and support.
Analyst does not hold back on ‘Gretzky-like’ Caitlin Clark
Caitlin Clark made her Canadian debut Tuesday, scoring 24 points and dishing out seven assists as the Indiana Fever pulled out a 101-95 win over the expansion Toronto Tempo. The game was also the first opportunity to see the Caitlin Clark phenomenon north of the border. Toronto Sun columnist Steve Simmons, who had previously written…
Clay Travis officially launches new venture Sport & State
Clay Travis has officially launched his new outlet after departing OutKick earlier this summer. On Wednesday, Travis filed his first column on Sport & State, the new sports, culture, and politics venture he will lead after 15 years building, growing, and eventually selling OutKick. Sport & State will feature an all-day lineup of live shows beginning…
Brown: There’s a Gen X-sized hole in our economy, politics and culture
"We followed a Baby Boom generation that was much larger, and therefore intractable from leadership roles. We even had the most lead exposure of any recent generation, which can’t be good," columnist Aaron Brown writes.
Ain’t Polis’ Peters commutation a pity?
I am hoping that, yet again, my long-suffering and very forgiving editor will pardon my rambling thoughts today, as there are too many open tabs on my computer that deal with issues I want to talk about (Ed: pretty used to this, so OK). Like a lot of journalists and columnists, I am on the […]
My lawyer dad says I’m a ‘huge failure’ for studying science, says I’ll never make money
I told my lawyer dad that I was getting a science PhD, and he called me a “huge failure” who will never make real money. How do I make my parents proud? Advice columnist Carolyn Hax weighs in.
Can 5 minutes of movement have health benefits? A new study says yes
Five-minute walks every hour appear to be a realistic and effective way to mitigate the effects of prolonged sitting, writes columnist Carrie Dennett.
Column: Xavier Becerra won't deliver the home runs — or strikeouts — racked up by Newsom, Schwarzenegger
California’s next governor, Xavier Becerra, is a “small ball” player, to borrow a baseball term.
Data Centers and Historic Heat Test Texas’ Business Strategy
Good Counsel columnist Carliss Chatman writes that recent heat waves and mushrooming data center plans in Texas are creating tension between the Lone Star state’s welcome mat to incorporate there, and it’s ability to support the infrastructure needed for business and taxpayers.
Is hormone therapy the cheat code to perimenopause?
Perimenopause can be overwhelming. Mood swings, insomnia and hot flashes can make you feel like a completely different person. Hormone therapy is one way a lot of women are treating the symptoms. Life Kit’s Marielle Segarra talks with Dr. Mara Gordon of NPR’s Real Talk with a Doc column about the risks and benefits.Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekitSign up for our newsletter here.Have an episode idea or feedback you want to share? Email us at lifekit@npr.orgSupport the show and listen to it sponsor-free by signing up for Life Kit+ at plus.npr.org/lifekit
Column: Solo diners are the face of ‘me-conomics’
A former colleague — terribly self-important because of winning a number of journalism prizes — once took a protege out to a fancy lunch spot in New York City. When
Column: Kyle Larson is My Race Car Hero
Kyle Larson Is the Reason I Keep Going I can’t sleep. I’m sitting here after one of the most ridiculous nights I have ever witnessed in motorsports, and I genuinely don’t know how I’m supposed to go to bed. Because tonight wasn’t just another Kyle Larson performance. It reminded me why I fell in love…
Commentary: When it comes to linemen, it's never enough
How much is enough? Can I stop after two Little Debbie oatmeal crème pies? Or will I eat the whole box of Double Stuffied pies?
12K views · 78 reactions | I told my lawyer dad that I was getting a...
I told my lawyer dad that I was getting a science PhD, and he called me a “huge failure” who will never make real money. How do I make my parents proud? Carolyn Hax, Advice Columnist weighs in.
Brandon Butler column: Wildlife science demands effective communication
Wildlife management has come a long way from the days of Aldo Leopold traversing the New Mexico mountains on horseback and the Wisconsin River Valley by canoe. Back then, most decisions were based primarily on observation and experience. Today, highly trained wildlife biologists use sophisticated research, technology and mountains of data to understand everything from population dynamics and habitat needs to disease transmission and predator-prey relationships.
The Wild Lower West: Sustainability vs Ambition
In his first column of the new season, Dixey focuses on Rob Couhig’s recent sit-down with BBC Berkshire.
Ari Emanuel's Mari Acquires ATG Entertainment
Ari Emanuel's events company Mari, founded in 2025, has acquired ATG Entertainment. The West End and Broadway venue owner and ticketing company was acquired for £4.5B ($6B).
Someone Made a Terrific Deal in the Peacock/YouTube Premium Partnership…But Who?
(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) I hope everyone around the world suffering from record heat waves is doing okay. The temperature is already up in Southern California, but obviously not nearly as bad as parts of Europe. With a super El Nińo coming this year, I worry it will get even worse. Yes, we know what’s causing this heat—it’s the carbon, duh—but we really aren’t making enough progress. I’m not “environmental strategy guy”, but if I were, I’d have some ideas of what I’d try. Honestly, for years I’ve been intrigued by the work of the folks at MEER—whose plan, super simply, is to put up mirrors to reflect heat (while continuing the important work of decarbonization)—but I’m frustrated this idea hasn’t made more progress. (Other geo-engineering groups seem to get better press.) With heat like this—cancelling events, hurting economies and, most importantly, killing people—it seems like the time to push solutions! The “mirrors on the ground” solution has barely been tried.1 While entertainment companies may not “feel the heat”, lots of outdoors/experiential industries—concerts, theme parks and so on—will. Even movie theaters could benefit, since mirrors could help lower AC costs, which I imagine is not an insignificant expense, especially in the hotter areas of the country. So I do think the entertainment industry should prioritize this issue. Anyways, let’s get back into the entertainment strategy. I was about to write, “Hey, this week we don’t have any mergers and entertainment news to dive into,” but that’s not really true, since we had more updates on Paramount-Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery. But the big story of the week involves a streamer and a Big Tech platform bundling their respective streamers. So I’ll write about the updates on Paramount buying Warner Bros., Versant making some moves, and a whole lot more. But we start with a surprising deal: Peacock licensing their content to YouTube Premium. Let’s dive in! Subscribe Most Important Story of the Week - Peacock’s Pricey Premium Partnership The story of the week is Comcast’s2 NBC-Universal’s Peacock making a deal with Google’s YouTube’s YouTube Premium subscription product to embed their content. And I’ll say this up front: Someone made a terrific deal. The question is who. And I’ll be honest: I don’t know. Let me explain why, including why this deal exists, the pros and cons for each side, the biggest unknown, and what that says about the streaming wars. Customers Love Bundles (But YouTube Has Its Own Issues) We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… Why customers love bundles… But why I’m worried about YouTube’s integration... How Peacock is trading scale for control… And the reason they likely made this deal... The odd budget math for this deal... Whether or not I think the Paramount-Skydance/WBD deal is more likely after the latest settlement... Versant making moves and why that’s good for Hollywood… Another distributor going out of business… ...and a whole lot more! ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support.
Noah Hiles: Late season collapses are what the Pirates do best
I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to write this column. While I’ve had my doubts about this Pirates team from the very beginning, there was...
How one Louisiana woman found joy in low-stakes, creative self-portrait fun
Jan Risher says she's never been able to draw well. Lately, though, she's been putting paper over her face and drawing self-portraits blind. It’s weird, it’s fun and she believes she's learning something with every attempt. This week’s column is about the unexpected joy of making something without worrying about whether it’s good.