Reading

Created
Fri, 02/01/2026 - 01:47
To all of you – a healthy, flourishing, and meaningful 2026! To the world – I am less sure where to begin, since 2025 was, politically and morally speaking, one of the worst years since long. Let’s hope for peace, definitely. Responsible leaders with sound morals. Positive tipping points in climate action. A decline of […]
Created
Fri, 02/01/2026 - 01:23

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We’re counting down our most-read pieces of 2025. This list will be updated daily until we reach #1 on December 31. Thanks to all our contributors, readers, and supporters this year!

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1. The Em Dash Responds to the AI Allegations
by Greg Mania

2. Voting for the Mayor Who Promised to Blow Up the City Doesn’t Mean I Approve of the Mayor Blowing Up the City
by Mike Drucker

3. Unsung Heroes of Motherhood
by Wendi Aarons and Johanna Gohmann

Created
Thu, 01/01/2026 - 05:56


Our most-read article of 2025.

(Originally published Juily 17, 2025.)

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“In recent months, a curious fixation has emerged in corners of academia: the em dash. More specifically, the apparent moral panic around how it is spaced. A dash with no spaces on either side? That must be AI-generated writing. Case closed.”
— Joseph Mellors,
Inside Higher Ed

Created
Thu, 01/01/2026 - 00:41


Our 2nd most-read article of 2025.

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It’s so easy to label people these days. From the way folks have been talking, you’d think everyone falls into two buckets: those who voted against the mayor who promised to blow up the city and those who voted for the mayor who promised to blow up the city. And now that the mayor, whom I voted for, is blowing up the city, as he promised, I’m one of many people who are being unfairly blamed for something I didn’t want. Okay? I didn’t want the mayor to blow up the city like he mentioned many times; I just wanted him to fix the old bowling alley like he promised in passing once. Anyone saying I’m partially responsible for the explosions is just a sign that they have no argument.

Created
Wed, 31/12/2025 - 09:52
In January 2026, I will begin working full time in my role as Director at the Social Web Foundation. I am looking forward to the challenge of growing this young non-profit and fulfilling our mission to make a bigger, better Fediverse. As a refresher: I have been working in the area of federated social networks … Continue reading Working full time on the Social Web
Created
Wed, 31/12/2025 - 04:59


Our 3rd most-read article of 2025.

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Originally published May 9, 2025.

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Julie Owens, who bravely tugged on a tankini in mid-January in order to chaperone her twins to an indoor water park. After nearly swallowing a wet Band-Aid in the wave pool, Owens—in a show of tremendous valor—merely dry heaved thrice.

Hannah Robertson, who not only took her eleven-year-old to Sephora but also bought the pubescent child a sixty-five-dollar jade roller and a twenty-five-dollar toner, all without once rolling her eyes or mentioning the patriarchy.

Created
Tue, 30/12/2025 - 20:42
Traditionally, philosophers have focused mostly on the logical template of inference. The paradigm-case has been deductive inference, which is topic-neutral and context-insensitive. The study of deductive rules has engendered the search for the Holy Grail: syntactic and topic-neutral accounts of all prima facie reasonable inferential rules. The search has hoped to find rules that are […]