Welcome back to Tidings, our weekly newsletter highlighting some of the most interesting stories shared on Seabird. There's much more on our app and website, where our community shares great links every day. Sign up and check it out!

​It's a great time to be the giant maker of Route 66​

Ahead of the highway's centennial, a profile of Mark Cline, keeping the art of giant fiberglass roadside sculptures alive.

Dwell | Zoey Goto

​Samurai vs. squatters​

Tagging along with the hired hands using dubiously legal means—and a katana—to clear squatters for landlords frustrated by California's time-consuming evictions process.

Reason | Christian Britschgi

​The world is awash in bourbon​

16 million barrels of bourbon currently reside in Kentucky. That's a problem for producers, who can't find enough people to drink it.

The Wall Street Journal | Laura Cooper

​He's so random​

To break free from repetitive optimization, a man hands his life decisions over to random algorithms.

The Atlantic | Simone Stolzoff

​Why the best writing advice is often the weirdest​

A writing coach reviews the latest in a line of unconventional writing guides. "As someone who has tried more than my share of silly writing prompts, I’m annoyed when this kind of thing succeeds—and it did."

The New Yorker | David O'Neill

​The Filipino virtual assistants behind LinkedIn’s “thought leadership”​

Remote jobs of the present: using AI to write generic "thought leadership" posts for executives on LinkedIn.

Rest of World | Michael Beltran

​Traversing the mahjong multiverse​

A look at the rising popularity of mahjong, with a not always amicable divide between American and Chinese versions of the game.

Coyote | Nicole Wong

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​Prosecute these corrupt bastards!​

The case for not letting bygones be bygones and prosecuting criminals at all levels of the Trump administration.

Liberal Currents | Samantha Hancox-Li

​Trump's slush fund is grotesquely corrupt​

"It all points not only to corruption but to a march toward authoritarian rule imposed by way of the streets. Trump intends to use public money to reward followers who broke the law, often violently, to keep him in power despite the election returns."

The UnPopulist | Walter Olson

​13 men killed by US military boat strikes identified​

Investigations reveal identities of more of the nearly 200 individuals killed by the military at sea, overwhelmingly from poor communities and some with no apparent connection to the drug trade.

The Guardian | Tiago Rogero

​Actually, democracy dies in H.R.​

New research highlights the role of rewarding low-performers for authoritarians seeking to consolidate and hold on to power.

The New York Times | Amanda Taub

​The EU is going through a Trump-fueled breakup with big tech​

As trust in the US falls, Europe is ditching American software for open source and European tech.

Wired | Matt Burgess and Vittoria Elliott

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​Pasta worthy of a pilgrimage​

Seeking out Italy's rarest pasta in Sardinia, "su filindeu, the threads of God."

The New York Times | Matt Goulding and Sam Youkilis

​Life and death in Kevin Morby's Midwest​

A visit with the musician in Missouri to reflect on his life and latest album, Little Wide Open.

Pitchfork | Jenn Pelly

​My mother-in-law's records​

Life, love, and divorce, as seen through a collection of vinyl.

I Have That on Vinyl | Laura Lippman

​It's the most annoying traffic jam in Portland​

Excellent local journalism digging into solutions for Portland's plague of traffic jams caused by trains on the inner east side.

Willamette Week | Garrett Andrews

​How the bird eye was pushed to an evolutionary extreme​

Finally, in bird news... Solving the long-standing mystery of how birds' retinas evolved to work without oxygen.

Quanta | Yasemin Saplakoglu

Tidings is edited by Jacob Grier. The links in our newsletter were all shared first on Seabird, our minimalist platform simply designed for recommending worthwhile links. Learn more about us here and join to discover and share articles like these every day. Your recommendations may appear in a future edition of Tidings.