Welcome back, Tidings readers. All of the links in this newsletter were shared first by the community of users on Seabird. If you're not yet on Seabird, download the app or sign up on the web for the full experience. On to this week's links...

​Off ramp​

On the problem with ramps, the hip spring vegetable that resists cultivation, and what happens when demand skyrockets.

Slate | Danny Palumbo

​Nothing prepared me for Tilly Norwood​

Profiling a celebrity gets weird when the celebrity is just a computer.

The New York Times Magazine | Taffy Brodesser-Akner

​Where dogs go on with their doggy life​

"Artists use dogs to do what both they and dogs are good at: telling us where to look." A new book examines the role of dogs in art.

The Atlantic | Judith Shulevitz

​The California novel no one can find​

Following the trail of an extremely rare first edition of Yellow Bird, a pulp novel that has attained cult status among collectors.

Alta Journal | Geoffrey Gray

​Richard Glossip on life after decades on death row​

Sentenced twice to death, facing execution nine times, and his conviction vacated in 2025, Richard Glossip finally gets to experience life outside of prison.

The Intercept | Liliana Segura and Jordan Smith

​'The devil's child'​

Profile of perhaps the only woman to become a yakuza and explanations for the decline of organized crime in Japan.

The Guardian | Sean Williams

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​Enshittification, despotification, and the open internet​

How the open web was captured by centralized platforms and how to build a new generation of user-friendly protocols that resist control of chokepoints by corporations and governments.

Liberalism.org | Mike Masnick

​Gemini Spark is the most impressive and terrifying AI experience I’ve had yet​

And a preview of the tradeoffs users will face between usefully engaging AI agents and giving up their personal data.

The Verge | David Pierce

​The 40 most rage-inducing problems in tech​

A humorous list of complaints about tech that didn't quite make it into Pope Leo's Magnifica Humanitas.

The Ringer | Brian Phillips

​What it means to be a man is a theme in Texas Senate race​

"Some people know him as tofu Talarico. Some people call him six-gender Jimmy." On the ugly gender politics coming from the right in the Texas Senate race.

NPR | Danielle Kurtzleben

​Dissension, destruction, and war​

Approaching the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, an essay questioning whether its Lockean roots impede the achievement of liberty in a pluralistic society.

Liberty Fund | Jacob T. Levy

​It used to feel good to be Norwegian​

The discovery of prominent Norwegians in the Epstein Files spurs reflections on Norway's self-image image as a country defined by its goodness.

The Dial | Ola Morris Innset

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​A personalized vaccine for melanoma cut the risk of cancer returning​

Early trial results for personalized mRNA vaccines to treat skin cancer show promise for preventing recurrence.

NBC News | Kaitlin Sullivan

​Bright city lights may be making your allergies worse​

A study suggests that urban light pollution causes plants to produce more pollen for extended periods, leading to a longer, more intense allergy season.

The New York Times | Marta Zaraska

​Comparisons as predictable as the sunrise​

Data analysis of the most common similes used in English. As neat as heck.

The Pudding | Russell Samora

​The inside story of the Athens music scene​

An oral history of how Athens, Georgia, became an outsized music town, from the B-52s to R.E.M.

Garden and Gun | Tommy Tomlinson

​Canned cocktails will smash you to the ground​

How the canned cocktail, stronger than the average beer, is bringing stronger drinks to places like American baseball stadiums.

The Atlantic | Nicholas Florko

​The 100 greatest bird names of all time​

Finally, in bird news... Chaco chachalaca, paddyfield pipit, and 98 more of the best-named birds.

Bird History | Robert Francis

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.