For two decades, Google Search was the largely invisible force that determined the ebb and flow of online content. Now, for the first time since Google’s launch, a world without it at the center actually seems possible. We’re clearly at the end of one era and at the threshold of another.

Independent Oxford University study covering nearly a million people across 72 countries over 12 years finding:

[T]he spread of Facebook across the globe found no evidence that the social media platform’s worldwide penetration is linked to widespread psychological harm.

Would love to see an art thief try to walk out with this canvas.

A hot global art market that has defied COVID-19 downturns is partly behind the $150 million increase in the painting’s value since its last valuation five years ago. Purchased for $1.3 million in a courageous call by the gallery’s inaugural director James Mollison in 1973, the piece has come to be regarded as one of the most important works of the 20th century.

Everything is fine until the president starts hacking.

Some civil servants in Indonesia’s capital began working from home Monday under measures aimed at reducing traffic congestion to alleviate horrendous air pollution that has gripped the city and been blamed for President Joko Widodo’s persistent cough.

You were riding in the middle of the workday.
The only people who should ride their bikes during the workday are bike messengers, who I also dislike. They weave, they bob—it’s inappropriate. Bike messengers need to do what drivers do: go straight, get pissed off, and hate everyone.

This might be a good model for keeping small booksellers afloat in the U.S. and elsewhere if they can piggyback on local public libraries.  I suppose a bidding process would have to go out and that some definitions of what defines a small bookseller would be required.

At its heart, the Dasgupta and Co. library will not only house books but also shatter barriers of language and understanding. Emphasizing translations between English and Bangla, it strives to empower those brilliant Bengali-medium students who yearn to grasp the world beyond their linguistic borders. Conversely, it aims to empower those who are proficient in English yet seek to embrace the literary treasures concealed within the beautiful Bengali language.