News publishers limit Internet Archive access due to AI scraping concerns Outlets like The Guardian and The New York Times are scrutinizing digital archives as potential backdoors for AI crawlers.

Read our original scoop here: www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/news...

"Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article misstated which day the New York Mets suffered their 11th straight loss. It was on Sunday, not Monday. Even the Mets cannot lose on an off day."

Two copy editors high-fiving so hard right now

A black and white image of Richard Ovenden speaking into a microphone. Text on the image reads: "Friends of the Bodleian Annual Lecture 2026 'Defending Knowledge: Why Libraries Matter' Thursday 14 May 2026 17.30–19.30."

Why are books destroyed? 📚

Join Bodley’s Librarian @richove.bsky.social for the Friends of the Bodleian Annual Lecture exploring the history of knowledge under attack and why it matters today.

🗓️ 14 May, 5.30-7.30pm
📍 Weston Library

Book now: visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/fob-annual-l...

The problem when I graduated was that there were 200 modern British history PhDs putting in applications for every job, you had to apply for like 50 jobs to get one, and a fair few people left academia before they did. That was unpleasant in its own way, but it wasn’t a death spiral like it is now.

Check out a first look at Disney’s ASL re-animated songs from 'Encanto,' 'Frozen 2,' and 'Moana 2,' coming to Disney+ next week. The studio reworks key musical sequences using performance-driven signing.
www.cartoonbrew.com/music-videos...

Shochu, chicken liver and hearts, and salmon chazuke for late dinner.

Done with BookCon 2026, now to think about what to do in the evening.

Time to go to The Strand Bookstore.

(And/or clubbing)

There’s a pre-panel game and four audience participants came up. One is an EMT student, two are librarians, and another is a seller of an AI-detection software that catches AI music posing as non-AI original works.

Very cool random selection.

Finally got into some kind of panel.

I have arrived at BookCon.

Omelette, hashbrowns, toast, and infinite coffee.

Books books books books books books books books books books books books books books books

About to eat at one my fave diners in NYC.

the drama reminded me of raiden and rose

Pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine shows lasting results in an early trial Scientists caution that more research is needed, but nearly all of the patients who responded to the personalized vaccine are still alive six years later.

"Pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine shows lasting results in an early trial: Scientists caution that more research is needed, but nearly all of the patients who responded to the personalized vaccine are still alive six years later."

Memory of a classic NYC building about to be demolished

entinel
35 West 57th Street , The Shepard-Shieffelin Residence.1891 .
Another of the last bastions of Beaux Arts design in NYC is likely to soon be demolished. #art @bsky.art

Rest in Power to a major figure in the AIDS treatment activism in the 1980s, a time when many were indifferent or looking away.

ジタン／クジャ

勇者ヨシヒコ

a full moon is visible in the background of a cartoon ALT: a full moon is visible in the background of a cartoon

About to fly out to the Big Apple

Arrived at LAX, traveling from 6:50 PM to 8:23 PM.

Buttered Yuebing

For what it's worth, my highly-placed editor at Orbit (Hachette) says they don't use AI in their art dept, editorial or production. She is troubled by this and investigating further.

The Author's Guild has also issued legal clauses to help agents secure their clients' work against AI digestion.

My venture into online fandom started with Disney's animated series GARGOYLES, circa 1994. A little fanfic story I toyed with ended up being submitted to Disney's adult literary division, as a potential series of novels. That didn't work out -- but it did launch my screenwriting career. 😊

Visual development art by Tadahiro Uesugi for Carole & Tuesday (2019), dir. Shinichiro Watanabe, Bones

Thank you!

Taking the metro to LAX once more 🚊

Anthropic Settlement Update: 91.3 Percent of Books Claimed in Settlement - The Authors Guild Yesterday, class counsel in the Bartz v. Anthropic lawsuit filed papers apprising the court that 440,490 of the 482,460 eligible works had been claimed—a remarkable 91.3 percent rate (the typical clas...

New on the Anthropic settlement from the @authorsguild.org : over 91% (!!) of eligible books were claimed as of the claims deadline (I would not have predicted such a high number!)

Looks like the payout will be close to the $3000 originally estimated authorsguild.org/news/anthrop...

Why do the Japanese like their buns askew (2026)

"The University of California system, the California State system, the City University of New York — these are the institutions actually educating America’s workforce, actually moving first-generation students into the middle class, actually delivering on higher education’s democratic promise."