𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝙲. 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚗
@charlescmann.bsky.social
Author of "1491, "1493," and, most recently, "The Wizard and the Prophet." Working, inefficiently, on another book.
The background image is pretty old by now, but I like the pig. The avatar photo is only a couple years old, though, so that's something.
The background image is pretty old by now, but I like the pig. The avatar photo is only a couple years old, though, so that's something.
Pinned
How the System Works
A series on the hidden mechanisms that support modern life — and what happens if we don’t maintain them
www.thenewatlantis.com
My thanks to the New Atlantis, letting me do this series on "How the System Works," and for removing the paywall today. It's maddening how little attention our society--and our political leaders, who take cues from us--pay to the systems that have made things better for so many billions.
Reposted by 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝙲. 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚗
"Commas should be used only and always to indicate where a breath occurs" is the assertion of people who are dreadful at punctuation.
November 10, 2025 at 2:17 PM
"Commas should be used only and always to indicate where a breath occurs" is the assertion of people who are dreadful at punctuation.
Via a pal in tech, w/ the comment:
www.cartoonshateher.com/p/dont-prove...
"She's correct. Stereotypically 'male' toxic workplaces are more likely to involve obvious physical stuff, and hence are easier for HR to swoop down on than the toxic stuff in stereotypically 'female' workplaces...."
www.cartoonshateher.com/p/dont-prove...
"She's correct. Stereotypically 'male' toxic workplaces are more likely to involve obvious physical stuff, and hence are easier for HR to swoop down on than the toxic stuff in stereotypically 'female' workplaces...."
November 10, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Via a pal in tech, w/ the comment:
www.cartoonshateher.com/p/dont-prove...
"She's correct. Stereotypically 'male' toxic workplaces are more likely to involve obvious physical stuff, and hence are easier for HR to swoop down on than the toxic stuff in stereotypically 'female' workplaces...."
www.cartoonshateher.com/p/dont-prove...
"She's correct. Stereotypically 'male' toxic workplaces are more likely to involve obvious physical stuff, and hence are easier for HR to swoop down on than the toxic stuff in stereotypically 'female' workplaces...."
Reposted by 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝙲. 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚗
What happened when I dug into some of the key studies and ideas quoted in The Tipping Point and its sequel… kucharski.substack.com/p/the-real-r...
November 9, 2025 at 1:44 PM
What happened when I dug into some of the key studies and ideas quoted in The Tipping Point and its sequel… kucharski.substack.com/p/the-real-r...
James Watson was such a big, divisive figure that no single obituary I've read yet really captures him. The Cold Springs Harbor obit does a fine job on his very real, very important scientific accomplishments but seriously slights the weird, awful turn his life took in his last ~20 yrs...
In remembrance of Dr. James D. Watson | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Jim Watson made many contributions to science, education, public service, and especially Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL). As a scientist, his and Francis Crick’s determination of the structure of...
cshl.edu
November 9, 2025 at 2:55 PM
James Watson was such a big, divisive figure that no single obituary I've read yet really captures him. The Cold Springs Harbor obit does a fine job on his very real, very important scientific accomplishments but seriously slights the weird, awful turn his life took in his last ~20 yrs...
Just remembering that Dick Cheney secretly intervened in a dispute over the Klamath River in 2001--and caused the biggest fish die-off in US history, with ~77,000 fully grown adult salmon piled on the banks of the river.
November 8, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Just remembering that Dick Cheney secretly intervened in a dispute over the Klamath River in 2001--and caused the biggest fish die-off in US history, with ~77,000 fully grown adult salmon piled on the banks of the river.
Anyone who doesn't believe diversity is strength has never put sriracha, Kewpie mayonnaise and green tomato chutney on porchetta. Ask me how I know.
November 8, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Anyone who doesn't believe diversity is strength has never put sriracha, Kewpie mayonnaise and green tomato chutney on porchetta. Ask me how I know.
Reposted by 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝙲. 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚗
Interesting to see @meganwachspress.bsky.social observe that the Sierra Club’s staff were clear-eyed about the need for clean energy development while the *members/small-dollar donor base* were more resistant to it.
I was at the Sierra Club during the period described in this article and although I have my criticisms, it gets the issues in the Club fundamentally wrong. A 🧵
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
The Sierra Club Embraced Social Justice. Then It Tore Itself Apart.
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Interesting to see @meganwachspress.bsky.social observe that the Sierra Club’s staff were clear-eyed about the need for clean energy development while the *members/small-dollar donor base* were more resistant to it.
There's a little business near us that roasts and sells fancy coffee for coffee snobs like me. Just visited them. "The tariffs are killing us... We held out as long as possible but now we're raising them by $2/lb and we're still losing... Even the big guys are getting slaughtered."
November 7, 2025 at 5:28 PM
There's a little business near us that roasts and sells fancy coffee for coffee snobs like me. Just visited them. "The tariffs are killing us... We held out as long as possible but now we're raising them by $2/lb and we're still losing... Even the big guys are getting slaughtered."
This charming if hagiographic article about Cormac McCarthy's insanely huge personal library and the overwhelmed scholars trying to go through it is full of unexpectedly funny evidence of the man's omnivorous curiosity. /v @meganabbott.bsky.social www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture...
November 7, 2025 at 5:05 PM
This charming if hagiographic article about Cormac McCarthy's insanely huge personal library and the overwhelmed scholars trying to go through it is full of unexpectedly funny evidence of the man's omnivorous curiosity. /v @meganabbott.bsky.social www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture...
I'm not the only writer, it seems, who's had companies use AI to produce crappy comic versions of his stuff. This stuff is intensely irritating. I'm not sure it's plagiarism, though, because it's so inaccurate. I'd be willing to bet the author didn't have people saying "you'll fly France!"
AI has scraped my second book and produced this shitty comic. Firstly, the winds are in all the wrong places. Secondly, what the hell is happening in that second panel? Thirdly, this is plagiarism and totally unlicensed. Have any other authors had this done 'for free' to their books?
November 7, 2025 at 3:43 PM
I'm not the only writer, it seems, who's had companies use AI to produce crappy comic versions of his stuff. This stuff is intensely irritating. I'm not sure it's plagiarism, though, because it's so inaccurate. I'd be willing to bet the author didn't have people saying "you'll fly France!"
Reposted by 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝙲. 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚗
Listeria kills.
Check any pasta meals you bought from Trader Joe's, Albertson's, Kroger, Walmart, Giant Eagle, or Sprouts.
Cooking doesn't kill listeria; it survives to kill us. Do not mess with it.
www.npr.org/2025/11/04/n...
Check any pasta meals you bought from Trader Joe's, Albertson's, Kroger, Walmart, Giant Eagle, or Sprouts.
Cooking doesn't kill listeria; it survives to kill us. Do not mess with it.
www.npr.org/2025/11/04/n...
Worsening listeria outbreak tied to pasta products kills 6, hospitalizes 25
Certain prepared pasta dishes were recalled from retailers like Trader Joe's, Kroger and Walmart between June and October. Health officials urge customers to dispose of them and clean their fridges.
www.npr.org
November 6, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Listeria kills.
Check any pasta meals you bought from Trader Joe's, Albertson's, Kroger, Walmart, Giant Eagle, or Sprouts.
Cooking doesn't kill listeria; it survives to kill us. Do not mess with it.
www.npr.org/2025/11/04/n...
Check any pasta meals you bought from Trader Joe's, Albertson's, Kroger, Walmart, Giant Eagle, or Sprouts.
Cooking doesn't kill listeria; it survives to kill us. Do not mess with it.
www.npr.org/2025/11/04/n...
There's lots in this piece that I'd argue about, but the central point is spot-on: social problems all over the world are rooted in the long-term, state-encouraged dispossession of smallholders by industrial agriculture, wrecking communities as it empties the countryside.
The planet, and human social life, depend on peasant farmers | Aeon Essays
Far from being a relic of the past, peasants are vital to feeding the world. They need to be supported, not marginalised
aeon.co
November 6, 2025 at 3:16 PM
There's lots in this piece that I'd argue about, but the central point is spot-on: social problems all over the world are rooted in the long-term, state-encouraged dispossession of smallholders by industrial agriculture, wrecking communities as it empties the countryside.
Two days before the election, my pal K. said that Nancy Pelosi would retire the instant it was clear that California had passed the gerrymandering bill to ensure that the state's congressional delegation was overwhelmingly Democratic. Looks like he called that one. An amazing politician.
Pelosi Plans to Retire in 2027 After 39 Years in Congress
www.nytimes.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Two days before the election, my pal K. said that Nancy Pelosi would retire the instant it was clear that California had passed the gerrymandering bill to ensure that the state's congressional delegation was overwhelmingly Democratic. Looks like he called that one. An amazing politician.
Speaking of seizing the means of production...
The Export-Import Bank can end up temporarily having equity in some US companies to support them in international trade, but this--partial ownership of US Steel, Intel, MP Materials, Lithium Americas, and Trilogy Metals--seems quite different.
The Export-Import Bank can end up temporarily having equity in some US companies to support them in international trade, but this--partial ownership of US Steel, Intel, MP Materials, Lithium Americas, and Trilogy Metals--seems quite different.
Trump Administration Now Holds Stakes In 5 Public Companies: Here's A List—INTC, MP, LAC And More
In a significant shift in U.S. industrial policy, the Donald Trump administration has acquired direct ownership stakes in five major publicly traded companies. This series of interventions, framed as ...
finance.yahoo.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Speaking of seizing the means of production...
The Export-Import Bank can end up temporarily having equity in some US companies to support them in international trade, but this--partial ownership of US Steel, Intel, MP Materials, Lithium Americas, and Trilogy Metals--seems quite different.
The Export-Import Bank can end up temporarily having equity in some US companies to support them in international trade, but this--partial ownership of US Steel, Intel, MP Materials, Lithium Americas, and Trilogy Metals--seems quite different.
Economists have boatloads of evidence that rent control damages cities, and hence Mamdani's plans for it are disastrous. But there's also an argument (with some data) that rent control defuses the political resistance to new housing--it defangs NIMBYism (at least somewhat).
November 4, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Economists have boatloads of evidence that rent control damages cities, and hence Mamdani's plans for it are disastrous. But there's also an argument (with some data) that rent control defuses the political resistance to new housing--it defangs NIMBYism (at least somewhat).
Do I have this right? U.S. gov't is planning to give Westinghouse, Cameco, & Brookfield Asset Management “at least” $80B to build nukes. Westinghouse builds reactors. Cameco sells uranium and bought half of Westingthouse in '23. BAM is a ~$1 trillion holding company that bought the other half. 1/4
Cameco and Brookfield establish transformational partnership with United States Government
Cameco and Brookfield establish transformational partnership with United States Government to accelerate deployment of Westinghouse nuclear reactorsCameco Corporation (TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ) today annou...
www.cameco.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Do I have this right? U.S. gov't is planning to give Westinghouse, Cameco, & Brookfield Asset Management “at least” $80B to build nukes. Westinghouse builds reactors. Cameco sells uranium and bought half of Westingthouse in '23. BAM is a ~$1 trillion holding company that bought the other half. 1/4
An editor of mine used to call this type of story a "hardy perennial"--a story you can run again and again, even though it's always wrong. His example was "Blimps are coming back!" Here it's "1 million to flee election result"--like all the lefties who claimed they'd flee from Trump's election.
Nearly a million New Yorkers ready to flee NYC if Mamdani becomes mayor — possibly igniting largest exodus in history: poll
Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers are prepared to bolt from the Big Apple if socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani wins Tuesday’s mayoral race — potentially setting the stage for the largest popula…
nypost.com
November 3, 2025 at 5:59 PM
An editor of mine used to call this type of story a "hardy perennial"--a story you can run again and again, even though it's always wrong. His example was "Blimps are coming back!" Here it's "1 million to flee election result"--like all the lefties who claimed they'd flee from Trump's election.
Here's a surprise.
A new paper, as yet un-peer-reviewed, reports finding a Covid-like virus with a natural furin cleavage site in a Brazilian bat.
Not-bad PR on the paper: www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/new...
A new paper, as yet un-peer-reviewed, reports finding a Covid-like virus with a natural furin cleavage site in a Brazilian bat.
Not-bad PR on the paper: www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/new...
A divergent betacoronavirus with a functional furin cleavage site in South American bats
Bats are natural reservoirs for a wide range of RNA viruses. Members of the genus Betacoronavirus , including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrom...
www.biorxiv.org
November 2, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Here's a surprise.
A new paper, as yet un-peer-reviewed, reports finding a Covid-like virus with a natural furin cleavage site in a Brazilian bat.
Not-bad PR on the paper: www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/new...
A new paper, as yet un-peer-reviewed, reports finding a Covid-like virus with a natural furin cleavage site in a Brazilian bat.
Not-bad PR on the paper: www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/new...
Uh, wut. Do I have this right? You have sent me email to inform me that unless I specifically say "no", you will use AI to take my work and turn it into a comic?
October 31, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Uh, wut. Do I have this right? You have sent me email to inform me that unless I specifically say "no", you will use AI to take my work and turn it into a comic?
Mr. Bump is correct to single out fusion as the most ridiculous bit of this ridiculous claim. Next year, 2026, will be the 80th anniversary of the first patent for a fusion reactor, which was issued to GP Thomson and Moses Blackman.
October 31, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Mr. Bump is correct to single out fusion as the most ridiculous bit of this ridiculous claim. Next year, 2026, will be the 80th anniversary of the first patent for a fusion reactor, which was issued to GP Thomson and Moses Blackman.
Donald Trump, 9/26/25 vs. RFKJr., 10/29/25.
October 30, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Donald Trump, 9/26/25 vs. RFKJr., 10/29/25.
Truly, we live in wondrous times. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...
October 30, 2025 at 2:49 AM
Truly, we live in wondrous times. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...
Reposted by 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝙲. 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚗
They revoked Wole Soyinka’s US visa? I keep typing reactions and deleting them. Another new low.
The first African author to win the Nobel in literature, Soyinka has been an outspoken critic of governments worldwide.
Trump administration strips Nigerian Nobel winner Wole Soyinka of US visa
The first African author to win the Nobel in literature, Soyinka has been an outspoken critic of governments worldwide.
bit.ly
October 29, 2025 at 11:38 AM
They revoked Wole Soyinka’s US visa? I keep typing reactions and deleting them. Another new low.
It is indeed Impressive that this reporter was trying to make something of a politician appealing to group of potential voters from an ethnic group by pronouncing their homeland's name correctly, and using that attempt (and flattery of those potential voters) as a lede.
October 29, 2025 at 1:34 PM
It is indeed Impressive that this reporter was trying to make something of a politician appealing to group of potential voters from an ethnic group by pronouncing their homeland's name correctly, and using that attempt (and flattery of those potential voters) as a lede.
Reposted by 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝙲. 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚗
This continued warmth means that it is likely that 2025 will end up more or less tying 2023 as the second or third warmest year since records began in 1850.
October 28, 2025 at 3:36 PM
This continued warmth means that it is likely that 2025 will end up more or less tying 2023 as the second or third warmest year since records began in 1850.