whet moser
@whetmoser.com
newsletters @ nyt. ex qz, chicago mag, chicago reader. i'm not a miracle worker, i'm a janitor
Reposted by whet moser
Here's a gift link to the @vox.com piece I wrote explaining eight of the biggest, cultural, "if you know, you know" moments of Bad Bunny's halftime show www.vox.com/culture/4784...
Bad Bunny’s knockout halftime show, explained by a Puerto Rican
All of the cultural Easter eggs you might have missed.
www.vox.com
February 9, 2026 at 8:31 PM
Here's a gift link to the @vox.com piece I wrote explaining eight of the biggest, cultural, "if you know, you know" moments of Bad Bunny's halftime show www.vox.com/culture/4784...
Reposted by whet moser
New from me for @chicagoreader.com: This month, Chicago programmer Tyler Balentine is showcasing local Black filmmakers across two series at two different cinemas. Read and learn about each series and Chicago's local Black filmmaking community.
chicagoreader.com/film-tv/movi...
chicagoreader.com/film-tv/movi...
Celebrate Black History Month with local film programming - Chicago Reader
For BHM100, the Music Box Theatre, Facets, and other institutions will host special screenings that feature Black filmmakers and culture.
chicagoreader.com
February 9, 2026 at 8:27 PM
New from me for @chicagoreader.com: This month, Chicago programmer Tyler Balentine is showcasing local Black filmmakers across two series at two different cinemas. Read and learn about each series and Chicago's local Black filmmaking community.
chicagoreader.com/film-tv/movi...
chicagoreader.com/film-tv/movi...
Reposted by whet moser
Drafts are for losers. The me of fifteen minutes ago bears no resemblance to the me now, I don’t need to keep his thoughts.
February 9, 2026 at 8:28 PM
Drafts are for losers. The me of fifteen minutes ago bears no resemblance to the me now, I don’t need to keep his thoughts.
Reposted by whet moser
I just sold probably the last of my on-sale paintings that I would have ever expected to sell and so I'm putting this out there in case someone else feels like surprising me
octophant.us/paintings
octophant.us/paintings
Original Paintings for Sale — Phineas X. Jones
Original paintings I painted that you can and should buy
octophant.us
February 9, 2026 at 7:54 PM
I just sold probably the last of my on-sale paintings that I would have ever expected to sell and so I'm putting this out there in case someone else feels like surprising me
octophant.us/paintings
octophant.us/paintings
Reposted by whet moser
one of my favorite architecture writers is at it again!!!!
wrote about st. mary’s cathedral in san francisco, which was built on this site partially because of parking minimums that came into effect in 1960, right before st. mary’s II burned down a few blocks away
www.postcard-past.com/st-marys-cat...
www.postcard-past.com/st-marys-cat...
St. Mary's Cathedral, San Francisco
Ecclesiastical modernism, structural expressionism, urban renewal, Vatican II, plagiarism and...parking minimums?!
www.postcard-past.com
February 9, 2026 at 7:42 PM
one of my favorite architecture writers is at it again!!!!
Reposted by whet moser
Journalism Jobs: The @startribune.com is hiring an investigative reporter at their headquarters in Minneapolis MN, a state increasingly at the center of national news conversations including policing, immigration, public safety, business, politics and fraud.
recruiting2.ultipro.com
February 9, 2026 at 7:32 PM
Journalism Jobs: The @startribune.com is hiring an investigative reporter at their headquarters in Minneapolis MN, a state increasingly at the center of national news conversations including policing, immigration, public safety, business, politics and fraud.
“a gift link is a paid ad” now that’s some Discourse
Between the incorrect assumption that spread all over the internet that Liam Conejo Ramos was in Bad Bunny's halftime performance and a whole discourse I'm seeing on how "gift link" or "gift article" = paid ad (???), not feeling too hot about the state of media literacy.
February 9, 2026 at 7:23 PM
“a gift link is a paid ad” now that’s some Discourse
Reposted by whet moser
As @postguild.bsky.social assesses the damage from last week’s layoffs, it turns out between 44% and 47.5% of the newsroom has been axed. It “may have been the biggest one-day wipeout of journalists in a generation.” washingtonian.com/2026/02/09/a...
Actually, the Washington Post Layoffs Were a Bigger Bloodbath Than You Thought - Washingtonian
The layoffs announced last week at the Washington Post were disfiguring to the esteemed news organization, with whole sections and departments—sports, books, staff photography—wiped away, and devastat...
washingtonian.com
February 9, 2026 at 6:57 PM
As @postguild.bsky.social assesses the damage from last week’s layoffs, it turns out between 44% and 47.5% of the newsroom has been axed. It “may have been the biggest one-day wipeout of journalists in a generation.” washingtonian.com/2026/02/09/a...
Reposted by whet moser
In the last month ICE has bought warehouses in:
- Hagerstown, MD: $102 million
- Surprise, AZ: $70 million
- Hamburg, PA: $87 million
- Tremont, PA: $120 million
- San Antonio, TX: $82 million
- El Paso, TX: $123 million
- Social Circle, GA: price unknown
This is unprecedented.
- Hagerstown, MD: $102 million
- Surprise, AZ: $70 million
- Hamburg, PA: $87 million
- Tremont, PA: $120 million
- San Antonio, TX: $82 million
- El Paso, TX: $123 million
- Social Circle, GA: price unknown
This is unprecedented.
February 9, 2026 at 6:09 PM
In the last month ICE has bought warehouses in:
- Hagerstown, MD: $102 million
- Surprise, AZ: $70 million
- Hamburg, PA: $87 million
- Tremont, PA: $120 million
- San Antonio, TX: $82 million
- El Paso, TX: $123 million
- Social Circle, GA: price unknown
This is unprecedented.
- Hagerstown, MD: $102 million
- Surprise, AZ: $70 million
- Hamburg, PA: $87 million
- Tremont, PA: $120 million
- San Antonio, TX: $82 million
- El Paso, TX: $123 million
- Social Circle, GA: price unknown
This is unprecedented.
Reposted by whet moser
When you count the non-Guild represented people the Post laid off last week, it's close to half the newsroom,
@farhip.bsky.social writes:
@farhip.bsky.social writes:
Actually, the Washington Post Layoffs Were a Bigger Bloodbath Than You Thought - Washingtonian
The layoffs announced last week at the Washington Post were disfiguring to the esteemed news organization, with whole sections and departments—sports, books, staff photography—wiped away, and devastat...
washingtonian.com
February 9, 2026 at 6:39 PM
When you count the non-Guild represented people the Post laid off last week, it's close to half the newsroom,
@farhip.bsky.social writes:
@farhip.bsky.social writes:
Reposted by whet moser
I am trying to get some work done today, but, boy, they just won't stop rewriting history!
February 9, 2026 at 6:07 PM
I am trying to get some work done today, but, boy, they just won't stop rewriting history!
hey, i heard they made you the olympics mascot www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/s...
February 9, 2026 at 6:29 PM
hey, i heard they made you the olympics mascot www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/s...
Reposted by whet moser
Current* conditions near Chicago, IL:
February 9, 2026 at 5:36 PM
Current* conditions near Chicago, IL:
we love a guy who likes to remember some guys
"He remembers random sports trivia in extraordinary detail from both the NBA and NFL ... Recently, he called a former college teammate and said: “Let’s list off guys from the 1996 NBA Draft.”
www.nytimes.com/athletic/700...
www.nytimes.com/athletic/700...
Yes, Kon Knueppel is having fun. But make no mistake: ‘He’s a f—ing killer’
“I didn’t think I’d play in the NBA,” the Hornets rookie says. Right away, though, it was abundantly clear: He's right where he belongs.
www.nytimes.com
February 9, 2026 at 5:31 PM
we love a guy who likes to remember some guys
Reposted by whet moser
the suggestion that the libertarian movement has always been anti trump is infuriating, but also a sign that people may have a sense of which way the wind is blowing
February 9, 2026 at 4:03 PM
the suggestion that the libertarian movement has always been anti trump is infuriating, but also a sign that people may have a sense of which way the wind is blowing
Reposted by whet moser
very good piece on how workers use LLMs and how it changes their work patterns. I've noticed some of these patterns myself working in software engineering
AI Doesn’t Reduce Work—It Intensifies It
One of the promises of AI is that it can reduce workloads so employees can focus more on higher-value and more engaging tasks. But according to new research, AI tools don’t reduce work, they consisten...
hbr.org
February 9, 2026 at 5:15 PM
very good piece on how workers use LLMs and how it changes their work patterns. I've noticed some of these patterns myself working in software engineering
Reposted by whet moser
Even former Thiel Fellows are starting to realize that the tech industry hebben een serieus probleem
January 7, 2026 at 4:57 PM
Even former Thiel Fellows are starting to realize that the tech industry hebben een serieus probleem
Reposted by whet moser
Inbox: The New Yorker is hiring Washington Post book critic Becca Rothfeld.
February 9, 2026 at 4:02 PM
Inbox: The New Yorker is hiring Washington Post book critic Becca Rothfeld.
Reposted by whet moser
"disguise yourself as a giant stand of grass at the superbowl" is just a Hitman level
February 9, 2026 at 4:50 PM
"disguise yourself as a giant stand of grass at the superbowl" is just a Hitman level
Reposted by whet moser
Mary Walton’s Car is one of the handful of best narrative nonfiction books I have ever read. (Like everyone, I learned of it from @whetmoser.com and am grateful.)
TAURUS MENTIONED
that means i have to promote mary walton's "car: a drama of the american workplace," which is about the making of the taurus and my "best book only you've read" pick www.motortrend.com/features/bor...
that means i have to promote mary walton's "car: a drama of the american workplace," which is about the making of the taurus and my "best book only you've read" pick www.motortrend.com/features/bor...
What Is The Most 1990s Car? The Autopian is asking! www.theautopian.com/what-is-the-...
February 9, 2026 at 4:30 PM
Mary Walton’s Car is one of the handful of best narrative nonfiction books I have ever read. (Like everyone, I learned of it from @whetmoser.com and am grateful.)
oh my god i gotta set this up somehow
February 9, 2026 at 4:17 PM
oh my god i gotta set this up somehow
Reposted by whet moser
why we stop making computers look fresh
February 9, 2026 at 8:47 AM
why we stop making computers look fresh
Reposted by whet moser
so funny to remember that Gasolina only hit 32 on the Hot 100 because to me it was a clear "before/after" in terms of reggaeton as a thing you could just play and find everywhere
Gasolina only reached 32 on the hot 100 (all-genre US chart), though it was bigger pretty much everywhere else in the world, including within the latin US community. it's memorable now as the first big reggaeton hit, but at the time it was seen as a novelty, like the occasional dancehall crossover
February 9, 2026 at 4:07 PM
so funny to remember that Gasolina only hit 32 on the Hot 100 because to me it was a clear "before/after" in terms of reggaeton as a thing you could just play and find everywhere
OP's thread is interesting and good advice, you can always just hit da bricks if something seems off
Bloody hell, I mean obvs "Jeffrey Epstein was a misogynist" is, you know, hardly surprising. Not exactly breaking new ground with that Take. But the sheer brazenness of it, and the expectation that others would go along (an expectation oft satisfied, though thankfully not with Sean!) is infuriating.
What actually happened was that Jennifer was also invited, but when we talked about her participation, we were told "she could go shopping with the other wives." The deep-rooted sexism of the whole enterprise couldn't remain hidden. Jennifer was repulsed, I felt likewise, and we said no.
February 9, 2026 at 3:47 PM
OP's thread is interesting and good advice, you can always just hit da bricks if something seems off
Reposted by whet moser
• A doc sued for prescribing a debunked autism therapy
• A man who says vaccines are “poisoning children”
• A woman boosting autism "treatments" using stem cells from rabbits
This is not a QAnon conference line-up, it is the people now guiding US autism research
www.wired.com/story/rfk-jr...
• A man who says vaccines are “poisoning children”
• A woman boosting autism "treatments" using stem cells from rabbits
This is not a QAnon conference line-up, it is the people now guiding US autism research
www.wired.com/story/rfk-jr...
RFK Jr.’s Picks for a Key Autism Panel Include Advocates for Bizarre Theories
Among those Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently named to a federal autism committee are people who tout dangerous treatments and say vaccine manufacturers are “poisoning children.”
www.wired.com
February 9, 2026 at 1:26 PM
• A doc sued for prescribing a debunked autism therapy
• A man who says vaccines are “poisoning children”
• A woman boosting autism "treatments" using stem cells from rabbits
This is not a QAnon conference line-up, it is the people now guiding US autism research
www.wired.com/story/rfk-jr...
• A man who says vaccines are “poisoning children”
• A woman boosting autism "treatments" using stem cells from rabbits
This is not a QAnon conference line-up, it is the people now guiding US autism research
www.wired.com/story/rfk-jr...