Paris engulfed in smoke after a night of massive protests More than 100,000 people reportedly took to the streets of the French capital. Some protesters set cars and trash bins on fire, built barricades, and smashed property. The press has already dubbed October 17 the “Day of Rage.” Footage from the streets showed scenes of chaos, with tensions running high. Some protesters even directed threats at President Macron. “We beheaded Louis XVI! Macron, we can do it again!” read one protest sign.

There was a semi-well known interview of the famed Argentine writer JL Borges where he explains this. Borges: I have done most of my reading in English. I find English a far finer language than Spanish. William F Buckley: Why? Borges: Well, many reasons. Firstly, English is both a Germanic and a Latin language. Those two registers—for any idea you take, you have two words. Those words will not mean exactly the same. For example if I say “regal” that is not exactly the same thing as saying “kingly.” Or if I say “fraternal” that is not the same as saying “brotherly.” Or “dark” and “obscure.” Those words are different. It would make all the difference—speaking for example—the Holy Spirit, it would make all the difference in the world in a poem if I wrote about the Holy Spirit or I wrote the Holy Ghost, since “ghost” is a fine, dark Saxon word, but “spirit” is a light Latin word. Then there is another reason. The reason is that I think that, of all languages, English is the most physical of all languages. WFB: The most what? Borges: Physical. You can, for example, say “He loomed over.” You can’t very well say that in Spanish. WFB: “Asomó?”* Borges: Well, no, no, they’re not exactly the same. And then you have, in English, you can do almost anything with verbs and prepositions. For example, to “laugh off,” to “dream away.” Those things can’t be said in Spanish. To “live down” something, to “live up to” something—you can’t say those things in Spanish. They can’t be said. Or really in any Romance language.

Mike Tomlin showcases his Minecraft city that he’s been building for a decade:

Listening to this whole interview and these comments in context you see he is actually making a pretty nuanced point. You can criticize him all u want but taking clips out of context to manufacture outrage is so lame— critique what he actually said!

Neat! When gas stations learned that their competitors were charging more, they upped their own prices. Price transparency was not good for consumers!

Grok @Bot Enterprise is now available

Bernie Sanders is introducing a bill to permanently ban artificial superintelligence. The proposed law would target AI systems that surpass human intelligence with violators facing up to 20 years in prison. What are your thoughts on this?

"Caminas en hombros de gigantes": Boric evoca a Mujica, Allende y Lula en sentida carta a Violeta biobiochile.cl/noticias/naci…

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What a send-off to Douthat’s Interesting Times. This is the best of new media.

Of the main gang of six pups, some critics note, only one is a girl, whose outfit and even eyes are pink. Worse, the top dog is a police pup, so the whole thing is pro-police “copaganda” economist.com/culture/2026/0…

I don't understand what's controversial here. Books should be written as they have always been. With ink made from crushing the bodies of rare insects from Turkey you harvested yourself and then grounded by hand on a stone and stored in a pig's bladder. The pen should always be carved from a goose feather you raised and killed yourself. No printing press, obviously! that's mass production and slop. Every single copy should be transcribed by monks who devoted their lives to the craft. If you're using a keyboard, electricity, a grammar check, a search engine, or even worse... AI, you are not writing books. Anything less is disrespectful to literature. It's pretty common sense to me.