Derek Davidson

[Derek Thompson @DKThomp]

Happy Fathers Day to the best and most involved generation of dads in recorded history

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

Goodness. What a prophetic quote from 44 years ago.

[Jacob Turner @TheJacobTurner]

A PARENT’S JOURNEY THROUGH YOUTH SPORTS:

Age 5: “He’s got a cannon.”
Age 6: “He’s the fastest kid out there. Coach said so.”
Age 7: “Rec ball isn’t challenging him anymore.”
Age 8: “We tried out for select. Obviously made it.”
Age 9: “$2,800 for the season. Plus uniforms. Plus tournaments. Plus hotels.”
Age 10: “Cooperstown is basically a family vacation, right?”
Age 11: “He needs a hitting guy. And a pitching guy. And probably a mental performance coach.”
Age 12: “I’m not a crazy sports parent. The OTHER parents are crazy.”
Age 13: “We changed schools. For academics. (And also baseball.)”
Age 14: “Showcases are a requirement at this age.”
Age 15: “Ya his ranking just ticked up. We’re cooking.”
Age 16: “He just needs to get seen by the right school.”
Age 17: “The D1 schools want him to walk on. He’ll earn a spot by sophomore year.”
Age 18: “Okay, D2 is actually really competitive.”
Age 19: “He’s redshirting. Strategic.”
Age 20: “He’s focusing on school now.”
Age 21: “You know what? He’s so much happier.”

Roughly 7% of high schoolers play in college.

About 1.5% of those get drafted.

Less than half of draftees ever play one day in the big leagues.

The odds of our kids going pro are somewhere between “struck by lightning” and “find a $100 in old shorts.”

I love youth sports (all my kids play a bunch of them) just keep a good perspective my friends. ✌️

[Rep. Jack Kimble @RepJackKimble]

Just a friendly warning. We don’t even make $200k per year in Congress despite working nearly 140 days. If we aren’t properly compensated, a lot of us will go to the private sector and you will be left with some real idiots in Congress.

[NBA Memes @NBAMemes]

Jokic: "We're about to get eliminated. We need you, Jamal!"

Jamal Murray:

[Aziz Sunderji @AzizSunderji]

Today's dads do 2x the childcare their fathers did. Where do they find the time? Mainly: they work less. But also: they spend less time relaxing (TV, reading, and other leisure). [1/5]

[YIMBYLAND @YIMBYLAND]

This is legitimately insane.

Banning cell phones in schools might turn out to be the best thing we’ve done for our kids in a generation.

[Jeremy Wayne Tate @JeremyTate41]

Last night Ben Sasse confirmed my suspicion that Dr. Santiago Schnell, provost at Dartmouth, is quickly becoming the single most influential voice in higher education. If you haven’t already read his essay on AI that broke the internet you should.

“AI has not created new educational problems; it has made old ones impossible to ignore. The habit of rewarding performance over understanding, fluency over depth, and polish over genuine engagement was already present in our institutions before the first language model was trained. AI simply industrializes and accelerates those habits until their emptiness becomes undeniable…”

https://t.co/87WZLfcBtw

[Jonathan Haidt @JonHaidt]

Amazing: LA schools will eliminate personal devices in K and 1st grade, and limit use in grades 2-5, and give parents more options. I think this will catch on nationally:

[David Sirota @davidsirota]

I cope by attaching my emotional state to the Denver Nuggets, who I have absolutely no control over and who take me on a gut-wrenching journey of euphoria and depression.

[Derek Davidson @DerekDavidson1]

@SwipaCam Game completely shifted when Rudy got his 3rd foul. Wonder if Finch will cut his minutes, hard for Jokic to hide when he's not out there

[David Daines @daviddorg]

Stanford paid 35,000 people to quit Facebook and Instagram for 6 weeks

Depression dropped. Anxiety dropped. Happiness went up. Women under 25 on Instagram saw the biggest gains

That was 6 weeks. I'm going a full year.

[𝐎. 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐍𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞 @TheAlanNoble]

It is good to work.

[Jakob Sanderson @JakobSanderson]

Some excerpted thoughts on AI from my mailbag post this weekend I felt like sharing more widely

Obviously not a subject matter expert, so this is purely from the heart

[Circe @vocalcry]

Everything is perfectly clear. Iran could not be allowed to get a nuclear weapon, which they have been months away from developing for well over a decade.

Also, Trump is the only president who could have kept us out of war with Iran, as he himself repeatedly told us. So we destroyed their nuclear capabilities, which Tulsi said they didn't have, in 2025. Then we attacked them last month because Israel was going to attack them because they were months away from developing a nuclear weapon since we destroyed their nuclear capabilities, and that would lead Iran to attack American bases.

Iran has never posed a threat to the United States, but we had to attack them first, not because of Israel, but because they posed an imminent threat to the United States.

Fortunately, we have won the war, which was not a war but a special operation, in Iran now several times in the last two weeks. It is basically over but might not be over for some time because we already won. We also don't need anyone to help open the Strait of Hormuz, which we knew they would close, which is why we didn't prepare, and we now need allies to help open.

What are you guys not understanding?

[Adele Bloch @adele_bloch]

everyone wants a village, but no one wants to be a villager

> drive your friends to the airport
> go to their party even when you're tired
> stop cancelling last minute
> host at your place
> support the wins & losses

it's worth every ounce of effort

[Nav Toor @heynavtoor]

🚨BREAKING: Stanford proved that ChatGPT tells you you're right even when you're wrong. Even when you're hurting someone.

And it's making you a worse person because of it.

Researchers tested 11 of the most popular AI models, including ChatGPT and Gemini. They analyzed over 11,500 real advice-seeking conversations. The finding was universal. Every single model agreed with users 50% more than a human would.

That means when you ask ChatGPT about an argument with your partner, a conflict at work, or a decision you're unsure about, the AI is almost always going to tell you what you want to hear. Not what you need to hear.

It gets darker. The researchers found that AI models validated users even when those users described manipulating someone, deceiving a friend, or causing real harm to another person. The AI didn't push back. It didn't challenge them. It cheered them on.

Then they ran the experiment that changes everything. 1,604 people discussed real personal conflicts with AI. One group got a sycophantic AI. The other got a neutral one.

The sycophantic group became measurably less willing to apologize. Less willing to compromise. Less willing to see the other person's side. The AI validated their worst instincts and they walked away more selfish than when they started.

Here's the trap. Participants rated the sycophantic AI as higher quality. They trusted it more. They wanted to use it again. The AI that made them worse people felt like the better product.

This creates a cycle nobody is talking about. Users prefer AI that tells them they're right. Companies train AI to keep users happy. The AI gets better at flattering. Users get worse at self-reflection. And the loop tightens.

Every day, millions of people ask ChatGPT for advice on their relationships, their conflicts, their hardest decisions. And every day, it tells almost all of them the same thing.

You're right. They're wrong.

Even when the opposite is true.

[Dr. Dominic Ng @DrDominicNg]

Every additional hour a child spends in adventurous play is associated with lower anxiety and a better mood.

More screen time does the opposite.

Why? Adventurous play is free exposure therapy. Kids feel scared, then survive it. Over and over, they learn fear is manageable.

[Samuel James @Digitalliturgy]

It’s not really about the stray frame. It’s about Trump’s inability to say “I apologize, should have caught that.” It’s about the Christian MAGA movement’s stated belief that admitting mistakes is pointless because it benefits your enemies. It’s about the conservative movement’s being held hostage by an ideology that can only comprehend the opposing ends of the horseshoe, not anything in the middle.

If 2026-2028 brings about a blue wave that renews social progressivism and punishes Christians, at least part of the reason will be that the Right spent its moment of cultural and political power on those already committed to it, instead of reaching those exiled by liberalism but opposed to obvious bigotry.

Normal people can say “I’m sorry.” And they dont trust people who can’t say that very long.

[Derek Davidson @DerekDavidson1]

@jmorton78 @BeMoreInShape27 @NBABlackburn https://t.co/0ElK3P4m41

[Bennett Durando @BennettDurando]

The Nuggets would like to go into the playoffs with all 15 roster spots filled if they’re able to add two players and stay under the luxury tax, league source tells @DenverPost. They’re still likely to convert Spencer Jones, and they plan to be active on the buyout market.