Logan Pitcher

running/cycling/outdoors/reading “Upward and and forever upward” - Mallory

[unusual_whales @unusual_whales]

AI companies are quietly obtaining rare books, ingesting their contents, and then destroying them, even if they're exceedingly rare, per FORTUNE

[Hedgie @HedgieMarkets]

🦔AI companies are bulk-buying rare books, scanning them through high-speed machines that cut the spines off, and shredding the originals. A service called ISBNdb facilitates orders of up to a million books and keeps buyers anonymous. Pre-2022 books are premium because they're free of AI-generated text. A federal judge ruled the practice is fair use because eliminating the original means only one copy exists at a time. Anthropic hired the former head of Google Books partnerships to obtain "all the books in the world."

My Take
This got to me. A bookseller told 404 Media that rare books with almost no surviving copies are being fed into this pipeline. Books that survived wars, fires, and centuries of handling are being shredded so an AI can learn to write a better marketing email.
ISBNdb's website literally says "'AI company destroys two million books' is not a headline that generates sympathy," and they still built an entire business around making it happen quietly. They offer NDAs as a feature. They coach clients to call it "digital preservation."

I've covered AI companies scraping the internet, torrenting libraries, and stealing music. This is worse because it's irreversible. You can re-upload a website. You can reprint a bestseller. You can't replace the last three copies of an 18th-century botanical text once someone shreds them for training data. And the judge said it's legal. So it's going to accelerate.
"We shred rare books and offer NDAs so nobody finds out" is a legitimate business model in 2026. What a timeline.

Hedgie🤗

[Tour de France™ @LeTour]

Battle of the giants! 😱

Bataille des géants !😱

#TDF2026

[Velon CC @VelonCC]

𝗙𝗜𝗩𝗘-𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘 Tour de France winner 🏆

Tadej Pogačar equalled the record for Tour de France overall wins by sealing victory at the 2026 edition.

📸 Getty Images
_____
🇫🇷 #TDF2026

[Cycling on TNT Sports @cyclingontnt]

Tadej Pogacar takes the ALL-TIME Alpe d’Huez record with a STAGGERING time of 35 minutes and 27 seconds 🤯⏰

[FloTrack @FloTrack]

JOSH KERR OBLITERATES THE WORLD RECORD! 🤯

With the London crowd ROARING him home, Josh Kerr SMASHES the world record with a stunning 3:42.66.

🎥 Watch the full #LondonDL LIVE on FloTrack.

FloTrack's #DiamondLeague coverage presented by @on_running and @FleetFeetSports

[Tour de France™ @LeTour]

😱 That descent...

😱 Cette descente...

#TDF2026

[The Atlantic @TheAtlantic]

Americans were once members of a proudly literate society, but today, reading has declined across age groups, gender, and education levels. For The Atlantic’s August issue, @rosehorowitch explores the reading collapse—and its effects on civilization: https://t.co/AWuYlYRts1

[Tour de France™ @LeTour]

THE #TDF2026 HAS OFFICIALLY STARTED ! 🤩💛

🇪🇸 @CajaRural_RGA is the first team off the start ramp for the Stage 1 team time trial !

LE #TDF2026 EST OFFICIELLEMENT LANCÉ ! 🤩💛

🇪🇸 Caja Rural-RGA est la première équipe à s’élancer sur ce chrono par équipes !

[NBC Sports Cycling @NBCSCycling]

Behind-the-scenes look at Phil Liggett's daily commentary prep ahead of his 54th year at the Tour de France!

#TDF2026 📺: Peacock

[1776 Live @250YearsAgoLive]

Thomas Paine publishes an open letter in the Pennsylvania Evening Post, under the name “Republicus,” which advocates for the name “United States of America” for the new nation now emerging.

This is the first time such a term has been used.

[Amy Diehl, Ph.D. @amydiehl]

Study finds narcissism the only trait that predicted objections to remote work. The higher the opinions of themselves leaders expressed, the more they coveted power and status — the more they favored return-to-office mandates. @AdamMGrant https://t.co/5dc9BWzjkB

[ABC News @ABC]

A Wisconsin beagle research facility that’s drawn animal welfare protests is closing and its remaining dogs are being taken in by a Florida rescue group.

Big Dog Ranch Rescue announced Monday that it has reached an agreement for the permanent closure of Ridglan Farms and the transfer of its 475 remaining beagles starting this week.

[Wayne Hsiung @waynehhsiung]

I'm back in court today for a hearing on the Ridglan rescue. The state has not just charged us with 4 felonies but engaged in a series of efforts to undermine our most basic constitutional rights. Today, we are fighting in court to ensure that these rights—including the right to present a defense at all—are preserved.

And I am fine with this. Because the sacrifice is the point. The fact that I and my co-defendants are willing to take on the full power of the state, knowing they would use every underhanded tool in their toolkit (including barring us from First Amendment activity), should give the world confidence that we mean what we say:

We MUST rescue the animals, no matter what it takes.

Even if that means having our constitutional rights threatened. Even if that means being charged with serious crimes. Even if that means being imprisoned.

This is a fight worth having because this dog deserved to be safe.

I'll see you in court today.

[Judd Legum @JuddLegum]

1. Number of stories about Trump buying and selling hundreds of millions of dollars in stocks in the first three months of 2026:

CBS: 0

CNN: 0

Fox News: 0

NPR: 0

PBS: 0

Politico: 0

Semafor: 0

Business Insider: 0

[ABC News @ABC]

This woman just made ultramarathon history in 56-hour, 250-mile run in Arizona.

Rachel Entrekin won the Cocodona 250 outright in a 56-hour, 250+mile effort, beating the entire men’s field, setting a new course record, and marking a landmark moment in ultrarunning history.

[Netflix UK & Ireland @NetflixUK]

100 years old and still the coolest person alive. Happy birthday, Sir David!

[adidas @adidas]

1:59:30. Humanity just got faster.

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#YouGotThis

[Tim @trouble_man90]

So businesses raised their prices to offset the tariffs, we the consumers paid those higher prices, and now those same businesses can get reimbursed from the government for tariffs we already covered for them by paying higher prices?? And *they* get a refund and we don’t??