Something For the Weekend #56
Fade Into You, Green’s Dictionary of Slang, and Everyman’s: selections from the weird and wonderful for the week ending July 17, 2026
Welcome to the weekend, fellow DAUs—you made it!
I have been busy selecting words of the day for the notes part of this missive, and have some glorious selections for you. A new benefit began last week, and I’ve been working hard on it and am committing to sending over a draft to Jennifer this week to edit for next.
I am also awaiting some Daily Active User merch, which I will share more about when it arrives. I have been trying out the USA-made baseball caps for a month now, and aside from a few fixes needed so Mark’s wonderful artwork can shine, I shall make them available when they are in.
Loving your work.
Thanks for being here.
More to follow.
Benj
Top 5 this week from the Daily Active User:
With no shame in aging myself, I had a CD player with an alarm clock function that used to wake me, often hungover, to a preselected disc each morning. I was in one of those incredibly stormy relationships that are the hallmark of a recovered alcoholic's past, and as such was delightfully soothed by the magnificent “Fade Into You,” which would wake me each morning with a brief respite before I would have to account for either the chaos of the night before or the day to come. I had discovered Mazzy Star and fallen for the melancholy, elfin singer Hope Sandoval's entire vibe like it was my job. Not my usual fair at the time, but there was something so perfect about the timing of her vocals and the production, which I still love as I listen to it now as I type. This second record was my favorite, though I do love ”Blue Flower” from the debut, especially the chorus melody. This is music that felt—and feels—like it was taking its time to unspool…from somewhere. That live, might take a minute for the band to get into shape, and yet, when the songs hit, they are mighty. Love “5 String Serenade” too, from the aforementioned 1993 sophomore album So Tonight That I Might See, and used to (if memory serves) program said CD player to hit that one next. I wonder how the vinyl sounds?
Standing on the shoulders of Dr. Johnson is Jonathan Green, whose masterwork, Green’s Dictionary of Slang, is a wondrous thing to behold in print, and is, like the mighty 1755 and 1773 editions of Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language, available online. Green’s work does something special in chasing down every slur and insult, every bit of slang and every cant word, offering history and context. I do wonder what Johnson would have made of it all. On the one hand, it surely would have pleased him to see every last word being accounted for; on the other, one pictures his conservative sensibilities at war with his baser curiosity as he disappeared down a lewd rabbit hole. Naturally, for "research purposes" only of course. There is a 3-volume set that I’ve been unable to find, yet have been in search of for many years, as I have only the single large volume. The quest continues, so if you are holding one of these, I would gladly make you an offer to take it off your hands.
For much of my reading life, I have coveted (and spent money on) many original Everyman’s editions of the numerous great books they produced. These beauties were made to be read, and were priced accordingly. Trained as a bookbinder, Joseph Dent had the vision to create the world’s classic books at one shilling a volume, with 1,000 titles as his goal—a milestone that was reached in spite of the Great Depression and two world wars. The books spawned multiple eras of design, known as the Knowles and Ravilious eras, and one could go mad trying to achieve them all. My current volume underhand is a 1934 copy of Emma (#24), and it’s as though it hasn’t been opened since it was reprinted. Not to be confused with the newer Everyman’s, which are still being made after a 1991 revival described by one David Campbell as, "a team of just five people above a sex shop in Soho.” These books are currently said to have sold roughly sixteen million copies worldwide. I do like these newer editions, but can’t take the insanity of books being made so large these days (aging myself again). When you hold one of the original Everyman’s, you will see why they truly are the perfect way to dive into the great works, and how they’re made to carry with you everywhere, which was the whole point. My peculiar neurodivergence requires that I plastic-wrap each volume, having located each one with the dust jacket on. But the good news is that many copies are wonderfully preserved and still loved. And if you are not obsessive like me and can go without the dust jackets, they can be had, sometimes for less than their paperback reissues.
Mokkiri-zake:
Aviation executives called a risk like this the “sporty game”—a shameless mid-century, flannel-suit euphemism for staking an entire company on a single long-odds bet. Had the 747 project faltered, Boeing would likely have gone down with it. - The Boeing 747 Begins Its Final Descent - The Atlantic - Ian Bogost
Based on Deezer’s latest stats, there are now 75,000 fully AI-generated tracks being uploaded every single day to streaming services—-up from 10,000 a day at the start of 2025. - Google has thoughts on AI and copyright regulation in the US - Music Ally - Stuart Dredge
Returning to the Luddites reminds us that above all, workers and users must have a seat at the table. We need a real say, real empowerment, real agency over any technology that is made to reshape our workplaces, communities, and lives. - Understanding the Luddites in the age of AI - bloodinthemachine.com - Brian Merchant
LLMs are not people: They’re counterfeit people.… I want to suggest that counterfeit people are more dangerous, more potentially destructive, of human civilization than counterfeit money ever was. - Screentime correlates more with kids’ brains than IQ; Matt Yglesias gets Dan Dennett wrong; Why literary fiction awards keep falling for AI scams; & more - theintrinsicperspective.com - Erik Hoel
To me Japanese isn’t what you look like; it’s how you act. In other words, it’s how you read the air. - What defines Japan’s national identity? - noahpinion.blog - Hiroko Yoda
The men we've watched the past two weeks aren't exceptions to Western masculinity. They're the correction. - World Cup Experience - profgmedia.com - Scott Galloway