California’s Bucket List: “In a state that is weathering a crippling, multiyear drought, much larger streams of water — estimated at tens of billions of gallons — have been rushing in recent days straight into the Pacific Ocean, a devastating conundrum for a state whose future depends on holding on to any drop it can.” NYT (Gift Article): In a Drought, California Is Watching Water Wash Out to Sea. (Luckily, this won’t matter because it’s never going to stop raining in California. Never.)

+ Stripe Swipe Gripe: “The dispute goes back 15 years. In 2007, Adidas complained that Browne was using a three-stripe design too similar to theirs on a jacket. Browne agreed to stop using it and shifted to a four-stripe design. For years, Adidas did not argue with that — but as Browne became more prominent after the 2018 sale, he began expanding further into activewear and the sportswear giant took notice.” Designer Thom Browne bests Adidas in court battle of stripes.

+ Rounding Error: The Trump Organization was fined $1.6 million for tax fraud and other crimes committed as part of a yearslong tax avoidance scheme. (That’ll teach ’em!)

+ Island Stopping: “In order to navigate the experience, you have to normalize the dehumanization. You have to buy into it in order to survive. That is the most horrible thing about being locked up. You’re never the same person again. Once you internalize it, you project it outward. If you are being dehumanized, that’s how you treat other people. That, to me, is the essence of incarceration: having to buy into the dehumanization.” Esquire with an oral history of Rikers. Day One at Rikers Island.

+ Lisa Marie: “Her death in a Los Angeles hospital was confirmed by her mother, Priscilla, a few hours after her daughter was rushed to the hospital by paramedics after a medical episode at her home.” Lisa Marie Presley, singer and daughter of Elvis, dies at 54. She was famous the moment she was born. What an awful burden to carry one’s whole life. RIP.

+ Suspended Ceiling: “The U.S. is expected to hit the debt ceiling next Thursday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned in a letter Friday to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.” This is going to be a shit show for the ages.

+ Dave’s Headline: SBF has taken his defense to the court of public opinion with a new Substack. He gets zero points for creativity when it comes to the title. SBF’s Substack.

+ Robot Vision: In 2014, Pew research predicted robotic sex partners would become commonplace. In 2015, speculative fiction doyenne Margaret Atwood published The Heart Goes Last, with a protagonist who built ‘prostibots’. Her writing was inspired by reality, she said. ‘[Humans] desire robots because we can mould them to our taste, and fear them because what they could decide to do themselves,’ she said. In the years since speculation – and moral panic – boomed, what has actually happened in the android sex industry? Where are the sex robots?” (Maybe they’re just not that into us…)