121 articles
The Friday 4:47pm news dump is a documented government communications strategy. Officials time bad news for when fewer reporters are watching. Someone calculated exactly how much scrutiny they could avoid by changing the timestamp.
Philadelphia's $3.4B in city contracts are 90% finalized late; more than a quarter face 5+ month delays. Nonprofits bankroll the gap.
Philadelphia wants to tax Uber rides to fix schools — but the city has $214M in uncollected property tax. The regressive tax is the symptom.
Philadelphia Sheriff Bilal spent $9,250 on a mascot and $606,000 on a recruiting ad, then asked Council for a 54% budget increase.
Philadelphia's City Controller can diagnose the city's financial dysfunction down to the dollar. Fixing it is someone else's job.
Intelligence Is Free · Part 5 of 5
This is Part 5 of Intelligence Is Free. The aggregate valuations of the top six foundational AI labs exceed $2 trillion. The mathematics of discounted cash flows suggests this cannot be justified by any plausible future earnings. A reasoned examination of the bubble.
Intelligence Is Free · Part 4 of 5
This is Part 4 of Intelligence Is Free. The old approach: define rules → check data → flag violations. The new approach: provide context + ask open-ended questions. A framework for thinking about what changes.
Intelligence Is Free · Part 3 of 5
This is Part 3 of Intelligence Is Free. This is a paradigm shift, not optimization. Why old mental models fail in this new world, and why "10% better" completely misses the point.
Intelligence Is Free · Part 2 of 5
This is Part 2 of Intelligence Is Free. When intelligence is free, competitive advantage shifts from "who has the best analysts" to "who has the best AI architecture." What this means for business strategy.
Intelligence Is Free · Part 1 of 5
This is Part 1 of Intelligence Is Free. Intelligence now costs pennies per million tokens. This isn't faster—it's a fundamentally different capability. Like the transition from ship to plane.
On August 24, 2025, SEPTA cut 32 Philadelphia bus routes — Route 31, the West Philadelphia crosstown, among them. 52,000 students lost their ride.
Philadelphia pulled $1.2B in NIH funding in 2024. Penn alone could lose $250M/year to proposed federal cuts.
Philadelphia's school district used ZIP codes as a race proxy while claiming race-neutrality. The Third Circuit called it out — deeper problem remains.
Rivers Casino for low stakes poker, Roberto Clemente Park for toddler energy, the Rocky steps for cardio, and more — the places that make this city feel like home.
The Army Corps downgraded Eastwick's flood protection from a 100-year to a 5-year levee. Construction now: 2030 at earliest.
Washington Avenue has been a deadly corridor for a decade. 71% of residents chose the safest design. The city scheduled another meeting instead.
How Philly Taxes You · Part 8 of 8
Philadelphia charges lowest-income neighborhoods 4x more in fees per dollar of tax debt than wealthy ones. Bottom quintile generates 56% of fee revenue.
How Philly Taxes You · Part 7 of 8
Philadelphia \u00a7 19-2504 taxes vacant lots at 10% \u2014 the highest rate in the US. The law is on the books but applies to less than 1% of parcels.
How Philly Taxes You · Part 6 of 8
Philadelphia's $2.00 'school district' cigarette tax — higher than NYC's $1.50. A workaround for state preemption that raises $40-80M/year.
Three attempts at guitar, three failures. It requires consistency and life keeps getting in the way. Plus I genuinely struggle to hear the difference between notes unless they're really far apart.