The Atlantic’s August cover story is headlined “The Age of Reading is Over” – and, in true Atlantic style, the magazine ponders the ramifications of a postliterate era in a spread that stretches over 12 pages. If you yourself have not yet wearied of this reading thing, here’s a link to the story. The author of the story, Rose Horowitch, seems to think the end of reading is a bad thing, but I couldn’t say for sure because I was distracted by some text messages and haven’t finished the story. 

But if reading is so passé, so 20th-century, what does that bode for the future of punctuation? Relax, argues Judith Shulevitz, also in The Atlantic: We’ll always need punctuation of some sort to try to signal irony in our text messages. Which raises the question: Does an emoji count as punctuation? If so, then: 😭

(The article also reminds us of Kurt Vonnegut’s famous advice about never using a semicolon. “Do not use semicolons,” he said in 2005. “All they do is show you’ve been to college.” True enough! I still love the semicolon, but I know I overuse them and now am consciously trying to limit their use. The same thing with dashes, especially since I learned that overuse of dashes is a telltale sign that you’re writing with the aid of AI. Which I am not – at least not – yet – –.)

Smoke from big wildfires in Canada has seeped down to the eastern United States (just in time for Sunday’s World Cup final!), so Easterners are getting an idea of what summer skies look like for those of us in the West. But our lungs still have it easy, compared to the dinosaurs that perished 66 million years ago in the wake of a massive asteroid strike in the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. First, the explosion killed essentially every living thing within a 1,000-mile radius, scientists now believe. Second, it flung trillions of tons of debris into the air, eventually covering the planet in solar eclipse-like darkness – which lasted for years and made it tough for plants. Third, as hot debris drifted back down to the ground, it triggered planetwide wildfires that burned for years. So, yes, it was just like every other summer day in the West. Nancy Walecki had more fun than she should have had spelling out this scenario (and I think it’s fair to call it the “worst-case” scenario) in The Atlantic.

I noticed, by the way, that Walecki used the word “hellscape” in her story. I have a hunch that “hellscape” might be the word of the summer.

And those forests in Canada? They’ll be burning for a long, long time. 

Speaking of disasters, a panel of experts said this week that Oregon communities have a lot more work to do to prepare for a potential massive earthquake from the Cascadia Subduction Zone. If the Big One hits, one expert said, one safe place might be the roof of the new terminal at Portland International Airport. I’ll see you there.

Speaking of the World Cup (and we were just a few items ago), if you’re just learning about this fellow Lionel Messi, the Argentinian wonder who might be the greatest soccer player ever, you might wonder how he’s able to do what he does.  Sally Jenkins, the wonderful sportswriter who left The Washington Post to join The Atlantic just in the nick of time, explains it all in this piece: It’s not that Messi is bigger or faster than anyone else. (He’s not.) But he sees the game better than anyone else. 

Republic Services, the operators of the Coffin Butte Landfill, has declined to answer a number of landfill questions from Benton County officials. You’ll recall that the county board of commissioners denied an application from Republic to expand the landfill, and Republic has appealed the denial to the state Land Use Board of Appeals. Republic’s reticence at answering what seem like fairly basic questions may be a signal that it’s confident about prevailing at LUBA. The Gazette-Times apparently picked up the story from the Salem Statesman-Journal, which got the information by filing a public records request. 

The proposed ballot measure that would effectively ban hunting and fishing in Oregon has failed to pass a key early hurdle as the Secretary of State’s office reviews signatures submitted in support. But the measure still could make the ballot this November, The Oregonian/OregonLive reports. 

Remember last week, when a good chunk of the Reader was devoted to the Trump administration’s war on elections? It’s not as if I predicted this, but election “integrity” (see; there’s an example of punctuation used to convey irony) was the very topic of President Donald Trump’s underwhelming address to the nation Thursday night. Perhaps you will be as surprised as this suburban mother was to learn that the speech was packed with falsities and failed to offer any evidence to back up his longstanding lie that the 2020 election was stolen. Indeed, as David Graham reports in The Atlantic, most of Trump’s efforts to sabotage the 2026 election (with the exception of widespread gerrymandering) have flopped. Thus far. But we still have a long way to go until November.  

By the way: That suburban mom sketch from “Saturday Night Live” also serves as another masterclass in comic timing from Ashley Padilla, this season’s breakout star. 

The feline desk at the Weekend Reader was excited to find this story from The New York Times about “allogrooming,” that charming business when cats lick each other. It’s long been assumed that this is a sign of friendliness between cats. But a new study suggests that it also can be, as the Times bluntly puts it, “a method of subtle torment.” Raise your hand if you have a cat (or multiple cats) and are completely surprised by this finding. 

What I’m reading: “The Known World,” the 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winner by Edward P. Jones about a Black slaveholder in a fictional Virginia county. It’s quite good, but now I’m hearing that reading is so done.

Movies suitable for adults: “The Invite,” the Olivia Wilde-directed comedy-drama about marriage and the neighbors upstairs, with a career-best performance from Seth Rogen. I see that Rashida Jones co-wrote the script – it’s an adaptation of a Spanish play, and the movie shows those origins – and while I’m happy for her, I can’t be the only one who wonders if there’s any chance she could get another season of “Angie Tribeca” greenlit. 

Speaking of movies for adults: “The Odyssey,” director Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of, well, “The Odyssey,” is new in theaters this weekend, but it’s the first Nolan film in years I’m not psyched about, and I can’t put my finger on precisely why. It’s received rapturous reviews and is on the way to a huge opening weekend ($51 million Friday from North American theaters), so … someone go see it and let me know if I should go. With a budget of some $250 million, it’ll probably need to make $500 million or so to break even, but maybe my 12 bucks could help.

That’s it for this weekend. Let’s gather here next weekend and you can advise me about “The Odyssey.”