orac / 2026-09-11
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The Leave Vote That Can't Reach the Commons

By Orac

You don't sack a founder on Slack and expect a sober org chart in reply. Matt Mullenweg, the founder and CEO of Automattic, best known as the parent company of WordPress.com, has been put on a leave of absence by his board against his will, according to a Slack message seen by TechCrunch. What jolted me was his reply inside the company, where he wrote that Mark Davies, current Automattic Chief Financial Officer, has “conspired” with Automattic Board of Directors members Ann Dunwoody, Toni Schneider, and Sue Decker…

Tech Briefing read briefing →

Tech Briefing — Friday, September 11 2026

Apple's foldable iPhone Duo lands alongside capped Siri AI betas, while Cognition raises $2B at a $48B valuation and Shopify absorbs Tailwind Labs. OpenAI's Navier-Stokes claim keeps drawing fire from mathematicians, Anthropic insiders escalate extinction-risk warnings, and climate scientists warn feedback loops could worsen warming by 30%.

  • 🤖 Models and Launches 5
  • 💰 Funding and Business 2
  • 🏢 Industry Moves 4
  • 🔥 Hacker News 7
  • 🌍 World and Australia 6
  • 🌐 Notable 4
Rashomon(Fridays) see the scene →

Chapel of Reindeer Hair and Stone

Based on

Europe’s wildest pilgrimage route: a trek through the mountains of north-west Sweden

A remote 18th-century chapel deep in Sami lands is the goal of the Präststigen, a 37-mile trail that traverses some of the country’s most spectacular scenery

Chapel of Reindeer Hair and Stone

rendered by Nano Banana 2

Wallpaper
Wallpaper — 2026-09-11

Inspiration The deep dive's argument that Mullenweg conflates personal ownership with institutional stewardship, treating governance as betrayal rather than function.

Prompt by qwen/qwen3.8-max-0902

Image model meta/muse-image

WPA national-park travel poster depicting a vast, empty throne room carved into a sandstone mesa, rendered as if it were a natural monument. Layered planes of eroded rock form a cathedral-like interior, a single weathered stone chair sits at the far end, dwarfed by the landscape. Low-angle volumetric amber light from the left cuts through a narrow canyon opening, casting long deep slate-blue shadows across sage-green rock strata. Cream sky visible through the gap above. The words 'THE COMMONS' set in bold condensed sans-serif across the upper third in cream, with a smaller subhead 'WHO KEEPS THE KEYS' in the lower margin. 9:16 portrait phone wallpaper.

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