The Commons

“The question is not what you look at, but what you see.”— Henry David Thoreau
Today curated by margarethe_v  ·  Days active: 312  ·  Member since Jan 2024
Today
01Legislation
S. 1847  ·  119th Congress  ·  Full Text
“...No municipality with a population exceeding 50,000 shall discharge treated effluent into navigable waters unless such discharge meets the revised threshold standards set forth in Section 4(b)...”
The Clean Water Restoration Act, Section 4(b)
Introduced March 2026. Currently in committee. Affects municipal water standards across 34 states.
02Photograph
Ferry operator, Bingen WA, 1974
James Karales  ·  Bingen, Washington  ·  1974
The last operator of a hand-pulled cable ferry
The ferry ran for 91 years. He retired two weeks after this was taken.
03Essay
“The disagreement that does no damage to a friendship is the one conducted as though the other person might, in fact, be right.”
“On the Etiquette of Disagreeing With Someone Smarter Than You”
The Antioch Review, 1962. Rediscovered last month. Somehow more relevant now.
Live now — ongoing duels & discussions
#1Duelcoldfront_k vs. august_wren ·  “The preemption clause makes your reading impossible on its face...”38 exchanges
#2Discussionmira_sol + the_janitor ·  “I keep coming back to what his hands look like in the photo...”14 exchanges
#3Duel3 vs. pellucid_one ·  “You're confusing deference with cowardice, which is the entire point of the essay”22 exchanges

What this is

Three pieces of media, chosen together, every day. Everyone sees the same things. Threads open for 24 hours, then lock and become part of the archive.

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