Are you a fan of engaging, epistemically rigorous longform writing about California's most pressing problems? Interested in in-depth interviews with leading scholars? A reader of taste and discernment? Sick of drought?

Distract yourself with the latest issue of Asterisk Magazine, out now!

Asterisk is a quarterly journal of clear writing and clear thinking about things that matter (and, occasionally, things we just think are interesting). In this California-focused issue:

• The Editors introduce the issue with reflections on California's contradictions and its outsized impact on the world.
• Dave Guarino talks about how to make a great government website and the challenges of public benefits administration.
• Jan Sramek discusses his plans to build a new city in Solano County.
• Susan Hough warns us about the pitfalls of predicting earthquakes.
• Scott Kaplan explains the national import of Berkeley's battle against Big Soda.
• Devon Zuegel takes us back to California housing policy's original sin.
• Peter Westwick traces the history of California's high-tech communities.
• Casey Handmer lays out plans for an ambitious modern engineering project: desalinating the Salton Sea.
• Nadia Asparouhova explores an old meditation tradition making new inroads among California techies.
• Clara Collier and Jason Crawford talk through the differences and similarities between effective altruism and progress studies.
• Timothy B. Lee explains why the people writing about California's tech industry today have such a hard time getting it right.
• Pradyumna Prasad and Jordan Schneider examine the rise (and arguable fall) of one of California's preeminent intellectual institutions: RAND.
• Mia Bird discusses California's efforts to reduce its prison population.
• Zvi Mowshowitz breaks down the debate around California's proposed AI regulation.
• Ozy Brennan examines the "TESCREAL" bundle of ideologies and its purported importance in Silicon Valley.

A huge thank you to everyone in the community who helped us make Asterisk a reality. We hope you all enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed making it.