This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss cool old books, new toys for ICE, and Flamin' Hot Slop.

SAM: On the podcast last week, we had what I thought was a pretty nuanced and interesting conversation about the "rare books" discourse (although I'm biased; listen and let me know). I mentioned this in the episode but it all makes me think about all the rare books I've bought over the years — these are rare by any definition of the word in that they're usually limited or out of print and I got them through used book sellers online where only one copy was often available. 

When my book launched a few years ago, I started a very short-lived Substack blog to write about some of the behind the scenes stuff happening around publication. One of those posts is a bibliography, including a lot of the books I sourced and references for my own.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to buy at least a million dollars worth of robots from Boston Dynamics, the company that makes the dog-like SPOT robots, with the purpose of improving “officer safety,” according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announcement.

The news shows that ICE continues to spend millions of dollars on new technology. On Thursday, U.S. procurement records showed that ICE has contracted to buy 6,000 pairs of electric shock gloves for $16.7 million, the Associated Press reported.