The ToB, presented by Field Notes, is live!

It's the 2023 Tournament of Books, presented by Field Notes! Yay! It’s time to Rooster!

In 17th-century Paris, transfusing the blood of lambs and calves into humans “held the promise of renewed youth.”

Out of 20,063 adults surveyed in the United States, nearly a third said they were “somewhat confident” or “very confident” that they could safely land a passenger airplane in an emergency.

Pilots explain why you definitely wouldn’t be able to land an airplane in an emergency.

↩︎ The Washington Post
2d
A long article on being a Premier League referee. “It’s like, ‘what are you doing?”
Justin Heckert explains how an old, untorn ticket to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls debut game became a priceless artifact.
Seoul is building the world's largest (also spokeless) Ferris wheel.

The script opened with a huge battle around the Greeks’ beached ships. For that spectacular scene, Susan and I had meticulously assembled ships, five hundred shields, two thousand costumes, and the other requisites. The Greek government had been most cooperative.

A college student in the 1960s, in pursuit of a young woman, attempts to make a movie with Marlon Brando to impress her.

↩︎ Lapham’s Quarterly
4d
A researcher uses GPT-4 to measure the passage of time in fiction. "This is a preliminary report on a very strange world."
For your midweek wanderlust, some photos and a diary from a bikepacking trip between México City and Oaxaca.

When I told people about my semaglutide stash, they were intrigued. “Should I take it and be your guinea pig?” a friend asked. I reminded him that he was already skinny. “I’m Gigi Hadid skinny,” he replied. “I could be Bella Hadid skinny.”

Jia Tolentino: Drugs like Ozempic may help people see appetite as a biological fact, not a moral choice.

↩︎ The New Yorker
7d
An excellent story about the entwined plights of a Phoenix sandwich shop and a homeless encampment.
“Pedro Pascal’s coffee order is a cry for help.”

“What Time Do You Wake Up? Write It in the Comments and I Will Tell You Why You Are Bad and Lazy Compared with Me, a 3:15 a.m. Waker-er Upper Who Owns Not One but Two Vitamix Blenders”

​A round-up of satirical headlines for stories about supposedly life-improving morning routines.

↩︎ The New Yorker
1w
A brief letter to publications that want your email address to read free content. “Not reading is easier than reading."

After 29 years of neoliberal failure, xenophobia appears a satisfying answer for a national bourgeoisie that has thus far avoided redistributing sufficient wealth to the majority of South Africans.

Thomas Lesaffre: Across post-colonial Africa, foreigners are an easy scapegoat for an elite that’s failed to redistribute wealth.

↩︎ Africa Is a Country
2w
In the Bay Area, eight households hold more wealth than the bottom 50% of residents (nearly half a million households).
The professor who called Bret Stephens a bedbug bets Twitter only has six months left.

A compelling argument to stare down SUVs (and be extra cautious at any crosswalks).

Of course, L.A. isn’t concentrated like Manhattan, or pedestrian-friendly like Tokyo. It’s not aesthetically breathtaking like Rome. Crosswalks are infrequent, and drivers often ignore them; the city only recently stopped ticketing residents for jaywalking.

TMN’s Rosecrans Baldwin claims Los Angeles as a great walking city, even if most of it “is awful to experience on foot.”

↩︎ The New York Times Magazine
2w
The most polluted places to live in the United States: Bakersfield, South Los Angeles, and Chicago’s south and west sides.