The Morning News

Not only are these guys shitty at their jobs, they keep each other and themselves in power so they can continue to be shitty at their jobs.

A day after news that James Bennet has been hired by The Economist, a lengthy denouncement.

↩︎ Jennifer Barnett

2h

"Increasingly Bold Israel Begins Building Settlements In Downtown Albuquerque."

↩︎ The Onion 2h

In case you've never seen it, from 1973, John Cage performs "4:33" in Harvard Square.

Via Open Culture

2h

An argument against Yellen's inclination to regulate cryptocurrency: too much and too soon, at least for now.

↩︎ Bloomberg 2h

Her father, Carl A. Rouse, was the first African American to earn a doctorate in physics from the California Institute of Technology, and only the fifth to earn the degree from any American university.

Cecilia Rouse is in line to be the first Black official to head the Council of Economic Advisers.

↩︎ The Washington Post

2h

“Our rural territories are not just sceneries, they are also sounds, smells, activities and practices that are part of our heritage. New country dwellers aren’t always used to it.”

As city folk decamp for the country—and complain about it—a new law shields the “sounds and smells” of France’s natural spaces.

↩︎ The New York Times

6h

The New York Times's book review section celebrate its 125th anniversary with a selection of greatest hits.

↩︎ The New York Times 6h

With vaccines on the horizon and an end to masking anticipated, appointment bookings for Botox and plastic surgery are spking.

↩︎ Marker 6h

Stanford mathematician Tadashi Tokieda explains the curious higher and lower notes you hear from tapping a coffee mug. From a good interview in Quanta:

I’m trying to jolt myself out of my complacency. When I share, I just want to share with people. I hope that they’ll like it, but I’m not trying to educate them, and I don’t think people are complacent. People are struggling in their own ways and making efforts and trying to improve. Who am I to jolt them out of complacency? But I like to be surprised, and I like to be proved wrong. Not in public, because that’s humiliating. But in private, I really like to be proved wrong, because that means that afterward, if I come to terms with it when the dust settles, I am ever so slightly smarter than before, and I feel better that way.

Via TKSST

6h

↩︎ TMN Newsletters 6h

Trying to make sure you take 10,000 steps per day? Nine-year-old dancer Lilyana Ilunga hits her number in about three minutes.

You might also want to check out Nia Dennis's recent floor routine for UCLA Gymnastics.

23h

Here is a picture of a 1954 Swallow Doretti Roadster restored to a factory-correct standard.

↩︎ Uncrate 23h

Good to know: Your breakfast cereal is likely not more expensive because your 401(k) invested in it, "at least not yet."

↩︎ Planet Money 23h

"Slow Tide," new paintings by Kelly Ording, showing at pt. 2 in Oakland.

↩︎ Juxtapoz 1d

I went back to my little apartment in Silver Lake and immediately got out my Bob Dylan and Neil Young records and said to myself, “These songs don’t have bridges either.”

From 2016, Lucinda Williams discusses all of the albums she’s made, and all of the advice she’s received and ignored.

↩︎ SPIN

1d

“Like you said, we’re not evil. We’re not bad people.” Three weeks of chatter from QAnon chat rooms.

↩︎ The New York Times 1d

Your weekly white paper: The amount of tweets about pneumonia in winter 2019-20 were an early warning sign for Covid-19.

↩︎ Nature 1d

‘Oumuamua didn’t behave as an interstellar object would be expected to, Loeb argued, because it wasn’t one. It was the handiwork of an alien civilization.

You’ve heard that US military is openly discussing UFOs. Well, meet the curious case of ‘Oumuamua and “its strange acceleration.”

↩︎ The New Yorker

2d

More people working from home last year led to a 311% increase in cryptocrime from ransomware.

↩︎ CNBC 2d

Specimens of the endangered Asian arowana, the world’s most valuable aquarium pet, can command up to $300,000 at auction.

↩︎ The Hustle 2d