Don't eat the plastic snow.
Amid escalating US-Iran tensions, Trump ordered an airstrike in Baghdad that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds force. 1/22
"The targeted strike, and any retaliation by Iran, could ignite a conflict that engulfs the whole region, endangering US troops in Iraq, Syria, and beyond." 2/22
A chronology of how friction between the US and Iran has developed over the past eight days. 3/22
A profile of Soleimani from 2013: "He sits over there on the other side of the room, by himself, in a very quiet way. Doesn't speak, doesn't comment, just sits and listens. And so of course everyone is thinking only about him." 4/22
In an effort to curb teen usage, the FDA has banned most flavored vaping products. 5/22
"Clear direction from POTUS to continue to hold." Unredacted documents show the Pentagon's concerns over Trump's withholding of Ukraine aid. 6/22
In 2020 campaign news, Julián Castro ended his presidential run, Marianne Williamson laid off her campaign staff, and Bernie Sanders broke his quarterly fundraising record. 7/22
"Today, America has a genuine two-party system with no overlap, the development the Framers feared most." 8/22
Photos of the bushfires and the people and wildlife living amid them in Southeast Australia. 9/22
New science shows the 2018 blowout at an Ohio gas well released twice as much methane as the prior record incident. 10/22
A deep dive—literally, kind of—on the Y2K hysteria, and how apocalyptic fear influenced millennial anxiety. 11/22
"It is considered a cyber threat." The US Army has banned service members from using TikTok on government-issued phones. 12/22
A history of cops using social media—and now TikTok—in hopes of shaping public attention. 13/22
Thank you to everyone who's supported TMN and the Tournament of Books. If you haven't already, please find out why we need your help.
How the Rockefellers, Chase Bank, and the GOP arranged the ex-Shah's US entry—inciting the embassy takeover and dooming Carter. 14/22
Facing its warmest winter since 1886, Moscow trucks in fake snow—ironic in "a city that spends millions each year on its removal." 15/22
"We now live in a world where you can get as much high-calorie cheap food and alcohol as you want, and that's why we go on diets and need to moderate." The psychology of why Dry January works (and sometimes doesn't). 16/22
Visualizing the amount of microplastic we eat. Every month, it's enough to fill up a rice bowl halfway. 17/22
Wikipedia's editors and biographies are overwhelmingly male. As it turns out, so are its citations. 18/22
Among the works from 1924 that just entered the public domain are A. A. Milne's When We Were Very Young and George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. 19/22
Watching—or maybe consuming—video at accelerated speeds spins the hamster wheel, saving time for a "later" that never comes. 20/22
How a cartographer drew a freehand map of North America—a project that took four years and nine months to complete. 21/22
"A handmade book by Janet Gnosspelius contains every one of her cats' whiskers found in her home from 1940 to 1942." 22/22
And now a brief interview with Michael S., one of our newest supporters!
When did you start reading TMN? I want to say 2008. It was like a magical solution to the digg-Reddit war, remember that? I told everyone "curation is the future of the internet" like an asshole, it was great.
Ha, I DO remember. Do you recall what brought you to TMN in the first place? The Tournament of Books is very close to my heart, I was an ambitious English major and seeing the diversity of thought on books made me sooooo happy.
And what do you read it for these days? It continues to deliver a unique and BROAD perspective when so much news is tiring breaking updates on the Trump character. It's like news is TMZ of season 10 billion of The Apprentice. I hate it. Meh. Anyway I digress you all are lovely just do the thing you do.
We are definitely here to supply you with info about books made of cat whiskers. Finally: Any kind of TMN-adjacent anecdote to share? My sister who is the dark side to my lightside opinion of books also loves the ToB? How do you do that?
Thank you to Michael and all our supporters! Please consider becoming a Sustaining Member or making a one-time donation to keep this newsletter coming.
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