How to make friends

The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals partially blocks the decision overturning FDA approval of mifepristone—the medication will remain available, but cannot be mailed. / NBC News

Arcturus is the new omicron subvariant; while no more deadly than its kin, it may be 1.2 times more infectious than the last major subvariant. / The Independent

US inflation continues to slow down, though other economic indicators show it may stick around for a while. / Quartz, the New York Times

Justin Pearson has been reappointed to the Tennessee House of Representatives less than a week after he was expelled for leading a gun-reform chant in the House. / Commercial Appeal

Rather than comply with an order to return banned books to their shelves, a Texas county may choose to shutter their entire library system. / Texas Public Radio

Universal Music Group has told Spotify and Apple to block its copyrighted music from AI scraping, which can be used to generate soundalike songs. / Financial Times

"Fair warning: It's really bad." Step-by-step instructions on how to use AI tools to create a video of "Wes Anderson's The Lord of the Rings." See the results. / Vox, YouTube

Inserting ChatGPT-powered avatars into a Sims-like environment to see whether AI can simulate human behavior—turns out, like people, AIs can be flaky. / Gizmodo

See also: How to replace your group chat with an LLM trained on 500,000 group chat messages. / Izzy Miller

"A touring production of the stage version of The Bodyguard was brought to a halt...after patrons would not stop singing along." / Variety

The original theme for Super Mario Bros. will become the first music from a video game to enter the US Library of Congress. / The Guardian

Now out of prison, Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland says Fyre Festival II is happening. / ABC

Maine's Mineral & Gem Museum is offering a $25,000 reward to anyone who can recover the remains of a meteor that landed near the Canadian border. / Bangor Daily News

Data visualizations from the late 19th century found in an antique store. / Data Is Beautiful

An IBM Selectric enthusiast creates new typewriter balls with alternate fonts—including, yes, Comic Sans. / Ars Technica

"Here's why you're seeing gross viral recipes on your subway commute." / Hell Gate


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Your headlines are sourced and composed by Rosecrans Baldwin and Andrew Womack, Monday through Saturday. View this edition and the latest headlines at TMN.