Jamelle Bouie: It's time the Democrats take up the mantle of an opposition party, if they even understand what that means. / The New York Times [+]

Texas Gov. Abbott has purchased billboards in Mexico and Central America warning migrants they risk being raped if they cross the border. / San Antonio Current

Texas has been trying to build a border wall since 2021, but resistance from landowners has so far limited construction to just 6% of the length of the border. / The Texas Tribune

See also: After removing the Bible from school libraries as part of a ban on sexually explicit materials, a Texas school district reversed course once the state intervened. / KVII

The New European's person of the year is Gisèle Pelicot, who has "changed the rules, reversed the language, and given women permission to reject shame." / The New European

"An entity claiming to be United Healthcare is sending bogus copyright claims to internet platforms to get Luigi Mangione fan art taken off the internet." / 404 Media

See also: According to alleged editorial chats, the New York Times has been telling staff to "dial back" photos of Luigi Mangione. / Hyperallergic

Earlier this year, the Biden administration extended Medicaid and CHIP to cover some traditional Native American healing practices. / Cronkite News

"Questioning the science is seen as invalidating people's trauma." What the most famous book about trauma gets wrong. / Mother Jones

Researchers are using AI to detect and study bird calls, changing the ways we track, understand, and protect migratory bird species. / MIT Technology Review

Google Street View captured the moment a man was loading what is purportedly a body into the back of a car, helping police crack a murder case. / BBC News

The authors of a study on black plastic cookware acknowledge a math error that overstated the amount of toxins that can leach into food, but still conclude the utensils pose a danger. / Ars Technica

Some online casinos have set up shop on Roblox, where children as young as 12 have been gambling using their in-game currency. / Sky News

The first-known rip of Yukio Ninagawa's 1984 Medea performance "took about 6 months and at least 3 destroyed VCRs to do correctly." / Internet Archive

See also: "I feel like the Coffee Mate decision makers really took away the wrong message from these morality plays." On the White Lotus + Coffee Mate collab. / Sprudge

A fascinating math explainer of the Moon. / Bartosz Ciechanowski

The Department of Homeland Security says China, Russia, Iran, and Israel are spying on Americans through their phones. / 404 Media

Cybersecurity officials are worried about Trump's transition team relying on private emails that can be hacked. / Politico

An eye-opening look at how and why right-wing trolls are trying to blame school shootings on trans people. / Shatter Zone

Nicholas O. Stephanopoulos: One of the unnoticed themes of the recent election was our depolarization. / The Washington Post [+]

Ever since Covid, "crunchy" has gone more individualistic and right-wing, and some old-school crunchy folks are bowing out. / The New York Times [+]

See also: How many Republicans know that RFK is an environmental lawyer? (Poll source.) / Bluesky, Quinnipiac

California declares a state of emergency over bird flu. / CBS News

Today's bankers are less inclined to cocaine, more to Adderall and other ADHD drugs. / The Wall Street Journal [+] 

Are today's inventions less interesting than those made during the Industrial Revolution? No, "but the focus of innovation has shifted." / New Cartographies

An argument that "timeless style" is nonsense. / Blackbird Spyplane

A tool searches works of literature for words that never appear in their texts. / Bewitched

Unrelated: A short novella by Fyodor Dostoevsky becomes a social media craze. / The Guardian

Among the year's worst food and dining trends: croissants that look like they were designed "by AI rather than human hands." / Eater

Photographs by Kelly Burgess explore the influences of Puritanical folklore on contemporary New England. / Booooooom

Home foundations in New England are found to be crumbling due to a mineral called pyrrhotite. / Undark Magazine

See also: A personal essay about a sunken neighborhood in LA. / Zocalo Public Square

A roundup of license plate numbers rejected in Indiana this year—including, yes, HWK TUAH. / Fox59

Deforestation of the Amazon in Brazil has been halved once again, thanks to president Lula da Silva. / Sustainability by numbers

New studies find our skin can generate antibodies, independent of the rest of our immune system. / Nature

Today's theories about the shape of the universe are thought to be "almost certainly wrong." / Port

As linked here last month (over here), the fall of Syria's Bashar al-Assad has overturned the Middle East's most profitable drug network. / The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal [+]

Palestinians explain how they struggle every day to find food for their kids. / Al Jazeera

See also: "The story of UNRWA indexes a different kind of war, one enacted through laws and lists which mobilize a politics of ban, sanction, and punishment on targeted entities." / Phenomenal World

For NBC's Tonight Show, social media distribution has become the new cultural currency. / The Hollywood Reporter

Vibes are perhaps "both bone-deep and ephemeral nonsense," but they're also replacing facts. / The Guardian

What it's like to stage Hamlet inside Grand Theft Auto. / The Face

Unrelated: Remembering a Sony Playstation created to celebrate Canada Day. / Obsolete Sony's Newsletter

Honda and Nissan are contemplating a merger to create the world's third-largest auto group. / CNBC

"How can something so simple be so mysterious?" Philip Sherburne's favorite albums of the year. / Futurism Restated

In case you missed it, we recently dropped the short list for the 2025 Rooster competition, presented by Field Notes. / The Tournament of Books, Field Notes

Some thoughts on reconsidering Cormac McCarthy's work in light of recent news. / Lithub

Some thoughts on Elvis Presley's worst songs. / The Oxford American

Some thoughts on gardens painted in December light. / Still Sketching

Public art installations in Oregon are being attacked by googly eyes. / Smithsonian Magazine

Ukraine claims the killiing of Russia's head of chemical, biological, and radiological weapons with a bomb attack in Moscow. / The Kyiv Independent

After many reforms, Argentina exits its deep recession. / CNN

Executives in the billionaire-protection industry say business is up. / Bloomberg [+]

Related: A brief history of superyachts—and how they explain the world. / Mother Jones

There are 700 million acres of forest in the continental United States. Of that, 40 percent is owned by private individuals. / Yale University Press

Five medical breakthroughs from 2024—preventive food allergy medication, schizophrenia treatment, etc. / Scientific Discovery

Nearly half of American teenagers say they are online "constantly." / The Associated Press
 
Starbucks is said to be "the new Venmo" for Gen Alpha teenagers. / Fast Company

Our favorite online game of the week? Ending a microwave-cooking time closest to zero. / Vercel.app

Anthony Lane on the history of risotto. / The New Yorker

A very long, "comprehensive-ish" guide to Chinese cookery. / Chinese Cooking Demystified

Related: "Ignore the wine snobs, granny sherry is delicious." / Drinking culture

A round-up of design-driven game designers figuring out how to balance aesthetics with playability. / It's Nice That

An essay about the life of professional wrestling by a wrestler. "I think about multitudes." / The Players' Tribune

In agreeing to give $15 million to Trump's presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit, ABC News broke the first rule of resisting autocracy: "Don't obey in advance." / AP, American Crisis

Related: "Trump and his picks threaten more lawsuits over critical coverage." / The New York Times [+]

Florida banned local authorities from overseeing worker safety in high temperatures—an investigation now finds businesses haven't reported at least half of their heat deaths. / Tampa Bay Times

A New Jersey gubernatorial candidate comes under fire for faking a Spotify Wrapped that shows Springsteen as his top five songs of the year. / NJ.com

See also: A montage of Bruce Springsteen performing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" from 1978 to 2016. / YouTube

"A vicar has been forced to apologise after telling a group of schoolchildren aged 10 and 11 that Father Christmas was not real." / BBC News

Eighty years ago on Christmas Day, a plane carrying big band legend Glenn Miller went missing without a trace. / NPR

Congress tells Apple and Google to be prepared to remove TikTok from their app stores on Jan. 19. / Reuters

Related: This time around the ban isn't over China, but about TikTok's refusal to curtail pro-Palestinian content. / Matzko Minute

"Now I'm a network and nobody can tell us what the fuck to do." Before MTV there was Night Flight, whose original creator has relaunched the subculture haven. / Pitchfork

A car customizer hopes to get a Cybertruck approved for British roads, where sharp angles on vehicles are forbidden because of the threat to cars and pedestrians. / WIRED

Built with a reverse set of amino acids and sugars, synthetic "mirror cells" pose an "unprecedented risk" for all life, scientists warn. / Smithsonian Magazine

The founder and lead of Google Quantum AI suggests the speed of its new chip may be because it's borrowing "computation from parallel universes." / Newsweek

As dinosaur fossils hit record-breaking auction prices, a fractional investment platform plans to offer up shares in a Stegosaurus skeleton later this week. / Observer

Not for the squeamish: Tales of 18th-century dentistry. / The Quack Doctor

The world's oldest surviving bond just turned 400 years old and pays €13.61 of interest a year. / Financial Times

Say goodbye to the rest of your day with this mashup of Google maps and Wikipedia entries. / Matthew Siu

Raw milk consumption hasn't been linked to H5N1; still, a Marin County toddler who drank raw milk fell ill with some kind of influenza-like illness, just not bird flu. / STAT

"This idea of progress acknowledges that as soon as we have something...we see its flaws." Why the future is never what we hoped. / Works in Progress

Of the 3,000 electric mail trucks the US Postal Service was supposed to have on the road by now, only 93 have been delivered. / Engadget

See also: How the humble airship could one day provide a more environmentally friendly way to transport cargo. / VICE

Unrelated: "Southwest's CEO says the Trump years will be good for airlines." / Quartz

At $447 billion, Elon Musk has become the richest person in history, and has a net worth surpassing the total household wealth of most countries. / Brilliant Maps

See also: "If you are one of the many analysts seduced by the idea that the Trump administration…would in some way advance the concept of antitrust enforcement in the public good, you are a god damn idiot."  / How Things Work

A string of unexpected proper nouns: By selling Hot Ones to George Soros, BuzzFeed is paying down the debt Vivek Ramaswamy suggested would give him control of the company. / The Verge

US telecoms hit by Chinese state-sponsored hackers have no plans to inform most customers whose data has been accessed—nor are they required to do so. / Ars Technica

Nigel Richards won the Spanish World Scrabble Championship, despite not speaking the language. Nine years ago he did the same thing, but in French. / The Guardian

"It can instantly cool any space to 28 degrees Fahrenheit while simultaneously warming it to 114." The first-ever smart thermostat for perimenopausal people. / McSweeney's

Data visualizations depicting the emotion of acting performances in contemporary American film. / Naitian Zhou

How to read 100 pages every day: For starters, put your phone in a drawer. / The Lamp

President-elect Trump invites Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration next month. / CBS News

Some Democrats are regretting going sour on Elon Musk. Meta gives $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund. /  Politico, The Wall Street Journal [+]

President Biden will commute the sentences of around 1,500 people. / Reuters

In Canada, euthanasia now accounts for nearly one in 20 deaths. / BBC News

In Mexico, an app with an AI diagnostic tool has led to a nine percent drop in suicide. / rest of world

Artificial intelligence startups are moving into San Francisco's empty office buildings. / CNBC

A therapist describes what it's like to work with "designed" teenagers in Silicon Valley. / WIRED 

The tipping point for self-driving cars is said to be near. "The fact is that self-driving cars are getting safer." / IEEE Spectrum

See also: Photographs of children working in Nigeria's lithium mines. / The Associated Press

People are reverse engineering Netflix and creating unauthorized archives of shows. / 404 Media

Why was Spotify's "wrapped" so poorly received this year? Partly because its software isn't fun to use. / The New Yorker

Matthew Haughey explains what it's like to experience a "spamalanche" attack. / A Whole Lotta Nothing

The best-selling specialty pizza in Taiwanese Pizza Hut history? One adorned with calamari, fried chicken, and Oreos. / Gastro Obscura

See also: A Japanese convenience store launches a drinkable mayonnaise. / The Independent

Which economy did best in 2024? Spain, Ireland, and Denmark. / The Economist

"How has this year been for you?" Some responses from Palestinians. / The London Review of Books

A photographic tour of Bashar al-Assad's presidential palace. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

Once again, a massive wildfire has erupted in Malibu, Calif. / The Los Angeles Times

"They're indifferent to the people that are buried there. They're indifferent to the history." Inside a Texas family's fight to honor its ancestors. / The Barbed Wire

David J. Morris: Male underrepresentation is an uncomfortable topic in a literary world. / The New York Times [+]

Some thoughts on trends from Pinterest's head of forecasting. "Escapism might become more of a reality." / The Trend Report

Unrelated: Salad dressings to avoid at grocery stores. / The Takeout

What exactly are college football's "cupcake games?" "If you'll allow me to use the industry-specific term here, they're all dogshit." / The New Yorker

Attending a premiere for AI movies, which aren't made with love, but "for TCL...as part of a pilot program designed to normalize AI movies and TV shows."  / 404 Media

There have been essentially no G-rated movies in recent years—does general audience entertainment still exist? / Tedium

The best movies of the year according to John Waters. "Stupid critics. Gaga so good. Joker so right. Die, dumbbells, die!." / Vulture

Israel carries out large-scale attacks across Syria, targeting airports and strategic military infrastructure. / Al Jazeera

Related: The United States carries out dozens of airstrikes on over 75 Islamic State targets. / Politico

Anne Applebaum: The end of the Assad regime creates something new, and not only in Syria. / The Atlantic [+]

What it's like to be a Palestinian research scientist in Gaza and the West Bank. / The New York Times [+]

A profile of a beloved, powerful oncologist in Helena, Mont., suspected of harming his patients. / ProPublica

See also: A profile of a San Francisco engineer who picks up garbage for a hobby. / CBS News

Less than 20 percent of Americans have gotten the updated Covid booster. Doctors explain why it's a good idea. / Goats and Soda

People in New Jersey are reporting an uptick in drone sightings. Officials don't know where they're coming from. / The New York Times [+]

A round-up of some of the year's best astronomy photographs. Also, a round-up of the year's best gadgets. / Royal Museums Greenwich, dezeen

A "professional scratcher" is someone who drags their nails across a client's back for $100 an hour or more. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

Saahil Desai swoons over the Ooni pizza oven. "There has simply never been a better time to make pizza at home." / The Atlantic [+]

Unrelated: A wealthy NFL quarterback bought himself a replica of the modern Batmobile. / Robb Report

And in case you missed it, last week we announced the short list for the 2025 Touranment of Books! / The Tournament of Books

The USDA finally orders testing of the nation's milk supply for bird flu, with the initial round of tests to begin in mid-December.  / NBC News

The District of Columbia is suing Amazon for neglecting to provide Prime deliveries to two predominantly Black neighborhoods, while still charging customers for the faster service. / AP

How Americans got to this point of hating their healthcare system: It's a blame game between pharma, insurers, and hospitals, and patients are the victims. / Vox

Jia Tolentino: "Thompson's murder is one symptom of the American appetite for violence; his line of work is another." / The New Yorker

According to ICE data, nearly half of the 1.4 million people with pending deportations cannot go back to their home countries. / The Washington Post [+]

Related: Trump may revive the plan of sending migrants to locations that are not their home countries—the lawsuit over doing this in 2019 is still pending in federal court. / NBC News

See also: A crowdsourced spreadsheet of local immigration advocacy and support organizations. / Google Docs

"You have to oppose this motherfucker. You have to remember the Central Park Five." How a strongman gets stronger. / How Things Work

In a secret, largely unscripted 1983 war game, the Pentagon found nuclear de-escalation depends on clear communications—which are sorely lacking today. / The New York Times [+]

Chuck E. Cheese's animatronic bands are playing their final shows this month, as plans to phase out the dolls at all but five locations take effect. / IEEE Spectrum

The fashion trend of the moment for rich guys is Nehru jackets that cost $4,000. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

If PreCheck grows to include—as TSA hopes—70% of passengers, at what point does the regular lane become faster? / The Washington Post [+]

Three years after Larry McMurtry's death, his Archer City, Texas, bookstore has changed hands twice, and will now reopen as a literary center. / San Antonio Express-News

See also: Photos of people and places on a back-and-forth road trip between Austin and Los Angeles, by Bryan Schutmaat.  / The Atlantic [+]

For the first time since 2011, three quarters of Sonic Youth performed live together last Friday. / Consequence

Hex codes for all 16.7 million colors; also, every UUID. / HexColorList, eieio.games

In a new study, bird flu is found to be one mutation away from becoming more easily transmitted between humans. / Scientific American

The European Space Agency has launched a pair of satellites capable of creating artificial solar eclipses, which could help scientists better understand geomagnetic storms. / AP

Sally Rooney: "A handful of voters in US swing states have more power to determine the speed and scale of planetary overheating than billions of other people on Earth." / The Irish Times

Following the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, other major health insurance companies take their leadership pages offline. / 404 Media

See also: Responding to online vitriol after the UHC murder, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield cancels a policy change that would limit surgical anesthesia coverage. / NBC News

A Black farmer who reclaimed the plantation where his ancestors were enslaved has now forces to contend with, among them the USDA: "It really is modern-day sharecropping." / Bitter Southerner

Notre Dame has reopened five years after a fire damaged parts of the cathedral—here are before-and-after visualizations of what's changed. / The Washington Post [+]

For your weekend wanderlust: A 10-day long bike ride through Italy. / The Radavist

Atlas Shrugged (Part II) on Blu-Ray, a truly deranged planter, and more recommendations in a heinous gift guide for sworn enemies. / ¡Hola Papi!

Just because you can deep-fry Coca-Cola, should you? / The Takeout

"This was not the classic 18th-century 'old, corpulent, port-and-pheasant' gout but 'young, cool' gout, if such a thing exists." New books on diet, health, and identity. / Los Angeles Review of Books

Unrelated: On inadvertently turning a cat into a turkey fiend. / Defector

Rooster fans: The shortlist, judges, and Zombie poll for the 2025 Tournament of Books, presented by Field Notes, is now live! / Field Notes, the Tournament of Books

For better and certainly for worse, the 10 moments that defined podcasting in 2024. / Vulture

"There is nothing more poignant than an end of year death for a Christmas hitmaker." Wham!'s "Last Christmas" at 40. / The Quietus

A visualization of places in the United States at highest risk from disasters and insurance hikes. / The Guardian

Interview with a physicist focused on biobased materials. "The question is whether we have enough." / Knowable Magazine 

When will we get nuclear fusion? After 2050, though first "we've got to survive the next decades without it." / Ben James

The White House and various companies and groups announce a universal "Plug and Charge" program for electric vehicles. / Ars Technica

In Vietnam, EV charging networks are being developed by small investors. / rest of world

Unrelated, from Sarah Jeong: "When the South Korean president declares martial law on Tuesday night, I am fairly drunk." / The Verge

Car fans are trying to figure out if Jaguar's design overhaul is refreshing or revolting. / Motortrend

Mephisto's orthopedic shoes are said to now be cool. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

The year in Spotify for Gen Z customers globally: Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Bad Bunny. / After School

Unrelated: "With Puccini died the great opera tradition." / The New York Times [+]

Tinder releases its predictions for dating in 2025—e.g., "nano-ships" and "micro-connections." / Mashable 

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt says Gen Z men may wind up preferring AI girlfriends to real women. / Fortune

See also: People turning to AI for companionship "are finding the experience surprisingly meaningful, unexpectedly heartbreaking, and profoundly confusing." / The Verge

South Korea’s president faces impeachment after he unexpectedly declares martial law. / The Guardian

Some analysis of China, North Korea, and Russia’s response to regional developments. / CNN

Unrelated: Vladimir Putin has a “secret” daughter working as a DJ in France? / NME

Turkey's proxies in Syria may soon be in open combat with US proxies in Syria. / Forever Wars 

One theory why Democrats lost power in Washington? Existential dread. / Elad Nehorai’s Newsletter

A writer who used to romanticize heartbreak tests out some new apps, coaches, and getaways meant to address breakups. / The New Yorker

A report by UN Women finds 85,000 women and girls were killed intentionally by men in 2023, with 60% of those deaths committed by someone they knew. / The Guardian

Regarding yesterday’s link about lonely Americans, a new trend (of sorts) to address the situation: “cohousing.” / NPR

See also: A climate report from the suburbs. / Places Journal

Bible sales are up 22% in the US through the end of October. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

The price of coffee beans reaches its highest price in 47 years. / Semafor

The world’s largest iced latte stands 11 feet tall, comprising 3,200 shots of espresso. / Sprudge

Some kennel designs from Milan’s Architecture for Dogs exhibition. / dezeen

Videos of the best goals scored by male and female footballers this year. / Kottke

Your weekly puzzle: What do starship captains see when they fall straight into a black hole? / Azimuth

A thoughtful essay by an author (who lost her parents to AIDS) to explain what “virality” now really means. “You have a story and I have a story and they are not the same story.” / Lithub

France's prime minister faces a no-confidence vote that could leave the country without a functioning government. / BBC News

France has recorded 52 Israeli violations of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire. / The National

Palestinians explain what it's like to go through an autumn olive harvest in Area C. / Al Jazeera

Canada launches a new ad campaign telling asylum-seekers that making an immigration claim "is not easy." / The Toronto Star

Unrelated: Men in New York City explain how much they'd pay for a flannel shirt. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

Arizona's largest public utility gained $69 million in savings last year by buying California's excess solar power. / The Los Angeles Times [+]

A longtime California travel writer lists the state's best mountain towns. / Travel + Leisure

Gripes from private chefs for Silicon Valley's elite families. "The labels in the beverage fridge were not facing forward." / The San Francisco Standard

See also: How a federal policy change in the 1980s created the modern food desert. / The Atlantic [+]

Americans have long been warned about loneliness. "The alarms, of course, may not always be false." / Asterisk Mag 

Details from an international "space-out competition." / Inside Hook

Details about Genji-kō, a Japanese game of smelling different types of incense. / Owl

Scientists discover a new family of living things "that reside in the midnight world of the ocean." / The New York Times [+]

"In Mongolia, people rave on horseback." Tom Whitwell reports on the things he learned last year. / Medium

The very weird story of how Pras Michél, co-founder of The Fugees, became a spy. / Variety

Patricia Lockwood on The X-Files: "The real reason everyone loved the show was not because it was about alien autopsies but because it was about motel rooms." / The London Review of Books

Scientists are still unsure why H5N1—which is known to have a fatality rate around 50%—has so far been mild in all 55 reported human cases in the US this year. / STAT

"When you're homeless, you are even more vulnerable. You have no place to go, no kitchen table to sit at while you drink your beer." Homelessness in America, firsthand. / Esquire

The hacker who accessed user accounts at AT&T, Ticketmaster, and others was caught after threatening the chief researcher at a cybersecurity firm. / Waterloo Region Record

The future relevance of mainstream media could come down to understanding the difference between the Manosphere and the Zynternet. / Joshua Citarella's Newsletter

Worries abound that Sonos may be prepared to launch a subscription model, completing a long line in a series of missteps. / WIRED

Oxford's word of the year is "brain rot," the first appearance of which goes back to Thoreau's Walden. / Oxford University Press

The creator of 2000 Mules admits his film misled audiences with claims the 2020 election was stolen. But that does nothing to reverse the damage that's been done. / The Washington Post [+]

How Gladiator II mishandles its depictions of Africa and Africans, who "play the role of barbaric outsiders in ways both problematic and familiar." / Hyperallergic

Watch: How Ex Machina is actually a reverse Turing test. / YouTube

Reconsidering the seven deadly sins as not merely bad, inappropriate, "sinful," etc., but as evolutionary imperatives. / The Guardian

Techno made with household objects—e.g., a sewing machine, an electric toothbrush, a ladder. / Neatorama

Experience the calm of building a train and watching it run on virtual tracks. / Railway Design

TMN will return on Monday, following the Thanksgiving holiday.

Russian forces are advancing in Ukraine at the fastest rate since the start of the 2022 invasion. / Reuters

How many Ukrainian soldiers have died in the war? As a share of population, more than America suffered in the Vietnam and Korean wars combined. / The Economist

See also: Street interviews with people in Kyiv about podcaster Joe Rogan's recent rant. / The Kyiv Independent

Gangs in Haiti now control most of Port-au-Prince. Up to half of their members are children. / The Associated Press

A former drug dealer known for Fox News appearances is arrested on suspicion of pimping and pandering. / The San Francisco Standard

Donald Trump's signature dance move is being embraced by athletes, but it's not clear if they're celebrating or mocking him. / The New Yorker

Unrelated: A bunch of "mirror houses" that you can rent or buy. / Field Magazine

A round-up of tariffs used by different countries "to stem the flow of China-made tech products." / rest of world

A fully functional microscope made of paper only costs $2 to make and is offered free to kids in lower income countries. / Goats and Soda

Some office furniture pieces that can be converted into skate ramps and rails. / dezeen

In 2024, the number of people talking about "pheromone perfume" on social media rose nearly 300%. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

A genre of Japanese fiction known for cats and coziness is booming in Britain. / The Guardian

See also: A first-of-its-kind lawsuit is testing whether the legal system can protect an influencer's vibe. / The Verge

A new Ken Burns documentary about Leonardo da Vinci can be streamed online through December 17. / Open Culture 

Some lessons from the AI Art Turing Test. (You can still take it yourself.) / Astral Codex Ten, Google Docs

A puzzle for the holiday: "Suppose you have a publicity-seeking inchworm and want to keep him to yourself. What's the smallest cover you can contrive to keep him hidden?" (Mathmeticians still don't know the answer.) / Futility Closet

US prosecutors indict Indian billionaire Gautam Adani over his alleged lead role in a bribery scheme. / Al Jazeera

The boats behind Mozambique's $2 billion "tuna bond scandal" are up for sale. / gCaptain

The White House says it'll lend $6 billion to help Rivian build a factory in Georgia, part of an effort to lock in climate policies. / elektrek

Tesla factories, including its Austin plant, are found to be flagrant polluters. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

Elon Musk's wealth recently hit $348 billion. "Musk could pay the entire New York City budget for three years, and still have an eleven-figure net worth." / How Things Work

See also: The remarkable house built by Lynda.com. / The Architect's Newspaper

Unrelated: Some antique espresso machines. / Flashbak

The fundamentals of lab-grown meat are pricey—is the future of the business in luxury products? / Undark Magazine

Research shows parts of our bodies start aging earlier than others, "right down to our organs and cells." / The Washington Post [+]

A profile of the man designed an apartment complex for mice to examine the effects of overcrowding. / The Guardian

How the "polyworking" trend has led to "Creator As Expert" culture. / The Trend Report

A look at time capsules scheduled to be opened next year. / Paleofuture

In case you missed it, we dropped the 2025 Tournament of Books long list last week. / The Tournament of Books

Lili Anolik explains her reasons for "killing" Joan Didion and making an enemy of Donna Tartt. / Vulture

Confessions of Cormac McCarthy's "secret muse," whom he met when she was 16. "He asked me why I carried a gun." / Vanity Fair

The ICC's warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant sent shockwaves, but don't expect the Court to rock American Exceptionalism, an "assertion of who the rules apply to and who they don't." / Forever Wars

The first known H5N1 infection in a child in the US was confirmed last week, marking the 55th human case so far this year. / CDC

A database of the Federal Reserve board's meeting minutes from 1967 to 1973 uncovers a secret history that's often humdrum, but sometimes nearly disastrous. / Notes on the Crises

Unrelated: "Anyone can buy data tracking US soldiers and spies to nuclear vaults and brothels in Germany." / WIRED

Whether to get rich or simply to make music, people use Suno for different reasons, but one thing seems clear: Copyright laws need updating. / Can't Get Much Higher

If podcasts are your thing, it's because of the people behind the microphones. So how could AI podcasts ever be a thing for anyone? / Internal Exile

How the "cozy gaming" trend is influencing AI device makers, who want us to feel our digital companions are more than tools. / The New Yorker

See also: "Several AI-based study tools are capitalizing on a 'PDF to Brainrot' trend, which will read the text of a document you upload over 'oddly satisfying' videos." / TechCrunch

More than a decade after the Times spent months covering the troubled teens on a Tennessee basketball team, checking in with the Lady Jaguars. / The New York Times [+]

A six-and-a-half-hour supercut of Tom Verlaine's guitar solos stitched together from 50 different bootlegs of "Marquee Moon." / Ty Burr's Watch List

Hundreds of Beavers, the indie slapstick Everything Everywhere All at Once's co-director called "the future of cinema"—is now streaming for free and you need to see it. / AP, YouTube

"How queuing for stuff became just as important as buying it." / The Face

A chilling, immersive remembrance of Kristallnacht through the eyes of those who were there, 86 years later. / Inside Kristallnacht

"This coming Thanksgiving will be the first without her." Alice Brock of Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant" dies at 83. / WBUR

After 800 years of dormancy, Iceland's geological systems reactivated in 2021; since then, a volcano near Reykjavík has erupted 10 times. / Reuters

The discovery of a mummified saber-toothed tiger cub is providing scientists a first-ever glimpse of the species, and providing answers to long-held questions. / National Geographic

To understand the debate over fluoridated water, look to Portland, Ore., where the water remains fluoride-free, and the locals are still divided on the topic. / The Washington Post [+]

It may be nice to think science should be apolitical, but at this moment it isn't, and that's why the removal of Scientific American's editor-in-chief is such a loss. / Defector

Related: Do California teachers have the right to slam Donald Trump? / Los Angeles Times

"The backlash against incumbents is real, but it is only indirectly related to factual information about inflation and the economy." / Econbrowser

A Q&A with the author of a book about the secret worlds that exist only for the super-rich, who make their own laws and rarely abide by them. / Coda

Did AI art just pass the Turing test? Only if you're comparing AI output to "JPEGs of photographs of paintings." / Read Max

See also: A visit to the Met's staff art show, "the most enjoyable exhibition I've seen in recent memory." / The Loaf

New to us, but, German Chocolate Cake isn't German and Baker's Chocolate isn't for bakers—both were instead named after people. / Kottke.org

You know the disclaimer movies include that states the film isn't based on anyone living or dead? It's there because of a lawsuit over the death of Rasputin. / Interconnected

"You experience a decrease in dopamine and norepinephrine, due to the decreased activity of the reward system cells." The neuroscience of heartbreak. / Mapping Ignorance

Rooster fans rejoice: Here it is, the 2025 Tournament of Books long list. / The Tournament of Books

"All you could see were toys, toys, and toys, like a fabulous toy land." New Yorkers recall shopping before the internet. / New York Magazine

The International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Israel's prime minister and former defence minister, and Hamas's military commander. / BBC News

A recap of Gaza resolutions the UN's Security Council has voted on since last October. / Al Jazeera

Consulting firm McKinsey is said to have a client list "that reads as the 'whodunit' of the climate crisis." / The Guardian

Unrelated: Confessions of a repentant Wagner disinformation agent from the Central African Republic. / Le Monde

Roughly 57% of the world's population is now connected to the mobile internet, though the rate of growth is slowing. / rest of world

An investigative journalist who's never had a smartphone considers getting one that was previously only available to the military. / 404 Media

Regarding yesterday's news about robot dogs, one just completed a full-course marathon. / The Register

See also: A developer released what he's billing "the world's first AI street hawker." / Ted Benson

In the 1930's young, working women divided a week into "48 hours working, 56 hours sleeping, 31 hours on home obligations, and 24 hours eating or running errands." / The One Percent Rule

Explaining what the "women in male fields" TikTok trend is about. / Screenshot

A video report from Europe's recent Tramdriver Championship. / YouTube

The great sports writer Louisa Thomas on Rafael Nadal's legacy: "No match was over until it was over; and then it was over." / The New Yorker

Footage from 1910 shows Leo Tolstoy's final days, right to his deathbed. / Open Culture

See also: A calculator can tell you a famous person's "net elevation" from birth to death. / Avi Bagla