The Senate passes $858 billion defense legislation that includes funding for Ukraine and Taiwan and rescinds the military's vaccine mandate. / CNN
EU leaders agree on more sanctions for Russia and €18 billion in financing for Ukraine. / Reuters
The Senate has also approved a short-term funding bill to avoid a government shutdown. / CBS News
Related: This could turn out to be one of Congress's most productive lame-duck sessions in recent memory—though of course there's still time to turn that around. / The New York Times
"Geologists could soon decide which spot on Earth marks the first clear evidence of the Anthropocene." / Nature
The weird challenges of de-extincting species: A wooly mammoth is going to be very hungry, and want 400 pounds of plants a day. / The New Republic
There is no way to adequately describe in this space everything that happened on Twitter last night, so let's go over to Ryan Broderick for that. / Garbage Day
"Not only is the proliferation of these images adding to already-existing misogyny; they're also explicitly racist." We need to talk about Lensa AI. / Jezebel
Accept that this is lovely, and maybe look at your phone a little differently: the "Luddite" Brooklyn teens trading their smartphones for flip phones. / The New York Times
The mansion where Brideshead Revisited was written has sold—but the "Evelyn Waugh superfans" living there refuse to leave. / The Guardian
"I can't think of a device that has brought more musical enthusiasm into my life this year." Why you should want a Theremin. / WIRED
The gift you should give: a recording of your voice that they can save forever. / The New York Times
A 1990s Brother AX-325 electric typewriter that's been outfitted with chat AI and can respond to typed queries. / The Morning News
See also: Using images of spectrograms to train AI to make music. / Riffusion
A compilation of high-quality Pink Floyd footage predating Dark Side of the Moon. / MetaFilter
Jason Diamond on changing food rituals and how they can reaffirm who we are. / The Melt