The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urges “universal mask use” anywhere outside people’s homes. / The Washington Post

To visit Iowa right now is to go back to the pandemic's early days, "when the horror was fresh and the sirens never stopped." / The Atlantic

Related: Updates from Miami, San Francisco, Georgia, Minnesota, etc. / The Miami Herald, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Star Tribune, The New York Times

In a survey of 700 epidemiologists, half say they won't change their own behavior until at least 70% of the US is vaccinated. / The New York Times

Your weekly pandemic hero: Chef José Andrés, creator of a kind of Works Progress Administration for the hospitality industry. / Huffpost

Nine photographers' best takes on capturing a year that included a pandemic, an uprising, a country divided. / The Washington Post

An economist tries to figure out when it makes sense in the current moment to complain about a business. / Bloomberg

Estimates suggest that informal giving via Cash App and Venmo now totals in the billions of dollars, surging to new heights this year. / OneZero

This year's hurricane season blew through (sorry) predictions from federal scientists, who were already expecting a busy year. / Buzzfeed News

Interviews and architectural renderings describe one of China's 260 new massive detention centers. / BuzzFeed News

From the frontlines of the monolith wars: The latest was torn down by white supremacists and replaced with a cross. / VICE

A man named Adolf Hilter wins a sweeping victory in Namibia. "He has no plans for world domination." / BBC News

A list of gifts for the hypebaes in your life. / INPUT

Africa Is a Country radio is back with "a monthly deep dive into the music and cultural politics of the continent and beyond." / Worldwide Radio

Related: Fifty notable African books from 2020. / Brittle Paper

“The bike world is undeniably insular." For your lockdown wanderlust, a brief clip of cyclist Andrew Jackson riding the cement and mountains of Southern California. / The Morning News

Deb Perelman firmly rejects the "domestic goddess" narrative. She's only cooking for an audience because Smitten Kitchen pays the rent. / The New Yorker

The first commercially printed Christmas card, now up for sale, was scandalous in 1843 for depicting children drinking wine. / The Guardian

Katherine May, author of Wintering, says the best way to survive a winter, even during a pandemic, is to embrace it. / NPR