Sermon on the Proust
Iranian President Pezeshkian says Tehran must be moved due to its ongoing ecological disasters. / Iran Insight
Related: Pezeshkian says Iran is facing insurmountable problems “and that he is out of ideas to fix them.” / The New York Times [$]
A good overview of water’s influence on politics in the Middle East. / Project Syndicate
Things included and things not in the United States’ $900 billion National Defense Authorization Act. / Military.com
Mapping the Republicans’ cuts to the National Institutes of Health suggests “further degradation of America’s capacity to remain a global leader in science and medical research.” / STAT
Your weekly white paper: On the discovery of submerged stone structures in Europe during the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition. (Here’s a pop-science summary.) / International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, Heritage Daily
Bhutan pledges 10,000 bitcoin to back a new special administrative region called Gelephu Mindfulness City. / Bitcoin Magazine
Children in Russia beg the government to restore their Roblox. / The Washington Post [$]
Unrelated: Maybe don’t let AI run your office vending machine? / The Wall Street Journal [$]
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Americans consistently and substantially overestimate how many social media users contribute to harmful behavior online. / PNAS Nexus
The Academy Awards will be broadcast on YouTube starting in 2029. In reaction, a summary of Hollywood opinions—e.g., “It's not just that streaming won, it's that the internet won.” / Hollywood Reporter, Reliable Sources, Spyglass
A round-up of the year’s best “dark, devious, and downright dumb sporting stories.” / The Guardian
Related: The most scathing book reviews of 2025. / Book Marks
A very online man eloquently argues for reading Proust early in the morning “to remind myself that I’m an adult and my attention is my own.” / Blackbird Spyplane
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