Somebody has to.
An otherwise healthy 25-year-old man from Nevada was reinfected with Covid-19, and the second bout was worse than the first. / BBC News
Johnson & Johnson pauses its Covid vaccine study due to an unexplained illness in a participant. / STAT
Sean Penn has created the United States’ largest coronavirus testing program. Somebody had to. / GQ
A maskless Donald Trump tells supporters in Florida, many of them also without masks, that he wants to give them “a big fat kiss.” / The Washington Post
Early voting kicks off in Georgia with some people arriving at four in the morning. / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
California’s Republican Party admits it placed misleading ballot boxes around the state. / The New York Times
New restrictions but no national lockdowns yet as a second wave of the coronavirus hits Europe. In the United States, it’s a third wave. / The Union Leader, New York Magazine
Health officials in the Western US worry about contaminated water systems following the recent wildfires. / STAT
More humans are growing an extra blood vessel in their arms, up 30% from people born in the mid-1880s. / Science Alert
Energy produced by solar panels is now cheaper than energy produced by coal- or gas-powered plants in most nations. / Bloomberg
One-fifth of the world’s countries—including the US, Australia, South Africa—are at risk of their ecosystems collapsing. / The Guardian
Facebook will start banning posts that deny or distort the Holocaust. / The Associated Press
The new model of an elite reporter—able to spot stories that will explode on social media—is in trouble. / The New York Times
In Oregon, after getting regularly tear gassed, a cook develops a new hot sauce inspired by the riot control agent. / Eater
Some art made from things we used to say in restaurants, like “can I do the salad instead of fries?” / It’s Nice That
Dolly Parton is everywhere: a new book, a new documentary on Netflix, a big profile. The best take is from last fall, in Dolly Parton’s America. / The Morning News
And now a brief chat with a recent Sustaining Member, Deena F.!
Hi, Deena. You're a big Tournament of Books fan, right? I’ve been a Rooster junkie since around 2010 or 2011. I can’t remember if I started the year Wolf Hall won, or the year of Goon Squad. As an obsessive bibliophile, I have been especially grateful for the expansion of the Rooster’s domain to summer camp and now the Super Rooster.
We're glad to hear it! I got hooked as an antidote to the annual March Madness basketball mania in my office. I used to keep my brackets hanging on my cubicle wall, and cheer or boo each morning when the day’s winner was announced, based on which book I was rooting for. It gave me great pleasure to explain to my colleagues that book geeks like me had our own competitive outlet.
Do you read the books as well? I have read at least the entire short list every year. It’s true that sometimes things get heated when the wrong “team” wins, and I yell at the internet and wait for my pick to be resurrected in the zombie round and swear this is the last time I’ll take this nonsense so seriously. But I keep coming back because I have read so many great and good contemporary novels I might otherwise have missed because they were contenders for the Rooster.
TWO BIRDS OF THANKS for Deena and all of our supporters! Join her today by becoming a Sustaining Member or making a one-time donation. 🐦🐦
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