The thin red wine

Pakistan may reach the global April heat record of 122 degrees Fahrenheit this week. / The Washington Post [+]

India and Pakistan are said to be periously close to military conflict (once again). / Foreign Affairs

India pushes mining groups to pursue reserves in the "lithium triangle" between Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile. / The Financial Times

See also: India is home to over 20% of the world's semiconductor design engineers. / rest of world

A call for artists to contribute to President Trump's "National Garden of American Heroes." / The Art Newspaper 

Julia Angwin: Even if DOGE fails to reduce spending, it has successfully built a surveillance state "the likes of which we have never seen in the United States." / The New York Times [+]

Meanwhile, some details on the White House's "war on measurement." / Undark Magazine

"If you use Spotify to book bands, then I don't want to work with you." Why some musicians are saying no to streaming. / Hearing Things

OpenAI pulls a ChatGPT update for being "sycophant-y." / BBC News

Benj Edwards: In the age of AI slop, human creativity needs to be protected as a natural resource. / Ars Technica

Unrelated: On a website with a million chess boards, moving a piece moves it for everyone, instantly. / eieio.games

Every year in the US, the flu kills more than 36,000 people, some of whom were otherwise healthy, then suddenly succumbed to what's typically a benign illness. / The New York Times [+]

In Starr County, Texas, "everybody has somebody in their family" with dementia. / The Atlantic [+]

American girls are starting puberty about a year younger than they did in the 1970s. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

"Apples are unruly, sexually." For common fruits and vegetables, sex and gender are more fluid than the heterosexual gender binary. / Noema

For your weekly wanderlust, a guide to espresso bars in Da Nang, Vietnam. / Sprudge

See also: Restaurants in Paris often serve tourists cheaper wines than what they order. / Le Parisien