They might be gigantic.
One month before the Olympics, China puts a second city into total lockdown after just three asymptomatic Covid-19 cases are detected. / BBC News
In Hong Kong, one of the few places still pursuing a zero-Covid policy, testing positive means lockdown for nearly a month, symptoms or not. / CNN
French President Macron says he wants to "piss off" people who aren't vaccinated. (Here's the original interview.) / Bloomberg, Le Parisien
The United States and European Union warn Sudan's military against naming its own prime minister. / Barron's
Yemen's seven-year war witnesses a new surge in violence. / France24
Interesting data and trends on political leader ideologies over time. / Bastian Harre
As more and more US counties have no source of local news, here's an assortment of "lost" local stories of interest. / The Washington Post
From March 2021, Los Algodones, Mexico, is the dental tourism capital of the world. / Hazlitt
Why do newer songs "sound the same" to older generations? The brain's ability to distinguish between different rhythms and melodies gets worse with age. / Screen Shot
See also: The best rap songs of 2021. / TMN
A round-up of the worst things people purchased last year. / Slate
A short essay on whether gigantism in design is "an admirable quest for new horizons... or irrational and wasteful overreach." / IEEE Spectrum
Female filmmakers lost ground in Hollywood in 2021; behind the scenes, three out of every four top filmmaking jobs goes to a man. / LAist
Novelist Emma Straub recounts what it's like to go from bookstore clerk to bookstore owner. / Lithub
Jami Attenberg: "Rejection gave me a fresh start, a new year." / The Guardian
The web game Wordle, rapidly gaining in popularity, turns out to be a former Reddits engineer's gift to his partner. Here's the actual game. / The New York Times, Wordle
And now a brief chat with a new Sustaining Member, Sunshine M.!
Sunshine, you mentioned you found us through the Tournament of Books. When was that? Looks like 2013 was my first year. I don't remember how I stumbled across it but I haven't missed a bracket since. Maybe it was through the Field Notes website? My husband teases me that I'm a "competitive reader" because I really do try to read all 18 books before the end of the tournament. He thinks maybe the readers are competing and not the books? By the way, I am so excited that you released the short list early enough for me to source and possibly read them all before March—thank you for that.
You're welcome! And thank you for supporting TMN. I have wanted to support you for quite a while and I'm feeling flush enough to finally do it. It's cheaper than taking my kids to the movies, particularly if you throw in the discount on a new Rooster T-shirt. I like what you're selling, which is a community who like to read and discuss good books, refreshingly curated news, and superb photography.
Awesome. Well, we hope you "win" the ToB this year! My very favorite part is checking in on the big reveal each morning to see if "my" pick won the day's match and updating my printed bracket that I keep taped up on the wall.
TMN and the ToB are fueled by supporters like Sunshine 🌞 Find out why we need help and consider becoming a Sustaining Member or making a one-time donation today. Thank you!
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Since 1999, your Headlines are sourced and written by Andrew Womack and Rosecrans Baldwin, and arrive in your inbox, Monday through Saturday. View this edition and the latest Headlines at TMN.