Two years in the life.
An oral history of March 11, 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic "seemed to crystallize in the national consciousness." / WIRED
Only two percent of Americans now live in counties with high Covid-19 levels. / Reuters
Moscow wants to seize assets from businesses that have stopped operating in Russia. Its foreign minister says it's done relying on Western partners. / BBC News, CNBC
Meta will allow users in some countries to call for violence against Russian soldiers in the context of the Ukraine invasion. / c|net
Who knew? South Korean election graphics are next level. / Twitter
Scammers are all over the payments platform Zelle, though banks involved are reluctant to assist fraud victims. / The New York Times
Tinder now offers background checks for potential dates, which kinda puts the burden on users to clean up its platform? / CNN
Twitter courts teenagers by not tying popularity to physical appearance. "[It] kind of feels like the Tumblr of this generation." / The Washington Post
A day in the life of a TikTok "it girl" involves self-Googling, cute selfies, and the sort of "visual stink" you can't wash out. / Vox
Related: White House reporter Maggie Haberman seems to be in denial about her branding. / Elizabeth Spiers
Millions of spiders, large though harmless, are expected to begin "ballooning" up and down the East Coast as early as May. / Axios
The antler business is so lucrative, some "shed hunters"—the people who source antlers—hunt other shed hunters. / The New Yorker
"Algology" is the study of algae. Some take to it passionately. "Seaweed chastened his ego, and abasement made space for love." / The Public Domain Review
See also: "Florence tomb by Michelangelo restored with aid of bacteria." / The Guardian
The 2022 Tournament of Books, presented by Field Notes, started this week, and we've already had a big upset! New this year, you can also get the judgment and commentary each morning over email via the Rooster newsletter. / The Morning News
Btw, TMN Sustaining Members get half off at the merch table. / Tee-Spring
And now a brief chat with a Sustaining Member, Beth D.
Hi, Beth. Thanks so much for renewing your support! Your email arrived at the perfect time, as I’m in the middle of preparing today’s update email for my workplace Tournament of Books pool.
Ooh, fill us in. I started the pool 10 years ago with 16 players and over the years we’ve had as many as 52 people play. I can’t tell you how many responses I got saying “yay, my favorite time of year!” when I sent out this year’s invite. It’s delightful good fun, so thank you for all of your work on the tournament.
It's truly our pleasure. Do you have prizes? We have all kinds of fun prizes, including two of my personal favorites, a Rooster purse and hand-painted chocolate Roosters (participation prizes for everyone who played).
This is amazing! Oh, then there was the year I got M&Ms made up with the winner’s photo, “TOB,” “roosters forever,” and “books rule.”
And the year I had notebooks made with someone’s ToB zombie art. So many good memories!
This is insane! We love it. It’s so much fun! Today’s update email featured both a word search of ToB words and a “guess where the rooster is” (bad) Photoshop. (He was on the Spanish Steps in Rome.) I also quote extensively from the judgments and the ToB Commentary, lest you think it’s not about the books. And we have numerous prizes from the ToB Merch store, too, so I love my discount 😃.
It's folks like Beth that makes this all worth it. If you value TMN, become a Sustaining Member or make a one-time donation today (or drop us some crypto). 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.