Zombie mass index.
Ukranians wait for news while Western diplomats face off against their Russian counterparts. / BBC News
The UN makes a deal for 11 countries to produce a low-cost version of Merck's Covid-19 pill. / The South China Morning Post
Unrelated: Reflections on what a vow of poverty means when you really mean it. / The Bruderhof
Researchers lament the rise of "zombie science" during the pandemic—not advancing knowledge, but enhancing someone's résumé. / Nautilus
An interview with a researcher who tracks left-wing gun culture on social media. "There are a lot of 'Civil War' narratives." / MEL Magazine
What are the benefits of deliberate ignorance? "It effectively helps regulate emotions by warding off negative ones and prolonging positive ones." / VICE
Cops in a small town in Alabama pull drivers into a legal "black hole," seemingly in order to pad the town's budget. / AL.com
Berlin is planning a car-free area larger than Manhattan. / FastCompany
How Ohio won Intel's massive new chip factory: with 30 years of tax credits. / The Columbus Dispatch
A villa in Rome housing the only mural by Caravaggio fails to sell at auction; at a starting price of €471 million, it garnered zero bids. / BBC News
Ted Gioia: The market for new music is shrinking. Any growth in the market is coming from old songs. / The Honest Broker
Broadcast journalists are upset about a video of a TV reporter in West Virginia being hit by a car. / The New York Times
"Maybe the best we can hope for is to make our strange and messy feelings communicable without reducing their complexity." / The Baffler
Canadian apparel company Arc'teryx seems to be having a moment, with TikTok users wearing its jackets in the shower, surprised that Gore-Tex sheds water. / The Morning News
See also: The five levels of hype. / Johannes Klingebiel
And now a brief chat with a recent Sustaining Member (but old TMN friend), Jason Kottke!
Jason, when did you start reading TMN? Probably right around when it started? Late '90s... is that right?
Yeah, '99. It's weird. It's weird! TMN was one of the first wave of weblogs in the late 90s/early '00s, but with more of a literary, NYC bent than many of the other more techy/webby blogs. You cared more about books than bytes but still cast a wide net in terms of what you'd write about and link to.
Kottke is like that too, though, speaking of OG web publications. And you're pretty bookish yourself. I was lucky enough to judge a round of the Tournament of Books many years ago and I ended up picking the book I liked more over the one I thought was the better book. Some folks got pretty irritated about that one.
It's an emotional event! Speaking of emotions: thank you so much for your support. You know how much it means. Oh man, The Morning News has been such a great source of information, inspiration, and humor for more than two decades—it was long past time to support your efforts.
So many thanks to Jason and all of our supporters. Please take a minute to find out why we ask for support, and consider joining us as a Sustaining Member or making a one-time donation today. 🛤️🚆
Got a correction or a link we should consider? Email us or just reply to this newsletter.
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.