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Look, up in the sky. It's a bird. It's a plane. Traditionally, that intro would be followed by the exclamation, "It's Superman!" But it's 2025. So it probably won't surprise you to learn that when you look up, there's a decent chance you're going to see garbage dropping from the sky. In 1972, a robotic Russian spacecraft called Kosmos-482 set out for Venus. "Cloaked in a protective heat shield, the spacecraft, weighing roughly 1,050 pounds, it was designed to survive its plunge through the toxic Venusian atmosphere." It never made it to its destination, instead getting stuck in Earth's orbit. Well, what goes up must come down (and I'm not talking about the Trump economy). Kosmos-482 is expected to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere by the end of the weekend. No one is quite sure where it will land, but the foremost expert on the topic is generally optimistic given that so much of our planet is covered by water. NYT (Gift Article): A Half-Ton Spacecraft Lost by the Soviets in 1972 Is Coming Home. Space waste landing back on Earth isn't even all that rare—and one expects the pace to increase as we send more stuff into orbit. "'I’m not worried — I’m not telling all my friends to go to the basement for this,' said Darren McKnight, senior technical fellow at LeoLabs, a company that tracks objects in orbit and monitors Kosmos-482 six times a day. 'Usually about once a week we have a large object re-enter Earth’s atmosphere where some remnants of it will survive to the ground ... There are three things that can happen when something re-enters: a splash, a thud or an ouch.'" (I once got almost that exact prognosis from my gastroenterologist.)
2
Corresponding Course
"At least 26 people, including several children, have been killed and 46 injured after India launched attacks on what it claimed were nine sites of 'terrorist infrastructure' inside Pakistan, in a sharp escalation of hostilities between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. Pakistan called the strikes an 'act of war' and claimed it had shot down several Indian air force jets. The office of the prime minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, said the country’s armed forces had been authorised to undertake 'corresponding actions.'" Obviously, this exchange between two nuclear powers has the world in edge. What we know about India's strike on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. And the latest from CNN.
+ Domestically, the question is: Can Trump Handle the India-Pakistan Crisis? "A clearly preoccupied President Trump seems to believe he can somehow remove himself from this crisis, stating that 'they’ll get it figured out one way or the other,' and repeating a deeply misinformed quip that 'there have been tensions on that border for 1500 years.'"
+ And unlike when there were tensions in the region during his first term, Trump has assembled a wildly inexperienced team. George Will in WaPo (Gift Article): Behold, the artful dealmaker Trump working his magic on Putin. "Appoint as your chief peace negotiator Stephen Witkoff. He has a mind so open that amazing thoughts stride in: “I don’t regard Putin as a bad guy” and “It was gracious of him to accept me, to see me.” Having never spent a day in diplomacy, Witkoff can amiably negotiate with that gracious scamp Putin, forgiving his fibs about pausing attacks during Easter, and against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Witkoff’s other credential is praise from one of the president’s children."
+ Meanwhile, Biden gave his first major post presidency interview. "And the way we talk about now that, 'it's the Gulf of America', 'maybe we're going to have to take back Panama', 'maybe we need to acquire Greenland, 'maybe Canada should be a [51st state].' What the hell's going on here? What President ever talks like that? That's not who we are. We're about freedom, democracy, opportunity - not about confiscation." (That's what you think. That's what I think. But as I explained yesterday, it's less and less the way the rest of the world thinks: Bye American.
+ And finally, Another Navy jet falls into sea, marking fourth major mishap in months. (This is becoming the most expensive metaphor of all time.)
3
Trickle Up Economics
"At the beginning of January, Matthew Memoli was a relatively little-known flu researcher running a small lab at the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health. Then the Trump administration handpicked him to be the acting director of the $48 billion federal agency, a role in which he oversaw pauses in award payments, the mass cancellation of grants, the defunding of clinical trials, and the firing of thousands of employees" ... now he and his close collaborator are "set to be awarded up to $500 million for their in-house [RFK Jr approved] vaccine research." Katherine J. Wu in The Atlantic (Gift Article) with just one relatively small example the new swamp of corruption. ‘It’s All Cronyism Going Forward.'
+ The Verge: Grifters thrive under Trump’s scam-friendly administration. "The president has created his own money-fleecing spin on Reagonomics — instead of promising trickle-down wealth, it’s trickle-down opportunities for fraud."
+ WaPo U.S. pushes nations facing tariffs to approve Musk’s Starlink, cables show.
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I Get AI With a Little Help From My Friends
"I think people are going to want a system that knows them well and that kind of understands them in the way that their feed algorithms do." That frightening notion comes from Mark Zuckerberg's view on how AI will impact our lives. He also sees AI as filling in for the friends we don't have and the therapists we might need. This all matters because the people designing these technologies, as odd as they may sound, will have an enormous impact on the future of our interactions. And most of them are pretty sure that the isolation largely caused by the technological revolution can be cured by an even more technological solution. WSJ (Gift Article): Zuckerberg’s Grand Vision: Most of Your Friends Will Be AI. (I spend so much time in front of my laptop, my friends might not notice the difference.)
+ I'm not sure how AI will impact the way we make and maintain friendships. But I'm quite sure AI is going to completely upend search and the way we interact with the internet. Google stock sinks on report Apple plans to integrate AI search into Safari browser. "While Eddy Cue said Apple won't replace Google as its default option out of fear of losing the revenue its deal generates, he said he believes AI search apps will eventually replace standard search engines." (For a lot of young people, they already have.)
+ NBC to Use Famed NBA Narrator Jim Fagan For Upcoming Season. The twist? Fagan died in 2017.
5
Extra, Extra
Getting the Lay of the 'Land: "The directive is one of the first concrete steps Trump’s administration has taken toward fulfilling the president’s often-stated desire to acquire Greenland." WSJ(Gift Article): U.S. Orders Intelligence Agencies to Step Up Spying on Greenland.
+ Xi Sheds Pretenses: "China’s Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow Wednesday for a four-day state visit aimed at deepening the 'mutual trust' between the Chinese leader and Russian PresidentVladimir Putin, Beijing said."
+ Cardinal Rules: "Given the stakes, extreme measures have been taken to avoid eavesdropping, not just sweeping the Sistine Chapel for bugs but shuttering its windows to prevent scanners from detecting vibrations of the cardinals’ words on the panes. The electors must not only give up their cellphones but are also encouraged to vote using disguised handwriting." No phones, no news — only God and church politics as Catholic elders choose Francis' successor. (I wondered why my open rate dropped a bit this week.)
+ Voice of Unreason: Kari Lake says OAN's far-right coverage will fuel Voice of America.
+ Star Wars: "E.P.A. managers announced during a staff meeting on Monday that divisions that oversee climate change and energy efficiency would be eliminated as part of an agency reorganization. That includes the E.P.A.’s climate change office as well as the division that oversees Energy Star." E.P.A. Plans to Shut Down the Energy Star Program.
+ Diving Miss Daisy: "I watched an 87-year-old woman jump off a boat that hadn’t stopped moving." WaPo: Genetics of Korea’s extreme divers could unlock chronic disease treatments. "The secret to tackling one of the United States’ most deadly chronic diseases may reside thousands of miles away in the chilly waters separating the Korean Peninsula and Japan, where generations of Jeju Island women have been diving to gather food from depths of up to 60 feet using only the bodies that genes and conditioning have given them."
+ Mules Rush In: "The route involves risks not listed in the unofficial USPS motto. In the winter, ice can accumulate on the narrow switchbacks, which drop 1,000 feet in the first two miles. Temperatures in the summertime can exceed 110 degrees. Mules (and horses, which are sometimes used in the pack string) can get spooked by blowing debris and the occasional rattlesnake. During monsoon season, rainwater rushing down the canyon walls can turn the desert floor into a surging river within minutes." The Atlantic (Gift Article): How the Most Remote Community in America Gets Its Mail. (They get their news from the outside world delivered by a mule. And you get yours sent by a jackass.)