Vessel in distress with five people onboard in Channel — A vessel with five people on board is "in distress" in the English Channel, the coastguard says.
Lit Hub Daily: August 21, 2026 — Learning about grief from the ghost of Sylvia Plath: “Although we may want to flee from what makes us afraid, it’s so often that these ghosts are the only ones who can help us move through th…
Daily Cartoon: Friday, August 28th — A drawing that riffs on the latest news and happenings.
Where Does the Will To Live Come From… in Humans and Nonhumans Alike? — The English word “agency” comes from the Latin agere, meaning “to do” or “to drive,” and goes back to the Proto-Indo-European root *ag-, meaning “to lead o…
Hope Is the Thing with Feathers, and with Fangs: The Alchemy of Unrequited Love and the Story Behind Emily Dickinson’s Most Famous Poem — This essay is adapted from the nineteenth chapter of my book Figuring. In the first autumn of her thirties, Emily Dickinson wrote to her confi
Why Hormuz remains high risk for ships despite US claims of mine-clearing — Analysts say mine clearance alone is unlikely to make shipping 'safe' in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Toxic Appeal of “Big-Reveal” Content on Social Media — For well over a century now, families have sported rows of rictus grins for the camera, but the subgenre of family portraiture (and, later, video clips) dedicated to conception, gestation, and birt…
This is How People Die — Scoot, Exhibit 06, Two-Handed Gogi Dodging cars that didn’t even attempt to slow down, I made my way across the four-lane highway, along which Pig-licker and I had been running, coughing, and about…
Fun fact: Salvador Dalí designed a tarot deck for the film Live and Let Die. — In the early 1970s, the producer Albert R. Broccoli commissioned the artist Salvador Dalí to make a tarot deck for the upcoming James Bond film Live and Let Die. Based on Ian Fleming’s 1954 n…
Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic has died — Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic, who was serving a life sentence for genocide and crimes against humanity.
Scientists Create the Littlest Big Bang to Study the Universe's Origins — The discovery redefines how large atoms need to be to produce the extreme state of matter found in the early universe.
Lit Hub Daily: August 18, 2026 — What Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel can teach us about grief, literature, and growing up. | Lit Hub TV Florence Hazrat explores the surprisingly controversial history of the parenthesis. | Lit …
Friedman, Roberts push back on narrative Dodgers ruining baseball — The Dodgers' acquisition of Tigers ace Tarik Skubal once again put them at the center of outrage about the sport's economics. Asked if the team is ruining baseball, president of baseball operations Andrew…
Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2026, Part Two — The year is half over, if you can believe it. Time marches ever forward, into the abyss. Books, though, can smooth the passage. If you choose wisely, that is. To that end, here are the novels, coll…
Lit Hub Daily: June 24, 2026 — Andrew McKenzie-McHarg explores iconic conspiracy theorist Carl Oglesby’s idea of a Yankees versus Cowboys war. | Lit Hub History Maggie McKinley considers Joan Didion’s “future-o…
53 Early Prime Day Kitchen Deals to Grab Right Now — Discounts that will be here in time for all your summer cooking
Lit Hub Daily: July 21, 2026 — Why more retellings of the Odyssey should center women: “We are like Penelope, unraveling Homer’s tale for our own purposes.” | Lit Hub Criticism How Jean-Paul Sartre and other Fr…
Games People Play: The Revolutionary 1964 Model of Human Relationships That Changed How We (Mis)Understand Ourselves and Each Other — “Because there is so little opportunity for intimacy in daily life, and because some forms of intimacy (especially if intense) are…
Are Writers Intrinsically Vulnerable to Alcohol and Drugs? — The history of art in general, and literature in particular, is full of alcoholics, opium addicts, cocaine users, and junkies of all sorts. And the process is always the same: the chemical muse kil…
Marcus Aurelius on the Good Luck of Your Bad Luck: The Stoic Strategy for Weathering Life’s Waves and Turning Suffering into Strength — “What happened could have happened to anyone, but not everyone could have carried on.”
5 Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week — Our feast of fabulous reviews this week includes Becca Rothfeld on Rachel Cusk’s Life of M, Emmet Fraizer on Jordy Rosenberg’s Night Night Fawn, Charlotte Wood on Dorthe Nors’s Range, Walton Muyumb…
The rise of K-Beauty: Can South Korea overtake France? — South Korea’s beauty industry has surpassed the US to become the world’s second-largest cosmetics exporter.
What Our Views of the Elderly Reveal About Our Culture — Each day, my dog, Helgi, and I walked about eight miles. We started on Wymore Street, in the heart of Elliott, my neighborhood, and strode past the baseball field with its weird sign, past the city…
A ‘bananas’ order for 5,000 obscure titles from a bookshop in Galway fuels suspicion — Independent retailers are receiving vast orders for obscure titles, fuelling suspicions that AI companies are quietly building the next generation of chatbots
True Love Will Find You in the End: Kurt Vonnegut on When to Stop Trying and When to Try Again — Climbing the Andes one windy January afternoon, watching peak after peek emerge on the horizon like giant mounds of moss, I found myself wondering about the clear line toward the…
Error 404: Change the Address | Aleksander Kadiev | TEDxNBU — In a humorous and deeply personal story, Aleksandar Kadiev revisits the unexpected turns, mistakes and uncomfortable moments that have shaped his life. Moving between self-irony and reflection, he shows how getting…
'Would you believe it?' - Shakeel falls just short of century — Pakistan's Saud Shakeel hits a brilliant 97 against England, but falls just short of his century as he's caught by Harry Brook off the bowling of Josh Tongue, as England close in on victory in the second Test at…
Hudson Williams has pretty good taste in books. — Hudson Williams, the Canadian sweetheart behind the smash hit Heated Rivalry, has pledged his allegiance to the English department. Your favorite hockey hunk is a reader, people. And we must say, t…
Demiralp: Inflation Outlook Blocking Turkey Rate Ease — Turkey's central bank said it would resume weekly repo auctions at its 37% policy rate. The decision is a step towards normalizing funding conditions as the central bank bets the worst of the Iran War's economic fallout…
Will “American” Ever Be a Fully Distinct Language of Its Own? — More than a decade ago, while on research fellowship at the British Library, I used to while away off-hours at the various pubs in King’s Cross, including a slightly dissolute bar on Cromer Street …
Awake Awake — All is recollection save for the slender membrane of now. Every present thought, every present feeling, collides with a league of their familial ghosts. And if our lives in this moment seem flimsy,…
What's the difference between WAN and LAN? — Two identical ports, two different purposes.
ShiftCam's New Lenses Deliver 350mm Equivalent Focal Length on iPhone — Zoomin'
What is the Future of Ethnic Studies? — When we come upon a fork in the road—two roads diverging in a yellow wood—it might be said that the decision of which way to go is a matter of impulse, rather than intention. At least, that is what…
Lit Hub Daily: August 26, 2026 — Catherine Lacey looks at Montserrat Roig’s Goodbye Ramona, a classic of antifascist Catalan literature. | Lit Hub Criticism How America uses audio to mythologize itself, from radio to podcasts, in …
Last Day of a Prior Life — Here’s what happens: She sees the boy the first day the house goes on the market, while cleaning the kitchen between visits from two potential buyers. She turns on the tap to rinse out the dishrag …
Lit Hub Daily: August 12, 2026 — When a wealthy university donor can silence one of the world’s leading genocide scholars, it exposes the problem with for-profit higher education. | Lit Hub Politics The best way to get peopl…
Diana: In Her Own Words - A Lasting Legacy (Full Episode) | SPECIAL | National Geographic — Utilizing rare archival footage and personal recordings, Diana: In Her Own Words: A Lasting Legacy documents the life of Princess Diana and her marriage to Charles, the future king. From…
Guinea-Bissau votes on a stronger presidency: What’s at stake? — The proposed constitution would give the president more power and reshape parliament and elections.
Russian military serviceman killed in car bomb in St Petersburg — This is the latest in a series of blasts targeting military personnel and others linked to Russia's war on Ukraine.
AZ Chike and Tyler, the Creator Reenact Napoleon Dynamite, Sinners in New Video — “Look Like My Mama,” a collaborative single from Chike’s forthcoming album, gets a cinematic clip
Delcy Rodriguez says Venezuela ‘retains sovereignty’ despite US oil deal — Venezuela’s interim President has given a televised address to defend a deal of Venezuelan oil for the United States.
The Measure of a Life Well Lived: Henry Miller on How to Grow Old and the Secret of Remaining Young at Heart — “If you can fall in love again and again … if you can forgive as well as forget, if you can keep from growing sour, surly, bitter and cynical, man you’ve got it half…
S. Shakthidharan on Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha — The Windham-Campbell Prizes Podcast features a series of conversations with past and present Windham-Campbell Prize winners about their favorite books and plays. Hosted by Michael Kelleher. Mike ch…
This video experiment perfectly illustrates my frustration with iPhone Cinematic mode — I recently observed that Apple appeared to have abandoned Cinematic mode, and a video experiment perfectly illustrates my frustration at...
Rumours swirled after a Vietnamese teen was run over - then came a stunning admission — Confirmation of the circumstances around Do Ngoc Phuong Thuy's death have only spurred more questions.
Burnham says he will not vote on assisted dying unlike Starmer — Burnham has called for all views to be respected as MPs vote in two weeks on legalising assisted dying in England and Wales.
Hannah Arendt on Love and How to Live with the Fundamental Fear of Loss — “Fearlessness is what love seeks… Such fearlessness exists only in the complete calm that can no longer be shaken by events expected of the future… Hence the only valid tense is the present, the No…
Are Dating Apps the Last, Great Hope For the American Literary Journal? — On Monday, Hinge—yes, that Hinge—released a free audiobook comprised of five original short stories inspired by the dating sagas of real Hinge couples. The five pieces were written and narrated by …
Fracasar no es fallar | Linda Sofía Ríos Méndez | TEDxThe Oxfordian School — Nos han enseñado a temerle al fracaso desde pequeños, pero ¿y si equivocarnos es el requisito principal para triunfar? Linda Ríos redefine por completo el concepto de fracasar, mostrándonos cómo los…
Zambian State Mine Investor Weighs Share Sale to Boost Liquidity — Zambia’s majority state-owned mining investor is considering selling a stake in the business that owns minority interests in most of the nation’s biggest copper mines, its chief executive officer said.
The Loveliness of Letting Go: An Illustrated Ode to Life’s Lasts — The great cruelty of life, and also its great mercy, is that only hindsight ever knows each last — the last time your lover put their hand on the small of your back, the last sip of the last …
Dolly Parton didn't just write hits — she created an American songbook — Parton, who died at 80 on Tuesday, had charm, depth, beauty, wit and radiant goodness. She was also a songwriter whose work told the story not just of country music but of the country itself.
Robert De Niro & Adam Scott on How 'The Whisper Man' Tackles Generational Trauma — How do we protect our children from ourselves?
Rachel Cusk, Liane Moriarty, Jill Lepore, and more: 20 new books out today! — We’ve all been reading about it for months, and now finally it’s time to read the thing itself: Life of M by Rachel Cusk is available today! And that’s not all: a long awaited seq…
What Are Mel Brooks’ Favorite Movies? To Celebrate His 100th Birthday, the Comedy Legend Picks 20 Films to Screen Across Los Angeles — The eclectic program spans decades and genres, offering glimpses into Brooks’ comedic influences, personal history and enduring love of film
How Microdramas Became A Billion-Dollar Industry — Microdramas are two minutes long, addictive and worth billions. On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, the story behind the global boom and how AI is shaking things up. (Source: Bloomberg)
Apple Photos in iOS 27 upgrades one of my favorite features in a big way - 9to5Mac — Apple Photos is full of exciting updates in iOS 27, including for one of my favorite features in the app: iCloud Shared Albums.
A new piano teacher app gives you live feedback, and a lifetime subscription just went on sale for $150 — Get real-time feedback at any skill level.
South African Miners Are Rallying Again, Set for Best Month Ever — A gauge of returns on South African precious-metal mining stocks is on track for its biggest monthly jump in at least two decades as gold and platinum prices recover from a steep slump.