Tehran Hold Em
After 17 days of heavy negotiations, and years of failed attempts to reach common ground, U.S. and Iranian leaders pushed all their chips on the table to reach a historic accord in which Iran will give up efforts to gain nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions. President Obama praised the progress: “This deal offers an opportunity to move in a new direction. We should seize it.” And Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called the outcome a “win-win solution.” While there are already plenty of snap judgments, the merit of the deal can only truly be measured when the dealin’s done.
+ WaPo: How the deal works.
+ Netanyahu: “A historic mistake for the world.” What key players are saying about the deal.
+ LA Times: The key secret concessions that paved the way for the deal.
+ “I wish I could believe what Obama seems to suspect: that this deal will set in motion a virtuous cycle in which moderates gain power in a liberalizing Iran.” Jeffrey Goldberg on the single most important question to ask about the Iran deal.
Plutonic Love
Back in 2006, when Pluto still had planet status, NASA set its New Horizons spacecraft on a journey to get a better look. Three billion miles later, the view is pretty damn good. Here’s a Vox explainer on NASA’s incredible 3 billion mile journey to Pluto. And InFocus takes you on a photographic journey of the voyage of New Horizons.
Doctor Who?
“The idea that it’s all systems and there are no individual performance differences is absurd.” A couple hundred thousand people a year die from preventable hospital errors and complications. It’s a massive problem. So what can you do? Start by selecting the right surgeon. Don’t settle for a butcher when you need a tailor. A ProPublica report on patient safety: Making the Cut.
+ Pacific Standard: “A rare condition causes Joel Salinas to experience other people’s emotions and sensations. Is mirror-touch synesthesia a superpower or a curse?”
Cracking Toast
“Our operating assumption is that everything west of Interstate 5 will be toast.” San Andreas gets all the publicity, but The New Yorker’s Kathryn Schulz reminds us about the Cascadia subduction zone and the coastal Northwest’s threat of the really big one.
It’s About Ethics
Eric Schwitzgebel set out to answer an interesting question: Does being a professional ethicist make one more ethical? Spoiler alert: The answer is no. But at least they seem pretty willing to admit it. From Aeon: Cheeseburger ethics.
The Indoctrinator Will See You Now
“Some women arrive at those centers in search of Christian counseling or free diapers, but the vast majority are looking for professional advice to help them navigate unplanned pregnancies.” A yearlong investigation by Cosmopolitan found that thousands of seemingly secular pregnancy centers are really run by religious organizations and pro-life groups.
+ LA Times: Divorced couple fighting in court over frozen embryos.
Story Within a Story
“I went to the safe deposit box and pulled out the Lord & Taylor box. I began to thumb through its contents when I came across a title page that said: Go Set a Watchman.” The NYT on the ever-evolving story of how Harper Lee’s “new” novel made its way to bookshelves, and why some are suggesting the possibility of a third book. (And maybe an Atticus Finch theme park?)
+ Where the two books overlap, word for word.
Run Scott Run
A month and a half ago, Scott Jurek set out on a run that even Forrest Gump would view as being a tad extreme. Forty-six days and 2,189 miles later, Jurek had set a new record for running the Appalachian Trail. (He averaged about 50 miles a day and covered 14 states.)
Write On
A series of recent experiments “found that writing notes longhand is much better for remembering and synthesizing information than typing on a laptop.”
Bottom of the News
“And if women don’t speak up more women will be raped. So it’s really all about preventing other people from getting hurt, because Cosby’s on tour — ignoring all of the victims is a signal to other victims that when you speak up, people will not take care of you and do something about it.” Rolling Stone interviews Judd Apatow.
+ Which college majors are most likely to marry each other?
+ Facebook is set to launch a digital assistant. And like the others, it has a female name. I call mine Pat.
