The Late Show and Tell: “As it’s gone mainstream, crypto has inspired an unusually polarized discourse. Its biggest fans think it’s saving the world, while its biggest skeptics are convinced it’s all a scam — an environment-killing speculative bubble orchestrated by grifters and sold to greedy dupes, which will probably crash the economy when it bursts.” Kevin Roose in the NYT: The Latecomer’s Guide to Crypto. (Gift Article)

+ Minister of Transportation: “Until last summer, Khalid Payenda was Afghanistan’s finance minister, overseeing a $6 billion budget — the lifeblood of a government fighting for its survival in a war that had long been at the center of U.S. foreign policy.” Times have changed. WaPo: Afghanistan’s last finance minister, now a D.C. Uber driver, ponders what went wrong. (Gift Article)

+ Bored Vape Fraught Club: Teens are trying — but failing — to quit vaping nicotine, new research shows.

+ Twist and Shout: When driving a large pickup truck, one thing you’re rarely called upon to do is nail the landing. There are exceptions to every rule. Watch a pickup truck do a two-step with a Texas twister.

+ The Vax Tracks: “Unvaccinated Canadians are about 12 times more likely than those who received three doses to believe Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was justified.”