A big new Dexter Filkins article on whether Israel and Hezbollah, i.e., Iran, will go to war. / The New Yorker
See also: How October 7 unraveled a landmark Mideast climate deal. / Grist
Israel's Netanyahu to speak “in one of the few places he can count on for support”—among Republicans in Washington. / NPR
Explaining the GOP's claims of being a working-class party. “It is very dumb.” / How Things Work
Unrelated: A visual history of color charts. / Hyperallergic
The number of unwanted Paris Olympics tickets available for resale has hit more than a quarter of a million. / Marginal Revolution
Olympic athletes show off the free clothing they receive, also their cardboard beds. / The New York Times [+], Yahoo Sports
Why are CDs so popular in Japan? Factors like an older population and government price controls. / digg
Erroll Morris on generative AI: “Our task is to get back to get back to the real world, to the extent that it is recoverable.” / NiemanLab
Two gay men—Alan Turing and Christopher Strachey—essentially invented AI writing decades before ChatGPT. / Big Think
Few people read Ph.D. theses, and fewer read the acknowledgments sections, but they're said to contain their own poetry. / ANU College of Science
Elaborate notes on Douglas Adams's later years. “He seemed more or less happy when he wasn't brooding.” / The Digital Antiquarian
Abdul “Duke” Fakir, last of the original Four Tops, dies at 88. / The Associated Press
From a biography of the Four Tops: “It's the Same Old Song” was literally an overnight hit, recorded one day and in DJs' hands the next. / 64 Quartets