Gem

37.1C is when I die.

Source.

Source.

Relevant:

Source.

I’ve known for quite a while that the main reason my book backlog is growing (other than “I keep buying books”) is the same device I draw my cartoons on.

The iPad’s always ready to offer me a quick distracting endorphin hit: check my feeds! watch a BSG video! play one more of the billion Wordle clones out there!

It’s especially bad when I’m reading an e-book on it, what with notifications popping up — few of them worthy of my attention, but all of them stealing it.

Still, I have a few in my queue that I’m really excited about. I just finished Mick Napier’s Improvise. Scene from the inside out, and started Tom Blank’s The Principles of Comedy Improv. Next up in fiction is Lake of Souls, a collection of Ann Leckie’s short stories, and then Samantha Harvey’s Orbital (which I think will be my first time reading a Booker Prize-winner — don’t judge me).

Where is this economy going? Honestly, we don’t know. Economists don’t know. The stock market — we say it all the time here— is not the economy, and it doesn’t know, either.

Where is this economy going? Honestly, we don’t know. Economists don’t know. The stock market — we say it all the time here— is not the economy, and it doesn’t know, either.

• Seafood distributors express concerns over tariffs at Seafood Expo North America
• Shrimp demand remains steady, no upside expected in short term
• China’s economic slowdown could impact US shrimp prices

For more than a decade, the conflict in Syria appeared too intense, too complex, and too intertwined in geopolitics to be resolved, with the international community choosing to prioritize managing and containing the symptoms rather than seeking to resolve their root causes. However, that all changed in late 2024, when armed opposition groups toppled the Assad regime in 10 days. Today, the country remains extraordinarily fragile and marked by the debilitating effects of a lengthy civil war. Despite a widespread national consensus on the need to reunify Syria, malign and destabilizing actors remain active, including ISIS, Iran, and pro-Assad loyalist insurgents. Nevertheless, there is now a historic opportunity to reshape Syria for the first time in more than half a century. And engagement by the international community will be critical to the country’s success.

For more than a decade, the conflict in Syria appeared too intense, too complex, and too intertwined in geopolitics to be resolved, with the international community choosing to prioritize managing and containing the symptoms rather than seeking to resolve their root causes. However, that all changed in late 2024, when armed opposition groups toppled the Assad regime in 10 days. Today, the country remains extraordinarily fragile and marked by the debilitating effects of a lengthy civil war. Despite a widespread national consensus on the need to reunify Syria, malign and destabilizing actors remain active, including ISIS, Iran, and pro-Assad loyalist insurgents. Nevertheless, there is now a historic opportunity to reshape Syria for the first time in more than half a century. And engagement by the international community will be critical to the country’s success.

The evidence from proprietary MyinTuition data is consistent with that obtained from net price calculators for the category of highly endowed private colleges. This correspondence suggests that data gathered from net price calculators is reasonably reliable as well. Collectively, these data indicate that the perception of rising college costs in the last five to ten years is not accurate.

But that does not mean that college is broadly affordable. Whether or not a student whose family earns $300,000 or more per year can afford a $90,000 price tag is an open question. But at many institutions, families earning $40,000 are still expected to come up with $15,000 to $20,000 per year. It seems clear that amount is not affordable. Only the highly endowed institutions charge a price that these low-income families can afford through, say, limited student employment. A large tax on the endowments of these institutions may imperil their ability to offer that level of financial aid.

It is not difficult to understand why there is such uncertainty regarding college pricing. The system is sufficiently complicated that it is difficult for a student or family to know how much it will cost them to attend college. Politicians and those in the media similarly face information constraints in setting policy and reporting on college costs. We need to improve the transparency of college pricing if we are to increase awareness of its true cost. Transparency and affordability in our college pricing system are critical issues. The emphasis on rising sticker prices should not be our focus.

For Palestinians, a return to the conditions prior to October 7 is unthinkable. This past year has been one of the bloodiest in Palestinian history, with a death toll surpassing even that of the Nakba. The devastation we have endured will irrevocably shape our politics, intellectual frameworks, and approaches to resistance. It will also transform how we relate to each other and envision our collective path forward. Any meaningful discourse on Palestinian liberation must now center the reality of the ongoing genocide.

While this recognition is already beginning to shape our collective consciousness, we remain in the midst of witnessing genocide and dedicating energies toward stopping it. Our struggle will require a profound reorientation once the immediate violence ceases and a ceasefire is reached. The enormity of this experience has fundamentally altered us—as a society, as Palestinians, and as humans—and these changes will inevitably influence the trajectory of our resistance.

Moreover, the events of this past year have exposed structural realities that extend far beyond Palestine. They have underscored the profound limitations of the post-World War II international order, laid bare the hypocrisies and racism of Western liberal democracies, and shattered the illusion that we have arrived at a place of multilateral governance. For Palestinians and our allies committed to a more just and equitable world, grappling with these revelations and the urgent questions they raise is essential.

Indeed, Western liberal democracies have not only tolerated the violence but have actively armed and endorsed it. This complicity forces a reckoning with global structures of power and governance. For these reasons and more, there is no possibility of returning to the pre-October 7 world—not for Palestinians and not on a global scale. The task before us is to navigate this transformed reality, confronting the challenges and opportunities it presents as we continue our struggle for justice and liberation.