Hasta la vinyasa
Sweden orders warships from France, Greece orders air defense from Israel, China pledges stronger ties to Russia. / DefenseNews, Reuters
Meanwhile, President Trump is “sending a message” to Iran by posting AI-generated videos. / Al Jazeera
The reliability of Census Bureau information during the Trump administration is once again under question, this time over reporting integrity. / NPR
In China, responsibility for AI safety is increasingly sitting inside China’s national security establishment, “treating advanced AI as strategic capability first, consumer technology second.” / Rest of World
Related: A study finds Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic’s chatbots seem to no longer encourage users to die by suicide. / Platformer
Come January, the body composting industry will be allowed to operate in California. / LA Reported
Some of the last remaining working pay phones in Los Angeles are being turned into a “public art project with emotional infrastructure.” / Atlas Obscura
In LA’s burnt neighborhoods, people are moving entire houses into vacant lots, which is cheaper and more sustainable than building from scratch. / The New Yorker
Unrelated: Hear the screaming of people on a new LA roller coaster with spinning cars. / The New York Times [$]
Songwriters used to describe places more often, and today if they’re singing about places, “it is most often a city.” / Can’t Get Much Higher
Stories from people who live in one of New York City’s approximate one million rent-stabilized apartments. / The Wall Street Journal [$]
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Across the country, many yoga studios are offering less yoga, more Pilates, in order to stay open. / The Atlantic [$]
Why is the US Open tennis tournament so expensive this year? Basically, demand has exploded, “but so, too, has what the USTA is selling.” / The Guardian
Gerald Marzorati: The cost is “a problem for [tennis]—its branding, its vibe—that the sport has not been paying enough attention to.” / OPEN Tennis
At the same time, how much are US Open players being offered this year? $108 million, up 20 percent from last year. / Forbes
Meanwhile, what does candy cost at Ben Shattuck and Jenny Slate’s 233-year-old general store in Massachusetts? Ten to 30 cents. / The New York Times [$]
Unrelated: Vote for your favorite examples of “the small, poetic, creative, handmade web” for 2026. / Tiny Awards