Author: Michelle Korhonen
This newsletter is coming to an end, but my inbox stays open to all of you.H. Armstrong Roberts / Retrofile / GettyFebruary 7, 2024, 3:05 PM ETWelcome to Up for Debate, a newsletter in which Conor Friedersdorf rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question.If I were to visit you on a journalistic fact-finding mission wherever you live or work or study, what would you show me to improve my understanding of the world, or at least your corner of it?What insights, life experiences, or memories would you share?Send your responses to conor@theatlantic.com or simply reply…
You did it! You completed our Toned Body Challenge and we couldn’t be more proud of you. You put in the hard work, stayed committed, and now it’s time to celebrate! TBC Grand Prize Need a refresher on our Grand Prize valued over $1,500!!! For a chance to win this amazing Grand Prize make sure to submit your entry and we will pick 1 winner! The winner will be announced on February 13th, so mark your calendars and get ready for some exciting news! Join Katie’s LIVE for the Announcement I will be announcing our Grand Prize winner on February…
Mardi Gras comes next Tuesday, but Republicans decided to throw a wild carnival a week early. With disarray on Capitol Hill, in the courts, and at the Republican National Committee, yesterday was a throwback to the vertiginous days of the Trump administration. Lots of data show that Americans aren’t paying close attention to politics or don’t believe Donald Trump will really be the Republican nominee, but each bit of Tuesday’s chaos had Trump’s fingerprints all over it—offering a partial preview of what life will be like if Trump is reelected in November.The most surprising fiasco was in the House, where…
An atmospheric river is exactly what it sounds like: a ribbon of concentrated moisture that can stretch for 1,000 miles through the sky. The one that brought all manner of chaos to Los Angeles this week formed when water vapor rose from the sea’s surface somewhere east of Hawaii. As the planet turned, it got caught in a narrow channel between pinwheeling pressure systems. Strong winds pushed it east, until it came to hover like a snake over Southern California. Think of its tail as having sections. Mountains and pressure systems popped some up into the colder parts of the…
Saving the planet shouldn’t be easy. But for Percy Jackson, navigating a world in which Greek gods and myths exist in the modern-day United States is simple, as long as you’re up to date on your history. The Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which ended last week, follows the protagonist and his friends as they face off against monsters, traps, and public transit on a cross-country quest to retrieve a powerful weapon that’s gone missing. Unfortunately, the show reduces their most fantastical exploits to mere speed bumps. In one scene, a snake-haired Medusa is dispatched (and decapitated) within…
The Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest recently invited the public to vote for their favorite images from this year’s competition. The winners were just announced, and contest organizers have shared their top picks below. Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum in London. Captions are provided by the photographers and WPY organizers, and are lightly edited for style.
Four months after the October 7 massacre by Hamas, Israel says it is continuing to pursue the total defeat of the Islamist group, which has ruled the Gaza Strip for 17 years. At the same time, Israel is reportedly negotiating a hostage deal built around a pause in the fighting that could extend for months—long enough to make the resumption of full-scale operations unlikely, and perhaps even to arrive at a negotiated settlement.The medium-term survival of Hamas politically and administratively now appears inevitable. If so, what has been the point of the Israeli military operation in Gaza? The conflict has,…
At the Airbnb in Carqueiranne, our king bed’s actually two mechanical singles scooched together. With remotes, we governhow high to raise his feet, my arms, entire bodies butt-down birds inside plush porcelain cups. Sure, we have sex.But mostly we giggle, or at the café accidentally order half a dozen espressos, return to the apartment frizzy-frizzy.Even so, whatever river this is, it’s calm. It’s cataracted. Cellophaned. First grade, my best friend’s dad carried his pistolinside the guest bathroom, never left. I’m ashamed to admit…
My father was a hard man. I spent most of my childhood fearing him. He was a product of the American working class who, as he liked to put it, attended the “school of hard knocks.” He served his country in the Marines, apprenticed as a carpenter, and was a staunch disciplinarian of his three boys. He stood at 6 foot 4 and was quite intimidating. He could also erupt at any moment into a rage that often resulted in corporal punishment. My brothers and I were usually guilty of the crime; still, the penalty did not always match the…
Imagine an older man goes in to see his doctor. He’s 72 years old and moderately overweight: 5-foot-10, 190 pounds. His blood tests show high levels of triglycerides. Given his BMI—27.3—the man qualifies for taking semaglutide or tirzepatide, two of the wildly popular injectable drugs for diabetes and obesity that have produced dramatic weight loss in clinical trials. So he asks for a prescription, because his 50th college reunion is approaching and he’d like to get back to his freshman-year weight.He certainly could use these drugs to lose weight, says Thomas Wadden, a clinical psychologist and obesity researcher at the…