* Modern’s HIV vaccine begins human trials. The really, really important news, much more important than whatever Congress is doing this week.

* Pop music can’t escape the 80s?

* “Why is Ukraine such an economic failure?” Something I’ve also wondered about, though don’t expect complete answers here.

* “No, the Revolution Isn’t Over: None of the fundamental drivers of ‘Wokeness’ have relented.” Again, maybe? Scott Alexander thinks it might, too. But it’s also well embedded in law and institutions.

* “An ad plugin was stealing revenue for a year and I didn’t even notice.” An amazing story.

* How the U.S. can improve on its strengths, relative to authoritarian governments. Not everything argued is correct or contextually accurate, and the given title is inflammatory, but the ideas are sound and important.

* Progress is a policy choice. Also: the new industrialist roundup, on what might be changing discourse around building lots of stuff.

* On the University of Austin; “Despite the furor, Mr. Kanelos says that support for UATX has been ‘phenomenal.’ Over 4,000 professors from other institutions have asked to teach at the university, he says, and thousands of students have expressed interest.” It may be that the University of Austin offers an opportunity for preference falsification reversal: many professors are not hard woke and dislike the growth of university bureaucracy, but feel they must go along with both to keep their jobs.

* Thoughts on “Post Liberalism:” a remarkable essay, hard to except, but largely about what happens when we stop doing things for ourselves and start assuming others will do things for us.

* In defense of Michel Foucault: not my view but an interesting and plausible one. I think he’s sufficiently random-seeming, at least in English, that he can be made to seem to mean almost anything.

* “People don’t work as much as you think.” Consistent with my observations.