The IJssel Line was meant to flood this entire valley if the Soviets invaded. The Dutch kept it secret. The Russians already knew.

18 June 2026 - This paper, authored by retired US Army Brigadier General and environmental engineer Dr. Wendell Chris King, argues that climate change...

🧭 Morning Compass — Friday, May 29, 2026

🧭 Morning Compass — Friday, May 22, 2026

🧭 Morning Compass — Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Plus: the built-in reading list hiding in your browser and phone, what happened to Pocket, and the app that fills the gap

🧭 Morning Compass — Monday, May 18, 2026

Korea's candlelight revolution is the most recent proof that sustained, nonviolent mass mobilization works. The question is whether America will sustain it.

🧭Morning Compass — Sunday, May 17, 2026

After the Atlantic cliffs, the flat land and big sky of Zeeland — and why I find the light here nowhere else on earth

🧭 Morning Compass — Saturday, May 16, 2026

Plus: a 27-ton dinosaur in Thailand, the Beatles open their rooftop, and Italy's wolves

🧭 Morning Compass — Tuesday, May 12, 2026

The complete practical guide: season, gear, accommodation, luggage transfer, navigation, and what to do about blisters

Plus: what centenarian families eat, Alaska's record tsunami, Klimt's ceiling up close, and a lost koala species found

Here is your compass for today.

The man Orwell called "the American" saved his life in Spain, survived Soviet imprisonment, served in Greenland, and stormed Normandy; yesterday I met his son in an Oslo cemetery

Plus: the difference between mirroring and casting, two free apps for the living room, and the single check that solves most TV-mirroring problems

Plus: Americans reclaiming Canadian citizenship, the joy-o-meter measuring animal happiness, gene therapy restoring a child's hearing, and shooting stars from Halley's comet

Plus: the American WWI Coast Guard ship found after 107 years, kiwi birds return to Wellington, why enjoying your food may beat dieting, and pangolins recovering in China

A European perspective on what the King said — and what Congress heard

The Buy Me a Coffee article that frustrated me enough to start Daybreak Notes & Beans

Plus: the difference between iCloud Shared Library and Shared Albums, two free family-only apps, and the comment feature grandparents quietly love

Wind that turned walking poles into booby traps, a Frenchman who taught in Iran before the revolution, and three Californians who arrived just in time

A veteran Norwegian humanitarian lays out the cost of Trump's war in plain numbers

Plus: Rachmaninoff's last pupil dies at 101, a Mexican axolotl turns up in Wales, an asteroid named for the god of chaos, and why forgiving ourselves is so hard

Plus: why your smart thermostat and many other devices know more than you think, the single setting to check on every device, and the mute button you have probably never pressed

THE FALL Part 4: When Marcos was removed in 1986, the structural conditions that made him possible remained. This is the lesson America needs.

During unwinnable, expensive wars, the crack appeared inside the military. Not at the top. In the middle.

When the Earth sets

Walking into Portuguese history before walking the Fisherman's Trail

Plus: What side do you sleep on? It matters more than you think. Jane Austen's complicated new Pemberley, the ant that can't recognize its own colony, and how life left the ocean in three great waves

THE FALL Part 1: A new series on how regimes fall, and what it means for Trump's America in 2026.

Plus: swans ringing for lunch since 1850, Nazaré's submarine canyon explained, and the Anna's hummingbird's optical trick

The coast west of Lisbon: Cabo da Roca in the wind, meeting friends, and a waiter named Pedro

Lessons from European resistance movements on the power of showing up when democracy needs you most

A new series begins — walking Portugal's southwest coast from Sines to the edge of the continent

Plus: A bonobo tea party with imaginary juice, why older people laugh less, an ocean art installation in Western Australia, and a moth that looks exactly like a broken twig

Plus: The otter cat that confused scientists for 200 years, can a Substack chat group fight loneliness? A reader's remarkable cousin, and the Dutchman who invented a new species

Part 5 of After the Fall: four models of post-authoritarian accountability and what they mean for the United States.

Plus: Why birth rates are really falling, Antarctica's last forest, the elm tree invader, and daredevil chimpanzee toddlers

A new newsletter, often written from trails and hotel rooms, for readers who want something more personal

Plus: ancient DNA overturns a famous myth, one million fish return, language learning has no age limit, and a NASA astronaut's farewell to space

Plus: Why flexible dates matter more than flexible tickets, how Google Flights and Skyscanner work differently, and the honest trade-off nobody talks about

Plus: Sleep as a problem-solving tool, Monet's kitchen was yellow, and NASA confirms a miss

Get more from Alex Verbeek on Patreon

East Germany preserved the Stasi files. The Czech Republic disqualified informants from public office. Poland's process was messier. America's process hasn't started.

Plus: The gender bias hiding in Stone Age science, Pablo Picasso's secret faith, plant-based diets, and butterfly memories

Plus: why white noise works differently for different people, how to set a sleep timer so sounds stop automatically, and the one setting most people miss