YouTube — 2026-03-25#

Watch First#

Ayatollah Once: Don’t Block The Strait from the Hoover Institution’s GoodFellows is a masterclass in intersecting history and current events. The panel discusses Tyler Goodspeed’s new book on historical recessions (did you know the 1930s locust plague maps perfectly to regional bank failures?), before pivoting to a stark analysis of the current US-Iran war, warning that military success might still trigger a devastating global recession if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed.

Highlights by Theme#

News & Business#

The escalating US-Iran conflict and its market fallout heavily dominated the cycle today. The Financial Times notes the US is turning a blind eye to Iran’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers exporting sanctioned oil to prevent global crude prices from spiking amid the war. Meanwhile, Chinese channel 美投侃新闻 analyzes Trump’s dual-track strategy of teasing peace talks while deploying the 82nd Airborne to the Middle East, a calculated move to soothe jittery stock markets. Domestically, CNBC reports that Trump is deploying ICE agents to US airports to act as TSA officers amidst a 39-day Department of Homeland Security shutdown, while the WSJ covers Panama City Beach’s successful rebrand from a raucous spring break hub into a multi-million dollar luxury real estate market.

Learning & Ideas#

The most intellectually engaging piece today is the Hoover Institution’s deep dive into America’s Mid-Life Mortality Gap, where economist Jonathan Skinner reveals that the stagnant life expectancy for non-college-educated Americans is less about the “China shock” or “deaths of despair” and almost perfectly predicted by historical smoking patterns from the 1990s. Prompted by recent Iranian naval losses, the Chinese channel LIFEANO CLUB offers a fascinating historical look at the Hague Convention, explaining the century-old rules that allow outgunned warships to seek refuge and internment in neutral ports. Over on GQ Taiwan, an abdominal transplant surgeon answers internet questions, casually explaining how a patient can end up with six kidneys and why liver halves can regenerate to full size in just six weeks.

Tech & AI#

On the No Priors podcast, the GitHub CEO makes a striking admission that developers now only spend 2-3 hours a day actually writing code, arguing that AI agents are desperately needed to clear security backlogs. This insatiable AI demand is echoed by 美投侃新闻, reporting that Microsoft is leasing massive 700-megawatt data centers to secure compute, underpinning TSMC’s aggressive growth targets. For a humanistic counterweight, Nayeema Raza’s TED Talk urges us to pause and reclaim our curiosity from our devices and our AI assistants (who she jokingly calls “Chat Daddy”), while the NYT caught Melania Trump introducing a Figure 3 humanoid robot at a White House summit.

Everything Else#

Gao Xiaosong (松言松语) delivers a delightful, opinionated rant debunking the legendary “Manchu Han Imperial Feast,” arguing that Qing dynasty emperors actually ate quite poorly and mostly just consumed endless duck dishes. CNBC dissects how Lego is dominating the toy industry by leaning into licensed IP, courting adult collectors (“kidults”), and heavily localizing its global supply chain. Finally, if you need pure visual escapism, BBC Earth uploaded a gorgeous compilation of natural wonders narrated by Sir David Attenborough, featuring everything from deep-sea flapjack octopuses to red crabs battling invasive yellow crazy ants.