For true fans of Diet Coke, soda is sacrament, and reverence comes with strict parameters. The fountain version served at McDonald's is thought to represent the peak of the form, but given the choice between plastic, glass, and metal vessels, conventional wisdom dictates that Diet Coke tastes best in aluminum cans. In recent weeks, those cans have reportedly been disappearing from shelves across India. Because the country's Diet Coke comes only in aluminum-can form, Reuters notes, it's at the mercy of ongoing supply issues stemming from the war in Iran. The Middle East has the capacity to produce 7 million metric tons of aluminum each year (75 percent of which is exported). That's 9 percent of the world's production capacity. And since the fighting began in late February, prices have continued to climb worldwide. The base price of a ton of aluminum surpassed $3,600 in April, a four-year high. The metal shows up everywhere in daily life: solar panels, MacBooks, airplane fuselage, deodorant, over-the-counter heartburn pills, cans of grocery-store cold brew. We're nowhere close to mass shortages in the United States, but around the world, the price shocks are already here....

By the United States military's estimation, about 1,550 marine vessels'oil tankers, bulk carriers, container ships, and more'are idling in the Persian Gulf right now. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively blockaded, their crews, many of them uninvolved in the ongoing war with Iran, are slowly using up supplies as they await safe passage through the mine-filled waterway. Donald Trump announced on Sunday that the U.S. would rescue these 'victims of circumstance' by guiding them out of the war zone in an as-yet-unspecified way. On Monday, though, Iran's military rejected the plan, warning that American military forces would be attacked if they approached the strait. Both sides fired shots yesterday, although the U.S. claims that the cease-fire remains in place. The fact that Iran's leaders are apparently willing to risk violating the delicate monthlong truce emphasizes just how fiercely they want to protect their hold over the strait. The past 65 days of war have badly punished Iran: Its leaders are dead, its navy and air force have been depleted, and its economy and infrastructure have been decimated. 'If we leave right now,' Trump said last week, 'it would take them 20 years to rebuild.' But amid the destruction, the country has also found new forms of leverage. Iran had not previously exercised this degree of control over the Strait of Hormuz, and before the war, the country could not have been confident that it would be able to do so. Even in its diminished state, the Iranian military has managed to deter enemy ships and outmaneuver anti-air systems, maintaining that grip on the strait while costing the U.S. billions....

Just a few months ago, the New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel was experiencing a special kind of celebrity. Across the sports world, Vrabel was widely praised for becoming one of eight coaches in NFL history to take his team to the Super Bowl in his very first season as head coach. Built like an oak tree, the former linebacker (he spent eight seasons with the Patriots) is known for his no-nonsense demeanor, and has even put on football pads to mix it up with his players'all part of the tough persona that endeared him to fans. Though the Patriots lost the Super Bowl, many still believed that Vrabel was perfectly positioned to return the franchise to the upper tier of the NFL, where it has lived for the majority of the 21st century. For the past few weeks, however, Vrabel's reputation has shifted as he's become a fixture in the gossip pages. On April 7, the New York Post published photos of him and the NFL reporter Dianna Russini together at an Arizona resort. Both Russini and Vrabel, who are married to other people, initially denied having any personal involvement beyond their professional capacity....

The pattern goes back to January 8, 1981, when Allende began her first novel, The House of the Spirits. Ever since, she has cleared her calendar and started a new book on that date, assuming she had finished the previous one. The ritual has helped her publish a book about every 18 months for 43 years. Today, at age 83, Allende 'is the most translated female 'Spanish'language author in the world, by far. 'When I am writing a book, I need to close the door when I finish, and no one should get in,' she explained when I visited her home in Sausalito, California. 'I have the idea in my mind that the story is an entity that lives in that room, with the characters and the emotions that I have been putting together. And when I come back the next day, I open the door and it's waiting for me intact. I don't want anybody to go in and vacuum, or to use my computer'that would kill me!' She paused for a moment. 'Without the silence, and the structure, I wouldn't be able to do it.' Allende's January 8 ritual is a form of what social scientists call a 'commitment device': a 'self'imposed restriction of freedom in service of a larger goal. Commitment devices have been shown to help people save more money, by having a bank account with limited withdrawal windows, and exercise more, by signing a contract to pay a fine if they skip too many days at the gym....