Long reads

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/08/06/how-a-notorious-gangster-was-exposed-by-his-own-sister

Greek tragedy in an Amsterdam gangster family.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/01/magazine/climate-change-losing-earth.html

Long read on climate change, not without its critics online, quite a bit of cross analysis and reviews online if you want opposing points of view

this is good

https://www.wired.com/story/notpetya-cyberattack-ukraine-russia-code-crashed-the-world/

Jensen looked up to ask if anyone else in his open-plan office of IT staffers had been so rudely interrupted. And as he craned his head, he watched every other computer screen around the room blink out in rapid succession.

A good Aretha obit

https://www.villagevoice.com/2018/08/17/aretha-the-voice-of-america/

Even for those of us like me who usually switch off at the very mention of “Macca”, this is a great piece

https://www.gq.com/story/the-untold-stories-of-paul-mccartney

https://www.citylab.com/design/2018/10/5-rules-designing-better-more-walkable-cities/569914/
More of a medium read but I like to read about city planning.
Rule #88 was the most interesting for me having never thought about the thickness of a boundary.

That BBC story on the Chinese internment camps

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/China_hidden_camps

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/oct/30/are-we-wrong-to-assume-fish-cant-feel-pain

Interesting article. This is a great thread, long may it prosper.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/12/26/us/politics/donald-trump-environmental-regulation.html

1 Attachment

https://www.wired.com/story/scramble-claim-worlds-most-coveted-meteorite/

Tom Justice was once a cyclist chasing Olympic gold. Then he began using his bike for a much different purpose: robbing banks.

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/February-2019/Bicycle-Bank-Robber-Tom-Justice/

Great read! Must do some work now...

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/08/the-day-the-dinosaurs-died

Not sure if this is allowed, but I haven't actually read the whole article yet. However the opening few paragraphs are well worth it for their description of the ending of all life on our planet.

I know the reporting of this piece took place over 13 years. Plus it looks great.

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2019-dominican-gold-treasure-hunt/

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/apr/13/murder-on-the-allotment-committee-secretary

This is good and reminded me of what a good book The Jungle is

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/07/the-price-of-plenty-how-beef-changed-america

Re-posting this here;

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/neaz3d/airpods-are-a-tragedy

So this is by a healthy margin the best thing I've read so far this year: https://medium.com/@the_jennitaur/how-to-do-nothing-57e100f59bbb

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Looking-Eleven-Walks-Expert-Eyes/dp/1439191255

https://fs.blog/2012/04/david-foster-wallace-this-is-water/

Reminds me of this book and also made me think of a David Foster Wallace commencement speech about attention; which is an interesting example in microcosm of the public/faux-public commentary in that article.

At the time it was available as a transcript all over the web, but at some point it was published as a book which meant that suddenly it was no longer available, except in this one form in a very controlled way. Seems like the publishers have realised that it is going to be out there no matter what, so have published it online themselves. Also the cover chosen always amused me, as it seems like the person choosing it entirely missed the point of the quote.

Thanks, the commencement speech is an interesting and thought inducing read as well. Will keep the book in mind too.

Started using this - very good. Worth the subscription, and better than relentless podcasts:

https://www.audm.com

Would recommend.

https://medium.com/truly-adventurous/ho-chi-bear-the-ravens-c40781300d26

"Drummed out of Vietnam, misfit American pilots had a choice: Face the music of military justice or go someplace where oddballs and rule breakers were appreciated. Dubbed the Ravens, they soon learned they could fly, fight, and drink as they pleased in a CIA-sponsored secret war. There was just one catch: They answered to General Vang Pao."

Another excellent one: https://eidolon.pub/heroes-are-a-virus-from-outer-space-6909d85e2731

Take a breather from the virulent rhetoric on display in the news and our annual conference and let me show you how we harbor and honor the mental infections that kill us, from the first epic to First Man. This is how outbreaks keep populations in check; this is how hydrophobia concentrates contagion in a rabid animal’s dying bite; this is not, I hope, how the world ends.

The Russian apartment bombings came up in a conversation which lead me to this old GQ article with an interview with Mikhail Trepashkin:
https://www.gq.com/story/moscow-bombings-mikhail-trepashkin-and-putin