Countries visited: Austria, Thailand (current)
I didn’t stay in Austria long enough for a “local” read, so instead took a break to catch up on long-form.
AMERICANA
- DIY Guns (Wired): Why the publishing of 3D printing gun specs (now protected by First Amendment “free speech” claims), renders all gun restrictions as we know them obsolete. Also: a brilliant library plan.
- “Whatever’s your darkest question, you can ask it here” (California Sunday): On how the original pro-choice campaign fought for medically safe abortions, over at-Home care, leaving behind a socioeconomic segment that just can’t afford hospital abortions. Made me consider, for the first time, why we don’t have the abortion equivalent of midwives.
- Jimmy Carter for Higher Office (GQ): A profile of a former President, whose underrated optimism and commitment to public service may be just what we need now
- A Rattle with Death in Yosemite (Outside): A fascinating account of a near-fatal rattlesnake bite. I learned a lot about snakes and snakebites. For instance: A single vial of anti-venom can cost $18,000, and by the time he reached the hospital, he needed 18 vials.
MAKE TECH GREAT AGAIN
- Bias Detectives (Nature): A great introductory account of how difficult it is to build algorithms that are “fair” and how researchers are trying to deal with this (use human checks, define metrics of “fairness” beforehand, and avoid black-box models).
- “I was devastated”: Tim Berners-Lee, the man who invented the Internet, has some regrets (Vanity Fair): On how Berners-Lee is trying to create a decentralized Internet. (It’s like Pied Piper from HBO’s Silicon Valley!!)
MONEY MATTERS
- The Brexit Short (Bloomberg): Hedge funds are making bank from getting private UK exit polling data earlier, and then betting on GBP currency swings. As genius as it is nefarious. So whoever said (incorrect) exit polls are now worthless in the Brexit/Trump age, clearly don’t understand FX markets.
- John Lanchester: After the Fall (LRB): 10 years on from the great Recession of 2008 - a great, simple overview of the lessons we haven’t learned, the structural changes we haven’t made, and why they matter.
- Pay the Homeless (Longreads): Oy, I still don’t know the ethics of this situation, but I feel like this article called out a lot of my behavior/excuses in helpful ways.
- ...as an Internet celebrity: Ice Poseidon’s Lucrative, Stressful Life as a Live Streamer (New Yorker): I had so many contrasting feels about this one: voyeuristically enjoyable, wtf Internet/society do we live in, SWATing as both genius/hilarious and terribly wasteful/dangerous, and also does it mean I am old that I don’t understand the appeal f live streaming anything? #turning30