Instapaper

Excerpts From Trump’s Conversation With Journalists on Air Force One

The following are excerpts, as prepared and released on Thursday by the White House, from a conversation aboard Air Force One between President Trump and members of the press corps as they flew to Paris on Wednesday night. The conversation was initially thought by the journalists to be off the…

Jul 26, 2017

Director Harmony Korine on the Extremely Weird Music That Made Him

pitchfork.com

Director Harmony Korine on the Extremely Weird Music That Made Him The eccentric auteur behind Spring Breakers and Kids talks about the music of his life, five years at a time. Photos courtesy of Harmony Korine by Senior Staff Writer 5-10-15-20 Pop/R&B Rap Rock Experimental July 13 2017 For the past…

Jul 26, 2017

As Paperwork Goes Missing, Private Student Loan Debts May Be Wiped Away

nytimes.com

Tens of thousands of people who took out private loans to pay for college but have not been able to keep up payments may get their debts wiped away because critical paperwork is missing. The troubled loans, which total at least $5 billion, are at the center of a protracted legal dispute between the…

Jul 26, 2017

The Myth Of The Place Where The War On Drugs Worked - Volteface

volteface.me

Over the past three years, I have been publicly making the case for moving beyond the war on drugs in places as disparate as Baltimore, Medillin, Sydney, Paris and Buenos Aires – and everywhere, I ask the defenders of continuing the drug war one question. Can you name one place, anywhere in the…

Jul 26, 2017

Under siege by liberals: the town where everyone owns a gun

theguardian.com

T here’s an empty stretch of field off highway 141 in Colorado that used to be the perfect American town. Small houses with white picket fences boasted big flower gardens. Kids played kick the can in the streets, rode their bikes, splashed in swimming pools. On Sundays, they might have watched an…

Jul 26, 2017

Old Records Never Die by Eric Spitznagel – the real High Fidelity

theguardian.com

Fun for all the family? Crate-diggers on Record Store Day.Photograph: Frantzesco Kangaris/for the Guardian I am writing this review at my teenage record store in Boise, Idaho. According to Google Maps I am approximately 5,147 miles away from my current home in Berlin, Germany, and 2,468 miles away…

Jul 26, 2017

The Arc Of Stanley Kubrick: From ‘Killer’s Kiss’ to ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ by Noel Murray

musings.oscilloscope.net

The Arc Of Stanley Kubrick: From ‘Killer’s Kiss’ to ‘Eyes Wide Shut’by Noel Murray Stanley Kubrick made just 13 feature films in his nearly 50-year career, and from the ‘60s through the ‘90s—the era in which “a Stanley Kubrick picture” had a meaning—each new project went through more or less the…

Jul 26, 2017

How the Guy Who Played Jar Jar Survived the Fandom Menace

wired.com

AHMED BEST HAS MADE PEACE WITH THE REVILED CHARACTER THAT ONCE DEFINED HIS PAST. 07.15.17 The call from George Lucas came in the summer of 1999, while Ahmed Best was out for a walk in New York City’s Washington Square Park. It was like a lifeline. At that moment, the then-25-year-old actor and…

Jul 26, 2017

How Inmates Play Tabletop RPGs in Prisons Where Dice Are Contraband

waypoint.vice.com

At Play in the Carceral State is a week-long series investigating play in, around, and about prisons and prison culture. Learn more here. It may sound like a strange juxtaposition: hardened, tattooed offenders donning the cloaks of fantasy characters. Yet both former inmates and correctional…

Jul 26, 2017

Swidget wants to build smarts into your walls

staceyoniot.com

Swidget has the right idea with swappable smarts for its outlet. Smart homes generate a lot of clutter. I look around my home today and each room has its cluster of white or black devices with glowing LEDs. Most of my outlets sport an unsightly transformer blob that acts as a repeater, a doorbell…

Jul 26, 2017

Scaramucci on Leaks: ‘I’m Going to Fire Everybody’

nytimes.com

WASHINGTON — Anthony Scaramucci, President Trump’s new communications director, vowed on Tuesday to purge the White House staff of disloyal aides in an effort to crack down on leaks, as another member of the press staff resigned from a West Wing reeling from an unfolding shake-up. “I’m going to fire…

Jul 26, 2017

Look Ma, No Brake! You’ll Drive Electric Cars With One Pedal

wired.com

With the production of Tesla’s mass-market Model 3 now underway, and first deliveries due on Friday, electric cars are about to hit the mainstream. For people driving EVs, it means a raft of changes: plugging in at night instead of hitting the gas station, keeping an eye on a battery meter instead…

Jul 26, 2017

Adobe is ending development and support for Flash in 2020

engadget.com

AOL Adobe announced today that it is ending support for and development of Flash in 2020. The company cited declining usage statistics (80 percent of Chrome users visited a site with Flash daily in 2014, as compared to 17 percent today) and a plethora of alternatives as the reason for the…

Jul 26, 2017

The Democrats Have Absolutely No Idea About What They're Going to Do in 2018

fusion.kinja.com

Screenshot via YouTube With the news coming out of Donald Trump’s administration getting a little more stupid with each passing day, you may be feeling energized and ready to mobilize against the Republicans’ legislative agenda at the state level in the run-up to the midterms. But if you’re looking…

Jul 25, 2017

Millennials’ Sobriety Isn’t What It Seems – NEO.LIFE – Medium

medium.com

They’re avoiding many of the substances that got earlier generations high. But are they better off? Illustration by Gwendal Le Bec Y esterday’s line: “Don’t do drugs, kids.” Today’s line: “Kids don’t do drugs.” A variety of publications have patted Millennials on the back with praising headlines,…

Jul 25, 2017

You Can Swim in the Canals of Paris Again

citylab.com

Parisians pack the three pools in the city's once-fetid Bassin de la Villette. Charles Platiau/Reuters Let's All Swim in the Once-Filthy Canals of Paris Feargus O'Sullivan Jul 19, 2017 Unlike many cities, the French capital has made good on its promise to re-open urban waterways to bathers. How did…

Jul 25, 2017

Being Busy Permanently Reduces Your Capacity to Think Deeply and Creatively

bigthink.com

The other day a friend mentioned that he’s looking forward to autonomous cars, as it will help lower the accident and fatality rates caused by distracted driving. True, was my initial reply, with a caveat: what we gain on the roads we lose in general attention. Having yet another place to be…

Jul 25, 2017

Breaking Bad's Creator Talks Success, Failure, and His New Show About a Cult

vice.com

What if you were reading this….in an email? Keep up to date with VICE and subscribe to our weekly newsletter . Vince Gilligan was 28 when he got a job on The X-Files . The NYU film graduate had written an episode which made its way to show creator Chris Carter and eventually got made. Vince then…

Jul 25, 2017

The Million Dollar Homepage is a Million Dollar Graveyard

motherboard.vice.com

In 2005, a British student named Alex Tew launched the The Million Dollar Homepage , where internet users could "own a piece of internet history" by buying individual pixels on a giant digital canvas for a buck apiece. A total of one million pixels were for sale and anyone could buy a minimum of a…

Jul 25, 2017

What It's Really Like for Women to Date Bisexual Men

broadly.vice.com

Amber Rose, the model and famed ex of Kanye West, recently stated that although she is attracted to men and women, she would not date a bisexual man. "Personally—no judgment—I wouldn't be comfortable," she said. "I just wouldn't be comfortable with it, and I don't know why." Rose isn't alone: Last…

Jul 25, 2017

Trump Is Becoming Unhinged at the Twists and Turns of Kremlingate

foreignpolicy.com

If Kremlingate: The Scandal were Kremlingate: The TV Series , it would pack in so many improbable plot twists and surprise developments that any experienced showrunner would tell the writers to slow down because that’s not how real life works. In just the past week, we saw enough news to fill an…

Jul 25, 2017

Inside the Gaming Library at Gitmo, America's Controversial Military Prison

waypoint.vice.com

At Play in the Carceral State is a week-long series investigating play in, around, and about prisons and prison culture. Learn more here . In 2002, the United States government detained a Mauritanian man, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, and sent him to Gitmo. As Slahi waited to be charged (he never was), he…

Jul 25, 2017

An Oral History of the Funniest Podcast Ever

thedailybeast.com

We spoke to more than two dozen comedians who helped Scott Aukerman’s ‘Comedy Bang! Bang!’ podcast get to 500 episodes. Earwolf/Kevin Bartelt It’s a hazy Saturday afternoon in July and some of the greatest improvisers in the country are assembling in a nondescript office building on Sunset Boulevard…

Jul 25, 2017

Yes, terrorists could have hacked Dick Cheney’s heart

washingtonpost.com

Dick Cheney currently has a pulse -- which was not always the case. (AP Photo/Olivia Harris, Pool, File) On "60 Minutes" this Sunday, former Vice President Dick Cheney revealed that his doctor ordered the wireless functionality of his heart implant disabled due to fears it might be hacked in an…

Jul 25, 2017

The (Presumably) True Story Behind Martin Shkreli and That Wu-Tang Album

vulture.com

Illustration: Gluekit The saga of the Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin album, which unfolded in 2015, seemed both too good to be true and too good to ignore. There was the outlandish conceit: The iconic rap group had recorded an entire new album, of which it was producing only a single…

Jul 25, 2017

The Internet of Hackable Things You Don’t Own

motherboard.vice.com

I recently read The End of Ownership, a new book about how companies are using contract law, Digital Rights Management, and End User License Agreements to strip away the very concept of "owning" the things we buy. When our Kindle books mysteriously disappear overnight , or we're prevented from…

Jul 25, 2017

For Trump, the ‘Cloud’ Just Grew That Much Darker

nytimes.com

WASHINGTON — Upset about the investigation into Russian interference in last year’s election, President Trump sought relief from James B. Comey, then the F.B.I. director. By Mr. Comey’s account, Mr. Trump asked him to help “lift the cloud.” But thanks to Mr. Trump’s own actions, the cloud darkened…

Jul 25, 2017

Snopes Faces and Ugly Legal Battle

theatlantic.com

On Monday, the editorial staff of Snopes.com wrote a short plea for help . The post said that the site needed money to fund its operations because another company that Snopes had contracted with “continues to essentially hold the Snopes.com web site hostage.” “Our legal team is fighting hard for us,…

Jul 25, 2017

This Roomba Maps Your House So It Won't Keep Ramming Into Your Couch

gizmodo.com

It’s not going to mow your lawn , but the freshly revealed, wifi-friendly Roomba 980 can be controlled by your smartphone, and it uses a camera and sensors to remember where walls and furniture are in your home. At an event this afternoon in New York, the huge robotics company repeatedly highlighted…

Jul 25, 2017

Roomba's Next Big Step Is Selling Maps of Your Home to the Highest Bidder

gizmodo.com

iRobot The Roomba is generally regarded as a cute little robot friend that no one but dogs would consider to be a potential menace. But for the last couple of years, the robovacs have been quietly mapping homes to maximize efficiency. Now, the device’s makers plan to sell that data to smart home…

Jul 25, 2017

Henry Rollins: America's Real Safety Net Is Drugs, Alcohol, Cheap Food and Free Porn

laweekly.com

Since the inception of America, as much concept as actual thing, the poor have been despised by the rich. It is an adversarial relationship that has not relented from then to this moment. This antagonism and the agony it engenders is not only our collective story but informs much of our behavior…

Jul 23, 2017

Etobicoke "park stairs" story is a perfect example of the crass, reactionary, anti-regulatory nonsense that led to the Grenfell disaster

theleftchapter.blogspot.com

Photo from twitter via Shannon McKarney‏ By now almost everyone in Toronto would have heard the story of newly minted Etobicoke folk hero Adi Astl and how he built stairs quickly in a park for only $500 when city officials said building the stairs would cost $65,000 or more. Astl allegedly hired a…

Jul 23, 2017

Designed Inconveniences: UX Patterns That Can’t Be Taught

uxdesign.cc

This is the second article of the “Designed” series. Check out the other articles: Designed Degradations: UX Patterns for Hostile Environments. Designed Redundancies: UX Patterns To Unblock Frustration…And Save Lives. Also to learn more about UX Patterns visit my side project Waveguide , where I…

Jul 23, 2017

Britain Cracking Down on Gender Stereotypes in Ads

nytimes.com

LONDON — One ad for baby formula showed a little girl growing up to be a ballerina and a little boy becoming a mathematician. Another ad, for a weight-loss drink, asked if viewers were “ beach body ready ” and showed a bikini-wearing woman whose bronzed image, critics said, promoted an unrealistic…

Jul 23, 2017