This week, President George W. Bush, who watched indifferently as New Orleans sank, returned to finish the job with a rain dance.
- Old Print Articles: George Bernard Shaw was an early anti-vaxxer (1948) + Thomas Edison received celebrations at life’s end (1931).
- Grandpa F. Trump was a “whoremaster.” In retrospect, he was the classy one.
- Evan Osnos explores the meaning of Trump’s early support.
- Racist Presidential candidates shouldn’t be viewed as mere entertainment.
- Lawrence Lessig wants to clean up U.S. politics, but his scheme is quixotic.
- President George W. Bush strummed while New Orleans drowned.
- Louis Menand’s criticisms of Joan Didion’s journalism seem wrong to me.
- Buzz Aldrin is spearheading an attempt to establish Mars colonies.
- Joseph Stiglitz offers a straightforward prescription for wealth inequality.
- The Housing First initiative solves problems, yet is unpopular in the U.S.
- Uber, supposed champion of Labor, wants to get rid of all of its drivers.
- For an indeterminate length, robot drivers and human ones will share the road.
- Biomimetics has progressed remarkably in the last decade.
- The U.S. Army Research Lab sees combat being very robotized by 2050.
- Forrester Reports offers a relatively sanguine take on automation.
- Robotics could make war relatively safer, but that may not be the goal.
- Technological obstacles, as well as legal ones, are delaying autonomous cars.
- Frank Pasquale warns that algorithms that judge us must also be judged.
- Andrew McAfee argues in favor of zero-cost services, though they’re not free.
- Modern Gold Rush towns in North Dakota are unsurprisingly complex places.
- Aubrey de Grey aims to “cure aging,” is frustrated by the response to his work.
- Julian Baggini explains why ISIS attacks on antiquities are so troubling.
- As ex-NFLer Chris Borland attests, you can’t make modern football safe.
- Steve Ross rose from the funeral biz to the head of Warner Communications.
- The Zoo Zajac is Germany is the world’s largest pet store.
- A brief note from 1891 about show biz.
- A brief note from 1910 about a Texas snake farm.
- A brief note from 1895 about cowboys on bikes.
- This week’s Afflictor keyphrase searches.