January 19, 2017

“We are supporting a business model which was appropriate to a historic phase in business history which is now over and which is largely irrelevant to the needs of modern business and now mainly serves the interests of a bloated finance sector.” Governance requirements have tipped the balance from businesses to finance, and should now be recalibrated. / John Kay

Pussy Riot, whose leaders Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were jailed for two years for criticizing Putin, provide an apocalytic view of America ruled by the Russian president’s BFF Donald Trump. / CNN

Tim Caro conducted hundreds of experiments, “over a 20 year scientific odyssey,” (now available in book form) to figure out why zebras have stripes. / Amazon, Wired

“A lot of people who were prepared to buy, say, a military-style rifle if Hillary Clinton won are now saying there’s no sense of urgency.” A terrifying quote from a stock analyst describing the core of the gun industry’s consumer base. / The Trace

“In 1981, the year most of the political prisoners were sentenced, the average federal sentence for murder was 10.3 years. Puerto Rican political prisoners—who were not convicted of hurting or killing anyone—were sentenced to an average of 65.4 years—six times longer.” Oscar Lopez Rivera was never convicted of hurting anyone, yet he served more than three times as long as he might have if he’d been a murderer. / North American Congress on Latin America

Almost every major outlet used the wrong photo for Chelsea Manning’s release story. That grainy black and white photo? It was meant to be private, sent to her therapist in 2010. This painting is her official portrait. / twitchy.com, The Verge

“Only the Mafia made more money.” This is how you don’t get away with tax evasion: tell the papers about it. Cops found bags of money hidden throughout Studio 54, landing now-pardoned co-owner Ian Schrager in a little trouble. / All That Is Interesting

Your conservative take for the day: How did Obama find it in his heart to pardon “a brilliant creative who made his name curating a wonderland which was all about exclusivity and the elite of the elite,” whose primary accomplishment was running a cocaine distributorship for the rich and famous? / heatst.com

The United States and Israel developed the Stuxnet virus, which infected computers in the Iranian nuclear program to cause malfunctions in their centrifuges. But the secret program was exposed by Newsweek and New York Times reporters, and the trail led back to a four-star general, the former vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. / Politico

Manning’s sentence was commuted, not pardoned, suggesting mercy, not mistake, on Obama’s part. / Slate

First, Matthew Cole in The Intercept on SEAL Team 6. / The Intercept

This appearance of Masha Gessen on Full Frontal makes a good case for Gessen getting her own show. / YouTube

“Don’t rely on a single person for all your emotional needs, even if monogamous. It’s not a poly thing, it’s a diversification of assets.” Game designer Elizabeth Sampat goes on Twitter to share some lessons learned. (h/t Kottke) / Twitter