March 15, 2017
How many people vanish in the American wilderness? The government has no idea. “Aficionados of the vanished” think that at least 1,600 people, and maybe more, remain missing on public lands. / Outside
An Irish journalist asked every member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament), for ther opinion on Beyoncé. Thirty-seven politicians replied. The responses are priceless. / dailyedge.ie
“Our goal in coming to America was to provide an opportunity for our children to study, have access to journals and computers.” A new study from the National Foundation for American Policy finds a remarkable 83% (33 of 40) of the finalists of the 2016 Intel Science Talent Search were the children of immigrants. / Forbes
A majority of states are either considering or have already passed “Blue Lives Matter” bills that make it a hate crime to “attack” a police officer, which the victims of police brutality are often accused of. / HuffPost
“It was not the fire I imagined or dreamed of. It was the fire I got.” Skip the sections on Kendrick and Beck, and head straight for Tom Waits’ interview on musical creativity. The man is allergic to being boring. / New York Times
“The truth is, there is no ‘proper’ subject for poetry. All of life is its subject. Nothing should be out of bounds.” Meet Grindr’s new poet-in-residence, Max Wallis. / The Guardian
In case you missed it yesterday, this is the best Pi Day story we saw. / nowiknow.com
The sight of their reflection provokes overriding color changes associated with seeing a rival in the wild. / National Geographic
“[The trans bathroom bill] has impacted me to this day, even after I left office. People are reluctant to hire me, because, ‘oh my gosh, he’s a bigot’—which is the last thing I am.” Ousted North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory would like you to feel bad for him. / The News & Observer
Trump is loosening Obama-era counterterrorism operation restrictions in Somalia and Yemen, setting the stage for even more botched “intelligence” ground attacks. / The New York Times
Related: The CIA can order drone strikes now, too. / The Wall Street Journal
A favorite new campaign/art project of ours, Made by Refugees promotes the blessings we’ve received from refugees’ hands—particularly things that are cultural touchstones, like Einstein’s research, Bob Marley’s records, or Sriracha sauce. / Made By Refugees, Quartz
“When you allow people to examine the various sides of a debate, those with the best command of facts and reason—that is, those who agree with us—will emerge victorious. The race scientists will go the way of flat-earthers. Islamophobia will be found contemptible. Hillary will win.” What the mostly older white men decrying the rise of protest “PC culture” on college campuses and in cities fail to realize is that their precious methods of logic and debate don’t work on neo-Nazis. / Slate
An examination of 389 elections in 259 dictatorships finds that elections can prolong dictatorships in the longer term, but holding elections is risky for dictators in their early days. / The Washington Post
“How worried are we about the creeping footbalism infecting campuses?” We’ve kind of ruined the punchline, but this is a really thoughtful response to the mainstream voices calling campus enthusiasm for social justice “religious.” / Inside Higher Ed
It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for: 2017’s “Minnesota State High School All Hockey Hair Team.” I.e., yes, the best in hair from this year’s high school hockey season. / YouTube
“Now police officers have to be generalists.” Criminalization means police are the front line of the opioid crisis. / Washington Post
“We don’t doubt that the issue resonates with the more liberal Democratic base. Certainly, everyone likes free stuff.” Op-ed: California Democrats over-promise on an effort to make college free for more Californians. / The Sacramento Bee
“A $64 invoice, for time city attorney Mike Kenyon spent in February responding to a reporter’s question.” A Washington mayor tried to bill reporters for press availability from staff. (He now says it was a joke. / Whidbey News-Times
“A difficult stealth game in which the player avoids the gaze of other passengers when they need to release a good old heap of puke.” Description of “Train Vom,” the weirdest video game you could play today. / TFinz
Solitary confinenement logs from three private prisons being used for immigration detention show that detainees—who are usually not held for any criminal offense, but simply for being undocumented immigrants—are being put in solitary for hunger striking. / The Verge
Related: Demographic and crime data show that as the immigration population in America rose, violent crimes fell. / sentencingproject.org
“[Under Mubarak], I would take part in demonstrations and spend three days in a police station. We got released because we were students, and they were not going to destroy our future. There is no more of that kind of thinking.” Under Sisi, Egypt has rapidly turned protest and dissent into criminal activities, with some groups estimating there to be about 60,000 political prisoners—some six times more than under Mubarak. / The New York Times Magazine
I wasn’t all that excited for March Madness. Then I spent the afternoon watching buzzer-beaters set to Celine Dion. / Vice
“As the hours young men spent in work dropped in the 2000s, hours spent in leisure activities rose nearly one-for-one. Of the rise in leisure time, 75% was accounted for by video games.” A worrying trend for the future: “A small but meaningful share of the young-adult population is delaying employment or cutting back hours in order to spend more time with their video game of choice.” / The Economist’s 1843
In 1942, a weak society left Southerners prone to fake news, which spread among whites fearing a loss of privilege. / Politico
This is, naturally, what the weed that the government grows to experiment with looks like. / Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
“Nine artists to give a fuck about at at the 2017 Whitney Biennial” includes this portrait by Aliza Nisenbaum. / Creators