Please note that we’ll be off next week, and the newsletter will return on Jan. 28. See you then!

How far has US election security come since 2016? It's improved, but so have the hackers.

"Sure, that might lead to a dystopian future or something, but you can’t ban it." On the startup that's aiding law enforcement by identifying unknown people through online images.

Some 22% of the shares of the typical S&P 500 company sits in the portfolios of three index fund companies.

Nearly half of the Manhattan luxury-condo units that have come onto the market in the past five years remain unsold.

A small city mayor went public about constant online harassment. So a man attacked her staff, demanding to see her.

"Maybe this is the highest thing a person can hope for." Helen Rosner on creating a recipe that's Instagram-famous.

Held in the Musée d’art et d’histoire Neuchâtel in Switzerland is an early precursor to the computer: a mechanical writer.

“The debate over climate change, the eroding of workers’ rights, the rise of the private prison industry, and the media’s increasing refusal to talk about all of these in favor of focusing on soundbite propaganda and celebrity news.” The 2020s were pretty well predicted by Octavia E. Butler and other science fiction authors.

Canada has a "unique and highly successful monarchy." To keep it that way, it should block Prince Harry and Meghan at the border.

A reason to pay attention to the NFL: the story of the 49ers' Katie Sower, the NFL’s third full-time female coach.

Celebrating over 10 years of making goofy snowboarding videos, the Weird Japan crew is mostly about leader Doggy creating shenanigans at ski resorts. Never not fun.

Photographs from the 42nd annual Dakar Rally, a 4,660-mile off-road adventure held entirely in Saudi Arabia this year.

“Classic songbirds and rotund groundbirds like grouse and ptarmigans have the advantage: They look like little balls of fluff, an important component for birbness.” Three basic rules to determine if a bird qualifies to be a “birb.”

Nearly 74% of UK pet-owners play music for their animals. Spotify now has playlists and a podcast for that.

It's not just audiophiles: Average music listeners can tell the sound difference when music is remastered.

Visualizing how apologies by YouTubers affect follower counts.