Screen angst

Russian forces had been deeply embedded in Venezuela; but when the US showed up, they either showed no resistance or vanished entirely. / Euromaidan

The Dept. of Justice has subpoenaed the Fed over building renovations, in what Jerome Powell says is actually an attempt to end the central bank’s independence. / AP

“We can rebuild a robust biomedical research ecosystem free from heedless political interference.” An open letter from recently resigned NIH heads. / STAT

The updated, meat-heavy food pyramid involved input from a newly formed review board, two thirds of whom have ties to the beef, dairy, and pork industries. / The New York Times [$]

Social media influencers are the new lobbyists, shaping policy in Washington—except without the rules requiring disclosure of corporate and foreign interests. / The Wall Street Journal [$]

See also: The Trump administration is addicted to social media “in a way that is plausibly corrupting their judgment and undermining their performance.” / Can We Still Govern?

“They are voluntarily giving up what is ostensibly their dream life in order to better maximize their net worth.” Monitoring Silicon Valley billionaires’ wealth-tax tantrums. / How Things Work

Even as AI companies contend their models don’t memorize copyrighted material, their chatbots reproduce content verbatim, and there may be no way to change that behavior. / The Atlantic [$]

Researchers at a nonprofit are scouring satellite imagery, permits, and legal documents to uncover America’s hidden data centers. / 404 Media

“When she told him the painting used to hang over her bed, he looked at White, she recalls, as if she were ‘a nutcase.’” The hunt for a stolen Jackson Pollock. / The Washington Post [$]

On the enduring appeal of the community-first Craiglist, a pillar of the “ungentrified” internet: “There’s a purity to it.” / Ars Technica

After years of labor disputes, Alamo Drafthouse will pilot a phone ordering system that may mark the beginning of the end of its longstanding no-phones policy. / AV Club

What it’s like for a non-Japanese-speaker to use Apple’s new AirPod translation feature in Tokyo. / The New York Times [$]

Enviable hi-fi systems from movies and TV, e.g., Leave the World Behind’s apocalypse-proof McIntosh rig. / Son-Vidéo

The New York Public Library will acquire Television guitarist and songwriter Tom Verlaine’s personal archive of writings and unreleased audio. / NYPL

In the members area, unlocked links from the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, and the Washington Post ↓

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