The Gambler Who Blew $127 Million
In 2007, Harrah’s made 5.6% of its total Las Vegas revenue off of a single person: Terrance Watanabe.
In 2007, Harrah’s made 5.6% of its total Las Vegas revenue off of a single person: Terrance Watanabe.
Alexandra Berzon The Wall Street Journal Dec 2009 10min Permalink
The founding fathers deserve at least some of the blame for the worst presidencies in American history—they created an office that’s vaguely defined and ripe for abuse. Plus: how to fix it.
Garrett Epps The Atlantic Jan 2009 15min Permalink
A conversation with NYU Law Professor Philip Alston on the legality of ‘targeted killings’ by drones, which have made headlines in Pakistan, but also have been deployed by the C.I.A. in countries like Yemen.
Scott Horton Harper's Jun 2010 10min Permalink
“But the journalism itself is not free. It can’t be free. And if it is free, it’s not going to be very good.”
Robert Birnbaum The Morning News Jun 2010 Permalink
Mysterious, man-made “natural flavor” explains why most fast food—indeed, most of the food Americans eat—tastes the way it does. An early excerpt from Fast Food Nation.
Eric Schlosser The Atlantic Jan 2001 20min Permalink
The science of same-sex relationships in the wild.
Jon Mooallem New York Times Magazine Mar 2010 30min Permalink
It is agreed that the 1977 political murder of a couple in Johannesburg was a political killing that covered up mysterious Swiss Bank deposits. Various reports implicate Cuban Nationalists, Italian Fascists and the CIA.
James Myburgh PoliticsWeb Jun 2010 Permalink
Squatters in Buffalo, NY enjoy a life of “decadent poverty” fixing up palatial mansions.
Jake Halpern New York Times Magazine May 2010 Permalink
How a French journalist recruited a posse of Brazilian parking lot attendants and pizza-delivery guys and created Hollywood’s most addictive entertainment product.
David Samuels The Atlantic Apr 2008 35min Permalink
In a windowless room just outside of New York City, overworked air traffic controllers manage the world’s most-trafficked piece of sky—until all those blips on the screen become too much.
Darcy Frey New York Times Magazine Mar 1996 35min Permalink
Night raids by the “Hash Monster” and other perils facing American soldiers at a remote base in the wilderness of the Paktya Province as they attempt to turn over power to the Afghan Army.
Neil Shea The American Scholar Jun 2010 10min Permalink
As of this year, more women than men are in the U.S. workforce. More women are managers and more women are earning college degrees. Here’s why.
Hanna Rosin The Atlantic Jun 2010 35min Permalink
Buckminster Fuller reconsidered.
Elizabeth Kolbert New Yorker Jun 2008 15min Permalink
“The problem is I’m older now, I’m 40 years old, and this stuff doesn’t change the world. It really doesn’t.” –Steve Jobs, 1996
Kurdistan is the safest and most stable region in Iraq and at the center of its modern history is Amna Surak Prison, ground zero for both a genocide and an uprising.
Christopher Watt Maisonneuve Jul 2008 15min Permalink
What’s Madoff like as a prisoner? According to his fellow inmates, he’s cheap (“You couldn’t get an ice-cream cone off him”), he’s unrepentant (“Fuck my victims”), and he’s eager to dole out financial advice.
Steve Fishman New York Jun 2010 20min Permalink
Foursquare and Gowalla are in a VC-funded race to become the dominant location-based social network. But their founders say both companies have a larger purpose.
Neal Pollack Wired (UK) Jun 2010 Permalink
The 1979 Oscars pitted Hal Ashby’s Coming Home against Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter, wildly different films both on the topic of the Vietnam War.
Peter Biskind Vanity Fair Mar 2008 40min Permalink
Born in Germany, raised in Montana, now living in New York, comedian Reggie Watts describes his style as “culture sampling.”
Sam Anderson New York Jun 2010 10min Permalink
Job Cohen, the current mayor of Amsterdam, is leading the Dutch race for Prime Minister on a platform of racial integration that could transform the relationship between European politics and immigration.
[Part 2 of 2] The story behind this spring’s spate of retributive murders in Southwest D.C.
Paul Duggan Washington Post Jun 2010 15min Permalink
[Part 1 of 2] The story behind this spring’s spate of retributive murders in Southwest D.C.
Paul Duggan Washington Post Jun 2010 10min Permalink
Argentina’s Lio Messi, the best soccer player on the planet, stands all of 5’7” and needed growth-hormone injections to get there.
S.L. Price Sports Illustrated May 2010 20min Permalink
In the wake of 9/11, terrorist networks moved their recruitment and training efforts online, giving birth to Jihad-geeks like Irhabi_007.
Nadya Labi The Atlantic Jul 2006 15min Permalink
The Onion’s Keith Phipps retraces the route Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda followed in Easy Rider.
Keith Phipps Slate Nov 2009 Permalink