Inside a quirky indie publisher’s turn to Covid trutherism

What the neighborhood of Higher Blackley in Manchester says about “one of the least understood and most discriminated-against groups in society.”

The history of a powerful and violent secret society in the islands of southern Chile.

On the death of a young reporter named Christopher Allen and the state of conflict journalism.

In their depictions of domination, the artist’s works, full of world-building and philosophy, do more than flip the script.

The autonomous car of the future is here:

I was briefly nervous when Urmson first took his hands off the wheel and a synthy woman’s voice announced coolly, “Autodrive.” But after a few minutes, the idea of a computer-driven car seemed much less terrifying than the panorama of indecision, BlackBerry-fumbling, rule-flouting, and other vagaries of the humans around us—including the weaving driver who struggles to film us as he passes.

When Elysian Brewing sold itself to Big Beer, it set off a revolt among Seattle craft beer enthusiasts.

A woman posing as a non-profit worker kidnaps a formerly homeless pregnant woman and tries to claim her baby. [PART 2]

When a young author started her novel years ago, she saw it as a romance. She sees it differently now.

The United States, which took a forceful stance on other Arab revolts, remained relatively passive in the face of the kingdom’s unrest and crackdown. To many who are familiar with the region, this came as no surprise: of all the Arab states that saw revolts last year, Bahrain is arguably the most closely tied to American strategic interests.

A report on Bahrain, the Arab Spring’s most ill-fated uprising.

The Giant Pacific Octopus is, in the words of a Seattle conservationist, a “glamour animal.” It is also tasty. Therein lies the conflict.

The failure of MTV’s Staten Island-based reality show and the fate of its cast members:

While Bridge & Tunnel hangs in programming purgatory, the DeBartolis are hamstrung by Draconian network contracts that reportedly don't allow them to have agents or managers or even talk about any of this publicly for five years. So while JWoww shills her own black bronzer line and Snooki slams into Italian police cars for $100,000 an episode, Gabriella and Brianna have been working respectively as a secretary and a pizza-order girl in Staten Island. The papers they signed as passports off Staten Island are effectively keeping them there.

Investigating a former NFL star’s new business: renting professional athletes to their biggest fans.

Ana Montes was a decorated U.S. intelligence analyst. She was also a Cuban spy.

How a Peace Corps volunteer turned a high school basketball squad into Afghanistan’s national team.

A respected anti-gang crusader shoots and paralyzes another man.

Its editors still live in different cities, still work different careers, and still treat Boing Boing as a (lucrative) hobby.

Gun violence, high school football and what coaches are doing to keep their players safe

“Yesterday I was just googling, I was going on YouTube to see how to microwave pasta.”

13 women, a months-long trial, and a jury’s choice.

An essay on meaningless work.

Christina Kim risked everything to escape North Korea’s entrenched gender violence. She almost didn’t make it.

He’s an expert on Twitter virality, but not on infectious disease. Does he do more help or harm?

Oskar Groening, an SS officer whose duties included counting confiscated money, describes his time posted to Auschwitz.