Our friend Sam Hill returns to Sierra Leone. The hard way. There’s no way of estimating how many hours have been devoted to the question of Africa – its poverty, its wars, […]
What should we do about Africa?
Will somebody please make the Sheldon Cooper bag?
I had a theory. Call it the big bag theory, if you must. I recently went searching for a new messenger bag. Friends made lots of great recommendations (although not all were […]
Jobs, Zuckerberg, Bezos: what do our titans of tech say about us?
We have met the enemy and he is us Steve Jobs may be the most significant human of the past century. Sure, that’s a huge claim, but with a series of innovations […]
America’s open letter to Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince: fuck you
8chan is a cesspool. So is your office. Dear Mr. Prince: So, you flipped the switch on 8chan. In the wake of mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, over […]
I’m a Loser, and I’m okay with it
My journey from dead-end Cluelessness to the pursuit of happiness… In 2009 Venkatesh Rao offered up The Gervais Principle, or the Office According to “The Office,” which I’ve come to regard as […]
Women’s health and transgender advocacy
How do we handle the math? What if I told you that a study showed the number of breast cancer diagnoses dropped by 170,799 in some Year II compared to Year I? […]
Corporations are going to save the world
Is it possible that corporations are getting a bum rap? An article on Newsweek this morning, entitled “Big Business Can Be Evil and Greedy But Here’s How Corporations Will Help Save Us […]
National Sunshine Week? Hardly.
Too many clouds hamper journalism’s ability to tell you what you need to know. Democracy dies in darkness. — motto of The Washington Post Oh, joy — it’s National Sunshine Week. That […]
Happy freaking birthday, geezer: job hunting and ageism
Job hunting is hard, and a lot harder once you hit 50. It’s important to keep your head up and stay focused on your value, but only hiring companies can actually do […]
Dems: take the deal…with conditions
Here’s this gadfly’s prescription for bipartisan compromise Take the deal, with conditions. 1) Bipartisan oversight of the bidding process, including bipartisan vetting of bidders and whatever the usual public notice for comment […]
