Author: trenthead

  • How LinkedIn Got Weird

    It’s not just you. LinkedIn has gotten really weird. Divorce, trouble peeing, and stealing hotel food: Why did a job network become everyone’s favorite place for oversharing? via Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-linkedin-got-weird-work-life-blurred-lines-of-oversharing-2023-9 Take one post from Peter Rota, an SEO specialist from Massachusetts. “I have a secret,” he wrote to his thousands of followers in August…

  • The Golden Fleece, by Joe Kloc

    The Golden Fleece, by Joe Kloc A historical adventure via Harper’s Magazine: https://harpers.org/archive/2023/10/the-golden-fleece-kloc/ Chris rang him up as Virginia brought out the store’s most expensive paperback, Orgy of the Dead, from 1966, which she estimated was worth about a thousand dollars. The cover featured a painting of a naked woman standing in the fog. Behind…

  • Jobless, Divorced, on Probation; a Pandemic Hobby Turned His Life Around – The New York Times

    Jobless, Divorced, on Probation; a Pandemic Hobby Turned His Life Around Danny Cortes was at rock bottom when Covid hit. Then a craft hobby to stay sane during lockdown blew up on social media — and in auction houses. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/08/nyregion/ice-box-model-nyc.html Danny Cortes was at rock bottom when Covid hit. Then a craft hobby to…

  • Out-Of-Work Journalist Turns to Smuggling Weed – Rolling Stone

    Confessions of a Journalist Turned Weed Smuggler A veteran reporter looks back on when he was laid off from his newspaper gig and instead of taking a dead-end desk job turned to running van loads of marijuana across state lines via Rolling Stone: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/confessions-of-a-weed-smuggler-1234825272/ This is something they don’t tell you about criminal activity. When…

  • A.I. and the Next Generation of Drone Warfare | The New Yorker

    A.I. and the Next Generation of Drone Warfare The Pentagon’s Replicator initiative envisions swarms of low-cost autonomous machines that could remake the American arsenal. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/ai-and-the-next-generation-of-drone-warfare As she envisions it, there will be “constellations” of these systems “flung into space, scores at a time”; pods of small, solar-propelled boats outfitted with sensors,…

  • How “This Fool” Became the Summer’s Best Comedy | The New Yorker

    How “This Fool” Became the Summer’s Best Comedy The Hulu series tackles depression, the carceral state, and racial tension in L.A. It’s also laugh-out-loud funny. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/on-television/how-this-fool-became-the-summers-best-comedy Luis is impulsive, Napoleonic, and stuck in the values he held when he entered prison; Julio is self-important, neurotic, and paralyzed by choice even in…

  • To Air Is Human

    Can a 55-Year-Old Roadie Learn How to Jump His Mountain Bike? Despite overwhelming concern for his physical well-being, writer and longtime road cyclist Tom Vanderbilt wanted to see what it felt like to take to the air via Outside Online: https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/biking/to-air-is-human/ For my efforts I was rewarded with a more technical blue trail, known as…

  • Saunas and Swastikas: Finland’s Summertime neo-Nazi Meet-Up – bellingcat

    Saunas and Swastikas: Finland’s Summertime neo-Nazi Meet-Up – bellingcat Uncovering the location of this year’s ‘White Boy Summer Fest’, attended by Finnish and international neo-Nazis. via bellingcat: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2023/08/31/saunas-and-swastikas-finlands-summertime-neo-nazi-meet-up/ They called the gathering ‘White Boy Summer Fest’ after an internet meme co-opted by far-right extremists.  Bellingcat first investigated the phenomenon in 2021. Run by a far-right…

  • Inside the Biden White House as Kabul Fell – The Atlantic

    The Final Days Joe Biden was determined to get out of Afghanistan—no matter the cost. via The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/10/afghanistan-withdrawal-biden-decision/675116/ Sullivan sometimes felt as if every member of the American elite was simultaneously asking for his help. When he left secure rooms, he would grab his phone and check his personal email accounts, which overflowed with…

  • Who’s Afraid of Lorne Michaels? – Longreads

    Who’s Afraid of Lorne Michaels? – Longreads Very rarely can we see an entire system reflected in one person. The creator and executive producer of “Saturday Night Live” is such a person. via Longreads: http://longreads.com/2023/08/17/lorne-michaels-saturday-night-live/ Just as SNL’s maleness empowered its men to mistreat their female colleagues, the show’s whiteness made it an environment where,…

  • Elon Musk’s Shadow Rule | The New Yorker

    Elon Musk’s Shadow Rule How the U.S. government came to rely on the tech billionaire—and is now struggling to rein him in. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/08/28/elon-musks-shadow-rule In the past twenty years, against a backdrop of crumbling infrastructure and declining trust in institutions, Musk has sought out business opportunities in crucial areas where, after decades…

  • Inside the Wagner Group’s Armed Uprising | The New Yorker

    Inside the Wagner Group’s Armed Uprising How Yevgeny Prigozhin’s private military company went from fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine to staging a mutiny at home. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/08/07/inside-the-wagner-uprising (Prigozhin did not respond to a request for comment.)

  • A Small-Town Paper Lands a Very Big Story | The New Yorker

    A Small-Town Paper Lands a Very Big Story In Southeast Oklahoma, a father-son reporting duo’s series on the county sheriff led to an explosive revelation. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/07/31/a-small-town-paper-lands-a-very-big-story He developed such severe anxiety and depression that he rarely went out; he gave his firearms to a relative in case he felt tempted to…

  • Ari Marcopoulos on the Essential Art of Zines

    Ari Marcopoulos on the Essential Art of Zines The inveterate zine-maker speaks about his artistic practice, learning under Andy Warhol and Irving Penn, and why “everything is worth photographing.” via Aperture: https://aperture.org/editorial/ari-marcopoulos-on-the-essential-art-of-zines/ All through the weekend, as I passed by, there were different people, different characters. I photographed them whenever I saw someone different. When…

  • Lara Logan’s Break With Reality – The Atlantic

    A Star Reporter’s Break With Reality Lara Logan was once a respected “60 Minutes” correspondent. Now she trades in conspiracy theories that even far-right media disavow. What happened? via The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/07/lara-logan-60-minutes-correspondent-conspiracy-theories/674168/ In October, during an appearance on Newsmax, Logan declared that the global elite “want us eating insects” while they “dine on the blood…

  • ‘Lost’ Illusions: The Untold Story of the Hit Show’s Poisonous Culture | Vanity Fair

    ‘Lost’ Illusions: The Untold Story of the Hit Show’s Poisonous Culture It was a groundbreaking smash, but things got so toxic behind the scenes that even co-showrunner Damon Lindelof now says: “I failed.” A powerful excerpt from the new book ‘Burn It Down.’ via Vanity Fair: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/05/lost-tv-show-culture But an extreme version. “I can only describe…

  • Have You Been to the Library Lately? | The Walrus

    Have You Been to the Library Lately? | The Walrus Librarians once worried about shushing patrons. Now they have to deal with mental health episodes, the homelessness crisis, and random violence via The Walrus: https://thewalrus.ca/future-of-libraries/ “I have been threatened with violence on a number of occasions, knifed and punched in the face,” one respondent reported.…

  • The Most Belligerent Flack on Capitol Hill | The New Yorker

    The Most Belligerent Flack on Capitol Hill Nick Dyer, the deputy chief of staff to Marjorie Taylor Greene, has built a career as a political aide out of what one observer calls “pure, non-strategic contempt.” via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-south/the-most-belligerent-flack-on-capitol-hill Dyer replied, Dale later noted, “by saying lots of people have died from drugs under…

  • Pilvi Takala and the Art of Awkwardness | The New Yorker

    Pilvi Takala and the Art of Awkwardness The Finnish artist is quietly taking notes as the people around her lose their shit. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/06/19/pilvi-takala-profile Last year, Takala, who lives in Helsinki and Berlin, represented her home country at the Venice Biennale, where a curatorial statement noted that her work explores “how the…

  • The Trump Indictment Speaks for Itself | The New Yorker

    The Trump Indictment Speaks for Itself Against the former President’s miasma of lies and disinformation, finally, a damning set of facts. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/the-trump-indictment-speaks-for-itself The indictment of Donald J. Trump, in the first-ever federal criminal case against a former President, which was released on Friday afternoon by the Justice Department, is a holy-shit…