Recent Reading

What journalists should know about school shootings and guns — The good news is that school violence in general is in decline.

In Rust Belt, a teenager’s climb from poverty — Also see the followup letters, and Tab’s own Twitter account.

A Eulogy for #Occupy — I found the “bullet for Ganesha” part to be an especially “Eat Pray Love” kind of moment. Make of that what you will.

Washington’s Economic Boom, Financed by You — Increased government spending, especially in defense, from the Reagan era onward, has resulted in a new wave of DC area development and gentrification.

In Girl’s Last Hope, Altered Immune Cells Beat Leukemia — Disabled AIDS viruses were used to reprogram her immune system to attack cancer cells.

The Lying Disease: Why Would Someone Want to Fake a Serious Illness on the Internet? — I witnessed and got taken in myself by Internet Munchausen Syndrome in the case of Kaycee Nicole and MetaFilter.

North Korea: On the net in world’s most secretive nation — A proprietary operating system is used to access what’s effectively a countrywide intranet through a single national ISP. The actual internet is reserved for “elites.”

Quinoa: The Dark Side of an Andean Superfood — Popularity of quinoa has led to Bolivian land disputes and environmental and cultural problems.

Roger Revelle’s Discovery — AIP Global Warming History publication on the first scientist to realize the long-term effects of greenhouse gas emissions on global temperatures.

Abandoned Suitcases Reveal Private Lives of Insane Asylum Patients — Suitcases from the Willard Asylum photographed by Jon Crispin.

UX Things I Hate About Android — as of Sep 2012.

Diagnosing the Home Alone burglars’ injuries: A professional weighs in — “What was likely a simple second-degree skin burn is now a full thickness burn likely to cause necrosis of the calavarium.”

The theologically confusing nightmare that is the He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special — “And the three wise men followed the star until they finally reached Bethlehem!”

Secret Origins of The Dark Crystal — production essay excerpts from the ongoing Dark Crystal: Creation Myths prequel series.