Last synced from Twitter 875d ago
On Chandler Bing’s Job
Twenty-five years ago, "Friends" anticipated a time that would both romanticize and mistrust the culture of work.
1
Adrienne LaFrance
“No one knows how Chandler Bing makes his living. That includes, quite often, Chandler himself.”
14h
When the Culture War Comes for the Kids
Caught between a brutal meritocracy and a radical new progressivism, a parent tries to do right by his children while navigating New York City’s schools.
2
Adrienne LaFrance
"That pragmatic genius for which Americans used to be known and admired, which included a talent for educating our young—how did it desert us?"
16h
I Won’t Buy My Teenagers Smartphones
Denying a teen a smartphone in 2019 is a tough decision, and one that requires an organized and impenetrable defense.
1
Adrienne LaFrance
"Now that my oldest is in ninth grade, it occurs to me that this decision not to buy him the one thing that every other kid has might be the most subversive, countercultural gesture of my entire life."
3d
Inside Ivanka and Don Jr.’s Fight to Succeed Their Father
… and control the MAGA empire
2
Adrienne LaFrance
"Later, Don confronted Ivanka over rumors that her team was undermining him in off-the-record conversations with reporters. 'Tell your people to stop trashing me to the media,' he said..."
6d
NOAA Politicized the Weather Report
The scientific agency sided with the president’s inaccurate forecast over the work of its professional staff.
2
Adrienne LaFrance
“I have ignored this story for the last few days... But this statement has turned what has become a routine type of political story (the President has said something misleading!) into one that’s slightly more Soviet—and much more worrying.”
8d
Scrunchies Are Little Rainbow Reminders That Millennials Are Old
There’s a reason the return of retro trends bothers so many people.
The Algorithm That Makes Preschoolers Obsessed With YouTube Kids
Surprise eggs and slime are at the center of an online realm that’s changing the way the experts think about human development.
1
Adrienne LaFrance
Google's paying a $170 million fine for YouTube's child privacy violations.
Here's a story I wrote about how YouTube's algorithm goes after kids.
One maker of YouTube kid videos told me this: “You have to do what the algorithm wants for you.”
11d
It’s Not National Anything Day
Why millions of people are extremely eager to celebrate fake holidays sponsored by corporations
1
Adrienne LaFrance
"It’s one thing to celebrate cookies of your own volition. It’s another to talk about cookies because a coalition of multinational corporations is coaxing you into it, and using your love of cookies to get you to join a dating app."
26d
Trump Could Win Again
He’s unpopular, scandalous, and a bigot, and we may be sliding into a recession. But that might not matter.
3
Adrienne LaFrance
Trump’s persistent unpopularity may not make a difference on election day.
“It’s striking, for example, that Trump’s approval ratings are, at this point, very similar to those of two recent presidents who went on to win reelection by resounding margins.”
26d
A Tissue Sample From 1966 Held Traces of Early HIV
To understand the virus’s history, a team worked to reconstruct its genome from a time before anyone knew the virus existed.
An Italian Volcano Turned Out to Be a Fraud
“There’s just no evidence we can see that this was ever a volcano.”
The Anthropocene Is a Joke
On geological timescales, human civilization is an event, not an epoch.
5
Adrienne LaFrance
Geological time is beyond all comprehension and humans will leave nothing behind. "Not plastic birthday balloons... not Charlton Heston shaking his fist at some littoral colossus. It will all be worn away, destroyed or hidden forever."
This is very good
33d
A New Clue to How Life Originated
A long-standing mystery about early cells has a solution—and it’s a rather magical one.
1
Adrienne LaFrance
“Life, at its core, is about creating compartments. And that’s much easier and much harder than it might seem. First, the easy bit...”
33d
This Land Was Our Land
How nearly 1 million black farmers were robbed of their livelihood
3
Adrienne LaFrance
“Something on the order of 6 million acres was lost by black farmers from 1950 to 1969. That’s an average of 820 acres a day—an area the size of New York’s Central Park erased with each sunset.”
@TheAtlantic’s new cover story, out today, by @fivefifths
34d
Why Conspiracy Theorists Will Never Believe the ‘Official’ Epstein Story
Trust in gatekeepers—from media to government—has eroded to the point of making an ‘official account’ almost obsolete.
1
Adrienne LaFrance
“It would be easy to treat this frenzied reaction to Epstein’s death as a sad case study in how conspiratorial thinking has bled into mainstream discourse. But finger-wagging feels inadequate at this moment.”
35d
The People Who Love to Watch Other People Clean
The world is a mess. “Cleanfluencers” are here to help.
The Art of Giving a Damn
Anger is the ethic of the moment. Campaign-trail language is reflecting that.
1
Adrienne LaFrance
I can’t believe I never knew about Andrew Jackson’s (allegedly) foul-mouthed parrot. @megangarber’s latest
37d
Stop the Slaughter of Our Children With These Weapons of War
Assault weapons are designed to kill as many people as possible in the shortest time possible. They are for war; they are not for sport.
1
Adrienne LaFrance
“I spent my entire professional life taking up arms in defense of our country... Now is the time for courage.”
37d
The Media Erased Latinos From the Story
It was the deadliest attack targeting Latinos in recent U.S. history. Why wasn’t that the headline?
1
Adrienne LaFrance
“News organizations failed after El Paso because, for years, we’ve marginalized voices of Latinos in our coverage—and in our own newsrooms.” And important essay by @lourdesgnavarro
37d
'I Know People Want a Richer, More Thoughtful Explanation.'
The 'New York Times' executive editor Dean Baquet discusses a controversial headline decision and why the paper’s editorial process needs to change.
1
Adrienne LaFrance
“If you think our only job is to figure out how to stop the tragedies, I get what you’re saying. That’s not our only job. Part of our job is to make the country look itself in the face.”
39d