Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Photo: Alex Wong (Getty) George Mason University professor Tyler Cowen, a plutocratic bootlicker who once argued that rich people should be allowed to speed because their time is more valuable than the rest of us hoi polloi, is worried. He’s worried about billionaires—specifically, their feelings. You see, according to Cowen, the term “billionaire” has become…
Google’s trick to more rapidly and cheaply deploy its super-speedy Google Fiber project has hit a wall, throwing a wrench into its broader attempt to get its gigabit service back on track across the nation. The internet titan had pinned its hopes on an experiment called “shallow trenching,” which enabled it to deploy gigabit internet…
.entry-header Credit Spotify CEO Daniel Ek with honesty; in a blog post announcing a major move into the podcast space, Ek wrote: More than 10 years ago we founded Spotify to give consumers something they couldn’t get — music any time, anywhere, and at the right price. Along the way, we broke the grip piracy…
Dan Mallory, a book editor turned novelist, is tall, good-looking, and clever. His novel, “The Woman in the Window,” which was published under a lightly worn pseudonym, A. J. Finn, was the hit psychological thriller of the past year. Like “Gone Girl,” by Gillian Flynn (2012), and “The Girl on the Train,” by Paula Hawkins (2015),…
Under no circumstances will Lizzo play “Flight of the Bumblebee” tonight. Don’t get her wrong. She’s a classically trained flautist, in addition to a singer and rapper, and could twerk circles while playing it (that’s a trademark). But as far as songs go, “ ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ is for basic bitches,” declares Lizzo, and tonight…
While so many people have been focused on the disastrous potential of the EU’s Copyright Directive, we’ve been mentioning lately that another EU regulation, coming up right behind it, may be much more dangerous for the internet as we know it. The EU’s Terrorist Content Regulation is shaping up to be a true horror story,…
Liam Neeson is sitting in an armchair with a flask of tea at his side. We are in the sprawling suite of a Manhattan hotel to talk about his latest film, Cold Pursuit. Just as he has in a number of roles since he became an action hero in his fifties, Neeson plays an everyman hell-bent…
For the brief period during his performance at the Super Bowl halftime show when Adam Levine was wearing a shirt, people watching at home all wondered the same thing: Does he look like my couch? In many cases, the answer proved to be yes. Not just couches but throw pillows, curtains, and other random upholstery…
These days, when Liam Neeson comes up in conversation, so too does his onscreen penchant for taking justice into his own hands on behalf of his loved ones. FromTaken, “If you let my daughter go now that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you, but if you don’t,…
In retrospect, it seems the Maroon 5-fronted halftime show for Super Bowl LIII (pronounced “Leeeee!”) was specifically calibrated to my most obscure interests. Exhibit A: Big Boi appeared dressed like Weezy Jefferson. I stan. Getty ImagesJamie Squire Exhibit B: instead of making an actual statement, Levine & co wrote inspirational words on lanterns and…