The Baffler

•  In an exhaustively reported story, Bloomberg Business details how Elon Musk’s SpaceX ambitions nearly cost him his terrestrial company, Tesla. As one fellow executive recalls, “Elon showed up . . . and started telling us it was his destiny to launch things into ...

• Leah Hunt-Hendrix is here with a lesson in “effective philanthropism,” which doesn’t sound so different from the “venture philanthropy” skewered by Rhonda Lieberman in Baffler No. 24. • The “Startup Castle” in Woodside, CA, is ...

• Ira Glass states that “Public radio is ready for capitalism.” At a marketing event called “Hearing is Believing,” he ventured hopes that podcasts would “move away from a model of asking listeners for money and join the free market.” The Baffler has no more to ...

• Verizon, the Benevolent Data Pillager that plays a prominent role in the NSA’s operations, is buying AOLwith the goal of “improving ads and Web video content.” Last year, Verizon launched a “tech blog” called SugarString, but hastily shut it down after reports ...

• In The Nation this week, Baffler contributing editor Eugenia Williamson reviews Scott Timberg’s Culture Clash: “Unfortunately, Timberg’s argument is hampered significantly by his account of class . . . African-American jazz musicians able to afford college only through ...

  • A new app called Split helps users divide a restaurant bill “fairly, not equally,” thus reducing the amount of human interaction needed to have dinner out with friends. • Today in the jet set: don’t worry if your spring social calendar isn’t ...

• Earlier this spring, the construction site for German intelligence agency BND’s new headquarters suffered from what the Twitterverse is dubbing its own #Watergate, a set of literal leaks caused by the theft of some newly installed faucets. We at The Baffler are holding ...

• It is the eve of a UK general election so neck-and-neck that it seems no party will gain an outright majority—again. We know how this plays out, from the booing and catcalls of the conservative Murdoch press, to the main parties’ commitment to just carrying on. So ...