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Daily Bafflements

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Daily Bafflements
November 06, 2014
• The private takeover of public spaces continues: Portland will soon allow the company’s utility cabinets for its Google Fiber project in the middle of the city’s sidewalks. But don’t worry; they’ll be painted with funky designs for “artistic ...

Daily Bafflements
November 05, 2014
• Voters approved ballot measures yesterday to raise the minimum wage, in Arkansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota (and maybe also in Alaska). • A dispatch from the “East Coast Cannabis Business Expo, Educational Conference and Regulatory Summit” turned out to be ...

Daily Bafflements
November 04, 2014
• CNN’s online coverage of the midterm elections this morning is a parody of itself. A front page headline explainer-s your very own vote, and the site’s main story as we write this is “7 things that almost definitely will happen tonight,” the first ...

Daily Bafflements
November 03, 2014
• This sign that Max Grinnell spotted in Cambridge, Massachusetts (home of The Baffler) says a lot about the changes brewing in our fair city. • “We will elect a whole platoon of empty, defeated men to the Senate on Tuesday, and then, two years from now, we will search ...

Daily Bafflements
October 31, 2014
• Americans are spending $5 billion on disposable costumes and candy this week, $350 million of which will go towards buying pet costumes, reports Kyle Chayka in his piece on the Halloween-Industrial Complex. • Historians describe grass, leaves, bark, clay, and dirt as ...

Daily Bafflements
October 30, 2014
• Great Idea of the Day: Marco Rubio is stumping and traveling with a professional photographer, and when supporters or bystanders get their pictures taken with him, they’re handed a card that tells them where to go online to download their pictures. When they go online ...

Daily Bafflements
October 29, 2014
• Business Insider reports on a new sex toy that is apparently “exclusively for bankers.” No, we don’t know what that means, either, but it apparently comes with silver cufflinks and a money clip. Probably a prank. We approve. • San Francisco mayor Ed Lee ...

Daily Bafflements
October 28, 2014
• A professor at the University of Southern California is starting an academic journal called BuzzAdemia, for “Buzzfeed-style scholarship” (listicles written by academics) to be published on sites like Buzzfeed, Gawker, and Reddit. “Scholarly merit will be ...

Daily Bafflements
October 27, 2014
• Americans are taking the least amount of vacation time in forty years, reports the Guardian. They’re forfeiting billions of dollars worth of vacation days without getting raises, nor scoring “points with their bosses” for the sacrifice. (Via Jordan ...

Daily Bafflements
October 24, 2014
• This is great. Pocket Money Loans, Payday Loans for Kids! From the site’s FAQ: “Q: What does APR mean? / A: It stands for Annual Percentage Rate and it’s really confusing and boring. / Q: I’m worried that getting a pocket money loan will put me in ...

Daily Bafflements
October 23, 2014
• Chapman University has conducted a nationwide poll about what Americans fear most. The fears they ranked include hurricanes, identity theft on the Internet, clowns, child abduction, and public speaking, among many others. Fun fact: Americans are more afraid of Obamacare ...

Daily Bafflements
October 22, 2014
• Yesterday brought two intriguing developments in the future availability of indigent legal defense. From Capital came the news that “New York State has settled a lawsuit with the New York Civil Liberties Union, and agreed to ensure new standards for legal ...