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Daily Bafflements
October 03, 2014
• Margaret Hartmann at New York has a roundup of the most terrifying warnings politicians have uttered about Ebola. For instance, Rand Paul, speaking about President Obama’s plan to send 3,000 U.S. soldiers to West Africa to help, said: “You also have to be ...

The Birth of the Time-Motion Human
October 02, 2014
In a darkened room, a woman lies watched by an infra-red camera as she sleeps. It monitors her breathing, her movements, the flicker of her eyelids. Some hours later it stings her with a painful electric shock. She wakes, tumbles out of bed and into the restroom, whereupon a ...

Daily Bafflements
October 02, 2014
• Power corrupts everyone eventually, even the most honest of us. It’s science. • Headline of the Day, via Huffington Post: “Pro-Union Burger King Worker Disciplined for Poor Pickle Placement.” (Runner-up: “Facebook apologizes to drag ...

“Payment on an Unpaid Basis”
October 01, 2014
“Payment is on an unpaid basis,” is a sentence that should not exist. It’s a linguistic offense, but also a legal one: zero dollars an hour is well below the minimum wage in all fifty states. Unless the employee is a child working fourteen hours a day on a farm, an ...

Daily Bafflements
October 01, 2014
• An Aeon profile of Elon Musk, and his quest to colonize Mars, begins thusly: “‘Fuck Earth!’ Elon Musk said to me, laughing. ‘Who cares about Earth?’” (Via Jared Keller.) • Helaine Olen unleashed a Twitter screed against the “Latte ...

Now PBS and Harper’s Both Have a Koch Problem
September 30, 2014
In the October issue of Harper’s Magazine, Eugenia Williamson wrote about the backlash PBS is facing for what viewers and members see as a number of unforgiveable offenses. Her piece, “PBS Self-Destructs” chronicles the protests against billionaire David Koch’s presence ...

Daily Bafflements
September 30, 2014
• Headline of the Day, presented without context: “Billionaire Elizabeth Holmes, 30, Wants Your Blood.” • “Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky may be only four days old, but she’s already influencing politics,” says MSNBC’s ...

The Return of America’s Favorite Anti-Trafficker
September 29, 2014
America’s anti-trafficking sweetheart Somaly Mam is back— phoenix-like, unscathed, and sweet-voiced—only four months after a takedown that was described alternately as devastating and unfair (by Mam’s newly-vocal support team), justified but unfortunate (by Newsweek, who ...

Daily Bafflements
September 29, 2014
• Let’s start this week off right, shall we? The Daily Beast would like us all to know that “2014 is the year of the butthole.” A titilating article, but they are, ahem, behind the times: please see Natasha Vargas-Cooper’s piece in our current print ...

Harassment in the Online Workplace
September 26, 2014
As if we needed another, September kicked off with an acrid reminder that yes, all women—even the most privileged and powerful—are still subject to the cruel whims of anonymous men. On the great celebrity nude hack of 2014, Roxane Gay wrote in the Guardian, “What these ...

Daily Bafflements
September 26, 2014
• From Mother Jones comes this little profile of an anti-weekend warrior: “Wisconsin state Sen. Glenn Grothman thinks days off are ‘goofy,’ says sex ed could make kids gay, and claims money is ‘more important for men.'” • A new investigative ...