Longreads

In late February I am in my basement, which is really a very nice part of my house that is not done justice by the word basement. For the purposes of this story, let’s call it the Parnassus…

The September 11, 2001 attacks have been a symbol of many things and many causes, but like the lavish, flag-draped rebuilding of the site, it has also been a vehicle for enrichment. From corporations to politicians to government officials to nonprofits to the security industry to publishers to the health industry (not to mention the incidents of outright fraud over the years), many people have found ways to profit from one of the nation's biggest disasters. 9/11 has created an economy all its own. "The intersection of 9/11 and money is a busy intersection," says retired New York City firefighter Kenny Specht. Glenn Corbett, a professor of fire science at John Jay College, active in a range of 9/11 issues, puts it this way: "Lots of people have got their hand in the till. A lot of people and a lot of companies have made a lot of money off of 9/11." Is it sacrilege to point this out? #Sept11

The eighth-grade students gathering on the west lawn of the state capitol in Sacramento were planning to lunch on fried chicken with Californias new governor, Ronald Reagan, and then tour…

I completed the manuscript for Nickel and Dimed in a time of seemingly boundless prosperity. Technology innovators and venture capitalists were acquiring sudden fortunes, buying up McMansions…

Rasna Warah 7 August 2011 The season of giving has started -- and it not even Christmas yet. Leading international aid agencies, including the United Nations, Oxfam, Save…

Seven years ago, Alex Snelius won big in the lotteryand things went steadily downhill from there.by David Bernstein Photography by Ryan Hodgson-Rigsbee In the early evening of…

The transformation of Michele Bachmann from Tea Party insurgent and cable-news Pasionaria to serious Republican contender in the 2012 Presidential race was nearly complete by late June, when she boarded a Dassault Falcon 900, in Dulles, Virginia, and headed toward the caucus grounds of Iowa. The leased, fourteen-seat corporate jet was to serve as Bachmann’s campaign hub for the next few days, and, before the plane took off, her press secretary, Alice Stewart, announced to the six travelling chroniclers that there was one important rule. “I know everything is on the record these days,” Stewart said, “but please just don’t broadcast images of her in her casual clothes."

The proponents of string theory seem to think they can provide a more elegant description of the Universe by adding additional dimensions. But some other…

But an emerging body of research is suggesting that spending time alone, if done right, can be good for us that certain tasks and thought processes are best carried out without anyone else around,…