Data Center Overload

Much of the daily material of our lives is now dematerialized and outsourced to a far-flung, unseen network. The stack of letters becomes the e-mail database on the computer, which gives way to Hotmail or Gmail. The clipping sent to a friend becomes the attached PDF file, which becomes a set of shared bookmarks, hosted offsite.

Published: Jun 8, 2009
Length: 16 minutes (4,192 words)

The Top 10 Most Absurd Time Covers of The Past 40 Years

Mr. Luce’s mag does satanism, porn, crack, Pokemon, and more!

Source: Reason
Published: Jun 10, 2009
Length: 12 minutes (3,212 words)

The Greatest Album Ever Made by Lester Bangs

Published: Jun 28, 2009
Length: 9 minutes (2,480 words)

The Code of Miss Porter’s

Last fall, at Miss Porter’s School, in Farmington, Connecticut—attended by generations of debutantes and heiresses, including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Gloria Vanderbilt, and Barbara Hutton—a student named Tatum Bass confessed to cheating, and was later expelled.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Jul 28, 2009
Length: 24 minutes (6,036 words)

Murdoch’s Monster: The Journal of the Plague Years

Published: Jun 10, 2009
Length: 14 minutes (3,593 words)

The Learjet repo man

Business has never been better for the fearless pilot who takes back millionaires’ expensive toys.

Source: Salon
Published: Jun 6, 2009
Length: 14 minutes (3,580 words)

The Death of Slow Journalism

The canceling of this year’s Nieman Narrative Journalism Conference is only the latest blow to long-form, story-driven journalism.

Published: Jun 8, 2009
Length: 9 minutes (2,329 words)

Meet Iran’s George W. Bush

Can Anyone Beat Ahmadinejad In This Week’s Election?

Published: Jun 8, 2009
Length: 22 minutes (5,641 words)

The Hamptons Stress Test

As summer begins, what better way to measure Wall Street’s health than a real-estate tour of the Hamptons? For every mansion on the sales or rental market, there’s a story—sometimes involving Bernie Madoff—and brokers are shell-shocked. The author surveys the deals, no-deals, lawsuits, divorces, and teardowns that characterize this strange, dark season.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Jul 28, 2009
Length: 22 minutes (5,641 words)

The Start-up Guru

Paul Graham’s business school and investment fund, Y Combinator, has launched 145 companies — for a lot less money than you would think

Source: Inc.
Published: Jun 1, 2009
Length: 16 minutes (4,055 words)