Longform

Most tycoons give big to one or two universities as their children approach college age. David Shaw gave to seven.

On living in dark times.

The singer spends most of her time at home, working on a new album. That doesn’t mean she’s not paying attention.

Power worship blurs political judgement because it leads, almost unavoidably, to the belief that present trends will continue. Whoever is winning at the moment will always seem to be invincible. If the Japanese have conquered south Asia, then they will keep south Asia for ever, if the Germans have captured Tobruk, they will infallibly capture Cairo; if the Russians are in Berlin, it will not be long before they are in London: and so on. This habit of mind leads also to the belief that things will happen more quickly, completely, and catastrophically than they ever do in practice. The rise and fall of empires, the disappearance of cultures and religions, are expected to happen with earthquake suddenness, and processes which have barely started are talked about as though they were already at an end.

We aspire to a life without discomfort, without unpleasantness. But what kind of life would that be? It is as hard to imagine a world without pain as a person without sadness: a whole dimension of existence would be missing.

The writer investigates her brother’s death, their complicated relationship, and the disturbing mysteries he left behind.

A father struggles with old and new parenting techniques.

I was asked about labor protections for adult-film performers. I said: You have to recognize how complicated this is. The things that sex workers do to stay safe are almost always the things civilians want to pass laws to stop. Everything looks different depending on the distance from which you’re looking.

A cloud enthusiast becomes an advocate for a new type of cloud.

The economic reality behind a billion-dollar wellness craze.

One man’s quest to stop horse racing deaths.

Life in Silicon Valley during the dawn of the unicorns.

From the proto-bleep to meta-bleep: how the US government protects us from the profane.

In an instant it was gone.

In many countries, journalists are being targeted because of the role they play in ensuring a free and informed society.

If researchers can figure out how pigeons and rats evolve to thrive in hostile city habitats, it could help other beasts—including us—adapt to climate change.

An investigation into the impact of only focusing on assault rifles.

“I found it both freeing and disturbing to spend time on a platform that didn’t ask me to pretend that I was on the Internet for a good reason.”

Mexico is now importing lots of its baseball talent from America.

If you want to see what a world without Roe looks like, look at Mississippi.

According to the movie version, they died side by side, guns blazing, in the crosshairs of half a Bolivian regiment. It’s a great Hollywood ending that happens to be true, mostly: they left America… then died in Bolivia. What Hollywood didn’t know is that Butch and Sundance escaped.

The unlikely rise of the 1983 national croquet champions.

Decades on, a massive half-built monument in the Black Hills remains controversial.

Last September, law enforcement officers were confounded by a murderer targeting prostitutes along the border. As the investigation intensified, they discovered that the killer had been hiding in plain sight.