Thursday, October 8th, 2015

1

You’ve Been Owned

Your kids are obsessed with a movie so you decide to buy it from one of the big movie streamers. Now you've bought it, but in reality, you don't really own it. When it comes to streaming content that gets piped into your device, you don't really own anything. In The Atlantic, Adrienne LaFrance wonders what will happen to digital collections of books, movies, and music when the tech giants fall? And here's an even more important question for the near-term: How can small companies compete in the marketplace when you know there's a risk of them going out of business and taking your virtual purchases with them?

2

Dude, Where’s My War

"He answers to no one and uses methods that are not only ethically ambiguous, but also beyond any kind of democratic oversight and accountability. Nobody even knows what he's doing except for his girlfriend and a motley crew of dedicated operatives. His neighbors just think he's a recluse. To his friends, he's a computer nerd and a stoner." Aside from the girlfriend part, that aptly describes my life in the 90s. But it turns out it's really a look at the new front lines in the war against terrorists. Simon Cottee pays a visit to the cyber activists who want to shut down ISIS.

3

Putin and Shoving

"Russia's military offensive in Syria is only a week old, but the casualties for American foreign policy are already mounting." WaPo's Steven Mufson on Putin's Syria bombing campaign and its widespread political collateral damage.

+ U.S. officials say Russian missiles headed for Syria landed in Iran.

+ "I'm not f--king interested in show just for show. I'm a warrior. I'm fighting for my country, for my history. I'm talking about what Russia is facing now. Especially America, putting the sh-t on it." Damon Tabor rides with the Night Wolves, a motorcycle gang backed by the Kremlin: Inside Russia's Most Infamous Motorcycle Club.

4

A Barrel of Gun

In the NYT, Erik Eckholm looks beyond the mass shootings and takes an evenhanded (and sobering) shot at describing gun violence in America "Each day, some 30 people are victims of gun homicides, slain by rival gang members or drug dealers, trigger-happy robbers, drunken men after bar fights, frenzied family members or abusive partners. An additional 60 people a day kill themselves with guns."

+ Chicago is America's shooting capital.

+ Fusion takes an interesting look at how gun advertising has changed since the 50s.

+ Speaking of violence in America, Spencer Stone (one of the heroes of the recent France train attack) was stabbed several times in Sacramento.

5

Oy Gavel

On a morning that made even the most outlandish House of Cards plot twists seem tame by comparison, frontrunner Kevin McCarthy pulled out of the race to become Speaker of the House. The vote that was just about to take place has been postponed.

6

Genre Bender

"She has consistently chronicled that which has been intentionally forgotten." The New Yorker on Svetlana Alexievich, who just won the Nobel Prize for Literature -- which is almost a misnomer since she helped to invent a new genre.

7

Soulless in Seattle

Seattle has our threat of a major earthquake. They took control of our dominance over football's NFC West. And now they're apparently coming after our leadership position in regards to the ongoing tech boom. But do they really want that? Longtime Seattle chronicler Knute Berger explains: "Seattle has wanted to be San Francisco for so long. Now it's figuring out maybe that it isn't what we want to be." Here's a suggestion: Keep our earthquakes, our high rents, our designer glasses, and our ironic beards; we'll take back the NFC West. From Nick Wingfield in the NYT: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul.

+ CityLab: Tech buses are not to blame for San Francisco's housing crisis.

8

Emoji Willikers

For those moments when words alone cannot completely irritate your friends on social media, Facebook has introduced new emoji. Intended for moments when a 'like' doesn't really make sense, this is probably as close as we'll get to a dislike (and a digital dystopia).

9

One and Done

There is no denying that a one game baseball playoff is absolutely riveting for fans. It's also brutal for the losing team. Vice on the happy, scary Cubs and the rough justice of the Wild Card (including the clubhouse celebration photo of the decade). My theory is that the Cubs won this round of the playoffs because they didn't feel a Wild Card loss would be painful enough for their fans.

10

Bottom of the News

I'm sure your commute is a major drag. And hearing that someone else's commute is worse is very unlikely to make you feel better. But just in case, here's a 50-lane logjam in China.

+ The New Yorker: All Hail the Achievement Beard!.

+ Here's a headline I didn't see coming a few years ago: Gov. Jerry Brown approves new limits on paparazzi drones.