Weekend Reads

“In 1988 there were 350,000 cases of polio worldwide. Last year there were 223. But getting all the way to zero will mean spending billions of dollars, penetrating the most remote regions of the globe, and facing down Taliban militants to get to the last unprotected children on earth.” From Wired’s Matthieu Aikins: The Surge.

+ “For four high-profile former spooks, each with their own histories of whistleblowing and government persecution, arranging a secret meeting with the world’s most wanted whistleblower was no simple thing.” From Vice: Finding Snowden.

+ Imagining a post-antibiotics future.

+ “I’ve touched everybody on the nose, man. There ain’t nobody I can’t touch on the nose … I know what you’re thinking. Just relax … If I can touch you, I can kill you.” Rolling Stone’s Erik Hedegaard pays a visit to Charles Manson.