Thursday, March 8th, 2018

1

Can You Hear Me Now?

For her nightly reading assignment, my 9 year-old daughter sits on a chair in front of a collection of dolls and stuffed-animals (and usually a cat or two) and reads stories aloud for thirty minutes. It turns out that her audience is part of a pretty sweeping American trend. We love having someone read to us. In the last few years, our reading habits have been fairly static. About 75% of Americans have read a book in the past year and print books are still winning out over ebooks. The one notable change has been that more of us (across educational and geographic divides) are listening to audiobooks. Add this trend to the explosive growth in the podcast market, and it's pretty clear that we really like to listen.

2

I’m Every Woman

"Since 1851, The New York Times has published thousands of obituaries: of heads of state, opera singers, the inventor of Stove Top stuffing and the namer of the Slinky. The vast majority chronicled the lives of men, mostly white ones; even in the last two years, just over one in five of our subjects were female." On International Women's Day, the NYT adds the long-overdue obituaries of 15 remarkable women.

+ The Guardian is covering protests and celebrations across the world. And here's a look at International Women's Day in pictures.

+ "I asked dozens of people -- professionals, academics and leaders of women's organizations ... most people estimated there had been five or six female leaders." Tiffany Shlain: The full history of women's leadership hasn't been told. And this is a good day to watch Shlain's short documentary about women leaders: 50/50.

+ My excellent sponsor Mozilla is celebrating by featuring 24 women who are using the web to make the world a better place.

3

Console Yourself

"I'm hearing more and more people say the level of violence on video games is really shaping young people's thoughts." Since the Parkland shooting, there hasn't been much movement on gun control in DC. Today, President Trump is convening a group of videogame makers and their harshest critics. (I worry that some videogames are too violent for kids. But it often takes longer to level up to a powerful fake gun in a game than it takes to buy an AR-15 in real life.)

+ The long history of blaming video games for mass violence.

+ Vox: The gun control debate in Congress is no longer about guns.

+ "Dragonman's oft-stated argument boils down to this: He doesn't control what people do with the weapons once they leave Dragonland any more than the soda company controls how much soda you drink, or the cigarette company controls the cigarettes you smoke." There's been a lot of focus on big chain stores like Dick's and Wal-mart. But the gun sales story often plays out at indie stores. From GQ, meet Dragonman, the Man Who Sells People-Hunting Guns. "Dragonman and his employees act as a kind of judge and jury, weighing whether you're in your right mind and whether he, Dragonman, is going to sell you one of the guns off his wall, or bump stocks or flamethrowers."

4

Just When I Thought I Was Out…

There's been an enormous amount of turnover in the Trump administration. But the person everyone assumed was mostly likely to be out is somehow still in. The Atlantic: How Did Rex Tillerson Manage to Keep His Job? "Tillerson's tenure is a testament not only to his focus on his job, at the expense of overlooking the machinations that dominate Washington, but also to Trump's penchant for political drama—a fondness the president acknowledged Tuesday."

5

Signed, Steeled, Delivered

"The American steel, aluminum industry has been ravaged by aggressive foreign trade practices. It's really an assault on our country. It's been an assault." And with that, President Trump made official the tariffs on steel and aluminum opposed by many on his own team. Canada and Mexico will be exempted for now.

+ On the same day that Trump signed his tariff order, the 11 remaining signatories signed the America-free Trans-Pacific Partnership. "The new version ... suspends some two dozen provisions that the U.S. had fought for but that the other countries had been reluctant to include."

6

That Sinking Feeling

"While most areas around the Bay are sinking at less than two millimeters per year, some have been found to be sinking at a rate as high as 10 millimeters per year." NYT: More of the Bay Area Could Be Underwater in 2100 Than Previously Expected. (If nothing else, at least this news takes my mind off of earthquakes...)

7

Doctor Strange

"We, Quebec doctors who believe in a strong public system, oppose the recent salary increases negotiated by our medical federations." WaPo: Hundreds of Canadian doctors demand lower salaries. (Yes, lower.)

8

Pot of Gold

"It seems to me that we should be looking at cannabis. I mean, if it's going to kill people, let's know that and get rid of it. If it's going to help people, let's know that and expand on it. … But there's just something wrong with the DEA. I don't know what else to say. … Somehow, marijuana's got a bad name. And it's tough to let go of." Businessweek: America Is Giving Away the $30 Billion Medical Marijuana Industry.

9

Pop Culture

"In the age of the rock-star chef, pop-ups are their world tours. They even have specially designed posters! And merch! Follow five hot young chefs on Instagram and you'll start to stumble upon pop-ups the way you do Bonobos ads." How Pop-Ups Took Over America's Restaurants.

+ Bloomberg: Conquerors of Ketchup, Sir Kensington's Sets Sights on Ranch Dressing. (My son can identify this stuff by sight or smell. He hates it so much that he often brings his own "normal" ketchup from home when we go to a burger joint...)

10

Bottom of the News

"Though the movie was not a huge box-office success, it has since spawned a pseudo-religion, Dudeism, with more than 450,000 'ordained priests;' annual festivals around the country where thousands of costume-clad fans gather to celebrate the film and all its obscure moments; books and academic treatments; White Russian competitions, and legions of fans so fervent that they inspired a film of their own, the documentary." But not everyone liked the movie. From WaPo: The Big Lebowski is 20. We reached out to the critics who panned it to see what they think now.

+ The weird story of how a Facebook post got the ex-wife of a Washington County deputy arrested.

+ Machines won't take all of our jobs. But if your job is to solve a Rubik's cube quickly, you're in deep trouble.