Angry Robot

Apple Is Manufacturing a Siri Speaker to Outdo Google and Amazon

Google co-founder Sergey Brin is reportedly building a $100 million ‘air yacht’ to help the poor

Valley douchebag charity poseur syndrome

Love it – tiny $27k prefab from Muji

‘Theresa May Has Totally F*cked It Up’ Tory Candidate Lets Rip At Dire Election Campaign

Delightful

Rebecca Solnit: The Loneliness of Donald Trump

Trump ‘gaining weight’ and ‘emotionally withdrawing’ as Russia probe swamps White House: report

Poor snowflake.

Commenting on the White House’s less-than-strategic handling of all matters Russia, another ally remarked, “These guys don’t play chess. They play checkers.”

We Bought a Crack House

Everyone’s favourite hate read this week, in which a yuppie couple evict a bunch of poor people so they can renovate their third property and blow $1-million through a series of poor decisions

India Cancels Mega Plans To Build Coal Power Stations Due To Falling Solar Energy Prices

For the first time solar is cheaper than coal in India and the implications this has for transforming global energy markets is profound.

Sources: Russians discussed ‘derogatory’ information about Trump and associates during campaign 

“according to two former intelligence officials and a congressional source”. Does sound like the NSA is up to something here, as this is from signals intelligence.

Tainted buffet at Jacksonville strip club blamed after severe diarrhea incident on stage

Onion made real

UPDATE: too good to be true. Fake news.

Linguists identify 15,000-year-old ‘ultraconserved words’

Aleppo After the Fall

Incredible look at the state of Syria today

Bryan Fuller Has Pitched ‘Hannibal’ Season 4 to Mads Mikkelsen

11 Years Old, a Mom, and Pushed to Marry Her Rapist in Florida

You can marry a child in 38 US states. WTF

The Physics of Forbidden Love

Winning “Modern Love” student essay

Russian ambassador told Moscow that Kushner wanted secret communications channel with Kremlin

That’s nuts. See Josh Marshall’s post as well.

Exclusive: NSA Chief Admits Donald Trump Colluded With Russia

the NSA apparently has the dirt, as mentioned in a town hall with NSA agents worldwide:

a series of SIGINT reports from 2016 based on intercepts of communications between known Russian intelligence officials and key members of Trump’s campaign, in which they discussed methods of damaging Hillary Clinton.

My daily commute by bike turned me into a witness of a truly tragic event

We will look back on how our roads are structured in decades to come and consider it barbaric.

image of jupiter's south pole

Get ready for the ‘impeachment election’

The real collision point ahead is the 2018 midterm election. This will be the “impeachment election,” and it may be as bitterly contested as any in decades. Trump seems unlikely to take Nixon’s course of resigning before the House votes on impeachment. He’ll fight all the way — a combative president trying to save his mandate from what he has described as a “witch hunt.” This appeal would resonate with a populist base that already feels disenfranchised by jurists and journalists.

This rings true and it is a scary thought. As the article concludes, “if recent history teaches anything, it’s unfortunately this harsh fact: In the battle for America’s soul, Trump could win.” Especially with some help from abroad.

Canadian TV in the Netflix Age: In Defence of the CRTC Television Licensing Decision – Michael Geist

The decision, which set a uniform spending requirement of 5 percent on programs of national interest (PNI, which includes dramas, documentaries, some children’s programming, and some award shows), means a reduction in spending requirements for some broadcasters.


Terrifying Lada Transformer with apparently real guns? Yikes.