The Slurred Word

By Pete Conry

A literate drinking club. A stream of consciousness collection heavily influenced by booze and books.

Culture
The Revolution Will Be Driverless: Autonomous Cars Usher In Big Changes
NPR - Terry Gross
Autonomous vehicles could be the "most disruptive technology to hit society worldwide since the advent of the motor car," says former New York City traffic commissioner Sam Schwartz. Transcript TERRY HOST:
Mars
Crops Grown in “Martian Soil” Are Healthy And Edible
futurism.com
Farming Mars a Possibility A team of scientists from the Wageningen University in the Netherlands used soil developed by NASA that simulated the …
Photos
Musicians Perform Incredible Cover of Toto’s ‘Africa’ Using Traditional Japanese Instruments
My Modern Met - Emma Taggart
Toto’s “Africa” is possibly one of the most frequently covered songs since its original release in 1982, but this rendition using traditional Japanese instruments might just be the most unique arrangement
Science
Can humans have babies on Mars? It may be harder than you think.
National Geographic
Science & InnovationStarstruck To build a sustainable presence off Earth, humans will first have to answer some tricky questions about basic biology. 7 Minute Read Fast-forward to several decades or a
Technology
Meet the Tumblr refugees trying to save its adult content from oblivion
Fast Company - By Sean Captain
Tumblr posters of porn and kink fear a ban on naughty content will eviscerate not only their blogs, but the communities they’ve built on the networks. “The internet is for porn,” goes the song from musical
EPA
Americans Are Weirdly Obsessed With Paper Towels
The Atlantic - Joe Pinsker
Other countries swear by brooms, mops, and sponges. The U.S. prefers something more disposable. Every day, as Americans dry their hands, soak up their spills, and wipe their counters, they are—whether
Fast Food
15 Foods You Should Absolutely Stop Ordering, According to Fast-Food Workers
FOOD & WINE - Maria Yagoda
Be wary of fountain soda. A big part of the appeal of fast food, at least for this late-night shame-eater, is that you don't really know too much …
Culture
Maureen Corrigan Picks The Best Books Of 2018, Including The Novel Of The Year
NPR - Maureen Corrigan
Many of the best of this year's books were graced with humor and distinguished by deep dives into American identity. It was also a very good year for deceased authors whose posthumously published books
Equations
In the Universe of Equations, Virtually All Are Prime
Quanta Magazine - Kevin Hartnett
Equations, like numbers, cannot always be split into simpler elements. Researchers have now proved that such “prime” equations become ubiquitous as …
Science
The Science of Growing a Perfect Christmas Tree
WIRED - Robbie Gonzalez
Every winter, millions of Americans descend on farms and lots across the country with the express purpose of inspecting, and ultimately choosing …
Long-form Journalism
Your Apps Know Where You Were Last Night, and They’re Not Keeping It Secret
The New York Times
Dozens of companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds. They say it’s anonymous, but the data shows how personal it is.
Sports
Kelly Slater’s Shock Wave
The New Yorker - William Finnegan
Photos
15+ Creative Online Classes to Spark Your Imagination This Week
My Modern Met - Sara Barnes
Being on the cusp of the new year, we can’t help but think about what’s ahead in 2019. During this introspective time, it’s the perfect opportunity to set goals and plan for exactly how to make it all
Environment
Exclusive photos show deep-sea canyon in U.S. waters teeming with life
National Geographic
Environment A stunning array of biodiversity lies at the depths of a marine region that some fear the Trump administration will open to fishing and mining. Environment 4 Minute Read It felt a lot like
World News
150 years of seeing red: The traffic light marks a milestone
NBC News - By Rachel Elbaum
With more than 1,000 people dying each year on London's horse-and-buggy-clogged roads, city leaders knew they had to do something to control traffic. LONDON — Traffic lights are such a ubiquitous feature
The most screwed-up employee perk in America (and the man who just might fix it)
Quartz
The last time Atul Gawande started a company, he named it after a Greek myth. Ariadne Labs, based in Boston, Massachusetts—where Gawande also works as a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and teaches
Zoning
Minneapolis Just Ended Single Family Zoning. The Rest of the Country Should Follow Suit.
Esquire - By Gabrielle Bruney
Zoning laws are more than just municipal red tape—they're drivers of racial and economic segregation. On Friday, Minneapolis's City Council voted to allow three-family homes across all of its residential
Books
The Contested Legacy of Atticus Finch
The New Yorker - Casey Cep
Harper Lee’s beloved father figure became a talking point during the Kavanaugh hearings and is now coming to Broadway. Is he still a hero? Only Jesus made his father more famous. Harper Lee’s father was
Culture
The 10 Best Books of 2018
slate.com - Laura Miller
The seven novels and three nonfiction books I loved the most this year.
Black Panther
NPR's Favorite Movies Of 2018
NPR - Linda Holmes , Glen Weldon , Bob Mondello
At the movies, 2018 was the year of Black Panther, the year of more Incredibles and Avengers, more Star Wars and Mission: Impossible. But it was also the year of intimate stories of youth and love. It
Opinion
The Misguided Priorities of Our Educational System
The New York Times - By OREN CASS
Consider two high school seniors — one who exhibits strong academic talent and one who does not. For one, December marks the homestretch of a yearslong effort, intensively supported by his school, to the
Self-help
This Instagram artist's mock self-help books are honestly too relatable
Mashable - Laura Byager
How to make dysfunctional love last forever is a self-help book I'd personally be very, very interested to read. Unfortunately, it's not a real …
Architecture
the world's most visited architecture website
archdaily.com
Diversity and quality are what characterise the product range of Rodeca: whether transparent construction elements for the wall, roof and facade …
Medieval
10 Medieval Jobs That No Longer Exist
medievalists.net - by Medievalists.net
Today many people are concerned that their job or profession will become obsolete due to changing technology. In you go back to the Middle Ages you …
Photos
World’s Top Artists Create Affordable Art on Post-It Notes for Annual Gallery Show
My Modern Met - Eva Katz
The Giant Robot Post-It Show is the stuff of legends. Each year, this Los Angeles-based gallery’s walls are plastered in Post-its, each one created by a premier artist. Audrey Kawasaki, Stella Im Hultberg,
British Museum
The key to cracking long-dead languages?
BBC Future - Sophie Hardach
Tablets from some of the world’s oldest civilisations hold rich details about life thousands of years ago, but few people today can read them. New technology is helping to unlock them. Broken and scorched
News Industry
Podcasts Are Getting Newsier. Here Are 8 New Ones Worth a Listen.
The New York Times - By JACLYN PEISER
They were called audioblogs when they started out. They were casual and rambling, the aural equivalent of the diarylike entries posted on WordPress or LiveJournal in the 1990s. Last decade podcasts became
U.S. Dept. of Education
Exclusive: Ed Department To Erase Debts Of Teachers, Fix Troubled Grant Program
NPR - Chris Arnold , Cory Turner
For public school teacher Kaitlyn McCollum, even simple acts like washing dishes or taking a shower can fill her with dread. "It will just hit me like a ton of bricks," McCollum says. " 'Oh my God, I all
West Indies
Slave Bible From The 1800s Omitted Key Passages That Could Incite Rebellion
NPR - Michel Martin
On display now at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., is a special exhibit centered on a rare Bible from the 1800s that was used by British missionaries to convert and educate slaves. What's about