Some of these are older links I’d forgotten to share before. Also, the Vincent van Gogh link is very long, but fascinating. There are also some pretty great links, like the one about cats and then there’s that one about Thor’s hammer.
- NCIS: Provence: The Van Gogh: Mystery For many decades, suicide was the unquestioned final chapter of Vincent van Gogh’s legend. But in their 2011 book, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographers Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith offered a far more plausible scenario—that Van Gogh was killed—only to find themselves under attack. Now, with the help of a leading forensic expert, the authors take their case a step further. (Vanity Fair)
- Why Banksy Is (Probably) a Woman: The world’s foremost street artist is a social justice warrior and a viral media master. She could be anyone. (City Lab) Note: Aside from a failure to understand what graffiti (street writing) is (it is not catcalling, fyi), this article is interesting. I wouldn’t call it good, but the author makes a decent argument for Banksy’s gender.
- What Would Keep Ebola from Spreading in the US? Investing in Simple Research Years Ago. There’s a thing you learn, when you’ve been writing about infectious diseases for a while: People love drama. They’re not so much with detail. (Wired)
- Ebola in the U.S.—Politics and Public Health Don’t Mix (Scientific American)
- Wild cats were tamed with strokes and treats, genetic analysis suggests: Key differences between wild and domesticated cats include changes in genes associated with reward and pleasure (Guardian)
- Social Anxiety: Why Artist Amalia Ulman’s Fake “Middlebrow” Instagram Is No Different From Yours: This art project Instagram account gets disturbingly close to the truth of contemporary culture (The FADER)
- William Gibson: I never imagined Facebook The brilliant science-fiction novelist who imagined the Web tells Salon how writers missed social media’s rise (Salon) Note: My favorite article of the week because William Gibson. If you don’t understand … you don’t know me very well.
- Holy Shit We Landed a Spacecraft on a Comet (Wired)
- Related: The best photos from the Rosetta mission’s comet landing (Vox), The Rosetta comet landing has made history (Washington Post) & Landing on a Comet, 317 Million Miles From Home (New York Times)
- 9 questions about network neutrality you were too embarrassed to ask (Vox) Note: I support net neutrality and you should, too.
