Bookmarks tagged with #long-reads.
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Beauty In My Backyard - Works in Progress Magazine
Ugly architecture stops homes getting built – but not in the way you think.
Saved
on: 2026-08-04
An Inside Look at the Relay Market Powering Token Resellers and Fraud
A look inside the gray-market reseller economy that gives mainland China cheap, structured, B2B-grade access to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and beyond
Saved
on: 2026-07-26
the watchers: how openai, the US government, and persona built an identity surveillance machine that files reports on you to the feds
53MB of source code leaked from a government endpoint. 269 verification checks. biometric face databases. SAR filings to FinCEN. and the same company that verifies your ChatGPT account.
Saved
on: 2026-02-25
You misunderstand what it means to be poor
The more I speak about being poor, the more I realize how fundamentally other folks misunderstand what it means to be poor versus being broke.
Saved
on: 2025-11-14
The vocal effects of Daft Punk
Daft Punk have used a wide variety of vocal effects in their songs. A May 2001 interview in Remix magazine provided a rare insight from Daft Punk themselves on the topic.
Saved
on: 2025-05-06
Everyone knows your location: tracking myself down through in-app ads
Recently I read about a massive geolocation data leak from Gravy Analytics, which exposed more than 2000 apps, both in AppStore and Google Play, that secretly collect geolocation data without user consent. Oftentimes, even without developers` knowledge.
I looked into the list (link here) and found at least 3 apps I have installed on my iPhone. Take a look for yourself!
This made me come up with an idea to track myself down externally, e.g. to buy my geolocation data leaked by some application.
Saved
on: 2025-02-03
A Day in the Life: The Global BGP Table
Update: This article was discussed on Hackernews
Much has been written and a lot of analysis performed on the global BGP table over the years, a significant portion by the inimitable Geoff Huston.
Saved
on: 2024-11-25
Breaking Down OnlyFans’ Stunning Economics
Due to UK disclosure requirements, it's possible to examine the P&L of the privately owned/controlled OnlyFans. And the results are shocking.
Saved
on: 2024-09-13
I Nearly Died Drowning. Here’s What it’s Like to Survive.
On coming to terms with a near-death experience.
Saved
on: 2024-04-17
This is a teenager
Watch hundreds of teenagers grow up into adults – and see how their lives turn out
Saved
on: 2024-04-16
The Rise and Fall of 3M’s Floppy Disk
The high-profile creator of magnetic media gave it up nearly three decades ago
Saved
on: 2024-04-03
The business of check cashing
Check cashing, as a business, is a poorly understood "alternative" financial service.
Saved
on: 2024-01-31
How Google perfected the web
How the internet reshaped itself around Google’s search algorithms — and into a world where websites look the same.
Saved
on: 2024-01-08
The Secret Father of Modern Computing
How Ed Roberts created the personal computer industry—and then walked away
Saved
on: 2023-12-19
A Matter of Millimeters: The story of Qantas flight 32
On the 4th of November 2010, a Qantas Airbus A380 was rocked by a catastrophic engine failure minutes after takeoff from Singapore, hurling fragments of a turbine disk through its wings and fuselage…
Saved
on: 2023-12-10
Christmas on the Moon
Baby, it's cold outside! Especially when you spend the holidays in a tent full of explosives.
Saved
on: 2023-12-09
Credit card debt collection
Credit card debt is the waste stream of consumer finance. The debt collection industry ends up being sordid, for complex structural and microeconomic reasons.
Saved
on: 2023-09-13
My Top 10 Tips for Doing Time In ‘the Hole’ | The Marshall Project
In prison, going to “the hole” can mean spending 23 hours a day alone in a tiny cell. Here, incarcerated author Michael J. Nichols shares his top 10 tips for enduring long stretches of “administrative segregation.”
Saved
on: 2022-10-31
Invisible asymptotes — Remains of the Day
"It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle." -
Saved
on: 2018-05-29
» The Game of Everything, Part 1: Making Civilization The Digital Antiquarian
Saved
on: 2018-03-17
“BRAAAM!”: The Sound that Invaded the Hollywood Soundtrack : Longreads
How Inception changed the way we listen to movies.
Saved
on: 2016-12-12
How to Hide $400 Million - The New York Times
When a wealthy businessman set out to divorce his wife, their fortune vanished. The quest to find it would reveal the depths of an offshore financial system bigger than the U.S. economy.
Saved
on: 2016-12-02
The Fantastic World of Professor Tolkien
"The Lord of The Rings" trilogy is one of the few works of genius in modern literature.
Saved
on: 2016-09-21
Never a Hippie, Always a Freak
When Zappa shows up in a suit and tie debating Robert Novak on Crossfire, the effect is less the ’60s freak who became a normal adult than an uncompromising individual voice channeled into a different format.
Saved
on: 2016-07-09
How the Beach Boys' 'Pet Sounds,' With Brian Wilson's Coherent Vision and Emphasis on Production, Invented the Modern Pop Album
Brian Wilson’s Beach Boys masterpiece paved the way for auteurs like Kanye West and anticipated the rise of the producer.
Saved
on: 2016-05-17
The Arctic Suicides: It's Not The Dark That Kills You
Greenland has the world's highest suicide rate. And teen boys are at the highest risk.
Saved
on: 2016-04-22
The Problem with Music - The Baffler
How record labels use A&R flaks and impenetrable contracts to screw artists while raking in millions
Saved
on: 2015-01-09
The End of Gangs
Los Angeles gave America the modern street gang. Groups like the Crips and MS-13 have spread from coast to coast, and even abroad. But on Southern California's streets they have been vanishing. Has L.A. figured out how to stop the epidemic it set loose on the world?
Saved
on: 2015-01-01
http://aeon.co/magazine/culture/why-we-love-repetition-in-music/
Saved
on: 2014-12-25
On the Trail of Nazi Counterfeiters
With the recent declassification of hundreds of CIA case files, some strange tales of history have come to light.
Saved
on: 2014-09-21
http://www.newyorker.com/sandbox/projects/nyc-dollar-vans/
Saved
on: 2014-07-03
Scammed - The Matter Archive - Medium
Mike breaks things apart for a living. He’s paid by companies to find security flaws in the electronics they sell. He’s a masterful coder and a compulsive tinkerer. He earns a six-figure salary and…
Saved
on: 2014-05-11
Cancer Doctor Peter Bach on Losing His Wife to Cancer -- New York Magazine - Nymag
The streetlights in Buenos Aires are considerably dimmer than they are in New York, one of the many things I learned during my family’s six-month stay in Argentina. The front windshield of the rental car, aged and covered in the city’s grime, f [...]
Saved
on: 2014-05-07
What Killed My Sister? - The American Scholar
The answer—schizophrenia—only leads to more perplexing questions
Saved
on: 2014-04-29