A good rule of thumb if you’re going to threaten to publish nude photos of the richest man on the planet unless he says you’re not working with the Saudi government is: Probably don’t do that! And if for some reason you are reckless enough to do that, you probably shouldn’t do so in writing!
Yet this is exactly what allegedly happened in the last week’s most reality-distorting news item: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos posted copies of a purported email exchange between him and the National Enquirer in which the latter threatened to publish a series of Bezos’ nude selfies unless he publicly retracted his “false, vicious, speculative, and unsubstantiated” statements that its reporting was “instigated, dictated or influenced in any manner by external forces, political or otherwise.” Not smart!
But there was also plenty of eyebrow-raising news this week: Reddit is reportedly trying to land a $150 million investment deal from a Chinese censorship powerhouse, a fish just passed the classic mirror test for self-awareness, doctors are zapping peoples’ brains during surgery, and this weekend a remote Russian town declared a state of emergency over numerous, roving groups of “aggressive” polar bears. All this and more, below:
https://gizmodo.com/jeff-bezos-accuses-national-enquirer-of-using-unpublish-1832444644
https://gizmodo.com/reddit-banned-in-china-is-reportedly-set-to-land-150-1832375439
https://gizmodo.com/gop-lawmakers-introduce-another-fake-net-neutrality-bil-1832431221
https://gizmodo.com/a-fish-just-passed-a-mirror-test-for-self-awareness-bu-1832430572
https://gizmodo.com/doctors-zap-the-brains-of-awake-brain-surgery-patients-1832334784
https://gizmodo.com/a-kickstarter-idea-to-clean-the-great-pacific-garbage-p-1832459898
https://gizmodo.com/a-fleet-of-networked-mushroom-farms-is-spreading-across-1832333846
https://gizmodo.com/the-funeral-directors-deployed-to-americas-deadliest-di-1832357395
https://gizmodo.com/10-horror-films-that-contain-equally-horrifying-works-o-1832198507
https://gizmodo.com/this-was-the-best-star-wars-title-reveal-ever-1832408011
https://gizmodo.com/what-we-know-about-every-star-trek-show-in-the-works-ri-1832341765
https://gizmodo.com/i-cut-the-big-five-tech-giants-from-my-life-it-was-hel-1831304194
https://gizmodo.com/is-permatripping-real-1832321996
https://gizmodo.com/the-tortured-case-for-deleting-instagram-1832266382
https://gizmodo.com/amds-radeon-vii-is-a-solid-gaming-card-but-thats-just-1832412200
https://gizmodo.com/will-tech-workers-rise-up-around-automation-too-1832444635
