Politics

Why do epic fantasies always take place in monarchies, instead of democracies?

While we eagerly await the next installment of Game of Thrones, it’s worth asking — why do there have to be thrones in the first place? Over at Pyr Books’ Pyr-A-Zine, there’s a great interview with James Enge, author of the new book A Guile of Dragons, who addresses the burning question: Why do so…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Twitter Has an Official Election Tracker and November’s Still So Far Away

In case you’re not already sick of the election cycle, Twitter has launched the Political Index, a new election tracker which measures a candidate’s performance based on what every regular citizen is saying about them in 140-character form. It takes every tweet that mentions Obama or Romney and decides whether they’re positive or negative, then…

Tech News Leslie Horn

George R.R. Martin breaks it down for you about sex and violence in entertainment

You might remember there was some controversy a while back about explicit sexuality in Game of Thrones — including those random bits of “sexposition” where people deliver large amounts of backstory while naked. In an interview with Reuters, author George R.R. Martin addresses criticism that there’s too much sex in his book series, which the…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye make the case for NASA’s future in Fight For Space

Do you miss the days of space shuttle launches? Do you want to see humans go back to the Moon, and even explore Mars, in your lifetime? Paul Hildebrandt does too. So he’s initiated a Kickstarter campaign to create Fight For Space: Exploring the Future of Manned Spaceflight, a documentary with a higher aim than…

io9 Keith Veronese

Bane Capital tweets its corporate takeover of Gotham City

After Rush Limbaugh’s bizarre question as to whether Bane, Batman’s masked foe, could somehow be an anti-Mitt Romney conspiracy, one inspired Bat-fan decided Bane Capital wasn’t a shabby idea. Bane Capital is now tweeting reports about the liberation of Gotham’s corporate persons and how his anti-Batman mission creates jobs. https://gizmodo.com/the-batman-villain-bane-is-a-conspiracy-against-mitt-ro-5926874 Lampooning Limbaugh’s connection between the…

io9 Lauren Davis

It’s time to bring science to the fore of political discourse by having candidates discuss it publicly

If you want to see Obama and Romney devote time to addressing important questions about science and science policy in a publicly televised debate, you’re going to have to fight for it. Back in 2008, an independent citizens’ initiative, known simply as “ScienceDebate,” pushed to have 14 such questions addressed in a debate that would…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Washington State To Let Voters Register Through Facebook

Washington state is set to reach out to social network users early next week by offering its residents the chance to register as voters via Facebook. Currently 13 states—including Washington, Utah, California and Connecticut—offer online voter registration. But from next week, Washington state will roll out an app, developed by Microsoft, which allows users to…

Social Media Jamie Condliffe

Federal clinics for the poor give just as good care as private practices

Now that the Supreme Court has okayed the Affordable Care Act, the medical profession is going to find itself with a lot more customers — many of which will doubtless be shunted off to Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) and their look-alikes, which tend to treat “underserved” and low-income populations. These centers are aimed at…

io9 Tim Barribeau

Tweets of the words “beer” and “church” by U.S. county

It’s Friday. For many people the weekend will bring two things: Sunday services and late-night booze-fests. Which does your corner of the country hold most dear? How does one even begin to answer a broad sociological question such as this? Methods vary, but one of the most interesting strategies relies on geocoded data — user-generated,…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

A Totally Demented Alternate History of a 21st Century Soviet Holdout

The fall of the Soviet Union feels like a ridiculously long time ago — so it’s a weird thought experiment to imagine one last vestige of the U.S.S.R. holding on in the middle of Austria somewhere. But this little venture into alternate history sounds like it’s just the beginning of the science-fictional weirdness in Sierra…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

Most Americans would rather have Barack Obama in the White House during an alien invasion

American’s have finally agreed on something in politics: Obama is the guy we want to fight off alien invaders. A new poll, sponsored by the National Geographic Channel, shows that 65 percent of Americans believe that Obama would be better at fighting aliens than Mitt Romney. And since 36 percent of respondents believe in UFOs,…

io9 Michael Ann Dobbs

10 Law Enforcement Careers That You Can Have in the Future

In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate but equally important groups. But in the future? We’re going to need more groups than that. There are going to be a lot of new opportunities for crime, and that will mean a whole bunch of new policing jobs. Here are 10 jobs…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

For-profit healthcare doesn’t necessarily take better care of patients

When developing countries try to boost their health care systems, people often advocate letting the free market take care of it. After all, isn’t the private sector meant to be a model of efficiency compared to the public sector? Unfortunately, it turns out that’s not always the case, at least not in the developing world.…

io9 Tim Barribeau

HBO pulls Game of Thrones episode from iTunes in rush to bury George Bush’s severed head

If you’ve been thinking of rewatching the first season finale of Game of Thrones this weekend, in hopes of freeze-framing the bit where the severed head of Dubya appears on a spike, then you may have some bad news. HBO has pulled the episode from iTunes and HBO Go, and stopped shipment of DVD copies,…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Romney Campaign Tweets From Bill Clinton Parody Account

The Romney campaign has harvested the celebrity power of yet another another high-ranking politico, adding to its arsenal of Mitt-favoring parody Twitter accounts none other than beloved democrat Bill Clinton. At 4:49pm Tuesday evening, the account @Bill_Clinton12 sent its relatively tame first tweet: “There’s no question the #MittRomney has had a sterling business career.” A…

Tech News Molly Oswaks

Did This Sad Old Democrat Buy His Facebook Popularity?

Campaign season is heating up, and in Michigan’s 3rd congressional district the Democratic primary battle pits an entrenched 60-year-old against a young social media upstart. Guess whose campaign has more Facebook Likes? Old man Steve Pestka’s. He’s got the best Facebook friends money can buy. Eclectablog reports the curious rise of Steve Pestka’s Facebook popularity.…

Social Media Mario Aguilar

Read Every Politician’s Deleted Tweets

For as long as there have been politicians, there have been politicians trying desperately to cover up their mistakes—and in the Twitter age, censorship can happen as rapidly as a gaffe. Not anymore—a new site saves deletions forever. Politwoops, a project by The Sunlight Foundation, a pro-transparency group, is all about preserving fuckups. Errors, embarrassments,…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Hack Politician and Son Arrested for Political Hack

55-year-old Mayor of West New York, NJ, Felix Roque and his son Joseph, 22, were arrested today for allegedly hacking the website www.recallroque.com that was set up to rally support to recall the politician. Mayor Roque, a Cuban-American doctor and Army colonel, and a Democrat who has a close relationship to the large-gutted Republican Governor…

Tech News Molly Oswaks

New York Legislation Would Ban Anonymous Online Speech

Did you hear the one about the New York state lawmakers who forgot about the First Amendment in the name of combating cyberbullying and “baseless political attacks”? Proposed legislation in both chambers would require New York-based websites, such as blogs and newspapers, to “remove any comments posted on his or her website by an anonymous…

Tech News David Kravets - Wired

Now you can buy Ronald Reagan’s blood for $15,000

Or at least $15,000 for the time being — who knows how high this auction for the Gipper’s dried hemoglobin will go? Indeed, someone is selling a sample of Ronald Reagan’s blood collected after John Hinckley Jr.’s 1981 assassination attempt. According to the owner of the blood-stained vial, his deceased mother worked at the laboratory…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar

Why do epic fantasies always take place in monarchies, instead of democracies?

Twitter Has an Official Election Tracker and November’s Still So Far Away

George R.R. Martin breaks it down for you about sex and violence in entertainment

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye make the case for NASA’s future in Fight For Space

Bane Capital tweets its corporate takeover of Gotham City

It’s time to bring science to the fore of political discourse by having candidates discuss it publicly

Washington State To Let Voters Register Through Facebook

Federal clinics for the poor give just as good care as private practices

Tweets of the words “beer” and “church” by U.S. county

A Totally Demented Alternate History of a 21st Century Soviet Holdout

Most Americans would rather have Barack Obama in the White House during an alien invasion

10 Law Enforcement Careers That You Can Have in the Future

For-profit healthcare doesn’t necessarily take better care of patients

HBO pulls Game of Thrones episode from iTunes in rush to bury George Bush’s severed head

Romney Campaign Tweets From Bill Clinton Parody Account

Did This Sad Old Democrat Buy His Facebook Popularity?

Read Every Politician’s Deleted Tweets

Hack Politician and Son Arrested for Political Hack

New York Legislation Would Ban Anonymous Online Speech

Now you can buy Ronald Reagan’s blood for $15,000

INIU Portable Power Bank Is Small in Size and Smaller in Price for Amazon’s Big Spring Sale (45W, 10,000mAh)

Humans Were Already Dog People 16,000 Years Ago, DNA Suggests

California Regulator Says Tesla’s ‘Robotaxis’ Are More Like a Limo in the Eyes of the Law

Dyson Airwrap Falls to an All-Time Low in Amazon’s Spring Sale, Lowering the Barrier for This Premium Multi-Styler

The ‘Tales from ’85’ Trailer Wants You Back in ‘Stranger Things’ Already

Forget Ray-Ban Meta, XREAL 1S AR/XR Virtual Screen Smart Glasses Drop to Record Low on Amazon

Pixel Buds Pro 2 Hit Record Low as Google Continues Its Clearance-Like Price Cuts Following Smartphone Deals

DJI Now Has a Cheaper 360 Drone Than Insta360, but the U.S. Won’t Get It

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

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