~vox | Bookmarks (541)

In 2021, 5-year-old Allie Hart was killed after she was struck by a van while riding a bike through a crosswalk. After the loss, her mother, Jessica, started advocating for safer streets and vehicles, arguing that no parents should experience what she did.  Allie was one of two children, and 20 people, killed walking and […]

The age of froyo has faded. Fancy cupcakes are passé. The cronut craze is now a distant fever dream. Dessert trends can sweep by fast, and today we’re in the era of the elaborate cookie — kind of. When Crumbl first burst onto the scene, the novelty was that the company had turned a relatively […]

In July, New York City Mayor Eric Adams convened police officials and media to proudly announce that the city had made terrific progress in its much-publicized crackdown on illegal marijuana shops.  Unlicensed shops had sprung up in empty retail storefronts with jaw-dropping speed after New York state legalized marijuana in 2021. There are the bodegas […]

Since Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris, pundits and politicians have been trying to figure out why the country’s working class is moving to the right.  “Donald Trump Won as the Champion of Working-Class Discontent,” read one headline. “How Donald Trump Gave Democrats the Working-Class Blues,” read another. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders gave Democrats a scathing […]

Almost all of us know what a peak experience feels like. For some people, it’s climbing mountains or surfing; for others, it’s an intense meditation practice, or maybe it’s as simple as that sensation you get on the floor at a great concert. Call it a flow state or transcendence or whatever you want, but […]

The early days of the uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime — which came to a stunning end this weekend after 13 long years of civil war as rebel forces entered the capital of Damascus and Assad fled into exile — were defined by two famous pieces of graffiti.  The first was written by a […]

The stereotypical image of public housing in America is one of deteriorating buildings, urban blight, and dysfunctional housing authorities in seemingly never-ending crises. Residents routinely deal with bad living conditions, including heat failures, pest infestations, mold, and leaks. And public housing projects are often found in areas with concentrated poverty and in underserved, racially segregated […]

H.G. Wells is probably best known for his story about an alien invasion, “The War of the Worlds,” and some of his other fantastical science fiction. But he also dabbled in some less well known prehistorical fiction. In 1921, he published a story about early modern humans and Neanderthals called “The Grisly Folk.”  In it, […]

Twenty-five years ago, millions of people were nervously looking ahead to New Year’s Eve. When the clocks struck midnight, they wondered, would they lose power? Would planes fall from the sky? Would banks collapse and the world order crumble? Such nightmarish fantasies were never truly based in reality, but the public genuinely feared that the […]

There’s often a threshold for how weird something can sound beyond which most people stop taking it seriously. One of the quickest ways to kill a conversation, for example, is to start telling someone about that strange dream you had. Perhaps an even more surefire way to land on the far side of that threshold […]

This week was a big win for animals across Mexico.  On December 2, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum signed a set of constitutional reforms that will pave the way for a comprehensive federal animal welfare law. The changes represent the first-ever mention of nonhuman animals in the Mexican Constitution, marking a milestone achievement for Mexico’s animal […]

A man was killed. That’s the kind of thing people normally get upset about. But not this week. This week, when UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead in Manhattan, the internet erupted in cheers.  Many people, including many progressives and liberals, said they would refuse to mourn the UnitedHealthcare executive because of the habitual […]

Support independent journalism that matters — become a Vox Member today. The shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was met by many people online with a morbid sense of inevitability. The often callous nature of the US health care system has long been a point of wide discussion, with evidence piling up that the way the […]

A new Justice Department investigation has revealed that officers in the Memphis Police Department use excessive force, discriminate against Black people and people with behavioral health disabilities, and engage in unlawful searches and arrests.  The harrowing findings, part of a report released Wednesday, are the result of a 17-month investigation into the department, launched after […]

The price of bitcoin surged past $100,000 for the first time on Thursday, continuing a post-election run buoyed by the pro-crypto promise of the incoming Trump administration.  On Election Day, bitcoin — one of the most popular decentralized digital assets available — was worth $69,374, according to the cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase. Within a month, […]

What is Vanderpump Rules if not a series about middling millennials? It’s a question plaguing Bravo fans following the news that the hit reality show is getting a reboot with a new class of waiters and bartenders in its 12th season. No details about the cast have been revealed yet, except for the expected return […]

Strategic collaborations create excitement for both brands and their customers, whether it’s fast food and toys, sports teams and cereal, or even cars and fashion brands. All of which are memorable – and perhaps even a bit unexpected. And while traditional business partnerships typically prioritize safety and predictability, customer data holds the power to unlock […]

Customer journeys are becoming increasingly “phygital” as shoppers engage with brands both in store and online. The intersection of moments between physically trying out – or trying on – new products and ordering them digitally have converged, driving customers to demand businesses to meet them wherever they are. Brands that do this well create opportunities […]

Politico reports that top White House officials are considering having President Joe Biden issue preemptive pardons of several current and former federal officials who may be targeted by President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration.  For more than 150 years, the Supreme Court has understood the president’s power to issue pardons as entirely within his discretion; typically, […]

A federal appeals court ruled that a congressional ban on TikTok can go into effect in the next few weeks. That’s if the incoming Trump administration doesn’t decide to upend the court’s decision. TikTok debuted in the US in 2017 as a platform for short-form videos and became the most downloaded app in the world […]

Last month, tech outlet The Information reported that OpenAI and its competitors are switching strategies as the rate of improvement of AI has dramatically slowed. For a long time, you’ve been able to make AI systems dramatically better across a wide range of tasks just by making them bigger.  Why does this matter? All kinds […]

The second half of an election year can be a fraught one for books. Publishers tend to front-load their most interesting titles away from the election to try to keep them from being swallowed up by politics come the fall. After an election, books can feel too trivial and unserious to deserve our focus. The […]

Recently, I argued that progressives were wrong to see Kamala Harris’s defeat as proof that Democrats have little to gain from moderation. Osita Nwanevu, a contributor to the New Republic and author of the forthcoming book The Right of the People, has made one of the most interesting cases against my perspective. So, to hash […]

America’s favorite animal to eat — the chicken — has also become its most expendable: In 2021, around 556 million chickens in the US died at hatcheries and on farms before reaching the slaughterhouse, their carcasses winding up in landfills, incinerators, compost heaps, or pet food.  An additional 41 million never entered the food supply, […]