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The Atlantic
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Highlights
  1. The Atlantic shared a link.
    8 hours ago
    "As professionals, scientists should not be put into a subservient place by politicians and ideologues. They should never be felt that their advice might well be attached to carrots or sticks."
    46 · Comment · Share
  4. The Atlantic shared a link.
    15 hours ago
    When Ryan Cordell promised his kids that if they could get one million Facebook likes, he'd get them a puppy, he thought they would never get there. Seven hours later, they did it.
    131 · Comment · Share
  5. The Atlantic shared a link.
    Yesterday
    A president cannot do his job without issuing executive orders and other instructions to the executive branch. The question should be whether a specific one is justified by law.
    20 · Comment · Share
  6. The Atlantic shared a link.
    Yesterday
    Three days into Algeria's hostage crisis, 100 of the 132 foreign workers held at the besieged In Amenas gas plant have been freed—but only after a military operation Thursday that reportedly left over 30 hostages and more than a dozen captors dead.
    3 · Comment · Share
  9. The Atlantic
    Yesterday
    Ten years ago, Americans drank enough soda every year to fill a small aquarium. Fifty-three gallons of the stuff per person. That's half a liter of Diet Coke on an average day. Now look where we are: Soda is in a free fall and coffee is booming.

    http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/01/graph-how-coffee-drank-sodas-milkshake/267318/
    Photo: Ten years ago, Americans drank enough soda every year to fill a small aquarium. Fifty-three gallons of the stuff per person. That's half a liter of Diet Coke on an average day. Now look where we are: Soda is in a free fall and coffee is booming. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/01/graph-how-coffee-drank-sodas-milkshake/267318/
    109 · Comment · Share
  12. The Atlantic shared a link.
    Yesterday
    In the fall of 1941, the biggest story in sports was the sensational football team of Plainfield Teachers College and its star player, Johnny "The Celestial Comet" Chung. There was a problem, though—Chung and his college didn't exist.
    4 · Comment · Share
  15. The Atlantic
    Thursday
    After 5,280 miles across unforgiving territory in Peru, Argentina, and Chile, the 34th annual Dakar Rally is almost over. Who will win one of the most dangerous races in the world? (Image: Frederic Le Floc'h/AFP/Getty)

    PHOTOS: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/01/the-2013-dakar-rally/100441/
    Photo: After 5,280 miles across unforgiving territory in Peru, Argentina, and Chile, the 34th annual Dakar Rally is almost over. Who will win one of the most dangerous races in the world? (Image: Frederic Le Floc'h/AFP/Getty) PHOTOS: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/01/the-2013-dakar-rally/100441/
    54 · Comment · Share
  16. The Atlantic shared a link.
    Thursday
    Researchers at NASA wanted to test the capabilities of lasers as conduits for interplanetary communication ... so they transmitted a copy of the Mona Lisa to a satellite orbiting the moon.
    21 · Comment · Share
  18. The Atlantic shared a link.
    Thursday
    A fantastic essay from a high school student: "Despite the complex trust law issues and the ongoing court case, the issue to me is simple. Young women aren't able to apply to a school like Deep Springs, and we should be."
    24 · Comment · Share
  20. The Atlantic shared a link.
    Thursday
    "Aaron Swartz is dead—in my view, as a friend who knew him well for more than a decade—at least in part because of this breach of its duty by the government. [...] But now Congress may actually do something to remedy at least part of this important flaw."
    80 · Comment · Share
  27. The Atlantic
    Wednesday
    Two and a half months after Superstorm Sandy made landfall in New Jersey, many are still suffering from the aftermath. (Image: Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

    PHOTOS: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/01/hurricane-sandy-80-days-later/100440/
    Photo: Two and a half months after Superstorm Sandy made landfall in New Jersey, many are still suffering from the aftermath. (Image: Lucas Jackson/Reuters) PHOTOS: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/01/hurricane-sandy-80-days-later/100440/
    44 · Comment · Share
  28. The Atlantic shared a link.
    Wednesday
    To an early 21st century American, particularly one living in northern California or a relatively pollution-free Washington, DC, it seems crazy to live with such bad air—but it wasn't always that way.
    26 · Comment · Share
  32. The Atlantic shared a link.
    Wednesday
    In 1979, the U.S. defaulted on its debts in part due to a word-processor glitch. If default happens now, it could be much more disastrous.
    16 · Comment · Share
  33. The Atlantic shared a link.
    Wednesday
    "The state of anticipating and desiring a product may be inherently more pleasurable than product ownership itself."
    93 · Comment · Share
  35. The Atlantic shared a link.
    January 15
    Today would have been Martin Luther King Jr.'s 84th birthday. In his honor, we're featuring his famous "Letter From a Birmingham Jail", originally published in 1963.
    188 · Comment · Share
  36. The Atlantic shared a link.
    January 15
    "Obama isn't just keeping this information from the American people. He isn't just hiding his legal reasoning from the U.S. Congress. He is stonewalling one of 15 senators that federal law establishes as the most important check on secret abuses by the CIA."
    50 · Comment · Share
  38. The Atlantic shared a link.
    January 15
    Today, Facebook unveiled a new search tool they are calling Graph, and with Graph, they are hoping they can make much better use of all that data people have been leaving on Facebook for years. Will it work?
    55 · Comment · Share
  39. The Atlantic
    January 15
    A 48-year-old man carries refined oil in buckets near the river Nun in Bayelsa Stat, Nigeria. The secret and dangerous practice of oil bunkering—where locals hack into oil pipelines, steal the crude oil, and refine or sell it abroad—has taken a terrible toll on the local environment and population. (Image: Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)

    http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/01/nigerias-illegal-oil-refineries/100439/
    Photo: A 48-year-old man carries refined oil in buckets near the river Nun in Bayelsa Stat, Nigeria. The secret and dangerous practice of oil bunkering—where locals hack into oil pipelines, steal the crude oil, and refine or sell it abroad—has taken a terrible toll on the local environment and population. (Image: Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters) http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/01/nigerias-illegal-oil-refineries/100439/
    83 · Comment · Share
  42. The Atlantic
    January 15
    How America drinks: It's not the end of soda—yet. But soft drinks have peaked, while bottled water, energy drinks, and a considerable amount of premium alcohol are taking their place in our liquid diet.

    http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/01/how-america-drinks-water-and-wine-soar-cheap-beer-and-soda-crash/267153/
    Photo: How America drinks: It's not the end of soda—yet. But soft drinks have peaked, while bottled water, energy drinks, and a considerable amount of premium alcohol are taking their place in our liquid diet. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/01/how-america-drinks-water-and-wine-soar-cheap-beer-and-soda-crash/267153/
    59 · Comment · Share
  44. The Atlantic shared a link.
    January 15
    To maintain the nation's growth and employment momentum, Congress must lift the debt ceiling, resolve the sequester and agree on a continuing resolution to keep the government running. Game theory provides three key insights on how, or if, this is likely to happen.
    29 · Comment · Share
  46. The Atlantic
    January 14
    Tens of millions of Hindu pilgrims are descending on Allahabad, India, to celebrate the Maha Kumbh Mela. Held every 12 years at one of four places in India, the Kumbh Mela lasts nearly two months and is considered to be an especially auspic...ious time to bathe in the holy river for purification from sin. (Image: Manish Swarup/AP)

    PHOTOS: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/01/kumbh-mela-the-largest-gathering-on-earth/100438/    See More
    Photo: Tens of millions of Hindu pilgrims are descending on Allahabad, India, to celebrate the Maha Kumbh Mela. Held every 12 years at one of four places in India, the Kumbh Mela lasts nearly two months and is considered to be an especially auspicious time to bathe in the holy river for purification from sin. (Image: Manish Swarup/AP) PHOTOS: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/01/kumbh-mela-the-largest-gathering-on-earth/100438/
    26 · Comment · Share
  49. The Atlantic
    January 14
    How low are U.S. taxes compared to other countries? When taxes are measured as a share of the economy, we're 25 percent below the average. (Graph: Tax Policy Center)

    http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/01/how-low-are-us-taxes-compared-to-other-countries/267148/
    Photo: How low are U.S. taxes compared to other countries? When taxes are measured as a share of the economy, we're 25 percent below the average. (Graph: Tax Policy Center) http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/01/how-low-are-us-taxes-compared-to-other-countries/267148/
    360 · Comment · Share
  54. The Atlantic shared a link.
    January 13
    "Sotomayor has reached the pinnacle of her profession both by heeding the lessons of her wise Latin family and by accepting graceful help from the white world beyond. Without her own talent, and without her mother's remarkable dedication, s...he would probably not have gotten noticed by those who would help her. And without the presence of affirmative action in her life, those who had quickly noticed her would have had fewer ways in which to help her."See More
    32 · Comment · Share
  55. The Atlantic shared a link.
    January 13
    "The Republican Party is now at a crossroads. Over the last decade moderate Republicans have felt increasingly out of place in its ranks. If the GOP confirms Hagel, it could bolster the idea of a 'big tent' Republican Party."
    28 · Comment · Share
  56. The Atlantic shared a link.
    January 12
    "Across the United States today, young women are much more likely to graduate from college than their male peers, a trend that's been compounding itself for a few decades now. And because college graduates overwhelmingly tend to date other college graduates, that's created an enormous imbalance in the national dating pool."
    60 · Comment · Share
  57. The Atlantic shared a link.
    January 12
    "Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?"
    64 · Comment · Share

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