Tag: longreads

Bookmarked The Mountains of Pi by Richard Preston (The New Yorker)
The Chudnovsky brothers yearned to probe the mystery of pi, so they built their own supercomputer out of mail-order parts.
I know I’ve read this before. This is a good reminder to re-read it occasionally.

ᔥ John Keilman on Twitter: “@rachsyme This one. It makes math make sense in a way nothing else has. https://t.co/VWST1TiQAZ”

Bookmarked Million-Dollar Murray by Malcolm GladwellMalcolm Gladwell (The New Yorker)
Why problems like homelessness may be easier to solve than to manage.
ᔥ @MWConcertVideo in Chris on Twitter: “@rachsyme The New Yorker article “Million Dollar Murray” about how the broken American health care system spent a million dollars failing to save the life of a man living on the streets, when for a fraction of that they could have just put him in a group home. https://t.co/09ooKMCcG1″
Bookmarked Ricky Jay’s Magical Secrets by Mark SingerMark Singer (The New Yorker)
From 1993: The magician’s deft illusions flout reality, and he rejects the notion that magic is a suitable entertainment for children.
I think I’ve read this three or four times, but definitely a classic. The first time was around 2000 when I was at CAA just before I spoke to Ricky for the first time. My last reading  was right after Ricky passed.

Bookmarked Unsettled by Colin Woodard (Press Herald)

Triumph and tragedy in Maine's Indian country

Staff Writer Colin Woodard spent more than a year researching “Unsettled,” logging thousands of miles and more than 250 hours of interviews with some 70 sources, including past governors of Maine and the reservations, tribal elders, councilors and activists, as well as attorneys, state officials, police officers and academic experts.

This looks like a stunning long read! I love that the Press Herald bundled it up into an e-book as well. I wish more newspapers did this sort of aggregate publishing. 
 
 

👓 Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Schemes as He Reaped Riches From His Father | New York Times

Read Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Schemes as He Reaped Riches From His Father by David Barstow (nytimes.com)
The president has long sold himself as a self-made billionaire, but a Times investigation found that he received at least $413 million in today’s dollars from his father’s real estate empire, much of it through tax dodges in the 1990s.
I had suspected something like this for a long time and my suspicions were pushed during the election upon reports of Trump cheating sub-contractors and not paying them and again earlier this year when Jonathan Greenberg revised some of his 1980’s reportage for Forbes, but this is simply incredible!

While there are a lot of things one can take away from this stunning, thorough, and long read, the thing that strikes me is what Trump did to attempt to cheat his own father, who had been repeatedly been digging him out of trouble, when he was against the wall. He tried to defraud and steal from his greatest benefactor. How can anyone trust him to fight for America or real Americans when his entire substance as well as facade is a complete sham?

Combined with the millions he’s losing on real estate and other deals over the past decade, one is forced (again) to wonder who exactly is funding him now?