Albert Burneko

Maryland

Editor and Co-Owner at Defector

Editor/co-owner @DefectorMedia. Email me at [email protected]

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Articles

Dave McKenna Insists They Have Ham Trucks In France

1 week ago | defector.com | Albert Burneko

The topic, in Defector's internal chat, on Friday, was a ban, in the nation of France, on smoking in most outdoor spaces. How can the French—the French!—ban smoking?
Faster Is Better

1 week ago | defector.com | Albert Burneko

The pattern was: The New York Knicks would scramble the length of the floor in desperation—frantic, wide-eyed, bolts rattling loose, spotting passing and dribbling lanes just as they snapped shut—in search of a bucket. When they got one it scanned most credibly as an accident. Then, whether the Knicks got one or not, the Indiana Pacers would breeze unimpeded the other way and Tyrese Haliburton would create a wide-open, high-value shot for himself or somebody else within seven seconds.
Elon Musk's Idiot Chatbot Goes Full Boer

3 weeks ago | defector.com | Albert Burneko

Did you know that there's a white genocide happening in South Africa? Me neither. We can give ourselves a break, I think: This is less a matter of gross ignorance than it is a simple epistemological deal. Namely, we can't really know that there's a white genocide happening in South Africa, because there isn't one. A person certainly could, however, think or believe that there's a white genocide happening in South Africa.
The Celtics Will Just Keep Doing This Until We Are All Driven Insane

1 month ago | defector.com | Albert Burneko

The higher-seeded and hosting Boston Celtics lost Game 1 of their East semifinal series against the New York Knicks on Monday night, 108–105. The Celtics led by 16 at halftime, and by 20 midway through the third quarter, and then spent the rest of the night barfing into their laps. Here is the funniest number from the night: 45. That is how many three-point attempts the Celtics missed in Game 1. No NBA team has ever missed that many threes in a single playoff game before.
Only Kevin Roose's Editors Despise Him More Than I Do

1 month ago | defector.com | Albert Burneko

Grave editorial failure only seldom can be located in something as precise as a single word choice. The following block-quoted sentence, from a Thursday article by New York Times technology reporter Kevin Roose, contains one, and it feels like journalistic malpractice that his editor or editors let him type it.
Henry Blodget Invents, Hires, Sexually Harasses, Blogs About Nonexistent AI Subordinate

1 month ago | defector.com | Albert Burneko

Have you ever been lonely? I mean really lonely. Think of the loneliest you ever were. Transpose that experience of loneliness to the bottom of a mineshaft. Oof, right? Anyway, bear that in mind. Former Business Insider CEO and co-founder Henry Blodget, these days the sole proprietor and staffer of the blog/media company Regenerator, published a curious blog on his website on Monday.
Tech CEO: Do Not Say To Me That I Was Not Just Assassinated By The Jackal

2 months ago | defector.com | Albert Burneko

Some things, no one can tell you. No one can tell you that you are in love; you simply know it. No one can tell you your calling in life; you have to find it. No one can tell you that you were not chased through San Francisco by a pistol-shooting madman on Saturday night. It's just one of those things a man knows for himself. Deep Prasad, CEO of a Texas-based artificial intelligence company named GenMat, had this experience over the weekend.
For Chop | Defector

2 months ago | defector.com | Albert Burneko

In 2017 a lady selling puppies texted me a photo, of a wrinkly, tiny, brand-new little sad-eyed Boxer puppy sitting on a beat-up dog bed, looking right into the camera. What I thought, sitting alone on my porch, and probably muttered out loud, was, "Aw, look at that little porkchop." And that became his name: Chop.
Not Enough People Are Taking The Wallet Inspector Seriously

Mar 6, 2025 | defector.com | Albert Burneko

There is a weird amount of overlap between the people who insist that we take climate experts seriously when they warn of big changes on the horizon, and people who refuse to take the wallet inspector seriously when he warns that there is a problem with their wallet that he must examine immediately.
Luis Rubiales Found Guilty Of Sexually Assaulting Jenni Hermoso

Feb 20, 2025 | defector.com | Albert Burneko

The National Court of Spain delivered its verdict today in the trial of former national soccer federation (RFEF) president Luis Rubiales, charged with sexual assault over the unbidden, nonconsensual kiss he planted on the mouth of women's national team star Jenni Hermoso during the medal ceremony after Spain's victory in the 2023 World Cup.