Popula

May 29, 2024 | popula.com | Maria Bustillos

Originally published at Medium in March 2018, and subsequently paywalled; offered here for ease of access. ***Mark Zuckerberg is a small man — five foot seven, according to Google — but that is not very widely known, because the only images of him available to the public are carefully crafted to make him look taller, according to former Wired writer Graham Starr.

May 15, 2024 | popula.com | Stephen Kearse

When rappers clash, they can and do say whatever it takes to discredit their rivals. To win, emcees have lied, presented hearsay as gospel, and disclosed opponents’ intimate secrets. Collateral damage is common and often deliberate. Spouses, children, cities, record labels, radio stations, magazines, clothing brands, and even blogs have been caught in the figurative crossfire. Beef is a bloodsport.

Mar 25, 2024 | popula.com | Maria Bustillos

Arizona State University Librarian James O’Donnell’s comments on new developments in the lawsuit against the Internet Archive, published here with the author’s permission. The case of Hachette et al. v. Internet Archive lumbers on. It is mostly impossible to comment on this case without getting into the partisan weeds, and not much point to doing that. This is the kind of case that will have its life independent of what the enlightened general reader thinks or expects and will end where it ends.

Jan 8, 2024 | popula.com | Maria Bustillos

Tom Scocca’s essay in New York last week, “My Unraveling,” is a matter-of-fact dissection of the failings of the US health care system, and of the casual brutality with which society treats those who fall ill; the precarity in which even the most hard-working and accomplished young professionals are expected to live, work, and raise families; and the grim state of the media industry, in which Scocca, one of the country’s most admired journalists and editors, has faced a huge amount of trouble...

Jan 8, 2024 | popula.com | Maria Bustillos

Tom Scocca’s essay in New York last week, “My Unraveling,” is a matter-of-fact dissection of the failings of the US health care system, and of the casual brutality with which society treats those who fall ill; the precarity in which even the most hard-working and accomplished young professionals are expected to live, work, and raise families; and the grim state of the media industry, in which Scocca, one of the country’s most admired journalists and editors, has faced a huge amount of trouble...