In the past year, social platforms like Facebook and Twitter have made very public efforts to try to prevent the proliferation of Covid-19-related misinformation and election fraud conspiracy theories. Yet a new study from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which tracks the spread of misinformation on digital platforms, suggests that at least one platform
Lifestyle
Twitter founder and billionaire Jack Dorsey is selling his — and the world’s — first tweet as a non-fungible token (or NFT), with the current highest bidder offering $2.5 million for the missive. Dorsey launched the sale Friday, March 5th, tweeting out a link to the platform, Valuables. The site allows people to sell one-of-a-kind
Throughout her career as a public figure, many royal family watchers have drawn parallels between Meghan Markle and Princess Diana, the mother of Markle’s husband, Prince Harry. Some of these comparisons are largely superficial (both women are glamorous, well-dressed, and omnipresent tabloid fixtures), but the bulk of the similarities stem from the fact that both
A year ago, schools across the country closed their doors in hopes of slowing the spread of a strange new virus. What happened next depended on a parent’s zip code, their income, the political persuasion of their state officials, and the relative power of their local teachers unions. In the absence of any official advice
America’s busiest retired detective, Paul Holes, is joining the reboot of America’s Most Wanted, a new season of which is premiering on Fox on March 15th. Holes will be joining host, journalist Elizabeth Vargas, as an official expert. “I’m excited to be part of the iconic America’s Most Wanted family and to continue to contribute
The conservative outrage about cancel culture this past week reached a fevered pitch. Right-wing politicians have used their CPAC speeches and social media accounts to decry people being forced to change what they say in the name of mob sentiments. Culture war commentators in newspapers and online outlets have written lengthy broadsides against this current
A lost poem written by Vladimir Nabokov about Superman — in which the Man of Steel envisions a tragic wedding night with Lois Lane and longs to be a mortal man — has been published for the first time. Written in June 1942 and rejected by the New Yorker, “The Man of To-morrow’s Lament” was
In December 2010, law enforcement found four bodies along a scrub-covered stretch of highway on the south coast of Long Island. The following spring, six more sets of human remains were found in the same area. Six of the victims have been identified as young women who were sex workers. Four, including a toddler and
The Podcast Academy has announced the nominees for their inaugural Awards for Excellence in Audio, a.k.a. the Ambies. Matthew McConaughey, Tessa Thompson, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Malcolm Gladwell and Willem Dafoe, and Charlotte Gainsbourg are among the 164 nominees in 23 categories that include Best Performer in Audio Fiction, Best Podcast Host, Best True Crime Podcast,
Skateboarder Zion Wright talks about his Olympics dream, practicing his craft during the pandemic, his hype-up music and the lack of BIPOC representation in the sport in this installment of Rolling Stone Interview: Special Edition. Wright was among the skateboarders named to the inaugural U.S. Skateboarding Team headed to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan…
Marisa Acocella was raised in a devout Catholic family. But one of the Bible’s main teachings seriously bugged her. “I always thought, how could a male God give birth to all this?” Acocella says, gesturing at … everything. “It never made sense to me. There had to be a God the Mother.” The question nagged
In 1976, Kathy Sullivan was finishing up her Ph.D. in oceanography when an intriguing, if somewhat far-fetched, opportunity presented itself: the chance to become an astronaut. Her expertise was in the geology of the deep-sea floor, a few hundred miles in the exact opposite direction of where a space flight would take her, and joining
Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which oversees the work of the late children’s book author, said it will stop publishing and licensing six books because they contain racist and insensitive images. The decision was announced on the official Dr. Seuss website Tuesday, March 2nd, which also marks the author’s birthday. The six books are And to Think
The serial killer and rapist known as the I-5 Strangler was found dead in his prison cell on February 28th. Mule Creek State Prison officials are investigating the death of Roger Kibbe, 81, as a homicide. A correctional officer found Kibbe’s unresponsive body during an early-morning population check, his cellmate — Jason Budrow, 40 —
Before there was Be More Chill, before there was Spring Awakening, before teens were swiping on purple eyeliner and lipsynching to Beetlejuice’s “Dead Mom” on TikTok, there was Rent. The iconic rock musical was a multicultural paean to the lives of impoverished musicians, filmmakers, philosopher-poets, kinksters, runaways, and junkies struggling to survive in the then-squalid Alphabet City area
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who died last month just 30 days shy of his 102nd birthday, lived a life of fascinating contradictions. From a Dickensian childhood — his father died before he was born, and his mother was institutionalized when he was only two years old — Ferlinghetti eventually landed with wealthy foster parents who nurtured his
After playwright Jeremy O. Harris’ hit show Slave Play had its final performance at the Golden Theatre on January 19th, 2020, he was applauded by some for changing the way audiences engaged with Broadway theater — but also found many detractors. Harris had insisted on being a co-producer of the show, made sure to offer
In 2021, there’s a simple formula for becoming a cancel culture martyr, and it’s essentially as follows: One, make a tone-deaf remark or faux pas betraying your ignorance of your own privilege; two, lose your job or be publicly reprimanded over said offense; three, get a centrist or right-leaning columnist or public figure with a
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the poet whose San Francisco–based City Lights bookstore and publishing house served as a springboard for the Beat generation, has died. His daughter, Julie Sasser, reported his cause of death as interstitial lung disease, according to The New York Times. He was 101. The poet was known for stacking small fractured lines on
UPDATE, 5:00 p.m.: After the uproar over the rebranding, Hasbro clarified that the Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head dolls will still be available under the gender-neutral Potato Head brand. They have also introduced a box set that includes multiple potatoes and accessories so kids can build a family of potatoes of any genders they want.