Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, amuse, or inspire us.
Hey, did you read:
• That online security depends, at least in part, on a handful of volunteers? —Deanna Isaacs
• About how Mayor Emanuel travels all around the country on the taxpayers’ dime, often to meet with political donors? —Mick Dumke
• About the refugees being rounded up in Kenya? (Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi has been turned into a police station.) —Steve Bogira
• That Hawaii lawmakers are trying to overturn a state law that permits police to have sex with prostitutes while on duty? —Ben Sachs
• From 2012, Charles Simic’s screed about ignorance in America? —Tony Adler
• Jelani Cobb on the failure of desegregation? (“Today, we are more likely to talk of diversity—but diversification and desegregation are not the same undertaking.”) —Steve Bogira
• Bill Simmons on the surging value of the NBA? —Tal Rosenberg
• That a multimillion-dollar deal is underway to “make Chicago the stage for Royal de Luxe, a French theater company featuring marionettes as tall as 50 feet, during the summer of 2016″? —Ben Sachs
• Mike Powell on going outside for some fresh air when you’re in a room full of hot air? (On the surface, it’s about talking about pop music.) —Tal Rosenberg
• The in-depth, bordering on absurd, statistical analysis of the work of Bob Ross? (Did you know that 44 percent of his paintings prominently feature at least one happy little cloud?) —Kevin Warwick
• This interview with Dallas Swonger, the kid who allegedly peed in the Portland reservoir? (“It’s no fuckin’ joke, dude. I don’t want people thinkin’ that Dallas is dumb ass because he pissed in the fuckin’ water. In our drinking water. Yeah, that’s fucking awesome.”) —Gwynedd Stuart