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Amtrak and the FCC [22 May 2015|07:33am]

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2015/05/amtrak_train_derailment_positive_train_control_and_wireless_spectrum_policy.html

This piece originally appeared in New America’s Weekly Wonk.
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Play the Slate News Quiz [22 May 2015|07:38am]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_slate_quiz/2015/05/the_slate_quiz_with_quizmaster_ken_jennings_play_the_news_quiz_for_may_22.html

Welcome back to Slate’s weekly news quiz. I’m your host, 74-time Jeopardy! winner Ken Jennings.
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Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning [22 May 2015|07:45am]

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/family/2013/06/rescuing_drowning_children_how_to_know_when_someone_is_in_trouble_in_the.html

This Memorial Day weekend marks the start of another—hopefully safe—swimming season. In 2013, Mario Vittone dispelled a popular myth about how to tell when someone is struggling in the water. The original article is reprinted below.
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Corrections [22 May 2015|08:06am]

http://www.slate.com/articles/briefing/corrections/2015/05/slate_s_mistakes_for_the_week_of_may_18.html

In a May 21 Brow Beat, Laura Bradley misstated that David Letterman had a quintuple bypass following a heart attack. The surgery followed a routine check-up.
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One of the Scariest Things About Movie Clowns? [22 May 2015|01:21pm]

http://www.slate.com/articles/video/video/2015/05/movie_clowns_are_terrifying_and_so_are_their_toys_poltergeist_remake_2015.html

Let’s get this out of the way first: The new Poltergeist remake is not very scary, especially if you’ve seen and loved the original. But the one thing that may creep you out are the clowns, which are admittedly low-hanging fruit. Clowns are weird, unsettling, the stuff of nightmares. That’s just the truth—it’s the reason that so many movies and TV shows meant to terrify you turn to them for them that extra horrific jolt. 
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Marooned in the Desert [22 May 2015|01:27pm]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/roads/2015/05/jeziret_el_fadel_egypt_s_3_000_forgotten_and_stateless_palestinian_refugees.html

Each Friday, Roads & Kingdoms and Slate publish a new dispatch from around the globe. For more foreign correspondence mixed with food, war, travel, and photography, visit their online magazine or follow @roadskingdoms on Twitter.
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Mona Eltahawy: Women Are Fighting Two Revolutions [22 May 2015|01:52pm]

http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/live_at_politics/2015/05/mona_eltahawy_discusses_her_new_book_headscarves_and_hymens.html

Listen to Mona Eltahawy discuss her new book, Headscarves and Hymens, and take questions from the audience. Recorded May 11, 2015.
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Honeybees at a Crossroads [22 May 2015|02:10pm]

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2015/05/honeybee_deaths_drought_pesticides_disease_are_all_hurting_bees.html

We’ve all heard the story by now. Bees are dying, and a tangled mix of toxic pesticides, monocrop agriculture, and climate change are probably to blame. After the coming Beepocalypse, we’ll have to pollinate our food crops by hand, or so the thinking goes.
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Pineapple Excess [22 May 2015|02:31pm]

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/drink/2015/05/pi_a_colada_puerto_rico_origins_a_guide_to_the_sweetest_silliest_drink_of.html

Among its many shortcomings, the piña colada, like all the silliest summertide mixed drinks, fails to gratify an honest thirst. Like the frozen strawberry margarita rotating in its machine as if spinning eternally into the abyss, the piña colada is more a sweet treat than a proper beverage. Drinks of this ilk are like popsicles liquefied on behalf of people too lazy to lick, and their primary effect is a sugar high, with the alcohol kick featuring only just enough to abet dehydration and summon an unjust hangover. Naturally, some dental hygienists are known to offer their patients piña colada-flavored fluoride: Oral gel is an apt medium for its toothache essence.
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The “Osama Bin Laden Sure Read Boring Books” Edition [22 May 2015|02:39pm]

http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/gabfest/2015/05/political_gabfest_on_osama_bin_laden_s_reading_list_columbia_university.html

Become a fan of the Political Gabfest on Facebook. We post to the Facebook page throughout the week, so keep the conversation going by joining us there. Or follow us @SlateGabfest!
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The Musical Omnivore’s Dilemma [22 May 2015|02:41pm]

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/music_box/2015/05/jim_o_rourke_s_simple_songs_reviewed_the_singer_songwriter_s_greatest_influence.html

Jim O’Rourke came slipping into my brainpan again a few months ago—well before I learned that this week he would be releasing the extraordinary Simple Songs, his first song-based solo album in 14 years.
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What Happened at Slate This Week? [22 May 2015|03:14pm]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/05/the_best_of_slate_andrew_kahn_on_his_favorite_reads_of_the_week.html

What’s up, Slate Plus members?
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Spider Skies [22 May 2015|03:56pm]

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/05/_spider_rain_australia_ballooning_event_mystery_causes_arachnid_sky_video.html

In the Southern Tablelands region of Australia, a “ballooning” event has seen millions of spiders riding the wind and creating their own arachnid storm. For reasons that are not entirely clear, the spiders in question crawl to the highest point they can find, release strands of silk, then launch themselves into the air.

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Doing Their Fair Share? [22 May 2015|04:49pm]

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/inside_higher_ed/2015/05/wealthy_universities_like_harvard_leave_low_income_students_behind_despite.html

This post originally appeared on Inside Higher Ed.
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Raindrops Are Mathematically Impossible [22 May 2015|05:14pm]

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/05/rain_discover_why_each_drop_of_rain_is_a_mathematical_impossibility.html

The surface area of every rain drop presents a physical barrier to their formation. How is that barrier overcome? The MinutePhysics team breaks it down into (almost) understandable terms. Watch, rewatch, and learn.
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Raindrops Are Mathematically Impossible [22 May 2015|05:14pm]

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/05/rain_discover_why_each_drop_of_rain_is_a_mathematical_impossibility.html

The surface area of every raindrop presents a physical barrier to their formation. How is that barrier overcome? The MinutePhysics team breaks it down into (almost) understandable terms. Watch, rewatch, and learn.
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College Students Are Not Customers [22 May 2015|05:51pm]

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2015/05/college_students_are_not_customers_a_political_shorthand_that_needs_to_die.html

In what is apparently a vogue of Republican state legislators exercising misplaced vendettas against college professors, Iowa Sen. Mark Chelgren recently made headlines when he introduced Senate File 64, “an Act relating to the teaching effectiveness and employment of professors” at Iowa public institutions.
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Be Very Afraid of Ticks [22 May 2015|06:41pm]

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_kids/2015/05/tick_borne_diseases_are_spreading_fast.html

All parents have at least one issue that keeps them up at night worrying over their kids. For some, it’s gun violence. Others, cyberbullying. For me—especially in the spring and summer—it’s ticks.
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Hillary’s Bubbles [22 May 2015|06:48pm]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/05/hillary_clinton_sidney_blumenthal_and_protective_bubbles_why_the_democratic.html

Hillary Clinton spoke recently on bubbles and public life. Asked about emails sent by her longtime confidant and Clinton Foundation employee Sidney Blumenthal, the candidate said that she communicated with old friends to keep balance as Secretary of State. “I think you do have to work to make sure you’re not caught in a bubble and you only hear from a certain small group of people. And I’m going to keep talking to my old friends, whoever they are.”
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How Things Break [22 May 2015|07:06pm]

http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2015/05/ali_liston_50th_anniversary_the_true_story_behind_neil_leifer_s_perfect.html

A version of this essay was originally printed in the Iowa Review.
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Circumcision Armageddon [22 May 2015|09:06pm]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2015/05/chase_nebus_hironimus_circumcision_battle_intactivists_form_chase_s_guardians.html

Heather Hironimus and Dennis Nebus are fixated on their son’s foreskin. It is an obsession that has bound them together long beyond the end of their relationship. Nebus believes their 4 1/2-year-old son, Chase Ryan Nebus-Hironimus, should be circumcised for medical reasons. Hironimus believes circumcision is barbaric genital mutilation. Nebus has gone to court to get his son circumcised. Hironimus has gone to jail to prevent it. Their dispute is easily the weirdest, saddest, most disturbing battle yet in the war over circumcision.
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Ironic Misandry Claims Its First Victim [22 May 2015|10:05pm]

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/users/2015/05/bahar_mustafa_at_goldsmiths_university_ironic_misandry_claims_its_first.html

Last month student union leaders at Goldsmiths, University of London, organized a meeting for minority students to chat about their stake in the student protests being staged at schools across London over the high cost of tuition. Bahar Mustafa had just been re-elected to her post as welfare and diversity officer for Goldsmiths’ student union, and she eagerly recruited her Facebook friends to help spread the word. Oh, and “if you’re a man and/or white PLEASE DON’T COME,” she wrote in a note. “Don’t worry lads we will give you and allies things to do.”
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How to Green the U.S. Government [22 May 2015|10:46pm]

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_juice/2015/05/rock_island_arsenal_switches_to_renewables_the_government_s_cheap_easy_way.html

Big defense contracts awarded to big defense contractors are usually a big cause for concern. They tend to go over budget, often for things we don’t really need (like a certain type of fighter plane). But a couple weeks ago, the Pentagon announced a contract with a big-time defense contractor that good-government and energy-efficiency types should cheer—and demand grow more common. Honeywell Building Solutions, a unit of the conglomerate Honeywell, got a $22.4 million contract to overhaul the energy system at Rock Island Arsenal—an ancient military outpost on an island in the Mississippi River between Iowa and Illinois.
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