Nicholas Thompson

Why Obama Shouldn't Join the War in Syria : The New Yorker

newyorker.com — "Here's what we wrestle with: there are huge costs and unintended consequences that go with a military intervention that could last for many years." So said Benjamin Rhodes, Obama's deputy national-security adviser, in an interview with Dexter Filkins this spring about White House policy on Syria.

Postscript: James Gandolfini, 1961-2013

newyorker.com — Success came relatively late to James Gandolfini-if not by the standards of scholars, judges, and surgeons, then at least by the standards of actors. At the age of thirty-seven, overweight, sad-eyed, and modestly credited in motion pictures, he auditioned for the role of Tony Soprano fully expecting to fail: "I thought that they would hire some good-looking guy, not George Clooney, but some Italian George Clooney, and that would be that," he once said.

Is This the End of Rico?

newyorker.com — Ever since the early thirties, when Charles (Lucky) Luciano tamed the more anarchic impulses of the Mob, it has been an article of local faith that the greater metropolitan area is controlled by the Five Families. There are, as it happens, five and a half-the half being the DeCavalcantes of Union County, the only freestanding Mob family in New Jersey.

Why Monopolies Make Government Spying Easier : The New Yorker

newyorker.com — These days, America has one dominant search engine, one dominant social-networking site, and four phone companies. The structure of the information industry often goes unnoticed, but it has an enormous effect on the ease with which the government spies on citizens.

In Brooklyn, Creating Apps for the Do-It-Yourself Scene

online.wsj.com — With its new Creatavist service, the Dumbo company Atavist hopes to inspire new forms of narrative invention-essentially democratizing the process of building magazines and launching apps.

ReutersWorld: Putin, Obama disagree over ...

twitter.com — Putin, Obama disagree over Syria at tense G8 summit meeting http://reut.rs/19cQrBn pic.twitter.com/kVgL3wl9cZ

How Caffeine Short-Circuits Creativity

newyorker.com — Honoré de Balzac is said to have consumed the equivalent of fifty cups of coffee a day at his peak. He did not drink coffee, though- he pulverized coffee beans into a fine dust and ingested the dry powder on an empty stomach.

Edward Snowden Q&A: NSA whistleblower answers your questions

guardian.co.uk — It is the interview the world's media organisations have been chasing for more than a week, but instead Edward Snowden is giving Guardian readers the exclusive.

Privacy in an Age of Publicity : The New Yorker

newyorker.com — The A.C.L.U., which last week filed a suit against the Obama Administration, has called the N.S.A.'s surveillance program, Prism, a "gross infringement" of the "right to privacy." The Obama Administration has defended both the program and the fact that its existence has been kept secret.