Weekend Reads 11/18/17

When will the Earth try to kill us again?

Working in the 19th century, paleontology pioneer Georges Cuvier saw dramatic turnovers of life in the fossil record and likened them to the French Revolution, then still fresh in his memory.

Today, we refer to such events as “mass extinctions,” incidents in which many species of animals and plants died out in a geological instant. They are so profound and have such global reach that geological time itself is sliced up into periods—Permian, Triassic, Cretaceous—that are often defined by these mass extinctions.

The death of Christianity in the U.S.

The beauty of the gospel message — of love, of peace and of fraternity — has been murdered by the ambitions of Trumpish flimflammers who have sold their souls for expediency.

CompuServe Forums, RIP

AOL's move to a monthly subscription model instead of metered dial-up time in 1996 (plus something called the World Wide Web) was a death blow to CompuServe's dial-up business. WorldCom bought CompuServe's networks, and the information service ended up in the hands of AOL in 1998.

Yet somehow, CompuServe's Forums, the venerable discussion platform of the dial-up era, have lived on—until now.

Lord, When Did We See You Addicted?

The epidemic has brought an already-struggling post-industrial local economy to its knees. Addiction is so widespread that employers have trouble finding job candidates who can pass drug tests. The area’s limited public transportation makes ongoing treatment and support—which is essential for recovery—difficult for those without cars. And nearly every day another news item appears about an overdose-related car accident or unconscious addict found at home while young children play nearby.