I’m speaking on Friday at the US Army Command and General Staff College. I’ll be on a media panel with some pretty heady company — McClatchy’s ace Nancy Youssef, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson, and AP deputy Washington bureau chief Steve Komarow. Drop me a note (or c’mon by) if you’re at Ft. Leavenworth, and want to meet up.
Teachers Get Death Threats After MAGA Claims Their Halloween Costumes Mocked Charlie Kirk
A Turning Point USA official inaccurately claimed a high school's math department wore Halloween costumes that mocked Charlie Kirk. Those teachers are now facing a flood of online attacks and death threats.
No, ICE (Probably) Didn’t Buy Guided Missile Warheads
A federal contracting database lists an ICE payment for $61,218 with the payment code for “guided missile warheads and explosive components.” But it appears ICE simply entered the wrong code.
Nancy Mace Curses, Berates Confused Cops in Airport Meltdown: Police Report
At an airport in South Carolina on Thursday, US representative Nancy Mace called police officers “fucking incompetent” and berated them repeatedly, according to an incident report.
Historians Don't Think a US Civil War Is Likely—but They're Still Nervous
“The fabric of what binds America together at this point is basically on its final thread,” one source tells WIRED.
How to Hack a Poker Game
This week on Uncanny Valley, we break down how one of the most common card shufflers could be altered to cheat, and why that matters—even for those who don’t frequent the poker table.
Climate Change Made Hurricane Melissa 4 Times More Likely, Study Suggests
Unusually warm ocean temperatures fueled one of the worst hurricanes on record. New research finds climate change increased the storm’s likelihood.
Physicists Create a Thermometer for Measuring ‘Quantumness’
“Anomalous” heat flow, which at first appears to violate the second law of thermodynamics, gives physicists a way to detect quantum entanglement without destroying it.
In Orbit You Have to Slow Down to Speed Up
Driving a spacecraft around a planet isn’t anything like driving on a planet. A physicist explains orbital navigation.
Unpicking How to Measure the Complexity of Knots
Two mathematicians have proved that a straightforward question—how hard is it to untie a knot?—has a complicated answer.
OpenAI's Atlas Wants to Be the Web’s Tour Guide. I’m Not Convinced It Needs One
In OpenAI’s new Atlas browser, the Ask ChatGPT sidebar is moderately helpful at best. Sometimes, it’s confusingly wrong.
Ex-L3Harris Cyber Boss Pleads Guilty to Selling Trade Secrets to Russian Firm
Peter Williams, a former executive of Trenchant, L3Harris’ cyber division, has pleaded guilty to two counts of stealing trade secrets and selling them to an unnamed Russian software broker.
The Password Managers You Should Use Instead of Your Browser
Keep your logins locked down with our favorite password management apps for PC, Mac, Android, iPhone, and web browsers.