Inside TurboTax’s 20-Year Fight to Stop Americans From Filing Their Taxes for Free
Decline of Christianity Continues in US ; The Most Deceptive Hack in History ; and More Picks
Decline of Christianity Continues in US ; The Most Deceptive Hack in History ; and More Picks 10/18
Facing Unbearable Heat, Qatar Has Begun to Air-Condition the Outdoors (Russ)
The author writes, “While climate change inflicts suffering in the world’s poorest places from Somalia to Syria, from Guatemala to Bangladesh, in rich places such as the United States, Europe and Qatar global warming poses an engineering problem, not an existential one. And it can be addressed, at least temporarily, with gobs of money and a little technology.”
In US, Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace (DonkeyHotey)
From the Pew Research Center: “Both Protestantism and Catholicism are experiencing losses of population share. Currently, 43% of U.S. adults identify with Protestantism, down from 51% in 2009. And one-in-five adults (20%) are Catholic, down from 23% in 2009. Meanwhile, all subsets of the religiously unaffiliated population – a group also known as religious “nones” – have seen their numbers swell.”
The Most Deceptive Hack in History (Gerry)
The author writes, “Even now, Russia’s attack on the Olympics still haunts cyberwar wonks. … Yes, the US government and the cybersecurity industry eventually solved the puzzle, after some initial false starts and confusion. But the attack set a new bar for deception, one that might still prove to have disastrous consequences when its tricks are repeated or evolve further.”
Voting Machines Pose a Greater Threat to Our Elections Than Foreign Agents (Chris)
The author writes, “The Senate has passed $250 million in funding for election security. Missing from the bill? Any language requiring strong security.”
If True, This Could Be One of the Greatest Discoveries in Human History (Chris)
From Haaretz: “Last October, [Avi] Loeb and his postdoctoral student Shmuel Bialy … published an article in the scientific outlet The Astrophysical Journal Letters, which seriously raised the possibility that an intelligent species of aliens had sent a spaceship to Earth.”
