The Real Consequence of the Iran Deal: Imported Pistachios

The momentous deal Iran reached with P5+1 nations Tuesday could have some delicious consequences; another revelation made thanks to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden makes the agency’s mass data collection truly indefensible; meanwhile, the Senate hinders the advance of LGBT rights by voting down an important measure about discrimination in schools. These discoveries and more below.

Nuclear Deal Also Opens American Shores to a Plentiful Bounty of Delicious Iranian Pistachios The nuclear development agreement announced Tuesday between Iran and six world powers, including the U.S., is a historic development in world diplomacy. But how will it affect the pistachio market?

London’s Long Lost Pneumatic Messaging Tube System Pneumatic messaging blows cylindrical carriers in tubes, carrying messages and small items in closed systems, which were pioneered and developed in London in the 1850’s, ironically to support a new electric communications technology, the telegraph.

News Sites Are Fatter and Slower Than Ever Websites designers live in a bubble, they’re increasingly disconnected from users.

No Longer Getting Lost at the Strand When I was in my twenties, I went often to the Strand Bookstore, less to buy books than to discover them: the hardcover by an author I’d read about but never read; the tattered, out-of-print paperback that had been mentioned, obscurely, somewhere.

The Latest Snowden Leak Is Devastating to NSA Defenders The agency collected and stored intimate chats, photos, and emails belonging to innocent Americans—and secured them so poorly that reporters can now browse them at will.

These Scholars Have Been Pointing Out Atticus Finch’s Racism for Years The portrayal of Atticus Finch, the lawyer hero of To Kill A Mockingbird, as a racist in Harper Lee’s new novel, Go Set A Watchman, has been variously described as a “bombshell,” “shocking” and a “revelation” in early reviews.

Greece as Euro ‘Economic Protectorate’ With Greece having agreed late last week to virtually all the Euro finance ministers’ prior demands for concessions, Euro ministers meeting in Brussels over the weekend, July 11-12, were expected to focus on discussing the terms for Greece’s debt restructuring in exchange for the latest Greek concessions.

The Ethics and Morality of Assisted Suicide On July 7, a California bill to legalize assisted suicide died in committee before it could advance to a vote in the State Assembly.

Senate Votes Down Measure To Ban LGBT Discrimination In Schools The measure got 52 votes, which was eight shy of the 60 needed to pass.