Good week, Bad week
Secessionists; Outsmarting the NSA; Inhaling
Good week for:
Secessionists, after representatives from eight rural Colorado counties began making plans to form a breakaway state, North Colorado, to escape the state’s gun-control laws and oil-industry regulations. “This is not a stunt,” said Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway. “Our very way of life is under attack.”
Outsmarting the NSA, after Russia’s secret service ordered dozens of electric typewriters, saying that recent revelations about the U.S. National Security Agency’s online surveillance program made them distrust computer communications.
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Waste management, after British scientists invented a cellphone battery powered by urine. This “is about as eco as it gets,” said one researcher, noting that urine is a renewable resource.
Bad week for:
Inhaling, with the news that a specimen of the world’s largest flower, the titan arum, is about to bloom at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C. To attract carrion insects, the flower emits a stench botanists likened to “a very dead elephant.”
The idea that more is better, after a New York City woman set off 21 bug bombs inside her apartment, causing an explosion that collapsed her five-story building, injuring 14 people.
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American Legacy Firearms, a gun-maker that unveiled the “Dallas Heritage Rifle” to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Lee Harvey Oswald’s assassination of President John F. Kennedy. “If I hurt someone’s feelings, I’m sorry,” said company boss Steve Faler, “but I’m not gonna worry about it.”
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The week's best photos
In Pictures A tomato fight, painting behind bars, and more
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Mountainhead: Jesse Armstrong's tech bro satire sparkles with 'weapons-grade zingers'
The Week Recommends The Succession creator's first feature film lacks the hit TV show's 'dramatic richness' – but makes for a horribly gripping watch
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Seeing Each Other: Portraits of Artists – a 'riveting' exhibition
The Week Recommends Pallant House exhibition offers fascinating instances of painterly reciprocity
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Good week, Bad week
feature Making amends, Justice, Saying ‘cheese’
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Good week, Bad week
feature Reptile experience; Painless budget cuts; Driving with kids
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Good week, Bad week
feature Closing the sale; Calling 911; Going to the circus
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Good week, Bad week
feature Asking Google anything; Misanthropes; Persistence
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Good week, Bad week
feature Torture, Irritating the cat, Being cheap
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Good week, Bad week
feature Strolling in Naples; Infallibility; Mississippi
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Good week, Bad week
feature Tesla; Entrepreneurship; Fortune-tellers
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Good week, Bad week
feature The miracles of science; Wild times in Wisconsin; Holding hands