The New Republic

The web is buzzing with discussion of the case of Deborah Copaken Kogan, a writer and Financial Times columnist who discovered—via Facebook—that her child had a rare and dangerous disease. Kogan’s story began when her four-year-old son developed a stubborn rash, followed by a fever and intense swelling. After Kogan began to post photos of her sick child on Facebook, she received a panicked phone call from a former neighbor who had seen the photos. READ MORE >>

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There was more grim health news earlier last week when a new study revealed that obesity rates in every U.S. state have risen sharply since the 1990s. The state with the highest rate today is Mississippi, where more than one-third of all adults are obese. And even the state with the lowest obesity rate today—Colorado, with an obesity rate just below 20 percent—would have had the highest rate in 1995. READ MORE >>

Last night, the National League defeated the American League 5-1 in the eighty-second MLB All-Star Game, posting its second consecutive victory after more than a decade of losses to the AL. Last night’s game took place at Chase Field, the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. READ MORE >>

Yesterday marked the first tweet from the Office of Vice President Joe Biden, whose foray into the world of Twitter has occasioned a few snickers among people skeptical that he can limit himself to 140 characters. READ MORE >>

Yesterday was the Fourth of July, a prime hot-dog-eating day for millions of Americans. According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, on Independence Day Americans consume 150 million hot dogs—and none of them ate more than Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, the 230-pound, number-one-ranked competitive eater who yesterday was victorious for the fifth consecutive time at Nathan’s International Hot Dog Eating Contest. READ MORE >>

Mark Halperin appeared on MSNBC today and, apparently under the assumption that his language would be bleeped, used an impolite term to describe President Obama. Bad news: His comment wasn’t censored, and now, despite a rapid apology, he’s been suspended by the network. READ MORE >>

Computer security researchers made a startling and alarming announcement this week: A highly-advanced botnet which controls over 4.5 million personal computers might be “indestructible.” A “botnet” is a collection of machines which have been infected with malicious software (usually designed to steal information) and are controlled by a third party. (In fact, your computer could be surreptitiously operating as part of a botnet right now. READ MORE >>

Today, Specific Media, a digital advertising company, announced that it has purchased Myspace (remember Myspace?) from News Corp. Just five years ago, News Corp paid $580 million for Myspace, but since then, the once-powerful social networking site has shed users and been overtaken by Facebook. In January, Myspace laid off nearly half its staff, and Specific Media, according to a number of reports, paid just $35 million for it. How could Myspace have fallen so far, so fast? READ MORE >>

Yesterday, the United Nations announced that, for only the second time in history, a disease has been successfully eradicated from the Earth. The offending affliction in question, which strikes animals—particularly cattle—is called rinderpest, and its lethal effects have disrupted and plagued human society for thousands of years. READ MORE >>