The Secret to the Uber Economy is Wealth Inequality

Leo Mirani Quartz
The so-called Uber or “on-demand” economy is a rerun of the oldest sort of business: middlemen insinuating themselves between buyers and sellers. The vital ingredient, without which this new economy would fall apart, is inequality. All that modern technology has done is make it easier, through omnipresent smartphones, to amass a fleet of increasingly desperate jobseekers eager to take whatever work they can get.

How Foreign Imams Have Radicalized Syria's War

Edward Dark Al-Monitor
When eastern Aleppo fell to rebel factions in 2012, well-organized radical Islamic preachers from abroad quickly moved in and began proselytizing extremist views to the local population. It is an example of methodically planned Islamist radicalization in the chaos and turmoil of war. And it raises fears that the effects of this extremist phase in Syria's civil war will linger for years to come.

Friday Nite Videos -- December 19, 2014

Portside
Millions March NYC (Time Lapse). Best of the Colbert Report. Stormscapes 2. Samuel L Jackson: 'Call Out Racist Police Violence.' Top 10 Cutest Animals of Science of 2014.

Millions March NYC (Time Lapse)

The view from 6th Ave and 29th Steet of the #MillionsMarchNYC. Approximately 90 minutes of footage in 30 seconds. 

Samuel L Jackson: 'Call Out Racist Police Violence'

Actor Samuel L. Jackson has issued a call to action -- aimed especially at his fellow celebrities -- similar the ice bucket challenge, but for police. "I can hear my neighbor cryin’ ‘I can’t breathe' "

How Exercise Changes Our DNA

Gretchen Reynolds The New York Times
Exercise, a new study finds, changes the shape and functioning of our genes, an important stop on the way to improved health and fitness. More than 5,000 sites on the genome of muscle cells are altered by exercise.