What's New

Even in the middle of the day, the 50-mile trip from San Francisco to San Jose is a pain. Like a toddler, Bay Area driving toggles between slumber (rush-hour slogs) and frenzy (passing-happy speeding). It’s enough to make one eager for the day when robots rule the roads. And it’s more than enough to make me envy Evan Livingston, who doesn’t have to show up in person this meeting, held in a Lincoln MKZ sedan roaming downtown San Jose.

Look, we get it. If you saw the news at all over the weekend, you probably saw something about Special Counsel Robert Mueller finally turning over the findings of his 675-day Russia investigation. Entertainment news likely fell by the wayside. But that's why The Monitor is here: To fulfill your pop culture cravings. So, what'd you miss? Well, writer-director Jordan Peele's Us did very well for itself. Also, one of the Jonas Brothers knows how Game of Thrones ends.

Volvo has had it up to här with drivers. The Swedish carmaker has spent decades building a reputation based on safety (and low-key luxury), but humanity’s taste for speeding, distraction, and impaired driving remains a threat no airbag, semi-autonomous system or moose-detection system can neutralize.

The trick to pronouncing presidential candidate and South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg's last name is to keep your lips almost totally puckered through all three syllables. At least, that's the only way I'm able to do it. If I can get my lips halfway between a pout and a whistle, and say it in one quick exhale, I can get it. Bood-eh-jedge, bood-eh-jedge, bood-eh-jedge. I learned this a few days ago from watching video after YouTube video of Buttigieg saying his own name.

In the five days since Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed a few minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people aboard, regulators around the world have grounded the Boeing 737 MAX 8. That’s a reaction to the fact that the circumstances of this disaster match those of Lion Air Flight 610, another 737 MAX 8, which crashed into the Java Sea in October, killing all 189 occupants.

The day was young and full of promise, electrified by the moon in Sagittarius. An astrologer named Aliza texted me that I was on the cusp of a new cycle. It was time to tantalize my “Venusian sensibilities.” Power emoji: 💆 I had found Aliza while beta-testing a new app, called Sanctuary. The app, designed to be the “Talkspace for astrology,” offers free daily horoscopes and, with a $20 monthly subscription, astrological readings on demand.

I live in Portland, Oregon, a city in which notifying your host of your eating restrictions is just good manners. Maybe you too have friends who are vegan, vegetarian, or gluten-free. Or lactose-intolerant, paleo, or perhaps adhering to my toddler’s diet, which is best described as “pepperoni.” In this fraught environment, pizza has saved our social life. Pizzas are customizable and dough is cheap to make.