Jul/Aug 2013
There's a Name for That: The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon
When a thing you just found out about suddenly seems to crop up everywhere.
Postal Service by Projectile: Delivering Mail With Rockets
Long before email, it was predicted that traditional letters would be dropped off using the ever-advancing technology of the Space Age.
Kings and Commoners: The Great Diversity of the America's Cup
A look back at the influential history of one of the sporting world's most elite events, which has also managed to attract attention from the masses.
How NASA Hopes to Better Monitor and Control Our Water Supply in the West
Flying high with the new Airborne Snow Observatory.
Which Eggheads Should Run Washington, D.C.?
Five years after the financial crash, psychologists are still asking economists to hand over the keys.
What Happens When Austerity Measures Cut Out Your Emergency Services
An inside look at what it's like when austerity measures lead to direct cuts in your city's emergency services.
Inside the Asylum, the Most Successful Low-Budget Studios
Bottom-of-the-barrel creature features. Topless-teen comedies. "Mockbuster" rip-offs. In Burbank, California, one low-budget studio cranks out whatever Netflix wants.
How Military-Style Policing Became America's New Normal
How military-style policing became America's new normal.
The New Bronze Age: We're Entering the Era of Tough Ore
Worries about oil and gas hog the airwaves. But copper is also essential to keep the world running: It threads through your house, your computer, your eco-correct hybrid car. And it's getting just as difficult, expensive, and environmentally menacing as oil to extract. We have entered the era of tough ore.
Four Sites We Like and Are Reading This Month
Four destinations across the Web that Pacific Standard staffers find themselves returning to again and again.
Building a Legal Marijuana Industry From the Ground Up
Washington's Initiative 502 legalized pot across the state, but provided only a few guidelines for how to produce, process, and retail the drug. What regulations will lawmakers put in place—and will they convince black market users to switch to a new, regulated industry?
Soap Operas Can Save the World
Melodramas promoting literacy and family planning? Tune in next week.
The Merry Pranksters Who Hacked the Afghan War
It was a dark time in a long, drawn-out war. Afghanistan was festering with resentment. The Pentagon brass were desperate. It was the kind of last-ditch moment when authorities start throwing an era's weirdest ideas at its most hopeless bureaucratic mistakes.
Since We Last Spoke: Updates to Previous Pacific Standard Stories
Updates to past Pacific Standard print stories.
Contributors: Writers for the July/August 2013 Issue
Meet some of the people behind the July/August 2013 issue of Pacific Standard.
On the Upside: Introducing the July/August Issue of Pacific Standard
Introducing the July/August 2013 issue of Pacific Standard.
Conference Call: What’s Happening in July and August—and Why It Matters
From Rust, Regeneration, and Romance to The Global Crime Scene: Crime Narratives Beyond Borders, academic gatherings you should be aware of.
Datebook: What's Happening in July and August—and Why It Matters
From the Twelfth Annual World UFO Day to the Running of the Bulls, events you should be aware of.
The Upside of Trauma
Worries about post-traumatic stress have become a stock part of the media narrative surrounding tragedies like Boston and Newtown. And resilience is supposedly the best we can hope for in the face of adversity. But what if there's a third option? The story of one mass shooting, and the surprising tug of post-traumatic growth.
The Gays Are (Finally) All Right
Seminal research that changed how we think about homosexuality—one step at a time, over the past century.
The Problem With Psychiatry, the 'DSM,' and the Way We Study Mental Illness
Psychiatry is under attack for not being scientific enough, but the real problem is its blindness to culture. When it comes to mental illness, we wear the disorders that come off the rack.