The Angle

The Angle: Texting While Driving Edition

Slate’s daily newsletter on distracted driving, recipe preambles, and the year in A.I.

We’re not watching the road as much as we should anymore.

Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

Get to the food already: April Glaser asks an all-important question: Why does every online recipe begin with a preface to a personal memoir?

Curbing dangerous driving: Smartphone use is almost certainly making driving deadlier. But between legal issues and the electronics industry, there’s a host of controversial reasons why we can’t improve our distracted-driving policies before thousands more die in car-related fatalities.

Statues down: Henry Grabar on how Memphis outsmarted Tennessee and converted public lands to legally take down its Confederate monuments.

Not-so-artificial accomplishments: It’s been a big year for artificial intelligence. Christina Bonnington outlines the most impressive things A.I. has done, from beating pros at their own games to spotting a distant solar system.

For fun: Portlandia nails this parody of true crime podcasts.

Cue that banjo,
Chau

Editor’s note: The Angle will return Jan. 3.