Online Dating Insider: Have You Tried Turning It Off and Then On Again?

Dec. 23, 2014

The Agenda

North Korea has left the Internet — and the U.S. may be responsible
Mic

Just four days after President Barack Obama promised a "proportional response" to the massive hacking operation that brought Sony Pictures to its knees, the entire country of North Korea has dropped off the Web.

+ North Korean connections began experiencing instability late on Friday, and by Monday digital analysts concluded the entire country was the victim of a massive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, leading to "one of the worst North Korean network failures in years."

+ North Korea warned the U.S. on Sunday that any punishment levied against the isolated nation would lead to damage "thousands of times greater" than the Sony hack.

+ Meanwhile: You may end up seeing The Interview after all, thanks to Anonymous.

+ On a lighter note, this video hilariously imagines what 2015's movie trailers would look like if North Korea was calling the shots.

+ All joking aside, North Korea isn't funny. Really.

6 people allegedly "responsible" for the double murder of two NYPD police officers — other than the gunman
Mic

Two New York police officers were shot and killed in the middle of a Brooklyn neighborhood in what Mayor Bill de Blasio called an "assassination," while Police Commissioner Bill Bratton mourned the officers, saying, "Two of New York's finest were shot and killed with no warning, no provocation."

"Most reports on 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, the suspected gunman, painted a portrait of instability and violence," Mic's Sophie Kleeman writes. "Despite this, the blame game began in full force within hours of the shooting, and the deaths of two police officers were transformed from tragedy into political currency."

+ Some New York City figures, from former governor George Pataki to former mayor Rudy Giuliani, opted to place the blame on political figures from Mayor Bill de Blasio to President Obama for creating an atmosphere of "hatred" towards law enforcement in the wake of the Eric Garner grand jury decision.

+ One tweet explains what people don't seem to get about the NYPD and #BlackLivesMatter.

+ Eric Garner's daughter is the real example that these politicians and pundits should follow.

+ There's another victim of the NYPD shooting spree that the media is overlooking.

Marvels

The 20 countries that did more for the planet than the U.S. in 2014. [Mic]

The Scientology Christmas catalog is totally insane. [Deadspin]

Argentina's courts just granted an orangutan basic human rights. [Al Jazeera]

Hip-hop's big problem with Iggy Azalea just blew up — and she totally deserved it. [Mic]

When exactly do kids stop believing in Santa Claus? [the Atlantic]

This is what real Native American fashion looks like. [Mic]

What science tells us about smiling. [the Guardian]

"Most of what's oldest about us humans is still younger than drinking." [Chronicle of Higher Education]

J.K. Rowling just gave Harry Potter fans the gift of Draco Malfoy's life story. [Mic]

Mars is bullshit. [n+1]

Two maps show just how gay marriage swept the U.S. in 2014. [Mic]

Photo of the Day

We asked a bunch of dudes to draw vaginas to prove an important point: America's male elected officials continue to aggressively legislate women's bodies in the year 2014, even though they often seem not to know basic facts about women.

To illustrate why this is a really serious problem, we decided to conduct a special experiment, asking men from Mic to do one simple thing: Draw a vagina. The goal? See how much educated men really know about women's bodies.

The result? It went about as badly as you might imagine.

Mic Check is carefully and dutifully assembled each day by Jared Keller. Did we miss something you wanted to read about? Want to see us focus on an under-covered issue? Have a tip for the next edition? Email jared@mic.com.

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