How a king became 42,000 bullets
For six years, a gilded equestrian statue of King George III had stood in Bowling Green at the southern tip of Manhattan. By the evening of July 9, 1776,…
Author: The Smart Reader Staff
Briefs and quick reads selected and edited by The Smart Reader's editorial team of Rick, Allyson, and Ryan Good.
The signer who paid the price
When the 56 men signed the Declaration of Independence, they pledged “our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” For Richard Stockton of New Jersey,…
The $4 frame that held a treasure
In the summer of 1989, a financial analyst from Philadelphia stopped at a flea market in Adamstown, Pennsylvania. According to the Los Angeles Times, he…
Jefferson’s odd July 4 shopping trip
July 4, 1776, was a busy day in Philadelphia. The Continental Congress had just voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence, a document Thomas…
State of the Assistants The second great voice-assistant war
Siri turned 15 this year. Alexa is 12. Google Assistant is 10. For a decade, they sold us a vision: an always-on digital helper that would run your home….
Will Siri ever get smart? Apple makes a billion-dollar bet
When Siri finally gets a brain, that brain will mostly be Google’s. For two years, Apple has been promising that Siri would get a brain. The announcement…
Alexa+: From kitchen clock to AI assistant, sort of
Amazon was the company that put a voice assistant in 200 million American homes. It was also the company that watched ChatGPT eat its lunch. In February…
Gemini: Google nixes retrofit
Rather than retrofit Google Assistant with AI, Google is killing Google Assistant. In October 2025, Google began rolling out Gemini for Home to its smart…
The Declaration’s missing 168 words
In June 1776, Thomas Jefferson included a fiery 168-word passage in his draft of the Declaration of Independence that condemned slavery as “piratical…
Ben Franklin missed the Declaration because of gout
Benjamin Franklin was appointed to the Committee of Five tasked with drafting the Declaration of Independence in June 1776. He barely participated. Laid…