Excellent Reads

Factory farming has made us think of chickens as mindless automata. But our downy friends know much more than we give them credit for.

While incarcerated, Alexei Navalny wrote extensively to journalists, politicians, scientists, activists, and people from all walks of life across the globe.

Between the summer of 2022 and autumn 2023, when he was held in the IK-6 high-security prison near Vladimir, this was relatively straightforward thanks to Russia’s prison e-mail service, FSIN-Letter, which allowed for correspondence to be exchanged within days.

However, his transfer in December 2023 to the IK-3 maximum security prison in the tiny village of Kharp in the Russian Arctic, meant online services were unavailable, and all communication became paper-based, significantly slowing down delivery. Consequently, some of Navalny’s replies only reached their intended recipients after his death—weeks, and in some cases, months later.

Mediazona publishes a selection of these letters here, alongside accounts from those who received them.

An investigation by CBC’s The Fifth Estate uncovered a key internal document that provides a minute-by-minute account of how authorities believe the 2023 gold heist at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport was planned and executed, alleging a highly organized group of individuals relied heavily on a well-placed insider.

Economists predict that, ultimately, consumers will bear the burden of the burgeoning trade dispute between the U.S., Canada, China, and Mexico. Here are a few ways consumers can prepare for the rising prices that could follow suit.

Cross-posted from "‘Our meth was so realistic it got stolen’: Breaking Bad, Industry and Euphoria’s makers on how TV does drugs" by @[email protected] in [email protected]

Weed? Moss tied in thread. Crack? Organic shea butter. Cocaine bricks? Shrink-wrapped foam blocks. Designers reveal the secrets of faking drugs onscreen – from popping sugar pills to snorting vitamin D

The U.S. was once the world’s most geographically mobile society. Now we’re stuck in place—and that’s a very big problem.

From claims that Jews kill children to make matzo, to accusations that immigrants in Ohio are devouring neighbors’ pets, the myth of the blood libel is a nightmare that never ends. —Ákos Szegőfi

Many museums are reckoning with the colonial legacies of the human remains and cultural objects in their collections. Now anthropologists are advocating to pay similar respects to primates.

(...) My plea to policymakers is simple: employ the same evidence-based science you use for health issues towards drugs and problem drug use.

Science and research can help in many ways, if given the chance. Some of it might seem radical, like providing safe drug consumption spaces. Some of it is more mundane, but vital – like tackling inequality, a clear driver of problem drug use across the world.

But while we often look to politicians to take the lead on change, it is people – us – that really hold the solution. By far the greatest threat to people and society from drugs is ignorance and bigotry. So many lives have been lost to drugs because of shame, either as a driver of drug use or a barrier to seeking help.

Beliefs are notoriously difficult to shift. As with climate change, the most powerful driver of change is personal experience. We know that when a family or community is affected by a drug overdose, their beliefs and perceptions change. But this is not the way any of us should want to see change happen.

Researchers have been looking at what happened when rivers were granted status as legal persons. In New Zealand, they are seeing particularly promising developments in indigenous peoples’ rights and conditions.

Sumud is the Arabic word for resilience and steadfastness. It’s also the collective Palestinian cultural value that fuels the fight to end the Israeli occupation.

Paying extra for service has inspired rebellions, swivelling iPads, and irritation from Trotsky and Larry David. Post-pandemic, the practice has entered a new stage.