Inside the Pacheedaht Nation’s Stand on Fairy Creek Logging Blockades

“The Pacheedaht Nation has close to 300 members. About 120 live in the Pacheedaht community, less than a 15-minute drive from the blockades. And the inconvenient truth for the protesters, however well-intentioned in their inventive and prolonged efforts to save old-growth, however well-versed in the parlance of acknowledging the territories of Indigenous peoples, is that only a few Pacheedaht members have joined them.”

Author: Sarah Cox
Source: The Narwhal
Published: Aug 16, 2021
Length: 30 minutes (7,574 words)

Pumpers, Dumpers, and Shills: The Skycoin Saga

“I turned to a man next to me and asked what had brought him to the party. He rubbed his thumb and forefinger together and shouted, ‘Making money.’”

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Aug 18, 2021
Length: 28 minutes (7,012 words)

Hell is Other People: a Monk’s Guide to Office Life

“The hours are long in a monkish existence. Monks live at work, eat at work, sleep at work, wash at work, weekend at work and holiday at work. No wonder they had a somewhat tense relationship with their boss-on-high, as well as with each other.”

 

Source: The Economist
Published: Jul 14, 2021
Length: 9 minutes (2,397 words)

The Sopranos of Berlin: A Brutal Crime Family and a Billion Dollar Jewel Heist

“For such thieves, there is no more desirable prize than the crown jewels of the great monarchies of Europe. Putting aside whatever cultural significance these treasures may have later accrued—landing them in museums—the simple fact is that these pieces were made of materials that are still quite valuable today. The authorities feared that if they didn’t catch a quick break, pieces of the Green Vault collection would be lost forever.”

Source: GQ
Published: Aug 18, 2021
Length: 24 minutes (6,208 words)

Eating the Whale

“A personal history of meat.”

Published: Aug 18, 2021
Length: 22 minutes (5,739 words)

Trying—and Failing—to Save the Family of the Afghan Who Saved Me

“We saw the city full of these strange armed men. With strange clothing and hair styles. We are back in the nineties, you can’t believe these people are back.” The last time the Taliban had seized power, in 1996, their reign had begun with relative calm, but they quickly started conducting house raids, making arrests, and inflicting other abuses.”

Source: New Yorker
Published: Aug 17, 2021
Length: 10 minutes (2,539 words)

One Man’s Plan to Resurrect the Animal Species We Can’t Save

“On a crackly phone call in March, I ask Church about the ethical quandaries of bringing animals back from extinction. Why bring back a cloned animal, rather than save a species that still exists?”

Source: Wired UK
Published: Jun 30, 2021
Length: 18 minutes (4,513 words)

The Queen of Delicacies

“Miss Georgia Peach had the first taste of the “World’s Largest Peach Cobbler” — 75 gallons of peaches, 70 pounds of butter, 150 pounds of sugar, 150 pounds of flour, 32 gallons of milk  — baked in a brick oven lined with school bus floor panels next to the county courthouse during Fort Valley’s annual peach festival. The line for free cobbler wrapped around concession stands and down the block.”

 

 

Published: Aug 17, 2021
Length: 25 minutes (6,380 words)

The Spine Collector

“For years, a mysterious figure has been stealing books before their release. Is it espionage? Revenge? Or a complete waste of time?”

Source: Vulture
Published: Aug 17, 2021
Length: 27 minutes (6,877 words)

Space, Billionaires, and How Capitalism is Killing the Planet

“Before it spends trillions of dollars littering its techno-junk around the solar system, this house believes that humanity should pay a little more attention to what’s happening right here and now. On this planet.”

 

 

Source: Independent
Published: Aug 15, 2021
Length: 18 minutes (4,700 words)