“The British street artist’s identity has been debated, and closely guarded, for decades. A quest to solve the riddle took Reuters from a bombed-out Ukrainian village to London and downtown Manhattan—and uncovered much more than a name.”
Reuters
Posted inEditor's Pick
Meta’s Flirty AI Chatbot Invited a Retiree to New York. He Never Made It Home.
“A cognitively impaired New Jersey man grew infatuated with a Facebook Messenger chatbot with a young woman’s persona. His fatal attraction puts a spotlight on Meta’s AI guidelines, which have let chatbots make things up and engage in ‘sensual’ banter with children.”
Posted inTop 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week we’re recommending stories by Andrew R. Chow, Jonathan Blake, Maurice Tamman, Laura Gottesdiener, and Stephen Eisenhammer, Drew Anderson, and Ben Buckland.
Posted inEditor's Pick
We Bought Everything Needed to Make $3 Million Worth of Fentanyl. All It Took Was $3,600 and a Web Browser.
“At the tap of a buyer’s smartphone, Chinese chemical sellers will air-ship fentanyl ingredients door-to-door to North America. Reuters purchased enough to make 3 million pills. Such deals are astonishingly easy—and reveal how drug traffickers are eluding efforts to halt the deadly trade behind the fentanyl crisis.”
Posted inNonfiction, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Peter Eisler, Linda So, Jason Szep, Grant Smith, Ned Parker, and Jaed Coffin, Sarah Gilman, Katy Kelleher, and Irris Makler.
Posted inNonfiction, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Steve Stecklow, Lynn Johnson, Steven Hyden, Morgan Jerkins, and Chris McGreal.
Posted ininvestigations, Nonfiction, Quotes, Science & Nature
The Aftermarket for (Human) Spare Parts
“What they are doing is profiting from the sale of humans.”
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Subtleties of Electrocution
Taser claims its products are safe, and police claim to use them appropriately…but 1000 people are dead.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Shock Tactics
A 911 plea for help, a Taser shot, a death — and the mounting toll of stun guns.