News
How the FBI Destroyed the Careers of 41 Women in TV and Radio
At the dawn of the Cold War era, dozens of progressive women working in radio and television were placed on a media blacklist and forced from their industry. Carol Stabile explores this shameful period in American history.
Notes: It's also a podcast episode if you're interested in something to listen to, but a fascinating bit of Cold-War history.
The Real Battle for Data Privacy Begins When You Die
Swedish academic Carl Öhman argues that tech companies have no incentive to be responsible caretakers of our posthumous digital footprint.
Notes: Pocket sent this one to me, since you're on a death and dying kick you might also find pieces of it interesting!
The Earth After Humans
Elephant-sized rats? City-building dolphins? Ever-cleverer crows? Life on a scorching hot, post-human planet will be otherworldly.
Notes: Probably got sent to me because of the intersection between other climate angst and fiction "how do our imaginings shape our realities" articles I was reading lol. Some cool things to consider if you ever do a slightly farther-future dystopia.
The Impossible Dilemma of a Polar Guide
Tourism to the Arctic and Antarctica contributes to their demise, and the regions are melting fast. A polar guide of 25 years asks: Should I stay away?
Notes: Climate change angst overlaps with intergenerational love for the Arctic. No clue how I got here, but it was an interesting snapshot!
Follow the Soap Opera-Worthy Relationship Drama of the World’s Oldest Common Loons
Called ABJ and Fe, the duo mated every spring for 25 years—but they split up in 2022. Now, they’re back at their Michigan breeding grounds, showing no signs of getting together.
Notes: Short, but who could resist loon soap-opera drama?!
Don’t Bleed on the Artwork: Notes from the Afterlife
At the frame shop there is so much beauty, it can’t be real. Maybe this is the afterlife, I think. Or purgatory.
Notes: I cannot resist a long super-niche personal essay, and thus, here we are.
Inside the Complicated World of Human Smuggling
Jason De León’s ambitious ethnography paints human smugglers not as inhuman villains but as individuals navigating an inhuman system.
Notes: Sort of just an extended review of this guy's new book, but some interesting tidbits nonetheless!
The Cloud Under the Sea
The invisible seafaring industry that keeps the internet afloat.
Notes: I've been on an intermittent kick about undersea internet cabling for years now, mostly because it has so much promise for a story, but I have yet to figure out how to use it. But I periodically get sent fresh content about it, which is how this popped up!
The Polyamorous Christian Socialist Utopia That Made Silverware for Proper Americans
Notes: This was sent to me by Pocket, because polyamory + niche history is an easy match for me lol.
What Color Do You See?
New research is uncovering the hidden differences in how people experience the world. The consequences are unsettling.
Notes: Went down a sci-fi rabbit hole on how science fiction shapes the future, how perception is shaped in general, etc. etc. and this was one of the tangents!