Tessera

Many people form sustained personal connections with local crows. They often consider the attention of these charismatic corvids a privilege and a source of joy. What’s harder to determine is whether the crows return the feeling [ @inkfish.bsky.social @audubon.org ] www.audubon.org/magazine/are...

Are Crows Really Our Friends?

An investigation into the state of corvid–human relations.

audubon.org

Selling perfume or fast cars can be an advertiser’s dream. But advertising things we’re ashamed to buy makes the job uglier & more complicated. How do you effectively market products no one wants to talk about? [ @ohhiralphjones.bsky.social @thehustle.bsky.social ] thehustle.co/originals/ho...

How do you sell the most unappealing products in the world?

With humor, surprise, and a decent heap of reality

thehustle.co

We simulate participation instead of participating. Stop confusing the receipt with the event. Stop collecting the signs of a life & begin the embarrassing business of actually living one [Eric Barker | Slavoj Žižek] bakadesuyo.com/2026/06/self...

The Uncomfortable Reason You Keep Self-Sabotaging: 6 Secrets From Philosophy's Most Honest Madman - Barking Up The Wrong Tree

We all self-sabotage and there's a reason for it. But not one you'll like. Philosopher Slavoj Žižek explains...

bakadesuyo.com

A tournament with the World Cup’s importance, magnitude & scale is never defined just by who lifts the trophy. From the opening ceremony to the final goal, memories that we can cherish forever [ @anthonydabbundo.bsky.social @theringer.com.web.brid.gy ] www.theringer.com/2026/07/20/w...

29 Reasons We Loved the 2026 World Cup

From Cape Verde’s last stand to the prophetic photo of Messi and Lamine Yamal, this summer’s World Cup delivered on and off the pitch

theringer.com

A retrospective: There are moments you know that you'll remember the rest of your life, and the supporters of Argentina & Spain spent the World Cup final pinballing between joy and terror, confidence and dread [ @jaybusbee.bsky.social @yahoosports.bsky.social ] sports.yahoo.com/soccer/artic...

From Spain with love: A World Cup final 50 million dreams in the making

Spain's victory in the World Cup sparked a celebration everyone should experience once in their life.

sports.yahoo.com

Second City, the Chicago comedy institution, is working with sports teams to media-train their rookies -- helping them to learn self-confidence, quick thinking and public-speaking skills [Callum Marsh @nytimes.com ] www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/s...

Improv Classes Are Helping N.H.L. and M.L.B. Teams to Train Their Rookies (Gift Article)

Second City, the Chicago comedy institution, is working with sports teams to help media-train their rookies.

nytimes.com

Letters from inside the underground H Unit of the Oklahoma state penitentiary allege beatings, vermin, degrading punishment & in many cases no access to a most basic necessity – natural light [Hilary Andersson @theguardian.com ] www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

‘It’s torture’: prisoners’ letters expose subterranean Oklahoma ‘dungeon’ known as the tombs

Exclusive: letters from inside the underground H Unit of Oklahoma state penitentiary allege beatings, vermin, degrading punishment and in many cases no access to a most basic necessity – natural light

theguardian.com

Someone used A.I. to write journalist Kashmir Hill’s biography. Thousands more of those books are polluting Amazon. Who is behind all this drivel? [ @kashhill.bsky.social @nytimes.com ] www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/t...

I Got Slopped (Gift Article)

Someone used A.I. to write my biography. Thousands more of those books are polluting Amazon. Who is behind all this drivel?

nytimes.com

Ego wants to be the leader. Following is the most neglected development principle of leadership. Humility aspires to add value regardless of position. Opportunities don’t wait for titles [Dan Rockwell | Leadershifreak] leadershipfreak.blog/2026/04/02/a...

Absolutely Fit to Lead - Leadership Freak

You aren’t fit to lead until you know how to follow. Following is the most neglected development principle of leadership. Ego wants to be the leader. Humility aspires to add value regardless of positi...

leadershipfreak.blog

The wisdom behind why Lionel Messi spends most of a match walking. Many things that happen in elite sports unfold far too rapidly for athletes to simply be reacting, so they need to be unconsciously predicting [ @davidepstein.bsky.social ] davidepstein.substack.com/p/why-messi-...

Why Messi Barely Runs

"After 5-10 minutes, he has the map."

davidepstein.substack.com

Interviews with 19 sources reveal repeated incidents of Phil Mickelson’s lewd language and unwanted advances [Alan Shipnuck | Skratch @yahoosports.bsky.social ] sports.yahoo.com/articles/exc...

Exclusive: Phil Mickelson’s Long History of Misconduct

Interviews with 19 sources reveal two incidents of lewd language and unwanted advances, and the behavior that led to his departure from two additional golf clubs.

sports.yahoo.com

Few places in the world have a history as odd, or as poignant as Gunkanjima's. The tiny, fortress-like island just off the coast of Nagasaki was once the most densely populated place in the world but is now a ghost town [ @atlasobscura.com ] www.atlasobscura.com/places/gunka...

Hashima Island in Gunkanjima:, Nagasaki: History Guide

Hashima Island (Gunkanjima) off Nagasaki was once the most densely populated place on Earth. This abandoned Japanese island is now a concrete ghost town.

atlasobscura.com

Jasna Hodžić lived in a converted van for six years. The freedom is real — but so are the trade-offs people rarely talk about [@bigthink] bigthink.com/history-soci...

Van life looks like freedom. It can feel like exile.

I’ve lived in a converted van for six years. The freedom is real — but so are the trade-offs people rarely talk about.

bigthink.com

“I'm sorry if you don't find pain funny because it's an excellent coping mechanism” Kelsey Weekman on the therapeutic properties of watching Jackass [ @kelsaywhat.bsky.social @yahooentsuk.bsky.social ] www.yahoo.com/entertainmen...

The healing power of watching the boys of 'Jackass' do incredibly stupid things

When I had a miscarriage, seeing bros make increasingly dumb and dangerous decisions soothed the pain of loss and isolation.

yahoo.com

You’ll notice that hardly any prices end in a zero. Ending a price in something other than a zero is often called charm pricing. How’d it become so powerful & will it continue as the US penny fades into memory? [ @alisonjstein.bsky.social @thehustle.bsky.social ] thehustle.co/originals/wh...

Why you’re more likely to buy something for $4.99 than $5.00

Charm pricing has endured for centuries.

thehustle.co

Caution weighs risks. Look both ways before crossing the street. Excessive caution never leaves the sidewalk. Leadership is action in the presence of uncertainty. Here’s how to take the next step [Dan Rockwell | Leadershipfreak] leadershipfreak.blog/2026/06/29/t...

The Dangerous Face of Caution - Leadership Freak

"The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions." Attributed to Alfred Adler Caution weighs risks. Look both ways before crossing the street. Excessive caution never leaves the sid...

leadershipfreak.blog

While fans focus on players, referees are running just as hard and far, typically covering 12 to 13 kilometres per match, & unlike players are required to stay close to the action at all times [ @allyjlevine.bsky.social Simon Scarr @reuters.com ] www.reuters.com/graphics/SOC...

Inside the fitness demands on World Cup referees

How fit do you need to be to referee a World Cup match? The sprints, heat and pressure behind the tough officiating job.

reuters.com

“Me and my friends, we did not hope to become footballers. We did not expect. We did not plan. We dreamed. There is a difference” Kylian Mbappé on the friends, neighborhood & family that fostered his greatness [ @playerstribune.bsky.social ] www.theplayerstribune.com/articles/kyl...

A Letter to Young Kylians | By Kylian Mbappé

There is no Kylian Mbappé without my mother, my father, my community, my friends.

theplayerstribune.com

The 2026 Minnesota State Fair new foods include over-the-top inventions & flavors that reflect the state’s evolving food scene. Some will become traditions. Others will leave fairgoers wondering [ sharynjackson.bsky.social Nancy Ngo @startribune.com] www.startribune.com/buckle-up-he...

Buckle up: Here is this year’s crop of new State Fair foods

Make room for 36 new dishes — don’t worry, the pickle trend is still going strong — and nine new vendors, including Saturday Dumpling Co.

startribune.com

For most birds, producing an egg is just the start of a female’s parental duties. Not so for emus. Tending the nest is a huge investment for an emu dad [ @hannahthomasy.bsky.social @atlasobscura.com ] www.atlasobscura.com/articles/emu...

Emu Dads Raise the Young—Which May Not Even Be Their Offspring

As birds go, these Australian animals are unusual in many ways, including how they divvy up parenting duties.

atlasobscura.com

Boarding a plane has grown increasingly complicated due to the proliferation of groups, zones, & variations of priority-based seating. The fastest way - the Steffen Method - is not adopted. Why? [Mack DeGeurin @popsci.com ] www.popsci.com/technology/b...

The fastest way to board an airplane, according to science

Better, faster boarding methods exist, so why don’t we use them?

popsci.com