The Outline
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Unfair trade
Coursing through the veins of the modern world and the modern subject alike, coffee is the spirit of exploitation in brewed form.
An open letter to my dog, who won’t come out from under the couch
Nora, please. Come out from under the couch.
“We just intuit what they need”: A zookeeper describes caring for animals during the coronavirus outbreak
The seventh part of "As Told To," our ongoing series about how the coronavirus is reordering peoples’ lives.
Transfixed by Scott Stapp’s big Christian energy
The Creed frontman offered a model of religious ostentatiousness for believers and nonbelievers alike.
Hanging on the telephone
The pandemic has turned our social lives into software.
Masks through the ages
More and more, it seems like a good idea to wear a mask when you go out in public. Here is some mask inspo for your perusal.
By Drew Millard
The Australian scientist who got magnets stuck up his nose should inspire us all
There is nothing but time for creative pursuits.
America doesn’t have a health care system
Our collection of disparate and competing public and private companies were never going to be able to handle a pandemic.
“I can’t imagine getting six feet of space”: A Starbucks barista on slinging lattes in a pandemic
The sixth installment of "As Told To," our ongoing series about how the coronavirus is reordering peoples’ lives.
Area man not Joe Biden, despite tweets to the contrary
We talked to the comedian Brandon Wardell, whose recent tweets pretending to be Joe Biden became the subject of a Russiagate-style conspiracy theory.
The secret resistance behind the world’s most dangerous cheese
Sardinia’s casu marzu teems with maggots, and might eat through your stomach. Why can’t people stop eating it?
Watch now: These people’s lives are ruined
Two new documentaries, ‘Tiger King’ and ‘Dark Side of the Ring: Benoit,’ probe events both unbelievably stupid and unspeakably cruel.
There was always a way to pay for the programs we need
Money printer go brrrrrrr.
“Hey, how’s Billy doing?”: An Ohio social worker on the toll coronavirus takes on disabled job seekers
Part five of "As Told To," our ongoing series about how the coronavirus is reordering peoples’ lives.
A Good Place: The alternate history of the C-SPAN archives
It's not really the first draft of history, so much as it is the raw notes.
An “explosion of mediocre rubbish coming out online”
An actor assesses the prospects of the theater under pandemic.
What we loved this week: Digging into the many Mel Brooks, László Krasznahorkai’s infinitely winding prose, sitting under some trees
Here’s the entertainment that got us through the week of March 23, 2020.
There’s no such thing as “productivity” during a pandemic
Working from home isn’t going to make this any less scary.
Your neighbors are not the disease
It can be tempting to blame each other for the spread of a pandemic, but the real villains are not the idiots standing too close to each other in the park.
So what are you playing right now?
Gaming is a uniquely versatile entertainment built for staying indoors — if you can spare a moment to think about anything but current events.