“The Strange Brands in Your Instagram Feed,” The Atlantic
Here’s a strange story. The Atlantic’s Alexis Madrigal saw what appeared to be a good deal for a camel coat from a shop he’d never heard of in an Instagram ad. He bought it. When it arrived on his doorstep, it was shoddier than it looked in the ad. So Madrigal traced the origins of the shop that sold it to him and others like it on an online e-commerce platform called Shopify. The platform connects regular people to products at giant companies like Alibaba, allowing them to set up online shops, use social media to market themselves, and theoretically make money without holding any inventory. — Greta Kaul, data reporter
“The Most Awful Transit Center in America Could Get Unimaginably Worse,” Bloomberg Businessweek
The first time I arrived at Penn Station from Newark Airport, I was distracted from the awfulness by helping two elderly (older than me, anyway) French tourists with the world’s largest roller bags. Still, by the time I reached the surface I was relieved to have survived. Now I learn that I should have been relieved to have made it to the station at all. — Peter Callaghan, local government reporter
“Florida Prisoners Prepare to Strike, Demanding an End to Unpaid Labor and Brutal Conditions,” The Intercept
Prisoners in at least eight Florida prisons organized a labor strike to begin on Martin Luther King Day, demanding compensation for their work, restoration of parole, and the state to address conditions of violence against prisoners. The story recounts some of their reasoning, some of the ways they’re organizing together, and how their efforts fit into other recent prison protests. — Jonathan Stegall, user experience engineer
“Trump-Russia Investigation: The key questions answered,” The Guardian
Having trouble keeping up with all the ins and outs of the Russia probe? The Guardian has put together a cool guide that takes you through all the key points (and a few more). This is not a story, but a compilation of questions — from “What is collusion?” to “Who is Brad Parscale?” — and their answers. — Susan Albright, managing editor
“Frozen Alive,” Outside
This story by Peter Stark from a few years ago dives into what actually happens to the body when a person freezes to death. Fun! A sampling: “By 87 degrees [body temperature] you’ve lost the ability to recognize a familiar face, should one suddenly appear from the woods. At 86 degrees, your heart, its electrical impulses hampered by chilled nerve tissues, becomes arrhythmic. It now pumps less than two-thirds the normal amount of blood. The lack of oxygen and the slowing metabolism of your brain, meanwhile, begin to trigger visual and auditory hallucinations.” — Andy Putz, editor
