And finally, the only information you need about tariffs, courtesy of our @CultureDesk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuOHbyuanbY

British Nigerian artist Karl Ohiri was shocked to hear that many photographers in Lagos, Nigeria, burned their old negatives, so he embarked on a project to develop whatever he could find. Here, @thecontinent shares some of the photos that form the Lagos Studio Archives.

https://continent.substack.com/p/photo-essay-old-lagos-new-light

Philadelphia’s roller-derby league turned 20 last month. For @TheConversationUS, Colleen English wrote about how roller derby became a revolutionary feminist sport.

https://theconversation.com/philly-roller-derby-league-turns-20-heres-how-the-sport-skated-its-way-to-feminism-anti-racism-and-queer-liberation-249122

Ukraine has been damaged in so many ways by the Russian attack. Veronika Romanova, Mariana Lastovyria, and Artem Moskalenko explore another for @timkmak’s Counteroffensive: The contamination of the soil by metals from mass shelling. France still has “red zones” where toxic levels remain deadly 106 years after the end of WWI, and Ukraine is likely to face the same future, whenever the conflict finishes.

https://www.counteroffensive.news/p/scars-of-war-can-ukraine-rebuild

Earlier this week, all American eyes were on Wisconsin as two judges duked it out for a seat on the state’s supreme court — a race that Elon Musk poured millions into. @bolts’s Alex Burness wrote the definitive story on what happened and what it all means. “Today should be a breaking point for our state. Even if your preferred candidate wins, … every single Wisconsinite should be alarmed at this grotesque billionaire arms race,” Nick Ramos, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Center, told Bolts late Tuesday, before the result was announced. “The past two months have shown us a terrifying preview of what’s coming: an America where billionaires run the show, and the rest of us are just spectators.”

https://boltsmag.org/wisconsin-supreme-court-result-2025/

When did we all start to believe that to be brilliant means you must be unbearable, and that kindness is “mediocrity in disguise?” Yet another brilliant piece from @Daojoan, who looks at the myth of the tortured genius and the real damage they leave in their wake.

https://www.joanwestenberg.com/stop-conflating-genius-with-asshole/

OK, it’s not all sweetness and light this week – but here’s some news you can use. @KnowableMag breaks down everything you need to know about bird flu, from where it came from to how dangerous it is.

https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/health-disease/2025/scientific-facts-about-h5n1-bird-flu

A new documentary, “The Librarians,” premiered at SXSW last month. It focuses on librarians at the heart of right-wing culture war attacks across America. @TexasObserver’s Josephine Lee sees heroism and hope in the film. “At a moment when our institutions of learning seem to be engulfed in flames, incited by right-wing witch hunts of diversity, equity, and inclusion, ‘The Librarians’ reminds us how we got here and reveals, perhaps, how we can get out,” she writes.

https://www.texasobserver.org/librarians-movie-sxsw-book-bans/

April is National Poetry Month in the U.S. and Canada. Here’s a roundup from @thetyee of new Canadian collections, from an exploration of wonder to a reflection on the shared histories of Indigenous Peoples of North America and the people of Palestine.

https://thetyee.ca/Presents/2025/04/01/National-Poetry-Month-New-Canadian-Collections/

Not everything on the internet is real. Case in point: Your relationship with OnlyFans creators, it turns out. Two former subscribers from Illinois are suing the company because they thought they were talking directly to the platform’s stars rather than agencies hired to manage their messages. @404mediaco’s Samantha Cole explains more [Story may be paywalled].

https://www.404media.co/onlyfans-sued-after-two-guys-realized-they-might-not-actually-be-talking-to-models/

Have you ever had food poisoning and subsequently been unable to eat whatever caused it? A team of neuroscientists studying mice have found the exact “memory hub” in their brain that is responsible for this reaction. Our @ScienceDesk shared the story from @PopularScience.

https://www.popsci.com/health/how-brain-remembers-food-poisoning/

#Food #Brain #Neuroscience #Health #Science #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

When @ProPublica journalist Alec MacGillis first met lawyer Andrew Rabinowitz, the latter was representing a property management company owned by the Kushner family. McGillis was writing an article about the company’s aggressive approach to tenants. Eight years later, Rabinowitz is defending beleaguered tenants against their landlords. What happened?

https://www.propublica.org/article/kushner-kushnerville-apartments-tenants-lawsuits-andrew-rabinowitz-lawyer

Astonishingly, some people are still banging the “women aren’t funny” drum. @damemagazine shares sketches from the women of “Saturday Night Live,” from Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin to Cecily Strong as Goober the Clown, talking about abortion.

https://www.damemagazine.com/2025/02/14/who-is-funnier-than-the-women-of-snl/

And finally, new data from Nameberry says people in red states are giving their kids the classic Jewish name Cohen (sometimes with the spelling Kohen). Our @CultureDesk featured this Forward story by Benyamin Cohen and Mira Fox, who are trying to figure out why. Theories include that people are naming their children after the directing duo the Coen brothers, or that it’s a co-opting by Christians of Jewish traditions. Says Benyamin: “I think it’s clever to give pets human names. We have chickens and each one is named after an NPR broadcaster. We have Terry Gross, Yuki Noguchi, Nina Totenberg and so on. We’re actually on our third Melissa Block. The first two, alas, are in chicken heaven now.” Mira replies: “And they all, of course, have your last name.” Benyamin: “Yes, yes. We call them the Co-Hens. I wonder what Nameberry would think of that.”

https://forward.com/culture/707893/kohen-mira-baby-name-popularity/

Are we humans allocating our collective “genius” effectively, @Daojoan wonders? “Because when I look around at our vaunted technological progress, I can't help but notice that we're drowning in slightly better stuff while the rudiments of human flourishing remain stagnant or deteriorate and decay. There's progress here, but it's not science fiction. It's barely even science,” she writes in this essay that also covers how and why we’re trapped in a cycle of over-consumption.

https://www.joanwestenberg.com/the-future-is-more-stuff/

#Technology #Tech #Innovation #JoanWestenberg Consumption #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday