In the British sport of “ferret legging,” underwear-less competitors tie their trousers at the ankles, stuff a pair of the carnivores down there, and hold on for as long as possible. Reg Mellor is the world’s best.

Music writer Mark Fisher (who died this week) on the decline of Michael Jackson.

On the transformation of travel:

[I]t is astounding how quickly these technologies have changed one of the most basic aspects of our existence: the way we move through the world. When driving down the highway, you can now expect to see, in a sizable portion of the cars around you, GPS screens glowing on dashboards and windshields. What these devices promise, like the opening of the Western frontier, and like the automobile and the open road, is a greater freedom — although the freedom promised by GPS is of a very strange new sort.

The early days of Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers.

When Ben Roethlisberger, Charles Barkley, Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal and the future President of the United States crossed paths at a celebrity golf tournament.

Victims of Mexico’s drug violence often end up in unmarked graves. This man set out to find them.

Millions of American workers sign away legal rights without knowing what they’re in for: Arbitration Hell.

Angie Nwandu has no journalism experience. No publishing experience. She’s 25. And in less than two years she has created an entirely new way to cover — and profit from — celebrity gossip.

If true justice and equality are ever to be achieved in the United States, the country must finally take seriously what it owes black Americans.

The rise and murderous fall of the Harkey family, the scions of a pecan dynasty.

A profile of Jenny Offill, whose latest novel addresses climate collapse.

A case of mistaken identity and the incarceration of an innocent man.

From kitchen camp to political plates, queer people have been shaping food culture for decades.

The screaming ambassador to the sidewalks of New York City.

We think of the character as lithe and slim as the actors who’ve played him. But Shakespeare might not have intended him to be that way.

On the future of personal taste.

In 1945, a fire tore through the home of George and Jennie Sodder. Four children escaped; five vanished.

There are two roles to play in the new world of on-demand everything: royalty or servant.

A Marxist archaeologist uncovers traces of fugitive slave settlements deep in the Great Dismal Swamp.

Celebrity, bottle service, and Tiger Woods’ unintentional introduction of “halfway hooker” into the American lexicon.

The life of Kimi Peck, a former screenwriter, once married to Gregory Peck’s son, who turned to “saving” stray dogs.

What the experiences of nonmonogamous couples can tell us about jealousy, love, desire and trust.

The singer spends most of her time at home, working on a new album. That doesn’t mean she’s not paying attention.

Hua Qu is fighting to save her husband — one of at least seven U.S. captives in the Islamic Republic being used as pawns in a nearly 40-year secret history of hostage taking.

On living without memories.