Helloooo0o0oo!
I hope you’re having a fabulous week!
Here are three things I consumed this week:
Selfies from Saudi by Eve Peyser for Air Mail
Seen an influencer galavanting around Saudi recently? The Saudi Arabian government has been reeling influencers in to help shift perceptions about the country’s oppressive policies. Peyser does a deep dive into the influencers who’ve continued holidaying and in many cases been paid to spread the message that the country is ‘modernising’, in spite of backlash.
Apparently, even when it means endorsing human rights violations, some people can be bought.
Despite the bad publicity, the influencers eventually returned. In December 2021, for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the country’s inaugural Formula One race, Justin Bieber, Jason Derulo, A$AP Rocky, David Guetta, and Tiësto performed.
The fiancée of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist who was murdered in 2018 on the orders of bin Salman, wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post begging Bieber to boycott the event so as to “send a powerful message to the world that your name and talent will not be used to restore the reputation of a regime that kills its critics.”
Bieber did not address the criticism but instead wrote, “Thank u Saudi arabia,” in an Instagram he posted after the performance.
🫣 Read the full piece here.
When Whales Are Stranded, a Race Against Time Begins by Natasha Frost for The New York Times
Have you ever wondered how whales get stranded? How are they rescued? And how do they dispose of the dozens who wash up and cannot be saved? This great explainer follows the stranding of 230 pilot whales and the incredible rescue efforts undertaken by a Tasmanian community.
By the end of Thursday, about 200 of the giant mammals had died. But defying the worst predictions, rescuers succeeded in saving around 32 others, tying them alongside boats provided by local fish farms and dragging them out to the deep water outside the harbor. A boat could ferry two whales at a time, one on each side, in the hourlong journey.
🐋 Read it all here.
What Do Dogs Know About Us? By Alexandra Horowitz for The Atlantic
This is a cute dog story about dogs and what dog mannerisms mean – it’s delightfully written too. Here are some snippets about the author’s puppy:
Quid knows right when we are about to leave the house. There is a reason she keeps her head on my foot: That way, the foot can’t walk me out the door.
She seems to handle separation from us well, in that on our return the house is intact. But she greets us with a new desperation, wiggling so hard that the energy comes out of her mouth in the form of a continual cry.
🐕 Read the full story here.
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