The annual Hajj pilgrimage begins today. In 2018, 2.37 million Muslims made the journey to Mecca.

Russians plan protests tomorrow in Moscow and 40 other cities for another weekend of civil unrest. 

Domino's spent $8.5 million stockpiling ingredients to prepare for a hard Brexit. Many companies have been stockpiling for months.

Our favorite public database of the week: near-real time tracking of icebergs.

From January, but still great: A Lyft driver explains how the company applies gaming reinforcements to keep its drivers driving.

Payola is still common in radio. "I don't think there's any way somebody could have a hit at radio without having to do that."

JPMorgan Chase joins other big brands, including Citi, American Express, and Microsoft, in using AI to write ad copy.

When a 16-year-old climate activist decides to sail, rather than fly to a meeting, the media wags talk excitedly.

Razib Khan doesn’t call himself a public intellectual, which explains why he’s willing to explain the moments in recent history when he changed his mind.

A terrific Namwali Serpell essay commissioned around Toni Morrison’s 88th birthday explains the thrill of her “difficulty.”

From a Morrison interview in the Paris Review: “I’ve tried to overcome not having orderly spaces by substituting compulsion for discipline.”

Raised to be a Christian Scientist, a woman grimly enjoys watching the religion die, knowing how painfully it killed her father.

Songwriter David Berman of the Silver Jews died on Wednesday at 52. On his passing: "He was funny, and his delivery was so warm, it made it easy to overlook the deep sadness dripping from every word."

And: "A drawing David Berman sent me entitled 'At the End of the World' after I interviewed him for my fanzine in 1994."

Watch: The final song at the final Silver Jews show in 2008, "Smith & Jones Forever."