Russia appears to be planning an invasion of Ukraine, and has demanded the US guarantee Ukraine won't join NATO. / The Washington Post

Ahead of Biden's "summit for democracy," China's Communist Party issues a statement saying the Western democratic model is "doomed to fail." / Associated Press

Think piece for the weekend: A common, bad question to ask in science is "does X affect Y?" Because the answer is always yes. / The Eighteenth 

Certain medications appear less effective than they would do "had a different type of placebo been used." / All That Is Solid

There's mounting evidence that insects can experience a range of emotions. / BBC News

Photographs from the Yellowstone Archive of people feeding bears in the 1950s and '60s. / Flashbak

Tammie Teclemariam acquired a salt-cured hind quarter of a pig from Costco and has been slicing it ever since. / Gawker

Dueling taco maps: One shows every business in Los Angeles that sells tacos, another shows places with "taco" in its name. / L.A. Taco

A woman moves to San Francisco to attempt to rescue her addict daughter, who admits to overdosing on fentanyl "at least 50 times." / The San Francisco Chronicle

Interview with a woman who has cleaned nearly 60,000 hotel rooms. / AFAR

An appreciation of (longtime TMN favorite) artist Sophie Calle, with pictures from when she posed as a hotel maid to document rooms. / The New Yorker

Devin Kelly: "I think we often forget that witness is part of the beauty of being alive." / Tracksmith

In 2021, a man used bogus suicide notes to escape the law. In 1318, a nun used a dummy crafted in her likeness. / Lapham's Quarterly

With free books increasingly banned in prisons, prisoners are forced to rely on the small list of "approved vendors." / Protean

ICYMI yesterday, we announced the 2022 Tournament of Books—shortlist, judges, and Zombie poll. / TMN

A visit to the Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School in Michigan to see how professional Santas learn how to be the best possible Santas they can be. / Laughing Squid