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This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

Defector

Lauren Theisen

four actors on a set that looks like a dark back porch with a hot tub

Arts And Culture

After The Argument Comes The Rest Of Your Lives

Sohini Desai

Eight Years Of Rituals With Rosalía

Jack Hanson

The Torpor Of ‘Converts’

<p>Columnist. Author of many <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Drew-Magary/e/B001JS8R52/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1">fine works of literature</a>, including <em>Point B</em>. Handsomest man in the world.</p>


Drew Magary

Life Lessons

A Bit Of Church

Funbag

How Do I Be Nice To A Jesus Freak?

<p>Becky Ferreira is a science reporter based in Ithaca, N.Y. She writes <a href="https://www.404media.co/author/becky/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.404media.co/author/becky/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1740083778769000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3_mk31dNhas5lklZb38a6k">The Abstract</a>, a weekly science column for 404 Media. Her book <em>First Contact</em>, about the search for alien life, <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/becky-ferreira/first-contact/9781523527755/">is available now.</a></p>


Becky Ferreira

Sun over dying Earth. Illustration of the Sun, around 5 billion years in the future, heating a dying Earth. The oceans have evaporated, leaving salt-encrusted rocks. The Moon is seen passing in front of the massively swollen Sun. This stage of the Sun's life, known as its red giant stage, will begin when the Sun exhausts the hydrogen fuel in its core. It will then begin burning hydrogen in a shell surrounding the core, causing the Sun to expand. The expanding Sun will engulf the inner planets, and possibly the Earth. If the Earth survives this stage of the death of the Sun, it will freeze as the Sun collapses into a white dwarf star.

Science

Are You Team Fiery Sun Death Or Team Lifeless Husk?

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<div>Casey Taylor is a writer living and working in Pittsburgh. He is currently writing a book for St. Martin&#8217;s Press about cannabis religions, Haile Selassie I, and the Cold War in the Caribbean. He also writes a free newsletter called <a href="https://weedchurch.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://weedchurch.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1709306863919000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1mVH2xiID6S0zvlyj6yHco">Weed Church</a> covering foolish spiritual things that occur to him. His work has appeared in The New Republic, WIRED, New York Magazine, and a sports blog he can’t currently recall the name of. You can <a href="mailto:caseyt7@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">email</a> him if you’d like.</div>
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Casey Taylor

History

The Last Living Bedwardite

Kelsey McKinney

I Believe In Ethel Cain

Having escaped a raging war at home, Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia face more conflict and insecurity as the border region of Amhara is plagued by unrest and clashes that sees the Ethiopian National Defense Force battling an ethnic Amhara militia known as 'Fano'. According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) over 100,000 people have crossed into Ethiopia from Sudan since April 2023. Sudanese and other refugees in the border camps in Amhara lament a lack of security, difficult communication with the outside world - the Ethiopian government has disrupted access to mobile internet in the region since August 2023 - and a general sense of abandonment, raising the question if they fled a dire situation to end up in similar one. (Photo by )

Journalismism

How Do You Get Americans To Care About A War?

David Roth

Jared Goff #16 of the Detroit Lions warms up prior to the NFC Championship NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium on January 28, 2024 in Santa Clara, California.

Podcasts

Lessons Of Collapse And The Christian Version Of Limp Bizkit, With Jason Kirk

<p>Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.</p>


Nicholas Russell

Life's Rich Pageant

Everyone At The Christian Influencer Convention Was Trapped

The statue of Saint George as he vanquishes the dragon of nuclear war is made of actual pieces of Soviet SS-20 and United States Pershing nuclear missles which were destroyed as a result of their historic disarmament treaty. AFP PHOTO TIMOTHY A. CLARY (Photo credit should read TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)

This Family Has Tattooed The Holy Land For Centuries

Dave McKenna

circa 1945: Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977) standing between his parents outside of their home in Tupelo, Mississippi. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Music

When Elvis Presley Was A Shabbos Goy

religion