Pirate Stones

The Pirate Preservationists

Jesse Walker | Reason | 10th September 2023

As streaming platforms downsize their offerings, works are disappearing, perhaps forever. Albums, films and shows that were never released on DVD or CD exist at the whim of cost-conscious executives. Amazon can even alter or delete books from your Kindle without your consent. Those who pirate media are now "accidental preservationists", keeping our collective cultural archive alive (3,920 words)

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The Lost Lifting Stones Of Ireland

Alyssa Ages | GQ | 28th August 2023

In pre-19C Ireland, lifting very heavy stones was a kind of spiritual practice. Rocks were hefted "in tests of manhood, hoisted at funerals to honour the dead, carried at weddings in celebration of the couple, and used to determine whether a man was strong enough to earn work as a farmhand". The custom died, but the stones remain in churchyards and fields, waiting to be lifted again (2,080 words)