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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin, has died in a Russian penal colony. We’ll reflect on Navalny’s impact and what it means to push back against the slow creep of political change. Plus, more evidence that plastic recycling is a myth pushed by the plastics industry. And, we’ll weigh in on the romance novel revival and landline phones in a round of Half Full/Half Empty!

Here’s everything we talked about today:

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  • “Tucker Carlson: \u2018No decent person would defend\u2019 what happened to Navalny” from The Hill
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  • “OpenAI teases \u2018Sora,\u2019 its new text-to-video AI model” from NBC News
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  • “Best Buy to End DVD, Blu-ray Disc Sales” from Variety
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  • “Making beer with the help of AI” from Axios
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  • “Steamy, sultry and stigmatized no more: romance novels are having a moment” from Marketplace
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  • “The humble landline phone beloved by Gen Z” from Axios
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