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The Great French Fry Mystery: My dogged attempt to solve a baffling fast food whodunit - Toronto Life

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Reposted by Harley Rustad

Harley Rustad @harleyrustad.com · Aug 11

I tumbled down a rabbit hole trying to figure out why bags of A&W fries kept being delivered in the middle of the night for days and days to my neighbour's porch—and stumbled into all the markings of an international scam. My latest for @torontolifemag.bsky.social
torontolife.com/deep-dives/t...

When an A&W takeout bag appeared on my neighbour’s porch in the middle of the night—followed by another, then another—I became obsessed with solving a fast...

The Publishing Industry Has a Gambling Problem | The Walrus

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Reposted by Harley Rustad

Tajja Isen @tajjaisen.bsky.social · 11d

I spent the summer reporting this essay on why it seems harder than ever to sell a book right now—especially if it isn't a debut and comes with the dreaded "sales track." I'm grateful to the writers, agents, editors, publishers & experts who spoke to me for this piece: thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...

Companies keep betting on the next bestseller. Literature is poorer for it

Have we been measuring mountains all wrong?

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Harley Rustad @harleyrustad.com · 18d

Have we been measuring mountains all wrong? Is it not height that is important but...grandeur?
www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/ar...

A new method for quantifying grandeur is reshuffling the pecking order of the planet’s most impressive peaks. Turns out Everest has steep competition.

www.nationalgeographic.com

Reposted by Harley Rustad

The Walrus @thewalrus.ca · Sep 4

They sting. They swarm. They spoil our picnics. But what if the insect we most hate to encounter outdoors is also one of nature’s unsung heroes? Here, The Walrus contributing writer @arnokopecky.bsky.social makes the case for the wasp. thewalrus.ca/in-defence-of-wa...

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Reposted by Harley Rustad

The Walrus @thewalrus.ca · Aug 28

Lately, The Walrus contributing writer @michellecyca.com has been trying to make life harder for her children. Or rather, she’s trying to stop making it easier. Here, Cyca considers how obstacle parenting could help raise more resilient kids: thewalrus.ca/my-job-as-a-pare...

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Harley Rustad @harleyrustad.com · Aug 26

Thanks!

Harley Rustad @harleyrustad.com · Aug 26

Thanks!

The Sunday Long Read: Football Tragedy, Crabs, Mercy Man

Harley Rustad @harleyrustad.com · Aug 25

Thanks for picking my French fry mystery!

The Sunday Long Read @thesundaylongread.bsky.social · Aug 25

Don't miss this week's SLR featuring @henrymceric.bsky.social, @harleyrustad.com‬, @kevinmaurer.bsky.social, @tomjunod.bsky.social & more! mailchi.mp/sundaylongre...

The week's best journalism. Every Sunday.

mailchi.mp

The Great French Fry Mystery: My dogged attempt to solve a baffling fast food whodunit - Toronto Life

Harley Rustad @harleyrustad.com · Aug 22

🍟🍟🍟🍟🍟

Longreads @longreads.com · Aug 22

5. "The Great French Fry Mystery" @harleyrustad.com

"Who was Rodolphe? Why had he left his mostly eaten french fries at her door, night after night? "

torontolife.com/deep-dives/t...

When an A&W takeout bag appeared on my neighbour’s porch in the middle of the night—followed by another, then another—I became obsessed with solving a fast...

The Great French Fry Mystery: My dogged attempt to solve a baffling fast food whodunit - Toronto Life

Reposted by Harley Rustad

Longreads @longreads.com · Aug 21

"By the time the fourth A&W bag materialized on her porch, she had gone from being curious about what she’d viewed as random littering to frustrated to shaken by the invasion of her privacy."

@harleyrustad.com @torontolifemag.bsky.social

torontolife.com/deep-dives/t...

When an A&W takeout bag appeared on my neighbour’s porch in the middle of the night—followed by another, then another—I became obsessed with solving a fast...

@longreads.com @thesundaylongread.bsky.social

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Harley Rustad @harleyrustad.com · Aug 14

Harley Rustad @harleyrustad.com · Aug 14

There's some incredible investigative journalism happening these days and I'm over here digging into why bags of A&W fries kept mysteriously appearing on my neighbour's porch in the middle of the night for days and days and days...
torontolife.com/deep-dives/t...

The Great French Fry Mystery: My dogged attempt to solve a baffling fast food whodunit - Toronto Life

When an A&W takeout bag appeared on my neighbour’s porch in the middle of the night—followed by another, then another—I became obsessed with solving a fast...

The Great French Fry Mystery: My dogged attempt to solve a baffling fast food whodunit - Toronto Life

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Harley Rustad @harleyrustad.com · Aug 11

I tumbled down a rabbit hole trying to figure out why bags of A&W fries kept being delivered in the middle of the night for days and days to my neighbour's porch—and stumbled into all the markings of an international scam. My latest for @torontolifemag.bsky.social
torontolife.com/deep-dives/t...

When an A&W takeout bag appeared on my neighbour’s porch in the middle of the night—followed by another, then another—I became obsessed with solving a fast...

How One Company Maintained a Monopoly on U.S. Fire Retardant

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Reposted by Harley Rustad

king's co-op bookstore @kingsbookstore.bsky.social · Aug 9

Peter Wohlleben - The Hidden Life of Trees

Are trees social beings? In The Hidden Life of Trees forester and author Peter Wohlleben convincingly makes the case that, yes, the forest is a social network. He draws on groundbreaking scientific discoveries to describe how trees are like human families: tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, support them as they grow, share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers. Wohlleben also shares his deep love of woods and forests, explaining the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration that he has observed in his woodland.

Harley Rustad - Big Lonely Doug

On a cool morning in the winter of 2011, a logger named Dennis Cronin was walking through a stand of old-growth forest near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island. He came across a massive Douglas fir the height of a twenty-storey building. Instead of allowing the tree to be felled, he tied a ribbon around the trunk, bearing the words "Leave Tree." The forest was cut but the tree was saved. The solitary Douglas fir, soon known as Big Lonely Doug, controversially became the symbol of environmental activists and their fight to protect the region's dwindling old-growth forests.

Jon Krakauer - Into the Wild

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter.
This is the unforgettable story of how Christopher Johnson McCandless came to die.

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Harley Rustad @harleyrustad.com · Aug 6

How one company lobbied, undercut rivals, and built a monopoly on fire retardant in the US. As demand increased, so too did its prices. The US Forest Service has called the reliance on a single company a "massive risk."
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/b...

www.nytimes.com

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Harley Rustad @harleyrustad.com · Aug 6

Alec Luhn has been found alive after going missing in the Norwegian mountains.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Journalist missing in Norwegian wilderness found in good health

Alec Luhn set out on trek in Folgefonna national park last week and was reported missing on Monday

www.theguardian.com

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Harley Rustad @harleyrustad.com · Jul 30

The celebrated ice-core science doc "For Winter" was produced by NatGeo and set to embark on a world tour when NatGeo pulled the doc at the end of January and scrubbed it from its site. Hm, what else happened just before then? Important report by @evaholland.bsky.social
defector.com/why-did-nati...

Why Did National Geographic Disappear Its Own Documentary About A Queer Climate Scientist? | Defector

If you’re not a particular kind of mountain sports nerd, you might not be familiar with the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour. But for people who live their lives in the overlapping circl...

defector.com

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Harley Rustad @harleyrustad.com · Jul 25

It's tick season out there folks. Time to re-read this awesome, fascinating, goosebumpy feature by @stephanienolen.bsky.social.
thewalrus.ca/invasion-of-...

Invasion of the Ticks | The Walrus

Inside the quest to track one of humanity’s tiniest deadly predators

Did a Montreal Teacher Try to Sell His Students’ “Creepy” Art? | The Walrus

Harley Rustad @harleyrustad.com · Jul 14

The full story of that teacher who maybe possibly tried to sell his students' art as his own, by Sarah Treleaven.
thewalrus.ca/did-a-montre...

A strange tale of school-board secrecy, freaked-out parents, and a lawsuit

The real Salt Path: how a blockbuster book and film were ...

Harley Rustad @harleyrustad.com · Jul 11

I love this essay so much.

The Walrus @thewalrus.ca · Jul 11

Writer Julia Zarankin used to be a “normal person.” Now, she finds herself cancelling all non-bird-related social engagements, descending deeper into what experts call birder derangement syndrome. Here, she explores why she’s at her best when birding: thewalrus.ca/birding/

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Harley Rustad @harleyrustad.com · Jul 8

Fantastic investigation by @chloehadj.bsky.social into the million+ selling, award-winning memoir The Salt Path. Inaccuracies. Fictions. Inventions. Very troubling scandals. All is not what was written and loved.
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Penniless and homeless, the Winns found fame and fortune with the story of their 630-mile walk to salvation. We can reveal that the truth behind it is ve...

observer.co.uk

Reposted by Harley Rustad

Harley Rustad @harleyrustad.com · Jul 3

Two captive orcas are currently stuck at a Marineland in France after it closed this year. Can the world's first marine sanctuary for whales, proposed in Nova Scotia, be their new home? Enter complication, politics, misinformation, greed. @jesstaylorprice.bsky.social‬
thewalrus.ca/marineland-o...

The Two Captive Orcas Who Can Nearly Taste Freedom | The Walrus

The clock is ticking to rehome whales that have never lived outside of Marineland

The Death of the Middle-Class Musician | The Walrus

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Harley Rustad @harleyrustad.com · Jul 4

This brilliantly reported feature by Luc Rinaldi exposes the grim, infuriating, even predatory house of cards that is the music industry. There are echos across all the arts.
thewalrus.ca/the-death-of...

It’s easier than ever to make music, and harder than ever to make a living from it