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Good morning. Please peruse these incredibly good stories, published this week. I’m Emma Elsworthy.

1. ‘Connection in a small corner of the internet’

Caitlin Cassidy visited 50 payphones in a day to play a game, inspired by Pokémon Go, that has caused “a strange sense of connection in a small corner of the internet”. Our intrepid reporter encountered a dirty high chair, a broken-off manicured nail and pigeons feasting on … well, never mind.

But there was something touching about how PayphoneGo promotes exploration and community. And the voicemails – some of which can be listened to in the story – can be oddly poignant. “There are people talking about their favourite local areas, people talking about what they can see,” Brisbane student and creator Kris Norris says. “Sometimes people are venting. People are singing.”

Notable quote: “In my delirium, I start visiting the same payphones twice, sometimes three times. I pass others without noticing them, even though I have their location on a map.”

How long will it take to read: five minutes

Further reading: An AI model trained on data collected from users of the game Pokémon Go will potentially help military drones find their location in war zones.

2. A hundred ‘unlikely items’ that reveal history

On a hunting trip in Mississippi in 1902, Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear that others had cornered, clubbed and tied to a tree. He told his team to shoot it instead. Oddly, the public loved this story, and a line of teddy bears was released. No other stuffed toy has come close to its popularity, though many tried – including the Billy Possum.

It’s one of the 100 items Roman Mars has chosen to summarise the US in 100 objects, along with the screw thread and a coin that sparked a gold crisis. Mars also chose a failed time capsule – itself an attempt to contain “objects to tell the story of our country”. Instead, as he tells it, “completely random and meaningless objects fell out”. How meta.

Notable quote: “It’s a humbling story about how hard it is to tell our own story and the impossible challenge of choosing objects to represent our history.”

How long will it take to read: five minutes

Further reading: More weird North Americanness – sasquatch “sightings” have reignited fervour and scepticism about the ape-like beast.

3. Dementia as a diagnosis for ‘creative possibilities’

When George Rook was diagnosed with dementia, he got three pieces of advice: “First, don’t take risks. Second, don’t get tired. Third, prepare.” What he wished he’d been told is: “socialise, keep active, learn new things, volunteer”. People with dementia – Australia’s leading cause of death – are routinely advised to disengage and prepare to die, as Anne Karpf writes.

But a group of four dementia rebels are taking on the the ageism and ableism by helping people see the “hopeful, creative possibilities” after a diagnosis. It’s an uplifting read about a debilitating illness with a simple idea driving changemakers: “How do we empower and enable people to live as well as possible, for as long as possible, with as much autonomy and independence as possible?”

Notable quote: “We underestimate what’s possible because of the idea that the person has already died.”

How long will it take to read: five minutes

Further reading: In this fun story from April about 12 ways to stay sharp in a mind-frazzling world, Joel Snape urges us to stop the brain rot!

4. ‘A cross between a ballerina and Janis Joplin’

In the 90s, Kate Moss nipping out for a martini would cause a “stampede” of 200 male photographers, Greg Brennan tells Lauren Cochrane. And there were fewer photographers then – perhaps because the job was so different. Brennan would shoot celebrities at night, develop the photos until dawn and drop them off to the picture desks of glossy magazines at 6am.

He had photographed Moss many times but he had no idea a snap of her leaving a play would become his most famous. It has “a certain fallen angel quality about it”, he says, and it fitted the media narrative: the preeminent party girl, pictured crouched on a stairwell in a fur. But Brennan has a complex relationship with the iconic photo: that sensationalism “couldn’t have been any further from the truth”.

Notable quote: “She looked at me, she recognised me because I’ve been photographing her for many years. I started taking the picture. She didn’t react, didn’t say anything.”

How long will it take to read: three minutes

Further reading: The before-and-after photos of Donald Trump’s $14.2m makeover showing … a blue pool.

5. ‘Felt like razor blades in my eyes’

“Projectiles that release powder designed to burn the eyes and throat. Flashbang grenades. Teargas. Launchers that resemble semi-automatic rifles.” These are some of the “less lethal” weapons Australia’s police use on crowds with little scrutiny. But “all of these weapons can kill people”, says Rohini Haar, a medical doctor who has researched their health impacts on protesters around the world.

Dive into this incredible interactive story from Guardian Australia’s investigations team that explores the shocking impacts of these weapons on crowds and exposes how police “deliberately hide the detail of these weapons behind closed doors”.

Notable quote: “They’re bringing their kids along and seeing these police fully kitted up with guns and grenades and having to explain … what’s going on. This is the new normal.”

How long will it take to read: 10 minutes

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