An Essential Public Servant & Barefoot Contessa
A man who revolutionized mine safety standards. Also, how Ina Garten became a household name.
Featured Articles
The Canary
Washington Post • 3 Sep 2024 • ~12900 words • Archive Link
This piece explores the journey of Chris Mark, who found himself deeply immersed in the world of coal mining and went on to revolutionize mine safety standards and prevent countless fatalities while working for the federal government. The article also examines how the public's perception of government bureaucrats can be disconnected from the impactful work they actually do. Chris Mark provides the perfect example, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the articles in this series by the Washington Post.
No one ever told Chris to invent better rules. But before he even began to figure out better designs for coal mine pillars, he knew that was what he wanted to do: He wanted to keep miners safe.
Ina Garten and the Age of Abundance
The New Yorker • 2 Sep 2024 • ~7800 words • Archive Link
In this profile, Ina Garten, the beloved culinary figure, reflects on her journey from running a food store in the Hamptons to becoming a household name. She shares insights into her creative process and the personal experiences that shaped her philosophy on food and hosting. It's a glimpse into the life of someone who has made comfort food a cultural staple, and you might find her story both relatable and inspiring.
. . . the monotony that can make the show stultifying to its star is soothing to its viewers. Opatut thinks that “Barefoot Contessa” originally spoke to a post-9/11 desire for comfort and domesticity, and over the years Garten’s kitchen became a refuge from wider cultural vicissitudes.
Recommended Articles
The Corporation Stealing Your Kid’s Lunch Money
The Lever • 4 Sep 2024 • ~2400 words
The article discusses the growing fees parents must pay when adding money to their children's school lunch accounts through a website called MySchoolBucks. It examines how these fees, which can exceed the cost of the actual lunch, are not going towards the school but rather to the company managing the payment system. This article sheds light on an issue that impacts countless parents and raises questions about transparency and fairness in school meal programs.
The fees are particularly burdensome on low-income families, who often can’t afford to load a large lump sum of money onto a student’s meal account and therefore pay more frequent flat transaction fees. Regulators found that vulnerable families may pay as much as $0.60 in fees for every $1 they spend on lunch.
Boat Fish Don’t Count
The Atlantic • 4 Sep 2024 • ~4250 words • Archive Link
What drives a person to swim in shark-infested waters at night, armed only with a fishing rod? In this piece from The Atlantic, the author spends time with Brandon Sausele, one of the few remaining wetsuit fishermen in Montauk, exploring the thrill and challenges of this high-risk pursuit. It's a deep dive into a unique subculture where the stakes are high, and the rewards are often just a fleeting moment.
Wetsuiters have a mantra: “Boat fish don't count.” It's often said tongue in cheek, but most of us sort of mean it . . . Boat fish don't count because, generally, boat fishing can't kill you.
The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time
Rolling Stone • 2 Sep 2024 • ~19000 words
Top lists are not the type of content I usually recommend here, but I think this one deserves recognition for its thoroughness and selection. Some of their higher-placed selections are indeed some of the peak moments of popular culture. If you’re into TV shows I doubt you’ll find anything new, but this is still a fun read.
Few pop-culture experiences are more satisfying than when your favorite show knocks it out of the park with a single chapter, whether it’s an episode that wildly deviates from the series’ norm, or just an incredibly well-executed version of the familiar formula.
Kiêu
Words Without Borders • 3 Sep 2024 • ~2550 words
In this excerpt from Khuê Phạm's novel Brothers and Ghosts, we meet a German Vietnamese woman grappling with her identity and the complexities of family ties. As she receives a call from a long-lost relative about her ailing grandmother, we are drawn into her struggle with belonging, language, and the weight of her heritage.
Let me begin this story with a confession: I don’t know how to pronounce my own name.
How Crop Science Is Transforming the Humble Potato
Undark Magazine • 4 Sep 2024 • ~2300 words
This article explores how hybrid breeding technology is shaking up potato farming, making it possible to create new, resilient varieties that can thrive in challenging climates. With the potential to revolutionize agriculture, especially in Africa, this piece invites you to consider the impact of innovation on one of our most essential crops.
. . . potato breeding is so slow that people today are still eating many of the same cultivars their great-grandparents did a century ago . . . Experts say Solynta has cracked that problem, which helped lay the groundwork for a revolution in potato breeding.
How Black Americans in the South Boldly Defied Jim Crow to Build Business Empires of Their Own
Smithsonian Magazine • 4 Sep 2024 • ~4950 words
In the face of Jim Crow laws, Black Americans in the South found ways to defy the odds to build thriving business communities. This article profiles three prominent Black business leaders - Maggie Lena Walker in Richmond, Virginia, Charles C. Spaulding in Durham, North Carolina, and A.G. Gaston in Birmingham, Alabama - and examines how they navigated the challenges of racism to create economic opportunities for their communities.
And for all the money Black professionals could accrue in a segregated economy, they could not buy their children access to better-funded white schools, nor even a sandwich at a whites-only lunch counter.
Coral Restoration’s Come-To-Jesus Moment
Huffpost • 2 Sep 2024 • ~5800 words
This piece explores the disheartening state of coral reefs in Florida and around the world, revealing why some experts believe that without significant action on climate change, these restoration efforts may ultimately be futile. It's a wake-up call for anyone concerned about the future of our oceans.
Bleaching is a phenomenon in which heat-stressed corals expel the symbiotic algae that they rely on for most of their food and turn ghost-white, often leading to widespread coral mortality. The heat in the Florida Keys was so extreme that in many cases, corals didn’t have time to bleach. Instead, they simply roasted to death.
How Much New Knowledge is Hidden in Scientific Text?
Some Are Useful • 27 Aug 2024 • ~4900 words
What if the key to unlocking new scientific discoveries is hidden within the vast archives of existing literature? This piece explores the intriguing concept of literature-based discovery, tracing its origins from Don Swanson's early ideas to the modern capabilities of large language models.
. . . we still don’t know how much knowledge is hidden in the present literature. Probabilistically, there are a multitude of combinations of topics or words which one could find in a snapshot of today’s scientific literature which, according to any of the literature-based discovery methods discussed above, would imply hidden scientific potential.
