In search of (more) interesting articles

[MsZem]

Fantastic storytelling:

The Battle of High Hill

When two megafires converged on a small town in Oregon, the community faced a choice. People could flee, leaving the town to its fate. Or they could stay and fight.

www.theatlantic.com

 

[Cachoo]

Fantastic storytelling:

The Battle of High Hill

When two megafires converged on a small town in Oregon, the community faced a choice. People could flee, leaving the town to its fate. Or they could stay and fight.

www.theatlantic.com

Stood in my yard and tried to imagine a natural, wind-driven fire that covers three acres per second....horrific.

 

[MsZem]

This is sad and enraging:

The Tragedy of America’s Rural Schools (Published 2021)

Outdated textbooks, not enough teachers, no ventilation — for millions of kids like Harvey Ellington, the public-education system has failed them their whole lives.

www.nytimes.com

I hope at least it'll get Harvey Ellington, the student featured in this article, some financial support to pursue his dreams.

 

[MsZem]

I tried to find information about Dasani, who should be sixteen or so, but no luck. Hopefully she's found her way on life.

The author is supposed to be working on a book about child poverty that will include material about Dasani. However, she got that book contract at 3-4 years ago and I haven't found any evidence that the book was ever published.

The book will be published soon. If anyone is still curious, here's what happened to Dasani in the years since the publication of The Invisible Child:

When Dasani Left Home (Published 2021)

What happens when trying to escape poverty means separating from your family at 13?

www.nytimes.com

Another article worth sharing:
Two kids, a loaded gun and the man who left a 4-year-old to die

(the child survived, but she has a long road ahead of her)

 

[oleada]

This is a fascinating one:

The Crane Who Fell In Love With a Human

 

[MacMadame]

This was fascinating to me:

Human History Gets a Rewrite

A brilliant new account upends bedrock assumptions about 30,000 years of change.

www.theatlantic.com

 

[Husky]

Yesterday, I read the protocols of a trial against a lesbian pair who supposedly tortured and killed a baby. These protocols contain so many details of erratic behaviour and the way abusive parents think that I thought this is an eyeopener. Bizarre to see how they were hiding what they were doing from social workers and family members, not wanting anyone to take away the kid because they "love" it. On the other hand proceeding to abuse it.

The fascinating thing in our digital time is that there is sometimes so much evidence such as written dialogues, pics, and videos from the culprits themselves that the ongoing abuse is very well documented. Whereas in former times it was hard to prove that the parents did hurt/neglect the child intentionally. Very often they got the benefit of the doubt.

Day 2
Day 3

 

[millyskate]

I found this to be an interesting read https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-59171107

 

[MsZem]

I want to try some of these apples!

Meet the Appalachian Apple Hunter Who Rescued 1,000 'Lost' Varieties

Tom Brown's retirement hobby is a godsend for chefs, conservationists, and cider.

www.atlasobscura.com

 

[mjb52]

This article is about something that has multiple interpretations, negative and positive, but ends on a (very slightly) uplifting note: A ‘Killing Stone’ Broke in Japan. Is a Demon on the Loose?

Ok, that doesn't sound very potentially positive, so here is the subtitle too: "The rock appears in a famous legend starring a nine-tailed fox spirit. The question now is whether the fracture was a good or bad omen."

 

[sk9tingfan]

Just found an article in today's NY Times about how the TSA's Instagram site is per the author as the funniest travel site. Thaat includes the fact that they found a bazooka in someone's luggage at the Raleigh-Durham airport!

The Funniest Travel Account on Instagram Is Run by the T.S.A. Seriously. (Published 2022)

Meet the woman behind the agency’s endless puns and dad jokes. (And don’t forget the 3.4 ounces rule.)

www.nytimes.com

 

[MsZem]

Impressive reporting about a story that needed to be told:

Before Jerry Sandusky, Penn State football had another serial sexual predator. This is the untold story of his crimes and the fight to bring him to justice.

When Jerry Sandusky's crimes came to light in 2011, the world thought it was the first time Joe Paterno and Penn State had faced a serial sexual predator in their midst. But that was not the case. This is the story of the predator who had come before.

www.espn.com

 

[Vagabond]

Gifted article, link valid for two weeks.

Vanished in the Pacific (Published 2022)

Driven by Covid chaos, online disinformation and a YouTube guru, two Americans went looking for solace on a sailboat in the middle of the ocean. They found a different fate.

www.nytimes.com

A thought-provoking article about mental illness, social media, cults, and a triggers, which, in this case happened to be the pandemic but could easily have been something else.

 

[MsZem]

This is so good, and so sad, and absolutely enraging:

The Landlord, the Tenant and a House Fire in Milwaukee

A young mother rents a house near Milwaukee. The previous tenant tells her, “Baby, they shouldn’t have let you move in.”

www.propublica.org

 

[Vagabond]

Does it matter if Christmas isn't Ho Ho Holy? Graham Ward on secular festivities and his long road to Oxford | University of Oxford

It is impossible to escape Christmas, although the country is no longer even 50% Christian, according to new data from the 2021 census. By mid-November, the lights are up; shops are full of tinsel; retailers have launched a variety of Christmas-themed adverts, and canned festive music is...

www.ox.ac.uk

A short interview with the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford. There is much to ponder here beyond what the headline suggests.

 

[MacMadame]

I found this article interesting probably because I have sub-clinical SAD and also am currently being treated for depression:

The great serotonin debate: do depression treatments work by boosting the happy hormone?

Drugs targeting the ‘happy hormone’ are widely used for depression. But some question whether the condition is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain

www.theguardian.com

 

[Cachoo]

Compelling and beautiful feature about children's literature and Jewish resistance:

Colorful Stories for Children, With the Darkest History as Backdrop

Whimsical children’s books signed El Pintor were a success in the Netherlands during World War II. Behind the pseudonym was a Jewish couple who used the proceeds to help the resistance.

www.nytimes.com

 

[MsZem]

Another stunning piece by Jennifer Senior in The Atlantic:

The Ones We Sent Away

I thought my mother was an only child. I was wrong.

www.theatlantic.com

 

[MacMadame]

I had no idea that granola was invented in the US. And other useless facts about cereal.

The weird but true history of cereal - from anti-sex campaigns to mind control

Breakfast has never looked back since a doctor from upstate New York poured milk over processed grains in 1863

www.theguardian.com

 

[Prancer]

Longreads Best of 2023

 

[MsZem]

This was very interesting:

The Secret Women’s Club That Rocked the Porn World

Club 90—and a whole movement—was born at an adult actress’ baby shower.

www.thedailybeast.com

 

[MacMadame]

I found this article about data voids interesting. It's very helpful to people researching medical issues.

Doing Your Own Research?

What You Need to Know About Data Voids

open.substack.com

 

[Cachoo]

The Best Recipes We've Ever Published, According to You

For the 10th anniversary of NYT Cooking, we’ve collected recipes that racked up five-star ratings, topped our charts and went viral — plus a few that lit up the comments section.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Vagabond]

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-did-scientists-learn-after-thousands-of-penguins-were-slaughtered-by-mountain-lions-180985923/

This article looks at the long-term consequences of ranching, killing predators to protect livestock, hunting marine mammals, and even wildlife and environmental conservation.

The proliferation of Magellanic penguins on the South American mainland is similar to that of elephant seals on the coast of California, where the now-extirpated grizzly bear would previously have prevented a breeding population from establishing itself.