Reports of our demise were greatly exaggerated.
Not the News is back after a one-week hiatus, with a surplus of good reads and good recipes now that your sourdough starters have matured.
But first:
Join us next Sunday, June 28 at 12 pm ET/7 pm Israel for a discussion on the future of cities post-Covid-19. Register here. (You may have to log in and click the link again.)
Our guests: Sam Lubell, an architectural journalist for the New York Times, and Ed Krafcik, an urban designer and landscape architect. We’ll talk about the changes that may be coming to workplace environments, outdoor spaces, and homes. The role of design in responding to crises is fascinating, and we’re excited to see you there.
Read
Nextdoor’s Karen Problem
We’ve all become familiar with Karen in the last few weeks. Not a person, but a concept: the white woman who’s just dying to talk to your manager.
The neighborhood networking app Nextdoor has been dealing with Karens for years. It turns out that community-moderated forums, often with direct lines to police, aren’t always friendly to suburban people of color:
Adeyanju Giwa, a black Nextdoor user from Irvine, California, even had her account disabled after responding to a post from a white user suggesting that President Donald Trump declare martial law because of the protests in their neighborhood. Giwa’s comments were reported, and her account was disabled for using a “fake name,” even though she used her real one.
“Honestly, it boils down to … seeing what your neighbors are saying about you,” [a Black resident] said.
Nuking Hurricanes
Why am I bringing this up now? Because someone recently sent this article to me, it’s summer, and the idea is pretty funny. It actually has some pretty respectable roots, and has recently acquired a presidential proponent.
Unfortunately, it wouldn’t work. But the idea is so widespread that NOAA literally devotes an entire section of its Hurricane FAQs to debunking it. There’s all the nuclear fallout, but hurricanes are powerful, folks.
The heat release [of a hurricane] is equivalent to a 10-megaton nuclear bomb exploding every 20 minutes. According to the 1993 World Almanac, the entire human race used energy at a rate of 1013 watts in 1990, a rate less than 20% of the power of a hurricane.
Sorry, Florida.
What Do You Do with a Stolen van Gogh?
Congrats! You’ve come into possession of a hyper-valuable piece of art. Think of the money you can make! One problem: You stole it.
It’s tough to figure out what to do. Lots of criminals actually don’t think about the fact that it’s tough to sell something everyone knows is stolen. There are a couple options:
[A] work of art in the criminal underworld is worth about 10 percent of its value in the legitimate art market. [A thief] said the value is even lower than that — about 2.5 to 5 percent of market value.
It often take decades before stolen paintings resurface and very few works, less than 10 percent of those stolen are returned, [a prosecutor] said.
That last number was shocking to me—though more expensive works are returned more often.
Watch
“Lenox Hill” (Netflix)
An eight-show docuseries about four doctors and their patients at Lenox Hill hospital in Manhattan. Because all the stories are real, I cannot tell you how compelling and binge-worthy this series is. 100% on Rotten Tomatoes for a reason.
“New Girl” (Netflix)
I was actually pretty surprised to see how critically acclaimed this series is. I’m a sucker for easy-to-watch sitcoms, and with seven seasons of content you can always throw an episode on.
Cook
Because this weekend marks the first day of summer and Father’s Day we had to go with some summer favorites: (aka it’s watermelon szn)
Fresh Corn Salsa
Watermelon Salad with Feta and Mint
Salted Watermelon Margarita
See you next week!
—Charlie & Meital