Welcome to the second edition of Not the News—same great format, fresh new content!
What’s new with Excel?
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Tomorrow at 6 pm there will be a virtual Shabbat song and prayer service with music from your fellow Excelers. Register here (another great reason to use the Excel Community platform!)
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What to Read
Short read: Trees can save cities billions of dollars
Leafy trees provide a very valuable resource during hot summers: shade. How valuable? People in London saved more than $6.5 billion over four years because more shade means less air conditioning.
That and more, from CityLab:
The city’s 8.4 million trees removed an estimated 2,240 tonnes of pollutants (mostly ozone) from London’s atmosphere annually, a process that would otherwise have cost 126 million pounds. They sequestered carbon up to a value of 4.79 million pounds and saved the city 2.8 million pounds by alleviating storm water run-off.
Cooler areas with more shade tend to be higher-income. Look for that trend to continue along with climate change.
Medium read: How did coffee take over the world?
Because coffee and capitalism get along really well. Production is cheap, and caffeine makes people who drink it more productive.
From The Atlantic:
The six cents that Hill’s plantation paid for an hour and a half of labor in 1954 was transformed into $22.50 worth of value for [a factory owner].
If you think six cents is a suspiciously cheap price for labor, you’d be right. The details of that alone are worth the read.
Long read: Build build build build build
California has a housing crisis. NYC rent isn’t cheap either. So why aren’t we building more housing? Culture, according to this excellent deep dive into one Bay Area town.
From The New York Times:
The real solution will have to be sociological. People have to realize that homelessness is connected to housing prices. They have to accept it’s hypocritical to say that you don’t like density but are worried about climate change. They have to internalize the lesson that if they want their children to have a stable financial future, they have to make space. They are going to have to change.
What to Stream
“Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat” (Netflix)
Usually I can’t start shows on Netflix because the thought of committing to multiple entire seasons is just too daunting. But I wish there was more than one season of this show. Samin Nosrat spends each episode using a different country’s cuisine to illustrate one of the four elements of cooking (those would be salt, fat, acid, and heat).
“The Good Place” (Netflix, Hulu, NBC)
Speaking of being afraid of commitment (to shows), this one’s easy to start and come back to. Charming, not-too-surreal, and even a little philosophical. And only a 20-minute commitment per episode.
What to Cook
30-Minute Shakshuka
Easy No-Knead Focaccia
And something to drink:
A Very Good Manhattan
2 parts rye or bourbon
1 part sweet vermouth
A dash or two of bitters
1 teaspoon cherry juice from maraschino cherries
Stir in ice, and serve either straight-up or on ice
What to Listen To
“Recode Decode”
Tech journalist Kara Swisher does really informative interviews with a hugely diverse set of people. Mostly on the intersection of tech, innovation, and culture.
Start with: Episode 481: How to fix Transportation in New York City
“Reply All”
A podcast about the Internet, with two hilarious hosts, that is a fascinating insight into the online world.
Start with: #158 The Case of the Missing Hit
That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading!
Hope you and yours are safe, sane, and healthy.
—Charlie, Meital & the North American Board