Thanks for sharing. It was a fascinating read
I have a relative by marriage with a similar story. The older generation has no interest in telling or discussing the “lie” that is their story. They will believe that they are Italian and will not believe anything that isn’t.
I grew up in a Levitt house
How the Jerks I Grew Up With in Long Island Took Over the Country
gift link https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/16/opinion/long-island-tv-villains-politics.html?unlocked_article_code=1.i1A.YLJs.Gh_EmuzaXjMC&smid=url-share
NYT: OpenAI and Khan Academy Made a Chatbot. What Can We Learn?
gift link https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/16/business/tyrangiel-ai-book-openai-khan-academy-khanmigo.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jVA.03Cq.Jh22F-F-YFuF&smid=url-share
He Helped Start a Cosmetics Empire, Then Gave It Up to Be a Priest
A mystical encounter 12 years ago led Scott Vincent Borba, a founder of E.L.F. Beauty, on a journey that will culminate this week, when he is ordained as a Roman Catholic priest.
Gift link https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/us/scott-vincent-borba-elf-cosmetics-priest.html?unlocked_article_code=1.j1A.gmYS.j_HYAAoNkaU6&smid=url-share
Doctors, This Is Why Our Patients Are Using ChatGPT
Two important articles on drowning. The first is, to me, scary. We’ve always heard about people splashing about while drowning, but the opposite is true.
The second is how the color of your swimsuit can affect if you’re seen at the bottom of the pool or lake.
If you or your children (no matter their age) are on a boat or paddle board or canoe or kayak, floatation devices must be worn. At our place on the water, no PFD, no time in our watercraft. I see people from vacation rentals all the time in the cove or on the canal without, and it frightens me to death.
A controversial topic. Some people refuse to acknowledge that these drugs have a dark side.
Gift link
Luzzatto has a plan to fix these downtown catastrophes. He is starting in Denver, where nearly 40% of the office space in the central business district is vacant, the highest among the country’s top 50 cities, according to real-estate services firm CBRE Group.
Cities built forests of skyscrapers when white-collar employment was inseparable from downtowns, and workers poured in daily from bedroom communities. But when remote work became more popular and these downtowns continued to deteriorate, waves of companies moved out jobs and business districts collapsed.
Luzzatto’s approach is to turn that old formula inside out, transforming desolate urban cores into welcoming places to live. He plans to convert half of the Energy Center plus two other downtown Denver office buildings into about 1,100 apartments. He’s also planning a bookstore, art gallery, children’s museum and daycare center.
Fish Sleep a Lot Like Us. (They Even Nap.)
By tracking eye movements in zebrafish, researchers identified four different types of sleep, analogous to the complex sleep patterns of humans and other animals.
It’s Never Been Easier in America to Get Buzzed
gift link https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/opinion/illegal-drugs-cheap-prices.html?unlocked_article_code=1.m1A.ceGU.iBrWT768cOky&smid=url-share
I love this story of the student who stepped in when a keyboardist fell ill during a live orchestra accompaniment in Sydney of La La Land.
OMG! Love this.
And the story made me look at our Symphony’s schedule…. and now we will be going to see How to Train Your Dragon in Concert!
I pictured the conductor saying. ““You’re going out a youngster, but you’ve got to come back a star!”
I remember you going to Flow last year which inspired us to go.
How Three Chess Friends Battled Demons and Saved Two Lives
A homeless chess hustler, a scholar and an aging recluse found hope in a trashed apartment by Central Park.
gift link https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/nyregion/how-three-chess-friends-battled-demons-and-saved-two-lives.html?unlocked_article_code=1.nFA.L7HH.F9ncCK0MX-kq&smid=url-share
Wow—so glad the 3 men found each other and are all enriched by their friendship!
A couple of interesting articles:
With fewer men going to college, U.S. marriage market makes surprising shift
I decided to get back into watches this year, to my wife’s chagrin. I’ve been wearing my Apple Watch everyday for a few years and I’m starting to get annoyed by the constant messages and perpetual connectivity. Recently I decided that I needed a simple, tough, grab and go watch to replace my Apple Watch. I went looking online for the watch I had 20+ years ago that was perfect for the job, the Citizen Promaster Tough. You haven’t been able to buy them new in the U.S. for years, so I scoured the watch forum sales sections. It seemed they show up infrequently and sell very quickly. I turned to Google to widen the search, where I found the article below…about a guy named Ray Mears… Who the heck is Ray Mears? Why is the watch I want named after him?
https://www.fratellowatches.com/hands-on-citizen-promaster-tough-ray-mears/#gref
If you don’t care about watches, but you’re curious about a somewhat private British bushcraft expert who once helped the police track a killer, and had a dad bod before they were cool, read the article below.
Of course, after reading the above article I followed the natural progression and defaulted to YouTube. That’s where I found the below video where Ray Mears fastened a food container out of birch bark. Check out his wrist, by the way. He’s wearing the Ray Mears watch.
What Paying for College Can Do to a Family Business
As college costs continue to rise alongside tighter household budgets, entrepreneurs often face competing pressures between investing in their businesses and funding major family expenses. Kim finds that many are adjusting their business finances to help pay the high cost of college, which often runs in the tens of thousands yearly, effectively using the business as a financial buffer.
“There’s been a lot of focus on the growing liability of student loans on the household finance side, but there is relatively little work to understand how households trade off the investment that they undertake in their children’s human capital versus productive decisions,”
The Tiny Solar Panel That Could Change America