site: www.washingtonpost.com
Utopia to blight: Surviving in Henry Ford’s lost jungle town
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/28/fordlandia-brazil/ [www.washingtonpost.com]
2023-07-28 23:43
tags:
article
history
hoipolloi
policy
urban
Nearly a century ago, the Ford Motor Co. spent heavily in blood and coin to construct what became, practically overnight, one of the Amazon’s largest cities. Thousands of acres of forest were razed. Millions of dollars were spent. Hundreds of workers died.
But neither Ford nor the Brazilian government, which assumed control of the property when the company departed in 1945, has done much of anything to preserve this historic town whose brief heyday came at so high a cost. William Clay Ford Jr., Henry’s great-grandson and now the company’s executive chairman, reportedly supported in 1997 the opening of a rubber museum here, but nothing came of it. Meanwhile, the Brazilian government, according to federal attorneys, has for more than 30 years ignored pleas to endow the town with historical protections.
Tech’s hottest new job: Prompt Engineer
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/02/25/prompt-engineers-techs-next-big-job/ [www.washingtonpost.com]
2023-02-26 22:22
tags:
ai
business
development
valley
‘Prompt engineers’ are being hired for their skill in getting AI systems to produce exactly what they want.
How Scotland is using waves and bubbles to generate energy
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/interactive/2021/cop26-scotland-wave-energy-renewables/ [www.washingtonpost.com]
2021-11-11 02:53
tags:
energy
It doesn’t matter if the sun shines or the wind blows. The tides turn. You can set your watch to them. The trick is how to generate cost-effective, renewable electricity from that limitless, ceaseless motion. They’re working on the problem here on Scotland’s Orkney Islands.
Toronto is home to the world’s largest lake-powered cooling system. Here’s how it works.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/interactive/2021/toronto-deep-latke-water-cooling-raptors/ [www.washingtonpost.com]
2021-11-11 02:50
tags:
energy
urban
Deep lake water cooling (DLWC) is used to cool over 100 buildings in the city. It saves enough electricity to power a town of 25,000 — and it’s so popular the city is pursuing an expansion.
Capital crossings
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/interactive/2021/washington-dc-bridges-new-and-old/ [www.washingtonpost.com]
2021-04-01 17:21
tags:
architecture
article
history
maps
photos
transport
urban
Washington is a city of great bridges and terrible bridges. These are their stories.
Space Oddity
https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2020/07/20/nearly-100-years-ago-man-tried-blast-off-venus-now-documentary-crew-is-mission-find-rocket-built-that-journey/ [www.washingtonpost.com]
2020-07-25 19:16
tags:
article
history
space
In 1927, a Baltimore man was on a mission to blast off to Venus. Nearly a century later, a documentary crew is on its own mission to find the rocket built for that journey.
Some great illustrations, too.
The lives upended around a $20 cheeseburger
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/07/07/le-diplomate-burger-beef-supply-chain-coronavirus/ [www.washingtonpost.com]
2020-07-08 09:36
tags:
business
food
transport
A cash-strapped rancher, a virus-stricken meatpacker, an underpaid chef, a hungry engineer: The journey of a single burger during a pandemic
A bit dramatic, but a good look at the food supply chain.
Cities are closing streets to make way for restaurants and pedestrians
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/cities-are-closing-streets-to-make-way-for-restaurants-and-pedestrians/2020/05/25/1f1af634-9b73-11ea-ad09-8da7ec214672_story.html [www.washingtonpost.com]
2020-05-25 18:31
tags:
food
policy
urban
The forced distancing required by the coronavirus prompted several cities to quickly close some public roads to make room so cooped-up residents anxious to get outside for exercise could do so safely.
Now, following moves to shut, narrow or repurpose streets from Oakland to Tampa, cities including Washington are seeking to understand how those emergency closures might have lasting impacts on some of urban America’s most important, and contested, real estate.
How the CIA used Crypto AG encryption devices to spy on countries for decades
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/national-security/cia-crypto-encryption-machines-espionage/ [www.washingtonpost.com]
2020-02-11 23:16
tags:
article
crypto
history
policy
security
Little Bay Islands relocation
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/the-people-of-this-remote-canadian-island-village-are-taking-government-money-to-clear-out-one-couple-is-staying/2019/12/29/46d2a9f2-202f-11ea-b034-de7dc2b5199b_story.html [www.washingtonpost.com]
2019-12-31 03:49
tags:
article
history
policy
The strains on Little Bay Islands — emigration, resource collapse, aging populations — are familiar to small towns around the world. Local leaders have tried to revive dying villages with offers of $1 homes or promises to pay would-be residents to move in. Newfoundland and Labrador takes a different approach: It pays you to leave.
‘Grand inquisitors of the realm’: How Congress got its power to investigate and subpoena
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/03/11/grand-inquisitors-realm-how-congress-got-its-power-investigate-subpoena/ [www.washingtonpost.com]
2019-11-24 00:24
tags:
history
policy
Back in his day, Robert Morris was a pretty big deal. He was just one of two men to sign all three of our nation’s founding documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution.
“Wherefore, and encouraged by a consciousness of the Integrity of his Administration, your Memorialist is desirous that a Strict Examination should be had into his Conduct,” Morris wrote, “in order that if he has been guilty of Maladministration it may be detected and Punished, if otherwise, that his Innocence may be manifested, and acknowledged.”
Morris’s mouthful of a demand was taken up in the House of Representatives, where members referred it to a select committee, ultimately helping lay the foundation for the wide-ranging subpoena power Congress uses to investigate/torment the executive branch, including the president.
A sport of their own
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/sports/girls-wrestling-high-school-mya-kretzer/ [www.washingtonpost.com]
2019-11-11 02:22
tags:
article
hoipolloi
policy
sports
A high school wrestler from Kansas spent four years fighting to give girls the opportunity to compete in an official state sport.
Thirty years after the Berlin Wall fell, a Stasi spy puzzle remains unsolved
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/thirty-years-after-the-berlin-wall-fell-no-end-in-sight-for-stasi-spy-puzzle/2019/11/01/160d8ae2-fb29-11e9-9e02-1d45cb3dfa8f_story.html [www.washingtonpost.com]
2019-11-09 19:22
tags:
history
investigation
opsec
In the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall 30 years ago, East Germany’s secret police frantically tried to destroy millions of documents that laid bare the astounding reach of mass surveillance used to keep an iron grip on citizens.
As shredders that were available jammed or broke down, Stasi officers resorted to tearing the documents by hand, stuffing them into bags to later be burned or pulped. But the effort came to a premature halt when citizens groups stormed and occupied Stasi offices to preserve the evidence.
Three decades later, in the same rooms behind the foreboding gray facade of the former Stasi headquarters, Barbara Poenisch and nine fellow archivists are trying to piece those documents, and the history, back together.
Related: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/11/09/the-day-wall-came-down-how-post-covered-berlin-walls-fall-years-ago/
How airplane food goes from the kitchen to your flight
https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2019/10/30/how-airplane-food-goes-kitchen-your-flight/ [www.washingtonpost.com]
2019-11-06 23:41
tags:
business
flying
food
Gate Gourmet is one major player in the airplane catering game, feeding about 750 million passengers a year in about 60 countries. On a typical day at its Dulles International Airport branch, in suburban Washington, the company is responsible for getting 18,000 meals onto 275 flights. In busy seasons, that number jacks up to 25,000 meals.
How these American dishes evolved from foreign roots
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/voraciously/what-are-american-foods/ [www.washingtonpost.com]
2019-10-18 01:40
tags:
article
food
history
hoipolloi
Gumbo. Chile con queso. California roll. Spaghetti and meatballs.
The names are as familiar as household brands. Yet how much do you know about these dishes? Based on the names alone, with their roots in other languages and other cultures, each dish sounds like an import. In some ways, they are. But each dish also morphed and adapted to its new environment, transforming into something uniquely American.
Stairs to nowhere are everywhere these days. Where are they taking us?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/stairs-to-nowhere-are-everywhere-these-days-where-are-they-taking-us/2019/10/04/482d41c8-d8c6-11e9-bfb1-849887369476_story.html [www.washingtonpost.com]
2019-10-05 16:41
tags:
architecture
design
urban
We love to look down on other people, and we love it even more when they look up at us. The architect Morris Lapidus understood this when he designed the grand staircase of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami. He called it the “Stairs to Nowhere” because they led only to a coat closet, where the beautiful people could leave their jackets and then swan down the stairs, catching the eye of everyone below.
Sixty-five years later, the new stairs-to-nowhere are “stepped seating” — though it may look like the thing in high school you called “bleachers” — and it’s become one of the most Instagrammable and possibly the most overused architectural features of the decade.
Tucker Carlson: Washington Post ‘noticed’ the story that it broke on Joe Biden
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/09/03/tucker-carlson-washington-post-noticed-story-that-it-broke-joe-biden/ [www.washingtonpost.com]
2019-09-17 22:53
tags:
factcheck
media
Fox News host Tucker Carlson finds himself in a pickle: On the one hand, he must do his propagandistic duty of discrediting top-tier Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden; on the other, doing so requires crediting enemy media outlets.
“The worst part is, the story wasn’t even true. It turned out to be a jumbled mashup of a bunch of different stories with all of the facts wrong. Even The Washington Post noticed. And trust me, they’ve got every incentive to lie about it, they often do,” said Carlson, articulating the most churlish, petty and envious story credit ever to air.
New York Times lawyer on Palin editorial: ‘It was an honest mistake’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/21/new-york-times-lawyer-palin-editorial-it-was-an-honest-mistake/ [www.washingtonpost.com]
2019-08-21 17:33
tags:
factcheck
media
policy
Sarah Palin has launched countless bogus attacks against what she calls the “lamestream media.” Virtually all of them disintegrate upon articulation, but one of them is lingering: On Aug. 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit restored a 2017 defamation lawsuit Palin filed against the New York Times over an editorial that falsely depicted the impact of her political action committee on the national discourse.
This is a much longer column than I expected, covering a lot of detail about proving defamation against a public figure.
Cisco to pay $8.6 million fine for selling government hackable surveillance technology
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/31/cisco-pay-million-fine-selling-government-hackable-surveillance-technology/ [www.washingtonpost.com]
2019-08-02 01:53
tags:
business
development
policy
security
Cisco has agreed to pay $8.6 million to settle a claim it sold video surveillance software it knew was vulnerable to hackers to hospitals, airports, schools, state governments and federal agencies. The tech giant continued to sell the software and didn’t fix the massive security weakness for about four years after a whistleblower first alerted the company about it in 2008, according to a settlement unsealed Wednesday with the Justice Department and 15 states as well as the District.
This is a new wrinkle in the disclosure debate. Refuse to patch, pay out later. But 10 years seems like a very long timeline.
source: white
This year, Joey Chestnut marched on New York with a hot-dog entourage
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/this-year-joey-chestnut-marched-on-new-york-with-a-hot-dog-entourage/2019/07/04/b3929fbc-9e6a-11e9-b27f-ed2942f73d70_story.html [www.washingtonpost.com]
2019-07-05 02:49
tags:
food
hoipolloi
nyc
sports
Chestnut, a Northern Californian with a placid demeanor, also stars in “The Good, the Bad, the Hungry,” a new ESPN documentary about his surprisingly complex relationship with longtime rival Takeru Kobayashi. And the ESPN marketing machine had gone into overdrive to burnish the hot-dog champion’s image. They arranged to have Chestnut arrive at Citi Field with his sausage posse to throw out the first pitch and later hand out hot dogs — presumably the nonhuman kind.