The best longform journalism we consumed this week
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Let’s jump into it…
The Undocumented Workers Who Helped Build Elon Musk’s Texas Gigafactory
Elon Musk's $400 billion fortune was built, at least in part, on the back of an entire network of undocumented workers — the very people he and his allies in the White House are attempting to deport. [Bloomberg]
Why Gen Z Will Never Leave Home
More Gen Z kids in Canada are living with their parents than any other generation before them. "StatsCan data shows that, in 2021, 46 per cent of all twentysomethings lived with a parent. That’s up significantly from 30 years ago, when only a third of people in their twenties were still under their parents’ roofs." My guess is that the trend is very similar in the US. [Macleans]
Why are we doing these stupid “self-recorded” job interviews?
Didn't think the job application process could get any more dystopian? The latest trend in hiring involves forcing applicants to stare into their computers and respond verbally to written prompts while a timer counts down. Some suspect it's just employers' lazy method of weeding out bots. [Good Work]
Seth Rogen is the Boss Now
Seth Rogen’s Hollywood career started off with a role in a TV show that ultimately got cancelled before it even finished airing its first season. Luckily for him, that show — Freaks and Geeks — became a cult classic, benefiting from the sudden rise in home DVD purchases. Now, he's one of the most powerful people in entertainment and is producing hit shows for virtually every major studio and streaming service. [Esquire]
“We’ve Been Essentially Muzzled”: Department of Education Halts Thousands of Civil Rights Investigations Under Trump
If a student with a disability is discriminated against by their school, they basically have no recourse at the moment, at least at the federal level. The Department of Education under Trump has pretty much frozen all cases and isn't opening new ones. [Propublica]
Trials of the Witchy Women
How many women have been executed for witchcraft? Far more than I realized! Until the 1500s, it only took one accuser to have a European woman arrested and investigated. The "investigation" often consisted of torture, followed by a confession, followed by a swift execution. Unsurprisingly, these trials were only facilitated by men and often haphazardly thrown together. It wasn't until 1532 that Rome established laws requiring two "credible" accusers for an arrest, and it wasn't until the 1700s when witchcraft started to be decriminalized. [New Yorker]
After Lorne
Lorne Michaels is arguably the most powerful and influential person in comedy. Not only is SNL the most-watched broadcast outside of the NFL, but he's also launched the careers of countless Hollywood A-listers. There is no-one in Hollywood or the music industry who won't take his phone call. [Vulture]
What MrBeast can teach Hollywood
Every person who meets MrBeast comes away with the same assessment: he is obsessed with his craft. He doesn't cut corners. He spares no expense. He is singularly focused on building the largest audience in the history of entertainment, and he has no patience for any Hollywood executive who would try to to compromise that goal. [Business Insider]
The United States of Pizza, mapsplained
When did pizza come to America? Some claim that a restaurant called Lombardi's introduced it in 1905, but many scholars believe that it reached our shores at least a decade before then. Peperoni wasn't added to pizza until sometime around 1948. [Phil Edwards]
Why Manchester City’s scandal is really about power
A soccer team with a 30-year losing streak was bought up by a UAE Sheikh who ultimately spent over $1 billion a year on players. In a short time period, the team came to dominate on the world stage, but now it's being accused of manipulating its revenue numbers so it can skirt rules that limit player spending. [Search Party]
Is A.I. the Death of I.P.?
Intellectual property is arguably the most valuable resource in the developed world. The collective income made possible by copyrights, trademarks, and patents runs into the many trillions of dollars. But is it bad for both our society and culture that so much of the most-used IP is owned by a relatively small number of huge corporations? And will AI basically decimate all the IP moats that these corporations have monopolized? [New Yorker]
A Young Man Used AI to Build A Nuclear Fusor and Now I Must Weep
A college student instructed an AI chatbot to teach him how to build a mini nuclear reactor — which he then proceeded to do. "HudZah was told that he could be killed by the high voltage, X-ray radiation and possibly other things. This only made him more excited." [Core Memory]
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How Zyn Conquered the American Mouth
Originally embraced by Wall Street bros who wanted to stay wired for 16+ hours a day, Zyn has since expanded into the mainstream and represents the biggest growth opportunity for an embattled tobacco industry that's been attempting to develop more non-cigarette products for decades. [GQ]
Downwardly mobile: Inside a retreat for billionaire heirs looking to give away their money
Over $16 trillion in inherited wealth will flow toward Millennials and Gen Z over the coming decade as the baby boomer generation begins to die out. Some of the biggest beneficiaries of that wealth are hellbent on giving it away, and they're seeking out advice on the best ways to do so. [Business Insider]
The Russian TV Star Who Became the Voice of the Kremlin
Russia's leading news anchor was once a hard-hitting journalist; now he's the Kremlin's chief propagandist. His transformation really captures how much Putin has bent the nation's media industry to his will over the last 20 years. [WSJ]
Three Super Bowl Titles, Two Podcasts and One Explosive Interview
One of the fastest-growing podcasts is hosted by a retired NFL player. Rather than sticking to sports, he leveraged his stardom to gain access to the world's biggest black celebrities and gave them a safe space to expound at length on their lives. [NYT]
Where the Dealmakers and Strivers Get Their Gossip
Feed Me is often referred to as a “business newsletter,” but it devotes much of its coverage to the culture and lifestyles of rich urbanites. It’s as much aspirational as it is journalistic. [NYT]
Can Rayne Fisher-Quann Shift from Internet Princess to Bestselling Author?
One of the rising stars in the literary scene is a Gen-Z New Yorker who writes feminist personal essays on Substack: “When people hear ‘twenty-one-year-old with a book deal,’ there’s a lot of assumptions that they make about the book. I want to be able to prove people wrong.” [The Walrus]
The Secret to a Better City Is a Two-Wheeler
Electrics cars will play a big role in our quest to do away with fossil fuels, but the road to a zero carbon future will also rest largely on the electric bikes and scooters that you've probably noticed zipping through your city streets. Not only are they extremely energy efficient, but they drastically reduce car congestion. [Mother Jones]
How the Economists Took Over the NBA
To be a true NBA fan today, you need arcane knowledge of a 600-page labor agreement that governs how the teams trade players. It's so complicated that it's almost impossible to be a casual fan of the game and still understand the strategic choices behind most trades. [The Atlantic]
Resistance Media Lives! The explosive success of The Bulwark.
The Bulwark, a publication started by never-Trump Republicans, has over 76,000 paid subscribers for its newsletter and is generating $150,000 to $300,000 per month in YouTube ad revenue. With Trump now in office, it's adding 700 to 1,000 new paid subscribers a day. [New York]
The Search to Find the Remains of Homo Erectus in a Vanishing Landscape
Monocultural farming practices aren't just destroying the ecology in Indonesia, they're also wiping out archeological evidence of human ancestors that lived there hundreds of thousands of years ago. [Smithsonian]
Empire of Blood: How Dana White’s UFC Conquered America
When Dana White took over UFC in 2001, it was a backwater sport on the verge of bankruptcy. Over the next 20 years, he fought and clawed his way into mainstream culture, not only turning UFC into the sport of the 21st century, but also transforming it into a pro-Trump political movement. [Rolling Stone]
The Price of Netanyahu’s Ambition
Benjamin Netanyahu has a 70% disapproval rating in Israel and is widely blamed for failing to prevent the October 7th attack. The horrific war in Gaza can be seen as an overcorrection from a leader desperate to save his legacy. [New Yorker]
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