Snow’s Queen
On Saturdays Tootsie Tomanetz cooks barbecue the old-fashioned way for legions of loyal fans. That doesn’t mean she’ll ever give up her day job.
goodreads
Inside the Secret World of Global Food Spies
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Retail giants turn to bitcoin technology to combat food-fraud that costs the global food industry up to $40 billion every year.
The last of the great explorers
The ocean floor is the Earth’s last great uncharted region. Oliver Franklin-Wallis joins the man descending to the bottom of the deepest trenches on the planet
In Search of Life’s Smoking Gun
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A journey to the underwater volcanoes where life may have erupted.
The wild story behind the NBA's most unlikely heist
How did an executive in one of the league's smallest markets steal millions of dollars -- and get away with it for years?
A Very Old Man for a Wolf
He was the alpha male of the first pack to live in Oregon since 1947. For years, a state biologist tracked him, collared him, counted his pups, weighed him, photographed him, and protected him. But then the animal known as OR4 broke one too many rules.
The Innocent Pleasure of Trespassing
Liberating ourselves by treating the world as a free place to roam.
The transhumanists who want to live forever
For a core of longevity true believers, the time to intervene is now.
The Final Days Of Japan's Most Incredible Arcade
Japan is known for its video arcades, from the tiniest little collections of claw games in basements to entire high-rise buildings packed with floor after floor of video amusements. On Sunday, November 17, perhaps the most elaborately themed arcade in the country, Anata no…
How Turkish coffee destroyed an empire
Kahve was a favourite drink of the Ottoman Empire’s ruling class. Little did they know it would one day hasten the empire’s demise
They Love Trash
Young rebels take on the unpleasant byproducts of festival culture.
Into the abyss: The story of the MV Lyubov Orlova
What really happened to the MV Lyubov Orlova, a Russian cruise liner that was abandoned in St. John's Harbour nine years ago and eventually drifted out to sea as a rat-infested ghost ship? To find the answers, reporter Randi Beers delves into some Soviet history, the secretive…
Yes, You Can Catch Insanity
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A controversial disease revives the debate about the immune system and mental illness.
LimeWire: The Oral History of the App That Changed Music Forever
In 2001, the internet’s premier file-sharing service Napster was shut down after just two years, leaving a giant vacuum in the ever-expanding peer-to-peer file-sharing space....
In Kansas, girls didn’t have a wrestling championship of their own. Mya Kretzer changed that.
For many female wrestlers, the toughest challenge is finding opponents.
Undercover in the Orthodox Underworld
Chained wives, violent rabbis, and one woman’s mission to infiltrate an Orthodox crime ring
Inside Shenzhen’s race to outdo Silicon Valley
Shenzhen flooded the world with cheap gadgets. Can it now become what Silicon Valley never did—a global hub of innovation, entrepreneurship, and manufacturing?
O Sister, Where Art Thou?
History makes no mention of what was one of the most popular all-female country acts ever. Yet the story of the Goree Girls—inmates who banded together in the forties at Texas’ sole penitentiary for women—is worth a listen.
The Minor Regional Novelist
Texas may have inspired Larry McMurtry to become a writer, but there is no writer who has inspired an understanding of Texas quite like Larry McMurtry. At age eighty, our most iconic author still has work to do.
Leonard Cohen and the Divine Voice
A new short film captures some of Cohen’s reflections on creativity and spirituality, and on preparing for the end of life.
On a Remote Siberian Island Asking, Was It Just a Dream?
The island, in Siberia’s Lake Baikal, has no paved roads, herds of wild horses and a shamanistic religion. The 52 Places Traveler found his spirit animal there.
The Wrong Goodbye
A wrenching decision to end life support, and the unthinkable mistake that devastated not one but two families.
Of Meat and Men
John Mueller was the heir to one of the great Texas barbecue dynasties. Aaron Franklin was an unknown kid from College Station who worked his counter. John had it all and then threw it all away. Aaron came out of nowhere to create the state’s most coveted brisket. Then John rose…
The story of Tunnel 29
In 1961, Joachim Rudolph escaped from one of the world’s most brutal dictatorships. A few months later, he began tunnelling his way back in. Why?
The Agony and the Ecstasy of the State Fair Food Finalists
The grim traveler sampled the offerings with a heavy heart.
Bank of the Underworld - The Atlantic
Liberty Reserve was like PayPal for the unbanked. Was it also a global money-laundering operation?
In Afghanistan’s War and Peace, WhatsApp Delivers the Message (Published 2019)
WhatsApp has proliferated in the highest echelons of the Afghan government — as well as among the Taliban.
The buyers and sellers of Khorgos, a special trade zone on the Kazakhstan-C
The town hasn't yet become the promised global-trade nexus. Nonetheless the shopping zone has lured entrepreneurs hoping to get rich and shoppers trying to get a bargain.
I Now Suspect the Vagus Nerve Is the Key to Well-being
“Stimulating” it leads to calmness, but how and why?
The Planet Hunting Machine
Caltech professor Gregg Hallinan and his team are scanning the universe for possible Earths with cheap antennae built from parts found online, cake pans, and, yes, chicken wire—taking the lonely search for habitable planets and automating it.
Outfoxed and Outgunned: How China Routed the U.S. in a U.N. Agency
Clumsy diplomacy, allegations of bribery, a stinging U.S. diplomatic loss, and China's ascension in the United Nations.
Flea Had a Wild Life. Then He Joined Red Hot Chili Peppers. (Published 2019)
In a new memoir, the bassist describes how he expanded his consciousness, found his muse and landed in a storied rock band.
»I have no desire to open up this man’s skull. I do it because I have to«
Forensic scientists, the police and crime scene investigators master horror with a steady hand. This article gives a rare insight into the post-mortem examination of a homicide.
The Symbolic Seashell | Hakai Magazine
Collecting seashells is as old as humanity. What we do with them can reveal who we are, where we’re from, and what we believe.
One Family Built Forever 21, and Fueled Its Collapse
The retailer’s bankruptcy filing, and interviews with former employees, give a rare glimpse into a family controlled, intensely secretive operation.
Man on Fire
The Reverend Charles Moore ardently dedicated his life to the service of God and his fellow man. But when he couldn’t shake the thought that he hadn’t done enough, he drove to a desolate parking lot in his hometown of Grand Saline for one final act of faith.
Inside Olympic Destroyer, the Most Deceptive Hack in History
The untold story of how digital detectives unraveled the mystery of Olympic Destroyer—and why the next big cyberattack will be even harder to crack.
Honor Thy Father
In suburban Fort Worth the frail psyche of a football prodigy collided with the crazed ambition of his dad, who himself had been a high school football star way back when. The consequences were deadly.
Unholy Act
No one in McAllen saw Irene Garza leave Sacred Heart that night in 1960. The next morning, her car was still parked down the street from the church. She never came home.
Inside the Members-Only Eating Clubs of San Sebastián
Step into the private kitchens of Basque country’s sociedades gastronómicas, where everything revolves around food
When 'Angels in America' Came to East Texas – Texas Monthly
Twenty years ago my hometown made national headlines when the local college staged an internationally acclaimed play about gay men and the AIDS crisis. The people I grew up with are still feeling the aftershocks.
A Lone Postman Delivers the Mail to the Far Reaches of the Big Bend
Not many people will drive the mail to places the U.S. Postal Service won’t. Seventy-one-year-old Gilbert Lujan is one of them.
Old Dudes On Skateboards
The death of his life-long skateboarding friend prompts Aaron Gilbreath to get back on his board — at 44, with his toddler daughter in tow.
The Acid Farmers - Mike Jay
How Sandoz Pharmaceuticals produced the LSD that turned on the world
The Epic Hunt for a Lost World War II Aircraft Carrier (Published 2019)
In 1942, a volley of torpedoes sent the U.S.S. Wasp to the bottom of the Pacific. For decades, the families of the dead wondered where in the lightless depths of the ocean the ship could possibly be. Earlier this year, a team of wreck hunters set out to find it.
The fast track to a life well lived is feeling grateful
Being ‘good’ need not take years of ethical analysis: just a few moments of gratitude can set you on the path to virtue
Shackleton’s Medical Kit
‘Each box was like the distillation of all that we have learned as a species about our bodies and their infirmities, a time capsule of medicine.’
Still Life
Covering Texas news, politics, food, history, travel, crime, music, and everything in between for fifty years.
I Worked at Capital One for Five Years. This Is How We Justified Piling Debt on Poor Customers.
The subprime lending giant is a textbook case in creating a corporate culture of denial.
The Long, Loving Search for Betsy the Cow
"She's missing. I’m not going to quit her."