The Now I Know Weekender

Hi!

I typically use this space to share something I’ve been thinking about or to give you an update on my plans for the newsletter, but I don’t really have much to say today. Let’s jump right into the four stories I shared this week!

I typically use this space to share something I’ve been thinking about or to give you an update on my plans for the newsletter, but I don’t really have much to say today. Let’s jump right into the four stories I shared this week!

The Now I Know Week in Review

Monday: The Uprising That Helped Create Washington D.C.: I typoed “1783” as “1983” which is unfortuante, but I think you figured out what I meant.  Also, there’s a small easter egg in this one — a reference to Arrested Development — and only three people wrote in to say they noticed! I guess the typo was too distracting?

Tuesday: The Canada/Philippines Garbage War of 2019: I called a “garbage chute” a “garbage shoot” in this one. That’s a mistake, of course, but I do wonder what a “garbage shoot” would look like.

Wednesday: The Dead Man Who Sued to Make Himself Alive: I recently re-watched Veep and this would have been a really good storyline for Jonah Ryan.

Thursday: The Dating Site That Saved a Species?: A story about frogs.

And some other things you should check out:

Some long reads for the weekend:

1) “Adrift” (The Associated Press, 21 minutes, April 2023). In May of 2021, fishermen discovered a small boat in the Caribbean. Everyone on board — about 10-15 people — was dead. And it wasn’t clear where they came from, or how they ended up there. This is the investigation into that story.

2) “‘It changed the world’: 50 years on, the story of Pong’s Bay Area origins” (SF Gate, 11 minutes, March 2023). A history of what is widely referred to as history’s first video game.

3) “Unraveling the Greatest Writers’ Room Story Ever” (Vulture, 20 minutes, April 2023). The television writers union is currently on strike and, coincidentally, I came across this fantastic story about a story told by TV writers to other TV writers — I guess making the story your own is a rite (write?) of passage in the industry. The story features Norm MacDonald, too, so that’s a bonus.

Have a great weekend!

Dan