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“You get more of what you engage with. Everyone who complains about coverage should understand that every click, every quote tweet, every argument is registered by these publications as engagement. If what you want is really meaty, dispassionate, balanced, and fair explainers, you need to click on that, you need to read the whole thing, you need to share it, talk about it, comment on it. We get the media that we deserve.

Hello friends, this is the first installment of a deep-dive series on Vietnamese garlic noodles. If you don’t know what the cult-ish noodles are, let me start by setting the scene, with some history, of course! Food tastes better with context. Each installment comes with a recipe, available to paid subscribers as part of their premium perk. Through this mini-series, I hope to share how I track the Viet food story and craft recipes to help others participate in that dialogue.

Photo credit: Bob Galbraith/AP Timing is everything. Vince Carter has been elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024, which is four years removed from his retirement (the minimum requirement), 20 years since his final game as a Raptor, and perhaps most unbelievably, 26 years since he made his debut. He went from being called Half-Man, Half-Amazing to Half-Man, Half-a-Season to playing a 22-season career, the longest in NBA history.

Note: Today’s issue contains some spoilers for Men In Black, although I don’t think they would hamper your enjoyment of this very good film. But you’ve seen Men In Black, right? (Right?) It’s the end of June, and you know what that means, reader: It’s the perfect time to discuss the Academy Awards! When you think of an Oscar-winning performance, what sort of qualities come to mind? Is it a performance where the actor perfectly embodies the character they’re playing, whether real or fictional?

Mincemeat pie seems to have fallen out of favor, but in 1978 it was still very much on people's minds (and tables).  Here, from the December issue of Gourmet, was the editors' suggestion for the perfect holiday pie. The suggested accompaniment?  Ginger ice cream.  Even though it uses preserved ginger (fresh ginger was not a supermarket staple in the seventies) it still seems rather food-forward for the time. And here, just because it's almost impossible to imagine a modern epicurean magazine putting this on the newsstand, is the cover of the issue.

If you’ve ever been to a soccer game in Argentina you’ll have noticed that elements of the crowd can get somewhat “enthusiastic” during the match. Drums, flares, singing, wielding giant banners and flags and so on are par for the course. So who are those people? They answer i… ncG1vNJzZmiapZq7sL%2FAoqmeq16owqO%2F05qapGaTpLpwvI6voKiklaOwpnnBpaaonF2Wu6V506GcZpqVlsK1tcWuow%3D%3D

In case you are having a dreary day, let me introduce you to Violet Hensley, the “Stradivarius of the Ozarks.” The fiddle maker was just a youngster, 96 years old, when this short film below was made by Joe York for the Historic Arkansas Museum’s Arkansas Living Treasures project. She is now 106, apparently still going strong and I believe still fiddling. That bit just after the two-minute mark is one of my favorite snippets of documentary film ever.

Next week, the voters of Culpeper County, Virginia, will have the opportunity to cast their ballots for sheriff. The incumbent, Scott Jenkins, faces a host of challenges, including a federal indictment for selling badges at the low-low-low price of tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations. In Virginia, sheriffs can have an auxiliary deputy force, which is a part-time, unpaid civilian police force that can conduct arrests and traffic stops.

Future’s made of virtual insanity Now always seem to be governed by this love we have For useless twisting of our new technology Oh, now there is no sound, for we all live underground Before I start ranting about webinars, let me first rant about how if you don’t know this song or have never seen the iconic, spellbinding 1990’s music video for Jamiroquai’s Virtual Insanity, please fix that now: