Driving the Alaska Highway – The New York Times

Within months of the Pearl Harbor bombing on Dec. 7, 1941, the United States, in cooperation with the Canadian authorities, set out to build a highway from British Columbia to Alaska, then a territory and viewed as vulnerable to attack by Japan. The original 1,685-mile road took more than 10,000 soldiers less than nine months…

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Chickpea Anxiety – The New York Times

On Monday evening, I entered the most chaotic grocery store in Manhattan armed with something I rarely, if ever, go shopping with: a list. I needed garlic, red onion, scallions, limes, chiles. But something happens once I leave the produce department for the canned goods aisle: I experience what I can describe only as chickpea…

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Inside OpenAI’s Library – The New York Times

The two-story library has Oriental rugs, shaded lamps dotting its desks and rows of hardbacks lining its walls. It is the architectural centerpiece of the offices of OpenAI, the start-up whose online chatbot, ChatGPT, showed the world that machines can instantly generate their own poetry and prose. The building, which was once a mayonnaise factory,…

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On Mother’s Day – The New York Times

I’ve always been a daughter on Mother’s Day. Even after my sister and I had our own kids, Mother’s Day meant visiting Mom at our childhood home with its untouched 1980s kitchen, bearing flowers and platters of bagels and lox. I would pick up the Russ & Daughters order, my sister would arrange the peonies…

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Five-Star Three-Cup Chicken – The New York Times

Good morning. It’s Mother’s Day weekend for all those who celebrate, which is many of us, even if she’s been gone a few years now and didn’t like the holiday anyway. Mom’s getting younger, in memory, and we’re getting older to meet her at the pass. The relationship’s deepening. It’s easier to understand some of…

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