If you haven’t taken an American road trip this summer, check out this map of the most iconic road trips in literature for inspiration. Stop at a summer festival (just like Sal Paradise, who we all know couldn’t get enough Pitchfork Music Festival), and use these tips to put together a crafty outfit. If you’re thinking of AirBNB-ing, you never know who you’ll be staying with: should you stumble upon the household of — and thus the emotional conflicts of — a superhero, perhaps this relationship map of Marvel’s characters will prove handy in avoiding their terrifying spats.
If you can’t get away from your city, though, wouldn’t it be nice to convert your public transit system into a more enjoyable experience? As we previously reported, LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy has been working on a project called the Subway Symphony, which will change the piercing sound of turnstiles into something more melodic. Although it has the support of some New Yorkers (and Heineken), MTA policy makers have been dubious of the project. Watch the latest video update here.
It’s been 24 years since Dr. Seuss died (at 87, of oral cancer), but that couldn’t stop his unpublished works from finding their way to your library shelf. In 2013, after his widow discovered the manuscript of Seuss’ What Pet Should I Get?, his last editor, Cathy Goldsmith, made it her goal to get the book out in stores. Read Vulture’s piece on how she helped finish the book and prep it for its July 28 release.
And, if you’re willing to give into a story that’s as sweet as its subject, check out this piece on the origin of the popsicle, which was invented accidentally (as many things are) in 1905 by an 11-year-old boy (as many things are not) named Frank Epperson. He called it the “epsicle,” but changed it 19 years later on his children’s request (since he was their father, they called it a “Pop’s ‘Sicle”).
Good eats were also plentiful in 1950s and 1960s L.A., and The Hollywood Reporter has historicized old Hollywood “power dining” through a series of menus in this detailed and engaging piece.
There are monumental strides being made in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Eli Lilly and Company seem close to cracking the code against amyloid-beta plaques with their new drug, Solanezumab. The Guardian has a feature on the new drug, in which Dr. Doug Brown of Alzheimer’s Research UK alleges that “these drugs are able to reduce the sticky plaques of amyloid that build up in the brain, and now we have seen the first hints that doing this early enough may slow disease progression.”