What a week!

Here's what you missed.

• Meet the family behind Joy of Cooking, America’s favorite cookbook. (Electric Literature, ~10 min.)

• As travel bloggers descend on war-ravaged Syria, a debate roils over the political correctness of Instagram-worthy visits. (The Daily Beast, ~25 min.)

• The horrifyingly true story of a con man-turned-jailhouse “informant,” whose damning testimony landed dozens in prison — and four on death row. (ProPublica and New York Times, ~60 min.)

• Pacific Northwest residents have a long, tumultuous history with the octopus, and this story — with its cast of lively characters — captures the relationship perfectly. (Seattle Met, ~15 min.)

• Remember the viral pic of the long line of climbers snaking across the top of Mount Everest? This is the heartbreaking story of how that day unfolded. (GQ, ~25 min.)

• The rural town of McKee, Ky., was brought to its knees by manufacturing job losses. Then a longtime community leader decided enough was enough — and made a plan to wire his small town with the fastest Internet in the country. (The New Yorker, ~15 min.)

• Successful people love to tout the importance of a strict morning routine. It’s all bullshit. (The Atlantic, ~8 min.)

• A ferry disaster in Mosul, Iraq, killed 128 civilians headed for an afternoon of fun — and also revealed the corruption that is savaging the country. (~26 min.)

• An unexpectedly heavy conversation with likely Oscar nominee Scarlett Johansson, during which the reporter asks her pointedly about her allegiance to Woody Allen. (Vanity Fair, ~18 min.)

• At the University of Wyoming in 1969, 14 black players were kicked off the football team for considering joining a local civil rights protest. Fifty years later, the school is trying to make things right. (Washington Post, ~13 min.)

• Two journalists spent 3 years chronicling the life of Belgian Paralympic gold medalist Marieke Vervoort, whose best-known endorsement was … euthanasia. (New York Times, ~17 min.)

• This story about New York’s Penn Station is a brilliant lesson in why and how the government is incapable of accomplishing big things. (Politico, ~43 min.)

• Riley Howell, the UNC-Charlotte student who charged a gunman and stopped the 100th mass shooting of 2019, died a hero. Now his parents, three younger siblings, and longtime girlfriend are learning how to live without him. (News & Observer, ~26 min.)

If you know someone who’d like this, send it their way. You can find the online, shareable version (and subscribe) here. You can follow me on Twitter here, on Facebook here, on Pocket here, and on LinkedIn here. Questions, comments, concerns, and story tips are always welcome — just hit reply.