No matter what background or tradition or religion or belief system you identify with, I think we can all agree: when crazy stuff starts falling from the sky, things get weird. Turns out there are so many crazy things falling from the sky these days that we now must expand our vocabulary. My friends, it’s time to get cozy with hail, sleet, graupel (yes—this is a real thing), and wintry mix. But first: some background. Hail, sleet, graupel, and wintry mix are all forms of precipitation read more

No matter what background or tradition or religion or belief system you identify with, I think we can all agre read more

I know, I know. There are few newsletter topics as sexy as cruciferous vegetables—especially the brethren of the classic eat-your-vegetables vegetable, broccoli. But just how when you grow up, you realize that vegetables are actually, well, pretty good, turns out that vegetables—or at least the differences between ones like Chinese broccoli, broccolini, and broccoli rabe—are actually pretty interesting, too. Let’s start with Chinese broccoli, also known as gai-lan, kai-lan, or read more

I know, I know. There are few newsletter topics as sexy as cruciferous vegetables—especially the brethren of read more

If you’re like me, feeling cultured feels good. There are few sensations as pleasant as learning something new, or exploring a different place, or doing something that expands your world even a miniscule amount. Also: being able to talk about feeling cultured feels good. Part of the fun of doing culture-y stuff is telling people about it, whether it’s excitedly or earnestly or just to show people how very cultured you are. You know what doesn’t feel good? Trying show people that you’re read more

If you’re like me, feeling cultured feels good. There are few sensations as pleasant as learning something n read more

It’s winter, people, which means fuzzy socks and hot chocolate and snuggling on your couch to watch not one, but TWO documentaries about the Fyre Festival. It also means single degrees and snowstorms and slippery roads—and, for those of us who drive on a regular basis, it’s a time to be extra-careful. It behooves us, then, to learn the difference between four-wheel and all-wheel drive—because despite the fact that the four wheels might be all the wheels, they are not the same thing. L read more

It’s winter, people, which means fuzzy socks and hot chocolate and snuggling on your couch to watch not one, read more

If you’ve frequented a salad bar recently—or returned from a quick jaunt from, say, the 1950s—you may recall a bowl or two of pink, florescent dressing with some chopped-up stuff in it. Maybe you dolloped some of it onto your plate of greens, or had a white-tocqued chef at the meat-carving station slather it on a sandwich for you. In any case: Was it Russian dressing or Thousand Island? If it wasn’t slapped in a bottle with a label, would you be able to tell the difference? Let’s find read more

If you’ve frequented a salad bar recently—or returned from a quick jaunt from, say, the 1950s—you may re read more

It’s the new year, people, which means it’s time for green tea and grain bowls and Meditation and Self Care. It’s time to treat ourselves to feeling good; it’s time to mask our faces with indigenous soils and lather up our bodies like we’re in some sort of commercial and luxuriate in the warmth of our collective internal glow. But before we spend our first week’s paycheck on the season’s buzziest new product, or raid the drugstore aisle for another promised cure-all, we should pro read more

It’s the new year, people, which means it’s time for green tea and grain bowls and Meditation and Self Car read more

Merry Christmas! Chances are, if you’re celebrating the holiday, you have a tree hanging out indoors somewhere, festooned in lights and popcorn and ornaments and whatever else you feel like draping on its scented limbs. But what’s the difference between that specimen in your living room and the giant one in Rockefeller Center, or the ones you can see from your frosted window, whose needles whisper softly in the winter wind? Let’s get to know our holiday evergreens. Spruce, fir, and pine read more

Merry Christmas! Chances are, if you’re celebrating the holiday, you have a tree hanging out indoors somewhe read more

Welcome to What’s the Difference, the newsletter committed to bringing you a decisive hit of random, wholly unseasonal knowledge in spite of the thrum of season’s greetings and BOGO deals and shipping notifications overtaking your inbox. Because let’s face it: you probably thought insects and bugs were the same thing, right?? Spoiler: THEY’RE NOT. Read on, my little elves. In classic biology taxonomy, all insects belong to a class called Insecta: six-legged organisms with three-p read more

Welcome to What’s the Difference, the newsletter committed to bringing you a decisive hit of random, wholly read more

Happy Hanukkah! We may have been taught that this holiday was about celebrating resistance, courage, victory over oppression, the miracle of the Maccabees’ everlasting oil... but who are we kidding? Hanukkah is about eating fried food and sour cream. Here’s the difference between our favorite cultured dairy products, to add some context to your celebration. Sour cream, which has a fat content of around 20%, is made by mixing cream with a lactic acid culture; the bacteria thickens and sours read more

Happy Hanukkah! We may have been taught that this holiday was about celebrating resistance, courage, victory o read more